مابعد لقياك للعافين من أملِ

ملك الملوكِ وهذي دولةُ الدولِ

After meeting you, supplicants have nothing left to hope for.

King of kings, and this is the realm of realms.

من حاتمٌ كفَّاك واهبةٌ

حتى غدا مثلاً ناهيك من مثلِ

Who is Hatim? Your two hands bestow,

until he became a proverb—what a proverb indeed!

وما المنونَ من الأنعام تنحرها

لمن يضيف وما عشرٌ من الإبلِ

And what is 'death' [unclear here] among the livestock you slaughter

for whoever comes as a guest, and what are ten camels

من يُطلق الألفَ في طلقٍ

كم بين طلِّ الندى والوابل الهطل

beside one who releases a thousand in a single outpouring?

What a gulf between a sprinkling of dew and a pouring downpour!

ذرِ الصوارمَ في أغمادها فلقد

جلوتها من دماء الهام في خللِ

Leave the keen swords in their sheaths, for indeed

you have burnished them free of heads' blood in the intervals.

والقِ الرماح فقد حاضت حواملها

ففي مضائكَ ما يُغني عن الأسلِ

And cast aside the spears: their pregnant shafts have menstruated;

for your sharp resolve makes spears needless.

لولا مساعي صلاح الدين ما صلحتْ

شمّ الممالك بعد الزيغ والميل

But for the endeavors of Salah al-Din, there would have been no restoration

of the lofty kingdoms after their deviation and decline.

ولا اغتدت السنُ العلياءِ مفصحةً

من بعد ما كنَّ رهن العي والخطلِ

Nor would the tongues of lofty glory have become eloquent

after being captive to inarticulacy and foolish speech.

ملكٌ يرى السنَ السمر اللدان غدتْ

في الجودِ مشتقة من السُن العذلِ

A king who sees the tongues of tawny, supple spears become,

in generosity, derived from the tongues of reproach;

من جوده وسطاه في ندىً ووغى

تغايرا بين بسط الرزق والأجل

one whose generosity and might, in bounty and battle,

have vied in dispensing sustenance and death.

يهزهُ المدحُ هزَّ الجودِِ سائلَهُ

أولاً وحاشاه هزَّ الشارب الثمِلِ

Praise stirs him as generosity stirs its petitioner,

first of all—not, far be it from him, like a drunken drinker.

يممتهُ فبلغت السؤل عن أممٍ

ونلتُ ما لم يكن لي قطّ في أملي

I made for him and reached my desire close at hand,

and gained what had never entered my hopes.

وقام دونيَ مما كنت أحذرهُ

وقعُ الصوارم والعسالةِ الذُّبلِ

And standing between me and what I feared were

the blows of keen swords and quivering, slender spears.

ما تلُّ خالدٍ المعتزُّ جانبهُ

لديكَ إلا ذليلٌ عاجزُ الحيل

Tall Khalid, whose defenses were mighty, is nothing

before you but abased and helpless in stratagems.

دنتْ ودانت لأمر السيف خاضعةً

يلوح في وجنتيها صبغةُ الخجل

She drew near and submitted, yielding to the sword's command,

the flush of shame appearing on her cheeks.

علت فعلت ومن تيهٍ عتتْ فعنت

لحاكم التلفينِ الخوفِ والوجل

She rose high, then sickened; in arrogance she rebelled, then bowed

to the master of the two destroyers, fear and dread.

ما خفتَ مذ كنتَ غيرَ اللهِ من أحدٍ

لذاك خافكَ حتى النومُ في المقل

Since you have existed, you have feared none but God;

thus even sleep within the eyes has feared you.

فلو توخّيتَ هدم السدِّ معتزماً

لذلَّ خوفاً وطوعاً أن تقول زل

Were you to set your will on demolishing the barrier,

it would yield, fearful and willing, to your command, 'Be gone!'

فانهضْ إلى حلبٍ في كل سابقةٍ

سروجها قللٌ تغني عن القلل

Rise, then, toward Aleppo on every fleet mare,

whose saddles are summits that make other summits needless.

يسرْ حواليك أسدٌ غابها أسلٌ

من ذا يطيق لقاءَ الأسد في الأسل

Let lions march around you, their forest made of spears;

who can bear meeting lions amid the spears?

قومٌ إذا كلموا في حال معركةٍ

فكلمهم خالُ خدّ الفارس البطل

Men who, when wounded in the midst of battle,

wear wounds like beauty spots on a valiant horseman's cheek.

وألم بها فبها من أهلها لممٌ

وأنت خوذةُ أهلِ السهل والجبل

And visit her, for madness is among her people,

and you are the helmet of the people of plain and mountain.

