Sol 6.1

  1. سقى حيَّ الأحبّة من مرادٍ

    هتونٌ مطبقٌ طبق المُرادِ

    May the beloved's encampment of Murad be watered

    By steady, all-encompassing rain, just as desired.

  2. محلّ للعيون به ابتهاج

    وللأكباد نارٌ باتقاد

    A place where the eyes find joy,

    And for the livers, a blazing fire.

  3. حمىً تحت القباب الحمر منه

    شموسً قد تحلَّت بالسواد

    A sanctuary where, beneath its red domed tents,

    Suns have adorned themselves in black.

  4. ألايا راكباً يطوي الفيافي

    ويعتسف الفلاة بلا تمادي

    O rider who folds away the wastelands,

    And crosses the trackless desert without delay:

  5. تلطف لا تطأ فيه قلوباً

    فبين نويه كم من فؤادِ

    Tread gently; do not trample hearts there,

    For among its date stones lies many a heart.

  6. وبين خيامه كم من مصابٍ

    وبين مياهه كم من مُصادِ

    And among its tents, how many stricken souls,

    And among its waters, how many captured prey!

  7. وحاذر إن مررتَ به جُفوناً

    سَمَت ما في الجفون من الحِدادِ

    Beware, if you pass there, of eyelids

    That surpass the sharp blades within their scabbards.

  8. وهابِ الطَّعنَ إمّا من قدودٍ

    لِدانٍ أو مُتَقَّفَةٍ صِعادِ

    And fear a thrust, whether from figures

    Supple, or from straightened spear-shafts.

  9. وعرج للمقام بقوم ليلى

    ففيهم بُغيتي وهُمُ مُرادي

    Turn aside to stay with Layla's people,

    For with them lies what I seek, and they are my desire.

  10. وقُل إنّي تركتُ أسيرَ وَجدٍ

    ورائي ما لَه إذ ذاك فادي

    And say: I left a captive of ardent longing

    Behind me, with no one then to ransom him.

  11. يَحِنُّ إلى الديار لساكنيها

    فيوري قَلبُه وَريَ الزناد

    He yearns for the dwellings because of their inhabitants,

    And his heart sparks as fire-sticks spark.

  12. يؤمِلُ قربَكم طوراً فيصحو

    وطوراً منه ييأس للبعادِ

    At times he hopes to be near you and grows sober,

    And at others despairs of it because of separation.

  13. تَدَرَّع للهوى بدِلاص صبرٍ

    فصيرها جواه ثياب جاد

    Against passion he donned patience's polished mail,

    But his burning anguish turned it into saffron robes.

  14. وحاول كتمَ ما يلقى فنمَّت

    به الأجفان كالسحب الغوادي

    He tried to conceal what he endured, but it was betrayed

    By his eyelids, like clouds arriving at dawn.

  15. ألا يا سادةً نحروا اصطباري

    بخيفِ مني ضحىً وسبوا رقادي

    O masters who slaughtered my patience

    At Mina's Khayf at midmorning, and took my sleep captive:

  16. وفيتُ بحق بيضكمُ قياماً

    ففيمَ قبضتُمُ رهناً فؤادي

    Standing, I fulfilled the due of your fair ones;

    Why, then, did you seize my heart as a pledge?

  17. واطلقت العذار ولا اعتذارٌ

    ففيمَ مَهاتكُم زادت قيادي

    I loosed the bridle, offering no excuse;

    Why, then, did your oryxes tighten my reins?

  18. وصيَّرت الهوى العذريَّ ديني

    فدِنت فَلِم قضيتُم بارتدادي

    I made chaste Udhri love my religion,

    And professed it; why, then, did you judge me apostate?

  19. وإني مؤمنٌ بكتاب حُسنٍ

    ينمِقّهُ العذار بلا مِداد

    I believe in a book of beauty

    That cheek-down adorns without ink.

  20. فهلا يا هُداة تألَّفُوني

    بليلى حَيّكم لرجا رشادي

    Why not, O guides, win me over

    With your tribe's Layla, hoping for my guidance?

