1. أعدَى بغيركُم دمع المحبينا

    حتَّى تلوَّن يوم البين تلوينا

    The lovers' tears spread their contagion to others, not you,

    until the day of parting took on many colors.

  2. يا هاجرين بلا ذنبٍ سوى شجنٍ

    بين الجوانح لا ينفكّ يشجينا

    O you who forsake us for no fault but sorrow

    within our ribs that never ceases to grieve us,

  3. لا تسألوا ما جرى من فيضِ أدمعنا

    فيكم وما قد جرى من غدركم فينا

    do not ask what has flowed from the flood of our tears

    for you, and what your treachery has wrought in us.

  4. أمَّا الرجاء فما راعيتموه لقد

    غرّت بدوركُم آمالَ سارينا

    As for hope, you paid it no heed; indeed,

    your full moons deceived the hopes of our night-traveler.

  5. كيف السبيل إلى إنصاف قصتنا

    إذ خصمنا في سبيلِ الحكم قاضينا

    How can our case be judged fairly,

    when our adversary, in the course of judgment, is our judge?

  6. يجني علينا ويجني للأسى ثمراً

    شتَّان ما بين جانيكم وجانينا

    He wrongs us and harvests fruit for sorrow;

    what a difference between your wrongdoer and ours!

  7. كونوا كما شئتموا نأياً ومقترباً

    إنْ لم تكونوا من الدنيا كما شينا

    Be as you please, distant or near,

    if, in this world, you are not as we wished.

  8. إنَّا وإن غدرت فينا عهودكُم

    من الذين همُ للعهدِ راعونا

    We, though your pledges have betrayed us,

    are among those who keep faith with the covenant.

  9. في قبلة العشق أو ميدان حليته

    نحن المصلون أو نحن المجلّونا

    In love's direction of prayer, or the arena of its adornment,

    we are the worshippers—or we are the front-runners.

  10. لا يقبس الوجد إلا من جوانحنا

    ويستقي الدَّمع إلا من مآقينا

    Passion draws its fire only from within our ribs,

    and tears draw water only from our eye-corners.

  11. حمرٌ مدامعنا صفرٌ مناظرنا

    سودٌ مذاهبنا بيضٌ نواصينا

    Red are our tear ducts, yellow our faces;

    black are our paths, white our forelocks.

  12. لو كانَ في الألف منا واحد فدعوا

    مَنْ عاشقٌ ظنهم إياه يعنونا

    If one of us were among a thousand and they called,

    'Who is a lover?' he would think they meant him.

  13. منذ اشْتغلنا بتكرار الغرام بكم

    لم ينس خوف دروس العهد ماضينا

    Since we became absorbed in repeating our passion for you,

    our past has not forgotten the fear of the covenant's fading.

  14. لكنكم وجلال الله يكلؤكم

    تسترفضون جميلاً من توالينا

    But you—may God's majesty guard you—

    spurn the beauty of our loyalty,

  15. وتصرفون لأقوام عنايتكم

    عنَّا وما قصرت عنكم مساعينا

    and direct your care toward other people,

    away from us, though our efforts for you have not fallen short.

  16. هي الحظوظ فعشْ منها بما وهبت

    ولا تقل عالياً عزمي ولا دونا

    Such are fortunes: live on whatever they bestow,

    and do not say, 'My resolve is lofty,' or 'low.'

  17. يعنى بذا دون هذا مع تماثله

    وقسْ على ما تراه السين والشينا

    This is favored over that, though the two are alike;

    and compare sīn and shīn with what you see.

  18. همنا فإن يسلُ عن أسداء أنعمه

    كفّ الفلان فإنَّ الدهر يسلينا

    We were love-struck; if the bestowing of his favors is forgotten by

    so-and-so's hand, then time will console us.

  19. لله درّ فلان الدِّين من رجلٍ

    يسرّ دنيا ويرضى بالتقى دينا

    God bless So-and-so al-Din—what a man!

    He gladdens the world and is content with piety as his faith.

  20. فتى يضاعف أثمان الرجاء لمن

    سعى له ويراه بعدُ مغبونا

    A young man who doubles hope's rewards for whoever

    strives for him, and still considers him shortchanged.

