1. شق الصباحُ غلالةَ الظَلْماءِ

    وانحلّ عِقْدُ كواكبِ الجوزاءِ

    Dawn tore the veil of darkness,

    And the necklace of al-Jawza's stars came undone.

  2. وتكلّلت تيجانُ أزهارِ الرُبى

    بغرائب من لؤلؤ الأنداءِ

    And the crowns of flowers on the hills were adorned

    With rare pearls of dew.

  3. وجرى النسيمُ فجرّ فضلَ ردائه

    متحرّشاً بمساقطِ الأنواءِ

    And the breeze flowed, dragging the trailing folds of its cloak,

    Teasing the places where the seasonal rains fall.

  4. وعَلا الحَمامُ على منابرِ أيكةٍ

    يُبْدي فصحةَ ألسُنِ الخُطَباءِ

    And the doves mounted the pulpits of a thicket,

    Displaying the eloquence of preachers' tongues.

  5. ودَعا وقد رقّ الهواءُ منمّق ال

    سربالِ طابتْ زهرةُ الصهْباءِ

    And, as the air grew mild, one called in his richly patterned

    Robe; the bloom of tawny wine grew sweet.

  6. لو لم يكن ملكُ الطيورِ لما انثَني

    بالتاجِ يَمشي مشيةَ الخُيَلاءِ

    Had he not been king of the birds, he would not have gone about

    Crowned, walking with a swagger.

  7. فاشربتْ معتّقةَ الطِلا صِرْفاً على

    رقْصِ الغُصونِ ورنّةِ المكّاءِ

    So she served aged wine, unmixed, to the accompaniment of

    The dance of boughs and the lark's trill.

  8. تسعى بها خَودٌ كأنّ جبينَها

    بدرٌ تشعْشَع في دُجى الظَلْماءِ

    A tender maiden brings it, as though her forehead

    Were a full moon gleaming in the depths of darkness.

  9. من كفِّ وطفاءِ الجفونِ كأنّما

    تسعى بنارٍ أُضْرِمَتْ في الماءِ

    From the hand of a long-lashed woman, as though

    She carries fire kindled in water.

  10. في سحرِ مقلتِها وخمرةِ ريقِها

    شركُ العقولِ وآفةُ الأعضاءِ

    In her eye's enchantment and the wine of her saliva

    Lie a snare for minds and a blight upon the limbs.

  11. يا قاتلَ الله العيونَ فإنها

    دائي الذي حُمِّلْتُه ودوائي

    Ah, may God confound the eyes, for they are

    My ailment, which I was made to bear, and my cure.

  12. يا هذه مَهلاً فلولا أنّني

    لا أنثني عن ذمّةٍ ووَفاءِ

    O you, hold back! For, were it not that I

    Never turn away from a covenant and fidelity,

  13. لبلغتُ ما أرجو بجدِّ مهنّدٍ

    ذرِبٍ وعاملِ صِعْدةٍ سمراءِ

    I would have won what I seek by the might of an Indian-steel sword,

    Keen-edged, and the point of a brown spear.

  14. وطرَقْتُ دارَكِ باللوى في معشرٍ

    أخذوا شجاعَتَهُم عن الآباءِ

    And I would have come by night to your house at al-Liwa with a band

    Who inherited their courage from their fathers.

  15. وأبَحْتُ يا أسماءُ معسولَ اللّمى

    لهم وورْدَ الوجنةِ الحَمراءِ

    And I would have yielded, O Asma, your honey-sweet, dusky lips

    To them, and the rose of your crimson cheek.

  16. لكن ركْبتُ الى السِّلوِّ ولم أقُلْ

    أعزِزْ عليّ بفرقةِ الخُلَطاءِ

    But I rode toward forgetfulness and did not say,

    'How grievous to me is parting from close companions!'

  17. وأهابَ بي للصبْرِ قسْراً أنني

    أبصرتُ مُقتبِلَ الشبابِ ورائي

    And what drove me forcibly to patience was that I

    Saw the first bloom of youth behind me.

  18. وسمعتُ من جودِ النفيسِ منادياً

    يدعو إليه معشرَ الفُقَراءِ

    And I heard a herald of al-Nafis's generosity,

    Calling the company of the poor to him.

  19. فشددتُ رحْلَ أنائقٍ لا تشتكي

    تعباً على الإدلاجِ والإسراءِ

    So I cinched the saddles of fine she-camels that never complain

    Of fatigue from setting out by night and traveling by night.

  20. قد أُغمدتْ أسيافُ ماءٍ في الحَشى

    مصقولةٌ تَفْري كِلى البَيْداءِ

    Swords of water had been sheathed within their entrails,

    Polished, cleaving the desert's kidneys.

  21. فتهلّلت لما حططتُ ببابِه

    رَحْلي أسرّةُ أوجهِ السّرّاءِ

    Then there shone, when I set down at his door

    My saddle, the lineaments of joy's faces.

  22. وبلوتُ بين يمينِه وجبينِه

    أخلاقَ غاديةٍ وبدرِ سماءِ

    And I found, between his right hand and his brow,

    The qualities of a morning raincloud and a full moon in the sky.

  23. وأبانَ نشرُ حديثِه وجنانِه

    أنفاسَ زهرِ الروضةِ الغنّاءِ

    And the fragrance of his speech and heart revealed

    The breaths of flowers in the lush garden.

  24. ملأتْ فصاحَتُه وبهجةُ وجهه

    أذُنَ المُصيخِ له وعينَ الرائي

    His eloquence and the radiance of his face filled

    The ear of one listening to him, and the beholder's eye.

  25. كاسٌ من الفِعل الجميلِ وإنّهُ

    قمِنٌ به عارٍ من العوراءِ

    Clad in noble conduct—and he

    Is worthy of it, bare of every shameful fault.

  26. شرس ولكن فيه لين خلائق

    كالدهر جامع شدة ورخاء

    Stern, yet his character has gentleness,

    Like time, combining hardship and ease.

  27. متوسّعُ المعروفِ فيّاضُ النّدى

    كالغيثِ في عَودٍ وفي إبداء

    Expansive in kindness, overflowing with generosity,

    Like rain, in its return and its first arrival.

  28. يزدادُ في الزمن البهيمِ بهاؤه

    كالبدرِ جُنحَ الليلةِ الليلاءِ

    His splendor grows in dark times,

    Like the full moon at the fall of a pitch-dark night.

  29. كشّافُ غمّاءِ الخطوبِ برأيهِ

    إنّ السعيدَ مُسدّدُ الآراءِ

    He clears the gloom of calamities with his judgment;

    Indeed, the fortunate man is guided to sound judgments.

  30. نشوانُ من خمرَيْنِ خمرِ مكارمٍ

    لا ينثَني عنها وخمرِ حَياءِ

    Drunk on two wines: the wine of noble deeds,

    From which he never turns, and the wine of modesty.

  31. يا بنَ الكرامِ نداءُ مسرورٍ بما

    أوتيتَ من متمنّعِ العَلْياءِ

    O son of the noble—this is the call of one rejoicing in what

    You were granted of glory's hard-to-reach heights.

  32. اهنأ بعيدٍ قد حكاكَ فضيلةً

    لا بل تجِلُّ إذاً عن النُظَراءِ

    Rejoice in a feast day that has mirrored you in excellence—

    No—rather, you are then too exalted to have equals.

  33. لو يستطيعُ إذاً لعُظْمِك عندَه

    نُطْقاً أتى في زُمرةِ الشُعَراءِ

    If it were able, then, for your greatness in its eyes,

    To speak, it would have joined the company of poets.