  21. ففي ليلاكمُ وَلَهي كما في

    أبي البركات مدحي واعتقادي

    For in your Layla lies my rapture, just as in

    Abu al-Barakat lie my praise and my belief.

  22. إمامٍ فاضلٍ بحرٍ خِضَمٍ

    همامٍ فاصلٍ حَبر جَوادِ

    An eminent imam, a vast ocean,

    A high-minded arbiter, a generous scholar,

  23. زكيِّ النفس محمودِ السجايا

    كريمِ الطبع شهمٍ ذي أيادي

    Pure of soul, praised for his character,

    Noble by nature, gallant, a giver of favors.

  24. من اللائي بنوا للمجد بيتاً

    غدا بالحمد مرفوع العِمادِ

    Of those who built for glory a house

    That became, through praise, lofty-pillared.

  25. فشَيَّد ما بَنَوه بمكرماتٍ

    يعطّر نشرها مثل الشياد

    He raised what they had built with noble deeds;

    Their fragrance perfumes the air like musk.

  26. وتَمَّ بطولِهِ نقص المعالي

    وطال بفضلهِ قِصَرُ السداد

    His bounty made good what exalted virtues lacked,

    And through his excellence sound judgment's short stature grew tall.

  27. وأصبحَ للُعلى بعلاً كريماً

    فأولدَها الثناء بكلّ ناد

    He became nobility's generous husband,

    And begot by her praise in every assembly.

  28. ورامَ صعودَ سدرةِ منتهاها

    ففازَ ودونها خَرط القتادِ

    He sought to climb the lote-tree at her utmost limit,

    And succeeded, though stripping thorn-trees lay before it.

  29. أخو هِمَمٍ إذا جاشت أرتهُ

    محيط البحر شيئاً كالثماد

    A man of high resolves that, when they surged, showed him

    The ocean's expanse as no more than a shallow rainwater pool.

  30. وأخبار بحسن الذكر سارت

    بها الركبان من حَضَرٍوبادي

    Tales of fair renown traveled,

    Borne by riders, townsfolk and desert-dwellers.

  31. لها عبق يلذُّ به المُوالي

    وتعمى منه أحداقُ المعادي

    They bear a fragrance that delights his ally,

    And from it his enemy's eyes go blind.

  32. لقد جاد الزمان على بنيهِ

    به ليُدِلَّهُم طرقَ الرشاد

    Time has indeed been generous to its children

    With him, to show them the paths of right guidance.

  33. فلو لقحت من البدر الثُريا

    لَعَزَّ له شبيهٌ في الولادِ

    Even if the Pleiades conceived by the full moon,

    An equal to him would be rare among the offspring.

  34. هو النور الذي بضياه ضاءت

    بدور العلم في كلّ البلاد

    He is the light by whose radiance shone

    The full moons of learning in every land.

  35. حَياً جاء الشريعة حيث غارت

    مواردها فأروى كل صاد

    He came as life-giving rain to the Law, where had run dry

    Its watering places, and quenched every thirsty soul.

  36. رسا علماً فقَرَّ الدين فيه

    ولولاه لمادَ بلا تمادي

    He stood firm as a mountain, and religion found stability in him;

    Without him, it would have swayed without delay.

  37. عليمٌ أبَّدَ الإسلام علماً

    إذا ضلَّ الهداة فخير هادي

    A learned man who made Islam an enduring beacon;

    When guides go astray, he is the best of guides.

  38. له ذهن يغوص على المعاني

    فيبرز كل دُرٍّ مستجاد

    His mind dives deep for meanings,

    And brings forth every prized pearl.

  39. يُفيدُ الطالبينَ بِحُسنِ لفظ

    بلا هذَرٍ ولكن باتئِاد

    He instructs seekers with graceful expression,

    Without idle talk, but with deliberation.

