ألم بنا يختال غير ملوم

بقطع من الظلماء طيف ظلوم

He came to us, strutting, unrebuked—

a cruel phantom in a stretch of darkest night.

نزيف هوى أهوى بفيه على فمي

وأنهلني منه بكاس نديم

Drunk with passion, he lowered his mouth to mine,

and gave me a draught from it in a boon companion's cup.

ومال بعطفي خوط بان على نقا

وسالفتي ريم علي كريم

A bān-tree shoot upon a dune leaned against my sides,

and a gazelle, gracious to me, against the sides of my neck.

وألقى على وجهي أراقم جعده

وجاء بسحر للفؤاد عظيم

He cast the speckled serpents of his curls across my face,

and brought a mighty enchantment to the heart.

فلولا ارتشافي عذب درياق ثغره

غدوت سليماً من عناق سليم

Had I not sipped the sweet antidote of his mouth,

I would have been snake-bitten by the embrace of one unscathed.

ألا أنعم به دون انتباهي زائراً

ظفرت به في ليلتي بنعيم

Ah, how delightful a visitor he was, without my waking!

Through him that night I won delight.

أحب إلى الولهان من أمن خائف

وأحلى من النعماء عند عديم

Dearer to the love-distraught than safety to the fearful,

and sweeter than prosperity to the destitute.

يسر إليك السير من غير حاسدٍ

غيور وذي لوم عليك لئيم

He keeps his journey to you secret, with no envious,

jealous watcher, nor a base reprover who blames you.

ومن لي به لو عاد أو عاد في الكرى

ومن لي بطرف بعد ذاك نؤؤم

And who can grant me him—if only he returned, or visited in sleep?

And who can give me an eye that sleeps after that?

وما لليالي تقصر الخطو بعده

كأني قد قيدتها بهمومي

Why do the nights shorten their stride after him,

as though I had fettered them with my cares?

تحجب عني الصبح فيها كأنه

سريرة حب في فؤاد كتوم

They hide the dawn from me within them, as though it were

a secret love in a heart that keeps its secrets.

وحفت سهامها من بنيات نعشه

كواكب كالعواد حول سقيم

Their arrows were ringed by the Little Daughters of the Bier—

stars like visitors around a sick man.

اراقب فيها الفرقدين بمقلة

مقرحة بالسيد ذات كلوم

During them I watch the two Farqad stars, with an eye

ulcerated by the wolf [wording uncertain], full of wounds.

واعجب من جمع لغير تفرق

بقرب حبيب أو بصدق حميم

I marvel at a union not destined for separation,

in a beloved's nearness or a close friend's sincerity.

واني لتعروني اللجاجة في الهوى

كأني بداء الحب غير عليم

Yet obstinacy in love still seizes me,

as though I knew nothing of love's sickness.

واثقل ما حملته قلب راحل

حليف صبابات بحب مقيم

The heaviest burden I have borne is a departing heart,

allied to longings, with a love that stays.

اما في الليالي عطفة تعكس النوى

فتنظمنا والشمل غير نظيم

Have the nights no kindly turn to reverse our separation,

and gather us together while our company lies scattered?

فحتام اطوى البيد والليل قسطل

اسنته من بارق ونجوم

How long must I cross the deserts, while night is a dust-cloud,

its spearheads made of lightning and stars?

يضل بداجيه الغطاط عن الهدى

ويظلم في مسراه كل ظليم

In its darkness the sandgrouse stray from their path,

and every male ostrich enters darkness on its night journey.

بهيم كيوم البين لولا وشاته

وما كل ليل مثله ببهيم

Black as the day of parting, but for its telltales,

though not every night is as black as this.

تجهم وجه السحب وافتر برقه

به مثلما يفتر ثغر كظيم

The clouds' face scowled, and its lightning smiled

within it, like the mouth of one stifling sorrow.

كأن الحيا منه اغار على ندي

يد الأمجد المولى الأغر كريمي

It was as though its rain had plundered the bounty

of the hand of my glorious, radiant lord, my benefactor.

