أماط لثاماً فاجتلِ القمر الأدنى

وألقى وشاحا فاجتنٍ الغصنَ اللّدنا

He drew aside a veil: behold the nearer moon.

And cast off a sash: pluck the supple branch.

وشمْ برق ذاك الابتسامِ الذي خبا

فكم شيم من برقٍ خبا فحبا المزنا

Watch the lightning of that smile that faded;

how often watched lightning has faded, then brought rainclouds!

لقد سلَّ سيفاً من لواحظ طرفهِ

فؤادي له ما زال أو جفنهُ جفنا

He drew a sword from the glances of his eye;

my heart—or his eyelid—has always been its sheath.

بدا وتثنّى وجههُ وقوامهُ

فعاينتُ منهُ الشمسَ والدِّعصَ والغصنا

His face appeared and his figure swayed;

in him I beheld the sun, the sandhill, and the branch.

أمات اصطباري مالكاً لحياتهِ

وأسهرني في الحبّ ذو المقلةِ الوسنى

He killed my patience, holding its life in his power;

the drowsy-eyed one kept me awake in love.

وكم ظنَّ لي صبراً وليست حقيقةٌ

وهبتُ لعيتيهِ الحقيقةَ والظنّا

How often he supposed me patient, though it was not real;

I gave his eyes [reading uncertain] both reality and supposition.

تثنّى فلم يثنِ التثنّي فؤادهُ

وعنّى محباً بالصدود وما عنّا

He swayed, but his swaying did not bend his heart;

he tormented a lover by shunning him, yet never appeared.

ويعجبهُ إطلاق دمعي إن غدا

فؤادي أسيراً في محبتهِ رهنا

He delights in setting my tears loose if

my heart becomes a captive, held hostage to loving him.

ذممنا على حكم الصدود ذمامهُ

وكم حاز حسناً ما حمدنا له حسنى

Judging by his rejection, we condemned his pledged faith;

much beauty he possessed, yet we praised no kindness of his.

ويطربني في البدر منه ملامحٌ

وفي عذبات البان من قدّه معنى

Features resembling his in the full moon delight me;

the ban-tree's branch-tips hold a likeness of his stature.

فكم جزعٍ لاقيت في جزع دارهِ

وإمّا تبدّى الحزنُ هيّج لي حزنا

How much anguish I encountered in the valley-bend by his dwelling!

Whenever the rugged ground appeared, it stirred my sorrow.

وفي ذلك المغنى إلى الدمع فاقةٌ

وكم مدمعٍ أغنى على فاقةٍ مغنى

In that dwelling there is a need for tears;

many a tearful eye has enriched a dwelling in its poverty.

زمانٌ مضى ما كان أقصر عمرهُ

كأنا بربع الوصل كنّا وما كنّا

A time gone by—how short its lifetime was!

As though we had dwelt in union's abode, yet never had.

وكم ليلةٍ ليلاءَ من جنح بُعدهِ

نصبتُ بها وهماً فعلّقهُ وهنا

And many a pitch-dark night in the gloom of his distance

I set a fancy within, and he caught it late at night.

بلغت بها منّا وأمناً وحبّذا

مزارُ حبيبٍ يجمع الأمنَ والمنّا

Through it I attained bounty and safety—how welcome

a beloved's visit, bringing safety and bounty!

سنيُّ عطاءٍ سنّهُ سنةُ الكرى

فلّلهِ ما أسنى وواهاً لما سنّا

A splendid gift, instituted by slumber's drowsiness;

God, how lavishly it gave! Ah, for what it ordained!

تقضي الليالي والسنون ببينهِ

فلا غروَ أن أبكى وأن أقرع السنّا

The nights and years decree separation from him;

no wonder I weep and gnash my teeth.

أحنُّ وأحياناً أنوح صبابةً

ولولا الهوي ما ناحَ صبٌّ ولا حنّا

I yearn, and sometimes lament with longing;

but for love, no lover would lament or yearn.

