أقبلت تنجلى وفي الخد شامه
تستبي كل من راه وشامه
You came radiant, with beauty-marks upon your cheek,
Alluring all who saw you or got a whiff of your scent.
بين خطي قامة وحسامٍ
من جفون أربت على الصمصامه
Between the lines of your perfect form and slender sword,
Were eyes that cast their glances on high over the eyelids.
زججت حاجباً فأصبح قوساً
فأراشت للعاشقين سهامه
You arched an eyebrow, so it became a bow,
With which you targeted the hearts of lovers.
وجلت مبسماً تفيض جفوني
درّ دمعٍ إذا رأيت ابتسامه
You revealed a smile that made my eyes overflow
With copious tears when I saw your grin.
أخجل الورد وجنتاها فأضحى
ذا احمرارٍ مشققاً أكمامه
You shamed the rose and its gardens, so it turned
Crimson, with shredded petals around its skirt.
غازلتنا والحب فينا كمينٌ
فأذاعت من كل صب غرامه
You flirted with us though love lay in ambush within us,
And so proclaimed the passion of every infatuated man.
لاعب الدل عطفها باهتزازٍ
فأقامت على الغصون القيامه
The flirtatious one stroked with gentle tremors,
Bringing the branches to rise in ovation.
جرّدت أبيضاً بأسود جفنٍ
وغزتنا ظلماً بأعدل قامه
You bared a white complexion with the blackness of an eyelid,
And conquered us unjustly with your most virtuous form.
اسقم السحر طرفها فأعارت
يوم بينٍ للعاشقين سقامه
The magic of your eyes intoxicated, so you lent
A day of drunkenness to the lovers without wine.
من عذيري بظبية ورد خدّيها
لفتك العيون أو في علامه
If I saw the fawn-like one, the rose cheeks or the mole,
Eyes would steal glances, though a sign of censure.
تسترق النهى برقة خصرٍ
يستفزُّ الأشياخ وهي غلامه
You secretly commit forbidden acts with the softness of a waist
That entices elders even though you’re but a lad.
يا خلياً أضحى يلوم شجياً
لست تدري الهوى فخلّ الملامه
Oh companion, you’ve become one who blames the passion!
You know not love, so cease your blaming.
ومحيا تحت اللثام هلالٌ
وهو بدرٌ إذا أزاحت لثامه
Behind the veil lies a crescent moon,
A full moon when you lift your covering.
لو رأيت العيون وهي سكارى
رحت ذا سكرةٍ بغير مدامه
If you saw those eyes intoxicated,
You would walk away drunk without a cup.
أو ترى الفرقد المنير بصدرٍ
سمحت بالنفس ضمه والتثامه
Or you’d see the shining upper chest
Allowed close, embracing it and pressing.
إن للحب لذةً لم يذقها
من تولى عليه حبُّ السلامه
Love has a pleasure none have tasted
Who only befriend greetings of peace.
كيف أنسى مهفهفا جاء يهدي
بلحاظٍ خوف الوشاة سلامه
How can I forget the cooing pigeon who came to gift
Glances, fearing the spies, in peace?
عندمي الخد عن دمي سل خضاباً
زاد حسناً بنانه وسلامه
When my cheek borrowed hue from my blood,
It increased its beauty along with its peace.
من ظباءِ الأتراك ظبيٌ رشيقٌ
فتن العرب حين هز قوامه
Of the Turkish gazelles, a graceful gazelle
Who seduced the Arab when it swayed its body.
عجباً في الجبين ليلٌ وصبحٌ
وكيف لا ينسخ الصباح ظلامه
Strangely, its brow is a night and a dawn!
How can the dawn not erase its darkness?
يا غزالاً غزا القلوب بلحظٍ
عمرك اللَه قد سلبت الكرى مه
Oh you who conquered hearts with a singleglance,
May God extend your life, for you have captured souls.
جد بوصلٍ على الكريم بنفسٍ
لو حالٍ حاشاك تأبى الكرامه
Strive to meet the generous one with a soul,
Too noble are you to refuse nobility.
ما سلوت الهوى وحقُّ جمالٍ
فيك وافٍ وذي ابرُّ قسامه
I asked not about passion though the beauty in you
Suffices, of the most righteous stature.
يا ندامايَ والزمان موافٍ
ما لدهرٍ على العهود استقامه
Oh my regret, while times assist,
Eras have no lasting covenants.
