ليلَ الحمى بات بَدْرِي فيكَ مُعْتَنِقي

وبات بدرُك مرمِيّاً على الطُّرُقِ

My feverish night has become like a full moon embracing me,

While your full moon lies fallen on the roads.

شتَّان ما بين بدرٍ صيغَ من ذهبٍ

وذاكَ بدري وبدرٍ صيغَ من بَهَقِ

What a difference between a moon made of gold,

And my moon, and a moon made of clay!

زار الحبيبُ وبدْرُ التِّم في كَمدٍ

بادٍ عليه وغصنُ البان في قَلَفِ

The beloved visited while the new moon was bent over,

Waning over it and the myrtle branch was in its crescent.

يمشي على خدِّ من يَهْوى وأَدمُعه

تهمِي فسبحان منجِيه من الْغَرَقِ

He walks on the cheek of the one he loves while his tears

Flow copiously - So glory to the One who saved him from drowning!

وقبْل ذا كان طيفاً من تكَبُّرِه

فإِنْ سرى كان مَسْراه على الحَدَق

Before this he was an apparition in his aloofness,

And if he journeyed, his travel was on the horizon.

وبات باللَّثم تَحْت الختم مَبْسِمُه

والصَّدْرُ بالضَّم تحتَ القُفل والفَلَق

His smile lay sealed beneath his veil,

While his breast lay locked and cleaved beneath the padlock and key.

وعِفْتُ طيفيَ لم جَاءَ سيِّدُه

يا عين عفِّي طريقَ الطَّيفِ بالأَرَق

I chastised my specter for not bringing its master,

"Oh eye, spare the specter's path in my vigil!"

يا عاذِلي فيه أَمَّا خدُّه فنَدٍ

كما تراهُ وأَمَّا ثغْره فَنَقي

"Oh you who blame him - as for his cheek it is delicate,

As you see it, and as for his mouth, it is dainty."

وما جفونك تلْويها على سَهري

ولا ضلوعُك تطْويها على حُرَقي

Your eyelids do not twist shut in my vigil,

Nor do your ribs fold over my scorching pain.

تريدُني خارِجيّاً عن مَحبَّتِه

أَنَّى وبيعةُ ذاك الحُسنِ في عُنُقي

You want me to abandon my love for him -

How, when the pact with that beauty is around my neck?

يا صاحبَ الحسن لا تَعجل بفُرقَتِنا

فما رمَقْتُك إِلاَّ آخِر الرَّمَقِ

Oh companion of beauty, do not hasten our separation,

For I have only glimpsed you at my last gasp.

وساترٍ ليَ عينَيْه براحَتِه

ليتَ الضَّنَى ليَ من عينيْه كانَ بَقي

A screen for me are his two eyes with their tranquility -

Would that grief for me from his eyes had remained!

سرقتَ قلبي ولمْ أَنكرتَ سِرقته

أَليس خدُّك مسروقاً من السَّرق

You stole my heart without denying you stole it -

Is not your cheek stolen from the thief stars?

ونكهةِ لك تُحيي نفسَ ناشِقها

بمسترقٍّ من الفِردَوْس مُستَرق

You have a subtlety that revives the soul of one who desires it

With something secretly stolen from Paradise.

جاءَ الغرامُ وهذا الحسنُ في قَرنٍ

والغيثُ يَهْمي ونورُ الدِّين في طَلَقِ

Passion came and this beauty in one era,

And the downpour rushes and the light of faith is unleashed.

تسابَقا فادْلهمَّ الدَّجْن في ظُلمَ

من الْقُطوبِ وفازَ النُّورُ بالسَّبَق

They raced and the darkness led them in the gloom

Of the poles, but the light won the race.

إِنَّ السحائِبَ جارَتْه فأَتْعَبها

وذلكَ القطرُ بعد الجُهدِ كالْعَرَقِ

The clouds assisted it but fatigue overcame them,

And that rainfall after the effort was like sweat.

الأَفضلُ الملكُ المخلوقُ من كَرمٍ

ومَنْ سواه هو المخلوقُ من عَلَقِ

The best king is the one created from generosity,

While anyone less is created from a clot.

حاشاه أَنْ يَتَعنَّى في تَكَرُّمه

وإِنَّما هو ماش فيه مَعْ خُلُقِ

Far be it from Him to be deliberative in His generosity!

Rather He walks amidst it with good character.

بمدْحِه الوُرْقُ في الأَوْراق ساجعةٌ

في جمرةِ الفَجْر أَو في فحمَةِ الْغَسَقِ

In praising Him the leaves in the leaves rustle

In the ember of dawn or in the darkness of nightfall.

مولى الأَنامِ عليٌّ هكذا نَقلَت

لنا الرُّواةُ حديثاً غيرَ مختلَقِ

The Master of Mankind, Ali, is how

The narrators have conveyed to us an uncounterfeited account,

على الشهادة بالفضل المبين له

أَهلُ المذاهبِ والآراءِ والفِرق

Upon testifying to his manifest virtue over

The people of creeds, views, and sects.

