خليلي ما أحلى المدام الذي صفا

على خد ساقٍ بعد هجرانه صفا

My two friends, how sweet the wine that has grown clear

upon the cheek of a cupbearer grown kind after his estrangement.

حبيبٌ حباني لحظه الفاتر الضنى

ولكن سقاني ريقه البارد الشفا

A beloved whose languid glance bestowed wasting sickness on me,

but whose cool saliva gave me healing to drink.

من القاصرات الطرف أحلى محاجراً

وأعذب ألفاظاً وأطيب مرشفا

Lovelier of eye than maidens of downcast gaze,

sweeter of speech, more delicious at the lips.

إذا شم ريا ريقه العاشقُ اكتفى

وقال على الدنيا وجريالها العفا

When the lover smells his saliva's fragrance, he is content,

and says, 'Dust upon the world and its crimson wine!'

تلافى تلافي حين أقبل مشرفاً

عليَّ ومن هجرانه كنت مشرفا

He averted my ruin when he approached, looking down

upon me; his estrangement had left me at death's brink.

وبات صريحي يمزج الراح باللمى

ويمنحني شهداً شهيّاً وقرقفا

And my true beloved spent the night mingling wine with his lips' dark hue,

and granting me delicious honey and strong wine.

فلم أر ريماً قبله للجفا جفا

ولم أر ريماً بعده بالوفا وفى

Never before him did I see a gazelle who shunned estrangement,

nor after him a gazelle who kept faith with fidelity.

تردَّى رداء اللطف والظرف والبها

وأقبل كالروض الأريض مزخرفا

He donned the robe of gentleness, elegance, and splendor,

and came adorned like a luxuriant meadow.

يميل ضعيف الطرف من غير علةٍ

فأحسب غصن البان يحمل مضعفا

He sways, languid-eyed, without an ailment,

so I imagine a bān branch carrying someone frail.

وأحسب ريحان الدجى من خدوده

تلثَّم ورداً أو شقيقاً مفوَّفا

And I imagine night's basil growing from his cheeks

has veiled itself in roses or streaked anemones.

فيا حسنه من عائدٍ عاطر الشذا

حريصٍ على الحسنى مصرٍّ على الوفا

Ah, how lovely a returning visitor, sweetly fragrant,

eager for goodness, steadfast in fidelity!

براه لنا الباري هماماً مهذباً

لطيفاً ظريفاً ضامر الكشح أهيفا

The Creator fashioned him for us, noble-hearted and refined,

gentle, graceful, slender of flank and slim-waisted.

كأن محياه اكتسى من حميمه

مخافة عينٍ سابريّاً مضعَّفا

As though his face had donned, from his own sweat,

double-folded Sāburī cloth, for fear of the evil eye.

كأن خيال الهدب قد صار كاتباً

يصوِّر في خديه بالمسك أحرفا

As though the shadow of his lashes had become a scribe,

tracing letters in musk upon his cheeks.

كأن على خديه للآس جنةً

إذا لم يرح ريحانها الصب أدنفا

As though the myrtle had a garden upon his cheeks:

if the ardent lover does not smell its basil, he wastes away.

كأن شعاع العانسات بكفه

سحالة إبريزٍ تموِّه مصحفا

As though the glow of the aged maiden-wines in his palm

were filings of pure gold gilding a Qur'an manuscript.

كأن رضاب الكأس ذاق رضابه

فشفَّ ومن لألاء فيه تشنَّفا

As though the cup's nectar had tasted his saliva,

and grown limpid, wearing earrings from his mouth's radiance.

كأن عقيق الراح من وجناته اس

تحى فتردَّى بالحباب وأرعفا

As though the wine's carnelian, before his cheeks,

felt shy, clothed itself in bubbles, and bled.

كأن فم الإبريق مدَّ لسانه

ليطلب من كافور راحته الشفا

As though the ewer's mouth had stretched its tongue

to seek healing from the camphor of his palm.

كأن عبير الراح راحةُ فارس

تهز علينا منه رمحاً مثقفا

As though the wine's fragrance were a horseman's hand,

brandishing his well-straightened spear toward us.

كأن غزال المسك أصبح منصفاً

فذرَّ على خاليه مسكاً منصَّفا

As though the musk gazelle had become fair-minded,

and scattered musk equally upon his two moles.

