1. دع في الغرام مقالة السُّفَهاءِ

    واخلع عذاركَ في هوى العذراءِ

    In love, disregard the talk of fools,

    and cast off your bridle in love of the maiden.

  2. واجسر على اللذات وانتهز الصبا

    يا صاح وامتطِ صهوة الأهواءِ

    And boldly pursue pleasures, and seize youth,

    O friend, and mount the saddle of passions.

  3. واحرص على زمن السرورِ فإنهُ

    ربَما يفوت وأنتَ في اغفاءِ

    And cherish the season of joy, for it

    may pass while you are slumbering.

  4. أعضِ الشبابَ نصيبهُ حيث الزما

    ن مطاوعُ واعكف على الصهباءِ

    Give youth its share while time

    is compliant, and devote yourself to tawny wine,

  5. مِن كف غانية إذا ما أسفرت

    أخفت بطلعتها إيَاةُ ذُكاءِ

    from the hand of a beauty who, whenever she unveils,

    eclipses by her appearance the radiance of Dhukāʾ, the sun.

  6. وإذا رنت قتلت وإن هي كلمت

    ميتاً غدا من جملةِ الأحياءِ

    And when she gazes, she kills; but if she addresses

    a dead man, he joins the ranks of the living.

  7. وإذا انثنت يا خجلة الغصن الرطي

    بِ ويا شقاء الصعدةِ السمراءِ

    And when she sways—how shamed the tender bough,

    and how wretched the dusky spear-shaft!

  8. هيفاء نجلاء العيون ولا أرى

    إلاّ العيونَ النجل للهيفاءِ

    A slender beauty, wide-eyed; and I deem

    only wide eyes fitting for a slender beauty.

  9. إن العيون النجل أصل بليّتي

    ومنِيتي وصبابتي وعنائي

    Indeed, wide eyes are the source of my affliction,

    my death, my yearning, and my torment.

  10. هن اللواتي في الهوى أوقعْنَني

    وشبَبْنَ في قلبي لظى بُرَحائي

    They are the ones that cast me into love,

    and kindled in my heart the blaze of my anguish.

  11. عشق العيون الضيقاتِ محرم

    عندي وهذا مذهب العقلاءِ

    Loving narrow eyes is forbidden

    to me; this is the creed of the wise.

  12. لله يوم أنعمت بوصالها

    فيه على أرض من الرقباءِ

    What a wondrous day when she granted me her union,

    that day, in trembling fear of the watchers.

  13. ظلت تعاطيني كؤوس مدامة

    ممزوجة في روضةِ غناءِ

    She kept offering me cups of wine,

    blended, amid a luxuriant garden.

  14. ضحكتَ وقد بكت السحائب فوقها

    فعجبت من ضحكِ لها ببكاءِ

    The garden laughed while the clouds above it wept,

    and I marveled at its laughter born of tears.

  15. والطيرُ كالعيدانِ فوق منابر ال

    عيدان تطربنا بحسن غناءِ

    And the birds, like lutes, upon the pulpits of the

    boughs, delighted us with lovely song.

  16. فتكاملت لي كل أنواعِ المنى

    وطفقت أرفلُ في ثيابِ صفاءِ

    So every kind of wish was fulfilled for me,

    and I began to strut in robes of serenity.

  17. وأخذتُ أرشف من رحيقِ رضابها

    وألفها معْ عفة بكسائي

    And I began sipping the nectar of her saliva,

    and wrapping her, chastely, in my cloak.

  18. منطقتها بيدي وقد وسّدتها

    عضدي ونلتَ من الزمانِ منائي

    I girdled her with my hand and pillowed her

    on my upper arm, and won from time my heart's desire.

  19. قضّيتَ بالتعنيقِ ساعاتي وكن

    تَ من التُقى بمكانةَ علياءِ

    I spent my hours in embraces, while I remained

    in a lofty station of piety.

  20. ما عشتْ في الدنيا فشبيبي لها

    ولسيدي عبد المجيدِ ثنائي

    As long as I live in this world, my love-verse is hers,

    and my praise is for my master, ʿAbd al-Majīd—

  21. الكامل الورع الأجل المرتقي

    درج المكارم أوحدِ الفضلاءِ

    the accomplished, devout, most venerable, who ascends

    the steps of noble deeds, peerless among men of merit.

  22. ذو رقّة تحيي النفوسَ كأنها

    أرجِ النسيم سَرى من الزوراءِ

    Possessed of a gentleness that revives souls, as though it were

    the fragrance of a breeze that drifted from al-Zawrāʾ.

  23. متوشح بالفضلِ معتقلٌ بهِ

    متدرع درعَىْ تقيً وسخاءِ

    Mantled in excellence and armed with it,

    armored in the two coats of piety and generosity.

  24. والحلم شيمتهُ فليس يقابل ال

    جاني بغير الصفح والإغضاءِ

    And forbearance is his nature; he meets the

    wrongdoer only with pardon and overlooking faults.

  25. كرم الطباعِ صفاتهُ وسماته

    إذ ليس يخشى سطوةَ الأعداءِ

    Nobility of nature defines his traits and hallmarks,

    for he fears no onslaught of enemies,

  26. علماً بأن الدهر كفّل نفسهُ

    ردَّ العدا بمذلةِ وشقاءِ

    knowing that time has bound itself

    to drive his foes back into humiliation and misery.

  27. تخِذ السماحةَ والمروءةَ ديدناً

    كتواصل الآلاءِ بالآلاءِ

    He made generosity and chivalry his constant habit,

    like one bounty following upon another.

  28. كم في دروسِ العلم أوضح مشكلا

    ولكَم جلاَ من نكتةَ غراءِ

    How many difficulties he clarified in lessons of learning,

    and how many brilliant subtleties he revealed!

  29. كم فك منه طلاسماً يا طالما

    قد أغلقت عن فكرة النظراءِ

    How many of its enigmas he unlocked—how long

    they had been closed to the thinking of his peers!

  30. مزجت مسائلهِ به وكأنهُ

    عند السؤالِ معدُّها بإناءِ

    Its questions are blended into his being, as though

    when questioned, he had them ready in a vessel.

  31. لم يلْفَ يوماً في الجوابِ مقصراً

    وبيانهُ لما يُشَبْ بخفاءِ

    He was never found wanting in an answer,

    and his exposition has never been tainted by obscurity.

  32. يا أوحد العلماء بل يا أمجد ال

    نبلاءِ بل يا أسعد السعداءِ

    O peerless one among scholars—rather, O most glorious of the

    noble—rather, O happiest of the happy!

  33. عذراً فما أخرت مدحك ناسياً

    بل إنما الأمداح للأكفاءِ

    Pardon me: I did not delay your praise through forgetfulness;

    rather, praise is only for equals.

  34. أنَّي يقومَ بحقِ مدحكَ شاعر

    ما لامتداح علاكَ والشعراءِ

    How can a poet do justice to praising you?

    What have poets to do with praising your eminence?

  35. فعُلاكَ بحرٌ زاخرَ لا تبلغ ال

    معشارَ منهُ ألسنُ البلغاءِ

    For your eminence is a surging sea; they cannot reach

    a tenth of it—the tongues of the eloquent.

  36. وإلى جنابكَ بنت فكرس أقبلت

    بحليّها تمشي على استحياءِ

    And to your presence a daughter of my thought has come,

    walking shyly in her ornaments.

  37. صِيغت لأكمل كامل من كاملِ

    لا زلتَ دهركَ في سناً وسناءِ

    Fashioned for the most perfect of perfect men, in Kāmil verse—

    may you remain, all your days, in radiance and glory.