1. طوى الليلَ راكبُ أخطارِهِ

    على شَحْط دارِيَ من داره

    A rider braving its perils traversed the night,

    though my dwelling lay far from his:

  2. خيالٌ وفَى بضمان الهوى

    فجاء رسولاً لغدّارِهِ

    a phantom that fulfilled love's pledge,

    and came as envoy for its betrayer.

  3. سَرى من ضنينٍ بمعروفه

    تَعرَّضَ فيّ لإنكارِهِ

    It traveled by night from one grudging with his kindness,

    who, in my case, invited reproach.

  4. حبيبٌ جبانٌ بغير الوصال

    شجاعٌ بإهداء آثارِهِ

    A timid beloved, withholding union,

    yet bold in bestowing traces of himself.

  5. طُرِقتُ بما زار من طيفه

    كأني طرِقتُ بعطَّارِهِ

    I was visited at night by his passing phantom,

    as though his perfumer had visited me.

  6. تطلّعَ يُقصِرُ ليل التمام

    طلوعَ كواكبِ أسحارِهِ

    It rose into view, shortening the longest night,

    as the stars of its predawn hours rise,

  7. بأشنبَ يسمحُ للراشفين

    بنهب ودائعِ خمَّارِهِ

    with a cool, pearly-toothed mouth that lets the sippers

    plunder the treasures of its vintner.

  8. إذا أسكرتْ دائراتُ الكؤوسِ

    صحا الشاربونَ بأدوارهِ

    When the circling cups intoxicated them,

    the drinkers sobered through its rounds.

  9. أقام فوافى وجلَّى به

    من الصبح أخبثُ أطيارِهِ

    It lingered; then there came, driving it away,

    the vilest of dawn's birds.

  10. وبرقُ خشوعيَ من طيفه

    وماءُ جفونيَ من نارِهِ

    And my submission's lightning comes from his phantom,

    and the water of my eyelids from his fire.

  11. تَعرَّض لي شفق الأتحمي

    يِ تنزو الرياحُ بأشطارِهِ

    The ruddy glow of Atḥamī cloth appeared before me,

    the winds tossing its panels.

  12. فطارحني من حديث العُذَيبِ

    وفاكهني طيبَ أخبارِهِ

    It exchanged with me talk of al-ʿUdhayb,

    and entertained me with its pleasant news.

  13. أراني مَواقدَ نيرانه

    بعيداً ومجلسَ سُمّارِهِ

    It showed me the hearths of its fires,

    from afar, and the gathering of its night-talkers.

  14. وذكَّرني زمناً ما شربتُ

    دموعيَ إلا لتَذكارِهِ

    And it recalled a time: never have I drunk

    my tears except in remembrance of it.

  15. وليلاً عدمتُ ضياءَ السرو

    رِ منذ فُجعتُ بأقمارِهِ

    And a night in which I lost joy's light,

    ever since I was bereaved of its moons.

  16. وهِيفاً غَذاهنّ وادي النعيمِ

    بجنّاته وبأنهارِهِ

    And slender maidens nurtured by Wādī al-Naʿīm,

    with its gardens and its rivers.

  17. ملَكن الهوى فأعرن القلو

    بَ ماشئن منه سوى عارِهِ

    They possessed love and lent the hearts

    whatever they wished of it, except its shame.

  18. فهنّ ظواهرُ ما غابَ منه

    وهنّ بواطنُ أسرارِهِ

    They are the outward forms of what is hidden in it,

    and the inward depths of its secrets.

  19. وأبله لا تجد العينُ في

    ه نهجاً يُقَصُّ بآثارهِ

    And a featureless waste where the eye finds

    no path to be followed by its traces.

  20. يقلّ عليه انتفاعُ الدليل

    بتجريبه وبتَكرارِهِ

    In it the guide profits little

    from his experience and repeated trials.

  21. ندَبتُ له يدَ طَبِّ الحسابِ

    بأخماسه وبأعشارِهِ

    I enlisted for it the hand of a master of reckoning,

    with its fifths and its tenths.

