الشعر ما قومت زيغ صدوره

الشعر ما قومت زيغ صدوره

وشددت بالتهذيب أسر متونه

وشددت بالتهذيب أسر متونه

Poetry is that whose wayward openings you straighten,

When eloquence stands straight, and reasoning

and whose body's sinews you strengthen through refinement;

Makes strong the links of poems' inner meaning;

ورأبت بالإطناب شعب صدوعه

ورأبت بالإطناب شعب صدوعه

وفتحت بالإيجاز غورَ عيونه

وفتحت بالإيجاز غورَ عيونه

whose branching cracks you mend through amplification,

When tropes like roads the devious thought are leading,

and whose springs' depths you open through concision;

And metaphors like springs the hidden sense revealing;

وجمعت بين قريبه وبعيده

وجمعت بين قريبه وبعيده

ووصلت بين مجمه ومعينه

ووصلت بين مجمه ومعينه

whose near and far you bring together,

When near and far in apt assemblage mingle,

and whose pool you join to its flowing spring;

And union knits the loose and vague, compelling

وعقدت منه لكل أمرٍ يقتضي

وعقدت منه لكل أمرٍ يقتضي

شبهاً به فقرنته بقرينه

شبهاً به فقرنته بقرينه

and from which you fashion, for every subject requiring one,

In everything the fit comparison,

a likeness to it, pairing it with its counterpart.

And each with peer in meet correlation;

فإذا بكيت به الديار وأهلها

فإذا بكيت به الديار وأهلها

أجريت للمحزون ماء شوؤنه

أجريت للمحزون ماء شوؤنه

Then, when you mourn through it the dwellings and their people,

Then if the land and folk you fain would mourn,

you make the water of the grieving one's tear ducts flow,

You make sad music from the soul's deep urn;

ووكلته بهمومه وغمومه

ووكلته بهمومه وغمومه

دهراً فلم يسر الكرى بجفونه

دهراً فلم يسر الكرى بجفونه

and leave him to his cares and sorrows

And to his cares and griefs his soul consign you;

for an age, so slumber never steals over his eyelids.

Fortune lasts not against such gifts benign you.

وإذا مدحت به جواداً ماجداً

وإذا مدحت به جواداً ماجداً

وقضيته بالشكر حق ديونه

وقضيته بالشكر حق ديونه

And when you praise through it a generous, noble man,

And if some warrior you would praise, whose might

and with gratitude pay him the debts rightfully owed him,

Is witnessed by his trophies of the fight,

أصفيته بنفيسه ورصينه

أصفيته بنفيسه ورصينه

ومنحته بخطيره وثمينه

ومنحته بخطيره وثمينه

you favor him with its precious, firmly wrought verse,

You match him with the noble and refining,

and grant him its weighty, valuable verse.

And grace his arm with gifts and bounties shining;

فيكون جزلاً في اتفاق صنوفه

فيكون جزلاً في اتفاق صنوفه

ويكون سهلاً في اتساق فنونه

ويكون سهلاً في اتساق فنونه

Thus it is forceful, its forms in harmony,

Till in consenting lines his virtues glide,

and easy, its arts in orderly accord.

In orderly design and measured tide.

فإذا أردت كناية عن ريبة

فإذا أردت كناية عن ريبة

باينت بين ظهوره وبطونه

باينت بين ظهوره وبطونه

Then, when you seek an oblique allusion to something suspect,

And if twin meanings from your verse be shown,

you set its outward sense apart from its hidden sense,

You plant the doubt, and make the true sense known.

فجعلت سامعه يشوب شكوكه

فجعلت سامعه يشوب شكوكه

ببياته وظنونه بيقينه

ببياته وظنونه بيقينه

making its hearer mingle his doubts

Or friend you chide for fault, with soft address,

with his convictions [uncertain reading], and his conjectures with his certainty.

Reproof in gentleness you make excess;

وإذا عتبت على أخٍ في زلةٍ

وإذا عتبت على أخٍ في زلةٍ

أدمجت شدته له في لينه

أدمجت شدته له في لينه

And when you rebuke a brother for a lapse,

Till listening, he lets fall his arms, defenses,

you fold its sternness toward him into its softness,

Won by your charming wise benevolences.

فتركته مستأنساً لدماثةٍ

فتركته مستأنساً لدماثةٍ

مستيئساً لوعوثه وحزونه

مستيئساً لوعوثه وحزونه

so you leave him comforted by gentleness,

Or if in amorous strains you paint your love,

yet despairing at its yielding sands and rugged ground.

And cunning words the bliss of union prove,

وإذا بذت إلى التي علقتها

وإذا بذت إلى التي علقتها

إن صارمتك بفاتنات شؤونه

إن صارمتك بفاتنات شؤونه

And when you send word [uncertain reading] to the woman you love,

With sweet and tender phrase you still entice,

if she cuts you off, through its bewitching themes,

Veiled in enigma, but with meaning nice.

تيمتها بلطيفه ورقيقه

تيمتها بلطيفه ورقيقه

وشغفتها بخفيه وكمينه

وشغفتها بخفيه وكمينه

you enslave her heart with its subtle, tender verse,

Or comrade you excuse with gentle speech,

and enrapture her with its hidden, latent meanings.

Confessing clearly, but the fault beseech

وإذا اعتذرت إلى أخٍ من زلةٍ

وإذا اعتذرت إلى أخٍ من زلةٍ

واشكت بين محيله ومبينه

واشكت بين محيله ومبينه

And when you apologize to a brother for a lapse,

To be forgotten; he will straightway bow

you draw its evasive and plain meanings close together,

To true repentance of the broken vow.

فيحور ذنبك عند من يعتده

فيحور ذنبك عند من يعتده

عتباً عليك مطالباً بيمينه

عتباً عليك مطالباً بيمينه

so your fault becomes, to the one who reckons it,

For speech is fairer that informs the ear,

a reproach against you, with his oath demanded.

Than song, that only fascinates the mind's eye clear.

والقول يحسن منه في منثوره

والقول يحسن منه في منثوره

ما ليس يحسن منه في موزونه

ما ليس يحسن منه في موزونه

And some speech is pleasing in prose

that is not pleasing in measured verse.