Sol 6.1

  1. غريمي ولكنه الماطلُ

    حبيبي ولكنَّه القاتلُ

    He is my debtor, yet he keeps delaying payment;

    he is my beloved, yet he is the killer.

  2. أَرى قاتلي غُصُناً ناضراً

    ولكن له مَرشفٌ ذابل

    I see my killer as a flourishing bough,

    yet his lips are withered.

  3. وظَبْي حبائلُهُ شَعْرُه

    فمِنْه له الصَّيدُ والحابِلُ

    And he is a gazelle whose snares are his hair;

    thus in himself he has both prey and snarer.

  4. ففي خِدرِه جؤْذُرٌ كَانِسٌ

    وفي سَرْجِه أَسَدٌ باسِلُ

    For in his secluded chamber, he is an oryx calf in its covert;

    and in his saddle, a valiant lion.

  5. وفي قلبه مَلِكٌ جائرْ

    وفي خِصْرِه خَاتَمٌ جَائِلُ

    And in his heart is a tyrannical king;

    and around his waist, a ring turns freely.

  6. ومِنْ خَمرِه أَو فَمِن ثَغْرِه

    يقال لناظِره بابلُ

    And because of his wine—or else his lips—

    his eye is called Babylon.

  7. قريبٌ على أَنه نازحٌ

    وحالٍ على أَنَّه عَاطِلُ

    Near, though he is far away,

    and adorned, though he wears no jewels.

  8. إِذا فاضَ منه مكانُ الجمال

    فكلُّ مكانٍ له قَابِلُ

    When a seat of beauty in him overflows,

    every place is ready to receive it.

  9. وكَم بذَل الصَّدَّ من بُخْلِه

    ومن عَجبٍ باذلٌ بَاخلُ

    And how lavishly he has bestowed rejection out of his stinginess!

    And what a wonder—a giver who is a miser!

  10. توهَّمتُ أَنِّيَ لا عاشقٌ

    لأَنِّيَ ما فيه لي عَاذِل

    I imagined that I was no lover,

    because no one reproaches me over him.

  11. به كدتُ أُنْقَل عن شِيمتي

    وقد يَقهرُ الشيمةَ النَّاقِلُ

    Because of him, I was almost turned from my nature;

    and he who alters one's nature may overpower it.

  12. لمثلك زلَّت عقولُ الرِّجالِ

    ولكنَّنِي عَاشِقٌ عَاقِل

    For one like you, men's minds have slipped,

    but I am a lover still in my right mind.

  13. فلا تنهر الصبَّ ظُلْماً له

    فإِن العِذارَ هو السائل

    So do not rebuke the lovesick man unjustly,

    for the cheek-down is itself the petitioner.

  14. وحقِّ الهوى إِنَّ أَهلَ الْهَوَى

    لهم بالهوى شُغُلٌ شَاغِلُ

    By love's sanctity, lovers indeed

    have an all-consuming preoccupation with love.

  15. تُعينهُمُ في الهوى أَعْيُنٌ

    وينصرُهم رشَأٌ خَاذِلُ

    Eyes assist them in love,

    and a fawn who forsakes them comes to their aid.

  16. ولو ظَفِروا بالَّذي نِلْتُه

    لأَسلاَهُمُ ذلكَ النَّائِلُ

    And had they won what I received,

    that gift would have made them forget their love.

  17. نوالٌ أَتاني كمثل الأَتِّي

    يراضُ به البلدُ الماحِل

    A bounty came to me like an incoming flood,

    by which the barren land is made verdant.

  18. سَرى والسَّماحُ له سابقٌ

    وظهرُ السحابِ له حَامِلُ

    It traveled by night, with generosity going before it,

    and the back of the clouds bore it.

  19. فروَّى وروَّض وادِي المُنى

    ونالَ به الأَملَ الآملُ

    So it watered the valley of wishes and made it a garden,

    and through it the hopeful one attained his hope.

  20. ذُهلتُ بمعجزِ ذَاك النَّوالِ

    وفي مِثله يَذْهَلُ الذَّاهِلُ

    I was astounded by the miracle of that bounty,

    and at its like, the wonderstruck are struck with wonder.

  21. ومَنهلِ بِرٍّ أَتَى نَاهِلاً

    ويَأْتِي إِلى الْمنْهلِ النَّاهِلُ

    and by a wellspring of kindness that came to a thirsty man,

    though the thirsty man comes to the wellspring.

  22. وإِن قلتُ أَعرفُ وصفاً له

    دَلَلْتُ عَلَى أَنَّنِي جَاهِلُ

    And if I claimed to know how to describe it,

    I would prove myself ignorant.

  23. حَباني به ملكٌ جُودُه

    جديدٌ كما طَوْلَه طَائل

    A king bestowed it on me—his generosity

    is fresh, just as his beneficence is abundant.