  22. غنيٌّ عن النجم أن يَستدلَّ

    بواقعه وبطيَّارِهِ

    He needs no star to find his bearings,

    by its fall or by its flight.

  23. ونبّهتُ ذا رقدةٍ حُلوةٍ

    فقام لأمري وإمرارِهِ

    And I roused one from a sweet sleep,

    and he rose at my command and its insistence.

  24. يُخال بخُبرته بالفضا

    ء أُعطِيَ قِسمةَ أقطارِهِ

    One would think, from his knowledge of open space,

    that its regions had been allotted to him.

  25. يدارِي إلى السوط جفناً خيوطُ ال

    كرى ممسكاتٌ لأشفارِهِ

    He coaxes an eyelid toward the whip; the threads

    of slumber hold its lashes fast.

  26. فملنا إلى جنح ليلٍ يضيع

    بياضُ الكواكب في قارِهِ

    So we turned into the wing of a night where

    the stars' whiteness was lost in its pitch.

  27. لعزٍّ تركنا غراماً به

    سروجَ الطريق لأكوارِهِ

    For glory, enamored of it, we left

    the road's saddles for its camel-saddles.

  28. وأحرَى به أن يُجَلَّى دجاه

    بوجهِ الوزير وإسفارِهِ

    And it is fitting that its darkness be dispelled

    by the minister's face and its radiance,

  29. وأن يضعَ السيرُ أثقالَهُ

    إذا رُفِعتْ حُجْبُ أستارِهِ

    and that the journey lay down its burdens

    when the veils of his curtains are lifted.

  30. إذا شُرُف الدين حَطَّت به

    قَدَرْنا سراها بمقدارِهِ

    When the heights of the faith alighted with him,

    we measured their night journey by his stature.

  31. فطاب المُقامُ لقُطَّانه

    وقرَّ المطيّ بسُفَّارِهِ

    Then the abode grew pleasant for its dwellers,

    and the riding camels rested with their travelers.

  32. إليك افتضضنا عذارَى السهوبِ

    بعُونِ الرجاءِ وأبكارِهِ

    To reach you we deflowered the virgin steppes,

    with hope's matrons and its virgins.

  33. إلى خير من حلَّ شوقاً إليه

    ركابُ المطيّ لأسيارِهِ

    To the best man for whom, longing to reach him,

    the camel-riders loosen their saddle-straps.

  34. فحرَّمها أن تشمَّ الهوانَ

    فتىً لا يُجارُ على جارِهِ

    He forbade them even the scent of humiliation—

    a youth who allows no encroachment on his neighbor.

  35. كريمٌ يعدُّك أغنيتَهُ

    إذا أنت جئت لإفقارِهِ

    A generous man who thinks you have enriched him

    when you come to impoverish him.

  36. كأنك أوّل أحبابه

    إذا كنتَ آخرَ زوّارِهِ

    As though you were the first of his loved ones,

    even when you are the last of his visitors.

  37. دع الناسَ واعكف على بيته

    فدَرُّ الندى تحت أحجارِهِ

    Leave others, and devote yourself to his house,

    for bounty's milk lies beneath its stones.

  38. رِواقٌ ترى المجد في صدره

    ورزقَك ما بين أكسارِهِ

    A pavilion in whose forefront you see glory,

    and your sustenance within its folds.

  39. وهَبْ عُشُبَ الأرضِ للرائدين

    إذا ما وليتَ بأقطارِهِ

    Leave the earth's pasture to the scouts,

    once you have turned toward its bounds.

  40. حَمَى اللّهُ أبلجَ بدرُ التما

    م يطلُعُ ما بين أزرارِهِ

    May God protect a radiant man, whose full moon

    rises between his buttons.

  41. وحيَّا على رغم زُهر النجو

    م وجهاً يعمُّ بأنوارِهِ

    And may He bless, in defiance of the bright stars,

    a face that spreads its light over all.

  42. وأعدى أعاديه من ماله

    إذا جاد قلّةُ أعمارِهِ

    And the bitterest enemy of his wealth,

    when he gives, is the shortness of its life.

