1. تجلَّى فقلت البدر والليل شعره

    وماسَ فقلت الغصن والحلي زهره

    He shone forth; I said, 'The full moon—and night is his hair.'

    He swayed; I said, 'A branch—and his jewels are its blossoms.'

  2. وأفصح عن ألفاظه وابتسامه

    فأعجبني نظم الجمان ونثره

    He revealed his words and his smile,

    so I delighted in pearls both strung and scattered.

  3. مليح يغيظُ الوردَ حمرةَ خدّه

    ويطوي حديث العنبر الورد نشره

    A beauty whose cheek's redness enrages the rose,

    and whose fragrance puts talk of rosy ambergris to rest.

  4. كأنَّ بما في الثغر نظم عقدُه

    وإلاَّ بما في العقد نظّم ثغره

    As though his necklace were strung with what is in his mouth,

    or else his mouth were arrayed with what is in his necklace.

  5. عجبت لمخضرّ العِذار بخدِّه

    على أنَّه يذكو ويلهب جمره

    I marvel at the green down upon his cheek,

    though it burns bright and its embers flare.

  6. وليس عِذاراً ما أرى غير أنَّه

    لماءِ حياةِ الرِّيق أقبل خضره

    And what I see is no cheek-down; it is only that

    his Khidr has come to the life-giving water of his saliva.

  7. كلفت بهِ حلوَ اللَّمى بابليه

    فمن أين يحلو عنه للمرء صبره

    I am smitten with him—sweet is the Babylonian wine of his dusky lips;

    how, then, could patience away from him be sweet to anyone?

  8. وأسكنته قلبي الذي طارَ فرحةً

    فطائره قلبي الحزين ووكره

    I lodged him in my heart, which flew for joy;

    so my sorrowing heart is both his bird and his nest.

  9. ووالله ما وفيته حقَّ نزله

    إذا كانَ في نارِ الحشا مستقره

    By God, I have not given him his due welcome,

    when his dwelling is in the fire within my breast.

  10. عليَّ له أن أبذل القلب والحشا

    على ما يرى في الحبِّ والأمر أمره

    I owe him the surrender of my heart and my very being,

    as he sees fit in love; the command is his.

  11. ويعجبني طرفٌ تدرُّ دموعه

    على حسنه الغالي فلله درّه

    I delight in an eye whose tears stream

    over his priceless beauty—God bless its bounty!

  12. أحنُّ لوجهٍ تهتُ فيه صبابةً

    فلله صبّ ضلّ إذ لاح بدرُه

    I yearn for a face in which I lost myself in love;

    God bless the lover who lost his way when his full moon shone!

  13. وأنصب طرفي نحو طرف يشوقني

    إذا ما الْتقى في الحبِّ نصبي وكسره

    I train my gaze toward an eye that stirs my longing,

    when my straining and his languor meet in love.

  14. أما والذي قاست عليهِ جوانحي

    من الضنك ما قاسَى من الردف خصره

    Indeed, by him for whom my ribs have suffered

    the same constriction his waist has suffered from his hips,

  15. لقد زيَّن قلبي المستهام بحبِّه

    كما بشهاب الدِّين قد زيّن دهره

    he has adorned my heart, bewildered with love for him,

    as his age has been adorned with Shihab al-Din.

  16. رئيس كما ترضى السيادة والعلى

    بهِ زال ذلّ الدهر واشْتدَّ أزره

    A leader whom lordship and eminence approve;

    through him the age's abasement vanished and its strength grew firm.

  17. كثير الأيادي البيض في كلِّ مقصدٍ

    إذا ما غدت تسعى على الطرس حمره

    He abounds in white-handed favors in every undertaking,

    whenever his red pens set out coursing across the page.

  18. عليك به إن عافت المدح الورى

    وضاق به سهل الرَّجاءِ ووعره

    Turn to him if mankind spurns praise,

    and hope's smooth and rugged paths grow too narrow for it.

  19. سجاياه لا زَهر الرِّياض وعرفها

    وجدواه لا ظلّ الغمام وقطره

    His virtues—not the gardens' flowers and their fragrance;

    and his bounty—not the clouds' shade and their rain.

  20. إذا رمت أن تتلو على يدهِ الرَّجا

    فتيسير عنوان الندى منه نشره

    If you wish to read hope upon his hand,

    his unfolding of it makes bounty's heading easy to read.

  21. رأيت لهُ فضلاً على جامعي الثنا

    كما فضل الشهر المحرَّم عشره

    I have seen in him superiority over those who garner praise,

    as Muharram's first ten days surpass the month itself.

  22. وقدراً إذا أضحى به الذكر طائراً

    غدا واقعاً عنه من الليل نسره

    and a stature such that, when renown takes flight with it,

    the eagle of the night falls beneath it.

  23. من الباذلي الأموال والقامعي العدا

    فأعداؤهُ تشكو النثارَ ونثره

    Among those who lavish wealth and subdue enemies,

    his enemies complain of scattered largesse and his prose.

  24. له قلمٌ تنهلّ بالجودِ سحبه

    وتشرق في أفق الفضائلِ زُهره

    He has a pen whose clouds pour down generosity,

    and whose bright stars shine on the horizon of virtues.

  25. عجبت له من طاهر اللفظ ظاهر

    على أنه قد حاقَ في الناسِ سحره

    I marvel at him, pure of speech and plain to see,

    though his magic has enveloped mankind.

  26. أما وأبي العليا لقد سادَ في الورى

    سيادة من أربى على الحصرِ شكره

    Indeed, by the father of glory, he has gained mastery among mankind,

    the mastery of one for whom thanks exceed all counting.

  27. أثاب فقلنا الغيث أبداه شامه

    وزادَ فقلنا النيل أهدته مصره

    He rewarded; we said, 'Rain—his Syria brought him forth.'

    He gave more; we said, 'The Nile—his Egypt bestowed him.'

  28. هو المتلقي رفعةً بتواضعٍ

    ورُبَّ رفيع حطَّ علياه كبره

    He attains high rank through humility,

    and many an exalted man's pride has brought his eminence low.

  29. وأفعاله أوفى ندًى من مقاله

    وأكرم من أخباره الغرّ خبره

    His deeds are more abundant in generosity than his words,

    and his tested worth is nobler than the splendid reports of him.

  30. وأفسح من بحرِ البلاد وبرّها

    ومدحي وآمالي نداه وصدره

    And broader than the country's sea and land,

    and than my praise and hopes, are his bounty and his breast.

  31. علقت بحبل من مودته التي

    هيَ الذَّخر لا بيض الثراء وصفره

    I have clung to a cord of his affection, which

    is the treasure—not wealth's white and yellow coins.

  32. وعاودته بالقصدِ أجلو مدائحي

    على فكرِه الأذكى وحسبي فكره

    I returned to him with purpose, unveiling my praises

    before his keenest mind; his thought suffices me.

  33. ومن كانَ مثلي واثقاً بولائه

    فيا ليت شعري ما يحاول شعره

    Whoever, like me, is confident of his loyalty,

    then, if only I knew what his poetry seeks!