  24. هو الطَّاهر الظاهرُ المْكرُما

    تِ والأَروعُ العالِمُ الْعامِلُ

    He is the pure one, manifest in noble

    deeds, and the awe-inspiring, the learned, the man of action.

  25. مكارمُهُ ما لها غَايَةٌ

    ولُجَّتُه ما لَها سَاحِل

    His noble deeds have no limit,

    and his deep sea has no shore.

  26. منارُ السَّماحِ به قَائِمٌ

    وربعُ العَلاءِ به آهِلُ

    Through him, the beacon of generosity stands,

    and through him, the abode of glory is inhabited.

  27. تجيءُ الملوكُ إِلى بابِه

    لِيَغْمُرَهُمْ جُودُه الشامِلُ

    Kings come to his gate,

    so his all-embracing generosity may engulf them.

  28. على الباب أَشرفُهم واقفاً

    ومَنْ ذَا الَّذِي منهمُ الدَّاخل

    At the gate, their noblest stands,

    and who among them is it that enters?

  29. وإِن دَخَلوا صَمَتوا خُشُّعاً

    لأَن المَقامَ لهم هَائِلُ

    And if they enter, they fall silent, humbled,

    for that presence fills them with awe.

  30. يعمُّهمُ حلمُه المطمئنُّ

    ويشملُهم بِرُّهُ العاجِلُ

    His serene forbearance encompasses them,

    and his prompt kindness embraces them.

  31. ويَخْفِضُهم أَنَّهم كالمُضافِ

    ويرفَعُهم أَنَّه الفاعِلُ

    Their being like a dependent noun lowers them,

    and his being the acting subject raises them.

  32. وأَعداؤُه كلُّهم ناكبٌ

    عَنِ الرُّشْد بل كلُّم ناكِلُ

    And every one of his enemies turns aside

    from right guidance; rather, every one recoils.

  33. فأَوقدُهم عِنده خامِدٌ

    وأَنبهُهم عندَه خَامِلُ

    So their fieriest is quenched before him,

    and their most renowned is obscure beside him.

  34. أَبادَهُمُ بأْسُه المستطيلُ

    وأَهلَكهم سيْفُه الفاصِلُ

    His overwhelming might annihilated them,

    and his cleaving sword destroyed them.

  35. لك السَّيْفُ إِن شِيم بَرْقٌ لَه

    فللموتِ عارِضُه الهاطِلُ

    Yours is the sword: if its lightning is sighted,

    then its downpouring cloud belongs to death.

  36. به الحَقُّ حُقَّ كما أَنَّه

    بحَدَّيهِ قد أُبْطِلَ البَاطِلُ

    Through it, truth was affirmed, just as

    falsehood was annulled by its two edges.

  37. إِذا مَلِكٌ جار في حُكْمِه

    فسيفُك في رأْسِه عادِلُ

    If a king is unjust in his rule,

    then your sword administers justice in his head.

  38. وليس له نَفَسٌ حَاضِرٌ

    وليس له أَجَلٌ آجل

    And he has no breath now,

    nor any term of life yet to come.

  39. إِذا ما نَزَلْتَ على ناكِثٍ

    فكلُّ بلاء به نازل

    Whenever you descend upon an oath-breaker,

    every calamity descends upon him.

  40. وإما عطفت على مجتد

    فكل رجاءٍ له حَاصِلُ

    And if you show kindness to a seeker of bounty,

    every hope of his is fulfilled.

  41. لفَظْتُ ملوكَ الوَرى بعده

    كما لفظ اللقمة الآكل

    After him, I spat out the kings of mankind,

    as an eater spits out a morsel.

  42. وإني شغلت به عنهم

    فما أَنَا عنهمْ به سائِلُ

    And I am absorbed in him, to their exclusion,

    so because of him I ask nothing about them.

  43. ولو جاءَني أَمرُهُ بالمسيرِ

    لسرْتُ ولو أَنَّنِي رَاجِل

    And if his command to travel reached me,

    I would travel, even if I were on foot.

  44. وما أَنا من أَمَلي آيِسٌ

    فكيفَ وإِنعامُه كَافِل

    And I do not despair of my hope;

    how could I, when his beneficence guarantees it?

  45. وما عشتُ مَدْحي له وَافْدٌ

    عليه وحمْدِي له واصِل

    And as long as I live, my praise for him shall be a visitor

    to him, and my gratitude shall reach him.

  46. وما أَنا عن شُكْرِه ساكِتٌ

    ولا أَنَا عن ذِكرِه غَافِل

    And I will not fall silent in thanking him,

    nor will I be heedless of remembering him.

  47. بقيتَ وبدرُك لا غارِبٌ

    وعِشْتَ ونَجمُك لا آفِلُ

    May you endure, and may your full moon never set;

    and may you live, and may your star never set.