ثبوت حسنك لي فيه شهادات

وللعذار على هذا سجلات

I have testimonies confirming your beauty,

and the down upon your cheeks has records of this.

يا قامة الغصن من لين ومن هيف

الى قوامك تعزى السمهريات

O you with a bough's stature in suppleness and slenderness,

the Samharian spears trace their origin to your form.

ويا غنيا عن الاسياف يحملها

دعها كفتك المحاظ البابليات

And O you who need no swords, though you carry them,

leave them: Babylonian glances suffice you.

فهي العيون القواضي ان غزلن وان

غزين فهي المواضي المشرفيات

For they are eyes that pass sentence when they flirt; and if

they wage war, they are keen Mashrafi swords.

يا عاذلي اخلع ثياب النسك عنك فكم

لي في الهوى والصبا اضحت خلاعات

O my reprover, shed your robes of piety—for how many

acts of abandon have been mine in love and youthful folly!

واخلت على رشف ثغر الحب مجتهدا

فهو الذي فيه للارواح راحات

And [devote yourself] earnestly to sipping the beloved's lips,

for it is there that souls find rest.

ولا تعب في الهوى سكري علي فلي

بالفرق والفرع صبحات وغبقات

And do not fault me for my drunkenness in love, for I have

morning and evening draughts in the hair's parting and tresses.

للّه اوقات عيش بالسعود مضت

كأنما الدهر هاتيك اللييلات

How wondrous those hours of life that passed in good fortune!

As though all of time were those brief little nights.

وحبذا الخال فوق الخد منه لقد

بدت لنا نفحات عنبريات

And how lovely the mole upon the cheek! From it indeed

ambergris-scented wafts have reached us.

والشمس من فلك الاكوان طالعة

يبدو لها من سنا الاقداح هالات

And the sun rises from the firmament of creation;

halos appear around it from the gleam of the goblets.

وللربيع خيام قد فرشن بها

من المطارف بسط سندسيات

And spring has tents, within which have been spread

carpets of fine silk made from bordered mantles.

يفوح ند الندى منها ويعبق من

مجامر الزهر في الاذبال نفحات

The incense of dew wafts from them, and from

the flowers' censers upon slender stems rise fragrant breaths.

والروض في حلل تجلى عرائسه

كأنهنّ اذا ما ملن قينات

And the garden's brides are unveiled in robes,

as though they were singing girls whenever they sway.

والشمع نواره الزاهي وقد سطعت

عند الصباح لنا منه اشعات

And the candles are its radiant blossoms; there have shone

at dawn for us rays from their light.

وللغصون على تلك الدفوف اذا

ما شبب الريح رقصات وميلات

And the boughs, to those tambourines, whenever

the wind pipes up, have their dances and sways.

والماء تسمع نقرا في الاصول له

وللهزار على العيدان نغمات

And you hear the water's tapping among the roots;

and the nightingale has melodies upon the boughs.

والاقحوان ثغور زانها شنب

يحلو لعاشقها منه ارتشافات

And the chrysanthemums are mouths graced with cool sweetness;

sips of that sweetness delight the one who loves them.

والنرجس الغض لم تبرح تغازلنا

عيونه ولها بالجفن غمزات

And the fresh narcissus never ceases to flirt with us:

its eyes give winks with their eyelids.

والقضب للصلح مالت بعدما شمخت

وعندها كان قبل اليوم وقفات

And the slender branches bent toward peace after rising proudly,

though before today they had stood their ground.

سمر رشاق مغاني اللهو قد عمرت

بالحسن فهي الحسان العامريات

Tawny, slender ones have filled the haunts of pleasure

with beauty: they are the beauties of ʿAmir.

ومجلس الانس بالافراح تمّ وقد

تكاملت بالهنا فيه المسرات

And the convivial gathering was complete in joy, and

within it, amid bliss, delights reached their fullness.

اوقات بسط على بسط الربيع بها

نعمت دهرا وللذات اوقات

Hours of delight upon spring's carpets, in which

I knew bliss for an age—and pleasures have their seasons.

خذ من زمانك ما قد طاب مغتنماً

ساعات لهوك ان العمر ساعات

Take what is sweet from your days, seizing

your hours of pleasure, for life is only hours.

واستجلها ثوب ياقوت مشعشعة

راقت ورقت بها تلك الزجاجات

And unveil her, ruby-robed and brightened with water;

those glasses grew lovely and delicate through her.

حمراء آنست نارا من جوانبها

قلب الكليم له منها اقتباسات

Red—I perceived a fire along her sides;

Moses' heart draws sparks from her.

وفي الدنان عليها قد مضت حقب

وعصرها فيه اخبار فديمات

And ages have passed over her in the wine jars,

and her vintage holds ancient tales.

وعاد عاذلها مع تبع تبعا

وكم نفتها الهبات الكسرويات

And her reprover, along with Tubbaʿ, became a follower,

and how often the gifts of the Khosrows have carried her away!

كأنما كأسها ثغر زها وبه

ذاك الحباب الثنايا اللؤلؤيات

As though her cup were a radiant mouth, in which

those bubbles are pearly front teeth.

نعم ولولا ثغور كالاقاح زهت

ما شاقني في الدجا منك ابتسامات

Yes—and were it not for mouths blossoming like chrysanthemums,

your smiles in the darkness would not have stirred my longing.

يديرها بدر تم وهي شمس ضحى

كأنما هي في يمناه مرآة

A full moon passes her round, while she is a morning sun,

as though she were a mirror in his right hand.

اقسمت من فرقه بالفجر اذ ظهرت

من نوره في الضحى للناس آبات

I swore by the dawn of his hair's parting, when there appeared

from his light in the morning, signs for people.

ما للغزالة في الاشراق بهجته

ولا لها مثل هاتيك النفاتات

The sun has not his splendor when it shines,

nor does it have such wafted breaths as those.

تشوقني فوق خديه عوارضه

كأنها في حواشي الطرس غلطات

The down upon his cheeks stirs my longing,

as though it were errors in the margins of a page.

غصن اذا مال في ثوب الدلال يرى

لعجبه ولذبل الهجر شمرات

A bough—when he sways in the robe of coquetry, one sees

his pride and separation's slender spears making ready for action.

وكيف ارجو انتصارا من لواحظه

وللقلوب من الاجفان كسرات

And how can I hope for victory from his glances,

while hearts are broken by the eyelids?

باللحسان اما من راحم لفتى

قضى وما قضيت منه لبانات

By the fair ones, is there no one to pity a youth

who died while his desires remained unfulfilled?

صب لغير هواكم ما صبا دنف

متيم عينت فيه الصبابات

A lover who yearned for no love but yours, ailing,

enthralled, upon whom ardent longings have left their mark.

لم تمطر الدمع درا سحب مقلته

يا برق لولا الثنايا اللؤلؤيات

The clouds of his eye would not have rained tears as pearls,

O lightning, were it not for those pearly front teeth.

يكفي باني اخو وجد قديم هوى

ما لابتداء صباباتي نهايات

It is enough that I am a brother of longing, long steeped in love;

the beginning of my ardent longings has no end.

وفيك اقصى مرادي أن أموت جوى

يا غاية ما لعشقي فيك غايات

And my utmost desire in you is to die of love's anguish,

O my ultimate aim—my love for you has no limits.

لا تعجبوا من فتور في لواحظه

لمرسل اللحظ في الاجفان فترات

Do not marvel at the languor in his glances:

the gaze's messenger has pauses within the eyelids.