دنوتُ وقد أَبْدَى الكَرى منه مَا أَبْدى

فقبَّلْتُه في الخَدِّ تسعين أَوْ إِحْدَى

I drew near while slumber had revealed in him all it revealed,

and kissed him on the cheek ninety times—or one more.

وأَبصرْتُ في خّدَّيهِ ماءً وخُضْرَةً

فما أَمْلَحَ المَرْعَى ومَا أَعْذَبَ الوِرْدَا

In his two cheeks I beheld water and greenery:

how lovely the pasture, how sweet the watering place!

تلَّهب مَاءُ الخدِّ أَو سَالَ جَمْرَةً

فيا ماءُ ما أَذْكَى ويَا جَمْرُ مَا أَنْدَى

The cheek’s water blazed—or else an ember flowed;

O water, how fiercely you burn! O ember, how dewy you are!

يلُوم عَلَيْه مَنْ يَهيم بِدُونه

ومَنْ كان يَهْوى الصَّابَ لَمْ يَعرف الشَّهْدَا

One who raves for less than he reproaches me for loving him;

whoever loves bitter aloe has never known honey.

وما كُلُّ معسول اللِّمى يَجْلِبُ الهَوى

ولا كُلُّ مصقولِ الطِّلاَ يَسلبُ الرُّشْدا

Not every honeyed, dark-lipped mouth summons love,

nor does every polished neck steal reason away.

وقد يَنْقلون اسْمَ المليحِ لِضِدِّه

ومِنْ ذاكَ قَالُوا الوَرْدَ والأَسدُ الوَرْدَا

They sometimes transfer the fair one’s name to its opposite:

thus they call both the rose and the tawny lion ward.

أَقولُ لناهٍ قد أَشارَ بتركِه

لقد زِدْتَني فيما أَشرتَ به زُهْدا

I say to a censor who counseled me to forsake him:

Your counsel has only made me more averse to abstinence.

فلِمْ لا نهيتَ الثَّغْر أَن يَعْذُبَ اللَّمى

ولِمْ لا أَمَرْتَ الصَّدرَ أَنْ يَكْتُمَ النَّهْدا

Why did you not forbid the mouth its sweet, dark lips?

Why did you not command the breast to conceal its sigh?

بِنَفْسيَ مَنْ إِنْ جَادَ لِي بِوصَالِه

فلا أَنْعَمَت نُعمٌ ولا أَسْعَدتْ سُعْدَى

My life for one who, if he grants me union,

makes every blessing worthless and every good fortune joyless beside it.

أَعادَ وأَبْدى هَجْرَه وصُدودَه

وأَعْيا الوَرى أَمْرُ المَعادِ أَو الْمبَدَا

Again and anew he displayed his desertion and disdain,

and all creation was baffled by this question of return and beginning.

وأُقسِم ما عِندي إِليه صَبَابَةٌ

وكَيْف وجَوْرُ الشَّوقِ لَمْ يُبق لِي عِنْدا

I swear I harbor no longing for him—

how could I, when passion’s tyranny has left me nothing of myself?

شُغِلت بثغرٍ بل بتوأَمِ جَوْهرٍ

عَن الْمُدَّعِي في علمِه الجوهرَ الفَرْدَا

A mouth—indeed, twin rows of pearls—distracted me

from the tear, though in its own realm it is the peerless jewel.

وفي القلبِ نارٌ للخليلِ تَوَقَّدَتْ

وما ذُقْتُ منها لاَ سَلاماً ولا بَرْداً

Within my heart a fire was kindled for the beloved,

yet from it I tasted neither Abraham’s safety nor coolness.

ومِنْ نارِ قَلْبي بانَ فَضْلُ تَغزُّلي

وإِن شِئتَ مِثْلي فانْظر النَّارَ والنَّدَّا

The fire within my heart revealed the excellence of my love-song;

if you seek my likeness, behold fire joined with dew.

أَيا واحداً أَنْدى مِن الْخَلْقِ كلِّهم

ليْهنِك أَنِّي لم أَجِدْ منكَ لي بُدّاً

O you, more generous than every other creature,

rejoice that I have found no escape from you.

