أبعد الخمس فوق الأربعينِ

أروم مع المشيب وِصال عينِ

After five years beyond forty,

do I seek union with a wide-eyed beauty, despite gray hair?

ألا يا جارةً بالسفح باتت

تعلِّل مَن تصافي علِّليني

Ah, neighbor woman who spent the night upon the slope,

comforting those you cherish—comfort me!

ذِهابَ الأمن عن قلبٍ جبانٍ

لقد ذهب الرقاد عن الجفون

Peace has departed from a timid heart;

indeed, sleep has fled the eyelids.

وقد أفنيت مبيضَّ الأماني

ومُسِّودُّ الدجى أبداً قريني

I have exhausted the whiteness of my hopes,

while the blackness of night is ever my companion.

فهل للصبح من خيرٍ يرجّى

ليكسر سَورَةَ الوجدِ الكمينِ

Is there some good to be hoped for from dawn,

to break the surge of hidden passion?

كأنّ الليل مهرٌ ذو حران

بفارسه لدى حروب زبون

It is as though night were a balking colt,

with its rider amid fierce battles:

يكرر ركله فيزيد قمصاً

ويزجره فيأخذ بالسكون

its rider repeats his kicks, and it bucks still more;

he rebukes it, and it falls still.

أنجلاء العيون إليك إني

شُغِفت بحبّ فاترة العيون

O wide-eyed one, away with you! For I

am enthralled by love for a languid-eyed woman.

وأهلك يا ابنة الأعراب إني

ببنت الترك قد أضحى جنوني

By your kin, O daughter of the Bedouins, I

have become mad for a daughter of the Turks.

وأعجَمتُ اللسان فظَلت ألهو

لحبِّيها بلقلقة الرَّطين

I made my tongue foreign and kept amusing myself,

for love of her, with the babble of foreign speech.

فلولا الوشيُ كانت مثل ظبي

ولولا الحِلي كانت كالرُّدَيني

But for her embroidery, she would be like a gazelle;

but for her jewelry, she would be like a Rudayni spear.

فيا خلخالها المثري لماذا

خرستَ فلست تفصح بالرنين

O her opulent anklet, why

have you gone mute, no longer speaking through your chime?

أكان هواك مثل هواي حتى

سئمتَ هوى مسامرة الخَدين

Was your passion like my passion, so that

you tired of the love of nightly talk with a close companion?

أسيرة حِجلها هل من مجير

لمأسور القراطق والبرين

O captive of her anklet, is there a rescuer

for a prisoner of tunics and rings?

ألا سُقياً لعصر كنت ألهو

به بظباء وحِرة والحجون

Ah, may rain bless the time when I sported

there with the gazelles of Wahira and al-Hajun.

حُبالَتِيَ الشباب وحسن حالي

عريشي والنِجار غدا وجيني

Youth was my snare, and my fair condition

my hunting blind; lineage became my firm ground.

فليت سنيه صوتٌ مستعادٌ

وهل رجعي وقد نفدت سنوني

If only its years were a sound that could be recalled!

Can I return, when my years are spent?

أوَدّ مديحَه فتصد عنه

مذمّاتٌ لذا الدهر الخؤون

I wish to praise it, but am turned away by

the faults of this treacherous age.

وليته رجاله ابصرن شاني

فأفرغ في نواديهم شؤوني

If only its men had recognized my standing,

so I could pour out my concerns in their gatherings.

ألا يا جيرةً سكنوا بكرخ

علامَ مع الدعاة تركتموني

Ah, neighbors who dwelt in Karkh,

why did you leave me among those who summon?

جفاني بعد بُعدِكُمُ لئامٌ

فلو كانوا كراماً ما جَفَوني

Base men shunned me after your departure;

had they been noble, they would not have shunned me.

ومشّاءٌ ومغتابٌ وقال

وذو حسد أقيه ويتّقيني

And a tale-bearer, a backbiter, a hater,

and an envious man whom I protect, while he fears me.

وإن أقاد في هجروا محلّي

وحبل الوصل قد قطعوه دوني

And if I am led into [unclear], they desert my dwelling,

and they have severed the cord of union, excluding me.

وأعفو عنهم كَرَماً وحِلماً

وخوفاً أن اراكم تعتبوني

Yet I pardon them from generosity and forbearance,

and from fear that I might see you reproaching me.

همُ قومي وإن والَوا عدوّي

وهم حِزبي وإن لم ينصروني

They are my people, even if they befriend my enemy;

they are my party, even if they do not support me.

فليس براجنٍ فينا اختلاف

وإن كان الوفاق مع الرجين

No discord remains entrenched among us,

even if accord is with [unclear: al-rajīn].

وماذا تنكر الأعداء مني

ومجدي حلَّ فوق الفرقدَين

What do my enemies denounce in me,

when my glory rests above the two Farqad stars?

وماذا تزدري الشعراء مني

وقد جاوزتُ حد الأربعين

What do the poets scorn in me,

when I have passed the threshold of forty?

بُليت بذا الزمان بكل فدمٍ

يجاذبني المفاخر وهو دوني

In this age I have been afflicted with every dolt

who contests my honors, though he is beneath me,

وَعَلق لم يزل لهجاً بذامي

بلا حسبٍ ولا نسبٍ مبين

and a leech forever intent on reviling me,

with neither honor nor distinguished lineage.

يُبيحُك منه عرضاً لم يصُنه

ويرتع منك في عرضٍ مصون

He offers you his own honor, which he has not guarded,

while grazing upon your honor, kept inviolate.

