أنسيت ما بذلت لك الأخيار

لمَ لا بذلت الدمع لما ساروا

Have you forgotten what the virtuous gave you?

Why did you not shed tears when they departed?

ولهٌ عراك أم الدموع تصاعدت

مما دهاك ففي الحشاشة نار

Has longing seized you, or have tears risen

from what befell you? For the heart's core holds fire.

يا صاح بي ولهٌ ونار صبابةٍ

ودموع عيني كلهن بحار

O friend, within me are longing and love's fire,

and all the tears of my eye are seas.

لكنني بين العواذل صابرٌ

فلدى العواذل تكتم الأسرار

But among the reproachers I remain steadfast,

for before reproachers secrets are concealed.

لولا التجلد والنهى ما غيرت

عاداتها العبرات والأبصار

But for fortitude and reason, they would not have changed

their habits—the tears and the eyes.

أتجود عينٌ والربوع أوانسٌ

وتضن يوماً والربوع قفار

Does an eye give freely while the dwellings are welcoming,

yet ever withhold while the dwellings are desolate?

حيا الحيا القوم الذين ترحلوا

ولهم بأعشار القلوب قرار

May the rain greet the people who departed,

and they abide in the ten portions of hearts.

وسقت دموعُ الورد خدَّ غريرة

يحمر مثل الورد حين تزار

And may the rose's tears water a guileless maiden's cheek,

which reddens like a rose when she is visited.

بيضاء تبسم عن شتيت ناصعٍ

فيه الطلا والطلع والنوار

Fair-skinned, she smiles, revealing bright, spaced teeth,

in which are wine, palm blossom, and flowers.

بخضابها بلح النخيل وثغرها ال

طلع الجميل وساقها الجمَّار

In her dye are palm dates, and her mouth is the

lovely palm blossom; her leg is palm pith.

تمسي وتصبح والمحاسن جمةٌ

والظرف ظرفٌ والوقار وقار

Evening and morning find her beauties abundant,

her elegance is elegance, her dignity dignity.

في وجهها قمرٌ وفوق جبينها

سحرٌ وبين جفونها سحّ ار

In her face is a moon, and above her brow

is magic, and between her eyelids an enchanter.

والخد ورد والشفاه قرنفلٌ

والقد بانٌ والعذار بهار

Her cheek is a rose, her lips carnations,

her figure a moringa tree, her cheek-down oxeye blossoms.

لم أنسها كالغصن قائمةً وفي

يدها النقية كوكب سيّار

I have not forgotten her, standing like a bough, with

a wandering star in her pure hand.

تفتر فيه مدامةٌ ديريةٌ

صفراء يحسد لونها الدينار

A monastery wine smiles within it,

golden-yellow, its color envied by the dinar.

تعلو فواقعها وتسقط مثلما

يعلو ويسقط في اللهيب شرار

Its bubbles rise and fall, just as

sparks rise and fall within the blaze.

اللَه أكبر أين ليلتنا التي

كبَّرت فيها والكؤوس كبار

God is greatest! Where is that night of ours

when I proclaimed God's greatness and the cups were great?

ومن الشباب علي حلة راهب

فيها إمامٌ للصفا جبّار

And youth had draped me in a monk's robe,

within it a mighty imam of pure delight.

ونديمتي فُنُقٌ كأن خضابها

شفقٌ تفيض وراءه الأنوار

My drinking companion was a pampered beauty, her dye like

twilight's red glow, behind which lights overflow.

تعلو على الدرر الكبار نهودها

لكنهن وإن علون صغار

Her breasts rise above the great pearls,

yet, though they rise high, they are small.

سدِّ الزجاج ففي الزجاج مدامةٌ

لولا سناها ما بدت أسحار

Stopper the glass, for in the glass is wine,

without whose radiance no dawns would appear.

ميعاد زورتها الدجى فإذا بدا

هذا السنى حجب الظلام نهار

Her visit is appointed for darkness; when there appears

this radiance, daylight veils the dark.

وأظن أن معللي بقدومها

ولهي وما وله المتيم عار

And I think that what beguiles me with her coming

is my longing; a lovesick man's longing is no disgrace.

كيف المزار وقد تربع أهلها

بمِنىً وما لي غير جلق دار

How can there be a visit, when her people have made their spring camp

at Mina, while I have no home but Jilliq?

ويحول ما بيني وبين خيالها

سهر الدجى والمدمع الجرار

Between me and her dream-image come

night-long wakefulness and streaming tears.

يا ربة الراووق لي بك أسوةٌ

دمعي ودمعك رقرقته النار

O mistress of the wine-strainer, in you I have an example:

fire has made my tears and yours glisten.

إن عاد يوم الربوتين يعود لي

طربي وتشرق بيننا الأقمار

If the day of the two hills returns, there will return to me

my joy, and moons will shine among us.

ويزول بلبالٌ ويصدح بلبلٌ

ويرن خلخال وينقر طار

Agitation will vanish, and a nightingale will sing,

an anklet will ring, and a tambourine be struck.

ويسر محيي الدين عود سرورنا

فبقرب محي الدين لي استبشار

The return of our joy will gladden Muhyi al-Din,

for near Muhyi al-Din I rejoice.

رجلٌ سعى سعي الحسين فزاده

شمر الزمان وكاده الأعسار

A man who strove as al-Husayn strove, only to be further tried

by the age's Shimr, while hardships schemed against him.

