أَحسُّ بشيءٍ في الحشا يُشبه الجمرا

أَهذا غرامٌ هَيَّجَتْهُ لِيَ الذِّكْرى

Within my breast I sense something resembling living embers.

Is this a passion that remembrance has stirred within me?

أَبيتُ عَلى وِرْدٍ غزيرٍ وَمُصطلى

فمنْ مُقْلةٍ عَبرى ومِنْ كَبِدٍ حرّى

I spend the night above a brimming spring and beside a kindled blaze—

the spring’s flow from my tearful eye, the blaze’s heat from my liver.

أَصيخُ لما يوحي الغرامُ لمسمعي

فأَنظُمهُ طَوْراً وَأَنثُرُهُ أُخرى

I listen to what passion whispers into my ear,

now stringing it as verse, now scattering it as prose.

أَأُخْتَ الدُّمى قَلباً خلا ونُعومةً

وَأُختَ الظِّبا طَرْفاً كَقلبيَ أَوْ نحرا

Are you sister to the statues in heart—empty though it is—and in softness,

and sister to gazelles in gaze—a gaze for my heart, or for my throat?

أَتدْرِينَ فوْقَ الحبِّ ما هوَ مِنْكُمُ

يُقَرِّبُني فالحبُّ جَرَّعني الهَجرا

Do you know what else, beyond love, comes from you

to draw me near? Love has made me drink the draught of desertion.

فَعندَ هُبوبي أَنْتِ أَوَّلُ خاطِرٍ

وَآخِرُهُ واللهِ أنتِ إِذا أَكْرى

Whenever I awaken, you are my first thought,

and, by God, you are my last when I fall asleep.

أَمرُّ عَلَى الصَّخرِ الأَصمِّ تَعِلَّةً

فَألثمُه إِذْ قلبُها يشبِه الصَّخرا

I pass by the deaf, unfeeling rock, seeking consolation,

and kiss it, since her heart resembles stone.

وَما كنتُ مِمَّنْ يُعجمُ الحبُّ عودَه

وَلكِنَّما يصبو الحليمُ لها خمرا

I was never one whose mettle love had to test,

yet even the forbearing man yearns for her as he yearns for wine.

ولستُ كمنْ تهفو العقارُ بلبِّه

ولكنْ سَقَتني من نَواظِرها خمرا

Nor am I one whose heart wine carries away;

rather, she poured me wine from her glances:

فُتورٌ كَشعرِ الصَّبِّ بالهجرِ رِقَّةً

إِذا هامَ وجداً أَو شعور الشَّجي المغرى

a languor as delicate as the forsaken lover’s verse,

when I wander in rapture—or as the feeling of the sorrowful, love-enthralled man.

فلو كان لي شيءٌ مِنَ الأمرِ بينَ مَنْ

همُ أَوْلياءُ الشعرِ عَرَّفْتُها شعرا

Had I any authority among those

who are the guardians of poetry, I would pronounce it poetry.

أَجِزني أَميرَ الشِّعرِ بالشِّعرِ إِنَّني

أَرانيَ لم أسلكْ به مسلكاً وعرا

Grant me authorization through verse, Prince of Poetry, for I

believe I have taken no rugged path in it.

رَدَدْتَ عليه حسنَه بعد ما زوى

قروناً فأَضحى غصنُهُ بك مخضرّا

You restored its beauty after it had withered

for centuries, until through you its branch grew green.

أَعدْتَ لنا عصرَ (النَّواسي) و (مسلمٍ)

فبوركْتَ يا عصرَ القريضِ به عصرا

You brought back for us the age of al-Nawasi and Muslim;

through him be blessed, O age of verse—an age indeed.

فَمَنْ مبلغ (شيخَ المعرَّةِ) شيخنا

(وأَحمدَ) و (الطائيَّ) مَنْ نظموا الدّرا

Who will carry word to the Shaykh of al-Ma‘arra, our shaykh,

and to Ahmad and al-Ta’i, those stringers of pearls,

بِأَنّا رأَيناهم جميعاً بشخصِه

فقرّوا عيوناً فالقريضُ لقد فرّا

that we have seen them all united in his person?

Let their eyes rest content, for poetry has indeed wrought wonders.

إليه فتاةُ الشعرِ أَلقتْ قيادَها

ولم تتَّخذْ إلاّ روائَعه خِدْرا

To him Poetry’s maiden surrendered her reins,

and took none but his masterpieces for her bridal chamber.

بأَكنافِه العليا تلوذُ صيانةً

لقد كان والرحمن في صوتها أَحرى

Within his lofty sanctuary she seeks refuge, guarding her honor;

by the All-Merciful, he was indeed the worthiest to safeguard her.

بإِحدى يديه السَّيفُ يقطرُ من دمٍ

وأُخرى يديه ينفثُ القلمُ السحرا

In one of his hands, the sword drips with my blood;

in his other hand, the pen breathes magic.

إليكَ أَميرَ السَّيفِ والقلمِ انتهتْ

كرام خصالٍ قد تجاوزتِ الحصرا

In you, Prince of the Sword and Pen, culminate

noble qualities that have surpassed all reckoning:

عَفافٌ وإِقدامٌ وَحَزمٌ ومِنْعَةٌ

وَمجدٌ تسامى ردَّ عينَ العُلى حسرى

chastity, valor, resolve, and unassailable strength,

and glory risen so high that loftiness itself returns exhausted.

إلى ظِلِّكَ العالي زَففتُ خريدةً

إِجازة شِعرٍ مِنكُمُ أَبتغي مهْرا

Into your lofty shade I have led a sheltered maiden in bridal procession,

seeking from you a poetic authorization as her dowry.