1. وساحر الطرفَ فاتر الناظر

    ذليلة وهجرانه بلا أخر

    And one with bewitching eyes and a languid gaze,

    Abased, while his estrangement has no end.

  2. سهرت شوقا أرعى النجوم له

    وبات في رقدة عن الساهر

    I stayed awake in longing, watching the stars for him,

    While he spent the night asleep, heedless of the sleepless one.

  3. خاطرت في حبه وما خطرت

    مني له سلوة على خاطرَ

    I risked myself in loving him; never did

    Any thought of forgetting him arise in my mind.

  4. ما أنا ناس تلك العهود فمن

    يضمن لي عنه أنه ذاكرُ

    I have not forgotten those pledges—so who

    Will assure me on his behalf that he remembers?

  5. يا بدر هذا الربيع مقتبل

    فقم وبادر أوقاته بادر

    O full moon, this spring is newly come;

    Rise and seize its hours—make haste!

  6. واشرب على الورد إنه خجل

    وانظر إلى الغصن إنه ناضرُ

    And drink beside the rose, for it blushes;

    And look at the branch, for it flourishes.

  7. ورب سمراء قد لهوت بها

    بلا رقيب يخشى ولا سامر

    Many a dusky beauty have I dallied with,

    With no watcher to fear, nor any nighttime talker.

  8. أطلت منها عمر الوصال ولم

    أحفل على أن فومها عامر

    I prolonged my union with her, and did not

    Care that her [people?] were ʿĀmir.

  9. تنعى إلى سدرة الغضا خبر ال

    إصباح والليل بيننا سادر

    She mournfully tells the lote tree of the ghada grove the news of

    Daybreak, while night lingers heedlessly between us.

  10. ما أحوح الصب بعد فرقة تي

    ماء إلى وقفة على حاجر

    How sorely the lover needs, after parting from Tay-

    māʾ, a halt at Ḥājir!

  11. يغدر بالعاذلات في حب ظم

    ياء ويهدى الوفاء للنادر

    He betrays the reproaching women in his love for Ẓam-

    yāʾ, and offers fidelity to the rare one.

  12. كيف تبدلت يا ديارهم

    للصب من بعد انسرمنافرُ

    How you have changed, O their dwellings,

    Toward the lover, after [unclear text]!

  13. يغنيك إن لم تجد سارية

    وطفاء جود من مد معصي ماطر

    Should you find no night-traveling raincloud, you will be supplied

    With a heavy downpour from [unclear text].

  14. يا دهركم تخمل الأديب وكم

    ترفع قدرا من خامل قاصرً

    O Time, how often you obscure the man of letters, and how often

    You exalt the rank of an obscure, deficient man!

  15. لا بد من سفرة ترى أملي

    في صفحتيها عن وجهه سافرُ

    A journey is needed: you will see my hope

    Upon its two pages, its face unveiled.

  16. فليس ذنبي إلى البخيل سوى

    أني لا ريبة له شاعر

    For my only offense in the miser's eyes is

    That he has no doubt I am a poet.

  17. وكيف أرضى بذا ولي خطر

    مافا بعني وخاطر حاضر

    And how can I accept this, when I have standing,

    [Unclear text], and a ready mind,

  18. وسابح إن علوت صهوته

    حسبتني طائرا على طائر

    And a swimming steed—if I mount its back,

    You would think me a bird upon a bird?

  19. هيهات أخشى من الزمان أذى

    وعون دين الإله لي ناصر

    Far be it that I should fear harm from Time,

    While the Helper of God's Faith is my champion.

  20. ذاك الذي وفره لسائله

    نهب مباح وعرضه وافرُ

    That man whose wealth, for whoever petitions him,

    Is freely available plunder, while his honor remains undiminished.

  21. يحيى الوزير الذي بنائله

    يحيا محل السماحة الدائر

    Yaḥyā, the vizier, whose bounty

    Revives the [ruined?] abode of generosity.

  22. أشجع من قلبت أنامله

    رمحا طويلاً أو مرهقا باتر

    The bravest of all whose fingertips have wielded

    A long spear or a [keen-edged?] severing blade.

  23. نعم ومن جال يوم معركة

    على قرا واسع القرا ضامرُ

    Yes, and of those who wheeled on the day of battle

    Upon the back of a broad-backed, lean steed.

  24. يكسر جمع الصفوف مقتحما

    كأنه فوق أجدلِ كاسر

    He shatters the massed ranks, charging in,

    As though mounted on a swooping falcon.

  25. يسقطر ماء السماح من يده

    وسيفه من دم العدا قاطر

    The water of generosity drips from his hand,

    And his sword drips with his enemies' blood.

  26. يحكم جمع الصفوف مقتحما

    كأنه فوق أجدلِ كاسرُ

    He commands the massed ranks, charging in,

    As though mounted on a swooping falcon.

  27. لما رآه المام احزم من

    جرب من وارد ومن صادر

    When the Imam saw him as the most judicious of all

    He had tested, arriving or departing,

  28. ناط الامور الأمام منه إلى

    طَبَّ مادواء مثلهم ماهرُ

    The Imam entrusted affairs, through him, to

    [A physician?]—[unclear text]—skilled like them.

  29. يا غيث جدب ما زال منهمرا

    وليث حرب بين القنا خادرِ

    O rain for drought, forever pouring,

    And lion of battle, crouching among the spears!

  30. يا عاقر الكوم والكماة معا

    لولاك كانت أم الندى عاقر

    O slaughterer of high-humped camels and armored warriors alike,

    Without you, the mother of bounty would be barren.

  31. قدمت لما قدمت في لجب

    كأنه سيل قلة غامرُ

    You advanced when you arrived amid a clamorous host,

    Like an overwhelming torrent from a mountaintop.

  32. في ظهر نهد يهوي بمنصلت

    كأنه بطن جدول مارُ

    On a sturdy steed's back, he swoops with a drawn blade,

    As though it were the bed of a flowing brook.

  33. يلقى العدا العدا الخائفين دهرهم

    ببأس لا خائف ولا ذاعرُ

    He meets the foes, the foes afraid all their lives,

    With might, neither fearful nor alarmed.

  34. كم كان للسائلين يا ملك ال

    جيوش لما بعدت من ناهرُ

    How many there were to rebuff petitioners, O king of the

    Armies, when you were far away!

  35. لولا نداك انطوى القريض وما

    كان له بعد طيه ناشرُ

    Without your bounty, poetry would have been folded away, and

    None would have unfolded it after its folding.

  36. ولا رأى في يديه من أحد

    مهر ابنة الفكر شاعر ماهرُ

    Nor would there be seen in his hands, from anyone,

    The dowry of thought's daughter, by a skilled poet.

  37. وهاك شعري فانّه عجب

    حلو المعاني مقيد سائرُ

    And take my poetry, for it is a marvel,

    Sweet in meaning, bound yet traveling far.

  38. لا زلت مغرى بالمجد مقتدرا

    ناه لأيام دهرنا أمرُ

    May you ever be devoted to glory and full of power,

    Forbidding and commanding the days of our age.