Sol 6.1

  1. بوَخْزِ القنا والمرهفاتِ البواترِ

    بلوغُ المعالي واقتناءُ المفاخر

    Through lance-thrusts and keen, cleaving blades

    come lofty honors and the winning of glory.

  2. وإنَّ الفتى من لا يزال بنفسه

    يخوض غمار الموت غير محاذر

    And a true young man is one who never ceases, in person,

    to plunge into death's depths, unafraid,

  3. يشيد له ما عاش مجداً مؤثلاً

    ويبقي له في الفخر ذاكراً لذاكر

    building for himself, throughout his life, firmly rooted glory,

    and leaving someone to recount his glory to those who remember.

  4. إذا كنتَ ممَّنْ عظَّم الله شأنه

    فشمِّر إلى الأَمر العظيم وبادر

    If you are among those whose standing God has exalted,

    gird yourself for a great undertaking, and hasten.

  5. وإنِّي امرؤ يأبى الهوان فلم يَدِن

    إلى حكم دهر يا أُميمة جائر

    And I am a man who spurns humiliation and has never submitted

    to an unjust age's rule, Umayma.

  6. مضت مثل ماضي الشفرتين عزيمتي

    وحلَّق في جوّ الأُبوَّة طائري

    My resolve went forth like a blade keen on both edges,

    and my bird soared in the sky of fatherhood.

  7. لئن أنكر الغمر الحسود فضائلي

    وأصبحَ بالمعروف أَوَّلَ كافر

    Even if the foolish, envious man denies my virtues

    and becomes the first to be ungrateful for kindness,

  8. فتلك برغم الحاسدين شواردي

    يسير بها السَّاري وتلك نوادري

    there, despite the envious, are my far-traveling verses;

    the night traveler carries them, and there are my rare verses.

  9. فما عُرِفَتْ منِّي مدى الدهر ريبةٌ

    ولا مَرَّ ما راب الرِّجال بخاطري

    No suspicion has ever been known of me throughout time,

    nor has what arouses men's suspicions crossed my mind.

  10. وما زلتُ مذْ شَدَّتْ يدي عقْد مئزري

    ولا يتَّقي من قد صَحِبتُ بوادري

    Ever since my hand tied the knot of my waistcloth,

    no companion of mine has had to fear my outbursts.

  11. وكم مشمخرِّ أنفُه بغروره

    يرى نفسه في الجهل جمَّ المآثر

    Many a man, his nose raised high in conceit,

    thinking, in ignorance, himself rich in merits—

  12. جَدَعْتُ بحول الله مارنَ أَنفِهِ

    وأوطأْتُ نَعلي منه هامة صاغر

    I have, by God's power, severed his nose's soft tip,

    and made my sandal tread his humbled head!

  13. ألا ثكلت أُمُّ الجبان وليدها

    وفازت بما حازته أُمُّ المخاطر

    May the coward's mother be bereaved of her child,

    and win what the daring man's mother has won.

  14. أَحِنُّ إلى يومٍ عبوسٍ عصبصبٍ

    تتوقُ له نفسي حنين الأَباعر

    I yearn for a grim, fiercely trying day;

    my soul longs for it with the camels' yearning,

  15. إلى موقفٍ بين الأَسنَّة والظبا

    ومنزلةٍ بين القنا المتشاجر

    for a stand amid spearheads and sword blades,

    and a station amid clashing lances,

  16. يكشِّر فيه الموت عن حدّ نابه

    وتغدو المنايا داميات الأَظافر

    where death bares its fang's sharp edge,

    and fatal dooms come forth with bloodied claws.

  17. ترفعت عن قومٍ إذا ما خبرتهم

    وَجَدْتُ كباراً في صفات الأَصاغر

    I rose above people whom, when I tested them,

    I found great men with the traits of lesser men.

  18. أخو الحَزم مَن لم يملك الحرصُ رقَّه

    ولا ينتج الآمال من رحم عاقر

    A man of resolve is one whom greed has not enslaved,

    nor does he breed hopes from a barren womb.

  19. شديدٌ على حرب الزَّمان وسلْمِه

    جريءٌ على الأَخطار غير محاذر

    Steadfast against time's warfare and its peace,

    bold before dangers, without fear.

  20. خُلِقْتُ صبوراً في الأُمور ولم أكنْ

    على الضَّيم في دار الهوان بصابر

    I was made patient in affairs, yet have never been

    one to bear oppression in the abode of humiliation.

  21. إذا ما رأيت الحيَّ بالذّلّ عيشه

    فأَولى بذاك الحيّ أهل المقابر

    If you see a living man whose life is spent in abasement,

    then that man belongs with the people of the graves.

  22. ألا إنَّ عُمر المرءِ ما عاش طوله

    كطيف خيالٍ أو كزورة زائر

    Indeed, a man's life, however long it lasts,

    is like a phantom vision or a visitor's brief call.

  23. تمرُّ اللَّيالي يا سعاد وتنقضي

    وتمضي بباقٍ حيث كانَ وبائر

    The nights pass, Su'ad, and come to an end,

    carrying off the surviving, wherever they are, and the doomed.

  24. فكيف يعاني الحرُّ ما لا يسرُّه

    ويأْمنُ من ريب الزَّمان بغادر

    How, then, can a free man endure what does not please him,

    and feel safe from time's misfortunes with a traitor?

  25. أَزيد على رزء الحوادث قسوة

    وإنَّ معاناتي بها غير ضائر

    I outdo the blows of calamity in hardness,

    and my grappling with them does me no harm,

  26. كما فاح بالطِّيب الأريج وضوّعت

    شذا المندليَّ الرّطبَ نارُ المجامر

    just as fragrance breathes perfume, and there is wafted

    the scent of moist Mandali aloeswood by the braziers' fire.

