أَأُقْتَلُ بينَ جدِّكَ والمزاحِ

بنبلِ جفونِكَ المرضى الصحاحِ

Shall I be slain midst your seriousness and jest

With the arrows of your sick, healing eyelids?

يكدِّرُني نواكَ وأنتَ صافٍ

ويسكرني هواكَ وأنت صاحِ

Your sleeplessness troubles me while you are tranquil

And your love intoxicates me while you are sober

وأبكي للغرامِ وأنتَ لاهٍ

وأُعذَرُ في الأُوامِ وأنتَ لاحِ

I weep for passion while you are heedless

And I excuse myself in people's gatherings while you abstain

فما لسراحِ دمعي مِنْ إسارٍ

وما لإسارِ وجدي منْ سراحِ

So why are my tears not confined

And why is the agony of my love not relieved?

رضاكَ إلى رضابِكَ لي دليلٌ

أليسَ كلاهما روحي وراحي

Your consent to your refusal is evidence for me

Are they not both my soul and comfort?

وما لصباحِ وجهِكَ مِنْ مساءٍ

وما لمساءِ شعركَ مِنْ صباحِ

Your face in the morning bears no evening

Just as the evening of your hair no morning

ولي لحظٌ يطيرُ إليكَ شوقاً

فها قدْ طارَ مبلولُ الجناحِ

I have a moment that flies to you in longing

So here is the wet-winged one flying

ووجهُكَ فوقَ قدِّكَ عرفاني

بإثمارِ البدورِ منَ الرماحِ

Your face above your stature is my gratitude

For the ripening of seeds by spears

عذارُكَ ملحةٌ بعد اختتامِ

يقولُ أقولُ منْ بعدِ افتتاحِ

Your coquetry is salted after conclusion

It says I say after commencement

وثغرُكَ جوهريُّ النظمِ يُعزى

غريبُ الحسنِ فيهِ إلى الصحاحِ

Your lips are the essence of my poetry

Its strange beauty in them ascribed to correctness

لقدْ أصبحتُ من سرِّي ودمعي

لَقَىَ بينَ استتارٍ وافتضاحِ

I have become of my secret and tears

Between concealment and exposure

وسمعي لا يعي بابَ الوصايا

وطرفُكَ عارفٌ بابَ الجراحِ

My hearing perceives not the door of commandments

While your gaze knows the door of wounds

فإنْ يكنْ اجترحتُ هواكَ ذنباً

فتكفيني جراحي باجتراحي

So if I have sinned in loving you

Then my wounds suffice me for my sin

يحقُّ لِمَنْ لحاني فيكَ ذمي

وحُقَّ لكاتبِ السرِّ امتداحي

It is right for one whose chant to you was sincere

And right for the writer of secrets to praise you

ولستُ سوى ابنِ فضلِ اللهِ عني

شهابِ الدينِ ذي الغررِ الملاحِ

And I am but the son of God's grace

The brilliant star of splendid meteors

أبي العباسِ بسَّامِ الثنايا

كفى الجيشَ التحاماً بالتماحِ

My father is Al-Abbas the heart captivator

Sufficient for the army is its crowding in the battlefield

يعدُ نداه في إحياءِ ميْتٍ

كعدِّ سطاهُ في القدرِ المتاحِ

His aid to revive a dead person

Is like the overflowing of his bowl in time of need

جوادٌ كثَّرتْ يدُهُ أيادي ال

عفاةِ وقلَّلتْ أهلَ السماحِ

A generous man whose hand has multiplied

The destitute and reduced the people of dignity

وحيدٌ ما لقلبي عنهُ ثانٍ

ولا يعدوهُ في الدنيا اقتراحي

A lonely man whose heart has no second but you

Nor intention in the world beyond praising you

قريرُ العينِ مضطربُ الأعادي

مصونُ العرضِ مبذولُ السماحِ

Pleasing of eye, perturbing to enemies

Protected in honor, bestowing in generosity

مهيبُ المنتمى طلقُ المحيَّا

خفيُّ المرتمى بادي الصلاحِ

Terrible in lineage, easy in manner

Hidden in intention, manifest in righteousness

شمائلُهُ حَمَتْهُ عنْ شمولٍ

