لا تَسَلْ عنه كيف أَصبح حَالُهْ

إِنَّه ضلَّ حين لاحَ هِلالُهْ

Do not ask how he is,

For he went astray when his crescent disappeared.

بَكَرَ العاذلاتُ يَصْدُقْنه العَذْ

لَ وأَحلى من صِدْقِهن مُحاله

The censurers rose early to censure him sincerely,

Yet nothing is sweeter than their sincerity.

وبِنَفْسِي وَغَيْرِ نَفْسِي حَبِيبٌ

راحلٌ قَدْ شَجَا الْفؤادَ ارتحالُه

He is a lover of mine and others’

Who went away, and whose leaving broke my heart.

ما أَبان السرورَ إِلا سُراه

وأَزال السكونَ إِلاَّ زِياله

Happiness did not reveal itself except through its stealth,

And tranquility was not removed except through its departure.

لم يَهِنيِّ إِلاَّ هَواهُ ولا د

ل عليَّ السَّقامَ إِلاَّ دلاَلُه

Nothing humiliated me but his love,

And no disease fell upon me but through his coquetry.

ما خلا خدُّه الصقيلُ من الخا

لِ ولكنْ سوادُ عينيَّ خالُه

His smooth cheek is flawless,

But the blackness of my eyes has marked it.

سمهريُّ أَما الرُّدَيْنيُّ تَثَنِّيـ

ـه وأَمَّا عِناقُه فَاعْتِقَالُه

He is pliant yet tightly embraces,

His handhold being tighter than his embrace.

غِيظَ منه ظَبيٌ وغصنٌ إِلى أَنْ

شَفَّ ذائبُه وبَانَ هُزَالُه

A gazelle and branch were angry at him

Until his wolfish nature and emaciation appeared.

إِنما الشمسُ أَشْرقَتْ حين قالوا

إِنَّها ظِلُّه وإِلاَّ خيالُه

The sun only rose when they said

it was his shadow—else it was his apparition.

وكذا البدرُ في الدُّجى ما حكاه الـ

ـحسنُ منه لكن حكاه انتقالُه

And so too the moon in the darkness—

Beauty did not speak of it, rather its passage did.

ربَّ يومٍ قد نلتُ ما نلتُ فيـ

ـه ما لم أَخَل بأَنِّي أَخَالُه

O Lord of a day in which I attained what I attained,

In which I did not fall short in believing him to be my peer.

قد تقصَّيتُه بِلَثْمٍ ورَشْفٍ

وعِناق قد أُوثِقَتْ أَقْفَالُه

I bid him farewell with a kiss and a sip,

With his necklaces tightly fastened.

أَمنعُ العِقْد أَنْ يجولَ لأَن الـ

ـعِقْد قَدْ ضَاقَ بالعِناق مَجالُه

I forbid the necklace to roam, for

The necklace has scarcely room in the embrace.

لم أَذُق غَيرَ ريقِه الحلْوِ والحلِّ

فلا غَرْوَ أَنْ حَلا لي حَلاَلُه

I have not tasted anything but his sweet saliva,

So no wonder it has been made lawful to me.

ذاك عصرٌ مضَى ودهْرٌ تقضَّى

وشبابٌ تغيَّرت أَحوالُه

That was an age now past, a bygone epoch,

And youth whose circumstances have changed.

وسلاَ القلبُ واستراح المُعَنَّى

لا صَباباتُه ولا عُذَّالُه

The heart found peace and the lover found rest—

Not through his youthfulness or his censurers.

وحبِيبٌ سلوتٌ عنه فقال الـ

ـقلبُ سِيَّانَ هجرُه وَوِصالُه

And a beloved whose estrangement I asked about, so the heart said:

His abandonment and company are equal.

شفَّ قلبي اشتغالُه ولقد صحَّـ

ـفتُ والحقُّ أَن يُقَالَ اشْتِعَالُه

His preoccupation cured my heart, and indeed

The truth is to say that it is his blazing fire.

كيف يَصفُو عيشِي وجودُ صَفي الدِّ

ين قد أُترِعَتْ لِغيري سِجَالُه

How can my life be serene when the devout worshipper of religion

Has had his disputations unleashed against someone other than me?

وعَدتْني نَعماؤُه وتخطَّا

ني وحاشَا لِفضْله أَفْضَالُه

And his favors had promised me and eluded me—

Far be it from his exceeding favor.

أَنا صادٍ إشن لم تَجُدْ لي عطايا

هُ وغُفْل إِن لم يَسِمْني نَوالُه

I am spurning him if his gifts did not find me,

And ignoring him if his intimacies did not include me.