وكم فننٍ أهدى إلى القلب بل هدى

وقد غرّد القمريُّ من لوعةٍ فنّا

Many a bough gave to my heart—nay, guided it—

as the turtledove warbled a strain of anguish.

فلا زال في عود من البان ناضرٍ

وأمسى له رفقاً به ناظري وكنا

May it ever remain in a flourishing ban-tree bough;

may my eye become its nest, in tenderness toward it.

وما روضةٌ غناءُ هاجت لعاشق

عناءً وشادي الأيك في الأيك قد غنّا

No lush garden that stirred a lover's

anguish, while the thicket's singer sang in the thicket—

أجادت بها شدواً فجادت مدامعٌ

وأغربَ لحناً شائقاً معرباً لحنا

fine song rang there, and eyes poured tears,

and a wondrous, alluring melody was eloquently voiced,

تفاوح نشرُ المسك من نفحاتها

كذكر الأجلّ الفاضل اخترق المدنا

with musk's fragrance wafting from its scented breaths—

can match the exalted, virtuous man's renown, sweeping through the cities.

سماحُ يدي عبدِ الرحيم وبأسهُ

مدى الدهر كم أقنى وليّاً وكم أفنى

The generosity of Abd al-Rahim's hands, and his might—

throughout time, how often he enriched an ally, how often destroyed a foe!

هو العارض الوسميُّ وهو وليّهُ

فيسراه فيها اليسر واليمنُ في اليّمنى

He is the cloud of autumn's first rains, and their following shower;

his left hand holds ease, and his right, good fortune.

إذا جرّدتْ عضبَ اليراعِ بنانهُ

كفى الدولة الإدلاجَ والضربَ والطّعنا

When his fingertips unsheathe the sharp sword of the reed-pen,

he spares the state night marches, blows, and spear-thrusts.

حمى الملكَ أن يخشى مغيراً وغارةً

وكم غارةٍ من دون حوزتهِ شنّا

He shields the realm from fear of raiders and raids;

many a raid he launched in defense of its territory.

إذا ما انبرى في طرسهِ قالت النّهى

قفوا فانظروا ما يصنع الناحلُ المضنى

When it goes to work upon his page, reason says:

Stop and see what the slender, wasted one can do!

وإمّا أتى يوماً عدوّاً كتابهُ

ثنى جيشهُ ثاني العنان وقد أثنى

If one day his letter reaches an enemy,

he turns his army back, wheeling the reins around, and offers praise.

هو الدهرُ فالطّرس الصباحُ تبلّجت

ثناياه والنّقسُ الظلام إذا جنّا

It is Time itself: the page is morning, brightening

in all its folds; the ink is darkness when night closes in.

فهل خطّهُ خطيّةٌ سمهريّةٌ

فلم نرَ خطّاً غيره يهزم القرنا

Is his script a Khatti spear, hard and straight?

We have seen no other script rout an opponent.

بنا طربٌ ممّا يصوغ يراعهُ

فهل صاغ حلياً للمسامع أو لحنا

We are delighted by what his reed-pen fashions;

has it fashioned jewelry for the ears, or a melody?

غدا سجعهُ سجعَ الحمام كأنّما

أناملهُ ورقاءُ فارعةٌ غضبا

His rhymed prose becomes the cooing of doves, as though

his fingertips were a gray dove soaring in anger.

إذا الناسُ عدّوا كان أرفعهم سناً

وإنْ لم يكنْ في العدّ أرفعهم سنّا

When people take stock, he stands highest in radiance,

though in the count of years he is not the oldest.

أسحّهمُ في كلّ مسغبةٍ حياً

وأثبتهم في كلّ حادثةٍ ركنا

He gives the most rain of them all in every famine,

and stands as their firmest pillar in every calamity.