فما دارَتْ لهُ راحٌ براحِ

His attributes protected him from inclusion

No comfort turned to him for comfort

وما سمرُ القدودِ وإنْ سبتنا

أحبُّ إليهِ منْ سمرِ الرماحِ

The conversation of the slender-waisted, even if we blamed it

Is not more beloved to him than the conversation of spears

ولا بيضُ الثغورِ إليه أشهى

وإنْ عذبتْ من البيضِ الصفاحِ

Nor is the whiteness of lips, though delicious

As sweet to him as the whiteness of blades

ندى لانَتْ معاطفُهُ وبأسٌ

يذيبُ حشاشةَ الأسدِ الوقاحِ

The dew of his garments and might

That melts the insolence of the vicious lion

وجودٌ لوْ تفرَّق في البرايا

خَلَتْ بابنِ الكرامِ عن الشحاحِ

And generosity, if diffused in the wild

The son of nobles would be devoid of stinginess

حرامٌ أنْ يُذمَّ وجوبُ ندبٍ

نفى المكروهَ بالمالِ المباحِ

It is unlawful that his obligation to praise be dispraised

He dispelled dislike with the permissible wealth

لهُ قلمٌ بفضلِ اللهِ يُحيي

لنا نحيا به بعدَ انتزاحِ

He has a pen, by God's grace reviving

For us to live by after death

فما أدري أنقشاً فوقَ طرسٍ

يطرزُ أم مساءً في صباحِ

So I know not whether over Tarsus

It embroidered or the dawn wrote in the morning

أسدُّ من السهامِ مضاءَ أمرٍ

وأجرى في الخطوبِ من الرياحِ

A lion in dispersing the course of matters

And the fastest of winds in battles

كأسمرَ في قلوبِ البيضِ منهُ

شكاوى فَهْيَ شاكيةُ السلاحِ

Darker in the hearts of the white

Than the complaints, which are the complainers of weapons

هو ابن جَلا وطلاَّعُ الثنايا

متينُ المتنِ خفَّاقُ الجناحِ

He is the son of glory, the well-guided one

Sturdy in creed, fluttering of wing

أأحمدَ فاضلٍ وأجلَّ صدرٍ

وأسعدَ كاتبٍ وأعزَّ ماحِ

Shall I praise a man of merit and exalted breast

And the happiest writer and most honorable eraser?

أتاني فيكَ مدحٌ منْ إمامٌ

بقطرِ نباتِهِ يحلو انشراحي

There came to me in praising you a eulogy

From an Imam, sweetening with his rainfall my breath

سكرتُ بلفظِهِ شكراً وحمداً

لقائلِهِ فقامَ مقامَ راحِ

I was intoxicated by his words, praising and thanking

The one who said them, who took the place of my comfort

فواطربا للذةٍ ما سقاني

ويا طيبَ اغتباقي واصطباحي

So be delighted at the pleasure that quenched my thirst

O goodly drink and morning!

فلا تسجحْ بمدحِكَ فَهْوَ صدقٌ

وبعضُ المدحِ أكذبُ مِنْ سجاحِ

So prostrate not in your praise, for it is truth

And some praise is more lying than prostration

وكمْ قدْ بلَّغوني عنكَ جبراً

وتأهيلاً يزيدُ بهِ مراحي

And how many reproaches of you they conveyed

And preparations by which my rests increased

فدتْكَ عدى همُ الأعداءُ غياً

وقدْ كانوا ذوي لسنٍ فصاحِ

Your enemies in their injustice were misguided

Though they were eloquent and outspoken

فإنْ سالمتهم سلموا وساموا

وإن حاربْتَهم أضحَوا أضاحي

If you make peace with them, they are safe and perfect

And if you fight them, they become sacrifices

بني الفاروقِ بيتُكُمْ رفيعٌ

أثيلُ المجدِ محروسُ النواحي

O family of Al-Farooq, your house is lofty

Thick with glory, guarded of regions

فما لكتابةِ الأسرارِ عنكُمْ

وأسرارُ الكتابةِ مِنْ براحِ

So why should the writing of secrets be beyond you

While the secrets of writing are of clarity?