لفتةٌ منك تلفت الحظَّ نحوي

وبإِقبالِه يُرى إِقبالُه

A glance from you turns fortune toward me,

And through its inclining, his inclination is seen.

أَيُّ مَلْكٍ إِلاَّ إِليه تَصدِّيـ

ـها ومُلكٍ إِلا عليه اتِّكالُه

What kingdom but to it you lead,

And what sovereignty but on it you depend?

إِنما الملكُ ثلةٌ هو راعيـ

ـها وعُودٌ في راحتيه عِقالُه

For sovereignty is but a flock

Whose shepherd he is, the tether of whose stallion is in his hands.

وَزَرٌ للملوكِ يُسْمى وزيراً

وتُزكِّي أَسماءَه أَفْعالُه

A burden upon kings called vizier,

Whose names his deeds have sanctified.

فهَدَى الملْكَ جودُه وجَدَاه

وحَمَى الملكَ بأْسُه ونَكَالُه

So his generosity guided the king and his bounty granted him success,

And his might protected the king and his vengeance subdued him.

وبتَدْبِيرِه رسا جبلُ الملـ

ـكِ وخفَّت بحَمْلِه أَثقالُه

And through his management the king's burden was eased

And through his undertaking its heaviness was alleviated.

فبأَعْمالِه العظيمةِ أَضْحَى

والأَقاليمُ كلُّها أَعمالُه

So through his great works he has become

One whose realms in their entirety are his achievements.

هُو قَاضٍ لا بل أَميرٌ وقد أَضحَت

ملوك البلاد وهْي رِجَاله

He is a judge—no, but a prince, and the kings of the lands

Have become his men.

فلهذا الدنيا وما قَد حَوتْه

دارُه والأَنامُ فيها عِيالُه

For this the world and what it contains

Is his house, and its people are his dependents.

والسماوَاتُ دارُه والثُّريَّا

نعلُه والهلاَلُ فيها قِبالُه

The heavens are his house and the stars

His shoes, and the crescent moon therein his purse.

فهي أَمَّا سحابُها فَهو جدوا

ه وأَمَّا نجومُها فهي آلُه

As for its clouds, they are his generosity,

And as for its stars, they are his family.

هُم أَقامُوا خِباءَه بعدمَا ما

لَ عمودٌ له ورثَّت حِبالُه

They erected his tent after the pillar had inclined

And the ropes had become decayed.

ليس يُندِي الغمامَ إِلاَّ نَداه

ويمينُ الغمامِ إِلاَّ شِمالُه

None calls the clouds but his call,

And none directs the clouds but his gesture.

قد رأَينَا منه الغرائبَ لمَّا

أَشْرَقَتْ شمسُه ومُدَّت ظِلالُه

We have seen wonders from him when

His sun rose and his shadows stretched.

فعلا المجدَ حين حُلَّت عَزاليـ

ـها وشُدَّت للمكرُمَاتِ حِبَالُه

He brought glory when the times of dearth had arrived

And the ropes were pulled toward the generous.

كَرمٌ لا يفيضُ فيضُ نواحيـ

ـه وحِلْمٌ ليسَت تزولُ جِبالُه

A generosity whose streams do not run dry,

And a forbearance whose mountains do not pass away.

لستُ أَدري مقامُه هو أَعْلى

خَطراً في عُلُوّه أَم مَقالُه

I do not know whether his position is higher

In its loftiness or its word.

جلَّ من صوَّر البريَّة في شَخْـ

ـصٍ فسبحانَه وجل جلالُه

Sublime is He who fashioned the wild in a person—

So Glory be to Him and Exalted is His Sublimeness.

غبت عن عَبدِك الَّذي غَاب عَنْه

سعدُه واعتلاؤُه واعتِدالُه

You have been absent from Your servant who was absent from

His good fortune, his supremacy, and his moderation.

وخَبَا نُوره وحُلَّت عُراه

ووَهى رُكْنُه ورثَّت حِبالُه

His light has faded, his pillar has collapsed,

His foundation has weakened, and his ropes have decayed.

واشْتَفى حاسِدوه لما رأَوْه

قد بدا نقصُه وغاب كمالُه

His enviers have exulted in seeing

His diminished state and absent perfection.

وإِذا شئتَ عاد مَا راح مِنه

واستقامَتْ في الوقتِ للحال حالُه

And if You so will, that which has departed from him will return,

And the circumstances will straightaway be set right for his state.

وله موعدٌ على ذمَّة الأَنا

عام قد تَمَّ حملُه وفِصالُه

He has a promised time upon the responsibility of the years

That has been fulfilled, its fruits having ripened.