1. أرقتُ كأني بتُّ ليلي على الجمرِ

    أُراعي كرىً بين السّماكين والنَّسْرِ

    I lay sleepless, as though I spent my night upon embers,

    watching for sleep between the two Simaks and al-Nasr.

  2. كرىً طار عن عيني فحلَّق صاعداً

    فأتبعتُه طرفي فأمعنَ في النَّفر

    Sleep flew from my eye and soared upward;

    I followed it with my gaze, and it fled still farther.

  3. ولِمْ لا وخنزير مهينٌ يُهينني

    فيُغضِي على لؤمٍ وأُغضي على قَسْر

    And why not, when a contemptible pig humiliates me?

    He lowers his eyes from baseness; I lower mine under compulsion.

  4. سأشكو إلى مستنكرِ النُّكر قاسمٍ

    فينظر في أمري بناظرتَيْ صقر

    I shall complain to Qasim, who abhors abomination,

    and he will examine my affair with a falcon's two eyes.

  5. أقاسمُ قد أنفدتُ كلّ وسيلةٍ

    وأنفقت ما أثّلتُ من تالد الصبر

    O Qasim, I have exhausted every means

    and spent all the long-held patience I amassed,

  6. على أنك المرء الذي جَبَرتْ به

    يدُ الله أوصالَ الكسير من الكسر

    knowing you are the man through whom

    God's hand mended the broken man's fractured limbs.

  7. وإني الذي لم يُبقِ في الجُهدِ غايةً

    لتجبره لوجدتَ للكسر بالجبر

    And I am the man who has left no limit of effort unreached

    for you to mend him, if you bestowed healing on his fracture.

  8. وجشَّمتُ نفسي فيك كلّ عظيمةٍ

    إلى أن تكفَّفتُ الشفاعةَ من عمرو

    I burdened myself with every great ordeal in seeking you,

    until I begged intercession from Amr.

  9. فكان جوابي أنْ حُجبتُ وهكذا

    يكونُ جوابَ المبتغي الغوثَ من قبر

    My answer was to be barred—and such

    is the answer to one seeking aid from a grave.

  10. وإنّ فقيراً عدّ عَمْراً لفقره

    مسدَّاً لذو فقرين فقر على فقر

    A poor man who considers Amr a remedy

    for his poverty has two poverties: poverty upon poverty.

  11. ففقرٌ من العقل المُسدَّد للهدى

    وفقرٌ من المال المشدِّد للأزر

    A poverty of reason rightly directed toward guidance,

    and a poverty of wealth that strengthens the back.

  12. وما كان إلّا القبرَ خبثَ طويَّة

    ونَوماً عن الحمد المُجمَّل والأجر

    He was nothing but a grave in his foul inward nature

    and his slumbering disregard for fine praise and reward.

  13. فيا مَنْ رأى مثلي وعمرٌو يردّهُ

    بصغرٍ ألا تبكي بذي لجةٍ غَمر

    O you who saw one like me turned away by Amr

    in humiliation, will you not weep an engulfing flood?

  14. أيحجبني عمرٌو فلا يُحْجَب الحيا

    ولا ترتمي الآفاق بالجمر والصخر

    Does Amr bar me, yet the rain is not withheld,

    nor the horizons pelted with embers and rocks?

  15. ألا ترجُف الدنيا وتهوِي جبالُها

    وتخبو مصابيحُ السماء إلى الحشر

    Will the world not quake and its mountains fall,

    and heaven's lamps go out until the Resurrection?

  16. بلى قد خبتْ لكن سَطَوْتَ على الدجى

    بغرتك المقدوحِ منها سنا الفجر

    Yes, they have gone out, but you conquered the darkness

    with your radiant brow, from which dawn's brilliance is struck.

  17. وقد حجب الله الحيا غيرَ عصمةٍ

    بكفَّيك تُغني المقحِطين عن القَطر

    God has withheld the rain, save for the protection

    of your two hands, which spare the drought-stricken their need for rain.

  18. تفكرتُ من عمرو وفيّ وفيكُم

    فأحسست في الأحشاء جمراً على جمر

    I pondered Amr, myself, and you,

    and felt embers upon embers within my entrails.

