قوموا انظروا حكم الجمال البارع

قبل الوصال يحدُّني بمدامعي

Rise and behold the decree of dazzling beauty:

before union, it punishes me with my tears.

وتعجبوا ممن تُحرِّمُ وصلها

وتحل قتل العاشق المتواضع

And marvel at her who forbids union with herself,

yet permits the killing of the humble lover.

هيفاء تبسم في خمارٍ حالكٍ

ليظل أنور من نهار ناصع

A slender-waisted beauty smiles within a pitch-black veil,

so that it remains more radiant than a brilliant day.

طالت ذوائبها ولخَّص خصرها

ما طال من شرح الجمال الرائع

Her tresses grew long, while her waist abridged

the lengthy exposition of wondrous beauty.

إن أدبرت قتلت بمثقل هجرها

وتحنفت لتنال عفو الشارع

When she turns away, she kills with her estrangement’s crushing weight,

and turns Hanafi to win the Lawgiver’s pardon.

وإذا وجت بسيوف غنج جفونها

عبد الهوى قالت إمامي الشافعي

And when she stabs, with the swords of her eyelids’ coquetry,

the slave of passion, she says, “My imam is al-Shafiʿi.”

أقسمت بالشنب الذي في ثغرها

وحرارة اللهب الذي بأضالعي

I swore by the cool sweetness within her mouth,

and the heat of the flame within my ribs:

لولا تكعب نهدها وجمالها

لتوهموها من شيوخ الجامع

were it not for her rounded breast and her beauty,

they would have thought her one of the mosque’s learned elders.

لم أنسها تسعى لتنظر ليلة ال

عيد الهلال بقرب بيت الوازع

I have not forgotten her hurrying to see, on the eve of the

feast, the crescent near the ruler’s house.

تجلو الصباح على صياح حجولها

من كل عضوٍ لاح جلوة باتع

She unveils the morning to the clamor of her anklets,

from every limb that gleams with mighty splendor.

وكأنها عفراء تحذر قانصاً

يغتالها فتسير سير الجازع

As though a pale gazelle, she fears a hunter

who would slay her unawares, and walks with a frightened step.

لما رأت عيني تلاحظ بانةً

منها تميل على كثيب ساطع

When she saw my eye watching a bān-tree

of hers, swaying above a gleaming dune,

وحنين قلبي خلفها وأمامها

متتابع من لاعجي المتتابع

and my heart’s longing, behind her and before her,

coming in waves from my unceasing anguish,

قالت لتعرف سانحي من بارحي

إني لأسمع منك أنة خاشع

she said, to tell my lucky omen from my unlucky one:

“Indeed, I hear from you a humble worshipper’s moan.

أي الجوامع تبتغي قلت الذي

جمع النهود لساجدٍ ولراكع

Which of the mosques do you seek?” I said, “The one

that has gathered breasts for one who prostrates and one who bows.

فبياض وجهك حين نيط بحمرة ال

خدين بشرني بشملٍ جامع

For your face’s whiteness, when joined to the redness of the

cheeks, gave me glad tidings of a full reunion.

أفدي جبيناً منك أطلع في الدجى

طلع الصباح وبَتَّ لحنَ الساجع

I would give my life for a brow of yours that brought forth in darkness

the dawn’s first light and stilled the cooing bird’s song.

طلع الهلال عليه ملتمع الضيا

ورأيته فرأيت سعد الطالع

The crescent rose upon it, its light agleam,

and I saw it, and saw good fortune in the ascendant.

أدي زكاة نصاب حسنك إنه

تامٌ وسنُّك جاز سن اليافع

Pay the alms-tax on the measure of your beauty, for it is

complete, and your age has passed that of a budding youth.

واعطي العيون الزارعات حقوقها

من ورد خدك فهو حق الزارع

And give the sowing eyes their rightful dues

from your cheek’s roses, for that is the sower’s right.

ومن المجير لمثله من عاشق

مثلي شجٍ إن دام غير مطاوعي

And who will shield its like from a lover

like me, lovelorn, if it remains unyielding to me?”

فنأت تقول يجيرني ويجيره

منك التقى وحسام أحمد نافع

She withdrew, saying, “Both I and it are shielded

from you by piety and the sword of Ahmad Nafiʿ.”

ورجعت أمتدح الذي في ظله

يحمَى الغزال من الهزبر الباتع

And I returned to praise the man in whose shade

the gazelle is protected from the mighty lion.

وأقول للقلب المولع بالمهى

لا شيء غير سماح نافع نافعي

And I say to my heart, enamored of white oryxes:

“Nothing but Nafiʿ’s generosity can benefit me.”

الآمر الناهي المؤيد للعلى

بيراعةٍ مثل الحسام القاطع

He who commands and forbids, who upholds high honor

with a reed pen like a slashing sword;

والحاسب المنشي الذي رجحت صنا

ئعه بميزان الحساب الجامع

and the accountant and secretary whose benefactions have weighed heavy

in the all-embracing balance of reckoning;

والمستعدُّ إذا الخيانة ضيَّعت

مالَ الضياع لرد ضعف الضائع

and he who stands ready, when treachery has squandered

the estates’ wealth, to restore twice what was lost.

رجلٌ إذا أملى الجواب حسبته

ورث الخطاب من الإمام الرابع

A man who, when he dictates a reply, you would think

had inherited eloquence from the fourth Imam.

من لا يزالُ الدهرَ ثروةَ قاصدٍ

وسرور محتاج وغيظ منازع

One who remains, for all time, the wealth of the petitioner,

the joy of the needy and the vexation of rivals.

الفضل في أقلامه لمطالع

والعدل في صمصامه لمراجع

Excellence is in his pens for whoever reads,

and justice in his keen sword for whoever seeks redress.

والجود عشر منابع بيمينه

وشماله من ظل عشر أصابع

And bounty is ten wellsprings in his right hand

and his left, from the shade of ten fingers.

يا ابن الذين سيوفهم مذخورةٌ

للدارعين ومالهم للضارع

O son of those whose swords are held in reserve

for armored warriors, and whose wealth is for the supplicant:

ما كان مال خليفة اللَه الذي

في الشام إلّا أكلةٌ للجائع

the wealth of God’s caliph, that which lay

in al-Sham, was nothing but a meal for the hungry.

حامى عفافك عنه حتى صار كال

زقوم لا يحلو بمبلع بالع

Your integrity defended it until it became like the

zaqqum tree, never sweet in any swallower’s throat.

وغدا اسمه أعني العفاف مهنداً

لنكال كل مخالس ومخادع

And its name—I mean integrity—became an Indian blade

to punish every pilferer and deceiver.

فافخر فقد أعطيت مجدك حقه

واسلم فقد أطربت سمع السامع

So take pride, for you have given your glory its due,

and remain safe, for you have delighted the listener’s ear.