دمعي على الخدِّ مثل الدرّ ينتثرُ

أجاءني عنهمُ أم لم يجىْ خبرُ

My tears on my cheek are like pearls scattering

Whether news of them came to me or no tidings came

وكيف يسكن وجدي إن أتى خبرٌ

والشوق يزداد هيجاناً إذا ذكروا

And how can my passion subside if news comes

And yearning grows more tumultuous when they are mentioned

ما عاشقٌ من له دمع يطاوعهُ

إن كفَّه ومتى يتركه ينحدرُ

What lover sheds tears that obey him

If he holds them back, and when does he let them flow

لا تحسبوا الصبَّ سالٍ إنَّ أدمعه

يظن كلِ مكان أنها مطرُ

Think not the youth's tears are spilt, truly his tears

Are deemed by all places to be rainfall

والله مالىَ صبرٌ أستعين به

على فِراقٍ جرى فينا به القدرُ

By Allah I have no patience to help me

With a separation decreed for us by Fate

هجرتهَ وهو من قلبي بمنزلةٍ

لحاسدٍ قال قولاً ما له أثرُ

His estrangement is to my heart like

What an envier said without effect

ولم يشنه وهل يسعى إلى كلمٍ

يعاب فيها بقبحِ السيرة القمرُ

He did not discredit him - does one seek to find fault

In the moon's conduct, and impute to it foul deeds?

خلق سنيٌّ وأخلاق مهذبةٌ

يقول من يره ما هكذا البشرُ

A creation of benevolence and refined manners

Whoever sees him says, 'People are not like this'

يخفى على الشمس صونا في الحجاب فما

رآه للشمس مذكانا معاً بصرُ

He conceals himself from the sun modestly with a veil, so it

Has not seen the like of him, neither female nor male

ولو رأته لظلّت وهي كاسفةٌ

وغيّرتها بفرطِ الغيرة الغيَرُ

If it saw him, abashed it would remain

Changing through intense jealousy and wonder

له التأني إذا أهل العطا عجلوا

له الوفاء إِذا أهل الغضا غَدروا

To him belongs deliberation when people of bounty are hasty

To him belongs loyalty when people of rancour are treacherous

إذا نظرت إليه قلت من عجبِ

لمثلٍ هَذا المحيا يحسنُ النَّظرُ

When I look at him I say in wonder

‘It is for the like of this the gaze was created’

وظلتَ تحلفَ أَني ما نظرت له

خلقاً يضاهيه لا أُنثى ولا ذكرُ

And you insisted I never looked on him

With a nature to equal him, neither female nor male

لا عيب فيه سوى أَني بغيبتهِ

لا كُتب فيها توافيني ولا خبرُ

No fault in him, save that in his absence

No letters reach me, nor any news

فعزَّ عندي ولو شئت اعتذرتُ له

ففي الهوى مثل هذا الذنب يغتفرُ

So he is dear to me, and if you wish, excuse him

For in passion the like of this sin is forgiven

أَنبيت عنه وقالوا منذ فارقني

ما فارقا مقلتيه الدمعَ والسهرُ

I have awoken from him, and they said, since he left me

Neither have his eyelids nor my tears and sleeplessness departed

فيا عذولي فيه كفَّ عن عذلي

فليس قلبيّ كما خُيلتهُ حَجرُ

So spare me your rebukes against him

For my heart is not what you supposed it to be, a stone

وليس عندك ما عندي بما وصفوا

ما بعد ما قيل هذا عنه مصطبرُ

Nor is what is in you the same as what is in me, as they described

What was said of him cannot be gainsaid

ظلمته بعقاب مالهُ سببٌ

والظالمون بيحي اليوم قد قصروا

I have wronged him by punishing what he is not guilty of

And the unjust, on Judgement Day, will fall short

والطاهر الملك بن الأشرف الملك

ابن الأَفضل الملك ابن الضيغم الهذرُ

The pure sovereign, al-Malik ibn al-Ashraf, ibn

al-Afdal, ibn al-Diya’ al-Muzaffar

من لا تعدُّ ولا تحصى فضائله

وكيف يحصى الحصى أو يحصر المطرُ

Of countless merits, that cannot be counted or comprehended

How can pebbles be counted, or rain confined?