  19. وما قصمتْ مذ كنتُ ظهري مصيبةٌ

    وطَغْوَى أبي الخُرطوم قاصمة الظهر

    No calamity has broken my back since I came into being,

    yet Abu al-Khurtum's tyranny breaks the back.

  20. أيركب عمرو في الزنوج ولم يزل

    يبيت عروساً للزنوج بلا مهر

    Does Amr ride amid the Zanj, though he has always

    spent the night as a bride for the Zanj, without a dowry?

  21. ويحجب مثلي مستطيلاً بعزكم

    وإمدادِكم إياه بالجاه والوفر

    And does he bar one like me, lording it through your power

    and your supplying him with prestige and abundance?

  22. عفا اللَّهُ ما أسلفتَهُ من كبيرةٍ

    سواها فقد غطّت على الشمس والبدر

    May God pardon every grave sin you previously committed

    except this one: it has eclipsed the sun and full moon.

  23. وُتِرتُ بوتر فيك لا أستقيده

    ولو أنني استنجدت بالصبر والنصر

    I have suffered an injury concerning you for which I cannot obtain redress,

    even if I sought help from patience and victory.

  24. ولا سِلمَ حتى تُستَرد ظُلامتي

    وإلّا فأيقنْ أنّنا فِيئَتا ثغر

    There is no peace until redress for my wrong is secured;

    otherwise, be certain we are two camps at a frontier.

  25. ولا حرب إلا عَتبُ نفسٍ كريمةٍ

    على سيدٍ في رأيه قال بالظَّفر

    And there is no war except a noble soul's reproach

    against a lord whose judgment declared for victory.

  26. تخطى بنُعماه الجسيمة عاتقي

    إلى أنْف عمرو تلك آبدةُ العصر

    He let his immense bounty pass over my shoulder

    to Amr's nose: that is the age's monstrosity!

  27. وليس شفائي قتل عمرٍو لأنه

    يُراح به من ذلك الجبل الوعر

    Killing Amr would not cure me, for he

    would thereby be relieved of that rugged mountain.

  28. وما راحتي في طرحهِ ثقلَ أنفه

    وما دَركي في أن يُفكّ من الأسر

    I find no comfort in his shedding his nose's weight,

    nor attain my aim by his being freed from captivity.

  29. ولكنْ شفائي أن يطول بقاؤه

    بحيث يراني ذا ثَراءٍ وذا وفر

    Rather, my cure is that his life be prolonged

    where he sees me possessed of wealth and abundance,

  30. عليّ لَبوسٌ قاسميٌّ من الرضا

    وطوق من النعمى وتاجٌ من الفخر

    wearing a Qasim-bestowed garment of favor,

    a collar of bounty, and a crown of glory.

  31. ألا يا لَقومٍ من عَذيريَ من عمرو

    غدا ثعلباً يستطعِم الموت من بَبْرِ

    O people, who will vindicate me against Amr?

    He has become a fox seeking a meal of death from a tiger.

  32. عزمت على طيِّ الأهاجيِّ مُنعماً

    عليه ومثلي جاد بالصفح والغَفرِ

    I resolved to fold away my lampoons, bestowing a favor

    on him; one like me freely grants pardon and forgiveness.

  33. فعاود ما أنكرت منه بقَطعه

    كلامَ شفيعي كاده الله ذو المكرِ

    But he resumed what I condemned in him by cutting off

    my intercessor's words—may God, the master of cunning, outwit him!

  34. ومن عاد عدنا طالبين بحقنا

    ولابد للمستنبِط الماء من حفر

    Whoever returns, we return, demanding our right;

    one who draws out water must dig.

  35. فلا يتعرضْ لي بكيدٍ يخاله

    خفيّاً فينكأ فيه بالضرس والظُّفر

    Let him not challenge me with a trick he thinks

    secret, only to be wounded there by tooth and nail.

  36. لعمرو اليد المقروف شري بظُفرِها

    لقد غُرِّرت تغرير قارفة البَثْر

    Amr's is the hand whose nail has scratched my malice;

    it has been imperiled like one that scratches pustules.

  37. سقى الله بستان الأنيقة منظراً

    ومختبراً سُقياً من الدمع والخمر

    May God water Bustan, lovely in appearance

    and in experience, with a watering of tears and wine.

