يدافعني الغيران عن طيب لثمها

فيقنعني لثم التذكر لاسمها

The jealous one bars me from the sweetness of kissing her,

so the kiss of recalling her name satisfies me.

محجبة أبكي ليالي وصلها

بشهبي وحمري وهي تبكي بدهمها

A veiled woman: I weep for the nights of union with her,

with my ash-white and red tears, while she weeps with black ones.

بكيت بلوَّامي عليها وعذَّلي

ولا وصل إلا بين وهمي ووهمها

I wept for her with my reproachers and my censurers,

though no union exists except between my imagining and hers.

وصنو أبٍ قد صانَ نقطة خالها

فيا حرباً من خالها ثم عمّها

And her father's brother has guarded her beauty spot:

ah, the warfare from her beauty mark, and then her uncle!

ويا عجباً حيث اللآلي يتيمة

بفيها وما يبدو بها ذلُّ يتمها

And how wondrous: the pearls are orphans

inside her mouth, yet no orphan's abasement appears upon them.

وحيث أرى من جفنها السهم قاتلاً

وما غرضي إلاَّ ملاقاة سهمها

And where I see the arrow from her eyelid slaying,

my sole aim is to meet her arrow.

بروحيَ من لا خارجٌ غير ردفها

ثقيلاً ومَن لا باردٌ غير ظلمها

My soul for her, from whom nothing emerges but her rump,

heavy—and in whom nothing is cool but the moisture of her teeth.

أما وجراحي خدّها ثم أدمعي

لقد وقعت عين المحبّ بجرمها

Now, by my wounds from her cheek, and then my tears,

the lover's eye has indeed fallen for its own offense.

ودرّ بكائي حين يبسم ثغرها

لقد لاح فرقٌ بين نثري ونظمها

And by the pearls of my weeping when her mouth smiles,

a difference shines between my scattered pearls and her strung ones.

نأى فنأى عنِّي الكرى وتغيبت

فلا طيب أحلامي ولا فضل حلمها

The beloved withdrew, and slumber withdrew from me; she vanished,

so my dreams have no sweetness, nor her forbearance any favor.

وأفردت بالآلام فيها وقاسمت

لواحظها ما بين سقمي وسقمها

I was left alone with pain for her, and shared

with her glances the illness apportioned between me and them.

كأنِّيَ ما نزَّهت طرفي ببيضةٍ

إليها ولا روَّيت قلبي بضمِّها

As if I had never refreshed my gaze upon a fair maiden,

turning toward her, or quenched my heart by embracing her;

ولا ظنَّنا الواشون حرفاً مشدَّداً

لتوثيق جسمي في العناق وجسمها

nor had the talebearers taken us for a doubled consonant,

so tightly bound were my body and hers in the embrace.

يدايَ على الحسناءِ قفلٌ مؤكّدٌ

بآثارِ لثمٍ مثل آثار ختمها

My hands on the beautiful woman were a firmly fastened lock,

with marks of kisses like the impressions of her seal.

زمان غوايات الصبابة والصبا

أغرّ بنعماها وألهو بنعمها

In the days of passion's and youth's temptations,

I was beguiled by her blessings and dallied in her favors.

وليل شباب أيقظ الشيب مقلتي

لديه وكانت في غيابةِ حلمها

And in a youthful night, gray hair awakened my eye,

there, while it lay in the dark recess of its dream.

وطاوعت نصَّاحي ويا رُبَّ مأثم

قضيت على رغمِ النهى قبل رغمها

I obeyed my counselors—yet how many a sin

I committed despite reason, before yielding to its constraint!

وما الشيب إلا كالحسام مجرَّداً

لتعجيل أدواء الضلال لجسمها

Gray hair is but like an unsheathed sword,

to hasten error's maladies upon its body.

تباركَ من أردَى ضلالاً برحمةٍ

وزيَّن آفاق المعالي بنجمها

Blessed is He who laid error low through mercy,

and adorned the horizons of high rank with their star.

إمامٌ إذا عاينت سنة وجهه

حكمت على تلك الفخار بعلمها

An imam: when you behold the aspect of his face,

you judge that glory by its banner.

تهلَّل إذ طارحته بمدائحِي

تهلّل وسميِّ البروق بوسمها

He beamed when I offered him my praises,

as an early-rain cloud brightens with lightning's marks.

حفيٌّ بطلاَّب الفضائل والندى

فلله ما حيّ عيّها بعدَ عدمها

Attentive to seekers of virtue and bounty,

God be praised: he revived their faltering voices after their poverty!

وفاصل أحكام القضاء بفطنةٍ

كأن سرار الشهب من فتح فهمها

He decides judicial rulings with an acumen

as though the stars' dimming came from its dawning understanding.

إذا اخْتصمَ الأقوام ضاءَ بفكرةٍ

يقول ضياء الصبح لست بخصمها

When peoples dispute, he shines with a thought

to which dawn's radiance says, 'I am no match for it.'