  21. جذلان تحذف جمع المال راحته

    حذف الإضافة في الأسماء تنوينا

    Joyfully, his palm erases the amassing of wealth,

    as the construct state removes nunation from nouns.

  22. نستمنح المال مكيولاً بأنعمه

    وننظم القول في علياه موزونا

    We ask for wealth measured out through his favors,

    and weave measured verse on his eminence.

  23. ويصبح المدح إلاَّ في مناقبه

    كالبكر زوَّجها الأهلون عنينا

    And praise, unless it celebrates his virtues, becomes

    like a virgin whose family has wed her to an impotent man.

  24. نعم الملاذ بجاهٍ أو نوال يدٍ

    في حادثِ الدهر يحمينا ويروينا

    What a fine refuge, through rank or the gifts of his hand;

    in time's calamities, he shelters us and slakes our thirst.

  25. كادت عطاياه أن تبقى معطلة

    لأن نائلها لم يبق مسكينا

    His gifts came close to lying idle,

    for their bounty left no one poor.

  26. وكادَ من لطف ألفاظٍ محررةٍ

    يردّ سائله المفتنّ مفتونا

    And with the grace of his finely crafted words, he nearly

    sent his accomplished petitioner back spellbound.

  27. يا جائل الطرف في السادات قف بحمى

    من ليس يحتاج تعريفاً وتبيينا

    O you whose gaze roams among the lords, halt in the sanctuary

    of one who needs no introduction or explanation.

  28. لسنا نسميه إجلالاً وتكرمةً

    وقدره المعتلي عن ذاك يغنينا

    We do not name him, out of reverence and honor,

    and his rank, exalted beyond that, spares us the need.

  29. شمه تجد حاجباً من نور طلعته

    لكنه لم يزل بالنجحِ مقرونا

    Behold him: you find a veil of his countenance's light,

    yet he remains ever linked with success,

  30. وآمراً بنوال القاصدين فما

    يزال فيهم رشيد الرأي مأمونا

    and one who orders bounty for petitioners; he

    remains among them sound in judgment and trusted.

  31. تريك أقلامه في بحر راحته

    فلكاً بما ينفع الآمال مشحونا

    His pens show you, upon the sea of his palm,

    a ship laden with what benefits hopes.

  32. كأنَّها وهيَ بالألفاظِ مطربةٌ

    قضبٌ تجيد عليها الوُرق تلحينا

    As though, while making music with words, they were

    boughs on which gray doves sing exquisite melodies.

  33. في كفّ أبلج يلقى الجود مفترضاً

    لدى علاه وحدّ العزم مسنونا

    In the palm of a radiant man who finds generosity obligatory

    at his lofty station, and the edge of resolve sharpened.

  34. له نجومٌ من الآراء نعرفها

    بصحة السعد لا حدساً وتخمينا

    He has stars of counsel that we recognize

    by the certainty of good fortune, not surmise or guesswork.

  35. وفكرة ذات ألفاظ منوّرة

    يكاد سامعها يجني البساتينا

    And a thought endowed with luminous words,

    whose listener can almost harvest gardens.

  36. من مبلغ العرب عن شعري ودولته

    إنَّ ابن عبَّاد باقٍ وان زيدونا

    Who will tell the Arabs of my poetry and its reign

    that Ibn Abbad endures, and Zaydun too?

  37. حبرتها فيها زهراء المعاطف من

    أغلى وأنفس ما يهدي المجيدونا

    I fashioned it therein, radiant in its folds, among

    the costliest and most precious gifts the masters offer.

  38. إذا رأيت قوافيها وطلعته

    فقد رأت مقلتاك البحر والنونا

    When you see its rhymes and his countenance,

    your two eyes have seen the sea and the fish.

  39. كأن ألفاظها في سمع حدسِها

    كواكب الرجم يحرقن الشياطينا

    Its words, to the ear of its intuition, are like

    stars hurled as missiles, burning the devils.

  40. يا ماجداً فاز بادينا وحاضرنا

    به وأنجح قاصينا ودانينا

    O noble man, our desert folk and townspeople have triumphed

    through you, and our distant and nearby folk have prospered.

  41. إن كانَ يزداد شيءٌ بعد غايته

    فزادك الله في العلياءِ تمكينا

    If anything can grow beyond its utmost limit,

    then may God increase your firm standing in the heights of glory.