عَفَتْ دارٌ كقلبكَ بعد سَلْمَى

فأَيُّ المنزلينِ أَضَلُّ رَسْما

A house has become desolate like your heart after Salma,

So which of the two dwellings is more misguided in its trace?

وهل تُغنِي الدِيارُ بغيرِ أهلٍ

ولو سَلِمَتْ وكيفَ تَنالُ سِلْما

Can houses be of benefit without inhabitants,

Even if intact, how can they attain peace?

بَكيْتُ على المَنازِلِ فاسترابَتْ

فَتىً يسقي المنازلَ وَهْوَ يَظما

I cried over the abodes, so they were perplexed,

A young man watering dwellings while suppressing his tears.

تَخُطُّ مدامعي و إذا كأَنّي

أُداعِبُها فأَمحو الخَطَّ لَثْما

My tears sketch out lines, and it is as if I

Am playing with them, so I erase the lines with a kiss.

فَدَيتُكِ من مُوَدِّعةٍ تَوَلَّت

وَخيَّمَ شخصُها في السِّرِ وَهْما

I ransom you from a bidder of farewell who turned away,

And whose figure loomed in secret and anxiety.

حُرِمنا مُنذُ عَهدِكِ غُمضَ جَفنٍ

فكيفَ نَظُنُّ وَصلَكِ كانَ حُلما

We have been deprived, since your era, of the closing of an eyelid,

So how can we believe that your connection was but a dream?

إلى الجَبَلَينِ منَّا اليومَ شوقٌ

وإِنْ لم نَعرِفِ الجَبَلينِ قِدْما

Today, longing reached the two mountains from us,

Even if we don’t know the two mountains from early on.

إذا أَبصَرتُ نارَهُما تَمَنَّى

فُؤَادي أَنَّهُ قد كان فَحْما

When I see their fire, my heart wishes

That it had been ashes instead.

حَرَصتُ على الحيَاةِ وتلكَ رَهنٌ

لمن تُدمِي بأَلحاظٍ وتُدمَى

I was keen on life, and that is collateral

For whoever moistens with glances and is made wet.

إذا أعطت لواحظُها أَماناً

فتأخيرٌ إلى أَجَلٍ مُسَمَّى

If her glances give safety,

Then delay is until an appointed time.

مُنَعَّمةٌ بنارِ الوجدِ تُحمِي

ممنَّعةٌ بماءِ البيضِ تُحمَى

Pampered with the fire of passion, warming

Forbidden with the water of innocence, growing hot.

رأَيتُ لعينِها قَوساً ورِيشاً

فما كذَّبتُ أَنَّ هناكَ سهما

I saw for her eye a bow and feathers

So I did not deny that there was an arrow there.

يُسَاقُ إلى الدلائِلِ كلُّ حكمٍ

إذا قامَ الدليلُ أَقامَ حُكما

Every judgment is led to evidence,

If the proof is established, it establishes a rule.

فما قُلنا طَرابُلُسٌ سَماءٌ

إلى أَنْ أَطلَعَت في الأُفقِ نَجْما

We did not say Tripoli was a sky

Until a star emerged on the horizon.

كريمٌ للثَّناءِ بهِ ثَناءٌ

فخيرُ القولِ ما لم يُخطِ مَرمَى

Noble in praise, through it praise

So the best words are those which do not miss the mark.

لَدَيهِ تَخجَلُ الأَشعارُ نَقْداً

وإِنْ تَكُ قد تباهَتْ فيهِ نَظما

Poetry feels embarrassed by it in critique

Even if it was proud in it with composition.

أَصَحُّ القومِ في الغَمَراتِ رِأياً

وأَجلى رُؤْيةً وأَجَلُّ حَزْما

The soundest of people in turbidity of opinion,

The clearest in insight and the wisest in resolve.

وأَطيَبُ من نسيمِ الرَوضِ نَشْراً

وأعذَبُ من سُلافِ الكأْس طَعْما

And the most fragrant than the breeze’s diffusion,

And the sweetest than the first sip’s taste.

يُحِبُّ البَذْلَ إلاّ في امتِنانٍ

ويأْبَى الفضلَ إلاَّ أَن يَتِمَّا

He loves spending except in obligation,

And refuses excellence unless perfected.

و لا يَهوَى لمُهجتِهِ رَواءً

على عَطَشٍ بصاحبِهِ أَلَّما

He does not crave quenching for his thirst

With a companion who suffers from thirst.

نجيبٌ يَسبِقُ الداعي مجيباً

لهُ لو كانَ يُؤْتى قبلُ عِلمَا

A noble one who precedes the summoner responding,

As if he had been notified before knowledge.

وَيَعذِرُ من أتاهُ وليسَ عُذرٌ

لهُ في الناس إذْ لم يأْتِ جُرْما

And excuses whoever came to him though there is no excuse

For him among the people if he did not sin.

تُقيِّدُ كُلَّ آبدةٍ لديهِ

سُطورٌ كالسَلاسلِ جئنَ دُهْما

Every dark night is chained by lines for him

Like chains if they came as suits of armor.

تَخَيَّلَ من بياضِ العينِ طِرساً

فجاءَ بأَسودِ الإِنسان رَقما

He imagined from the whiteness of the eye a painting,

So he came with the blackest of people in number.

وَحَسْبُكَ شاعرٌ عربيُّ لَفظٍ

تَدِقُّ لهُ معانٍ خِلْنَ عُجْما

It suffices you he is an Arabic poet of diction

Whose meanings are finely wrought as if Persian.

تَصَرَّفَ بالغرائبِ عن فُؤَادٍ

لأَغلاقِ المَشاكلِ فضَّ خَتْما

He handled curiosities from a heart

That unlocked the most complex of problems.

رأَيتُكَ تَنظِمُ الدُّرَرَ اليتَامَى

فقد لُقِّبتَ بالنَحَّاسِ ظُلما

I saw you stringing orphaned pearls together,

So you were wrongfully dubbed ‘the Coppersmith’.

وما كُلٌّ يُلَقَّبُ عن حِسابٍ

ولا كُلُّ على قَدَرٍ يُسمَّى

And not everyone is titled based on account,

Nor is everyone named according to worth.

أجاشَ الشِعرَ شِعرُك في فُؤَادي

فقُمتُ صَبَابةً وقَعَدتُ سقُما

Your poetry stirred poetry in my heart

So I stood up infatuated and sat down lovesick.

وتقصيرُ الضعيفِ يُعَدُّ عيباً

ولكنْ لا يُعدُّ عليهِ إِثما

The shortcoming of the weak is considered a flaw,

But it is not counted as a sin against him.