سليل المعالي الشامخات بعلمه

وافضل ما تعلو العلا بعلوم

Heir to lofty eminence, towering through his learning,

and the finest way to scale the heights is through knowledge.

ونجل قديم المجد غير حديثه

وليس حديث في العلا كقديم

Son of one whose glory is ancient, not newly made,

and a newcomer to eminence is not like one long established.

واوحد هذا الدهر حكما وحكمة

فداه الورى من حاكم وحكيم

This age's peerless master of judgment and wisdom—

may all mankind ransom him: what a judge and sage!

به بلغت شهباؤنا الشهب رفعة

ممنعة عن مارد ورجيم

Through him our Shahbāʾ has reached the blazing stars in height,

fortified against rebellious and accursed devils.

ولا حارث كالعدل في كل بلدة

وسالك نهج لا يرام قويم

No cultivator is like justice in any town,

and he follows a straight, unassailable path.

فطوبى لمن والى أوامر ربه

ولم يمس في أحكامه بظلوم

Blessed is he who faithfully follows his Lord's commands,

and is not unjust in his judgments.

وبعداً لمن لم يرعه في عباده

ولم برج في العقبى ثواب رحيم

Away with him who does not heed Him in dealing with His servants,

and does not hope for the Merciful One's reward in the hereafter.

وهل رادع للنفس عن سوء فعلها

إذا أمنت جهلاً عقاب جحيم

What restrains a soul from the evil of its deeds,

if, in ignorance, it feels safe from Hell's punishment?

اقاضينا البر الحليم وخير ما

ارتقبت حصول الخير عند حليم

O our righteous, forbearing judge, the best thing

I have hoped for is kindness from a forbearing man.

واسرع من يدعى لكنف ملمة

ورفع عذاب عن سواه أليم

The swiftest of those summoned to shelter us from calamity,

and to lift painful suffering from others;

وافضل من تكسو فضائله الورى

اديم بهاء فوق كل اديم

the best of those whose virtues clothe mankind

in a skin of splendor above every other skin.

وما زالت النعماء تبقى على الفتى

محاسن آثار لها ورسوم

Blessings have never ceased to leave upon a man

their beautiful traces and marks.

إلام اغترابي واغترامي فلم أزل

غريب زماني والزمان غريمي

How long my exile and indebtedness? I have never ceased

to be a stranger to my age, with time my creditor.

أردد فكري في مطالب جمة

عقمن وهل برجي نتاج عقيم

I turn my thoughts over many ambitions

that proved barren—can offspring be expected of the barren?

ومن شيمي حب المعالي وملتقى

صدور العوالي والمكارم خيمي

Among my traits are love of the heights, and meeting

the points of tall lances; noble deeds are my nature.

وليس بمجدي المرء جد على المنى

إذا كان ذا جد عليه مشوم

A man's striving for his wishes will not avail him,

if his fortune is ill-omened against him.

بلى ان يكن من دهره بك واثقا

يفز بعميم من مناه جسيم

Yet if, against his time, he places trust in you,

he will win a vast, abundant share of his desires.

فأنت نبيل الأمن في الدهر والمنى

زعيم لنا والغير غير زعيم

For you are our noble source of safety and hopes in this age,

our guarantor, while others give no guarantee.

وقد آن ان تمضي عليه شكايتي

لديك وان تثنيه ثني شكيم

The time has come for my complaint against it to prevail

before you, and for you to curb it as a bridle's bit curbs.

بقيت بقاء الحمد فهو مخلد

عليك نضير الشخص غير رميم

May you endure as praise endures, for it is everlasting

upon you, fresh in form, never decayed.

ودمت دوام الفضل منك فأنه

يعمر عمر الدهر غير ذميم

May you last as long as your bounty lasts, for it

lives for time's whole lifespan, never censured.

وهاك من المدح المنقح روضة

تحمل عطراً جيب كل نسيم

Take this garden of finely polished praise,

which fills the bosom of every breeze with fragrance.

يود ابو تمام نبت ثمامها

وتعي تميميا وابن تميم

Abu Tammām would covet its thumām shoots,

and it would confound a Tamīmī and Ibn Tamīm.