صدروا وسحر لحاظهم يغريني

ونأوا وفرط صبابيّ يدعوني

They departed, while the magic of their glances entices me.

They went far away, while my excessive longing calls me.

وتحملوا وتخلفوا مني لقي

في ربعهم أشجية أو يشجيني

They journeyed on, leaving a cast-off remnant of me

in their dwelling: I grieve it, or it grieves me.

فأقول للأطلال أين أحبتي

وتقول لي الأطلال أين قطيني

I ask the ruins, Where are my loved ones?

The ruins ask me, Where are my dwellers?

لازمت من إيثارهم آثارهم

لو أنني عاملت من يجزيني

Out of devotion to them, I clung to their traces.

If only I had dealt with someone who would repay me!

لله وجد فيهم أخفيته

فيما أظن وإنما يخفيني

What longing for them I have concealed,

or so I think—yet it is what conceals me.

لاموا على ترك البكاء

نزفت شؤون الحب ماء شؤوني

They blamed me for ceasing to weep;

love's affairs had drained the water of my tear ducts.

نعب الغراب وللمشوق كهانة

فعلمت قطعاً أنه يعنيني

The raven croaked, and the yearning lover reads omens;

so I knew for certain that it meant me.

لما استقلوا واستقلوا عذرهم

نسخت مناي لديهم بمنون

When they departed, making light of their excuse,

my hopes with them were replaced by death.

فتبعتهم وجِمَالهم يُحدى بهم

وجَمَالُهم من فوقها يحدوني

I followed them, their camels driven onward bearing them,

while their beauty, above the camels, drove me on.

يا معرضين وقد عرضت مشيّعاً

ردُّوا السَّلام فلفظة تكفيني

O you who turn away, though I appeared to see you off,

return my greeting: one word suffices me.

هاكم فؤادي فاقبلوه وإنه

ثمن يجلّ لديّ عن مثمون

Take my heart and accept it, for it is

a price that, to me, surpasses anything it could purchase.

فضوا سجوف الخزّ عن أحداجهم

فبدت لي الأقمار فوق غصون

They drew the silken curtains from their howdahs,

and moons appeared to me above branches.

وفهمت سرَّ الحسن وهو مكتّم

في ليل شعر فوق صبح جبين

I understood beauty's secret, concealed

in the night of hair above the dawn of a brow.

ورهنت لُبَّى والحياة بوقفة

ضنوا بها من بعد قبض رهون

I pledged my reason and my life for a moment's pause;

they begrudged it after taking the pledges.

وتسلموا رهني وما أن أسلموا

تيهاً فبؤت بصفقة المغبون

They received my pledge but would not yield,

in their pride; I came away with the loser's bargain.

أملت آرام الكناس ودونها

للبطارق المحزون أسد عرين

I hoped for the gazelles of the thicket, but before them

stood a lion in its lair, facing the grief-stricken patricians.

وسلكت وجداً في طريق هواهم

ما بين مأسور وبين طعين

In longing I trod the road of loving them,

between one held captive and another pierced.

وظننت لين قدودهم بقلوبهم

فإذا القساوة طيّ ذاك اللين

I thought their hearts shared their figures' softness,

but hardness lay folded within that softness.

عا هدتهم ألاَّ فراق وإنما

عاهدت كالحرباء في التلوين

I pledged with them that there would be no parting, yet

I pledged with one as changeful as a chameleon.

وقررت عينا بالخداع وقلّما

قرَّت عيون عند حور عين

Deception gave my eyes contentment; seldom

do eyes find contentment with wide-eyed, dark-eyed beauties.

ورجوت في تحسينهم تحصينهم

فجهلت ما للصاد معنى السين

I hoped their beautifying themselves meant their chastity,

not knowing that ṣād does not have the meaning of sīn.

ولقد مررت على المنازل بعدهم

فذكرت عهد صبابتي ومجوني

I passed their dwellings after they had gone,

and recalled the days of my passion and reckless revelry.

ولمحت من نعمان ما يشفيني

ورأيت من يبرين ما يبريني

I glimpsed in Nu‘man what could heal me,

and saw in Yabrin what wastes me away.

أيام طرفي رابع في روضة

للحسن بين سوالف وعيون

Those days my gaze grazed in a garden

of beauty, among necks and eyes,

متفرق اللحظات في أفنانها

للجمع بين الورد والنسرين

its glances scattered among the boughs

to gather roses and eglantine together.

ووجدت من ريق هناك ونغمة

أشهى من الصهباء والتلحين

I found there saliva and a melody

sweeter than tawny wine and singing.

ونشقت عرفا خلت حين نشقته

أن النسيم يهب عن دارين

I breathed a fragrance, and as I breathed it thought

the breeze was blowing from Darin.

عيش نعمت به فبان ببينه

صبر أتاني فقده بشجون

A life I enjoyed—with its departure departed

the patience whose loss brought me sorrows.

