Sol 6.1

  1. كاد الكمالُ يعودُ ربعاً بلقعا

    حتى رفعتَ منارَهُ فترفّعا

    Perfection almost became a desolate abode,

    until you raised its beacon, so it rose aloft.

  2. ما كنت إلا البدرَ حجّبَ ضوءَهُ

    سِتْرُ الغَمام ومن قريبٍ أقْشعا

    You were but the full moon, whose light was veiled

    by a curtain of cloud that soon dispersed.

  3. شكراً لدهرٍ زاد عنك صروفَهُ

    فثَناكَ محروسَ المحلِّ مرفّعا

    Thanks to an age that increased its vicissitudes away from you,

    then brought you back, your station guarded and exalted.

  4. يغدو من العارِ المدنّسِ عارياً

    ويروحُ بالمجدِ الأثيلِ ملفّعا

    It goes forth at dawn bare of defiling shame,

    and returns at evening wrapped in deep-rooted glory.

  5. أوضحتَ من سُبُلِ المكارمِ ما عَفا

    وشددتَ من أركانِها ما ضُعْضِعا

    You made clear the paths of noble deeds that had faded,

    and strengthened their pillars that had been shaken.

  6. وبنيتَ وجهَ العلمِ أبيضَ ناصعاً

    وتركتَ وجهَ الجهلِ أسودَ أسْفَعا

    And you fashioned knowledge's face white and radiant,

    and left ignorance's face black and swarthy.

  7. ونزعتَ ثوبَ توعّكٍ لا ينثَني

    ولبسْتَ خلعةَ صحةٍ لن تُخْلَعا

    And you shed the garment of unrelenting sickness,

    and donned a robe of health that will never be removed,

  8. من بعدِ أن قال الحواسدُ إنها

    نُزِعَتْ وظنّوا أنها لن تُرْجَعا

    after the envious had said that it

    had been stripped away, and thought it would never be restored.

  9. فكأنما كانتْ وقد عادت له

    شمساً وكان لها هنالك يُشَعا

    It was as though, now that it had returned to him,

    it were a sun, and he its Joshua there.

  10. إن خفّ دوحٌ للمكارمِ أو ذَوى

    فالآنَ أورقَ إذ شُفيتَ وأيْنَعا

    If a spreading tree of noble deeds grew sparse or withered,

    now, since you were healed, it has leafed out and ripened.

  11. عش للموالي والمعادي دائماً

    تَهمي يداكَ ندىً وُسماً مُنقَعا

    Live forever, for ally and foe,

    your hands raining bounty—drenching early-season showers.

  12. والى الذي والى نعيماً سرُّهُ

    وغدا الى الأعداءِ بؤساً أوجَعا

    And to the one he befriends, his inner nature is bliss,

    and to enemies it becomes a most painful misery.

  13. الله أكرمُ أن يضيّعَ ما جدا

    لولاه أبصرت الكمالَ مُضيّعا

    God is too generous to let what he has bestowed be lost.

    Without him, you would have seen perfection squandered.

  14. إن جادَ للعافي أجادَ وإن سعى

    في ضيقِ طُرْقٍ للسماحةِ أوسعا

    If he gives to a petitioner, he excels; and if he makes his way

    along generosity's narrow paths, he makes them wide.

  15. عن نَشْرِه فاحَ النسيمُ معطّراً

    وبشكرِه غنّى الحمامُ مرَجّعا

    The breeze wafted, perfumed with his fragrance,

    and in gratitude to him the doves sang their trilling refrains.

  16. من مُبلغُ الأعداءَ عني أنني

    بمديحِه نلتُ المحلَّ الأرفَعا

    Who will tell the enemies on my behalf that I

    through praising him attained the highest station?

  17. ولبستُ من حَلْيِ المفاخِرِ فائقاً

    وسلكتُ من طُرْقِ المحامدِ مِهْيَعا

    And I wore surpassing ornaments of glory,

    and trod a broad road among the paths of praiseworthy deeds.

  18. وأمِنْتُ من جورِ الزمان بمعْقِلٍ

    ما قال حُظُّ لعاثرٍ إلا لَعا

    And I found safety from time's tyranny in a stronghold

    where Fortune has said to the fallen only, 'Rise again!'

  19. يجري الزمانُ بما تشاءُ صروفُه

    فيُبينُ من أردى ويرعى من رَعى

    Time runs as its vicissitudes desire,

    so it reveals whom it has brought low and guards whom it has guarded.

  20. يا أحمدُ بنَ محمدٍ دعْوى امرئ

    سقّيتَه ماءَ الندى فترعرعا

    O Ahmad son of Muhammad—this is the plea of a man

    whom you watered with bounty's water, so he flourished.

  21. شتّتَ شملَ المالِ أيَّ تشتُّتٍ

    لما رأيتَ الفضلَ منك تجمّعا

    He scattered the gathered wealth utterly,

    when you saw your excellence gathered into one.

  22. وأبحتَهُ لما علمتَ بأنه

    بِدْعُ على شرعِ الندى لن يُمنَعا

    And you made it freely available when you knew that it was

    an innovation under bounty's law, never to be withheld.

  23. حلّتْ مناقِبُك الحسانُ عُقودَها

    من لَبّةِ العلياءِ جيداً أتْلَعا

    Your beautiful virtues adorned, with their necklaces,

    a long neck rising from the bosom of eminence.

  24. لا تعدَمُ الأيامُ منكَ ولا الورى

    يا بنَ الأكارمِ بارعاً متبرّعا

    May neither the days nor humankind lack in you,

    O son of the noble, a gifted man who gives freely.

  25. كم معركٍ للقولِ غادرَ جمعَهُ

    إذ شامَ فضلَك صارماً متصدِّعا

    How many a battlefield of speech he left with its host

    shattered, when it glimpsed your excellence as a sharp sword!

  26. وأسيرِ عُسْرٍ يُسْرَكَ بارقاً

    فسقاهُ هاطلُ دَيْمةٍ تُقْلِعا

    And many a captive of hardship glimpsed your ease as lightning,

    so a steady shower's downpour watered him before it ceased.

  27. وغليلِ ظامٍ للعلومِ أباحَهُ

    من علمِه الوضّاحِ بحراً مترَعا

    And to many a man burning with thirst for learning he offered

    an overflowing sea from his radiant knowledge.

  28. إن طال بالغَ في المعالي وانتهى

    أو قال أعجزَ في الكلامِ وأبدَعا

    If he rises high, he goes to the utmost in lofty pursuits and reaches their summit;

    or speaks, he surpasses others in speech and is brilliantly original.

  29. أما مدائحهُ عليّ فإنّها

    فرضٌ إذا كان المديحُ تطوّعا

    As for poems in his praise, for me they are

    a duty, even when praise is voluntary.

  30. عادت إليه فلاحقتْه سعادةٌ

    باتتْ تُقِضُّ من الحسودِ الأضلُعا

    It returned to him, and good fortune followed him,

    spending the night tormenting the envious man's ribs.