  38. لعهدي بها يوماً وقد بصُرت به

    فقالت تعالى مالكُ الخلق والأمر

    I well remember her one day, when she saw him

    and said, 'Exalted is the master of creation and command!'

  39. ولو لم تألّف قلبَها ببنانها

    وقد ريع من عمرو لَطار من الصدر

    Had she not soothed her heart with her fingers,

    terrified by Amr, it would have flown from her chest.

  40. على أنها قالت دعوه حيالنا

    ففي وجهه ملهى عن النَغْم والزمر

    Yet she said, 'Leave him before us:

    his face is a diversion from melody and piping.

  41. دعوا الفيل ذا الخُرطوم يفرح ساعةً

    بخُرطومه المقبوح لا وجهه النضر

    Leave the elephant with the trunk to rejoice awhile

    in his ugly trunk, not his radiant face.

  42. دعوه يذكِّرنا نكيراً ومُنكراً

    وصيحة إسرافيلَ في صِبْحَةِ النشر

    Leave him to remind us of Nakir and Munkar

    and Israfil's cry on the morning of resurrection.

  43. دعوه نرددْ لحظَنا فيه إنه

    من النُّزَه المغفولِ عنهن في القفر

    Leave him; let us turn our gaze upon him again and again:

    he is among the overlooked diversions of the wilderness.

  44. وما مثلُهُ يبقى علينا لأنه

    لنا من هدايا الدهر ذي الغدر والختر

    One like him will not be left to us, for he

    is one of the gifts to us of treacherous, perfidious time.'

  45. وغنّته صوتاً طيباً وهْو قولها

    لصفعُ أبي الخرطوم أحلى من القَمْر

    She sang him a pleasant song, whose words were:

    'Slapping Abu al-Khurtum is sweeter than gambling.

  46. عشقنا قفا عمرٍو وإن كان وجهُهُ

    يذكِّرنا قبح الخيانة والغدرِ

    We fell in love with Amr's nape, though his face

    reminds us of the ugliness of betrayal and treachery.

  47. فتى وجهُهُ كالهجر لا وصلَ بعدهُ

    وأما قفاه فهْو وصل بلا هجرِ

    A man whose face is estrangement with no reunion afterward,

    while his nape is union without estrangement.'

  48. وغنَّتْه صوتاً ثانياً وهْو قولها

    طربت إلى أنف صبور على النقرِ

    She sang him a second song, whose words were:

    'I delighted in a nose patient under tapping.

  49. رأى أنفُ عمرو أن يطول كطوله

    لنذرٍ جرى منه فزاد على النذر

    Amr's nose decided to grow as long as he was

    for a vow it had made, and exceeded the vow.

  50. وعوَّجَ من عمرو تمكُّنُ خبلهِ

    كما عوجت كفُّ الصبي من السطر

    His firmly rooted madness bent it in Amr,

    as a child's hand makes a line crooked.'

  51. وغنّته صوتاً ثالثاً وهو قولها

    غدا أنف عمرو وهو نهْد على قعر

    She sang him a third song, whose words were:

    'Amr's nose became a mound above a hollow.

  52. ولُوِّيَ عمرو لَيَّ لَبلابِ غيضةٍ

    وطال فما يَفنى بذرع ولا حزر

    Amr was twisted like bindweed in a thicket

    and grew so long that neither measure nor estimate reaches his end.

  53. إذا ما مشى عمرو ولجّ اضطرابه

    فعيناه في شطرٍ ورجلاه في شطر

    Whenever Amr walks and his swaying persists,

    his eyes go one way and his feet another.'

  54. ثلاثة أصواتٍ تغنت مُجيدةً

    بهن لعمرو وهو أفرد من وتر

    Three songs she sang skillfully

    to Amr, though he is more solitary than a lone one.

  55. ولو أنها عاشت قليلاً لأسمعت

    طنين قفاه كلّ مستحكم الوَقْر

    Had she lived a little longer, she would have made

    the ringing of his nape heard by everyone deeply deaf.

  56. وذلك جهرُ الحب والشوقُ سرُّهُ

    ولا خير في عشق يكون بلا جهر

    That is love's open declaration; yearning is its secret.

    There is no good in love without open declaration.