هي العقيلة حسناً والزمان بها

متيَّمٌ كلفُ الإحشاءِ غيرَ خلي

She is the noble lady in beauty, and Time with her

is love-enslaved, lovesick in his entrails, not carefree.

رشيقةُ القدِّ لا تسمو إليه يدٌ

أسيلةُ الخدِّ لا تدنو من القبل

Slender in figure, beyond the reach of any hand;

smooth of cheek, beyond the approach of kisses.

كم مقلةٍ سهرتْ وجداً بمقلتها

لم تكتحلْ بكرىً شوقاً إلى الكحل

How many an eye has stayed awake, lovesick for her eye,

taking no sleep as kohl, in longing for kohl.

بكرُ المعاقل فاخطبها مكابرةً

بكلِّ ألمى أصمِّ الكعب معتدل

The virgin of fortresses—woo her by force,

with every dark-lipped spear, solid-jointed and straight.

فما سواك لها بعلٌ وقد عطلتْ

فحلِّها بتلافيها من العطل

She has no husband but you, and she has gone unadorned;

so adorn her by rescuing her from her lack of jewels.

شمسٌ فأسبغْ عليها الجوَّ من طفلٍ

بيضا اطلع بها قطعا من الأصل

A sun—so drape the sky above her with dusk;

white blades—bring forth with them patches of evening,

بكلّ لدنٍ سديدٍ لا بهِ

وكلُّ عضبٍ صقيلٍ غير ذي فلل

with every supple, straight shaft—no [word missing] in it—

and every keen, polished blade, without a notch,

وكلُّ أشعث وضاحِ الفعال إذا

لاقى الأسنَّة لا يؤتى من الفشل

and every disheveled man, radiant in deeds, who,

when he meets the spearheads, gives no opening through cowardice.

ما فتحها غير إقليد الممالك والد

داعي إليك جميع الخلق والملل

Her conquest is but the key to kingdoms and the—

summoner of all people and faiths to you.

وما عصتْ منعةً لكنّهُ غضبٌ

علامَ أهملتها إهمال مبتذل

She has not rebelled through invulnerability; it is anger:

Why have you neglected her like something of no account?

غارت وحقّك من جاراتها فشكت

ما باله بافتضاضي غير محتفل

By your honor, she envied her neighbors and complained,

'Why is he unconcerned with deflowering me?'

وليس يجمع أشتات العلى رجلٌ

من ليس يجمعُ بين القول والعمل

No man gathers the scattered heights of glory

who does not unite word and deed.

فليعلم القدسُ أن الفتح منتظرٌ

حاولهُ وعلى الآفاق فليطل

Let Jerusalem know that conquest is awaited;

attempt it, and let it look out across the horizons.

وافاك يوسفُ يا بيتَ الخليل فلا

تيأسْ فانك فيه صادقُ الأمل

Yusuf has come to you, O House of al-Khalil, so do not

despair: your hope in him is true.

وما السواحلُ إلَّا كالفرات إذا

وافى فإن لم تحط علماً بهِ فسل

The coasts are only like the Euphrates when

he arrives; if you do not fully know him, ask.

فلا تضعهُ فما الدين الحنيف على

خلقٍ سواك من الدنيا بمتّكل

So do not abandon it; the upright faith relies

on no creature in this world other than you.

وأنعمْ بكاملةِ الأوصاف سابغةِ الـ

ـأعطاف تختال بين الحلي والحلل

And how splendid the poem, perfect in qualities, with flowing—

folds, strutting among jewels and robes!

أغنى مديحك عن ذكر النسيب فما

وقفتُ فيها على ربعٍ ولا طلل

Praising you dispensed with the love prelude, so I did not

pause in it at a dwelling or a ruined campsite.

وبتُّ أحمد عيسى إذا بلغنك بي

فما ذممتُ مسير العيس والإبل

And I spent the night praising Isa, when they brought me to you;

so I found no fault with the journey of pale camels and camels.

وشمت وجهك في سحب الخيام فما

شمت الوجوه اللواتي سرنَ في الكلل

And I beheld your face in the clouds of tents, so I did not

behold the faces that traveled in curtained litters.

وسحَّ نقسي بتسطير الثناء فلم

تسفح دموعي بين العذر والعذل

And my ink poured forth in inscribing praise, so

my tears were not shed between excuses and reproach.

حوت صفاتك لم تحتج إلى غزلٍ

وفي صفاتك ما يغني عن الغزل

It encompassed your qualities, needing no love poetry;

and in your qualities is what makes love poetry needless.

كذلك من حاول العلياء منزلةً

فليأتِ أبوابها من أوضح السبل

Thus whoever seeks lofty glory as his station

should approach its gates by the clearest paths.