بين القدود وبين أعطاف القنا

نسبٌ تصير لهُ الأسنَّة أعينا

Between graceful figures and the bends of spears

lies a kinship that makes spearheads eyes.

سيَّان أهيف مائسٌ أو رامحٌ

هزَّ القوام أو القناة ليطعنا

It is all one: a slender, swaying youth or a spearman,

shaking his figure or his lance to pierce.

يثني نسيمُ الدلّ من أعطافهِ

غصناً أشف من القضيب والينا

The breeze of coyness bends within his supple frame

a branch more slender than a twig, and softer.

ريَّان من ماء الصّبا لو جاذبت

أعطافهُ الشكوى تأوُّد وانثنى

Lush with the water of youth; if lament tugged

at his sides, he would sway and bend.

أرأيت أفصحَ من فتورِ جفونهِ

يصف السقامَ وخصره يشكو الضَّنى

Have you seen anything more eloquent than his eyelids' languor,

describing sickness while his waist complains of wasting?

ولقد بكيتُ وحطَّ فضبَ لثامهِ

فرأيت ورداً في الشتاء وسوسنا

I wept, and he lowered his veil's [silver?],

so I saw roses in winter, and irises.

تباً لمن صنع السيوف لتنتضى

بوغى ومن صنع الدروع لتقتنى

Curse him who made swords to be drawn

in battle, and him who made armor to be acquired.

شم ما بجفنك إذ تكون وقيعةٌ

وهب السيوفَ القاضبات الأجفنا

Draw what lies in your eyelid when battle comes,

and give the keen-edged swords their sheaths.

وأفزع إلى حلق العذار فقد غدا

منهنَّ أحسن في العيون وأحصنا

Seek refuge in the rings of cheek-down, for it has become

fairer to the eye than coats of mail, and more protective.

تشفي بسقمٍ لا يفارقُ صحَّةً

وتغير في صبح يقارن موهنا

You heal with a sickness inseparable from health,

and raid at a dawn paired with deep night.

كم زورةٍ نطق النطاق فصاحةً

فيها رحمتُ لها السوار الألكنا

How many a visit when the girdle spoke eloquently—

there I pitied, on its account, the tongue-tied bracelet.

عانقتُ فيها الغصن أميد أهيفاً

وقنصت فيها الظبي أغيد أعينا

There I embraced the branch, swaying and slender,

and there caught the gazelle, supple and wide-eyed.

دينارُ خدّك بالغدار مسطَّرٌ

عجباً لدينار ينال به الغنى

Your cheek's dinar is inscribed by the treacherous one;

how wondrous, a dinar through which wealth is gained!

لو لم تكن عيناي في عرسِ لما

ألبستها ثوبَ الدموع ملوَّنا

Had my two eyes not been at a wedding, I would not

have clothed them in the colored garment of tears.

أمعنفَ المشتاق باح بشجوه

لولا دفيه غرامهِ ما أعلنا

O reproacher of the yearning lover who disclosed his grief:

but for his [hidden?] passion, he would not have proclaimed it.

قد كنت حيث دموعهُ تصف النوى

لعلمت أنَّ من المدامع ألسنا

Had you been where his tears describe separation,

you would have known that among tears are tongues.

ولطالما طويت صحيفة سرّه

واليوم ترجمها البكاءُ وعنونا

For so long the page of his secret lay folded,

and today weeping has translated it and given it a title.

أمَّا نائلٍ ترجوه ثم تخافهُ

والبحر مخشيٌّ وأن وهب الغنى

As for a giver whom you hope in and then fear:

the sea is feared, even when it grants wealth.

عشق السماح فما لهُ من سلوةٍ

فوصاله الجدوى فرادى أو ثنا

He loves generosity and knows no forgetting;

his union with it is bounty, singly or in pairs.

يسقي بعيداً كالسحاب ودانياً

فاشكر نداهُ من هناك ومن هنا

Like the clouds, he waters the distant and the near;

so thank his bounty from there and from here.

وأخاف قلب العين حتى شابهُ

ذاك الصُّفارُ ليأسهِ أن يخزنا

He frightened the heart of gold until it was tinged

with that yellow pallor, despairing of being hoarded.

دفعت علاهُ في صدور عداته

ومشت فضائلهُ على خدّ الدُّنى

His eminence thrust against his enemies' breasts,

and his virtues walked upon the cheek of the worlds.

ولهُ اليراعُ وتلك من شيم الظبى

أن شيم يوم الجمع راع وزَّينا

He wields the reed-pen; these are among sword-blades' traits:

drawn on the day of muster, it awes and adorns.

والسيف يبدي شحذهُ وصقالهُ

حدَّا خشنا وصفحاً لينا

A sword reveals, through its sharpening and polish,

a harsh edge and a smooth flat side.

حتف العدات مع العداة فريقهُ

عذب الجنى مرُّ العذاب لمن جنى

It is the foes' doom among foes; its spittle

has sweet yield, but bitter torment for the wrongdoer.

غصنٌ إذا يسقى بماء مدادهِ

هزَّت معاطفهُ فأثمر بالمنى

A branch that, when watered with its ink,

has its boughs shaken and bears wishes as fruit.

وجرى فأثر في الطروس غباره

خبباً يبذُّ السابقات على الونا

It ran, and its dust left traces on the pages,

at a trot that outstrips racers despite its languor.

ولنا به الشرف الأثيل نحلهُ

فنحلُّ عالي السمك عادي البنا

Through him we have deep-rooted nobility, in which we dwell;

thus we inhabit a high-roofed edifice of ‘Ad.

رفعت نواظرنا بنجمِ ثاقبٍ

زان الصباحَ ضياؤه والموهنا

Our gazes were lifted by a piercing star,

whose light adorned morning and deep night.

