بكيت لأُخفى بالدموع السوافح

حرارة ما أَضرمت بين الجوانحِ

I wept to hide with overflowing tears

The heat ignited within my heart

فاحرقت أحشائي وأقرحتِ مقلتي

ولولاكِ ما هات عليَّ قوارحي

It burned my insides and ulcered my eyelids

Were it not for you, my eyes would not weep over me

ولا نيل من قلبي وقلبيَ عالمٌ

بأن التمادِي في الهوى غير صالحِ

And I can't help my heart, and my heart knows

That persisting in passion is not sound

وإِني وإِن أَخفيتُ ما بي من الأسى

لأَعلم حقاً أَن حبّك فاضحي

And though I hid what sorrow lies within me

I truly know your love exposes me

وإِني في وجدي بقدَّك والرنا

أعرَضُ نفسي للقنا والصفائحِ

And in my love for you and the intimacy

I expose myself to spears and swords

وأَدفعها بين اللحاظ لمعرك

ألاوذ فيه بين رامٍ ورامحِ

And thrust it between glances, to a battlefield

Where I take refuge between a spearman and a swordsman

تقولين لي عما قليل أزوره

وذلك ميعادٌ بعيدُ المطارح

You tell me to visit you before long

Yet that date is one of distant promises

ألستِ على قرب الديار بعيدةً

فكيف على بعدِ الديار النوازحِ

Are you not, though near the lands, far away?

So how can you be near, you who are remote?

دعي الوعد واطفِ الآن بالوصل عِلّتي

فكم غرِضاد بالبروقِ اللوامحِ

Leave promises and be kind now in union, my ailment,

For how many times was I struck by flashing blades?

ولا تدعي يوماً ليوم ورائه

فعقبي تواني المرء فوتُ المصالحِ

And name not one day over another in succession

For to delay is to lose out on benefits

أَقول وقدَ صدّت لكلِّ مباكرِ

يُعنفني في حبّها ومراوحِ

I say, though she has turned away from every suitor

Who insists on his love and lingers

إِذا كنت راضٍ بالجفا من أَحبتي

وإِن طولوه ما فضول الكواشحِ

If you are pleased with the aloofness of my beloved

Though they prolong it beyond the excesses of rain showers

أَتزعم اللاحون قد أَضرموا الحشا

وأنت تماليهم بأَنك ناصحي

Do you claim the censurers have ignited wrath

While you empathize, claiming to advise me?

بنفسي من لم تخط نفسي وقد رمت

بألحاظ أجفانٍ مراضٍ صحائحِ

By my soul, she whose soul did not err has flung

At me glances of slumbering, wakeful eyelids

ومن كلما استبكيتُ منهَا تضاحكت

وأفعالها جدٌ تضاحكَ مازحِ

And whenever I weep because of her, she laughs

While her acts seriously laugh in jest

ولو غير ألحاظٍ رمتني لدستها

ملا الأرض خيراً بالمساعي النوجحِ

Had other glances struck me than her hands

Goodness would not have filled the earth through prosperous deeds

سلالةَ إسماعيل واعدد وراءه

وفاخر بأنسابِ الملوك الطحاطحِ

Count the lineage of Ismael and those beyond him

And boast of the lineages of fleeing kings

فتى ردَّ بالسف العَلا في نصالها

وقادَ إِ أَحكامِها كلَّ جامحِ

A young man who repelled the high with his sword

And led, with his judgments, every unruly charger

بعزم تفلُّ المرهفاَتُ بحدّةِ

وحزمٍ يوازي كلَّ قرب مكافحِ

With a resolve that makes the quick ones tremble in awe

And a firmness equal to every close combatant

دع الفخرَ ياباغي الفخار لأحمد

وحِدْ عن طريق الباقياتِ الصوالحِ

Leave off boasting, O seeker of pride, to Ahmad

And refrain from the path of lasting virtues

لمن يخطب العلياءَ غالٍ مهورها

إِذا ما ترجا رخصها كل ناكحِ

For he who seeks the lofty, their dowries are costly

When he who marries them seeks reduction from every bridegroom

ومن كلِّ يوم نهضةٌ منه للعلى

تعاني اقتناص المكرمات السوانحِ

And from him each day there is an ascent to the heights

Suffering to seize opportunities that present themselves

يدير إِذا ما أظلم الخطبُ رأيه

فيسفرُ عن نهجِ من النهجِ واضحِ

He steers his view when matters become dark

To travel a clear approach among approaches

ويجلو ظلام المشكلات إِذا دجت

بأفكارِ قلب منتجات لواقحِ

And he clarifies the darkness of problems when they become gloomy

With the ideas of a heart generating insights

أخو عزماتٍ لا ينامُ عدوّها

على الَجنب إِلا في بطون الضرائحِ

A brother of resolves that do not sleep while their enemies

Rest upon their sides except in the pits of tombs

كفاه وقد أربى على الترب جيشه

عن الجيش سعد ذابح كلَّ ذابحَ

It suffices him that he raised his army in the dust

Above the army Saad a slaughterer of every slaughterer

فتىً كمُلت فيه أداةُ اكتهالِه

فند على تجذيعهِ كل قارحِ

A young man in whom the tools of his perfection are complete

So he drives back all who mutilate him

أقام على العلياءِ شوقاً من النّدى

يُتاجره منا به كل رائحِ

He stood with yearning on the heights as fresh dew

Which we barter and bargain from him, every passerby

ملا بابه أيدي الأماني مغانماً

ولا ربحَ إِلاّ عند كلِّ مُسامحَ

His door filled the hands of hopes with spoils

And there is no profit except with every reconciler

بضائِعُنا المزجاةُ تنفقُ عندَه

وانفقها حوليه سوق المدائحِ

Our mixed goods sell at his place

And spend it around him the market of praises

ومدحيَ موقوفٌ عليه إذ الثنا

توخّى به أربا به كل مانحِ

And my praise of him on whom all bestowers

Conferred and profited from praising him

وما مهرُ إِحدى المحصناتِ من النسا

كمهرِ سواها من ذواتِ التسافُحَ

And not the dowry of one of the virtuous women

Is like his dowry from those of liberal accord