إِذا ما الغَزالُ سَرى زائِرا

فَلا تَأمَنِ الأَسَدَ الزائِرا

When the gazelle roams as a visitor

Do not trust the visiting lion

وَلَكِن سَلِ اللَيلَ سَتراً عَلَيكَ

وَإِن كُنتَ تَأمَنُهُ كافِرا

But ask the night for concealment over you

Even if you deem it an infidel

عَسى الفَجرُ يَغفو وَلَو ساعَةً

يَنامُ بِها نَجمُهُ سائِرا

Perhaps dawn will slumber even for an hour

In which its star sleeps travelling

فَيا لَيلُ إِن تولِنيها يداً

تجدني لها ذاكراً شاكرا

So O night if you lend me it with a hand

You will find me thanking and remembering it

وإن قيل نعرفُهُ كافِراً

أَقُل لا وَلَكِن نَعَم فاجِرا

And if it is said we know him an infidel

I say no, but yes indeed a debauchee

فَيا لَيلُ ما اِفتَرَقَ العاشِقانِ

إِذا كُنتَ بَينَهُما حاضِرا

So O night the lovers do not separate

When you are present between them

فَقَد جاءَني هاجِري واصِلاً

فَلا يَرجِعَن واصِلي هاجِرا

My visitor came joining me

So may my joining one not return emigrant

رَوَيتَ بِهِ غُلَّتي وارِداً

فَلا تَفجَعَنّي بِهِ صادِرا

You quenched my anguish visiting

So do not make me bereft with him leaving

وَدَعني أُطارِحهُ شَكوى الفِراقِ

وَأَحفَظ حَديثَ الهَوى طاهِرا

And let me confide to it the agony of parting

And preserve the love talk immaculate

لَعَلَّكَ تَعرِفُ سِرَّ الغَرامِ

فَتُصبِحَ لِلمُبتَلى عاذِرا

Maybe you know the secret of passion

So you become excusing toward the afflicted

وَتَعشَقَ بَدرَكَ عِشقي البُدورَ

وَتَرجِعَ مِثلي بِهِم حائِرا

And you fall in love with its full moon like my love

And you return confused by them like me

فَلا تَبعَث الفَجرَ قَبلَ العِشاءِ

وَلا تُتبِع الأَوَّلَ الآخِرا

So do not send dawn before nightfall

Nor follow the first with the last

فَكَم في حَواشيكَ مِن طائِرٍ

تُمِضُّ بِهِ قَلبِيَ الطائِرا

For how many a bird in your margins

Makes my fluttering heart race

وَيَكسِرُ صُبحُكَ لي عَينَهُ

فَيا لَيلُ دُمتَ لَهُ كاسِرا

And your dawn breaks its eyes for me

So O night you remain breaking it for him

وَكَم لَكَ عِندَ اِمرِئٍ مِن يَدٍ

كَلَونِكَ يَغشى الأَسى الخاطِرا

And how much you have for a person of hands

Whose colour overwhelms the thoughts

نُصَدِّقُ في ذَمِّكَ المانَوِيَّ

وَإِن كانَ في قَولِهِ كافِرا

We believe in blaming the curser

Even if his words are infidel's

أَسِرّاً بِأَمرٍ بِهِ موبِقاً

يُقيمُ الصَباحُ بِهِ سافِرا

Whispering of a matter with which

Dawn establishes a traveller

وَما بَتَّ إِلّا عَلى رِيبَةٍ

نَغُضُّ حَياءً لَها الناظِرا

And it did not spend the night except on suspicion

For which the onlooker is embarrassed

فَلَو لَم يُغَسِّلكَ مِنّا الصَباحُ

لَما كُنتَ مِن نَجَسٍ طاهِرا

So had the dawn not washed you of us

You would not have been immaculate

وَلَولا جِلاءُ مُحَيّا الأَجَلِّ

مُحَيّاكَ دامَ كَذا باسِرا

And were it not for the appearance of the terminator of bashfulness

Making you smile persist as dazzling

أَعادَكَ يَومَ يُثيرُ العَجاجَ

بِرَكضٍ بِهِ سَكَّنَ الثائِرا

It brings you back the day it excites racers

With which it calms the agitated

وَرَدَّ إِلَيكَ بِرَغمِ الصَبا

حِ أُفقَكَ مِن سُمرِهِ ظاهِرا

And it returns your horizon to you despite dawn

Appearing from its bleach

وَضَربٍ لَهُ ناجِرٍ قَد أَعادَ

بِشَهرَي قُماحٍ لَنا ناجِرا

And beating for it the neighing one restored

For us two months of drought by its downpour

فَجِسمٌ تَراهُ بِهِ واقِعاً

وَهامٌ تَراهُ بِهِ طائِراً

So a body you see it falling on it

And a raptor you see it flying by it

وَيَجنُبُ ريحُ العِنانِ الدُبورَ

فَيُحدِثُ ما يَقطَعُ الدابِرا

And the tailwind avoids the rear

So it produces what severs continuity

وَكَم حَرَّكَت ساكِناً لِلغُبارِ

فَسَكَّن مِن تَحتِهِ غابِرا

And how much at rest it moves for dust

So it calms what was under it buried

وَيَجبُرُ ناهِضُ هِمّاتِهِ