فيامن قصدهم ثلبي ونقصي

وجلّ مرادهم أن لا يروني

O you whose aim is to malign and diminish me,

whose chief desire is not to see me,

أنا النور الذي بسناه سرتم

إلى العلياء من دنياً ودين

I am the light by whose radiance you traveled

to the heights of worldly life and faith.

أنا الحامي الذمار فإن جهلتم

سوابق شيمتي فستعلموني

I am the defender of all held dear; if you do not know

my long-standing character, you will come to know me.

أنا ابن جلا وطلاّع الثنايا

متى أضعَ العمامة تعرفوني

I am Ibn Jala, the scaler of mountain passes;

whenever I set aside my turban, you will recognize me.

ألا يا راكباً يفري الفيافي

ويخترق السهول مع الحزون

O rider cleaving the wilderness,

and piercing plains and rugged ground,

إذا جاوزت وجرة عن شمال ال

كثيب بجهلة الوادي اليمين

when you pass Wajra, to the left of the

dune at Jahlat al-Wadi, on the right,

وجزت على الموارد ثَمَّ فانشد

فؤاداً قد أراقته جفوني

and pass the watering places there, then seek

a heart my eyelids have poured out.

وخبِّر جيرتي أني على ما

مضى من حفظ عهدهم المتين

And tell my neighbors that I remain committed to my

former keeping of their steadfast covenant.

فحفظي عهدهم طبعي كما قد

جعلتُ ولاء عبد الله ديني

Keeping their covenant is my nature, just as I have

made allegiance to Abd Allah my creed.

إمامٌ فاضلٌ بحرٌ خِضمٌ

همامٌ فاصلٌ ليث العرين

A virtuous imam, a vast and mighty sea,

a resolute, decisive man, the lion of the den;

أخو هِمم تريه كلّ صعب

من الأخطار ذا سهل ولين

a man of lofty aims, which show him every hardship

among dangers as something easy and yielding;

وآراء تكاد تضيء حتى

لتغني عن سناء النيّرين

and of counsels that nearly shine so brightly

as to make the two luminaries' radiance needless;

وفكر ثاقب في كل شيء

يصيب الأمر فيه قبل حين

and a penetrating mind that, in every matter,

grasps it rightly before its time.

يدبّر فيه ما أعيا ألوفاً

وينتج فيه كلّ هدىً مبين

With it he manages what has baffled thousands,

and produces every clear guidance.

يخوض بذهنه بحر المعاني

فلم يُخرج سوى عِقدٍ ثمين

With his mind he plunges into the sea of meanings,

and brings forth nothing but a precious necklace.

ويسبي المشكلات ولا يحاشي

فيلبسها ثياب المستكين

He takes difficult problems captive, sparing none,

then clothes them in the garments of submission.

له هممٌ أجلُّ من الرواسي

له شيَمٌ مع الخُلق الحَسِين

His aspirations are mightier than the rooted mountains;

his virtues go with beauty of character.

طهورٌ كان من ماء طهور

وكان الغير من ماء مهين

Pure, he came from pure water,

while others came from lowly water.

هو ابن الأنبياء هو ابن طه

هو ابن الأصفياء ابن الحُسَين

He is the son of prophets, the son of Taha;

he is the son of the elect, the son of Husayn.

فيا ابن محمد والمجد رزقٌ

وقاكَ اللَه أن تردى بعَين

O son of Muhammad—glory is a gift—

may God protect you from ruin through an evil eye.

فأنت على سنام المجد مولىً

تفوق بذي المفاخر كل عين

You are a lord on the summit of glory,

surpassing every notable in these proud distinctions.

ووصفك بالجميل بكلّ دو

له ذكر وفي سين وعين

Your praise for excellence, in every wilderness,

is remembered, and in Sin and Ayn,

وفي قطر العراق وكل قطر

وفي أم الطماخ ورأس عين

and in the land of Iraq and every land,

and in Umm al-Tamakh and Ras Ayn.

فأنت بعصرنا لا سيّما في

حمى الزوراء أفضل كل عين

In our age, you—especially within

al-Zawra's domain—are the finest of all notables.

أود أزور ناديكم لأني

أُسَرُّ إذا رأيتكم بعيني

I long to visit your gathering, for I

rejoice when I see you with my own eyes.

قدمتَ وأهل منزلكم بخيرٍ

فإنهم كرام خيرُ عين

You have arrived, and your household fares well;

for they are generous, the finest of notables.

جرى إحسانكم في كل روح

توالي من يواليكم كعين

Your bounty has flowed into every soul

that befriends those loyal to you, like a spring.

ونالت عين من يشنا عُلاكم

ويكرهكم بنادقُ كل عين

And the eye of whoever hates your high station

and detests you is struck by pellets from every eye.

سبقتم حاتم الطائيّ لمّا

وصلتم كلَّ مستجدٍ بعين

You outstripped Hatim al-Ta'i when

you rewarded every seeker of bounty with ready cash.

فلو أن الخليل رآك قبلاً

لجلّك حاقراً لكتاب عين

Had al-Khalil seen you before,

he would have exalted you, belittling the Book of Ayn.

وكل جماعة والتلك صارت

ولو كانوا زعانف خير عين

And every company loyal to you became,

even if mere riffraff, the finest of notables.

تجود بما تراه ولو نفيساً

وتمنح من تريد بكل عين

You give freely whatever you see, however precious,

and bestow on whomever you wish every kind of wealth.