ما قد سمعنا ولا من قبله سمعوا

جودا كجودك يا يحيى وإن فشروا

What we have heard, and what those before never heard

Of your generosity, O Yaḥyá, even if they spread it

فأَنت أول ملك سنَّ مكرمةً

عن أَخذ موهوبها الأَيدي لها قصرُ

You were the first king who established

The honourable practice of not taking gifts offered by hands to which palaces bow

فمن يقال له خذْها يقل غلطوا

هذا جزيلٌ وقدري عنه محتقرُ

So if it was said to someone, “Take it,” he would say “You are mistaken,

This is abundant, while my worth is paltry”

كم بدعةً في العلا والجودُ أحدثها

ما سنّها في الورى من قبله بَشرُ

How many excellent customs in nobility and generosity you originated

That no human before you instituted in the world

عادَ الزمانُ بيحيى كالقناة فتى

من بعد ما قد حناه الشِيبُ والكبرُ

The days have returned in Yaḥyá like a vigorous youth

After it had been bent by old age and senility

كم حي من عدلهِ قوَّم وقد بلغوا

حدّ الهلاكِ فخلنا أَنهم نشروا

How many alive has he set upright with his justice, when they had reached

The point of extinction, so we thought them strewn like the dead

ما هذه السيرة المثلى التي انتشرت

في الأرض عنك وما هذا الثنا العَطِرُ

What is this supreme conduct that has spread about you

In the land, and these sweet savours that have diffused?

ملك تأتت ليحيى فيه معجزةٌ

رام الملوك تأتيّها فيما قدروا

A wondrous miracle has come to pass for Yaḥyá

Which kings aspired to in what they decreed

حبَّ الورى لك بالإِجماع ما أحد

إِلا وأنت لديه السمعُ والبصرُ

The world's love for you is unanimous—no one

Except has you for their hearing and sight

حبٌّ يمازجه خوفٌ يعدله

فكلهم لورود الأمر يبتدروا

A love tempered by awe, kept straight by it

For they all hasten to comply when a command comes

ما لذةُ الملك إلا الحبُّ يكسبه

من قلب كل امرئ للأمر يأتمرُ

The only pleasure of a kingdom is love which earns for it

From every person's heart obedience to authority

لم يبدُ للناس عتبٌ مذ ملكُتهُمُ

على الزمانِ ولا ما عنه يعتذرُ

Since you ruled them, people have expressed no complain

Against Fate, nor have they offered any excuse

كانوا يلومونه والذنبُ ليس له

إِذ ليس في وجهه نفعٌ ولا ضررٌ

They used to blame it, but the fault was not its

Since, in its aspect, there was neither benefit nor harm

حتى ملكتَ وزال الشرُّ وانقطعت

عنه الملامةُ والذنب الذي ذكروا

Until you reigned, and evil departed, the blame

Ceased, and the fault they mentioned, vanished

فليهنكَ العيد والخيراتُ تتبعهُ

وافي بشيرٌ بها والنصرُ والظفرُ

So may the Feast and the boons that follow it delight you

With the herald of good tidings, triumph and victory

وإنه بك أولى أن تهنيهُ

يا غيثُ ياليثُ في الهيجاء يا قمرُ

And it is more fitting that you should congratulate it

O rain, O thirst-quencher in the arid land, O moon!

قالوا سواىَ يطيلُ الشِعر قلت لهم

علي في مثل يحيى إن أطل نكرُ

They said, ‘Shua'i prolongs poetry,’ I said to them

‘For one like Yaḥyá, my spinning it out is no shame’

إِذا دنا المستقى والدلو تبلغه

بما تشاء فتطويل الرشا حورُ

When the watering place draws near and the bucket reaches it

With what you wish, to lengthen the rope is seemly

ما طولوا في الرشا إلا لما حسبوا

لو قدروا فيه قرب المستقى قصروا

They prolonged it only because they thought

Had they known the watering place was near, they would have shortened it

يا رب لا تدخّر مجداً ولا شرفاً

إلاَّ وكان ليحيى منهما الخِيَرُ

O Lord, reserve no glory or honour

But let Yaḥyá have the best of it

فإِن يحيى وأنت الله خالقهُ

جعلته آيةً في الجود يعتبرُ

For Yaḥyá, whom You, O God, created

You have made a sign in generosity to be contemplated

فلا تمد إِلى فضلٍ لديك رجا

إِلا وعاد لما يقضي به الوطرُ

So turn no hopeful to a merit You possess

Except what the divine decree decides returns to him