عسى منجد الأظعان يوماً يغيرها

وفاتل أسباب النوى لا يغيرها

May he who leads the departing litters to the uplands one day lead them down,

and may he who twists separation's cords refrain from twisting them tight.

ومانع أجفاني لذيذ رقادها

يبيع جفوني رقدة أو يعيرها

And may he who denies my eyelids their sweet repose

sell my eyelids a spell of sleep, or lend it to them.

ولولا العيون النجل ما ذقت لوعة

يثقف محني الضلوع زفيرها

But for those wide eyes, I would never have tasted an anguish

whose sighs straighten the bend of my ribs.

إذا ما أدارت باللحاظ كؤوسها

أدارت عقاراً كل قلب عقيرها

When they pass their cups around through sidelong glances,

they pass around a wine whose slain victim is every heart.

وهل فتن الألباب إلا فتورها

وهل فتر أهل العزم إلا فتورها

What has bewitched minds but their languor?

And what has weakened men of resolve but their languor?

وبين قباب الخيف من جبلي منى

أسيرة خدر لا يفك أسيرها

Among the domed tents of al-Khayf, by Mina's two mountains,

is a woman captive in her chamber, whose captive is never freed.

يشق على طيف الخيال لقاؤها

من الخوف إلا أن ينام سميرها

Even the dream-phantom finds it hard to meet her,

for fear, unless her evening companion falls asleep.

ينم عليها كلما نمت الصبا

على الروض وهناً مسكها وعبيرها

She is betrayed, whenever the east wind tells tales

against the garden late at night, by her musk and perfume.

طوتها ببان البين عنا بليله

وأعجل من نفر الحجيج نفورها

She was folded away from us among parting's bān-trees, in its night,

and her flight came sooner than the pilgrims' dispersal.

وأبقت يسيراً من حشاشة مهجة

أبى المجد إلا أن يسير يسيرها

She left a scant remnant of a soul's last breath,

but glory insisted that even this scant remnant should journey.

فيا ساكني أكناف نعمان أنعموا

بزورة جفن يشبه الحق زورها

So, dwellers in the environs of Nu'man, bestow your favor

with a dream-visit to my eyelid, whose illusion resembles truth.

فلو شئتم بردتم حر حرقة

يهيجها تذكاركم ويثيرها

Had you wished, you would have cooled the heat of an anguish

that remembrance of you arouses and inflames.

ألا حبذا فيكم مشقة شقة

يظل سواء هجركم وهجيرها

Ah, how dear for your sake is the hardship of a long journey

whose noonday heat and your estrangement remain alike.

ولو كان لي النفس أمر بذلتها

لكم وعلا الأخطار فيكم خطيرها

If command of my soul were mine, I would offer it

to you; for your sake, its worth would surpass all prized things.

ولكنها ملك لدولة شاور

ولابد لي في ملكها أستشيرها

But it belongs to Shawar's realm,

and I must consult that realm in disposing of it.

فإن أذنت في ذا فعلت وإن أبت

سلا وجه نفسي واستمر مريرها

If it permits this, I will do it; if it refuses,

my soul will turn from love, and its resolve will stand firm.

وزير شفى صدر الوزارة بعدما

شكت أمل الداء الدفين صدورها

A vizier who healed the breast of the vizierate after

its breasts had complained of the hidden disease's [pain].

تتوج منه بالمهابة تاجها

وأشرق ناديها وسر سريرها

Through him its crown was crowned with majesty,

its assembly shone, and its throne rejoiced.

وما جهلت قط الوزارة أنه

يكون بلا شك إليك مصيرها

Never was the vizierate unaware that

without doubt its destiny lay with you.

وكنا نرى منها مكانك بيننا

تراه صحيحات العيون وعورها

We used to see your place in it among us;

both sound eyes and impaired ones could see it.

وقد عرف الإسلام أنك سيفه

كذا الليلة البيضاء يعرف نورها

Islam has recognized you as its sword,

just as a bright night's light is recognized.

وأي رحى دارت فلم يك شاور

بقطب العطايا والرزايا يديرها

What millstone ever turned without Shawar

turning it on the axle of gifts and calamities?

ولله في راحات أيامك التي

تزيد على فضل الدهور شهورها

By God, amid the repose of your days,

whose months surpass the excellence of ages,

أقمت بها تلوي حبال مكيدة

لوى عنق الدنيا إليك مريرها

you remained there, twisting the cords of a stratagem

whose tightly twisted cord bent the world's neck toward you.

متى ذكرتها الخيل قل صهيلها

وإن ذكرتها البذل قل هديرها

Whenever horses recalled it, their neighing diminished;

and whenever mature camels recalled it, their rumbling subsided.

فما صهوة إلا وقد مل سرجها

ولا ذرة إلا وقد مال كورها

There was no horse's back whose saddle had not wearied,

nor a [camel's hump] whose saddle had not tilted.

وقد حملت منك الرواسي ظهورها

من الحزم حتى حان منك ظهورها

You loaded the backs of the firm-set mountains

with your resolve, until their emergence at your command was due.

تروح للنصر العزيز رواحها

وتغدو وللفتح المبين بكورها

Their evening march is for mighty victory;

they set out at dawn, their early march for manifest conquest.

