1. لنجم هلال الدَّولة الحسن عسكر

    حوى كلّ قاصٍ في الجمال وداني

    For the star Hilāl al-Dawla, beauty is an army,

    Encompassing everyone far and near in beauty.

  2. فيا جفنه الماضي وأحمر خدّه

    رفيقك قيسي وأنت يماني

    So, O his keen eyelid and the red of his cheek:

    Your companion is Qaysī, while you are Yemeni.

  3. ويا حسنه الغازي نصرت على العدى

    ولو كانَ من أعدائك القمران

    And O his raiding beauty, may you triumph over foes,

    Even if the sun and moon were among your enemies.

  4. ويا خصره من دون ردفيهِ إنما

    على البعد ترمي دونه الثقلان

    And O his waist, before his buttocks, only

    From afar do the two weighty ones shoot short of it.

  5. ألا ليتَ شعري إذا حكى الخصر ضمه

    وكانا على العلاَّتِ يصطلحان

    Ah, would that my verse, when it resembled his waist, embraced it,

    And the two, despite their frailties, made peace.

  6. وكافور جسم فيه للحسن ثروةٌ

    فليس الغواني عندهُ بغواني

    And a body of camphor, in which beauty abounds—

    Beside him, beautiful women are no beauties.

  7. قضى الله يا كافور إنك أوَّل

    وليس يقاضٍ أن يرى لك ثاني

    God has decreed, O Kāfūr, that you are first,

    And does not decree that a second to you be seen.

  8. وكم عاشقٍ يا ظبي خلفت قلبه

    مُعار جناح محسن الطيران

    And how many a lover’s heart, O gazelle, have you left

    With a borrowed wing, adept at flight!

  9. دليل الحشا لما نظرتَ قتلته

    بأضعف قرن في أذلِّ مكان

    The heart’s guide—when you looked, you killed him

    With the weakest horn, in the lowliest place.

  10. فيا لك من قلبي وطرفي تنتحي

    على غير منصورٍ وغير معان

    Ah, what you do to my heart and eye! You turn

    Against one neither victorious nor aided.

  11. وما لك تعني بالصوارم والقنا

    وقدّك طعَّانٌ بغير سنان

    And why concern yourself with keen swords and spears,

    When your figure stabs without a spearhead?