لحظ يسبيك مقلده

ام سيف شاقك مغمده

Is it a glance whose bearer captivates you,

or a sword whose sheath stirs your longing?

وقوام زاه معتدل

يهتز به ام املده

And a radiant, well-proportioned figure

swaying with him—or is it his supple spear?

رشأ لهلال نسبته

يجلو بالشعر تجعده

A fawn whose lineage is linked to a crescent moon,

he displays the curling of his hair.

زوجي الشعر غزال خطا

تركي اللحظ منهده

Twin-tressed, a gazelle in his stride,

Turkish of glance is his Indian blade.

فرد يتثنى عامله

ماض في الحال مجرده

Peerless, his spear-shaft sways;

his drawn blade cuts at once.

اياك واسمر قامته

واحذر يرنو لك اسوده

Beware his stature's dusky spear,

and beware his dark gaze looking your way.

ذو فرع ساد كتون دجا

يتجلى جل مسوده

He has hair grown black as night's hue;

it shines—exalted be the one who blackened it.

عن فيه صحاح الدر روت

ما صح عنه مبرده

From his mouth, flawless pearls recount

what his Mubarrad has truly related of him.

يمشي فيريك له كفلا

منه يتألم مقعده

He walks and shows you his rump,

which makes his seat ache.

ويكاد اذا ما رام على

عجل ليقوم فيقعده

And it almost—whenever he tries in

haste to rise—makes him sit back down.

واذا ما شد مناطقه

فيريك اللين تشدده

And whenever he tightens his girdles,

his tight binding reveals his softness.

قاس بالوصل به ملل

بدنيه الصب فيبعده

Cruel about union, he grows bored;

the lover draws him close, but he drives him away.

امن الانصاف ابيت به

سهران الليل ويرقده

Is it fair that, because of him, I spend

the night awake, while he sleeps it away?

فالقلب يذوب عليه اسى

والصبر عصاه تجلده

So the heart melts with sorrow for him,

and patience's own endurance defies it.

لو اشكي ما بي منه إلى

صخر لتفتت جلمده

If I complained of what I suffer from him to

a rock, its solid mass would crumble.

او هام به جبل لهوى

مما بالهجر يهدده

Or if a mountain became enamored of him, it would fall

because he threatens it with abandonment.

بابي افديه غزال خبا

يا للغزلان تشرده

I would ransom him with my father—a fawn, a mystery

to gazelles in his wild elusiveness.

عجبا في الحسن له رشأ

غنج والاسد تصيده

How wondrous in beauty is this fawn,

coquettish, yet lions are his quarry!

وعجيب كيف بصول رشا

بل اعجب منه تاسده

And wondrous—how a fawn charges!

Yet more wondrous is its becoming a lion.

هو بدر الحي وغصن نقا

وغزال السرب وأغيده

He is the tribe's full moon, a branch on a sand dune,

the herd's gazelle, and its most graceful one.

فعلام عليه يعنفني

من عني راح يفنده

So why does he rebuke me over him,

the one who keeps disparaging him on my behalf?

تبّا لعذول فيه طغى

بالعذل وزاد تمرده

Ruin on the reproacher who exceeds all bounds over him

in blame, his insolence ever increasing!

ايظن بان اخشاه ولي

في الافق شهاب يرصده

Does he think I fear him, when I have

a shooting star on the horizon lying in wait for him?

مولى لعلاه البدر غدا

في التم يغار ويحسده

A lord whose greatness makes the full moon,

even at its fullest, jealous and envious of him.

كهف تسعى الشعراء له

زمرا كالنمل وتقصده

A cave of refuge to which the poets hasten,

in throngs like ants, making for him.

فحديث نداه يداه غدت

لعطا ترويه وتسنده

So the tale of his bounty: his two hands have come

to recount and attest it in their giving.

هو بحرٌ الا ان حلا

وصفا للشارب مورده

He is a sea, save that sweet

and clear for the drinker is his watering-place.

انا مغترف من نائله

انا معترف لا اجحده

I draw from his bounty;

I acknowledge it; I do not deny it.

فاليك قواف مذ نظمت

رقص الياقوت منضده

So here are rhymes for you: since they were strung,

their setter made the rubies dance.

لك من اوصا في احسنها

ولها من جودك اجوده

For you, the finest of my descriptions,

and for them, the finest of your bounty.

لا زال سرورك مكتملا

وصفا من عيشك ارغده

May your joy remain complete,

and may the most easeful part of your life be unclouded,

ما صاح هزار ربا طربا

وحلا في الروض تغرده

as long as the hills' nightingale calls in delight,

and its warbling sounds sweet in the garden.