شماسة قلب ليس يألف طائره

وعازب لُب أول الحب آخرُهْ

The unruliness of a heart whose bird will not grow tame,

And a wandering mind: love's beginning is its end.

ورئْم أبت ألحاظه أن تُغبَّني

وُفودَ الهوى أو يبرحَ الصدرَ خاطرهْ

And a white gazelle whose glances will not let

Love's visits spare me a day, or his image leave my breast.

بساحر ما ضمت عليه جفونه

وريانِ ما التفّت عليه مآزره

With bewitching beauty in what his eyelids enfold,

And lush fullness in what his waist-wraps encircle,

وأبيضِ ما تحت الصِّدار لَوَانه

تجرد لاحت للعيون سرائره

And fair skin beneath his tunic—were he

To bare himself, his hidden charms would shine before the eyes.

فيا قلب هذا العشق حقاً وهذه

موارده حتى تبين مصادره

So, heart, this is love indeed, and these

Are its watering-places, until its ways out become clear.

فلا الانس مردود إليك شريده

ولا النوم معطوف عليك أواصره

So straying solace will not be restored to you,

Nor will sleep's bonds be turned back toward you.

ويا دمع أدركني إن الصبر خانني

بنصرك والمخذول من أنت ناصره

And, tears, come to my aid, for patience has betrayed me,

With your support—yet forsaken is the one you support.

ويا برحاء الشوق رفقاً بمهجتي

هي المجد معقوداً عليه خناصره

And, torment of longing, be gentle with my life's blood:

It is glory itself, upon which its little fingers are folded.

ألا إن تحت الشوق مني لماجداً

يجاذب فيه منجد الشوق غائره

Behold, beneath my longing lies a noble man,

In whom longing's highlander contends with its lowlander.

وما حال صب بالعراق فؤاده

أسير وثاو في خراسان سائره

What is the state of a lover whose heart, in Iraq,

Is captive, while the rest of him dwells in Khurasan?

على أن في قرب الأمير وبسطه

لنا عوضاً لا يخلف الظن ماطره

Yet in the prince's nearness and open-handedness

We have recompense, whose rain-giver never disappoints our hopes.

ألم تر أن الملك قر قراره

إذا زينت باسم الأمير منابره

Have you not seen that kingship rests secure

When its pulpits are adorned with the prince's name?

ودون حجاب الملك منذ تمكنت

أسرته من أرضه وستائره

And before kingship's veil, ever since they were firmly set—

Its thrones upon its soil, and its curtains—

سحاب ولكن الدنانير صوبه

وليث ولكن الملوك عقائره

Stands a cloud—but dinars are its rain,

And a lion—but kings are its slain prey;

وأبلج كالصبح الأغر جبينه

ضياء وكالليل البهيم عساكره

And a bright-faced man, his brow like the radiant dawn

In brilliance, and his armies like pitch-dark night.

تذل له الأقدار وهي جنوده

وتخدمه الأيام وهي عشائره

Destinies submit to him, and they are his soldiers;

The days serve him, and they are his clans.

يموج به في الحرب صاف أديمه

حفوز لِهامات الملوك حوافره

In battle, a sleek-skinned steed surges beneath him,

Its impetuous hooves rushing at the heads of kings.

مقيم سرير الملك حاضر تاجه

وخاتمه غازي الغريم مسافره

His royal throne stays put, his crown is present,

And his signet; his traveling force raids the adversary.

تَزايل أركانُ العدى عند بأسه

وتعضَب أنياب الردى وأظافره

The enemy's pillars come apart before his might,

And Death's fangs and claws are cut off.

ألم تر غرشستان كيف تغورت

معاقلها لما انتحتها بصائره

Have you not seen Gharshistan—how deep sank

Its strongholds when his discerning vision assailed them?

طلبت بها ثار الإله ودينه

فما فات والشيخ الموفق بائره

There you sought vengeance for God and His faith;

It did not escape, with Shaykh al-Muwaffaq seeking it out.

ونبئت يا نهلان أن عصابة

يخالف فيهم باطن القلب ظاهره

And I was told, O Nahlan, that a band

Have hearts whose inner selves contradict their outward show.

أتوك وراموا أن يهزك بغيهم

على شرفي والبغي مر مصائره

They came to you, hoping their malice would stir you

Against my honor; bitter are wrongdoing's outcomes.

حنانيك حسادي كثير كما ترى

ومن حسنت عيناه تكثر ضرائره

Have mercy! My enviers are many, as you see;

And whoever has lovely eyes has many rival co-wives.

ومن حل من علياك حيث تُحِلني

تصدى له قاصي المحل وقاصره

And whoever dwells upon your heights, where you place me,

Is opposed by those distant in station and those below it.

أنا العبد لا يأبى عليك ولاؤه

خلوصاً ولا تخطو ذراك مفاخره[CENTER][/CENTER]

I am the servant whose loyalty does not deny you

Sincerity, nor do his glories step beyond your heights.