أدرها من سلافك يا نديم

كؤوسا صاغها الذوق السليم

Pass round your choicest wine, O Nadim,

in cups fashioned by sound taste.

شرابك زائد الحاسين عقلا

ولم يك هكذا الشرب القديم

Your drink adds reason to its drinkers,

and drinking of old was not like this.

لقد حل النهى وحلا مذاقا

وحلله لنا الشرع القويم

It has lodged in minds and is sweet to taste,

and upright sacred law has made it lawful for us.

جلوت لخاطبيك بنات فكر

فباتت تعضل ابنتها الكروم

You unveiled daughters of thought to your suitors,

so the vines now bar their daughter from marriage.

كواكب دونها الأكواب دارت

فباللّه هاتيك النجوم

Stars, beneath which the goblets revolved—

then, by God, those are the stars!

فمنها في السرى الهادي بنور

ومنها للأبالسة الرجوم

Some guide with light on journeys through the night,

and others are missiles against devils.

فبعض منك يرفعه سماك

وبعض منك تبلعه التخوم

So some of you are raised by your sky,

and some of you the depths swallow.

صحائف خالها الرأي جهاما

لها بوطيسها الحامي هجوم

Pages that judgment took for rainless clouds

mount assaults in their blazing battle-furnace.

قل اللهم أياما تراها

محلقة حوالينا تحوم

Say, 'O God!' on days when you see them

soaring, wheeling all around us.

لديها الكفتان فلا جحيم

لغير المستحق ولا نعيم

They hold both pans of the scales: neither hellfire

nor bliss for anyone undeserving.

جرت كالسلسبيل لوارديها

وفي المضمار أجراها الزعيم

They flowed like Salsabil for those who came to drink from them,

and the leader set them racing on the course.

ينسيك الحريري الجزيري

نعم والبون بينهما عظيم

Al-Jaziri makes you forget al-Hariri—

yes, and the gulf between them is vast.

لذاك اللفظ والمعنى لهذا

ومن صنيعهما اتضح الخديم

That one has the wording; this one, the meaning,

and their handiwork reveals which is the servant.

نرقى الوضع والموضوع حتما

وراق بما حوى الصوت الرخيم

We surely rise in form and subject,

and the mellow voice charmed with what it held.

هي الخضراء من حلل كساها

فتاه بها فتاها المستقيم

She is the Green One, in the robes he gave her,

so her upright young man gloried in her.

وأرسلها ميامن طائرات

خبير بابن بجدتها عليم

And he sent her forth as auspicious birds in flight,

an expert, well acquainted with her native son.

خطا بخطوطها قلم لطيف

بما توحي قريحته يهيم

A graceful pen strode along her lines,

enraptured by what his creative gift inspires.

وللظرفاء أطلعها رياضا

يلطف عبقريتها النسيم

And for the witty he brought her forth as gardens,

the breeze gently tempering her brilliance.

نحا ليراعه منحى شريفا

مشى فيه كما يمشي الحكيم

He chose a noble course for his reed pen,

walking it as a sage walks.

فلا عوج لديه ولا انحراف

ولا هذر يمج ولا وجوم

So he has neither crookedness nor deviation,

nor prattle to be spat out, nor sullen silence.

يفوقها فلا تخطي سهاما

ويلقيها ولو غضبت تميم

He nocks them as arrows, and they never miss,

and lets them fly though Tamim be angered.

يقيه غوائل الصدمات حق

اضاعه في المصارعة الغشوم

Truth shields him from the perils of assaults—

truth the ruthless oppressor cast aside in the struggle.

فلا تثني عزيمته العوادي

ولا تودي بهمته الحطوم

So adversities do not bend his resolve,

nor do crushing calamities destroy his ambition.

يقاوم سيء الأخلاق حتى

يحل محلها الخلق الكريم

He fights evil morals until

noble character takes their place.

تصدى غير هياب مشنّا

على العادات غارته الخصيم

He stood forth unafraid, launching

his raid against customs—the adversary.

فأرضى اللّه والعقلا جميعا

فليس عليه أن غضب اللئيم

Thus he pleased God and all the wise,

so the base man's anger is no fault of his.

فكم له من مقالات ضواف

يهيم بحسنها العربي الصميم

How many substantial essays he has,

whose beauty enraptures the true Arab!

وتضرم قلب حاسده احتفاظا

ويغبطه بها الخل الحميم

And they kindle jealous anger in his envier's heart,

while his close friend envies him for them without malice.

نعم وإلى الأمام مشى بسعد

فقل باليمين مشيك والقدوم

Yes, and forward he went with good fortune;

so say: 'Blessed be your steps and your coming!'

وفي جلساته جلس السروجي

وحيانا نثيره والنظيم

And in his gatherings sat al-Saruji,

and his prose and verse greeted us.

وحاجانا أبو زيد وألقى

إلى فرعون ما ألقى الكليم

And Abu Zayd put riddles to us, and cast

before Pharaoh what God's interlocutor cast.

وفي أسبوعه ربضت سباع

تقوم لمن قيامته تقوم

And in his weekly, beasts of prey crouched;

they rise against anyone whose day of reckoning comes.

أشد الناس في الهيجا قراعا

وفيما دونهاه العافي الحليم

He is the fiercest of men in the clash of battle,

yet away from it, he is forgiving and forbearing.

قضى في الخدمة المثلى ثلاثا

تلقاها بما يرضى العموم

He spent three years in exemplary service,

meeting them with what wins the public's approval.

وهذا رابع السنوات وافى

يحييكم محيّاه الوسيم

And this fourth year has now arrived;

his handsome face greets you.

فحيوه بما يحييه فيكم

فان حياته بكمو تدوم

So greet him with what keeps him alive among you,

for his life endures through you.

ومدوا راحكم ليروح فيكم

ويغدوا سالما أو لا تلوموا

And stretch out your palms, so he may return among you at evening

and go forth safely at dawn—or else lay no blame.

هبوه سفينة تجري بريح

فلولا البحر ما شرعت تعوم

Think of him as a ship driven by the wind:

for without the sea, it would never have begun to float.