يا كَوكَباً لَم تحوِهِ الأَفلاكُ
وَبعارِضيه مِرزَمٌ وَسِماكُ
O star untouched by the orbits!
With shining cheeks and perfect beauty.
يُحيي بطلعَتِهِ النفوسَ ولحظُه
لدماءِ أَربابِ الهوى سَفّاكُ
Your rising revives souls, your glance
Sheds the blood of passionate lovers.
اِغمد شَباكَ عن القلوب وصِد بأه
دابِ الجُفون فإِنَّهنَّ شِباكُ
Sheathe your arrows from hearts, and aim
At the prey of eyelids, for they’re your hunting trap.
أَسرَ الغَرامُ لكَ النفوسَ بأَسرِها
قَسراً فما يُرجى لَهُنَّ فكاكُ
Passion has captivated souls completely,
Forcibly, so no release can be hoped for them.
أَنّى يُرجّى مِن هواك فكاكُها
من بعد ما عَلِقَت بها الأَشراكُ
How can release from your love be hoped
After they are fettered by your chains?
خفَقت عليكَ قُلوبُ أَربابِ الهوى
حتّى غَدَونَ وما بهنَّ حراكُ
The hearts of lovers have fluttered to you
Until they came to you and stopped all movement.
لكَ في القَبائلِ نسبةٌ بجمالها
تَسمو الحُبوشُ وَتفخر الأَتراكُ
For you, among tribes, is a lineage of beauty
Noble Shubash and proud Ottomans boast of.
ما كُنتُ أَحسب للدُموع بَوارِقاً
حتّى تلألأَ ثغرك الضَحّاكُ
I never thought tears had flowing springs
Until your smiling mouth began to shine.
بشفاته ماءُ الحياة لأَنفُس
أَودى بهنَّ من الصُدود هلاكُ
In his lips is the water of life for souls
Destroyed by aloofness and perishment.
ما ذقتُ موردَها ولكن هَكَذا
نقلَ الأَراكُ وحدَّث المِسواكُ
I have not tasted it, but this is how
The narrator related, and the tooth stick spoke.
قل للأَراك أَراك تلثم مَبسِماً
ما راحَ لاثمُه سِواكَ سِواكُ
Say to the narrator, you narrate kissing a smiling mouth
None has kissed it but you, none but you!
لَو أَبصر النُسّاكُ بارقَ ثغره
ضَلَّت سَبيلَ رشادِها النُسّاكُ
If ascetics saw the lightning of his smile
Ascetics would lose the path of their piety.
سيّان في نَهب النُفوس وَسفكها
حَدُّ الحسام وطرفُه البتّاكُ
It’s all the same in plundering souls and shedding their blood,
The sword’s edge and his captivating glance.
ظبيُ الصَريم إِذا تلفَّت أَو رنا
وإِذا سطا فالضَيغَمُ الفتّاكُ
The roe deer, if it turns or cries out,
The wolf, if it pounces, is the vicious killer.
وأَنا الَّذي في الحُبِّ مُذ وحَّدتُه
ما شانَ توحيدي له إِشراكُ
And I, since I profess His unicity in love,
Nothing shares with me in my profession of His unicity.
وَعَلى التَفنُّن في محاسن وصفِهِ
ما حامَ حَولَ أَقلِّها الإِدراكُ
And in depicting the variations of his beauties
The highest perception cannot encompass even the least of them.
لَولا أَبي وأَبي الرَضيُّ المُرتَضى
لَم يثنِني عَن وصفِه اِستِدراكُ
Were it not for my father and my father al-Radi
No qualm would keep me from depicting Him.
السيِّدُ الندبُ الهمامُ أَخو العُلى
من أَذعنَت لجلاله الأملاكُ
The outstanding Master, the zealous brother of the Exalted One,
To whose majesty the angels submit.
هو شَمسُ مجدٍ أَشرقت بضيائها
ظُلَمُ الدُجى وأَنارت الأَحلاكُ
He is the sun of glory whose brilliance shone,
Dispelling the darkness of gloom and illuminating horizons.
طافَت بكعبة جوده يَومَ النَدى
عُصَبُ الوفود ولاذت الهُلّاكُ
The throngs of pilgrims circled His generocity
The day of bounty, and the doomed took refuge in Him.
الأَلمعيُّ إِذا اِدلهمَّت طَخيَةٌ
عمياءُ فهو لِسترها هتّاكُ
Al-Alami, when an obscure stain arises,
Is active in concealing it.
وَاللوذعيُّ إذا تَسامَت رُتبةٌ
قَعساءُ فهو لنيلها دَرّاكُ
Al-Lawza’i, when rank is high,
Strives hard to attain it.
وَالهِبرزيُّ إذا تغالَت خَصلَةٌ
علياءُ فهو لرقِّها ملّاكُ
And al-Hibri, when a lofty quality arises,
He is an angel in lifting it to the heights.
فلجيدِه دُرَرُ المدائح تُنتَقى
وَلجوده بُردُ الثَناءِ يُحاكُ
For his generosity, the pearls of praise are selected,
And for his liberality, the gems of eulogy are composed.
سَمعاً أَخا العَلياء مدحةَ ناظم
نَثرَت لآلئِها له الأَسلاكُ
Hear, O brother of the Exalted, the eulogy of a composer
Whose pearls were threaded for you by the planets.
يَدعوكَ بعدَ أَبيه في الدُنيا أَباً
فَكِلاكما للمكرُماتِ ملاكُ
He calls you after your father “father” in the world,
For both of you own the bestowal of bounties.
يا لَيتَ شِعري كيف رأَيُك بعدَما
حال الزَمانُ ودارَت الأَفلاكُ
Oh, how I wish I knew, after time has passed
And the orbits revolved, how you see me!
هَل قائِمٌ عُذري لديكَ بما مَضى
منّي وَقَلبي بالخطوب يُشاكُ
Does my excuse still stand with you
For my past conduct, while my heart is torn with distress?
أَم آخِذٌ في العتب أَنتَ وتاركي
حَرضاً وأَنتَ الآخذُ التَرّاكُ
Or are you blaming me, rejecting me,
While you are the most clement and forgiving?
ما كانَ إِهمالي الجوابَ لجفوَةٍ
لا والَّذي دانَت له الأَملاكُ
It was not neglect that made me refrain from answering,
No—by Him to whom angels submit!
لكن مخافةَ أَن يَقولَ وَيَفتري
عنّي المحالَ الكاذِبُ الأفّاكُ
Rather, fear that the impossible liar and fraud
Would speak ill of me and fabricate about me.
وإِليكَها منّي عَروساً لم يكن
لِسوى ودادِك عندها إِملاكُ
And to you—she is from me a bride whom
None but your love had power over.
لا زلتَ مقصودَ الجَناب مُمَجَّداً
ما لاحَ بَرقٌ واِستهلَّ سِماكُ
You still have the aim of my side, glorious,
As long as lightning flashes and clouds gather.