يؤم بها الفسطاط منها متوج

له أبداً عير العلى ونفيرها

A crowned leader among them guides them toward Fustat,

forever his are glory's caravan and its mustered host.

صدمت بها من آل رزيك هضبة

تصدع رضواها وساخ ثبيرها

With them you struck a mountain of the house of Ruzzik;

its Radwa shattered, and its Thabir sank.

تحطم منها ساعد ومساعد

فأمست وما يرجى لجبر كسيرها

An arm and a helper of it were shattered,

and it was left with no hope of mending its broken part.

ولما خلت أوكارهم من نسورهم

وطارت حذار من سطاك نسورها

When their nests were emptied of their eagles,

and those eagles flew away in fear of your might,

منحت الذراري خير بر وربما

يبر بأشبال الليوث مبيرها

you bestowed the finest kindness on their children; often

the destroyer of lions is kind to their cubs.

عفوت ولو كنت الذي قدرت على

إساءته لم يعف عنك قديرها

You pardoned; had you been in the place of the man you could

harm, the one with power to harm you would not have pardoned you.

ولاغرو أن ماتت حقودكم بحلمكم

فإن صدور القادرين قبورها

No wonder your grudges died through your forbearance,

for the breasts of the powerful are their graves.

رأيت رجالاً زودوهم مذمة

وتلك السجايا فكرتي لا تخيرها

I saw men heap blame upon them,

but my thought does not choose such traits.

أأجحد إحساناً أبا الفتح أرخيت

علي به أبوابهم وستورها

Would I deny a kindness, Abu al-Fath, through which you lowered

their doors and curtains over me?

وحاشاك أن ترضى بذم خوادر

بصارمك الماضي تصان خدورها

Far be it from you to approve the slandering of secluded women,

whose chambers your keen sword protects.

وعلمتني صون اللسان بسيرة

رأيتك في حقن الدماء تسيرها

You taught me to guard my tongue through a course of conduct

I saw you follow in sparing blood.

أفضت على غربي حسامك طهرها

ففاض على غربي لساني طورها

You poured its purity over both edges of your sword,

and its manner flowed over both edges of my tongue.

وما الوزراء الغر إلا سوابق

مضى أول منها ووافى أخيرها

The radiant viziers are but racehorses:

their first has passed, and their last has arrived.

وإن حقق التشبيه فيكم فإنما

طلعتم شموساً حين غابت بدورها

If the comparison is made exact in your case,

you rose as suns when their full moons set.

وإن لم أكن نلت الغنى في زمانهم

فتلك سحاب بل تربي مطيرها

Though I did not attain riches in their days,

they were clouds—nay, outdoing even the rainiest of them.

سحائب إن لم أرو منها فإنني

أرى الغدر عندي أن يذم غديرها

Clouds: though I did not drink my fill from them,

I deem it treachery to disparage their pool.

ومن كتم الحسنى فإني مذيعها

ومن كفر النعمى فإني شكورها

Whoever conceals a kindness, I proclaim it;

whoever denies a blessing, I give thanks for it.

وعندي لشكر المحسنين محاسن

تقد على قدر الأيادي سيورها

I have beauties with which to thank benefactors,

whose straps are cut to the measure of their favors.

غرائز عندي عفوها ولبابها

عرائس فكر لا تحل مهورها

Innate gifts: I possess their spontaneous yield and their essence,

brides of thought whose dowries are not to be claimed.

أبيت بما أسديتموه من الندى

إلي أسديها لكم وأنيرها

I spend the night, for the generosity you bestowed

upon me, weaving their warp and weft for you.

أتاكم به من رقة وجزالة

فرزدقها في عصرها وجريرها

Bringing you this in tenderness and force

is its age's Farazdaq and its Jarir,

من العربي المحض شعراً ومعشراً

إذا شان قوماً شعرها وعشيرها

purely Arab in both poetry and people,

when a people is disgraced by its poetry and clan.

فلا تسمعوا مدحاً سوى ما أقوله

فما يستوي حول العيون وحورها

So hear no praise except what I speak,

for the squint of eyes cannot match their dark-eyed beauty.

أرى سير الأملاك تفنى وإنما

يكون بمثلي بعثها ونشورها

I see the histories of kings perish; only

through one like me do their resurrection and revival come about.

إذا دثرت أجسام قوم فإنما

بصقيل هذا القول يجلى دثورها

When a people's bodies decay,

the polish of this verse alone clears away their decay.

وإن القوافي سوف تنسى إناثها

ويختص بالذكر الجميل ذكورها

The female rhymes will be forgotten,

while their males alone win fair remembrance.

أبا الفتح والمعروف شيء مداره

على عرض الدنيا وأنت مديرها

Abu al-Fath, beneficence is a thing that depends

on this world's goods, and you govern it.

إذا ما قضيتم للورى كل حاجة

فلي حاجة سهل عليك عسيرها

When you have met every need of mankind,

I have a need whose difficulty is easy for you.

أضفت إلى الجاري الذي لي إقامة

أقمت بها حالي وأثرى فقيرها

You added to my regular allowance a provision

with which you set my affairs right and enriched their needy one.

ووقعت لي فيها بخطك منعماً

وعدلك من جور النصارى نصيرها

You graciously signed it for me in your own hand,

and your justice defends it against the Christians' oppression.