أَقامَ في الأَرضِ سوق الخلق قاطبةً

بالقسطِ من جَعَل الأَمْلاَك كالسُّوق

He set up in the earth the market of all creatures

With justice, He who made possessions like a market.

تضاءَلوا مِنه وانقادُوا لعزَّتِه

إِلى التَّذَلُّل وانقادوا إِلى الملَق

They shrank from him and submitted to his might,

Bending in humility, submitting to encounter.

من أَقْبلَ الدِّينُ في إِقبالِ دوْلته

شوقاً إِليه وفرَّ الكفرُ من فَرق

When religion advanced in the ascendance of his rule,

Yearning for him, disbelief fled in detachment.

تَصْبو إِلى معرَكِ الهيجاءِ عزمتُه

كأَنَّها منه في مُسْتَنْزَهٍ أَنِق

His resolve flowed to the battlefield of the excited ones

As if it were for him a pleasant promenade.

وراحةٌ منه لا تنفَكُّ عاشقةً

للأَسمرِ اللَّدنِ أَو للمُرهَفِ اللَّبِق

And serenity from him does not cease being enamored,

Of the brown gallant one or the witty charming one.

وقتْه جُنَّةُ تقْوى في مَعارِكه

وجنَّةُ الصَّبر فيها لِلتَّقِيِّ تَقي

His time is an armor of piety in his battles,

And the armor of patience in it is for the reverent, a protection.

استخبر الكفرَ ماذا حلَّ مِنه بِه

وما الَّذي مِنه في يوم اللِّقاءِ لَقي

Ask disbelief - what befell it from him?

And what did it, the day of meeting Him, encounter?

همَّ الأَعَادِي وما نالوا بِزعْمهمُ

ما أَمَّلوا هلْ تُنال الشَّمس في الأُفُقِ

The enemies' determination and they did not attain what they hoped,

Can the sun be attained on the horizon?

أَشقى به اللهُ من عَادى عُلاهُ ومن

عادَى عَلياً من الجُهَّالُ فَهْو شَقي

Through him God doomed whoever opposed his height, and whoever

Opposed Ali the ignorant one is doomed.

يا فالقَ الصُّبح من سيْف براحَتِه

أَنتَ الَّذي فَلَق الهاماتِ بالْفَلَقِ

Oh splitter of dawn by the sword of his hand!

You are the one who cleft the skulls by the cleaver.

في موقف ضاق حتى لا مجالَ به

لكنَّ ذَرْعك لمَّا ضَاق لم يَضِقِ

In a narrow spot until there was no room in it,

But your swing when narrow did not narrow.

فكم تركتَ بها كَفَّاً بلا عَضُدٍ

وقد توسَّدها رأْسٌ بلا عُنق

So how many hands you left without forearms,

Which had rested their heads without necks!

يرْوِي عدوُّك منها ماءَ لَبته

بالنَّحر مِنها وبعضُ الرِّي كالشَّرق

Your enemy drinks from it his fill,

From it by the throat, and some of the drink is like the dripping.

عذرْتَهم يوم فرُّوا منك حينَ رَأَوْا

ضرباً يُعيد جديدَ الدِّرع كالْخَلَق

You pardoned them the day they fled from you when they saw

A blow that returns armor like new creation.

فَما نَجا مِنْك لا مَن كانَ في شَرفٍ

فوقَ السَّماءِ ولا مَن كانَ في نَفَقِ

So none were saved from you - not one who was lofty,

Above the sky, nor one who was in a burrow.

قطعتَ بالموتِ مِنْ أَرْواحِهم عَلَقاً

والموتُ قطَّاع مَا يَلْقى من الْعَلَقِ

By death you cut from their souls some necks,

And death cuts whatever necks it meets from the clots.

بكى لهم من وَراءِ البحرِ بحرُ دمٍ

حتىَّ تحمَّر ما في العينِ من زَرَق

For them one beyond the sea wept a sea of blood

Until what was in the eye of blue turned red.

ما أَعجزَ الفِكرَ عن وصْفٍ يُحيط به

ولو أَطاق لكانَ القولُ لم يُطِق

Thought falls short of describing it fully,

And if it could bear it, speech still could not bear it.

يُثني لِساني وقلبي منه في جَذَلٍ

وأَنْثَني لقصورٍ عنه في حَنَق

My tongue and heart halt before it in frustration,

And I break before falling short of it in sorrow.

وكم لَحَانِيَ فيه كُلُّ ذي حَسدٍ

لما رآني من نُعماهُ في غَدَق

How many envious censured me for praising him,

When they saw me from his bounty in plenty!

وإِنَّني منه في عَيْش بلا نكدٍ

وإِنَّني منه في صَفْوٍ بِلاَ رَنَقِ

I am through him in life without cares,

I am through him in clarity without soot.

لما كسانيَ أَثوابَ الغِنى حَسُنَت

فيها حِلايَ وحُسْن الغُصْن بالوَرَق

When he clothed me in the garments of wealth, my appearance

Improved, and the beauty of the branch with leaves.

عذرتُ عاذِل مدحي في مَناقِبه

إِذ كانَ يدخلُ بين المِسْك والعَبَق

I pardoned the critic of my praise for his virtues,

When he saw me amidst musk and fragrance.