عذاب الهوى في قلب من رامه عذب

وحوب حبيب النفس يستره الحب

Love's torment is sweet in the heart of whoever seeks it.

Love conceals the sin of the soul's beloved.

ملامك للعشاق جور وضلة

فكل به داء ومن له طب

Your reproach of lovers is injustice and error.

Each has an ailment; who has a cure?

فلا تسأل العشاق عما يلوا به

وسلني فإني بالهوى عالم طب

Do not ask lovers about what afflicts them.

Ask me, for I am learned and skilled in love.

فبالجسم مني شاهد أثبت الهوى

وفي قلبي المعمود من طبه طب

My body bears a witness that confirms love.

And in my stricken heart lies an ailment born of love's cure.

فمن رام مني سلوة ينسخ الهوى

فكم فتنت قبلي بحكم الهوى الصلب

Whoever seeks from me a solace that erases love—

How many steadfast souls before me has love's decree tried!

فيا لائمي لو ذقت لعقة شهوتي

دعاك إلى ما تكره العذل الحب

O my reproacher, had you tasted a lick of my desire,

Love would draw you toward what you dislike and reproach.

إذا كان في شرع الهوى تأسر الظبى

أسود الشرى حتى يرعوى الصب

If, under love's law, gazelles take captive

The lions of al-Shara, until the lovesick man comes to his senses,

فإن صدق العذري فالعذر واضح

وما قالت العذال لو صدقوا كذب

Then, if the ‘Udhri lover speaks truly, his excuse is clear.

What the reproachers said, even if they spoke truly, is false.

فرعياً لليلات قضينا بها الصبا

ونحن ذات الشعب بين الهوى شعب

Blessings on those little nights in which we spent our youth,

While at Dhat al-Shi‘b we were scattered bands amid desire.

سمرنا بها والطيف حشو ثيابنا

يراقب منا زورة زورها غب

We talked by night there, a phantom filling our clothes,

Awaiting a visit from us, its own visits intermittent.

يوسدنا أيدي المطايا حنينها

تقول لنا من سكر نومكم هبوا

Their yearning cries pillow us upon the mounts' forelegs,

Saying to us: Rise from the drunkenness of your sleep!

ويعرب عن لفظ الهوى كل أخرس

إذا سمحت في وصلها النهد العرب

Every mute speaks clearly in the language of love

When full-breasted, affectionate women graciously grant their embrace.

وكم دلنا للخيف والليل أليل

عبير يحيينا وقد غطغط الركب

How often, when night was darkest, we were guided to al-Khayf

By a perfume greeting us while the caravan snored.

وظبية إنس صيب العين وردهنا

ومسرحها من حيث ترعى به القلب

And a human gazelle, with rain-filled eyes—[text unclear]—

Whose grazing-ground is where she pastures upon the heart.

يرقرق ماء الحسن في وجناتها

كما رقرقت دمعاً به سحر اللب

The water of beauty shimmers in her cheeks,

As she made tears glisten, with which the mind was bewitched.

مخضبة الأطراف من فيض دمعها

بحيث جرى بيني وما بينها العتب

Her fingertips were stained by the flood of her tears

When reproach passed between me and her.

ترينا جبين الشمس من شرب وجهها

كما أنه يبدو على مرطها الغرب

She shows us the sun's brow in the hue of her face,

Just as sunset seems to appear upon her mantle.

شكا ردفها نحف الوشاح كما شكا

نوى العقد منها وقد بطرت عضب

Her hips complained of the girdle's slenderness, just as

Her necklace's beads complained of her, while keen blades grew wanton.

أسيرة حجل ما يفك أسيرها

وتحجب عين الشمس وهي بها حجب

A captive of an anklet whose prisoner is never freed,

She veils the sun's eye, though she herself is veiled.

رحيبة حجل الساق ليلاً طرقتها

وصدري على وقع القنا واسع رحب

A woman with a roomy anklet, whom I visited by night,

While my breast is broad and spacious against the impact of spears.

أنا الرجل الضرب المهذب قلبه

وأنى امرؤ مثلي يقال له الضرب

I am the slender, hardy man, refined in heart.

