1. سَكبَ الدَّمع لها فانسَكبا

    وقَضى من حَقِّها ما وجبا

    He shed tears for them, and they streamed,

    and fulfilled what was owed them.

  2. أرْبعٌ لولا تباريحُ الهوى

    ما جرى دَمعُك فيها صَبَبا

    Dwellings—were it not for love's torments,

    your tears would not have flowed there in streams.

  3. وجَدت فيها السوافي مَلْعَباً

    للنّوى فاتَّخَذتْها ملعبا

    The windblown sands found there a playground

    for separation, and so made them a playground.

  4. ما لقينا بوقوف الرّكب في

    ساحةِ النّعمان إلاَّ نصبا

    We found nothing, when the caravan halted in

    Nu'man's grounds, but weariness.

  5. ذكر الصبُّ وهل ينسى بها

    زمنَ اللَّهو وأيَّام الصّبا

    The lovelorn man remembered—could he forget there

    the season of pleasure and the days of youth?

  6. يا رعى الله بها لي قمراً

    مُشرِقَ الطلعة لمنْ غربا

    Ah, may God preserve for me there a moon,

    radiant of face for one who has gone away.

  7. أمنًى للنَّفس في أهل مِنًى

    وقباب الحيّ في وادي قبا

    Are there hopes for the soul among the people of Mina,

    and the tribe's domed tents in the valley of Quba?

  8. فلقد كنتُ وكانتْ فتيةٌ

    أنجمَ الأُفق وأزهار الرُّبى

    For I and a company of youths were once

    stars of the horizon and flowers of the hills.

  9. ذهب الدهر بهم فامتزجَت

    فضَّة الأدمع فيهم ذهبا

    Time carried them away, and there mingled

    the silver of tears for them with gold.

  10. يا خَليليَّ وهلاّ شِمْتُما

    بارقاً لاحَ لعيني وخبا

    O my two friends, why did you not watch

    a lightning flash that shone before my eye, then faded?

  11. فتوارى كفؤادي لهباً

    ثمَّ أورى زنده والتهبا

    Then it vanished, like my heart, in flame,

    then kindled its fire-stick and blazed.

  12. لَعِبَ الشَّوق بأحشائي وما

    جَدَّ جِدُّ الوَجْد حتَّى لعبا

    Longing played with my innards; nor

    did love's earnestness grow earnest until it played.

  13. فانشدنّ لي في الحمى قلباً فقد

    ضاعَ منِّي في الحمى أو غُصِبا

    So seek me a heart in the sanctuary, for it has

    gone missing from me in the sanctuary, or been seized by force.

  14. نظرت عيناي أسرابَ المها

    نظرةً كانت لحَيْني سببا

    My eyes looked upon herds of oryx,

    with a glance that caused my doom,

  15. يوم أصْبَتْنا إلى دين الهوى

    فتَعَلَّلْنا بأرواح الصَّبا

    on the day they won us over to love's faith,

    so we sought solace in breaths of the east wind.

  16. وعدونا زورة الطَّيف أما

    آنَ ميعادهُم واقتربا

    They promised us a visit from the dream-phantom; has not

    their appointed time come and drawn near?

  17. أربُ النَّفس وحاجات امرئٍ

    ما قضى منهم لعمري أربا

    The soul's desire, and the needs of a man

    who, by my life, has had no wish fulfilled by them.

  18. قَضَتِ الأَيَّام فيما بيننا

    إنَّنا لم نلقَ يوماً طربا

    The days decreed, between us,

    that we never once found joy.

  19. وَهَبَ الدَّهر لنا لذَّته

    واستردَّ الدهر ما قد وهبا

    Time gave us its delight,

    and time reclaimed what it had given.

  20. ومنعنا من أفاويق الطّلا

    منهلاً كانَ لنا مستعذبا

    And denied us, of wine's successive draughts,

    a spring we had found sweet.

  21. فحدا الحادي لسقيا عهدكم

    عارضاً إنْ ساقه البرق كبا

    So the camel-driver urged onward, to water your remembered days,

    a rain-cloud that stumbled if lightning drove it.

  22. مقلةُ الوالع يذري دمعَها

    وبكى القطر لها وانتحبا

    The ardent lover sheds his eye's tears,

    and the rain wept for it and sobbed.

  23. أمر القلب بصبرٍ فقضى

    ودعا الصَّبرَ إليها فأبى

    He bade the heart be patient, and it died,

    and called patience to the eye, but it refused.

  24. قلَّما يُدعى فيقضي حاجةً

    وإذا ما انتدبوه انتدبا

    Seldom is it called upon and fulfills a need,

    and whenever they enlist it, it answers the call.