لَكَ المَجدُ ذا الزَمَنَ الفاتِرا

And its lofty aspirations' attempter repairs

For you is the glory O the apathetic time

فَدُمتَ عَلى خَيرِهِ آمِراً

وَدُمتَ عَلى شَرِّهِ آمِرا

So you have persisted commanding good

And you have persisted forbidding evil

لَقَد نَصَرَ اللَهُ دينَ الهُدى

بِأَن نَصَرَ المَلِكَ الناصِرا

Indeed God granted victory to the religion of guidance

By granting victory to the King Al-Nasir

فَلَسنا نَخافُ عَلى غابِهِ

إِذا كنَ في غابِهِ خادِرا

So we do not fear for its jungle

If the coward was in its jungle

وَمَن عَدَّ مِنهُ الحَيا ثانِياً

فَلَستُ أَراهُ لَهُ عاشِرا

And whoever counts survival from it a second life

I do not consider him for it a companion

فَلا تَتَجَشَّم سُؤالاً لَهُ

سَيَكفيكَهُ بادِئاً بادِرا

So do not take on a question for it

Its beginning will suffice you responsive

أَيَحتاجُ عُشبُ الدُجى زارِعاً

لَهُ وَقَليبُ السَما حافِرا

Does the plant of darkness need a planter for it?

And the heart of the sky a digger?

فَلا تَستَمِر غَيرَ إِحسانِهِ

وَإِلّا فَمُت ظامِئاً ضامِرا

So do not persist other than its benevolence

Or else die thirsty withered

فَمَن يَستَمِر مِن أَكُفِّ اللِئامِ

يَعِش دَهرَهُ ما يرى مَائِرا

For whoever persists of the palms of villains

Lives his lifetime not seeing ease

وَمَن حَطَّ أَقدارَ سُؤَّالِهِ

فَما زِلتُ سائِلَهُ الفاخِرا

And whoever lowered the worth of his request

I have not ceased making ample his request

إِذا سَأَلوا مانِعاً عاجِزاً

سَأَلتُ بِهِ باذِلاً قادِرا

If they asked a preventer powerless

I asked through it a Giver Able

فَأَوفى عَلى قَولِهِم أَوَّلاً

وَأَوفى عَلى قَولِهِ آخِرا

So He fulfilled their word first

And fulfilled His word last

رَأى الناسُ هِجرَةَ مَملوكِهِ

فَلا يَنظُروهُ لَهُ هاجِرا

The people saw the emigration of His slave

So let them not see him for it emigrant

وَجودُكَ أَشعَرُ مِن شِعرِهِ

فَلا عَدِمَ الشاعِرُ الشاعِرا

And your generosity is more eloquent than his poetry

So the poet is not devoid of poetry

وَهَذي المَآثِرُ لَولا القَريضُ

لَما كُنتَ تَلقى لَها آثَرا

And these glorious deeds were it not for poetry

You would not find for them traces

وَلَمّا جَلا البِشرُ مِن وَجهِهِ

لَنا القَمَرَ المُصبِحَ الزاهِرا

And had the mortals not worn off from his face

The moon would have remained for us shining

رَأَيتُ زَماني مَضى كُلُّهُ

سُرىً جاءَ بي هَكَذا ضامِرا

I saw my time has all passed

Travelling, bringing me thus withered

وَلَو لَم أَرِد وَجهَهُ ما ظَفِرتُ

بِصُبحٍ أُطالِعُهُ نائِرا

And had I not wanted his face I would not have won

A dawn I gaze at flaming

وَلي حاسِدٌ أَنتَ أَربَحتَهُ

وَأَنتَ تُصَيِّرُهُ خاسِرا

And I have an envier whom you have profited

While you make him a loser

وَقَد ساءَ في الجِدِّ تَوسيعُهُ

يُكَرِّرُ أَقوالَهُ ماكِرا

And he fared badly in earnestness his overdoing

Repeating his words scheming

وَكَم قَد خَلا بِشَياطينِهِ

فَأَجرى الحَديثَ بِنا فاجِرا

And how much has he been emptied of his devils

So he conducted the talk with us debauched

وَذَكَّرَ بي فَمَ صَرفِ الزَمانِ

فَأَغرى بِلَحمي فَماً فاغِرا

And he reminded me of the course of time

So he tempted with my flesh a mouth gaping

وَقَد نَظَرَ اللَهُ لِلمُسلِمينَ

بِأَن كُنتَ في أَمرِهِم ناظِرا

And God looked to the Muslims

That you were regarding their matter observing

وَلَم أَلحَهُم أَن يَجوروا عَلَيَّ

وَلَو ذاكَ كُنتُ لَهُم عاذِرا

And I did not beg them to wrong me

And if that, I would have been for them excusing

فَما جارَ مَن جارَ في حُكمِهِ

وَلَكِنَّ مَن أَلجَأَ الجائِرا

So he who wrongs in his rule is not wronged

But rather who coerces the coercer

وَما أَتَّقي أَن زيفاً يَمُرُّ

بِنَقدِكَ إِلّا بَدا ظاهِرا

And I do not fear that any slander passes

Through your integrity except appearing evident