يزداد في ظلم الخطوب هدايهً

كأخيهِ في الظلماء يسمو بينا

Its guidance grows in calamities' darkness,

like its brother, rising clearly in the dark.

قمريّ حسن الوجه نجميُّ العلى

فلكيّ سير العزم شمسيُّ السَّنا

Moonlike in beauty of face, starlike in eminence,

celestial in resolve's course, sunlike in radiance.

ليقم مقامك في الفصاحة والنَّدى

من ظنّ إدراك المعالي هينا

Let him take your place in eloquence and bounty—

whoever thinks high honors easy to attain.

هيهات ما هذا البعيدُ بممكنٍ

ولربما طلب البعيد فأمكنا

Far from it! This distant goal is not possible,

though sometimes the distant is sought and becomes possible.

لله جودك ما اسحَّك مملقاً

كفَّا وحلمك مغضياً ما أرصنا

God bless your bounty! How lavish you are, though impoverished

in hand; and your forbearance—how steadfast in overlooking faults!

حتى كأنَّ العار أخذك مذنباً

أولاً تكون من الغوادي أهتنا

So it seems a disgrace for you to seize an offender,

or not to rain more copiously than the morning clouds.

ثقَّفتَ زيغ الدهر بعد شماسهِ

والنتَ منهُ جانباً مخشوشنا

You straightened Time's crookedness after its unruliness,

and softened its harsh side.

وحللت من دست الوزارة مزلقاً

لحظاتِ غيرك ثابتاً متمكنا

You occupied the vizierate's throne, sending

others' glances slipping, yourself steadfast and secure.

ما فقتَ جمع عداك فذّاً مفرداً

حتى انتخبت الحمدّ وانتخبوا الكنى

You did not surpass all your enemies, single and alone,

until you chose praise and they chose bynames.

أنضاهمُ همُّ النَّصار وجمعهِ

وعناك من همّ المكارم ما عنى

Concern for [gold?] and its accumulation wore them down,

while what occupied you was concern for noble deeds.

فإذا سمعت حديث جودٍ وارداً

صحَّحتهُ فنما إليك معنعنا

Whenever a report of generosity reaches your ears,

you authenticate it, and a chain of 'from' links it back to you.

ولقد أزرتكَ من حدائقِ منطقي

ما سار في الدنيا مباحاً صيّنا

I brought to visit you, from the gardens of my speech,

what traveled the world, freely shared yet inviolate.

سقيت منابته هواك فأطلعت

زهراً ولكن بالمسامع يجتنى

I watered its growing places with love for you, and they brought forth

flowers—but flowers gathered by the ears.

من كلّ ممطور الخميلة جلَّ عن

طرسٍ فأصبح في القوب مدوَّنا

Each with a rain-watered thicket, too exalted for

a page, and so inscribed in [hearts?].

أهدى نضارتهُ الصُّراح من النُّهى

فأذال علويّ الكلام وهجّنا

Pure reason bestowed its freshness,

so it humbled lofty speech and made it seem base,

وثنى حسودك بالدموع مغسَّلاً

قبل الممات وفي الثّياب مكفَّنا

and sent your envier back, washed in tears,

shrouded in his clothes before death.

وسريت نحوك والخطوب شواهدٌ

والنجم يغمض ناظراً متوسنا

I traveled by night toward you, with calamities as witnesses,

while the star closed its drowsy eye.

والصبح في غمد الظلام كأنما

يخشى عيون وشاته أن تفطنا

Dawn lay in darkness's sheath, as though

fearing its informers' eyes might notice it.

بعرامسٍ مثل القسيّ تناقلت

كالسَّهم أضعفه الزمان وأوهنا

On sturdy she-camels like bows, which carried

one like an arrow whom Time had weakened and worn thin.

ظمئت فما وردت وليس ببدعةٍ

من ماء بشرك آجناً متأسنا

I thirsted, yet never drank—and this is no novelty—

stale, fetid water from your welcoming cheer.

يا ناقَ ذا قصرُ العزيز وهذه

مصرٌ وهذا يوسفٌ فلك المنى

O she-camel, this is al-‘Aziz's palace, and this

is Egypt, and this is Yusuf: yours are your wishes.

أضحت ربوعك للأماني كعبةً

أبداً تحجُّ وللسماحة معدنا

Your dwellings have become a Kaaba for wishes,

where they forever make pilgrimage, and a mine of generosity.

فكأن عيد النحر دهرك كلُّه

من غير ما نفرٍ وساحتها منى

As though your whole lifetime were the Feast of Sacrifice,

without any departure, and its courtyard were Mina.

نسيت بها صدّاء وهي رويةٌ

ومنابت السعدان مخصبة الجنى

There I forgot Ṣaddā’, though its waters quench thirst,

and the sa‘dan pastures, abundant in yield.

فكأنّ أيام العقيق وحاجرٍ

عادت بظلِّ أراكها والمنحنى

As though the days of al-‘Aqiq and Hajir

had returned with their arak trees' shade and the bend.

أفحمت بالإحسان كلّ مفوَّهٍ

منَّا وأنطقت الجماد الالكنا

Through kindness you silenced every eloquent speaker

among us, and made tongue-tied matter speak.

ما بات عن جهلٍ بشكرٍ كافراً

من ظلّ عن علمٍ بفضلك مؤمنا

No one passes the night ignorantly denying thanks

who passes the day knowingly believing in your bounty.

فبنيت خصم الدهر تنهب ما حمى

وتشدُّ ما أوهى وتهدم ما بنى

So you built as Time's foe, plundering what it guarded,

strengthening what it weakened and demolishing what it built.