وإِن غبتَ كان البدرُ مِنكَ خَليفَةً

وإِن قُلْتَ لي أَنْشَأْتُ عَنْكَ لَه الْعَهْدَا

When you are absent, the full moon serves as your deputy;

and when you speak to me, I renew my covenant with it in your name.

ولو لَمْ أَخَفْ أَن تُزلقَ الرجلَ أَدْمُعِي

إِذا زُرْتَني أَوطأْتُ أَخْمصك الخَدَّا

Had I not feared my tears would make your foot slip,

whenever you visited, I would spread my cheek beneath your sole.

نسيتُ سِوى ربْع الحبيبِ فَإِنَّني

يَطير فُؤادِي حين أَذْكُرُه وَجْدَا

I have forgotten everything but the beloved’s dwelling, for

my heart takes wing with yearning whenever I remember it.

وذلك ربَعٌ تُنبِتُ الحسنَ أَرضُه

ترى الوردَ فيه الخدَّ والغصنَ القدَّا

It is a dwelling whose earth brings beauty forth:

there the rose is a cheek, and the branch a graceful form.

ورَبْعُ الَّذِي أَهواه يروي سَرابُه ال

عِطاش ويَشْفِي تُربُه الأَعينَ الرُّمْدا

The dwelling of the one I love—its mirage gives drink to the

thirsty, while eyes heal its dust of every inflamed soreness.

ثَوتْ في مَغانيه السُّعودُ كأَنَّما

مَغانِيه تَستَهْدي مِن الأَسْعَد السَّعدا

Good fortunes thronged its habitations, as though

those habitations sought happiness from al-Asʿad, the Most Fortunate.

هُو الأَسْعَدُ القَاضي الأَميرُ أَما ترى

جنودَ الْمعَالِي كيفَ صِرنَ له جُنْدا

He is al-Asʿad, the judge, the emir—do you not see

how the armies of high achievement have become his soldiers?

فتىً لم يزل يستعبد الحمدَ جودَه

ولا سِّدٌ إِلاَّ مَن اسْتعبد الحَمْدا

A young man whose generosity has never ceased enslaving praise;

the days are not rightly guided by one who fails to make praise his servant.

تفَنَّن في إِعطائه لعُفَاتِه

فلو سأَلُوه المجدَ أَعْطاهُم المَجْدَا

He displays endless invention in giving to those who seek his bounty;

were they to ask him for glory itself, he would give them glory.

فهمْ وسْط جَنَّاتِ النعيمِ بِجُوده

وقد طَمِعُوا أَنْ يربَحوا عنده الخُلدا

Through his generosity they dwell amid gardens of delight,

and hope that with him they may even gain eternity.

ولا عَيبَ فِيه غيرَ أَنَّ عَلاءَه

إِذا حدَّدُوه كانَ قَدْ جَاوَزَ الحدَّا

He has no fault except that his eminence,

whenever they renew its praise, has already passed every limit.

ولا عيبَ أَيْضاً في مَآثِر بَيْتِه

سِوى أَنَّها تُروَى بأَلْسِنَةِ الأَعْدا

Nor is there any fault in his house’s illustrious deeds

except that even the tongues of enemies recount them.

مناقبُ سارَتْ عنه وانْتَسَبَتْ له

فسرَّت وَلِيّاً فيه أَو كَتَبَتْ ضِدّاً

Virtues have traveled abroad from him and claimed descent from him,

whether borne by a loyal friend or written down by a foe.

من النَّفرِ البيضِ الَّذين إِذَا بَدَوْا

ترى اللَّيْلَ مُبيَضّاً أو الفجر مسودا

He comes from those radiant men who, when they appear,

make night turn white—or dawn turn black by contrast.

تراهم لدى الغمشاء خرساً عن الخنا

وتلقى لهم في الفخر أَلْسِنَةً لُذّاً

In murky times you find them mute before obscenity,

but in glory you find them gifted with keen tongues.

فَلاَ تعجب الحسَّادُ من سَعْد جَدِّهم

أَليس قدِيماً كَانَ جَدُّهم سَعْدا

Let the envious not marvel at the good fortune of their ancestry:

was not their forefather long ago named Saʿd—Good Fortune?

