أكذا النفوس إذا عشقن الأنفسا

تعيي الأساة ضناً ويعييها الأسى

Is this how souls are when they love other souls,

wasting until they baffle healers, while grief exhausts them?

أم كنت من رزق الهوى وهوانه

وحدي ومن حرم المنى والمؤنسا

Or was I the one allotted love and its humiliation,

I alone, and denied fulfillment and a companion?

أواه كم من حرقة في مهجتي

لتشوقي المى المراشف ألعسا

Alas, how much burning anguish fills my heart

through longing for one whose lips are dusky and dark!

حقف تفرع منه غصن مثمر

قمرا يقل من الذوائب حندسا

A curved dune from which springs a bough bearing as fruit

a moon that carries a pitch-black night of tresses.

بأبي خيالا منه حيا مضجعي

غلساً ومن كتم الزيارة غلّسا

My father be ransom for a phantom of him that greeted my bed

before dawn—for one who conceals a visit comes in darkness.

وألم بي إلمام من صحب السرى

مترقبا وسري الدجى متهجسا

He visited me like one who had traveled by night,

watchful, apprehensive of the journey through darkness.

وأراد أن يلقي عشاءً رحله

فكأنه انضي المطي معرّسا

He wished to set down his saddle in the evening,

as though he had exhausted his mounts and halted to rest.

في ليلة ظلماء غير زيها

حتى حسبناها نهاراً مشمسا

On a pitch-dark night, he changed its guise

until we thought it a sunlit day.

وتبلج الحسن البديع ضياؤه

يمحو دجنة كل ليل عسعسا

The light of wondrous beauty broke forth,

effacing the gloom of every night that gathered.

فارتد لا يثنى على آثاره

طرفاًولا تلوي امونا عرمسا

Then he withdrew, without casting back along his tracks

a glance, or wheeling a trusty, sturdy she-camel.

حذرا كمهديه يخاف رقيبه

خوف المحب عليه من ان يمسسا

Fearful, like the one who sent him, he dreaded his watcher,

with a lover's fear for him, lest he be touched,

ومن الوشاة قلائدا وغلائلا

لا تطمأن تضوعا وترجسا

and feared, among telltales, necklaces and fine garments

that would not lie still, wafting fragrance and rustling.

فغدوت اندم من أبي غبشان اذ

عوضته واعتاض عني البسبسا

So I became more regretful than Abu Ghubshan, when

I made the exchange with him, and he chose the wilderness instead of me.

فإذا منعت من الهوي طيف الكرى

فمتى تنال به الظباء الكنسا

If in love I am denied even the phantom of sleep,

when through it may the gazelles in their coverts be won?

ولقد يئست من المنى ويحق المرائي

الزمان وأهله أن ييئسا

I have despaired of hopes; rightly does one who beholds

Time and its people despair.

أمراء ختالون تبصر فذهم

في الاطلس الخزي ذئباً أطلسا

Treacherous princes—you see each one of them

a dusky wolf beneath his silken satin.

لا يرتجون سوي الأجل إلا رأس

العلى والعقلاء ترجو الأرأسا

None are looked to with hope but the most illustrious—the head

of glory; the wise place their hopes in the foremost,

والأكرم ابن الأكرمين أرومة

بسقت أفانينا وطابت مغرسا

and the most generous, son of the most generous—a stock

lofty in its branches and goodly in its planting.

من أسرة أسروا المحامد فاغتدت

وقفا عليهم في الزمان محبسا

From a family who took praises captive, until they became

an endowment reserved for them throughout time.

وتدرعوا فقر الثناء مفاضة

موضونة وتمغفروها قونسا

They donned passages of praise as ample mail,

closely woven, and wore them as a helmet's crown.

فارتد نافذ كل سهم طائشا

عنهم وسهمهم اصاب وفرطسا

Thus every piercing arrow rebounded, straying

away from them, while their arrow struck and slew.

وتوارثوا العلياء ابناً عن اب

بر كأرث الخمس اصحاب الكسا

They inherited eminence, son from father,

righteous, as did the Five Companions of the Cloak.

فعلت بهم في العالمين وكيف لا

يعلو على التقوى بناء أسسا

Through them it rose among all peoples—and how could

a structure founded on piety fail to rise?

وهم هم من معشر سادوا بما

شادوا وبالتشييد تعلى المجلسا

They, they indeed, are of a people who gained lordship through what

they built; through building, the council rises high.

أسدٌ احامس في الكريهة والتقى

والمجد يصطحب الأشد الأهمسا

Lions, stalwart in battle and in piety,

while glory accompanies the mightiest, silent-treading lion.

تعساً لمن جاراهم في سؤدد

وهو الجدير بأن يضل ويتعسا

Ruin upon whoever rivals them in mastery!

He deserves to go astray and fall to ruin.

ومناقب الفضلاء ليس بمدرك

من حظها الأوفى الغبي الأبخسا

The virtues of the excellent cannot be attained

in their fullest measure by the foolish and deficient.

يابن الأولى لا عيب فيهم غير ان

يذروا الفصيح بنائليهم اخرسا

O son of those who have no fault, except that

their bounty leaves the eloquent speechless!