  43. همامٌ ظواهرُ أسْد الشرَى

    تَلاوَذُ في الغابِ من زارِهِ

    A resolute man: the open-ranging lions of al-Sharā

    seek shelter in the thicket from his roar.

  44. يُهيب بها بعد إصحاره

    وتَرهَبُه قبل إصحارِهِ

    He calls to them after entering the open desert,

    and they dread him before he enters it.

  45. حليم السطا ينزل الذنب منه

    بواهبه وبغفَّارِهِ

    Forbearing in his force, a fault finds in him

    its pardoner and its forgiver.

  46. تنام على الفُرُطات العظا

    م عيناه إلا على ثارِهِ

    His eyes sleep through great offenses,

    except where his vengeance is concerned.

  47. نهيتُ عدوَّك لو أنه

    بوعظيَ تاركُ إصرارِهِ

    I warned your enemy—if only he

    would abandon his obstinacy at my admonition.

  48. وقلتُ حذارَك لا تغترر

    بصلّ الحَمَاطةِ في غارِهِ

    And I said, 'Beware! Do not be deceived

    by the wild-fig viper in its lair.

  49. فبعد سكينةِ مجموعهِ

    تسوءك وثبة ثَوَّارِهِ

    For after the stillness of its coiled form,

    its furious leap will distress you.'

  50. فلم ينتصحني ولم يعنني

    وقد حان كثرةُ إنذارِهِ

    But he would not heed my counsel or help me,

    though it was time to warn him often.

  51. ومرّ يجاري على الاغترا

    ر من ليس من خيلِ مِضمارِهِ

    And he pressed on in delusion, trying to race

    one not of the horses of his racecourse.

  52. أراد ليغمزَ صُمَّ القنا

    بجُوفِ اليراع وخُوَّارِهِ

    He sought to weaken the solid lances

    with the reeds' hollowness and feebleness.

  53. وشاور في البغي شيطانَهُ

    فأطغتْه طاعةُ أمّارِهِ

    And he consulted his devil in wrongdoing,

    so obedience to his inciter made him transgress.

  54. وعارَض معجز آياتكم

    بكذّابه وبسحّارِهِ

    He opposed the miraculous power of your signs

    with his arch-liar and his sorcerer.

  55. توغّل يدرُس آثارَكم

    فأنغض من دون آثارِهِ

    He plunged ahead, trying to efface your traces,

    then shook his head, falling short of his traces.

  56. ومدّ ليحملَ ما تحملون

    صليفاً ضعيفاً بأوقارِهِ

    And he reached to shoulder what you shoulder,

    a braggart, weak beneath his loads.

  57. وكان يلام فلما لجا

    إلى العجز قام بأعذارِهِ

    He was blamed; but when he resorted

    to incapacity, it stood as his excuse.

  58. ألم يكفِهِ غدرُ كرَّاته

    به وتقلّبُ أطوارِهِ

    Did his repeated charges not betray him enough,

    along with the reversals of his fortunes

  59. وتجريبُه معَكم نفسَه

    فيُنهي اللجاجَ بإقصارِهِ

    and his testing himself against you,

    to end his obstinacy by desisting?

  60. ولما انتصرتَ بكافي المهمّ

    أحسَّ بخذلانِ أنصارِهِ

    And when you prevailed with one sufficient for the crisis,

    he sensed his supporters' desertion.

  61. ظَفِرتَ وها هو تحت الإسا

    ر يأكل زائدَ أظفارِهِ

    You triumphed; behold him now in bonds,

    gnawing the overgrowth of his nails.

  62. تُعفِّي الخطايا بإقلاعهِ

    وتمحو الذنوبَ بإقرارِهِ

    You efface his transgressions when he desists,

    and erase his sins when he confesses.

  63. رضيتَ بقُلِّك حتى تعزَّ

    ويرضَى الهوانَ بإكثارِهِ

    You were content with your little, to retain your honor,

    while he accepts humiliation to amass more.

  64. فقنطارُ مالك دون الأذى

    ومهجتُه قبلَ دينارِهِ

    So you part with a qintar of wealth before enduring harm,

    while he parts with his lifeblood before a dinar.

