عَجَباً لِمَملوكي الَّذي مُلِّكتُهُ
هُوَ مالِكي وَلِمُهجَتي مَلَّكتُهُ
Wonder at my slave whom I possessed:
he is my master, and I have given him mastery of my soul.
ومُنَعَّمٍ لا مُنعِمٍ بِالمَنعِ مِن
عِصيانِهِ أَمرَ الهَوى فَأَطَعتُهُ
A pampered one, no giver of grace, by barring me from
disobeying him—passion commanded, and I obeyed it.
ريمٌ رَماني عامِداً بِصُدودِهِ
وَأَبى انقِياداً لي إِلى ما رُمتُهُ
A gazelle who deliberately shot me with his aloofness
and refused to yield to what I sought.
أَحوى حَوى قَلبي فَصارَ حِواؤُهُ
يَرعى حِماهُ آمِناً ما رُعتُهُ
A dark-lipped beauty held my heart, and it became his enclosure;
he grazes safely in its preserve, unstartled by me.
قالَ العَذولُ وَقُلتُ إِذ مانَعتُهُ
ما نَعتُه مَه كُلُّ حُسنٍ نَعتُهُ
The censurer spoke; I replied as I resisted him:
“How can I describe him? Hush—every beauty is his attribute.
دُرِّيُّ لَونِ الوَجهِ لَكِن ثَغرُهُ ال
حَبَبيُّ فيما في المُدامَةِ نَبتُهُ
His face is pearl-bright, but his front teeth—
bubble-bright, as though they sprouted in wine.
حَنَشُ الذُؤابَةِ لَيتَني إِذ ماجَ في
أَعلا القَضيبِ عَلى الكَثيب حَوَيتُهُ
His forelock is a serpent; if only, when it billowed
atop the branch above the dune, I had embraced it!”
أَقسَمتُ لَو عايَنتَهُ يا عاذِلي
لَعَشِقتهُ وَمِن العَناءِ عَشِقتُهُ
I swear, had you seen him, my censor,
you would have loved him; in my misery, I loved him.
قَسماً بِمَن هُوَ خَيرُ أُسرَةِ هاشِمٍ
وَبِسَيِّدٍ أَلفَتهُ كفؤاً بِنتُهُ
By him who is the best of Hashim’s house,
and by a lord whose daughter found him a worthy match;
وَلِهاشِمٍ يَومَ الفِخارِ يَفاعُهُ
وَلِغَيرِها مِنهُ الحَضيضُ وَختُّهُ
for Hashim he is its summit on the day of glory,
while all besides it have the low ground and its abasement.
وَكَفاهُ مَدحاً ما أَتى في هَل أَتى
هَزَّ اللِواءَ وَلاؤُهُ فَتَبِعتُهُ
Praise enough is what came in “Has There Come”;
loyalty to him raised the banner, and I followed it.
أَنا كُلُّ مَن وَالى الإِمامَ وَمَقتُهُ
وَلِمَن يُعاديهِ قِلايَ وَمَقتُهُ
I am for everyone who befriends the Imam; and my loathing
and hatred are for whoever opposes him.
لا عادَ لي يا عاذِلي عَزمٌ إِلى
ما تَبتَغي مِن شادِنٍ عُلِّقتُهُ
Never again, my censor, shall I resolve to
seek what you desire in a fawn to whom I am bound.
ما الأَمرُ في حُكمِ الصَبابَةِ في هَوى ال
تُركِيِّ لي لَو كانَ لي لَتَرَكتُهُ
In passion’s judgment, what say have I in loving the—
Turk? Had I any say, I would have left him.
أَغناهُ عَن نَثلِ الكِنانَةِ رَانِياً
نَبلُ اللحاظِ وَفي الحَشا أَكنَنتُهُ
His glances spare him drawing from the quiver when he shoots:
I have hidden their arrows in my heart.
لا يَحجُبُ الزِرَدُ المُضاعَفُ سَهمَهُ
وَلَو انَّني كُلُّ الدِلاصِ لَبِستُهُ
Layered mail cannot draw out his arrow,
even if I clad my whole body in plate armor.
وَأَخالُ خالاً لاحَ لي في خَدِّهِ
هُوَ حَبَّةُ القَلبِ الَّذي أَودَعتُهُ
I fancy a mole has appeared to me upon his cheek:
it is the kernel of the heart I entrusted to him.
أَحبَبتُ مَن هُوَ كِابنِ يَعقوبٍ وَيَع
قوبَ الوَزيرِ وَنعمَ مَن أَحبَبتُهُ
I loved one who is like the son of Ya—
qub, the vizier—excellent is the one I loved.
شَرَفٌ لِدينِ اللَهِ يَحسُنُ نُطقُهُ
في كَسبِهِ حُسنَ الثَناءِ وَصَمتُهُ
An honor to God’s faith, his speech excels
in winning fair praise—and so does his silence.
يَلقى السُرورَ وَلِيُّهُ مِن كُتبِهِ
وَلِمَن يُعاديهِ السُرورُ وَكَبتُهُ
His friend receives delight from his letters,
while whoever opposes him meets our joy and his own chagrin.
