مسلسل الدمع أسير الفؤاد

يهيم بالتذكار في ألف واد

His tears an unbroken chain, his heart a captive,

he wanders through a thousand valleys in remembrance.

مجتهد الأوقات في حبكم

وهو مع الواشي بكم في جهاد

He strives at all times in his love for you,

while battling the slanderer over you.

ما عقد الليل لأجفانه

هدباً ولا حل عقودَ الوداد

Night has never knotted his eyelids’

lashes, nor untied the bonds of love.

يا عاذلي فات حديث الأسى

فما حديث العذل بالمستفاد

O my reprover, sorrow’s tale is past;

nothing is gained from talk of reproach.

دع أدمعي بالجود فياضةً

فالسابقُ السابقُ منها الجواد

Let my tears pour forth generously,

for the foremost—the foremost among them—is the noble steed.

ربّ ليالٍ لو بلغت المنى

فديتها من ناظري بالسواد

Many a night—had I attained my wishes—

I would have ransomed with the black of my eye.

مضت بلذاتيَ واستخلفت

ليالياً ألبسها كالحداد

They passed away with my pleasures and left in their stead

nights I wear like mourning clothes.

إن يغدُ رأسي أشهباً بعد ما

باد الصبى فالعذر كالصبح باد

If my head turns gray after

youth has perished, my excuse is plain as dawn.

مات الصبى واحترقت مهجتي

ففوق رأسي قد نثرت الرماد

Youth has died, and my heart has burned,

so I have scattered ashes over my head.

مقسم الأحشاءِ ين الأسى

كأنعم الأفضل بين العباد

My entrails are parceled out among sorrows,

like al-Afdal’s bounties among humankind.

الملك العابد نام الورى

بعدله وهو كثير السهاد

The devout king—mankind sleeps

under his justice, while he is often sleepless.

ذو الجود في عسر ويسر ومن

مثل ذوي التجريب في كل ناد

Generous in hardship and ease, and one

like men of experience in every gathering;

والهيبة العظمى التي أصلحت

بذكرها السائر أهل الفساد

and his is the supreme majesty that has reformed,

through its far-spreading fame, the people of corruption.

من اتقى الله اتقت بأسه

كواسر الأفق وغلبُ الوهاد

Whoever fears God—his might is feared by

the horizon’s raptors and the lowlands’ thick-necked lions.

بينَ كتاب ومصلى إذا

أمسى سواه بين كأسٍ وشاد

He stays between a book and a place of prayer when

others spend the evening between winecup and singer.

قد ساد من قبل الصبى سابقاً

قولهم السؤدد قبل السواد

He attained lordship before his youth, outstripping

their saying: “Lordship before the beard’s blackness.”

وحاز بيت المال من إرثه

فشدّ مبناه وأوفى وزاد

And he acquired the treasury by inheritance,

then strengthened its structure, filled it, and added more.

أحسن به بيتاً نظيم العلى

بلا زحافٍ في الثنا أو سناد

How fine a house it is, its glories finely strung,

with neither metrical shortening in its praise nor faulty rhyme.

بين ملوك خلصت بيضهم

دين الهدى من أهل دين العناد

Among kings whose white blades delivered

the faith of guidance from the followers of defiance’s creed,

وانشروا الآمال بعد البلى

ونفقوا الأشعار بعد الكساد

and revived hopes after decay,

and gave poetry currency after stagnation.

يا ملكاً أصبح في الدين والد

نيا سعيدَ الجد والاجتهاد

O king who has become, in faith and in the world,

blessed in fortune and endeavor,

عش كسليمان على ملكه

تعرض هذي الصافنات الجياد

live like Solomon in his kingship,

with these poised, noble steeds displayed before you.