Where is a man like me who might be called my equal?

فلي لفظ سحبان وقدر أسامة

وشيمة جساس إذا أنعل الركب

Mine are Sahban's eloquence and Usama's stature,

And Jassas's mettle when the riders are shod.

ورب قواف بين مدح ممجد

وبين نسيب عنده يقلب القلب

Many are my verses, between glorifying praise

And a love-prelude that turns the heart.

نوادر من سحر الحلال غرائب

حوى الشرق منها ما حوى مثلها الغرب

Rarities of lawful magic, wondrous things:

The East holds verses whose like the West has never held.

عرائس قد رقت فراقت حليلها

أنيق معانيها وألفاظها الأتب

Brides grown delicate, delighting their consort,

Their meanings lovely, their words the gowns.

يود بلال أن تكون شعاره

ويختارها كانت حفيظته الصعب

Bilal wishes they could be his inner garment,

And al-Sa‘b would choose them as his cherished trust.

ولكنها عزت بتعظيم ربها

على أن مرقاها على المجتدى صعب

But they have grown exalted through honoring their master,

Though their heights are difficult for the patron to attain.

قوافٍ فلا إقوا وإكفا تشينها

وليس بها لحن وإحن ولا ثلب

Rhymes marred by neither mismatched endings nor mismatched rhyme-letters,

Containing no solecism, rancor, or slander.

نتائج طب بالقوافي موكل

لديه الكلام الحر والمنطق الذرب

The creations of a master devoted to rhymes,

Possessed of noble speech and incisive expression.

أخير زمان وهو في الفضل أول

ويعقوب سمى حينما هو أعقب

Last in his age, yet first in excellence—

And Ya‘qub was so named when he came after.

فحسبك أني من أناس تقدموا

إذا ذكرت أحسابهم فهم الحسب

It is enough for you that I come from people who went before:

When their noble lineages are mentioned, they are nobility itself.

بقية ذخر بالخزانات كامن

فقل في امرئ باقٍ وقد رحل الركب

A remnant of treasure hidden in the storehouses—

Say what you will of a man remaining when the caravan has departed.

فآهاً لدهر عشت فيه سكينهم

وحلبة سبقي أثر عينهم الحقب

Ah, for an age in which I lived as their intimate companion,

And my racecourse of triumph—the ages have marked their very selves.

كأني بقايا عصبة الكهف كلما

طلعت على قوم بهم ينزل الرعب

I seem a remnant of the Companions of the Cave: whenever

I appear before a people, terror descends upon them.

عذرت بني غبراء فيما تقولوا

علي فقبلي آل هرون قد سبوا

I excused the sons of dust for what they fabricated

About me; before me, the house of Harun was reviled.

وقد بان فضلي عند ألفاظ حاسدي

كما بان فوق الجمرة المندل الرطب

My worth became clear through my enviers' words,

As fresh aloeswood reveals itself above an ember.

وإن كان سيفي كلما سل خارجي

فكل كهام من سيوف العدا العضب

Even if my sword is a rebel whenever drawn,

Then every blunt sword of the foe is a keen blade.

وليس بداري لو حللت بها ثقب

ولكن لعمري ما على قدر عتب

There is no hole in my dwelling, should you settle there;

But, by my life, no blame rests on fate.

أهل تسع الليث الهصور وأرعنا

أسمّاً وبحراً زاخراً وعلا ثقب

Could holes contain a crushing lion and a rugged mountain,

Towering high, a surging sea, and lofty grandeur?

ولكن حوى الغار النبي وصهره

وما كان إلا العنكبوت لهم حرب

Yet the cave contained the Prophet and his father-in-law,

And only a spider fought on their behalf.

تعاطت أياديها قريش لقتله

وضمهم بيت لمستوره يعبو

Quraysh joined its hands to kill him,

And a dwelling sheltered them, making ready for the one it hid.

فلو أنها كانت لليللاى هجرتها

فلم تبك لي عين ولا رق لي قلب

Had it belonged even to my Layla, I would have abandoned it,

Yet no eye wept for me, nor did any heart soften toward me.

