بات يسقيني إلى وقت السحر

خمرة الريق على ورد الخفر

All night he gave me drink, until the hour before dawn:

the wine of his saliva upon the rose of his bashfulness.

خنث المشية في أعطافه

مرح التيه وفي الطرف حور

Softness of gait lay in his swaying limbs;

his pride was playful, his eyes dark against their bright whites.

ضجر مني إذا عاتبته

ونشاط الوجد في ذاك الضجر

He grew vexed with me whenever I reproached him,

and love's ardor stirred in that very vexation.

قد قضى هجرانه لي والأسى

أنني أقضي ولا أقضي وطر

His estrangement and sorrow decreed for me

that I should die without fulfilling my desire.

لست أنسى ليلة الوصل وقد

غاب واشيه بها لما حضر

I do not forget the night of union, when

his talebearer was absent as he arrived.

والصبا ينثر منظوم الحيا

والندى يعثر وهنا بالزهر

The east breeze scattered the rain's strung beads,

and the dew stumbled feebly over the flowers.

بين غرات الصبا مع فتية

أصبحوا في ظلم الدهر غرر

Amid youth's bright days, with young men

who were radiant faces in the darkness of time:

نفر له أنهم من لطفهم

نادموا ظبي فلاة ما نفر

a company of his, so gentle that

they could share wine with a desert gazelle without its fleeing.

دهرهم أما صباح مشرق

من وجوه أو ظلام من طرر

Their time was either a radiant morning,

born of faces, or darkness born of forelocks.

أخذوا اللذة وارتاحوا بها

بين روحات مدام وبكر

They took their pleasure and delighted in it,

amid evenings of wine and early mornings.

بلغوا بابن الدوامي المنى

واجتنوا من جوده أحلى ثمر

Through Ibn al-Dawami they attained their wishes,

and harvested the sweetest fruit of his generosity.

الهني الرفد والغمر الندى

فضل الخلق عطاء وغمر

His gifts are welcome, his bounty overflowing;

he surpassed all people in giving and overwhelmed them with bounty.

ليس في ميعاده خلف ولا

عند صفوٍ من أياديه كدر

There is no breach in his promise, nor

any murk amid the purity of his favors.

مشمس البشر لنا مشرقه

إن دجا وجه بخيل واعتكر

His cheerful face is sunlit; its sunrise is ours,

if a miser's face grows dark and clouded.

ذو ولي وعدوا أصبحا

بين نفع من يديه وضررا

He has a friend and a foe, and both now stand

between benefit from his hands and harm.

فهو مطعام لدى الجدب وفي

هبوات الحرب مطعان الثغر

He gives abundant food in drought, and amid

war's dust-clouds is a fierce lance-thruster at the frontier.

وإذا جرد يوما عزمه

فسواء هو والعضب الذكر

And if one day he unsheathes his resolve,

he is the equal of a keen, hard-tempered sword.

هو مال أطرد الفقر به

ومآل من زماني وعَصَر

He is wealth with which I drive away poverty,

and a refuge from my times, a shelter.

ذبَّ صرفَ الدهر عني آخذا

بيدي منه وقد دب الخمر

He warded off time's misfortunes from me, taking

me by the hand away from it, as it crept under cover.

دمت يا مؤتمن الدين لنا

غامر الجود إذا العمر اختصر

May you endure for us, O Mu'taman al-Din,

overflowing with generosity when life's span is shortened.

ما عني غيرك في مدحته

قائل أحييت ما أحيا المطر

None but you did he mean in his praise—

the one who said: 'You revived what rain revived.'

ففداء لك يا جارى الندى

صور جامدة تحكي الصور

May these be your ransom, O rival of bounty:

lifeless images that mimic human forms,

من إذا طارت مني لي بينهم

فهم في قضِّها عندي طير

those who, when wishes of mine take wing among them,

are birds, in my eyes, when it comes to shattering them.

ما علىمن يترجى نائلا

ناله منك من الفقر حذر

For one who hopes for a gift, there is no

fear of poverty once he has received it from you.

فعيان جاءنا منك الندى

وهو من غيرك إن صح خبر

For your bounty reached us in plain sight,

while from anyone else, if true, it is only a report.

فاستمعها سهلة لو طرقة

سمع بشار بن برد ما شعر

So listen to it, easy-flowing; had a single knock of it

reached Bashshar ibn Burd's ear, he would have written no verse.

بمعان لي جرت ألفاظُها

فأتت أحسن من وشيِ الحبر

Its words flowed with meanings of my own,

and came forth lovelier than the embroidery of striped cloth.

عيبها الحاضر أني ربها

وعليها يحسد البدو الحضر

Its present flaw is that I am its author,

and for it the Bedouins envy the townsfolk.

وتهن العيد وامثل خالدا

مؤثر للحمد محمودَ الأثر

Enjoy the feast, and remain forever,

preferring praise, with a praiseworthy legacy.