أهاب سحيرا بالفراق مهيب

فَلَباه وجد في الحشا وَلَهيب

At early dawn a caller cried out for parting,

and yearning in my breast and a blaze answered him.

وَحقق ظَنى بالرَحيل مودع

مَدامعه في وَجنَتيه تصوب

One bidding farewell confirmed my fear of departure,

his tears streaming down his cheeks.

فَما كذبتَني رمزة معنوية

أَشار بها رى البنان خَضيب

A meaningful gesture had not deceived me,

made by one whose fingers were plump and henna-dyed.

يرد بطرفيه السَلام وَحَوله

رَقيب ومن حول الرَقيب رَقيب

He returns the greeting with his two eyes, while around him

stands a watcher, and around the watcher another watcher.

حمته عَن التَوديع زرق اسنة

تَكاد تذيب الصخر وَهو صَليب

Blue spearheads kept him from bidding farewell,

nearly melting the rock, hard though it is.

فمن أَينَ يَصفو العيش بعد احبة

رَكائبهم بين الشعاب شعوب

How, then, can life be sweet after loved ones

whose mounts, among the ravines, are Death itself?

وَهَل سلوة بعد الفراق لهائم

شج قلبه قبل الفراق كَئيب

Can a lovesick wanderer find solace after parting,

grief-stricken, his heart sorrowful even before farewell?

وَبين الخيام البيض من أَيمن الحمى

قلوب دعتها لِلرَحيل قلوب

And among the white tents on the right side of the protected grounds

are hearts that other hearts summoned to depart.

اذا لَم أذب بعد الفَريق صبابة

فمن أَي شيء بعد ذاك أَذوب

If I do not melt with longing after the company has gone,

then for what else should I melt?

يشوقني روح النَسيم فَلَوعَتي

لَها كلما هب النَسيم هبوب

The breath of the breeze stirs my longing, and my anguish

surges anew whenever the breeze blows.

اظل عَلىاظلالهم وَربوعهم

أَحن كاني في الحَنين رقوب

I linger over their shadows and their dwelling places,

lamenting as though, in my longing, I were bereft of children.

وأندب سفح البان ايام صبوتي

اليه وَبرد اللهو فيه قَشيب

And I mourn the bān-tree slope—the days of my youthful yearning

for it, when pleasure's cloak there was fresh.

دعَتني اضاليل المنى غير مرة

فَما كدت بعد الظاعنين أجيب

The delusions of hope have called me more than once,

but after the travelers departed I could scarcely answer.

وأطعمني حكم الهَوى ان يعيدلي

طلوع شموس لم يشبه غروب

Love's decree fed me hope that it would restore to me

the rising of suns unmarred by setting.

فَما عاضني بالابلق الفرد عائض

وَلا شاقَني بعد الكَثيب كَثيب

No one has given me a substitute for al-Ablaq al-Fard,

nor has any dune stirred my longing since that dune.

وَهَيهات ما كل المنازل رامة

وَلا كل بَيضاء الجَبين عروب

Far from it—not every dwelling is Rāmah,

nor is every white-browed woman ardently loving.

وَكَم من سمىّ لَيسَ مثل سميه

وان كان يدعى باسمه فَيجيب

Many a namesake is unlike the one whose name he shares,

though called by that name, he answers.

فَياذا كرا عن ذي الاراك اعد لنا

حَديثك عَن أَهل الاراك يطيب

O you who recall Dhū al-Arāk, repeat for us

your account of al-Arāk's people—it is delightful.

سمعتكم تحكى عن خيمات عالج

عَسى لك عهد بالخيام قَريب

I heard you recounting the little tents of ʿĀlij;

perhaps you have seen those tents recently.

صف الاثل وَالمرعى الخَصيب لحاجر

هَل الاثل وَالمَرعى الخَصيب خَصيب

Describe Ḥājir's tamarisks and lush pasture:

are the tamarisks and lush pasture still flourishing?

وَما فعل الرمل العَقيقي هَل ذرت

عليه شمال أَم صبا وَجنوب

And how fares the sand of al-ʿAqīq? Has there blown

over it a north wind, or east and south winds?

وَهَل سمرت بعدي لغوب عَلى اللَوى

فأين اللَوى مني وأين لغوب

Has Laghūb spent evenings talking on al-Liwā since I left?

How far al-Liwā is from me, and how far Laghūb!

أَما وَمَريضات الجفون ألية

لمن لم يكد عن حبهن يَتوب

Lo, by the languid-eyed women—an oath

for one who can scarcely repent of loving them—

ليَدري شهاب الدين أَحمد أَنَّني

لداعية في كل الامور مجيب

let Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad know that I

answer his summons in every matter.

هُوَ الطيب ابن الطيبين وَعمدتي

عليه وَظبي فيه لَيسَ يخيب

He is the good man, son of good men, and my reliance

is on him; my hope in him does not fail.

لَقَد نابَ عني كل أَمر أَخافه

فَلَم أَخشَ أَمرا لِلزَمان يَنوب

He has handled on my behalf every matter I fear,

so I have feared none of the troubles time brings.

كَفاني صروف الدهر من بعد ما سطت

عَلى مَخاليب لَها وَيَنوب

He shielded me from the turns of fate, after

its claws and fangs had assailed me.

وَذاد الخطوب السود عني بجوده

فَما ساورتني للخطوب خطوب

With his generosity he drove dark calamities away from me,

and no calamities rose up to assail me.

فَلِلَّه بر اريحى مهذب

عَن الرجس أوّاه اغر منيب

God be praised for a righteous, generous man, purified

of impurity, devout, radiant, turning to God.

