قسماً هذه القوافي الحسان

لم ينلها سحبان أو حسان

I swear by these harmonious verses,

Unattained by Suhban or Hasan.

وإذا قيس لامرئ القيس معنى

بمعانيك ما له لمعان

And if al-A'mri al-Qais's meaning is measured

Against your meanings, he has no brilliance.

وقسا طبع ابن قيس وقسٍ

عن مداناتها وبان البيان

And Ibn Qays's nature was hard, and hard

Were his refusals, though eloquence bowed.

وطوى ما ارتده من نظمه

الطائي فخرا ودأبه الأذعان

Al-Tai folded what verse he wore

Proudly, and his way was surrender.

وأبو الطيب المنقح ما طابت

بأشعاره له الأوزان

And Abul Tayyib, refined, nothing

Pleased with his poems but meters.

وإلى لفظك البديع هما دمعاً

وهامت بفضله همدان

To your ingenious expression they were both tears

And with your merit Hamadan swooned.

أفمن بعد هؤلاء في حلبة

الآداب ترجو سباقك الفرسان

So is there anyone in the arena

Of culture who hopes to outrace you, riders?

يا صلاح العلى بعثت بما منها

تحلى الأفواه والآذان

O Salah al-Din, you have sent that

With which mouths and ears adorn themselves.

بنت فكر مليكة النظم والنثر

لها من نظامها تيجان

The daughter of the king of prose and verse

Whose system crowns her.

برزت في قلائد وعقود

دونهن الياقوت والمرجان

She appeared in necklaces and bracelets

Beyond which are ruby and coral.

وبدت تبهر العيون سناء

اين منه بهرام والهرمان

And she shone dazzling eyes – where

Is the like of her but Bahram and Hurmuz?

حركت ساكن الجماد معانيها

وزان الجمال منها الجمان

Her meanings stirred the stillness of objects

And the scale of beauty swayed with her.

ذات من من غير من علينا

افضل المن ما عداه امتنان

One whose favor upon us, apart from

Gratitude, excels all favor.

قلدتنا أوصافها فكان

المكتسى من ثيابها عريان

Her attributes garbed us, so that

The clothed was naked.

ودعتنا إلى الأجابة عنها

والأجابات عندها هذيان

She called us to answer her

And answers to her were madness.

حظها في العلى العطاء من الفضل

وحظى الحضيض والحرمان

Her fortune was the loftiest gift

While lowliness and deprivation were mine.

هذبتها العلوم دهراً ومن احسن

اوصاف حسنها الأحسان

Knowledge refined her for ages, and the best

Of her features was beneficence.

فلها اهتديت منها كأني

اعجمي ولفظها ترجمان

By her I was guided, as though I

Were a foreigner and her words interpreter.

ولقد صدني واصداء فكري

عن قوافي القريض هذا الزمان

And her thought's reverberations barred me

From poets' rhymes in this time.

ابداً اقطع الفيافي بقطع

الليل حتى كأنني السرحان

Forever I cut across the wastes by night's

Severance, as though I were Suhayl.

وكأن الدجى قتام وعي يوم

عبوس نجومه الخرصان

As though gloom were darkness and my day

A frowning sky with tiny stars.

كل بيداء يحسب الآل ماء

ضمنها من هجيرها الظمآن

Each desolation thinks theWhite Hands water

Among it, for the thirsty mirage.

وكأني حسبت في حوز قيعان

سباريتها يرى العقيان

As though I thought in the skirts of deserts

Its phantom waters the blind see.

فأظل الزمان أدأب ادلاجا

ودأبي في فيحها الامتحان

So time I pass professing obscurities

And my profession in her absence is trial.

وكأن الفلاة صدر كريم

وأنا السر والسُرى الكتمان

As though the wilderness were a generous breast

And I the secret and clandestine way.

مفرد عن خليلةٍ وخليل

انما الصبر والنهي خلان

Alone, without companion or friend

– Patience and abstinence my two comrades.

فسميري بها السهى وضجيعاي

لديها السهاد والأشجان

She is my night talk and my daydream

My pillow is her absence and longings.

وأنيسي مع المهولات فيها

سابح أجرد أقب حصان

My friend amid terrors – in it

I swim stripped, a swift steed.

غاصب صورة الهلال بأيديه

ونجم السماء منه العنان

Usurping the crescent's shape in my hands

And from it the sky's star is my rein.

يعجز البرق شأوه ومن

العجز عليه تظاهر الخفقان

Lightning falls short of its extent, and

From incapacity masquerades flash.

واخلاي لامة وتريك

ومجن ونيعة مرنان

My weapons are absence, separation,

Affliction, and the bending of spears.

وحسام مهند وسهام

وسنان يقله المران

My sword is Indian and my arrows

Are arrows that hands flex.

وإذا لم تجد معينا فآلات

المنايا علي المني أعوان

And if you find no helper, then

The instruments of death assist me.

طالباً للعلى قديم حقوق

أحدث المنع دونها الحدثان

Seeking the heights, longtime dues

Of rights the new refused me.

أفمن من مثل من دهته الليالي

بعدما ازدهته يرجي البيان

So is there any, after the nights have rolled me

In non-existence, who hopes for brilliance?

بيد أني امتثلت أمرك

فانحل لنا منه شعرك الفتان

Yet I obeyed your command,

So unravel for us your charming poetry.

لا برحت الزمان تلغز الغازاً

هي الروح والورى جثمان

You never ceased to slip away,

The soul, and the plot a body.

سالماً آمنا صروف الليالي

وعجيب من الزمان الأمان

Greetings – safe from the nights' caprice

And wondrous safety from time.

ما شد العندليب شجواًوفاحت

بشذاها الرياض والأغصان

The nightingale never trilled more plaintively

And the gardens and boughs opened with its scent.