1. أرى شَجَرَ الخوخِ استجدَّتْ ملابِسَا

    تَوَقَّدن حتى خلتُهُنَّ مَقابسا

    I see the peach trees have acquired new garments.

    They blazed until I thought them firebrands.

  2. تَلبَّسْن ثوباً عُصْفُريّاً تخالها

    إذا لحظتها العينُ فيه عَرائسا

    They donned a safflower-dyed robe; you would take them

    for brides whenever the eye glimpses them in it.

  3. لدى روضةٍ ما إن تراءت لناظرٍ

    نَمَارِقُها إلا أرَتْهُ الطَّواوسا

    Beside a garden—no beholder ever glimpses

    its cushions without being shown peacocks.

  4. يطيفُ بها أحداقُ نَوْرٍ إذا رنا

    رنا ثانيَ الأحداقِ يقظانَ ناعسا

    Blossom-eyes encircle it; whenever they gaze,

    they gaze with lowered eyes, wakeful yet drowsy.

  5. عَمْرْتُ رباها بالكؤوسِ مجاذباً

    صحابيَ أذيالَ الصِّبا ومُخالِسَا

    I enlivened its hills with cups, tugging

    with my companions at youth’s trailing skirts and stealthily snatching them.

  6. مجالسُ ملكٍ هاشميٍّ تطاولَت

    عُلاهُ إلى أن طاوَل النجمَ جالسا

    Gatherings of a Hashemite king—so high rose

    his eminence that he rivaled the stars in height while seated.

  7. تراهُ ولا خَلْقٌ يُنَافِسُ قَدْرَه

    كأَنَّ له في كلِّ عضوٍ مُنافسا

    You see him—though no creature rivals his worth—

    as though he had a rival in every limb.

  8. خلالٌ غَدَتْ فيها المعالي رائطاً

    وأضحت عليها المأثُراتُ حَبَائسا

    Virtues in which high honors have become [unclear in the supplied text],

    and noble deeds have become captives bound to them.

  9. فقلْ للمُجارِيهِ متى كان راجلٌ

    يُحاذي إلى شأوِ المكارِم فارسا

    So tell the one racing him: when has a man on foot

    kept pace with a horseman toward the goal of noble deeds?