ما يستفيق دد لقلبك من دد — Albohtry

The revelry in your heart never sobers from revelry;

it keeps returning to the thought of her throughout time.

A fair woman: if she soothes with a glance, she grants no

healing; and if she kills with coquetry, she pays no blood-price.

Her estrangement preceded gray hair, and she hastened

into today a desertion that was expected tomorrow.

I have met no pair like forgetfulness and love,

whose way out lies so far, so remote, from its way in.

He has not passed the night pledged to anguish for his loved ones,

who passes it after parting without lying sleepless.

I love the stony tracts, though their approaches lie far apart,

and count Burqat Thahmad the dearest of them.

Spring's gentle touch fashions her jewelry for her,

with rare wonders of pearl and peridot.

As for misfortunes, they will not return as they first appeared,

but return in lesser number or greater.

I have told the man who yields his resolve to ease:

Success lies beyond your easy efforts, so strive.

You will not reach the goal toward which you race

until you become like Ahmad ibn Muhammad.

A vigilant man, whose affairs have been safeguarded

by the actions of one valiant and mighty in endeavor.

His competence and rising fortune were

a match for his noble deeds and lineage.

Fortune that diligence spends the night securing for him,

always; no fortune comes to one who does not strive.

May the envier perish! He has undertaken a scheme

that exposes disgrace on the faces of the envious.

Their characters were base, so their striving fell short

of the striving of one unique, peerless in noble deeds.

He attained leadership at the outset of his youth;

indeed, youth is a mount to eminence.

Each day he gains another rank;

and whoever does not advance draws near to decline.

A man of arms: the drawn sword is

dearer to him than the sheathed sword.

Banu Shayban sought refuge from him on their Mount Tur,

and Tur is the dwelling of the far-off, the most remote.

Then the seas of war boiled when you kindled them

into a fire in which the swords return and begin anew.

Indeed, a warrior cannot triumph and thereby increase

his allotted shares until he does wrong and transgresses.

My gaze had already turned away from seeking favors,

and I had resolved most firmly not to seek gifts,

until you took the initiative with so great an offering,

and overcame my strong restraint and self-denial.

I have a goal in Wasit; nothing lies between me and it

but the alternating strides of swift white thoroughbred camels.

Travelers: you denied them ascent, so they headed down;

and descent is the path of one who does not ascend.

As for the farewell handshake, it

grew so heavy that my hand could not lift it.

So to you a doubled salutation, for I

will leave tomorrow, either in the afternoon or the morning.

How many debts of ours al-Dab‘i has delayed,

left unpaid—or borrowed things left unreturned!

And the least I count on from you and hope for,

given your good regard for me, is your keeping the promise made to me.