قسما بليل الشعر منك إذا سجا

وبنور وجهك انه بدر الدجا

I swear by the night of your hair when it lies still,

and by the light of your face—for it is the full moon of darkness:

ما لاح فرقك بالسنا متهللا

الا رأيت الفجر منه تبلجا

never did the parting of your hair gleam, radiant with splendor,

but that I saw dawn break forth from it.

يا صاحبي بوجنتيه تمتعا

وتنزها في روضها وتفرجا

O my two companions, delight in his cheeks;

stroll through their garden and gaze.

وعلى اللوى من صدغه عوجا به

ومن العذار على زرود عرجا

Turn with him toward the pearls beside his temple,

and pause at the chain mail of his downy beard.

وخذا أماناً من سيوف لحاظه

ان سالمت يوما والا فالنجا

Seek safe conduct from the swords of his glances:

if they spare you one day—or else, flee!

من لي به حلو المعاطف لم يزل

بدم القلوب الخد منه مضرجا

Who will bring me that sweetly swaying one, whose cheek

has never ceased to be stained with hearts’ blood?

خط الجمال على حواشي خده

سطرا بريحان العذار مخرجا

Beauty has inscribed along the margins of his cheek

a line traced in the myrtle of his beard’s first down.

ظبي من الاتراك لم ار قبله

بدرا يلوح مشربشا ومتوجا

A Turkish gazelle—I never saw before him

a full moon appearing robed in brocade and crowned—

نشوان يعجم نطقه فكأنما

مالت به خمر الصبا فتلجلجا

drunk, his speech made indistinct, as though

the wine of youth had swayed him and made him falter.

فكأن تحت البند مائج ردفه

موج به لعب الهوى فترجرجا

It is as though beneath the sash his surging haunches were

a wave with which passion played, making it tremble.

فكأنما اعتصرت لنا من خده

راح بغير رضابه لن تمزجا

It is as though there had been pressed for us from his cheek

a wine that could never be mixed with anything but his saliva:

حمراء قد ابدت بكف مديرها

نارا بها قلبي يزيد تأججا

red wine that, in its pourer’s hand, revealed

a fire that made my heart blaze still higher.

يسبيك لحظا قد حماه فاترا

ويروق ثغرا باردا ومفلجا

He takes you captive with a guarded, languid glance,

and enchants you with a cool, gap-toothed smile.

يا قاتل الله العذول فانه

ابدى الملام سفاهة وتبهرجا

May God confound the censor, for he

displayed his blame in folly and ostentation.

ايضلني وانا الذي لم استطع

في الحب عن داك القوام تعوجا

Would he lead me astray, when I am one who could never

swerve in love from that straight figure?

لا نلت سؤلي ان سلوت ولا سرت

يوما لبحر الجود بي سفن الرجا

May I never gain my desire if I forget, nor may

the ships of hope ever carry me to the sea of generosity—

قاضي القضاة ابو السعود ومن به

فلك المعالي بالمعاني اسرجا

the Chief Judge, Abu al-Su‘ud, through whom

the firmament of high glory was lit with virtues;

مولى الصلات الواصلات ومن ازا

ل المعضلات عن العفاة وفرجا

master of unstinting gifts, he who removes

hardships from petitioners and brings relief;

العالم المكي والفرد الذي

بالفضل قد شهدت له اهل الحجاز

the Meccan scholar, that peerless man

whose excellence the people of the Hijaz attest.

مولى اذا منه اختبرت خلاله

ذهبا تراه وما عاه بهرجا

A master whose qualities, if put to the test,

you find pure gold, while all besides him is counterfeit.

طابت به الايام واعتدلت فما

ابهى بطلعته الزمان وابهجا

Through him the days grew sweet and well-proportioned—how

splendid and joyous time became at his appearing!

نشرت له ذكرا مكارمه التي

من نشرها عرف العبير تأرجا

His noble deeds spread his renown—the deeds that,

when diffused, made ambergris’s fragrance waft.

حرم اذا ام المؤمل بابه

نال المؤمل فوق ما منه رجا

His gate is a sanctuary when the hopeful seeker approaches it;

he gains beyond what he had hoped to receive.

تسعى الوفود لنحوه زمرا فمن

غاد تراه ساريا او مدلجا

Delegations hasten toward him in throngs; whoever departs

you see traveling by night, whether early or late.

ازرت بلاغته بسحبان ولو

قسٌّ فصاحته رأى لتلجلجا

His eloquence put Sahban’s to shame; even if

Quss had witnessed it, he would have faltered.

حاز العلوم فليس من علم عفا

الا ويوما فيه جدد منهجا

He mastered every science; not one field escaped him

without his one day renewing its path.

واذا تلا فوق المنابر ساجعا

منا الجوانح والبلابل هيجا

And when he declaims in rhymed prose from the pulpits,

he stirs the hearts and restless longings within us.

وتميل من طرب به اعواده

فكأن منا قد شجاها ما شجا

The pulpit’s timbers sway in rapture at him,

as though what moved us to sorrow had made them plaintive too.

مت يا حسود صبابة فعدوه

قد راح يصلي جمره المتوهجا

Die of yearning, O envier! For his enemy

has gone to scorch in its blazing coals.

قسما به لولا تغزل مدحه

ما كنت خلجا لا ذكرت ودملجا

By him I swear: were it not for the love-prelude to his praise,

I would not have been stirred, nor mentioned love and woven it in.

اكرم بها في الخافقين مآثرا

ألهجن شعري بالمديح فالهجا

How noble are the exploits he has throughout the two horizons!

They made my verse speak insistently in praise, and so it sang.

يا ابن الكرام الطيبين ومن الى

نادى حماهم لا يخيب من التجا

O son of the noble and pure—of those whose

sanctuary no seeker enters and comes away disappointed—

خذها اليك حديقة اضحى بها

روض المديح موشعا ومدبجا

receive it: a garden through which

the meadow of praise has become flowered and brocaded.

نظمتها درا عليه غصت في

بحر القريض وسرت فيه ملجلجا

I strung it as pearls for him, diving

into the sea of verse and ranging through its surging depths.

فلعل صبح نداك تشرق شمسه

يوما عليّ فليل فقري قد دجا

May the sun of your bounty’s dawn perhaps shine

upon me one day, for the night of my poverty has grown dark.

لا زلت حصنا للعفاة وملجأ

وحماك مأنوسا وظلك سجسجسا

May you remain a fortress and refuge for petitioners,

your sanctuary welcoming and your shade temperate.

وبقيت ما بقي الزمان ولم تزل

تولي النوال وسحب جودك مرتجي

May you endure as long as time endures, and never cease

bestowing gifts, while the clouds of your generosity are awaited.