كأنَّ ليالي الدهر خطُّ صحيفةٍ

وقد أصبحتْ أيّامهُ اللّفظَ والمعنى

As though Time's nights were the writing on a page,

while his days became its wording and its meaning.

متى ما بدا فالسّمعُ للعين حاسدٌ

وإن قال أمسى ناظري يحسدُ الأذنا

Whenever he appears, hearing envies sight;

if he speaks, my eye grows envious of the ear.

وإن ظعن القُصّاد نحو جنابهِ

همى علمهُ والجودُ فاشتمل الظّعنا

And if petitioners journey toward his presence,

his learning and bounty rain down, encompassing the caravans.

وإن خزنَ الناسُ اللهى أنطق اللّها

بمثعنجرِ الشّؤبوب يأبى له الخزنا

And if people hoard gifts, he sets throats speaking

with a torrential downpour that will not let him hoard.

وما انبريا إلاّ أماتا وأحييا

بك المزنيَّ الخالد العلم والمزنا

The two set forth only to put to death and bring to life,

through you, al-Muzani of enduring learning, and the rainclouds.

بربعك أيّام الأيامى خصيبةٌ

وعودُ الأعادي ليّنٌ يبسُ المجنى

At your abode, the days of the widowed are bountiful;

your enemies' bough is soft, its fruit dry.

وقافيةٍ مغبوبةِ الحقّ حزتها

فوفّيتها حقاً وأمّنتها الغبنا

A poem neglected in its due you acquired;

then paid it its due and shielded it from unfair loss.

عروسٌ حصانُ النجرِ فكري وليّها

سهرتُ لها وهناً فما وجدتْ وهنا

A bride of chaste lineage, my thought her guardian;

I kept vigil for her late at night, so she knew no weakness.

وأطاقتها من سجن فهمي وإنمّا

مخافةَ بعلِ السوءِ أُودعها السّجنا

I released her [reading uncertain] from my mind's prison; only

for fear of an evil husband do I consign her to prison.

تفيد مودّات القلوب وتارةً

تهمُّ فتستلُّ العدواة والشّحنا

She wins the affections of hearts, and sometimes

she sets herself to it, drawing forth enmity and rancor.

إذاً ما تعاطى القومُ جريال بيتها

رأيتَ فصيحَ القوم يستنجد اللُّكنا

When the company drinks the ruby wine of her verse,

you see its eloquent speaker call the tongue-tied to his aid.

سُكارى وما دارت عليهم مدامةً

لدى مطربٍ من غير بمٍّ ولا مثنى

Drunk, though no wine has circulated among them,

before a minstrel with neither bass string nor second string.

وإن جاذبتهم في النديِّ عنانها

فكلُّ فتىً قيسٌ تجاذبهُ لبنى

And if she vies with them over her reins in the assembly,

each youth is Qays, with Lubna tugging against him.

فلو أنَّ أهل الأرض جمعاً سموا لها

لأضحت سماءً أو لأعينهم وزنا

If all the earth's people together aspired to her,

she would become a sky, or a weight upon their eyes.

وإنّي لآبى الضيمَ من كلّ صاحبٍ

وأكرهُ قلبي أن يكونَ لهُ خدنا

I indeed refuse humiliation from any companion,

and hate for my heart to become his intimate friend.

فإنْ بلدٌ لم أغدُ فيهِ مكرّماً

نهضتُ فأعلمتُ الجديليّةَ البُدنا

If in a land I do not find myself honored,

I rise and mark the stout Jadili camels.

وما شانَ فضلي بين أهلي خمولهُ

وقد بلغتْ آياتهُ الإنسَ والجنّا

Obscurity among my people has not blemished my merit;

its signs have reached humankind and the jinn.

فإنّي كعود الهند هينٌ بدوحهِ

وقد عبّقتْ أنفاسهُ السّهلَ والحزنا

I am like Indian aloeswood, held cheap in its own grove,

though its breaths have perfumed both plain and rugged ground.