وحقك ما للبدر حسنك في التم

ولا للآلي حسن ثغرك في النظم

By your worth, the moon at its full has not your beauty,

nor have strung pearls the beauty of your mouth.

أبيت وطرفي من محياك في الدجى

اراقب ضوء الفجر من مطلع النجم

I spend the night, my eyes upon your face in the dark,

watching dawn's light from the star's rising-place.

كأن بقلبي ما بخصرك رقة

وبالجسم مني ما بجنتك من سقم

It is as though my heart had the delicacy of your waist,

and my body the sickness in your garden [reading unclear].

ورب ليال بالوصال قطعتها

فككت عراها بالعناق وباللثم

And many a night I spent in union,

loosening its bonds with embraces and kisses.

فطورا بها آسا من الصدغ اجتلى

بلحظي وطورا اجتنى الورد بالشم

At times, on those nights, I behold myrtle from his sidelock,

with my gaze; at others I gather roses by their scent.

وبي فاتر الاجفان ما كان ضره

اذا علني يا جار ن بارد الظلم

I am smitten with one of languid eyelids; what harm would it do him

if he gave me another draught, O neighbor [unclear fragment], of the cool moisture of his teeth?

من الترك لن يشدو تبعرب لحنه

ولم ار احلى منه في العرب والعجم

He is of the Turks; he will not sing his tune in Arabic [wording unclear],

and I have seen none sweeter among Arabs and non-Arabs.

فتنت بخال فوق دينار خده

كمسك فما احلاه ختما على ختم

I was enchanted by a beauty spot above the dinar of his cheek,

like musk—how lovely it is, a seal upon a seal!

وبالخد تحت الصدغ منه يشوقني

رقيم عذار لا بخط ولا رسم

And on his cheek, beneath his sidelock, what stirs my longing is

an inscription of cheek-down, neither penned nor drawn.

وما روضة بالنبت وشعها الندا

باحسن فوق الخد من ذلك الرقم

Nor is a meadow embroidered with plants by dew

more beautiful than that tracery upon his cheek.

فيا غصن حتى ما تضاهى قوامه

وقد قصرت عنه طوال القنا الشم

O bough, how long will you rival his stature,

when even tall, lofty lances have fallen short of him?

وبينكما لم يبرح الفرق ظاهرا

فللنصب تأتي دائما وهو للضم

Between you two, the difference remains plain:

you are always for setting upright; he is for embracing.

واقسم ان العين لم تهو غيره

الم تر منها حظه وافر القسم

I swear that my eye has loved none but him:

have you not seen how ample his allotted share of it is?

يكاد لفرط اللين يعقد خصره

ووجنته باللحظ تدمى من الوهم

For sheer suppleness, his waist could almost be knotted,

and his cheek bleeds beneath a glance, from mere imagining.

فلا تنكروا سكري به ان ريقه

هو الراح لكن ضيب الريح والطعم

Do not deny my drunkenness with him, for his saliva

is wine, but pleasant in scent and taste.

محا بالجفا رسمي هواه ولم ازل

اعلل قلبي بالعالم والرسم

Love for him effaced my form through estrangement, yet I still

console my heart with the world and the trace.

وقتلي ظلما قد اباحت لحاظه

وها من دمي في خده شاهد الظلم

His glances have sanctioned my unjust killing,

and behold, my blood upon his cheek bears witness to the injustice.

فلا تعذلوني عن هواه جهالة

فمن لامني فيه فقد باء بالاثم

Do not, in ignorance, reproach me for loving him,

for whoever blames me for him has incurred sin.

يمينا به لا ملت عنه لسلوة

وان ذكرت يوما له فعلى رغمي

I swear by him: never have I turned from him to seek oblivion,

and if it was ever mentioned to him, it was against my will.

ولم اخش شيطان الملام لأن لي

شهابا له ما زال يتبع بالرجم

I have not feared the devil of reproach, for I have

a Shihab—a blazing meteor—ever pursuing him with stones:

امام الهدى قاضي القضاة ومن سما

وساد على الاقران بالفضل والعلم

the imam of guidance, chief of judges, who has risen high

and surpassed his peers through excellence and learning.

غدا كأبيه فعله فهو في الورى

كمحمود فعل لا يرى احمد الاسم

His deeds have grown like his father's; among mankind he is

like Mahmud in deed, with none seen more praiseworthy in name—Ahmad.

اذا التبس الامران ادى اجتهاده

لما هو عين الشيء في صورة الحكم

When two matters become confused, his juristic reasoning leads

to the very essence of the matter in the form of a ruling.

ويمكنه من غير دعوى تقدمت

لفطنته يقضي على الخصم للخصم

And he can, without any claim having first been brought,

through his discernment, rule against one litigant for the other.

جواد لعمري فيه لين وشدة

فينقم في حرب ويحلم في سلم

Generous, by my life, he holds both gentleness and severity,

exacting vengeance in war and showing forbearance in peace.

اذا جال قلت الليث جاء متمما

وان جاد قلت الغيث جاء بها يهمي

When he charges, I say: the lion has come to finish the deed;

and when he gives, I say: the rain has come with it, pouring down.

كشيبان في زهد وحاتم في ندا

وبسطام في بأس واحنف في حلم

Like Shayban in asceticism, and Hatim in generosity,

and Bistam in valor, and Ahnaf in forbearance.

ولا عيب فيه غير ان نواله

انزهه في المدح عن معرض الذم

There is no fault in him, save that his bounty

has kept him, in praise, beyond the reach of blame.

يفوق على قس اذا قام خاطبا

ويزري بحبان البلاغة في الفهم

He surpasses Quss when he stands to speak,

and outshines Habban of eloquence in understanding.

له منطق منه الاصول تفرعت

ومن نحوه تبدو الصفاحة عن علم

He has a logic from which the principles have branched,

and from his grammar, eloquence emerges from knowledge.

افاض على فقري سحاب نواله

فكان له في الوضع كالروح في الجسم

The cloud of his bounty poured over my poverty,

and, in its place, was to it as the soul is to the body.

يقلدني در المكارم جوده

اقلده در المدائح من نظمي

His generosity hangs the pearls of noble deeds about my neck;

I hang about his neck the pearls of praise from my verse.

كأن مديحي من نداه وقد زها

حديقة روض راضها وابل الوسم

It is as though my praise, flourishing through his bounty,

were a meadow-garden cultivated by autumn's downpour.

حبيب له غر القصائد أمتطى

حروف القوافي لا مضمرة الدهم

A Habib with radiant odes, I mount

the letters of rhymes, not lean black steeds.

وعلقت آمالي بحبل رجائه

لعلمي فيه انه محكم البرم

And I have hung my hopes upon the cord of hope in him,

for I know it is firmly twisted.

فخذها من الدر النظيم يتيمة

فانك اولى من تكفل باليتيم

Take it, then, an orphan pearl among strung pearls,

for you are the worthiest to care for an orphan.

فلا زال مدحي فيك مسكا ختامه

يضوع شذاه في ابتداء وفي ختم

So may my praise of you always end in musk,

its fragrance wafting at beginning and end.