بيانٌ مِنْ معانيكمْ بديعٌ

بهِ نمَّقْتم روضَ البطاحِ

An expression of your meanings excellent

With which you adorned the garden of desolation

فضرَّجتمْ بهِ للوردِ خداً

وفلَّجتمْ بهِ ثغرَ الأقاجي

So you gave the roses a cheek with it

And you cleaved with it the mouth of buds

فخذْها بنتَ ليلتِها عروساً

تُزَفُّ إليكَ كالخوْدِ الرداحِ

So take them, daughter of its night, a bride

Led to you like the smooth-cheeked gazelle

قوامُ الغصنِ منها في ذبولٍ

ووجهُ البدرِ منها في افتضاحِ

The stature of its branch in withering

And the face of the moon from it in exposure

فإنْ يكُ عنْ مداكَ بها قصورٌ

فبذلُ الجهدِ عندي كالنجاحِ

So if there is shortcoming in your praise from it

Then the effort is to me like success

وما أنا شاعرٌ حاشا علومي

ولستُ أرى التكسُّبَ بامتداحي

And I am no poet, far from my sciences

And I see not gain in praise

فلي مِنْ نعمةِ الرحمنِ مالٌ

يصونُ عن احتياجٍ واجتياحِ

For I have from the Grace of the Merciful wealth

That protects from need and overpowering

ولمْ أقصدْ بمدحِكَ غيرَ ودٍّ

أروضُ بهِ الزمانَ عن الجماحِ

And I did not intend by praising you but affection

With which I tame time from rudeness

لأعلمَ أنَّ في الدنيا وفياً

فأسلو عنْ نواحي في النواحي

For I know that in life there is a loyal one

So I question the regions in the regions

ولولا الشعرُ بالعلماءِ يزري

لأتعبتُ القرائحَ باقتراحي

Were it not for poetry with the scholars prolific

I would have burdened inspiration with my conception

أرى في العلمِ عنه ألفَ لاحٍ

يناديني بحيَّ على الفلاحِ

I see in knowledge from it a thousand lights

That call me, alive! for success

وكنتُ أطا على الشعرى بشعري

وأطفي الشُّهْبَ منْ شررِ اقتداحي

I would restrain my poetry from poetry

And extinguish the flames from the sparks of my conception

وها أنذا اطرحْتُ غبونُ دهري

فدهري للأفاضلِ ذو أطر احِ

And here I have cast off the deceits of fate

So my fate to the virtuous has wings

حثوتُ بأوجِهِ الآدابِ تبراً

ولم أشرعْ لشارعِها جناحي

I have admonished with aspects of etiquette as soil

And I did not set for its street a wing

وخفتُ على بناتِ الفكرِ يتماً

فإنَّ الشيبَ ينذرُ بالرواحِ

And I was compassionate to the daughters of thought as an orphan

For gray hair warns of spirits

وعفْتُ شرابَ أمداحي فلما

وجدتُكَ أهلَها حَسُنَ امتداحي

And I was chaste from the wine of my praises, so when

I found you worthy of it, my praise was good

فساغَ لي الشرابُ وكنت قدْماً

أكادُ أغصُّ بالماءِ القُراحِ

So the wine was lawful for me, and I was

Almost choking on the burning water

ولو أني استطعتُ أتيتُ أسعى

إليكَ وفزتُ بالمجدِ الصراحِ

And if I were able, I would come hastening

To you, and attain the clear glory

ومنْ لي أن أبيتَ قريرَ عينٍ

أعاطي كأسَ لفظِكَ للصباحِ

But who am I to spend the night cheerfully

To give the cup of your words in the morning?

أشنِّفُ مسمعيَّ بدرِّ درٍّ

تناثَرَ مِنْ سحائبِكَ السحاحِ

I comfort my hearing with a scattering of pearls

From your clouds pouring down

بقيتَ لأمةٍ لو لمْ تصنْها

طحا بنفوسِها للبينِ طاحِ

You remained for a nation, if you did not protect it

Its souls in separation would have fallen

ففعلُكَ للجميلِ اسمُ اختتامٍ

فَدُمْ ما دامَ ها حرفَ افتتاحِ

So your action for good is the name of conclusion

So remain as long as the letter of commencement remains!