أهلا بمقدمك الذي اقدامه

تغدو الرؤس لهن خضع نكسا

Welcome to your arrival, whose footsteps

make heads bow low in submission.

وتود لو فرشت جفون عيوننا

ارضاً لهن ولو فرشنا السندسا

Our eyelids wish they could be spread

as ground beneath them, even were we to spread fine silk.

ولو اننا مرعي الربيع وخيله

ترعى به حواذننا والنرجسا

Would that we were springtime pasture, with his horses

grazing there upon our buttercups and narcissus.

فلقد منحنا من لقاك مسرة

ملكت بها منا القلوب الأنفسا

For meeting you has granted us a joy

through which you possessed our hearts and souls.

وعزاز نالت عز حكمك ثانيا

فتبججت واذل عزلك كلسا

And ‘Azaz gained the glory of your rule once more,

and exulted, while your removal humbled Kilis.

فكأنما اعنى ابن ارفع راسه

ارضا وطأت بها وقال الهرسا

As though Ibn Arfa‘ Ra’s had meant

a land you trod, when he spoke of 'pounding.'

فصعيدها الأكسير يغني طالباً

من ان يظل مصعداً ومدمسا

For its soil is the elixir that spares a seeker

from ceaseless sublimation and heating in ashes.

ولأنت من لوصافحت راحاته

اعوام يوسف لان منها ما فسا

You are indeed one whose palms, if they clasped

Joseph's years, would soften all their hardness.

ولأنت من نسخت أيادي فضله

بعض الحروف فلا لعل ولا عسا

You are indeed the one whose generous favors abrogated

certain particles: no 'perhaps' and no 'maybe.'

ولأنت من ملأ الصدور محبة

عمن سواه فما يسعن توسوسا

You are indeed the one who filled breasts with love,

excluding all others, leaving no room for misgivings.

فوقاك ربك حاسديك وان علا

مقدار ذاتك ان ينال ويلمسا

May your Lord shield you from your enviers, though exalted

is your stature beyond being reached or touched.

إن السماء على علو مكانها

لم تمتنع بالشهب من أن تحرسا

For heaven, despite its lofty station,

is not above being guarded by shooting stars.

وكفاك شرة أم دفر إنها

لخبيثة قبحت وراقت ملبسا

And may He spare you Umm Dafr's malice, for she

is foul—ugly, yet alluring in her attire.

نشتاقها حسناء وهي لناقد

مستخبر تبدو عجوزاً مومسا

We yearn for her as a beauty, yet to a discerning

inquirer she appears an aged harlot.

كالأفعوان للامسى أعضائها

خشنت طبائعها ولأنت ملمسا

Like a serpent to those who touch her limbs:

harsh in nature, yet soft to the touch.

ستغول كلا من بنيها مثلما

غالت قديما في بنيه الأفطسا

She will destroy every one of her sons, just as

she once struck al-Aftas down through his sons.

وبقيت ما بقى الزمان فأنه

بوجود ذاتك محسن فيما اسا

May you endure as long as Time, for it

through your existence makes amends for its wrongs.

فلقد لقيت به خطوباً جمة

لولاك لم اسطع بهن تنفسا

For I have met with countless calamities in it;

without you I could not have drawn a breath amid them.

فكأن جودك منه شق صحيفتي

حتى خلصت وخلتني المتلمسا

As though your bounty tore up my letter from Time,

until I escaped and fancied myself al-Mutalammis.

وكأنما خادعت منه لصرتي

فيه ابا حش وكنت البيهسا

And as though, for my purse from Time, I had outwitted

Abu Hashsh therein, and I were al-Bayhas.

تتوقد الأحشاء منك ذكاؤه

ويسح كفك عارضا متبجسا

Your inward parts blaze with his keen intelligence,

and your palm rains down, a gushing cloud.

كالهندةاني الصقيل بمائه

نار الفرند جديرة ان تقبسا

Like polished Indian steel, within whose watery sheen

the fire of its pattern is well worth kindling from.

أسمى خير الخلق لديك فأنها

كالفيلسوف تندسا وتنطسا

O most exalted, best of creation, it is before you, for it

is philosopher-like in acumen and discernment.

وكأنها في كل بيت شمته

منها تضم من القريض مهندسا

And it seems that every verse you behold

within it contains an architect of poetry.

والشعر ما شاقتك منه حكمة

لا ما يشوقك الكثيب الأوعسا

Poetry is what stirs you through its wisdom,

not what makes you yearn for a soft sand dune.

فاسلم ودم لأجيد فيك مدائحا

لو رامها العبسي عجزاً عبسا

So live safe and long, that I may perfect praises of you

which, if al-‘Absi sought them, would make him frown in helplessness.

تستفرس العرب الكرام معانيا

وتميت فارس بالبيان تفرسا

Their meanings overpower the noble Arabs

and slay Persia through eloquence and discernment.

وأنا بمدحك في حسودك طاعن

والليث من يمدحه ذم الهجرسا

With your praise I strike your envier,

and whoever praises the lion reviles the fox.