كأن الذي استلقى على الخد سارق

غدا برياحين العذار مكتفا

As though the one reclining on his cheek were a thief,

now bound with the basil of his beard-line.

كأن الذي في جانب الجيد بلبلٌ

على شرف من خالص الطلع أشرفا

As though the one beside his neck were a nightingale,

looking out from a height of pure palm blossom.

إذا جال ماس الكأس بيني وبينه

توهمته في باطن الكأس رفرفا

When the cup's diamond circulated between him and me,

I imagined him a fluttering bird within the cup.

خلوت به والباسقات كأنها

تمد علينا في الحدائق أسجفا

I was alone with him, and the tall palms seemed

to spread curtains over us in the gardens.

وقبلته ألفاً وألَّفتِ الطلا

قلوباً شكت عاماً من الصد ألَّفا

I kissed him a thousand times, and the wine united

hearts that had lamented a year compounded of rejection.

فصار خريفي كالربيع بوجنةٍ

عليها احمرار الورد شتَّى وصيفا

My autumn became like spring through a cheek

where roses blushed in winter and summer.

شممت شذاها واكتفيت بطيبها

وأعرضت عما خاله الناس أكيفا

I breathed its fragrance and was content with its perfume,

and turned from what people imagined more pleasurable.

وما زلت حتى صاح للَه صائحٌ

ينبِّه للمفروض عبداً مكلَّفا

I kept on, until a caller cried out for God,

rousing a duty-bound servant to the prescribed prayer,

أدافع إلّا عن محياه ناظري

كأن بروعي أهبط اللَه يوسفا

turning my gaze away from everything but his face,

as though God had sent Joseph down into my heart.

فيا عجباً لما صحا كيف فاتني

ويا عجباً من فوته عندما غفى

Ah, how strange—when he awoke, how did he elude me?

And how strange his slipping away when he dozed!

أرانيَ مُوَلّاه الفراقُ فخلتُه

كثيباً تداعى أو جباناً تخوَّفا

Parting showed me his turned back, and I fancied it

a crumbling dune, or a coward shrinking in fear.

فكان وأيم اللَه أحلى من المنى

وأملحَ من وجه الضحى ذلك القفا

Yet, by God, it was sweeter than wishes,

that nape, lovelier than the face of morning.

وكان نهارَ السبتِ يومُ فراقِنا

فيا ليته عن صبر صبٍّ عفى عفا

The day of our parting was a Saturday;

would that it had spared a wasted lover's patience!

وقفت له بالباب وقفة خاسرٍ

يفكر في ما فاته فتأسفا

I stood for him at the door like a loser

pondering what had escaped him, then grieving.

وقلت له لا تبخسِ السبتَ حقه

ففيه على العرش استوى اللَه واكتفى

I said to him, 'Do not deny Saturday its due:

on it God established Himself upon the Throne and was content.'

فلجَّ وقال الأمر للَه وحده

وأعرض عني عابساً متأففا

But he persisted and said, 'The matter is God's alone,'

and turned from me, scowling in displeasure.

وقلت وقد قبلت فاه ولم يزل

يتيه كفى هذا فقال وذا كفى

I said, having kissed his mouth while he still

acted haughtily, 'This is enough.' He said, 'This too is enough.'

فثلث خديه احمرار مدامعي

كما ثلَّث البدرين في الشام مصطفى

My tears' redness made a third beside his two cheeks,

as Mustafa in al-Sham made the two full moons three.

أميرٌ عرفت الناس لما عرفته

وظِلتُ قرير العين بالعين مترفا

A prince: I came to know mankind when I knew him,

and remained glad of eye, pampered with gold.

أصوغ تآليفي وأنظم حكمتي

لأبرع من أملى وخطَّ وألَّفا

I fashion my compositions and versify my wisdom

for the most accomplished of those who dictated, wrote, and composed,

لذي قلمٍ كالسيف طاب غراره

تحكم في كيد العدى وتصرفا

for one with a sword-like pen, excellent in its edge,

that masters the enemies' schemes and acts at will.

خليقته جبر الكسير وكسر من

تصلَّب في شوط الريا وتصلفا

His nature is to mend the broken and break whoever

grows obstinate in the race of ostentation and swaggers.