1. يا عاذل دعني مع الهوى فأنا الآن

    قد أصبح قلبي من الصبابة ملآن

    O censurer, leave me to love, for now

    My heart has become filled with passionate longing.

  2. لا العشق حرام ولا المحبة اثم

    حتى اتسلى عن الحبيب بسلوان

    Neither passionate love is forbidden nor affection a sin,

    That I should turn from the beloved to the solace of forgetting.

  3. افديه غزالاً قد استجر فؤادي

    للعشق جمال به فاصبح ولهان

    I would ransom him, a gazelle; my heart has been lured

    Into love by his beauty, and has become distraught.

  4. ما الطف ما فيه من رشاقة قدٍّ

    ان ماس فيه خجلة الغصون من البان

    How lovely is the slender grace of his figure!

    When he sways, the bān-tree boughs are abashed.

  5. كالصبح وكالرمح قامة ومحيا

    كالخمور وكالجمر ريق فيه وخدان

    His face is like dawn, his stature like a spear;

    His mouth's moisture is like wine, his cheeks like embers.

  6. لم أنس كؤوس الطلا يناولنيها

    في روضة أنس بها النسيم له شان

    I have not forgotten the cups of wine he would hand me

    In a garden of delight, where the breeze had its own charm.

  7. والروضة تزهو بزهرها كعروس

    تجلى وعليها من الملابس الوان

    The garden gloried in its blossoms like a bride

    Unveiled, wearing garments of many colors.

  8. والغيد تهادى بها ثلاث ومثنى

    والبلبل غنى على الغصون بالحان

    And graceful women swayed through it in threes and twos,

    While the nightingale sang melodies upon the boughs—

  9. الحان قيان عز فن في يدهن ال

    أوراق دفوفا إذا الرواقص اغصان

    Melodies of songstresses playing, in whose hands the

    Leaves were tambourines, while the dancers were boughs.

  10. والماء خلاخبل عسجد ولجين

    شتى ودواليبها تخر بتحنان

    And the water was anklets of gold and silver,

    Of varied kinds, while its waterwheels rumbled with yearning.

  11. تحكي بحنين لها وصب مياه

    عيني وقلبي لبعد شيخي ذي الشان

    Their yearning moan echoed the grief in the tears

    Of my eye and in my heart, far from my illustrious master.

  12. استاذي من قد حكى الخليل ذكاء

    والسعد بياناً وفي الفصاحة حسان

    My teacher, who matched al-Khalil in intelligence,

    And al-Sa'd in rhetoric, and Hassan in eloquence.

  13. حبر يتسمى محبدا وجدير

    منه بذمام مدى الزمان واحسان

    A scholar called Muhammad [uncertain reading]; one may rightly expect

    Protection and kindness from him through all time.

  14. علامة هذا الزمان بل وامام

    حقاً لذوي العلم اجمعين وسلطان

    The great scholar of this age—nay, an imam as well,

    In truth, for all the learned—and their sovereign.

  15. ان حدث قلنا هو الإمام عياض

    أو فسر قلنا أبو السعود باتقان

    When he relates hadith, we say: 'He is Imam Iyad';

    Or, when he interprets with mastery, we say: 'Abu al-Su'ud.'

  16. هل يا ندمائي سمعتمو بهمام

    يحكيه فهاتوا إذا ادعيتم برهان

    Have you, my boon companions, heard of a noble man

    Who matches him? Then bring proof, if you make that claim.

  17. قد شرفني إذ أحبني وحباني

    فضلا وتغاضى عن العيوب وما شان

    He has honored me by loving me and bestowing upon me

    Bounty, overlooking my faults and all that marred me.

  18. أهدى لي شعرا حوى بيان اياس

    بل يركع قس له ويسجد سحبان

    He gave me verse containing the eloquence of Iyas;

    Nay, Quss bows before him, and Sahban prostrates.

  19. يا شمس وان كان افق ذاتك قلبي

    لكن بتلاقي العيون يصبح جذلان

    O sun, though my heart is the horizon of your being,

    Yet it grows joyful at the meeting of eyes.

  20. يا حائز كل الكمال منك نرجي

    لقياك قريباً فمصر نابك تزدان

    O possessor of all perfection, we look to you for

    A meeting with you soon, for our Egypt is adorned by you.