كَم مِن مَقامٍ قُمتُهُ بِمَديحِهِ
فَهُناكَ إِذ أَصغى الحَسودُ وَقَمتُهُ
How many a station I have taken to praise him;
there envy listened—and I mastered it.
قَد كُنتُ آملُ مِن جَهاركسَ نصرَةً
أَلقى بِها زَمَني إِذا اِستَنصَرتُهُ
I once hoped for support from Jaharkas,
with which to face my times whenever I appealed to him.
فَحُرِمتُ ذَلِكَ مِنهُ مَع شُكري لَهُ
وَرُميتُ مِنهُ بِضِدِّ ما أَمَّلتُهُ
But he denied me that, despite my gratitude,
and from him I met the opposite of what I hoped.
هَذا وَإِنَّ لَهُ دُعاءً صالِحاً
مِنّي إِلى رَبِّ السَماءِ رفَعتُهُ
Even so, he has a righteous prayer
from me, raised to the Lord of heaven,
وَبَديعُ نَظمٍ رائِق في حُسنِهِ
أَخجَلتُ مِنهُ الدُرَّ حينَ نَظَمتُهُ
and an exquisite poem, radiant in its beauty,
with which I shamed the pearls when I strung it.
وَهوَ الَّذي غَمَر الوَرى بِنَوالِهِ
غَيرى فَلِم دونَ الأَنامِ حُرِمتُهُ
He is the one whose bounty engulfed all mankind
except me—why, alone among people, was I denied it?
ما جِئتُهُ أَبغي سِوى إِنعامِهِ
لي بِالَّذي قَد كانَ لي فَغُصِبتُهُ
I came to him seeking nothing but his favor
regarding what had once been mine and was wrested from me.
مَن عَزَّ بَزَّ وَقَد غُلِبتُ إِذَن عَلى
ما كانَ مُلكي في يَدي فَسُلِبتُهُ
“Whoever gains power plunders”; thus I was overpowered in
what had been mine in my hand, and I was despoiled of it.
عَجَباً لِمَن مَلَكَ البِلادَ بِأَسرِها
وَاِبتَزَّني شِبراً بِها مُلِّكتُهُ
Wonder at one who owns all the lands
yet seized from me one span of what he had made mine.
فَقَضِيَّتي كَالنَصِّ في القُرآنِ مَع
داوودَ وَالخَصمِ الَّذي أَشبَهتُهُ
My case is like the text in the Qur’an concerning
David and the litigant whom I resemble.
مَولايَ فَخرُ الدينِ يا مَلِكَ الوَرى
يا خَيرَ مَن فيهِ القَريضُ رَقمتُهُ
My lord Fakhr al-Din, O king of mankind,
O best of those for whom I have fashioned verse:
لَو تَمَّ هَذا مِن سِواكَ عَلَيَّ لَم
أَقصِد سِواكَ لَهُ وَلا اِستَنجَدتُهُ
Had this been done to me by anyone but you, I would not
have turned to another over it, nor sought his aid.
وَلِيَ الشَفيعُ إِلَيكَ أَفضَل شافِعٍ
يَعقوبُ خَيرُ شَفيع استَشفَعتُهُ
I have an intercessor before you, the finest intercessor:
Ya‘qub, the best advocate I have asked to intercede.
بِحَياةِ فَخرِ الدينِ كُن لي شافِعاً
مِنهُ إِلى مَلِكٍ عَظيمٍ دَستُهُ
By the life of Fakhr al-Din, be my advocate
from him before a king whose court is mighty.
إِن كانَ يُسعِفُني زَماني بِالرِضا
مِن بَعدِ إِسخاطي فَهَذا وَقتُهُ
If my time will favor me with contentment
after angering me, now is the moment.
أَشكو إِلَيهِ جَورَ دَهرٍ قاسِطٍ
ظُلماً فَكَم كَبَدٍ بِهِ كابَدتُهُ
To him I complain of an unjust age’s tyranny;
what wrongs, what anguish I have suffered through it!
عِندي أُطَيفالٌ كَأَفراخِ القَطا
في مَسكَنٍ كَالنافِقاءِ سَكَنتُهُ
I have little children like sandgrouse chicks
in a dwelling like a burrow’s hidden outlet.
أَصحو بِلا ماءٍ وَلا شَجَرٍ وَلا
بِرٍّ وَلا خُبزٍ لَدَيَّ أَفُتّهُ
I wake with neither water, nor trees, nor
grain, nor bread before me to crumble.
ما كانَتِ الشَكوى لِمِثلي عادَةً
وَلَوَ اَنَّ ما بي بِالعَدوِّ رَحمتُهُ
Complaint was never the habit of one like me;
even my enemy, afflicted as I am, I would pity.
أَنا عَبدُ عَبدِ السَيِّدِ الشَرَفِ الَّذي
لَم أَشكُ ما عايَنتُ مُذ عايَنتُهُ
I am the servant of the servant of the noble lord
and have not complained of what I experienced since I beheld him.
وَهوَ الَّذي أَبصَرتُ حاتَمَ طَيِّءٍ
جوداً وَقسَّ عُكاظَ مُذ أَبصَرتُهُ
He is the one in whom I beheld Hatim of Tayy
in generosity, and Quss of Ukaz, from the moment I saw him.