ولو أنني في المال يحيى بن خالد

ولو أن أعمامي المغيرة أو حرب

Even had I been Yahya ibn Khalid in wealth,

Even had my paternal uncles been al-Mughira or Harb.

فقد هجر المختار قبلي مكة

وليس لها إلا ثأى أهلها ذنب

The Chosen One departed Mecca before me;

Its only fault was the harm its people wrought.

بلاد بغت ما إن يداوي الذي بها

من الحمق إلا الحشر من قبله الشحب

A land that transgressed: its affliction cannot be cured—

Its folly—except by resurrection, preceded by wasting away.

على أنه وادي به الحق منكر

مشايخه تصبي وشبانه تصبو

Yet it is a valley where truth is denied:

Its elders stir desire, and its young men yearn for it.

عسى أنه وادي الذباب وإنني

عميت ولم توضح لنا دونه الدرب

Perhaps it is the Valley of Flies, and I

Have gone blind, and no other road was made clear to us.

وإني بحبل المصطفى متمسك

فحشا رسول اللَه أن يقع الجدب

I hold fast to the rope of al-Mustafa:

Far be it from God's Messenger that drought should fall!

لمدحي رسول اللَه في كل مشهد

دعاني ورجوى في شفاعته الحب

To praise God's Messenger in every gathering,

Love called me, and my hope in his intercession.

فلله دري حيث تقبل مدحتي

لديه وعني ينسخ الذنب والعتب

God bless my fortune when my praise is accepted

Before him, and sin and blame are erased from me.

وللَه دري يوم آتيه زائراً

على كور حرف وخدة الرفع والنصب

God bless my fortune the day I come to visit him,

On a lean she-camel's saddle, brisk in lifting and planting her feet.

وللَه دري يوم أبكي بقبره

وألثم ترب القبر حبّاً وأنكب

God bless my fortune the day I weep beside his grave,

Kissing the grave's dust out of love and bending over it.

فيا حسنها من ساعة صرت عندها

إلى كوكب آض إلى رأسه أحبو

How beautiful the hour in which I came

To a star returned, crawling toward his head!

أقلب خدي فوق تربة قبره

وقد ساعداني الدمع فانهل والقلب

I turn my cheek upon the earth of his grave;

My tears and heart aided me, and the tears poured forth.

ولم يشفني من غلني غير وقفتي

عليه ويبريني من تربي الترب

Nothing healed me of what bound me but my standing

Beside it; its dust cures me of my destitution.

أقول وقلبي طار خوفاً ورغبةً

ودمعي كمهراق العروبة ينصب

I say, my heart flying with fear and longing,

While my tears stream like al-‘Aruba's outpouring:

ألا يا رسول اللَه جاهك باسط

وعفوك مأمول ونورك لا يخبوا

O Messenger of God, your standing is far-reaching;

Your pardon is hoped for, and your light does not fade.

فهبني وهب لي مستحاناً ورحمةً

وقل يا أسير الذنب قد محي الذنب

So spare me, and grant me [unclear boon] and mercy,

And say: O captive of sin, your sin has been erased.

وقابل ثائي بالقبول وأجزني

جزا ابن زهير إذ أتى بالثنا كعب

Receive my praise with acceptance, and reward me

As Ka‘b ibn Zuhayr was rewarded when he came bearing praise.

بمدحك أرجو حجتي وهو حجتي

غداً يرتضيها إن رضيت بها الرب

Through praising you I hope my plea will stand; that praise is my proof,

Which the Lord will accept tomorrow, if you accept it.

صلاة من الباري وأزكى سلامه

عليك مدى هدب تلقفه هدب

A blessing from the Creator and his purest peace

Upon you, so long as eyelash catches eyelash.

وعمت ضجيعيك ابن عثمان ذا الوفا

وفاروق بل عمت بألطافها الصحب

May it embrace your two companions in rest: faithful Ibn ‘Uthman

And al-Faruq—indeed, may its graces embrace all the Companions.