فليتَ أَباكَ الْيَومَ عَادَ يَرى ابْنَه

ومِدْحَته تَسْرِي ونِعْمَتَه تُسدَى

If only your father might return today and behold his son,

his praise traveling abroad and his favors continually bestowed;

ويبصرُ جَدّاً يَحْسُدُ الإِبنُ جَدَّه

عَليه فأَعْلَى رَبه ذلك الجَدَّا

and see a glory for which the son’s own forefather envies him—

a glory God has raised: exalted is his fortune and rank.

أَقولُ لِهَذا الدَّهْر تِهْ واسْتَطِلْ بِه

فحسبُكَ فَخْراً أَنْ تكون له عَبْداً

I say to this age: exult and vaunt yourself through him;

it is pride enough for you to be his servant.

له خَاطِرٌ يبدي الجواهرَ بَحرُه

وإِنْ كَان بحراً ما خَبَتْ نارُه وَقْدَا

His mind is a sea that brings its jewels to light,

and though a sea, it hides no fire or kindling within its depths.

ولم يَدْرِ إِنْ أَجْرى اليراعَ بطرسه

أَيَكْتُب فيه السَّطْرَ أَوْ يَنْظِم العِقْدَا

When his reed-pen runs across the page, one cannot tell

whether it writes a line or strings a necklace.

عيونُ مَعانيه صِحَاحٌ كأَنَّها

عُيونٌ مِراضٌ أَصْبحت تَشْتَكي السُّهدا

The wellsprings of his meanings are sound, though they resemble

the eyes of the lovesick, grown ill from complaining of sleeplessness.

ألا قُلْ لصَرفِ الدَّهرِ قد عَلِقَتْ يَدِي

بِحبْلٍ مَتينٍ منه فلْيَبْلغ الحَدَّا

Tell the assaults of Time: I have fastened my hand

to his unbreakable rope—let Time now test its edge.

ولَو عَرْبَدتْ يَوْماً علَّي صُروفُه

وجئتُ له أَشْكُوه أَوْرَده الحَدَّا

Were Time’s vicissitudes ever to carouse riotously against me,

I would bring my complaint to him and make Time taste the blade.

وقد كنتُ أَشكو مِنْ وِصَال خُطُوبِه

فصدَّ إِلي أَنْ خِلْتُني أَشْتَكِي الصَّدَّا

I had long complained to him of Time and the tightening of its calamities;

he bent toward me until I thought my complaint had merely been thirst.

أَمَوْلاَي إِنِّي أَجْتديك مَودَّةً

ومِثْليَ يَسْتَجْدِي ومِثْلُك يُسْتَجْدى

By God, I seek from you only affection,

while praise itself seeks your bounty—and one like you is rightly sought.

ومَنْ كَان يَبْغِي مِنْ يَديْك مَثُوبَةً

فَما أَبْتَغِي إِلاَّ المَحَبَّةَ والوُدَّا

Whoever desires a reward from your hands may do so;

I desire nothing but love and loyal regard.

ولي حَاجَةٌ قَدْ كَادَ يَحضُر وَقْتُها

وأَسْأَلُ في إِنجازِها مِنْك لي وَعْدا

I have a need whose appointed time has nearly closed around it,

and I ask you to promise me that you will bring it to completion.

وإِنَّك إِنْ أَسْلَفْتَني مِنْكَ مَوْعِداً

تَيقَّنْتُ أَنَّ النُّجْحَ قَدْ صَارَ لِي نَقْدا

If you advance me a promise from yourself,

I shall know that success has already become ready coin in my hand.

وعِنديَ شُكْرٌ يُفْعِم الأَرضَ نشْره

كندِّيِّ أَنْفَاسِ الرِّياض من الأَنْدا

I possess a gratitude whose fragrance will fill the earth,

like your generous rain—the garden’s breath, heavy with dew.

نظمتُ مَديحي كَالْفَريدِ ِلأَنَّنِي

خصَصَتُ به مِنْ ظَلَّ في مَدْحِه فَرْدا

I have strung my praise like a necklace of precious pearls,

dedicating it to the one who, supreme in praise, stands peerless.