كان الفؤاد براحة في راحة

للوصل بين معاقل وحصون

My heart rested at ease in the palm

of union, among strongholds and fortresses.

فالآن إذ حلَّ الصدود بربعها

عقدت عليه عقدة التسعين

Now, when estrangement has settled in her dwelling,

I have tied upon it the knot of ninety.

يا قلب طاوعت الجفون سفاهة

فجزاك ضعف فتورها بفتون

O heart, you foolishly obeyed the eyelids,

and their feeble languor repaid you with torment.

أسرتكَ لما قَيَّدَتكَ بسحرها

فاخلد بلا فك ولا تأمين

They captured you when they bound you with their magic;

remain forever, with neither release nor safe-conduct.

خلت الجفون من السيوف قريبة

ما جُرحُ أسيافٍ كجرح جفون

I thought eyelids akin to swords;

but sword wounds are nothing like the wounds of eyelids.

إياك من لمح اللحاظ فإنه

سهم لقوس الحاجب المقرون

Beware the flash of glances, for it is

an arrow for the bow of the meeting brows.

هوّن إذا هولت واعلم إنما

تقوى على التهويل بالتهوين

Make light of things when terrified, and know:

you master terror only by making light of it.

ولكم عذول قد رددت مقاله

ردَّ المقيم على مقام الهون

How many a reprover's words I have answered

as one resigned to a station of humiliation replies.

لم أستطع رجع الكلام وإنما

أعربت عما شفني بأنين

I could not answer in words;

I voiced what wasted me only through groans.

لا نصح يجدي في مشوق جسمه

قد دقَّ حتى عاد كالعرجون

No counsel helps a yearning man whose body

has grown so thin it resembles a palm stalk.

دع ذكر عروة أو كثيّر عزة

وابن الذريج وقيس المجنون

Leave aside mention of ‘Urwa, or Kuthayyir of ‘Azza,

and Ibn al-Dhurayj and Qays the Madman.

يكفيك من بحر الغرام وعصفه

دمع الهوى وتنفس المحزون

Enough to show you passion's sea and its storms

are love's tears and the sorrowful one's sighs.

لا صبر لي من بعدهم لا صبر لي

لو أنني في حلم شمس الدين

I have no patience after them—no patience,

even were mine the forbearance of Shams al-Din,

العلام العلم الذي تزهي به

أرض العراق إلى أراضي الصين

the great scholar, the beacon in whom

Iraq's land glories, all the way to China's lands;

والأوحد السباق غير مدافع

في حلبة المفروض والمسنون

the unique, unchallenged front-runner

in the racecourse of prescribed and recommended duties;

إنسان عين الفضل قلب ضلوعه

بشواهد جلت عن التبيين

the pupil of excellence's eye, the heart within its ribs,

as signs beyond the need of explanation attest.

بالله أو لله أوفي الله ما

يأتيه حين تحرَّك وسكون

By God, or for God, or in God is all

he does, in movement and stillness.

لم يأت في الإِبداع فناً واحداً

إلاَّ أتى من بعده بفنون

Never has he produced a single art of invention

without following it with many arts.

حِفظُ ابن اسماعيل فقه ربيعة

زهد الجنيد ذكاء أفلاطون

Ibn Isma‘il's memory, Rabi‘a's jurisprudence,

al-Junayd's asceticism, Plato's intelligence.

أن ظن أرسل ذهنه مستثبتاً

فأتاه عما ظنه بيقين

If he suspects, he sends his mind to ascertain,

and it brings him certainty about what he suspected.

يا من يعارضه بعارض علمه

أياك خوض البحر دون سفين

O you who challenge him with a passing cloud of learning,

beware of entering the sea without a ship.

كم مدَّع رام الذي قد رمته

بمغالطات في حلى تزيين

How many a pretender has sought what you have sought,

with fallacies dressed in ornaments of embellishment.

عطف الصواب للبسه فأزاحه

عطف الصباح على الليالي الجون

Truth bore down on his confusion and dispelled it,

as morning bears down upon the pitch-black nights.

لا تطلبن حصراً لبعض كماله

قد جاء ما قد جلَّ عن قانون

Do not seek to enumerate even part of his perfection;

he has brought forth what transcends every rule.

نصِّ الإِمام الشافعي بمقول

بالحق في تحقيقه مقرون

Imam al-Shafi‘i's text, with an exposition

joined to truth in its exact interpretation.

يفري مقال مخالفيه كأنه

سيف الوصي يجول في صفّين

He cleaves his opponents' arguments, as though he were

the Legatee's sword sweeping through Siffin.

لولا التعصب إذ سمعت حجابه

لعدلت للمزني عن سحنون

Were it not for partisanship, on hearing his doorkeepers,

I would have turned from Sahnun to al-Muzani.