أين عهدٌ مضى وعصرٌ تقضى
بين أسد الشرى وغزلان رامه
Where is the bygone covenant and passing era
Between the lion of evil and the deer of aspirations?
لو صحا الدهر من سلافة جودٍ
شقَّ أطواقه بكىً وندامه
If the age were to wake from the sublimity of its generosity,
It would tear apart its shackles, weeping and regretting.
كيف يصحو وبأقل صار قسّا
وغدا ما درٌ يعيب ابن مامه
How can it wake when at worst it has hardened
And become less generous than a maternal uncle’s son?
وادّعت بالجمال كل لكاعٍ
وتوارت بثينةٌ وأمامه
Every ugly woman has claimed beauty,
As perfection retreated along with its guide.
وعن الورد قيل هذا قثاءٌ
وعن البدر قيل هذي قلامه
And it was said of the rose, “This is rubbish,”
And said of the moon, “This is but a crust.”
قدّر اللَه ان يجود زمانٌ
لم ينل فيه ذو الكمال مرامه
May God decree that an era be generous
Where the perfect cannot attain their hopes.
حسد الفاضل مثلما حسد الدريّ
منثور فارس ونظامه
The elite are envied just like the precious pearl
Scattered on the necks of steeds and their reins.
شاعرٌ يخجل الفرزدق شعراً
وبليغ ينسيك ذكر قدامه
A poet who shames Al-Farazdaq in his poetry
And an eloquent man who makes you forget Al-Qadami.
قد أتى بالبديع تحت قوافٍ
حصنتها من البلاغة لامه
He has come with literary ingenuity in rhymes
Fortified against the blows of eloquence with its protections.
بمعانٍ مخدراتٍ جمانٍ
كل عشر يشرقن من تحت ذامه
With gentle, beautiful, intoxicating meanings,
Each line shining from beneath its cover.
فارس إن نضا اليراع لنظمٍ
أخجل الفارس المجيد حسامه
A horseman, if the steed neighs for those poems,
Shames the noble horsemen and their swords.
لست تدري أذاك سحر بيان
أم سلاف إذا تلوت كلامه
You know not whether that is magic of rhetoric
Or sublimity when reciting his words.
المعيّ أخو الذكاءِ أديب
لوذعيٌّ بل فاضلٌ علّامه
The inspired one, twin of brilliance, a literate man,
Though accused, he is virtuous, an erudite scholar.
مشرقات الألفاظ أطلعن دراً
حين جاءَت سطيعةً أقلامه
The stars of his words rose shining pearls
When they came smoothly flowing from his pen.
قد أتاني منه كتاب فاشفى
من فؤادي غليله وأوامه
A letter has come to me from him that healed
The anguish of my heart and its afflictions.
كل صبّ يرى كتاب حبيب
بعد بعد كأنّه شام لامه
Every lover sees the letter of the beloved,
From afar, as though it were a mark of union.
يا خليلا أهدي إلى الصب خوداً
بنت نظم غراء ذات سامه
Oh friend, gift to the lover a cheek
Built by excellent, lofty poems.
تتجلى بالبديع حسناً فيصبو نحوها
كل عالم فهامه
She appears beautiful through literary devices,
So every wise soul inclines toward her.
عمرك اللَه قد أتيت بدرٍ
يقوم الكلام نظماً مقامه
May God grant you long life, for you have come with a full moon,
Before which speech stands in place of its station.
إن دهرا شكوته هو دهرٌ
ليس يدري كرامه اسقامه
If I complained of fate, it is a fate
That knows not the difference of generosity or affliction.
أخذ الغدر شيمة فحلاه
إن نراه مخاصماً أعلامه
Betrayal has taken its trait, so imagine it
An enemy even if its flags are high.
ساءَ طبعاً حتى على ذاته جار
فأعطى كف الزوال دوامه
Ill-natured, so it acts as an adversary against itself,
Giving the palm of decline permanence.
كن سليماً فإن من فطر النا
س مفيض في خلقه أنعامه
Be well, for He who created mankind
Is abundant in His creation and His blessings.
وعد النفس إن سيأتي زمانٌ
تحسد الروض بهجة أيامه
And promise yourself that an era will come
That makes the garden envious of its days.
هذه غادة أتتك بحسنٍ
يسترق الغلام حسنا أمامه
This is Ghadah who came to you with a beauty
That steals away the beauty of lads before it.
بنت نظم قد زانه منك فضلٌ
عم بالحسن بدأه وختامه
A poem you have adorned with your generosity
Which perfumed its beginning and end with beauty.