ولا عيبَ فيه غير إسراف أنعمٍ

ترى عزمها في الجودِ غاية غنمها

No fault is in him but a profusion of favors

that see their resolve in bounty as their greatest gain.

يجانس بالفتوى الفتوَّة جائداً

ويعرب عن فصل الأمور بحزمها

Giving freely, he makes legal judgment akin to chivalry,

and clarifies the settlement of affairs by firmness in them.

إذا زعماء القوم همَّت بشأوهِ

فقد طلبت شأو النجوم بزعمها

When the people's leaders aspire to his reach,

in their presumption they have sought the reach of the stars.

فديناه ندباً زادَ في شأو بيته

إذا نقصت ذات البيوت بجرمها

Our lives his ransom—a noble man who raised his house's stature,

when the very houses fall short through their wrongdoing.

وقاضي قضاة تعرب الخلق مدحه

فتعجز حتَّى عربها مثل عجمها

A chief judge whose praise humanity tries to voice,

yet fails—even its Arabs are like its non-Arabs.

فيمدحه حتَّى النسيم بعرفه

وتصغي له حتَّى الجبال بصمّها

Even the breeze praises him with its fragrance,

and even the mountains, in their deafness, listen to him.

له همَّة إن شئت غالية الثنا

فشمها وإن شئت الفخار فشمّها

His aspiration—if you seek the rich perfume of praise,

inhale it; if you seek glory, behold it.

على حين مسودُّ المفارق حالك

فكيف إذا ضاءَ المشيب بفحمها

While the black of his hair-partings is pitch-dark:

how then, when gray hair shines through their coal?

وأقلام رشدٍ يتبع الرشد خطّها

ويعمل أنواع الثناء برسمها

And pens of guidance, whose script right guidance follows,

and by whose tracery all forms of praise are wrought.

يقيم على العادين حدًّا بحدِّها

ويهدي إلى العافين عزًّا بعزمها

He sets a penalty upon transgressors with their edge,

and grants supplicants honor through their resolve.

وتكتب في حالي نداها وسطوها

بدرياقها طوراً وطوراً بسمِّها

They write, in both their bounty and their force,

now with their antidote, now with their venom.

مسدَّدة المرمى مقسَّمة الحيا

فلا زالَ للإسلام وافر سهمها

True in aim, with their life-giving rain apportioned,

may their share for Islam remain ever abundant.

بكفِّ كريمٍ يملأ العلم والقرى

لديه قلوب الطالبين بشحمها

In a generous man's hand, knowledge and hospitality fill

the seekers' hearts before him with their fat.

فتى الدِّين والدُّنيا ينير ظلامها

بكوكبها العالي ويلوي بظلمها

Champion of faith and this world, he lights its darkness

with its lofty star, and lays its injustice low.

سليل عماد الدِّين إنك بعده

مصاعد ما همَّ الزمان بلثمها

Scion of Imad al-Din, after him you are

heights that Time has never thought of kissing.

تطوف بمغناه وفود مقاصد

محمّلة جدوى يديه لهمِّها

Delegations of aspirations circle his dwelling,

laden with his hands' bounty to meet their concerns:

لتمكين رَجواها وتأمين رَوْعها

وتأثيل نعماها وتفريج غمّها

to secure their hopes and calm their terror,

to establish their blessings and dispel their grief.

فما الشهد أحلى من صنائع فضله

ولا المسك أذكى من تضوع كتمها

Honey is no sweeter than the favors of his bounty,

nor musk more fragrant than the scent their secrecy exhales.

وما روضة بالحزنِ مخضلَّة الربى

مكاثرة زهر النجوم بنجمها

Nor is a garden on high ground, its hillsides moist,

vying with the stars' blossoms through its low-growing flowers,

يجرُّ لديها عاطر الريح ذيلهُ

وتخطر فيها المزهرات بكمّها

where the fragrant wind trails its hem,

and flowering plants sway in their sleeves,

بألطفَ من أخلاقِهِ عند شيمِها

وأعطر من أخباره عند شمّها

more delicate than his character when it is considered,

or more fragrant than reports of him when their scent is breathed.

لجأت إليه والحياة مريرةٌ

فعرَّفني إحسانه حلوَ طعمها

I sought refuge with him when life was bitter,

and his goodness taught me the sweetness of its taste.

وكنت على قصدِي من الناسِ خائفاً

فألقيته من راحتيه بيمّها

I feared people as I pursued my aim,

so I cast it into the ocean of his two palms.

وما هوَ إلاَّ النجم جاورته فلا

مخافة من كلِّ العداة وكلمها

He is but the star; I became his neighbor, so there is no

fear of any foe or the wounds they deal.

أتمَّت حلا مرآه حليَة حبره

فلا عدِمت منه العلى بدرَ تمّها

The adornment of his ink completed the beauty of his appearance;

so may high honor never be bereft of him, its full-orbed moon.