حاز البيان فما يحيط بمثله

فلك البروج إلى مقر النون

He possesses eloquence; his like is not encompassed by

the zodiac's sphere down to the Fish's abode.

وحوى أفانين العلاء بأسرها

والناس يفتنون في أفنون

He embraces all the branches of eminence,

while others practice a single branch.

ولقد أبرَّ على الجميع بيانه

في فنّي المعلوم والمظنون

His eloquence has surpassed everyone

in both the certain and the conjectural disciplines.

إيهٍ وللآداب منه فخرها

إذ فاق في المنثور والموزون

More! The literary arts draw their pride from him,

for he excels in prose and measured verse.

سِلمٌ لأبكار المعاني ذهنه

وسواه حرب للمعاني العون

His mind is a friend to virgin meanings,

while others are foes to even mature meanings.

برزت لنا ألفاظه مختالة

في كل علق للعلوم مصون

His phrases appeared before us, strutting proudly,

in every guarded treasure of learning.

وأبان من علم الكلام وغيره

ما كان إذ ما كان غير مبين

He made clear, in theology and other fields,

what had previously remained unexplained.

وطمت بحار علومه فتقاذفت

من لفظه باللؤلؤ المكنون

The seas of his learning swelled and flung forth

hidden pearls from his speech.

ساوى لديه معلم متعلماً

إذ كلهم في رتبة التلقين

Before him a teacher is equal to a pupil,

for all stand in the rank of those receiving instruction.

صدروا وقد وردوا بحار علومه

من غير ممنوع ولا ممنون

They departed after drinking from the seas of his learning,

neither denied nor burdened with reminders of favors.

يا طالباً للعلم هاك نصيحة

لمجرب في نصحه مأمون

O seeker of knowledge, take this counsel

from one experienced and trustworthy in his advice.

لا تعدلن بأبي المعالي غيره

فتقيس مضموناً على مظنون

Set no other equal to Abu al-Ma‘ali,

lest you compare the guaranteed with the merely supposed.

عنوان ما أخفاه من أخلاقه

بشر يلوح بوجهه الميمون

The sign of the qualities he keeps hidden

is the cheerfulness shining in his auspicious face.

أكرم بنفس للنفائس أُهِّلَت

فتمكنت في رتبة التمكين

How noble a soul, made worthy of precious things,

firmly established in the station of empowerment!

لو يُستطاع لَدُوّنَت آدابُه

لكنها أعيت على التدوين

Were it possible, his cultivated virtues would be recorded,

but they defeat all recording.

حبر يقل لذرة من بحره

ما جهَّزت بورانُ للمأمون

A scholar: beside one mote from his sea, small seems

all that Buran prepared for al-Ma'mun.

يا سيدا عمّ البرية علمه

قولاً وفعلاً فاستفادوا دوني

O master whose knowledge embraces all creation

in word and deed—they have benefited, unlike me.

من شك في أن ليس غيرك مَعلَمٌ

يُبطِل دليل شهادة ويمين

Whoever doubts that none but you is a beacon

rejects the proof of testimony and oath.

إني عقدت أذمتي بولائكم

وجعلت ركن جلالكم لركوني

I have bound my pledges to allegiance to you,

and made your majesty's pillar my support.

وتركت فيك سواك غير معقب

فتركت تموزاً إلى تشرين

For you I forsook all others, without turning back,

leaving Tammuz for Tishrin.

وقرنت شكرك بالفرائض رفعة

فوجدته للفرض خير قرين

I exalted thanks to you by joining it to prescribed duties,

and found it the best companion to duty.

صُغت المديح وقد سبقت بمدحكم

فكأنني قد جئت بالتضمين

I fashioned praise, though forestalled in praising you,

as though I had come quoting earlier verse.

ما قلت قط الشعر لكن يمنكم

في كل صعب آخذ بيميني

I have never uttered poetry, but your blessing

takes my right hand through every difficulty.

ولقد بعثت به وأعلم أنه

نقد ولكن عفوكم يعفيني

I have sent it, knowing

it is flawed; yet your pardon excuses me.

وإليكها تشنا سواك لو أنه

في ملك كسرى أو غنى قارون

To you I offer it: it spurns any other, though he possess

Kisra's kingdom or Qarun's wealth.

لو أنني قلدت غيرك حليها

أضحى بها التقريظ كالتأبين

Were I to adorn another with its jewels,

its panegyric would become like a funeral elegy.

لم أدعُ بالدنيا لكم إذ لفظها

دُونٌ ولا أرضى لكم بالدون

I did not pray for this world for you, since its very name

is lowly, and I will not accept lowliness for you.

فعليّ أن أدعو بطول بقائكم

وعلى جميع الناس بالتأمين

Mine, then, is to pray for your long life,

and all people's is to say 'Amen.'