لنا بهواه حرمةٌ وذمامُ

دما نابه يا مقلتيهِ حرامُ

Through love of him, we possess a sacred claim and covenant;

By it our blood is inviolable, O you two eyes of his.

أَماناً فما لي من يد بلواحظٍ

تحاكي سيوفَ الهند وهي سهامُ

Grant me safety, for I have no power against glances

that imitate Indian swords, though they are arrows;

ولا بغزال دونها من قوامِها

ومن مقلتيْها ذابلٌ وحُسامُ

nor against a gazelle, guarded by her very figure—

a slender spear from her stature, and a sword from her eyes.

غزالٌ تجرّى الحسن فيها فَاقبلت

وفي كل عضو فتنةٌ وغرامُ

A gazelle in whom Beauty grew bold and came forward,

while every limb held temptation and passion.

تبيتُ تضاغي وشحها من مجاعةٍ

وأحجا لها ملأى البطون نيام

She spends the night whimpering, her sash crying out from hunger,

while those more fit for her sleep with bellies full.

دَمْتني فهل أبصرت إِصبع من دمي

وقد سفكته مقلةُ وقَوامُ

You bloodied me—have you seen so much as a finger stained with my blood,

though an eye and a figure have shed it?

عيون مهاة لو بسوادها

بياضَ المشيب اسودُّ وهو ثغام

Eyes of an oryx—if their blackness touched

the white of gray hair, it would turn black, though white as thaghām blossom.

وقد شيبّت بالهجر رأسي لوم تخفْ

أما في صباغ بالبياض أثام

Through abandonment you have whitened my head, yet feared no blame;

is there no sin, then, in dyeing hair white?

تحرِّمُهُ عاماً وعاماً تُحلّهُ

ومن بات ما ينهاك عنهُ نِدام

She forbids it for years, then permits it for a single year;

whoever spends the night doing what she forbids is remorseful.

وقائلةِ لما رأت أن محنتي

لها باحتفال العاذلين دوام

And a woman said, when she saw that my ordeal

because of her endured amid the assembled censurers:

أمِط عن محياه الحجاب فلو رأى

ذوو الرشد منهم ما رأيتُ لهاموا

Lift the veil from his face—for if

the right-minded among them saw what I have seen, they would rave with love.

واصبح من أمسى يلوكم في الهوى

بالسن كل العالمين يلام

More love-struck is the man who spends his evening blaming you for love—

he is blamed by every tongue in the world.

وما اللوم لو صح الوصال يهولني

وإِن قعد العذّالُ فيه وقاموا

No blame could frighten me if union were assured,

though the censurers sat down over it and rose again.

ولكن لها قبل السلام إِذا دنت

وداعٌ ومن قبل الرِضاع فِطامُ

Yet before the greeting, whenever she draws near, she has

a farewell—and before the time of weaning, a weaning.

تواعِدنُي حتى أرى الوصل فرصةً

وتمطُل حتى لاَ أراه يُرام

She promises me until I see union as an opportunity,

then delays until I no longer think it attainable.

فابعدُ ميعاد بزورتها غدٌ

ويذهبُ عام لا يزور وعامُ

The farthest date she names for her visit is tomorrow,

yet a year passes without a visit, and then another year.

كما وعدت من في ضربه المنى

بان ابن إسماعيل عنه ينامُ

Just as hopes promised the man for whom even being struck by him counts among his favors

that Ibn Isma‘il would sleep and leave him alone.

فصدّق حينا ثم ايقن أَنه

غرور أماني ما لهن تمامُ

For a while he believed them; then he became certain

they were delusive wishes that could never be fulfilled,

وأَن له من بيض أحمد أينما

توجّه موتٌ كامن وحِمامُ

and that Ahmad’s white blades held, wherever

he turned, death lying hidden and doom.

فألقى إِليه باليدين ولن ترى

فتى نحوه القي اليدين يُضام

So he surrendered to him with both hands; never will you see

a man who gives him both hands be wronged.

ورحب بعد العلم أن طعامه

وإِن لم يرحب للجيوش طعامُ

He welcomed his fate after learning that he would be their food—

for even if he did not welcome it, he would be food for the armies.

فجوزي جزاء المخلصين صنيعُهم

مع العلم أَن الصنع فيه سِقام

Thus his deed was requited as the deeds of the sincere are requited,

though it was known that what he did was unsound.

واغرق بالنعما وهل فاز بالنجا

كغرقاء في بحر لأحمد عاموا

He was drowned in bounty—and did anyone ever win salvation

as did the drowning men who swam in Ahmad’s sea?

مليك متى تسأل به في أصوله

تجد حولتيه للملوك زحام

A king: whenever you inquire about him among the roots of his lineage,

you find kings thronging around him on either side.

وإن تره في فعله وصنيعه

تقل ليس بِدعا أن يسود عِصام

And if you behold his conduct and his deeds,

you will say, “No marvel that an ‘Iṣām should attain lordship.”

هو الناصر الملك الذي لا سحابه

جهام ولا ماضي سباه كهام

He is the champion-king: his rain cloud is never barren,

nor is the keen edge of his sword ever blunt.

سلالةُ إسماعيل وانظر ترى به

همام نماه في الملوك همام

A descendant of Isma‘il—look, and you will see in him

a high-hearted hero, bred among kings by a high-hearted hero.

له نسب في الملك من عهد آدم

إِلى اليوم سلك والملوم نظام

His royal lineage, from the age of Adam

to this day, is a string with kings as its ordered beads.

إذا مدّ للعلياء باعاً تخاضعت

من الشهب أعناق وطؤطئ هامُ

When he stretches his reach toward the heights of glory,

the necks of the bright stars abase themselves and heads bow low.

وظلت تفديه العلا بنفوسها

وأقصى مناها زورة ولمام

The heights of glory keep ransoming him with their souls,

and their utmost desire is a visit, however fleeting.

يحب المعالي والمعالي تحبه

فكل قد استولى عليه غرام

He loves lofty honors, and lofty honors love him;

each has been wholly mastered by passion for the other.

تراوده عن نفسه كل رتبة

من المجد عنها لم يفض ختام

Every rank of glory tries to seduce him from himself,

though no seal upon her has yet been broken.

وما عاشق يهوى العلى وهي تارك

كصب لها وجد به وهيام

No mere lover is he, yearning for the heights while they forsake him;

the heights themselves are his lover, consumed for him by longing and passion.

فقل لملوك الأرض خافوه تأمنوا

ودينوا تقروا أُعينا وتناموا

Say to the kings of earth: fear him, and be safe;

submit, and your eyes will rest and you will sleep.

فما زلتم يقضي ويمضي قضاؤه

عليكم فأنتم طيبون كِرامُ

As long as he judges among you and carries out his judgment

upon you, you remain sound, good, and noble.

ولا تأخذن بعضا من البعض غِيرة

فكلُّ له منكم لديه مقام

Let no jealousy seize some of you against the others,

for each of you has a station with him.

لكم مايشا لا تشاؤون فانصتوا

فقد خرست لسن ومات كلام

Yours is whatever he wills, not what you will—so listen:

tongues have fallen mute, and speech itself has died.

فانتم ملوك للأنام أئمةٌ

وأحمد ملك للأنام إِمامُ

You are kings, leaders of humankind,

but Ahmad is a king, the leader of the leaders.

فلا زال ميمونَ النقيبةِ ظافراً

عليه من الله السلامُ سلامُ

May he never cease to be fortunate in nature and victorious;

upon him be peace from God—peace upon peace.