لم يبق وجدي لحسن الصبر وجدانا

ولا لقلب سلاه الدمع سلوانا

My anguish has left no trace of graceful patience,

Nor consolation for a heart that tears console.

اصبحت أغزر نوحا من مطوقة الوادي

واكثر اشواقا واشجانا

I have become more profuse in lament than the valley’s collared dove,

And greater in longings and sorrows.

خلية البال ان ناحت فعن طرب

لا كالذي راح بالبلبال ملآنا

Untroubled in mind, if she laments, it is from delight,

Not like one who has become filled with anguish.

تبيت تحضن من تهوى ويحضنها

وبت شوقا لمن اهواه سهرانا

She spends the night embracing her beloved, who embraces her,

While I spend it sleepless, longing for the one I love.

سقيا لا يامنا اللاتي مضت بمسرات

وعوضت عنها اليوم احزانا

May our days that passed in happiness be watered,

For which today I have received sorrows in exchange.

سقياً لها من دموعي دائما فلقد

بقصر الغيث في سقياه احيانا

May my tears water them always, for

Rain sometimes falls short in its watering.

حيث النوائب لا تخشى غوائلها

حيث الحبيب متى ما رضته لانا

Where calamities’ perils were not feared,

Where the beloved softened whenever I coaxed him;

حيث المحاسن روض والمنى زهر

تجنيه كف الاماني منه ريانا

Where beauty was a garden and wishes were flowers,

Plucked fresh from it by the hand of hope;

حيث اقتطاف ثمار كلها قبل

لما هصرنا القدود الهيف اغصانا

Where the fruits we gathered were all kisses,

When we bent slender figures like branches;

وجلنار الخدود الحمر حيث بدا

هل كان غير نود البيض رمانا

And where the pomegranate blossoms of ruddy cheeks appeared,

Were the pomegranates anything but the fair ones’ breasts?

للّه صب له قلب بهم ابدا

متيم لا يزال الدهر ولهانا

What a lover, by God, whose heart is forever theirs,

Enslaved by love and endlessly distraught!

شوقا لورد لمى تلك المباسم ما

ينفك مهما سقاه الدمع ظمآنا

Yearning for the rose of those dusky, smiling lips, he never

Ceases to thirst, however much his tears water him.

اضحى يلذّ له ذكر العذيب بها

وان تثنى قوام يذكر البانا

Because of them, recalling al-ʿUdhayb has grown sweet to him,

And when a figure sways, he recalls the bān tree.

فخلني يا خلي البال في شغل

ولا تلم في الهوى يا صاح سكرانا

So leave me to my preoccupation, you whose mind is free,

And, friend, do not blame one drunk on love.

ولا تكلف فؤادي كتم نار هوى

لبنى فليس فؤاد الصب صوانا

Do not require my heart to conceal the fire of love

For Lubna: a lover’s heart is not flint.

اخفيته مثل ما اخفى الضنى جسدي

وعبرتي صيرت اخفاه اعلانا

I concealed it as wasting sickness concealed my body,

But my tears turned its concealment into proclamation.

يزيد اخفاؤه اظهاره أبداً

كفضل اقضى قضاة العصر مولانا

Concealing it always makes it more manifest,

Like the excellence of our lord, the age’s most judicious judge:

الحاكم الحاسم الشرعي ذي الهمم اللا

تي استقاه اليها الدهر اذعانا

The decisive judge of sacred law, possessed of lofty aims

Toward which Time [led him?] in submission;

العالم العامل الحبر المدقق وال

هجر المدفق ايضاحا وتبيانا

The learned man of deeds, the exacting scholar, and the

[Sea?] pouring forth elucidation and explanation;

صدر الشريعة كنز الجود قلدنا

النعمي بفضل عن النعمان اغنانا

The foremost in sacred law, generosity’s treasure, who garlanded us

With blessings; his bounty spared us need of al-Nuʿman.

نهاية القوم لم تلحق بدايته

ولو مشى ورجال القوم فرسانا

Their furthest reach has not caught up with his beginning,

Even were he walking and their men mounted horsemen.

تدفقت راحتاه مثل فكرته

فابهر الناس معروفا وعرفانا

His palms flowed abundantly, like his thought,

Dazzling people with kindness and knowledge.

واحسن الرأي اذ عمت مواهبه

فلم يزل موليا حسنى واحسانا

And sound was his judgment, as his gifts embraced everyone,

Never ceasing to bestow kindness and beneficence.

بحر من الجود قد ما جت مكارمه

فيه فوافرحتا لو بت غرقانا

A sea of generosity, whose noble deeds have surged

Within it—oh, my joy, were I to spend the night drowned!

لي البشارة در النظم ينظمني

في سلك خدامه هل كنت مرجانا

Glad tidings are mine: the pearls of verse string me

Into the thread of his servants—was I coral?

لي الهناء باني في مدائحه

طلت النجوم مع التقصير ايقانا

Joy is mine, for in praising him

I have surely surpassed the stars, despite falling short.

هذا الذي عز ان تحصى مناقبه

وفي المدى كل شيء عنده هانا

This is he whose virtues are too difficult to count,

And throughout the whole expanse, everything is easy for him.

هذا الذي جل في الفيحاء مقدمه

الشريف كالغيث احياها واحيانا

This is he whose arrival in al-Fayha was exalted,

A noble arrival, like rain, reviving her and us.

هذا الذي رحم اللّه العباد به

وهكذا لن يزال اللّه رحمانا

This is he through whom God showed mercy to His servants,

And thus God will never cease to be merciful.

هذا الذي مدحه قد زاد مادحه

فخرا فها حسن قد صار حسانا

This is he whose praise has increased his praiser’s

Pride—behold, Hasan has become Hassan.

يا من جعلنا ثناه ذخرنا ابدا

فعطر الارج الشحري ارجانا

O you whose praise we have made our treasure forever,

So the fragrance of Shihr has perfumed our scent;

ومن اذا تليت اوصافه تركت

عطف اللبيب بغير الخير نشوانا

And you whose qualities, when recited, leave

The wise man’s frame intoxicated without [wine?].

اليكها بنت فكر طالما خطبت

وما سمحت بها صوتا واحصانا

Here she is for you, a daughter of thought, long courted,

Whom I never gave away, safeguarding her and keeping her chaste.

بلقيس نظم وعرش الدر مسكنها

فهل ارى كفؤها الا سليمانا

A Bilqis of verse, whose dwelling is a throne of pearls:

Do I see any equal for her but Sulayman?

لا استحثك في حق عليك لها

انا الذي نام ان تيهت يقظانا

I do not press you for what you owe her;

I am one who sleeps awake, should you bewilder me.

واسلم ودم في سرور دائم وعلا

وابلغ من العزا وطاراً واوطانا

Be safe, and remain in lasting joy and eminence,

And attain your desires and the abodes of glory,

ما رجعت شجوها الورقا معربة

عنه وما رددت في الدوح الحانا

As long as the gray dove repeats her lament, giving voice

To it, and as long as she repeats melodies among the great trees.