  40. كثير الصَّمت إن يبدي مقالاً

    ففي الأحكام والعلم المُفادِ

    Much given to silence, if he utters a word,

    It concerns legal rulings and knowledge imparted.

  41. فصيح في الفصاحة لا يُجاري

    بليغ في النظام وفي النشاد

    Fluent of speech, unmatched in eloquence,

    Eloquent in verse-making and in recitation.

  42. فكم في خطة من بنت فكرٍ

    محجَّبَةٍ بخدرٍ من مراد

    How many daughters of thought lie in a written line,

    Veiled in a secluded chamber of intent!

  43. تودّ يراعه الايام يمشي

    بأعُينها وتسمحُ بالسواد

    The days long for his reed-pen to walk

    Upon their eyes, and willingly yield their blackness.

  44. يراعٌ رَوَّعَ القضبَ المواضي

    فلا زالت بأثواب الحداد

    A reed-pen that terrified the keen-edged swords;

    So may they never leave their mourning robes.

  45. مطاعٌ علمه في كلّ مصرٍ

    يقرُّ له المسالِمُ والمعادي

    His learning is obeyed in every city;

    Both friend and foe acknowledge him.

  46. رقى في العلم أقصى منتهاه

    فأدرك منه غاية الاجتهاد

    He climbed to learning's utmost height,

    And reached its utmost in independent legal reasoning.

  47. نبئ العلم والعُلما أقرَّت

    ببعثته فيا ويل الكناد

    A prophet of learning; the scholars have acknowledged

    His mission—woe, then, to the ungrateful!

  48. له كتبٌ تأيد كلُّ علم

    بما فيها فأضحى ذا استناد

    He has books; every science has been strengthened

    By their contents, and so has gained firm support.

  49. تآليفٌ كزهرٍ في رياضِ ال

    مدارسِ نشرها في الطي بادي

    Compositions like flowers in the gardens of the

    Schools, their fragrance apparent even when folded away.

  50. دلائل انتجت تسليمُ فضل

    أقيمت للتحدّي بالعناد

    Proofs that produced acknowledgment of excellence,

    Set forth to challenge stubborn opposition.

  51. تَجَرَّد زاهداً عن حبّ دنيا

    فأُلبسَ حامداً خِلَعَ الرشاد

    He renounced, as an ascetic, the love of worldly life,

    And, giving praise, was clothed in guidance's robes of honor.

  52. فأصبح لا يعزّ عليه شيء

    سموحاً بالطرائف والتلاد

    Then nothing became too precious for him to give,

    Generous with newly acquired and inherited wealth.

  53. ألا يا لائمي في مدح شهمٍ

    عريض الجاه مولى كل جاد

    O you who blame me for praising a gallant man,

    Of vast prestige, patron of every generous soul:

  54. أيُنكَرُ فضلُهُ والفضل منه

    تفرَّقَ في بحابيح المهاد

    Can his excellence be denied, when excellence from him

    Has spread through the broad expanses of the earth?

  55. فمدحي وهو عُشر العشر حقّاً

    ولست به أهيم بكل واد

    My praise is truly but a tenth of a tenth,

    And I do not roam with it through every valley.

  56. ولم يك منكراً للشمس ضوءاً

    سوى من كان نحتاً من جماد

    None ever denied the sun its light

    Except one carved from lifeless matter.

  57. ألا يا من له الإحسان طبع

    وما للعرف فيه من نفاد

    O you for whom beneficence is second nature,

    And whose kindness knows no exhaustion:

  58. تَقَبَّل مدحتي واجعل جزائي

    رضاك فإنّه عين المراد

    Accept my praise, and make my reward

    Your approval, for it is the very object of desire.

  59. ولا تردد يدي لرَكيكِ لفظي

    ولا تنظر بعين الانتقاد

    Do not turn back my hand because my words are weak,

    Nor look with an eye of criticism.

  60. فلا زالت بخدمتك المعاني

    ولا برحت سعودك بازدياد

    May meanings never cease to serve you,

    And may your good fortunes keep increasing.