الحب ادواء عسيره

تغشى البصائر والبصيره

Love is a host of grievous ailments

that cloud perceptions and insight.

اين المفر وللهوى في

القلب غارات المغيره

Where is escape, when passion has within

the heart a raider's assaults?

اني أمرؤ يعييه أمر

هواه ان يخفى ضميره

I am a man baffled by the matter

of his passion: keeping his secret hidden.

ملكت جوانحه من

الآرام غراءُ غريره

The depths of his heart are possessed by one of

the gazelles, radiant and guileless.

تهتز كالغصن النضير

وليس من يلقى نظيره

She sways like a verdant branch,

and none can find its equal.

حملت على أعلاه في غسق

الدجى شمس الظهيره

She bore upon its crown, in the darkness

of night, the noonday sun.

واراك معجز ثغرها الدر

الثمين سنا صغيره

And her wondrous mouth showed you pearls,

precious, in the form of a tiny tooth.

واخجلة الزهر المنور

منه والزهر المنيره

And how ashamed are the blooming flowers

before it, and the shining stars!

عذب يعذب مهجتي

ظمأ ويغذيني مريره

Sweet, it torments my heart

with thirst, and its bitterness sustains me.

ومن العجائب ان تراني

طوعه واحب جوره

And among the wonders is that you see me

at its command, and loving its tyranny.

وأرى له منا عليّ بأن

أصير له اسيرؤه

And I deem it a favor it grants me that

I become its captive.

والصب يجهد نفسه والى

الهلاك ترى مصيره

And the lovesick man exhausts himself, and toward

destruction you see him headed.

ذهبت محاسن من احب

لناظري معني وصوره

May the charms of the one I love be lost

to my sight, in essence and form;

وتعذرت مني الغريزة

عن قوافيها الغزيره

and may my innate gift fail me

in producing its abundant rhymes;

وجبنت عن طعن العدى يوم

الوغى ويدى قصيره

and may I shrink from piercing foes on the day

of battle, my hand falling short;

وزعمت ان الشح ابقى

لي من المنن الكثيره

and may I claim that stinginess lasts longer

for me than abundant acts of generosity;

ونسبت اصلي الشآم

وعفت أهلي بالجزيره

and may I trace my origin to al-Sham

and shun my kin in al-Jazira—

ان كنت يا مولاي يا زاكي

الأرومة والعشيره

if I, my lord—O noble of

lineage and clan,

يا مصطفى العلي من

تصفو مشاربه النميره

O exalted chosen one, whose

sweet-water springs run clear—

لم اتل من آيات مجدك

سورة من بعد سوره

have not recited from the verses of your glory

chapter after chapter;

أو كنت من يثنيه عن

حبيك ضر أو ضروره

or if I am one turned aside from

loving you by harm or necessity.

وأنا الذي جعل الثناء

عليك في الدنيا سميره

And I am the one who made praise

of you his nightly companion in this world,

حتى كأن فمي عليه

تغار ان قررت غيره

until it seems my mouth, over that praise,

grows jealous if I declare anything else.

ما نمت عنه فلا تنم

عيني بأعينك الغريره

I have not slept heedless of it; may sleep never close

my eye—by your guileless eyes!

ولك الهناء بمنصب قسمت

به القتم الكبيره

And joy be yours in an office—you have cleft

with it the great gloom.

قلدته عفواً بلا طلب

ولم تك مستخيره

You were invested with it freely, without asking,

nor did you seek guidance about it,

خبراً به والأمر أوفق

ما توليه خبيره

knowing it well—and a task fares best

when you entrust it to its expert.

فسلكت نهج الحق في

أقسامه واخترت خيره

So you followed the path of truth in

its divisions, and chose its best.

وعدلت كل العدل في

أحكامه ومحوت جوره

And you acted with perfect justice in

its judgments, and erased its injustice.

والعدل في الدنيا يراه

المرء في الأخرى نصيره

And justice in this world is seen

by a man in the next as his champion.

وظهرت بالمعروف والمعروف

لا يخفى ظهوره

And you were known for goodness—and goodness

cannot go unnoticed when it appears.

ووعلمت أن الدهر

ساعات وأوقات يسيره

And you knew that time is

hours and brief moments.

مزج الصفاء لنا عداك

من الموارد بالكدوره

It mingled clear water for us—may it spare you—

from the springs with murkiness.

ولطالما حاشاك اغضبنا

على عجل سروره

And how often—may you be spared—have we been angered

in an instant by its joy!

فغدا لفضلك في الورى

اثر ومأثرة شهيره

Thus your excellence now has among mankind

a mark and a renowned noble deed.

نروي حديثك مثلما

يروي الحديث ابو هريره

We recount your story, just as

Abu Hurayra relates the hadith.

ولسوف تعلو بعده الرتب

الجليلة كالحقيره

And after it you will surely rise above the ranks,

the lofty no less than the lowly.

فالمجد يرجو ان يراك

امينه وترى أميره

For glory hopes to see you

its trustee, and have you seen as its prince.

وإليك ضافي الحمد من

صافي الطوية والسريره

And to you comes ample praise from

one pure in intention and inmost heart.

لولاك ما حررت ضمن

طروسه منه سطوره

But for you, I would not have inscribed within

its pages any of its lines.

فلنحن في زمن به

الشعراء لم تعط الشعيره

For we indeed live in an age in which

poets are not given even a grain of barley.

لو عاش فيه جريره ما

اعتاض منه سوى الجريره

Had Jarir lived in it, he would not

have gained from it anything but guilt.

فاسلم لنستر عيبه بك

ان عيب الدهر عوره

So remain safe, that through you we may cover its flaw;

for the age's flaw is a naked shame.