  57. وكم من ضَروط قد أسال مُخاطها

    هواها أبا الخرطوم غَزْراً على غزر

    How many a farting woman has had her mucus made to flow

    by her passion for Abu al-Khurtum, torrent upon torrent!

  58. وقد لقبوه نهر بوقٍ تعسفاً

    وفي الوغد أشباه من البوق والنهر

    They arbitrarily nicknamed him Nahr Buq, 'Trumpet River';

    the scoundrel resembles both trumpet and river.

  59. فلِلْقدِّ منه طولُ نهرٍ معوَّجٍ

    وللأنف منه نغْمة البوق في الكفر

    His stature has the length of a crooked river,

    and his nose the trumpet's note in the village.

  60. ويا عجباً من أن عمراً مُنادَمٌ

    وأني مدحور ألوفٌ مع الدحر

    How strange that Amr is a drinking companion,

    while I am rejected, yet affectionate despite rejection!

  61. ولو قيل شبِّهْ ريق ظبي تُحبهُ

    لشبّهه المخبول بالسمن والتمر

    Were he told, 'Compare the saliva of a gazelle you love,'

    the madman would compare it to butter and dates.

  62. أيا فيل بغداذ إذا عاج خطمُهُ

    وخنزير كلواذى إذا عتّ في الجَعْر

    O elephant of Baghdad when his snout bends,

    and pig of Kalwadha when he persists in defecating!

  63. ويا مُرزِم القصر المُعجَّب أهله

    وحاشاه لا حاشاك يا بومة القصر

    O palace-rumbler who impresses its inhabitants—

    saving the palace, not you, O palace owl!

  64. أترغم أنفي وهو أنف مكرَّمٌ

    وأنفُك أولى بالختان من البظر

    Do you rub my nose in dust, though it is an honored nose?

    Your nose deserves circumcision more than a clitoris.

  65. وتعقِر قدري مستخفاً بحاجتي

    رويدك إن القتل أدهىَ من العقر

    And do you maim my worth, disdaining my need?

    Take care: killing is more grievous than maiming.

  66. منحتُكها يا ابن الوزير تَعلَّةً

    وزاداً خفيفاً للمقيمين والسَّفْر

    I have given you this, O vizier's son, as a diversion

    and light provisions for residents and travelers.

  67. فدونَكها في جوع شهرِك بلُغةً

    وفاكهةً تكفيك فاكهة الشهرِ

    Take it as sustenance in the hunger of your month,

    and fruit enough to supply you throughout the month.

  68. وطالعْ هلال الصوم في وجه نعمةٍ

    مجددةٍ زهراءَ بل نعمٍ عشر

    Behold the fasting crescent in the face of a blessing

    renewed and radiant—rather, ten blessings.

  69. فأنت إذا ما تمَّ أروعُ منظراً

    وأعلى مكاناً منه عند أخي حِجر

    When it is full, you are more magnificent in appearance

    and higher in rank than it to one endowed with reason.

  70. وكل هلالٍ فهْو غرةُ شهرِهِ

    ووجهك فينا غرةُ الشهر والدهر

    Every crescent is the radiant beginning of its month,

    but your face among us is the brilliance of the month and all time.

  71. ومستخبرٍ بالغيب عنك أجبتهُ

    وما منطقٌ زكّاه معناك بالنزرِ

    I answered someone who asked about you in your absence;

    no speech your character warrants is meager.

  72. فقلت ولم أظلم لك الحق نُقرة

    مقالةَ صدق لا يُنهنَه بالزجر

    I said, denying you not a jot of your due,

    a truthful statement that no rebuke can restrain:

  73. فتى حظه في الصُّنع والعُرف وافرٌ

    فلا الصنع في حَظْر ولا العرف في حصر

    'A man whose share in good deeds and kindness is abundant;

    his generosity is neither prohibited nor his kindness confined.

  74. هو البحر إن يصبح من الله مدُّهُ

    ففي الله يمسي جَزْرُه ساعة الجزر

    He is the sea: if his morning flood comes from God,

    for God's sake his evening tide ebbs at the ebbing hour.

  75. وما جزره إلا استفاضةُ فضله

    على ساكني بدو وفي قاطني حَضْر

    His ebb is nothing but the spreading of his bounty

    upon desert residents and among town dwellers.