حفىّ وَفىّ مشفق متعطف

عزيز منيع الجانبين مهيب

Attentive, faithful, compassionate, tenderhearted,

mighty, impregnable on both flanks, awe-inspiring;

كَريم من الغر الكِرام وَسيد

من النجباء الصالحين نجيب

generous, from the illustrious and generous, and a lord,

noble among the virtuous men of noble birth.

يَطول يدا بالجود للوفد انما

هو البحر جودا وَالكرام قليب

He excels in openhanded generosity to delegations; truly,

he is the sea in bounty, while the generous are a well.

لنا منه خلق اَريحى وَمنظر

بهى وصدر بالنوال رَحيب

From him we have a generous nature and a countenance

radiant, and a breast spacious in giving.

أَمَولاي جاني منك بعد اِفتراقنا

كَلام يَكاد الطفل منه يشيب

O my lord, after our separation there came to me from you

words that could turn a child's hair gray.

أَطلت مَلامي في أمور كَثيرة

فَلَم أَدر من أَي الذنوب أَتوب

You prolonged your reproaches over many matters,

so I did not know for which sins to repent.

وأمرضني منك العتاب وَلَيسَ لي

سواك اذا عز الطَبيب طَبيب

Your rebuke made me ill, and I have

no physician but you when a physician is hard to find.

اذا غرني ضَيفان صَبري غدرتني

أَلَيسَ لنا بعد الحضور مغيب

When two guests deceive me, my patience betrays me [wording unclear].

Do we not have absence after presence?

أَراكَ عَلى بعد الطَريق تَلومني

اذا قيل لي تلك الطَريق قَريب

I see you reproaching me despite the road's length,

when I am told, 'That road is short.'

فَقَد كنت في ذابان اعثر مرة

وأسقط أخرى كل ذاكلغوب

For in Dhabān I stumbled once,

and fell another time—all that was weariness—

الى أَن دهتني في جَوانب أَرضه

مَصائب تذوى الغصن وَهو رَطيب

until, throughout its land, there befell me

disasters that wither a branch while it is still fresh.

فَحينئذ أَقسمت لا عجت موطئا

عَوانى ذئب أَو عداني ذيب

Then I swore never to turn toward a place

where a wolf howled at me or a wolf attacked me.

وَطلقت ذابان الثلات وَلَم أعد

اليهوَمالي فيه وَهو شغوب

I divorced Dhabān three times and did not return

to it—what business have I there, when it is so contentious?

وَكَيفَ قفو لي نحو بيت نويرة

وَقَد ساءَني يوم هناك عصيب

How could I follow a trail toward Nuwayrah's house,

when a grievous day there had brought me sorrow?

ذكرت كَلام الغشمري وَصنوه

وَما فعلاه وَالغَريب غَريب

I recalled al-Ghashmarī's words and those of his counterpart,

and what the two did—a stranger is a stranger.

سمعتهاما حين ابن عمك لم يقم

يَقولان ذياك الغَلام مريب

I heard the two, when your cousin did not stand up,

saying, 'That lad is suspicious.'

وَسل عليه ابن الفَواجِر خنجَرا

صقيلا يَرى للنمل فيه دَبيب

And the son of wicked women drew a dagger against him,

so polished that the crawling of ants could be seen in it.

فذبيت عَن أعراضنا بصوارم

من الشعر ما فلت لهن غروب

So I defended our honor with keen swords

of verse, whose cutting edges were never blunted.

وَلَولاك بل لَولا أَبوكعليكما

تزاح هموم أَوتزال كروب

But for you—rather, but for your father [wording unclear]—

no cares would be lifted, nor afflictions removed.

فخذ بيدي يا آل شمس عمارة

وَلَو أن ذنبي يذبل وَعَسيب

Take my hand, O family of Shams ʿUmārah,

even if my sin were Yadhbul and ʿAsīb.

وَكن عصمَتي من جور دهر معاند

به الحر عبدو الصدوق كَذوب

Be my protection from the injustice of a hostile age,

in which the free man is a slave and the truthful man a liar.

فَما أَنتَ الاسيد وابن سيد

وَبر كَما غيمعَلى سكوب

You are nothing but a lord and the son of a lord,

and the bounty of you both is a cloud pouring down upon me.

أَبوك حَبيبي قدس اللَه روحه

وَأَنتَ ابنه وابن الحَبيب حَبيب

Your father is my beloved—may God sanctify his soul—

and you are his son; the beloved's son is beloved.

تداركني باللطف وَالدهر عابس

واخصبت ربعى وَالزَمان جَديب

You rescued me with kindness while fate frowned,

and made my dwelling fertile while the age was barren.

وَكَم لك عِندي من يَدلو وزنتها

لماوزناها منوح وَشعيب

How many favors I owe you! Were one weighed,

Manūḥ and Shuʿayb could not equal its weight.

سأطلب منك الصفح حَتّى يَكون لي

لديك منالصفح الجَميل نصيب

I shall seek your pardon until I have

with you a share of gracious forgiveness.

اذا كنت أَهل العفو عَن كل مذنب

وَلَم تعف عني ان ذا العَجيب

If you are one who pardons every sinner,

yet do not pardon me, that is truly strange.

فَهاك من الدر النضد غَريبة

تَروق اعاريضها لهن ضروب

Take, then, a rare poem of pearls strung in order,

whose meters delight, with varied metrical endings;

مناللاء لَم يسبق اليهن شاعر

سواي وَلَم ينطق بهن اديب

among those no poet has ever reached

except me, nor has any man of letters uttered them.

عَليك سَلام سرمدي مبارك

روائحه مسك يَفوح وَطيب

Upon you be everlasting, blessed peace,

whose fragrances are wafting musk and perfume.