ماذا عليه وقد أتم فروضه

مما يقول حسوده المهذار

What harm can touch him, when he has fulfilled his duties,

from what his envious, babbling detractor says?

إن كان عاد فما يعود عن العلى

حتى يعود عن الشذا النوار

If he has returned, he will not retreat from greatness

until blossoms turn away from fragrance.

هو خير من خاض العجاج وإنما

حضر الوغى وجنوده أغمار

He is the best to plunge into battle-dust; yet

he entered the fray with inexperienced troops.

وسطا وجنات الفتوح هشيمةٌ

لا سامرٌ فيها ولا أثمار

He struck while the gardens of conquest lay withered,

with no evening company in them, nor fruit.

والناس أكبر همها حسو الطلا

لا ضرب كل طلى به استكبار

The people's chief concern was sipping wine,

not striking every neck stiff with arrogance.

يا ابن الأعنة والأسنة والظبي

والخائض الغمرات وهي بحار

O son of reins, spearheads, and sword-blades,

you who plunge into perils, though they are seas;

والحاذق الفطن اللبيب الصادق ال

لسن الأريب البارع القهار

and skillful, perceptive, wise and truthful,

eloquent, discerning, masterful and all-subduing:

ما كل وقت للمعارك صالحٌ

للسلم عصرٌ والوغى إعصار

Not every time is fit for battles;

peace has its season, and war is a whirlwind.

لكن أعذار الشباب مزيلةٌ

غيم العتاب فللشباب خمار

But youth's excuses dispel

the cloud of reproach, for youth has its drunken haze.

والبأس جريال الرجال وطالما

لعبت بألباب الرجال عقار

Valor is men's crimson wine, and often

strong wine has played with men's minds.

لا تتقي في اللَه لومة لائمٍ

فعليك يثني اللَه والمختار

Do not fear a reproacher's blame in God's cause,

for God and the Chosen One praise you.

بأبيك تفتخر الكماة وأنت نس

خته التي كملت بها الأسفار

Warriors take pride in your father; you are his

copy, through which the volumes are perfected.

تلد الأسود أسود غابٍ مثلها

وابن الحمار كما علمت حمار

Lions beget forest lions like themselves,

and a donkey's son, as you know, is a donkey.

والطيب يعرف من شذاه بخاره

وعلى الأصول تدلت الأثمار

Perfume's vapor is recognized by its fragrance,

and fruit hangs down from the parent stock.

أيعيب مثلك في المعامع جابر ال

عثرات وهو الفارس الجبار

Would one like you be faulted amid the fray by the mender of

stumbles, who is himself the mighty horseman?

وهو الذي يقف اللهيب إذا دعا

وتفيض عند دمائه الأمطار

He is the one at whose call the blaze stands still,

and rains pour down where his blood is shed.

وإذا تكاثرت الجيوش تخاله

بازاً تخرُّ أمامه الأطيار

When armies multiply, you would think him

a hawk before whom the birds fall.

وترى الملوك لدى ظباه كأنها

غنمٌ تساق وخلفها جزار

You see kings before his sword-blades as though they were

sheep being driven, with a butcher behind.

لم لا يعيب زمانك اللحز الذي

لا ناصرٌ فيه ولا أنصار

Why does he not blame your churlish age, in which

there is neither a helper nor allies?

دع لومه فلحاجةٍ جدعَ اَنفَه ال

غالي قصيرُ وما عراه العار

Leave off blaming him: for a purpose he cut off his nose—the

esteemed Qasir—and no disgrace befell him.

ولحاجةٍ هجر الحطيم محمدٌ

فبكى الحطيم له وسر الغار

For a purpose Muhammad left al-Hatim,

so al-Hatim wept for him and the cave rejoiced.

غفر الإله له وجدد ملكه

بسويعةٍ يختارها المختار

May God forgive him and renew his dominion

in a little hour chosen by the Chosen One,

تنسيك ما صنع الزمان بسادةٍ

خوض الردى لنفوسهم أوطار

that makes you forget what time did to lords

for whose souls plunging into death is a cherished aim.

بيض الوجوه تحيط بيض نصولهم

بالمجرمين تماسكوا أو طاروا

White of face, their white blades encircle

the criminals, whether they stand firm or flee.

فهناك يفصح عن ضمير سكونه ال

صهال والعسال والبتار

There, the secret of its silence is voiced by the

neighing steed, swaying spear, and cleaving sword.

ويقول للمحراب قرضاب الوغى

بيني وبينك تقسم الأعمار

Battle's cutting sword says to the prayer niche:

Between me and you lifetimes are divided.

فيبش وجه السيف بعد عبوسه

ويلين بعد يبوسه الخطار

The sword's face then smiles after its frown,

and the swaying spear grows supple after its dryness.

ويريك نصر اللَه صولة قادرٍ

يرتج منها الفيلق الجرار

God's victory will show you a mighty man's charge,

at which the vast marching host shudders.

فدع العتاب وقبّح الزمن الذي

نشرت مساويها به الأشرار

So leave reproach, and curse the age in which

the wicked have spread their evils.

وعليك بالصبر الذي افتخرت به ال

أبرار وازدانت به الأخيار

Hold fast to the patience that is the pride of the

righteous and the adornment of the virtuous.

فالبأس خيسٌ أنت فيه عدبَّسٌ

والصبر ليلٌ أنت فيه نهار

For valor is a thicket, and you its mighty lion;

and patience is night, and you its daylight.