  25. واللَّيالي فَلَكٌ يظهر في

    كلِّ يومٍ عجباً مستغربا

    And the nights are a celestial sphere, displaying

    each day a strange wonder.

  26. وكآفاق العُلى ما أطْلَعَتْ

    كشهاب الدِّين فينا كوكبا

    And, like the horizons of glory, it has never raised

    among us a star like Shihab al-Din.

  27. فتأمَّل في معاني ذاته

    وتفكَّر فتَحدَّثْ عجبا

    So contemplate the qualities of his being,

    and reflect, then recount a marvel.

  28. هيبة لله في مطلعه

    ملأت قلب الأَعادي رعبا

    A divine awe at his rising

    filled his enemies' hearts with terror.

  29. يُرْتجى جوداً ويُخشى سطوة

    رغباً يُرجى ويخشى رهبا

    He is sought for bounty and feared for might,

    sought with desire and feared with dread.

  30. عالم الدُّنيا وناهيك به

    لا يشوبُ العلم إلاَّ أدبا

    The world's scholar—and he suffices!

    He mingles learning with nothing but refinement.

  31. معربٌ عن فكره الثاقب إنْ

    زفَّ أبكار المعاني عُرُبا

    He expresses his penetrating thought when

    he leads the virgin meanings forth as loving brides.

  32. كم تجلَّتْ فَجَلَتْ أفكاره

    عن سنا كلّ عويص غيهبا

    How often his thoughts shone forth and swept

    darkness from the radiance of every thorny problem!

  33. فأرَتْنا الحقّ يبدو واضحاً

    بعد أن قاربَ يحتجبا

    Thus they showed us truth appearing plainly,

    after it had nearly been veiled.

  34. بلسان يفصِلُ الأَمر به

    كشبا الصَّمصام أو أمضى شبا

    With a tongue by which he decides the matter,

    like the edge of a keen sword, or keener still.

  35. فخُذِ اللؤلؤَ من ألفاظِهِ

    واجْتَني إن شِئْتَ منها ضَرَبا

    So take pearls from his words,

    and gather white honey from them, if you wish.

  36. وفكاهات إذا أوْرَدَها

    نُظِمَتْ فوق الحميَّا حببا

    And witticisms, when he offers them,

    are strung as bubbles upon strong wine.

  37. وكمالات له معجزة

    وأحاديثاً رواها نخبا

    And miraculous perfections are his,

    and choice accounts that he has narrated.

  38. أين من أقلامه سُمُرُ القنا

    أين من همَّته بيض الظبا

    What are tawny spears beside his pens?

    What are white sword-blades beside his resolve?

  39. وكلام راقَ في السَّمع كما

    يروقُ العينَ فيما كتبا

    And speech that delighted the ear, just as

    it delights the eye in what he wrote.

  40. عَلَويٌّ من أعالي هاشم

    هاشم الجود ويكفي نسبا

    An Alid, from the noblest of Hashim's line,

    Hashim of bounty—and that is lineage enough.

  41. صاغه الله لقوم أرباً

    ولقومٍ حَسَدوه عطبا

    God fashioned him as a boon for some,

    and as ruin for others who envied him.

  42. لا يزال الدهر يعلو جدّه

    مرتقيها في المعالي رتبا

    His good fortune keeps rising through time,

    climbing rank upon rank in lofty honors.

  43. فإذا بُوحِثَ بالجدّ علا

    وإذا غولبَ فيه غَلَبا

    So when engaged in earnest debate, he excels,

    and when challenged in it, he prevails.

  44. أبلجٌ تحسبه بدرَ الدُّجى

    أو بأضواءِ الصَّباح انتقبا

    Radiant—you would think him the full moon in darkness,

    or that he had veiled himself in morning's lights.

  45. ديمةٌ منهلَّة ما شمْتُ في

    بارق الآمال منها خلَّبا

    A steady, pouring rain: never have I seen in

    its lightning of hopes a rainless flash.

  46. ولئنْ أصْبَحَ روضي ممحلاً

    فكم اخضرَّ به واعشوشبا

    And even if my garden has become barren,

    how often through him it grew green and thick with grass!

  47. يهنِكَ العيدُ فخذْ من لائذ

    بِكم ما كنتُ له مستوجبا

    May the feast gladden you! Accept from one seeking refuge

    with you what I was entitled to,

  48. شاكراً منك على العيدِ يداً

    لم أُفاخر بسواها السُّحبا

    thankful for a favor from you at the feast,

    with which alone I have boasted against the clouds.

  49. فتفضَّل يا ابن بنت المصطفى

    أشرف العالم أُمًّا وأبا

    So be generous, O son of al-Mustafa's daughter,

    noblest in the world through mother and father.