من الودّ أني لا أحول عن الوفا

ولو رق جسمي في هواه ولو جفا

It is out of love that I never turn aside from fidelity,

Though my body waste away in passion for him, though he be cruel.

واقسم ما شوقي عليه بباطل

ولا كلفي والله فيه تكلفا

I swear that my longing for him is no false thing,

Nor, by God, is any of my passion feigned.

علقت به كالغصن يخلف وعده

ولا عجب ان مال عني واخلفا

I clung to him—a bough that breaks its promise;

And therefore it is a wonder that he bent away from me and turned aside.

من السمر لي قد هز لدنا قوامه

وقد سل من الحاظه لي مرهفا

One of the tawny lances, whose supple stature sways before me,

Who has drawn against me a keen blade from his glances.

ومن نطفة قد صاغة الله جوهراً

فلله ما ابهاه شكلا والطفا

From a mere drop God fashioned him into a jewel—

By God, how splendid his form, how exquisite!

وما روضة بالنبت وشعها الندى

وحاكت لها الانواء ثوبا مفوفا

No garden whose plants the dew has embroidered,

For which the rain clouds have woven a figured robe—

يا حسن مما دبجته خدوده

وقد زاد فيه الحسن خطا مطرفا

How lovely is what his cheeks have embroidered!

Beauty has added there a downy, richly bordered script.

ايبغي عذولي نسخ آية حسنه

وياقوت بالريحان قد خط احرفا

Do you, my reproacher, seek to efface the sign of his beauty—

Ruby upon which basil-down has traced its letters?

يقولون لي كم ذا ترق وقلبه

من الصخر اقسى قلت هذا من الصفا

They say to me, “How long this tenderness, when his heart

Is harder than rock?” I say, “That comes from ṣafā—pure stone.”

اقول لعذالي عليه اطلتم

واكثرتم فيه الحديث المزخرفا

I tell my reproachers concerning him, “You have gone on too long,

And multiplied your gaudily embellished talk of him.”

وقلتم حكاه البدر معنى وصورة

صدقتم حكاه البدر لكن تكلفا

You said the full moon resembles him in meaning and in form;

You spoke truly: the moon imitates him, but laboriously.

فيا قمرا لو قابل البدر وجهه

ولاح لولى البدر في الافق واختفى

O moon—if the full moon were to confront his face,

And he appeared, the full moon would hide upon the horizon.

لنحوك عن حالي اتيتك معربا

لعل بوصل ان تجود وتعطفا

Toward you I have come, making my condition plain;

Perhaps you will generously grant union and incline in kindness.

وما لي ذنب في هواك وان يكن

فعفواً فان الصبر مني قد عفى

I have no fault in loving you—and if I do,

Then pardon me, for all my patience has worn away.

واني وان ضاقت وعز تخلصي

حمدت القوافي وامتدحت ابن يوسفا

Though hardship closes around me and deliverance is difficult,

I have sworn by the rhymes and praised Ibn Yusuf:

اخو ثقة يعطي الالوف تكرما

وكم بالعطا مغنى لراجيه الفا

A trustworthy man who gives thousands out of generosity;

How many a thousand hopeful supplicants his gifts have enriched!

وكم لي انسى من حبيب ومنزل

بجدواه حتى لم اقل بعدها قفا

How often his bounty has made me forget beloved and dwelling alike,

Until afterward I never again cried, “Stop, you two!”

فقل للذي يرجو وفا وعد غيره

تعال اليه تلق بحرا من الوفا

Tell whoever hopes another man will fulfill his promise:

Come to him, and you will encounter an ocean of fidelity.

وقف مستمدا من عطاياه تلقه

جوادا سريع البذل لن يتوقفا

Stand seeking sustenance from his gifts, and you will find him

Generous and swift to give, never hesitating.

عن الجود لا يليه قول مفند

ولو لام فيه كل لاح وعنفا

No gainsayer’s words can turn him away from generosity,

Nor any reproacher’s blame, however harshly he rails.

يرى كفه صرف الدنانير قبل ان

يضاف الى الممنوع منها فتصرفا

His palm sends the dinars forth to be spent before any

Can be ascribed to the praised man—and so away they go.

واني لأعرى حق واجب شكره

بما لي اولى من جميل واسلفا

I shall uphold the binding duty of thanking him

For the kindness he first bestowed and advanced to me.

فيا حرما من حله كان آمنا

ومن جاءه يسعى لقد فاز بالصفا

Here is a sanctuary—whoever enters it is safe,

And whoever comes to him striving has attained purity.

لدائي شفاك الله داو فانني

من الفقر قد امسى فؤادي على شفا

Treat my illness—may God heal you—for I,

Through poverty, have brought my heart to the very brink.

وجد لي بانصفا من الزمن الذي

على الموت قد اشفيت ومنه ما اشتفى

Grant me justice against Time, which

Has brought me near death, though none has found healing from it.

وجد لي سقيت السلسبيل مبرداً

فلي جسدٌ من برده قد تقرقفا

Be generous to me—may you be given cool Salsabil to drink—

For my body has shivered from its chill.

وصل بالوعد في وعدي وحاشاك انني

اراك اذا ما فهت بالوعد مخلفا

Join your promise, in my case, to fulfillment—far be it from me

Ever to see you break a promise once you have uttered it.

ويكفيك من حالي باني امرؤٌ اخو

كفاف واحلى العيش ما بعضه كفى

It is enough that you know my state: I am a man living on

Bare sufficiency—and sweetest is the life content with its little share.

فدونكها بكرا تنظم درها

وقد زادت الاسماع منه تشنفا

Here, then, take her: a maiden whose pearls are strung in order;

She has made listening ears adorn themselves with pendants.

تغار بنو الآداب من حسن نظمها

وتحسد ذو العليا عليها المصنفا

The sons of letters envy the beauty of her composition,

And the high-born envy her author because of her.

تهنيك بالعام المبارك عشره

تهنّ به عاما وعشراً مشرّفا

She congratulates you tenfold upon the blessed year;

May you rejoice in it for a year and ten, ennobled.

فلا زلت لي في الدهر عونا ومسعداً

وغوثاً على جور الزمان ومسعفا

May you never cease to be my aid and helper through time,

And my rescuer from the tyranny of fate.

ودمت قرير العين ما لاح بارقٌ

وما غردّت ورق على البان هتّفا

May you remain content whenever lightning gleams,

And whenever a ring-dove coos among the bān trees.