  65. تجلَّتْ بسعدك غُمّاؤها

    فتوقَ الصباح بإسفارِهِ

    Its darkness cleared with your good fortune,

    like dawn's rifts as its light breaks.

  66. وغُرم الذي فات في ذمّة ال

    قضاء وسابق أقدارِهِ

    And recompense for what was lost rests with

    fate and its preceding decrees.

  67. وقد جَنبَ الدهرُ من نفعه

    منائحَ في حبل إصرارِهِ

    And time has led up, from its bounty,

    gifts on the rope of its obstinacy.

  68. سيأتي تنصُّلهُ آنفاً

    فيسفر في حظّ أوزارِهِ

    Soon its apology will come,

    and shine forth in its portion of guilt.

  69. ودون جنا النحل وخَّازَةٌ

    تشقّ على يد مشتارِهِ

    And before the bees' honey stands a stinger

    that pains the hand of its gatherer.

  70. بقيتَ لملكٍ إذا كنت فيه

    فإثراؤه مع إصفارِهِ

    May you endure for a realm that, while you are in it,

    is wealthy even in its poverty.

  71. ويا ربَّ بيتِ الندى لا أصي

    بَ منك بسيّد عُمّارِهِ

    And O lord of bounty's house, may I never be bereaved

    of you, the master of its dwellers.

  72. ودارَ بما شئتَ قطبُ النجو

    م تُعطَى سعادةَ أدوارِهِ

    And may the stars' pole revolve as you wish,

    and may you receive the good fortune of its revolutions.

  73. وزار جنابَك هذا الربيعُ

    بمنخرق الخِلفِ درَّارِهِ

    And may this spring visit your precinct,

    with its teat burst open, pouring abundantly.

  74. تجارِي سماحَك أنواؤُه

    وخُلْقَك زُهرةُ أنوارِهِ

    Its rain-showers rival your generosity,

    and its blossoms' radiance your character.

  75. يؤديك نيروزُهُ سالماً

    إلى صومه ثم إفطارِهِ

    May its Nowruz bring you safely

    to its fasting, then its breaking of the fast.

  76. وبُقِّيتَ لي وَزَراً لا تَدرُّ

    سحابيَ إلاّ بإعصارِهِ

    And may you remain my refuge; no rain falls

    from my clouds except through its whirlwind—

  77. لمضطَهدٍ يُسرُهُ ما اتسعتَ

    وضيقُك آيةُ إعسارِهِ

    for an oppressed man whose ease lasts while you prosper,

    and your straitness is the sign of his hardship.

  78. رَماني زماني بما نابكم

    فأغرق في نزع أوتارِهِ

    My time shot me with what befell you,

    and pulled its bowstrings to the utmost.

  79. وعمّق يجرحُ ما لا تنا

    ل كفُّ الطبيب بمسبارِهِ

    And it cut deep, wounding what no

    physician's hand can reach with his probe.

  80. فمن كَلْم قلبي وإحراقِهِ

    إلى فقر ربعي وإقفارِهِ

    So, from my heart's wounding and burning

    to my home's poverty and desolation.

  81. فلا يعدمنْكم شريبٌ لكم

    على حلو دهرٍ وإمرارِهِ

    May a drinking-companion of yours never lose you,

    through time's sweetness and its bitterness.

  82. سليم الأديم على ودِّكم

    إذا راب كثرةُ عوّارِهِ

    Of unblemished skin in his devotion to you,

    even when his many flaws give cause for doubt.

  83. يمدُّكُم ما استطاع الثناءَ

    بقاطنه وبسيَّارِهِ

    He supplies you with all the praise he can,

    both its settled strains and its wandering ones.

  84. إذا لم يجد حبوةً بالثراء

    حباكم بصفوة أفكاره

    When he cannot find a gift of riches,

    he bestows on you the choicest of his thoughts.

  85. فإن فاته بيدٍ نصركُم

    أظلَّكُمُ نصرُ أشعاره

    And if he cannot aid you with his hand,

    the aid of his poems casts its shade over you.