  27. أرانا سليمانُ الزهيرُ وقومُه

    رجال المنايا فتك أروع ظافر

    Sulayman al-Zuhayr and his people have shown us,

    as men of death, the lethal onslaught of a gallant victor.

  28. يريك بيوم الجود نعمةَ مُنعمٍ

    ويوم الوغى واليأس قدرة قادر

    On the day of giving, he shows you a benefactor's bounty,

    and on the day of battle and despair, a mighty man's power.

  29. يسير مواليه بعزٍّ وسؤدد

    ويرجع شاتيه بصفقة خاسر

    His allies go forth in honor and noble standing,

    while his reviler returns with a loser's bargain.

  30. لقد ظفِرَتْ آل الزهير بشيخها

    بأَشجع من ليث بخفَّان خادر

    The house of al-Zuhayr has indeed won, in its chief,

    one braver than a lion lurking in Khaffan.

  31. يشقُّ إلى نيل المعالي غبارها

    ومن دونها إذ ذاك شقّ المرائر

    He cleaves through their dust to reach the heights of honor,

    and before them then lies the rending of gallbladders.

  32. فذا سيفه الماضي فهل من مبارزٍ

    وذا فخره العالي فهل من مفاخر

    Here is his keen sword—is there a challenger?

    And here is his lofty glory—is there a rival in glory?

  33. ففي الحربِ إنْ دارتْ رحاها وأصبحَتْ

    تدور على فرسانها بالدوائر

    In war, when its millstone turns and begins

    to turn upon its horsemen with calamities,

  34. تحفّ به من آل نجد عصابة

    شبيهة ما تأتي به بالقساور

    a band from the people of Najd surrounds him,

    like lions in what it undertakes.

  35. وكم برز الأَعداء في حومة الوغى

    وثغر الرَّدى يفترّ عن ناب كاشر

    How often have enemies come forth in the thick of battle,

    while death's mouth parts to reveal a snarler's fang,

  36. فأوردها بالمشرفيَّة والقنا

    موارد حتف ما لها من مصادر

    and he has driven them, with Mashrafi swords and lances,

    to death's watering places, with no way out.

  37. وكم أنهلَ الواردَ منهلَ جودِهِ

    فَمِنْ واردٍ تلك الأَكُفّ وصادر

    How often has he given a comer drink at his bounty's spring,

    so some come to those hands and others depart.

  38. ألا إنَّ أبناء الزهير بأسرهم

    أَوائلهم متلُوَّةٌ بالأَواخر

    Indeed, all the sons of al-Zuhayr—

    their forebears are followed by their descendants.

  39. سلِ الحرب عنهم والصوارم والقنا

    وما كانَ منهم في العصور الغوابر

    Ask war about them, and cleaving swords and lances,

    and what they wrought in ages past.

  40. فهم شيَّدوها في صدورهم علًى

    وهم أُورِثوها كابراً بعد كابر

    For they raised that glory high within their breasts,

    and were bequeathed it, great elder after great elder.

  41. كابرُ يعطون الرئاسة حقَّها

    ومعروفهم يُسدى لبَرٍّ وفاجر

    Great men, they give leadership its due,

    and their kindness is bestowed on the righteous and the wicked.

  42. وما برحت في كلّ مكرمةٍ لهم

    صدور المعالي في بطون الدفاتر

    In every noble deed, theirs have always been

    the foremost honors within the books of record.

  43. يميناً بربّ البيت والرّكن والصَّفا

    ومن فاز في تعظيم تلك المشاعر

    I swear by the Lord of the House, the Corner, and al-Safa,

    and by whoever prospered in venerating those sacred sites,

  44. بأنَّ سليمان الزهير محلُّه

    محلٌّ سما فوق النجوم الزّواهر

    that Sulayman al-Zuhayr's station

    is a station risen above the shining stars.

  45. يقرّ لعيني أن ترى منه طلعةً

    ترى العين فيها قرَّةً للنواظر

    It delights my eye to behold his countenance;

    the eye finds in it delight for every gaze.

  46. فأَسْمَعُ منه ما يشنّف مسمعي

    وأنظرُ فيه ما يروق لناظري

    I hear from him what ornaments my ear,

    and see in him what pleases my eye.

  47. كريم أكاسير الغنى بالتفاته

    فهل كانَ إلاَّ وارثاً علم جابر

    A generous man, whose attention brings elixirs of wealth—

    is he not an heir to Jabir's knowledge?

  48. يصحّ مزاج المجد في رأي حاذق

    طبيب بأدواء الرئاسة قاهر

    Glory's constitution grows sound through the judgment of an expert,

    a physician who masters the ailments of leadership.

  49. يمرُّ بنادي الأَكرمين ثناؤه

    كما مرَّ نجديُّ النَّسيم بعاطر

    His praise passes through the gathering of the noblest,

    as Najd's breeze passes over something fragrant.

  50. وقد نطقتْ في مدحه ألسُنُ الورى

    فمن ناظمٍ فيه الثناء وناثر

    The tongues of all people have spoken his praise,

    some weaving praise of him in verse, others in prose.

  51. أَحامي الحمى بالبأس ممَّا ينوبه

    وصنديدها المعروف بين العشائر

    O protector of the domain, defending it with valor from what befalls it,

    and its champion, renowned among the tribes,

  52. إليك من الدَّاعي لك الله مدحة

    مقدَّمةً من حامد لك شاكر

    here is praise for you from one who prays to God for you,

    offered by one who praises you and gives you thanks.

  53. فلا زلت فيزرق الأَسنَّة تحتمي

    وتحمي بحدّ البيض سود الغدائر

    May you ever shield yourself amid blue spearheads,

    and protect black tresses with the edge of white swords.