  76. يفيض إذا فاضت يد الله جارياً

    على عادتيه غير ملح ولا كَدر

    He overflows when God's hand overflows, running

    according to his two habits, neither salty nor turbid.

  77. مُدالاً مُديلاً كلّ يومٍ وليلةٍ

    مُنالاً منيلاً زاكيَ الرَّيع والبذر

    Favored by fortune and favoring others, every day and night,

    receiving and giving, flourishing in yield and seed.

  78. يناهزه الساقي قريباً مُجمُّهُ

    ويسبُرهُ الداهي بعيداً على السبر

    The water-drawer reaches him: his reservoir is close;

    the astute man probes him: he lies far beyond probing.

  79. متى جئتَ ممتاراً فناهيك من فتى

    وإن جئت مرتاداً فناهيك من حَبر

    Whenever you come seeking provisions, what a noble man he is!

    And if you come seeking knowledge, what a scholar he is!'

  80. ألم ترني في ظلّ نعمة قاسمٍ

    قشرت العصا للمعتدي أيما قشر

    Have you not seen me beneath the shade of Qasim's bounty,

    stripping the rod for the aggressor, stripping it thoroughly?

  81. وما حار لي حاشاه بل كان سيداً

    أبى لي أن يدعونني شحمة الصّهر

    He did not falter for me—far be it from him! He was a lord

    who refused to let them call me fat for the melting-pot.

  82. ومالي عديدٌ حاضرٌ غير أنني

    أروحُ وأغدو في عديدٍ به دَثر

    I have no retinue present, except that I

    go evening and morning amid a multitude made numerous through him.

  83. تضيّفتهُ أحلى من الشهد مَرفِداً

    وجاورته أحمى حَمِيّاً من الدَّبْر

    I was his guest: as a provider, sweeter than honey;

    I became his neighbor: as a protector, more protective than a swarm of bees.

  84. وسيماً قسيماً يطرِف العينَ نورُهُ

    حكيماً عليماً ثابت الجاه والزّبر

    Handsome and well-proportioned, his light dazzles the eye;

    wise and knowledgeable, secure in standing and judgment.

  85. تُباكي يداه الغيثَ طوراً وتارةً

    يضاحك فوهَ البرقِ عن لؤلؤ حَدْرِ

    At times his two hands vie in weeping with the rain;

    at others his mouth rivals lightning in smiling, revealing rounded pearls.

  86. إذا باع تَجرُ الحمد إياه حَمدَهُم

    فقد ربحتْ ربحَ الغنى صفقةُ التجرِ

    When the merchants of praise sell him their praise,

    the merchants' bargain has earned a wealth-bringing profit.

  87. يروقك من جدٍّ له وفكاهةٍ

    بأحسنَ من وجهٍ وأرشق من خصر

    He delights you with his seriousness and wit,

    with something lovelier than a face and more slender than a waist.

  88. ويهوي إليه كل قلبٍ بُودهِ

    هُوِيّ القُطاميِّ الغريب إلى الوكر

    Every heart swoops toward him in affection,

    like a falcon far from home swooping toward its nest.

  89. لذلك أضحى فضّلَ الله نشرَهُ

    كتفضيله عَرْف النحور على القبر

    Thus God has come to favor his fragrance,

    as He favors the fragrance of bosoms over the grave.

  90. وحسبُك أن ألقى عليك اختياره

    إمامٌ أطاعتْهُ القلوب بلا قهر

    It is enough for you that his choice fell upon you—

    an imam whom hearts obeyed without compulsion.

  91. لقاء عليٍّ فيه عند اختبارهِ

    وحزم أبي حفص وعدل أبي بكر

    In him, when tested, you encounter Ali,

    and Abu Hafs's resolve, and Abu Bakr's justice.

  92. وما لمديحي في ثناك زيادةٌ

    سوى أنني نظّام جوهرِك النثرِ

    My praise adds nothing to your commendation,

    except that I string your scattered jewels.

  93. أقول وتعطي نائلاً بعد نائلٍ

    فأقطعُ من صخرٍ وتغرفُ من بحرِ

    I speak, and you give gift after gift;

    I hew from rock, while you scoop from a sea.