دع عنك يا عاذلي لومي وتعنيفي

وكف عما به تعني وتعني في

Leave off, my censurer, blaming and rebuking me.

And cease what occupies you and the trouble you take over me.

ويح العذول افي من قد شغلت به

يظن اصغى الى مال وتحريف

Woe to the censurer! Is it over the one who has engrossed me

that he thinks I would heed money and misrepresentation?

اهواه للعطف واو الصدغ منه اتت

واللام من عارضيه لام تعريف

I love him: his temple-lock’s wāw has come to join in affection,

and the lām of his cheek-locks is the lām of the definite article.

حلو التثني لنحوي مال منعطفا

افديه من عاطف وافى ومعطوف

Sweet in his swaying, he leaned tenderly toward me;

I would ransom him, who came both loving and beloved.

رشيق قد رقيق الخصر ذو هيف

لدن القوام بدا من غير تثقيف

Graceful of figure, delicate-waisted, slender,

supple in form, he appeared without need of shaping.

بديع حسن رقيق الخد وجنته

كالروض ما بين تدبيج وتفويف

Wondrously beautiful and tender-cheeked, his cheek

is like a garden, mingling embroidery and colored stripes.

كثير وعد قليل في الوفاء لقد

فتنت منه بتنوين وتسويف

Lavish with promises, sparing in fulfillment—indeed,

I am bewitched by his nunation and procrastination.

شغلت وجدا به لما شغلت به

واحيرتا بين مشغول ومشغوف

I was absorbed in longing for him once I was absorbed in him;

alas, my bewilderment, caught between preoccupation and infatuation!

قالوا أبدر الدجا يحكي فقلت لهم

يحكيه من غير نقصان وتكليف

They asked, “Does he resemble the full moon in the dark?” I replied:

“He resembles it, without waning or strained comparison.”

ولو رأى البدر ليلا حسن طلعته

تجلى لولى بلون منه مكسوف

And were the full moon to see at night the beauty of his face

shining forth, it would turn away, its hue eclipsed by him.

قالوا عذولك غيظا مات قلت وكم

عليّ لله من فضل وتخفيف

They said, “Your censurer died of rage.” I said, “How much

bounty and relief God has bestowed upon me!”

الفت من شعر شعري فجاء به

في الحسن كالدر في نظم وتأليف

I fashioned my verse from hair; through it, the verse emerged

as beautiful as pearls in their stringing and arrangement.

تغزلي قد حلا لي في هواه كما

نظمي حلا في ابن فرفور وتصنيفي

My love poetry has grown sweet to me through love of him, just as

my verse and compositions have grown sweet in praise of Ibn Farfur.

قاضي القضاة ومن مصر به شرفت

على الممالك فخرا أي تشريف

Chief of judges, through whom Egypt was honored

above the kingdoms in glory—what an honor!

حبر اذا جاد في جد وفي جدل

بحرٌ اذا جاد في عرف ومعروف

A scholar when he excels in earnestness and debate;

an ocean when he lavishes kindness and good deeds.

تبدي المعاني لنا من نجو منطقه

وكم له من حديث حسن تصريف

Meanings unfold to us from the whispers of his speech;

and how many finely phrased sayings he has!

تروي أياديه عن بشر حديث عطا

معنعنا صح نقلا غير موقوف

His benefactions relate from Bishr a tradition of ʿAta,

with a chain of “froms,” soundly transmitted, not stopped short.