نادمت بدر السماء في فلكه — Abn Rumi

نادمْتُ بدرَ السماءِ في فَلكِهْ

أجْزِلْ بِحظّ الوليّ من مَلِكِهْ

I drank with heaven's full moon in his orbit.

How lavish the loyal friend's share from his king!

نادَمْتُهُ والحُظُوظُ نافِرةٌ

فاصْدَدْتُ وحْشِيَّهُنَّ في شركه

I drank with him while good fortunes were skittish,

and caught their wild ones in his snare.

مِنْ بعدِ ما خاسَ بي وأسْلَمَنِي

طوْعاً إلى الدهرِ ضامِنُو دَرَكِهْ

After they had broken faith with me and surrendered me,

willingly to Time—those who had pledged redress against it.

هَتَفْتُ للدهرِ باسمِ قاسِمهِ

فانْهَزَمَ الدهرُ وهْو في شِكَكهْ

I called out to Time in its apportioner's name,

and Time was routed, though clad in its armor.

القاسمِ القاسم الرفّاد إذا

أيأسَ ضَرْعُ المُدِرّ من حَشَكِهْ

Al-Qasim, the apportioner, the lavish giver when

the milk-giver's udder offers no hope of brimming.

أبي الحسين الذي به حَسُن ال

سُلْطانُ وابيضَّ بعدما حلكهْ

Abu al-Husayn, through whom grew fair

the sovereign power, and white after its darkness.

فتىً له منظرٌ ومختَبَرٌ

صاغَهُما اللَّهُ من حُلى فَلَكِهْ

A youth whose looks and proven character

God fashioned from His firmament's jewels.

حديثُ سنٍّ كبيرُ معرفةٍ

مُحْتَنكٌ قبل حين محتنكِهْ

Young in years, great in knowledge,

seasoned before his season of maturity.

يعارَك الحُوَّل الأريب بهِ

ليثٌ تُفادي الليوث من عَركهْ

The wily, shrewd man is pitted against him—

a lion from whose grapple lions ransom themselves.

صِيغَ الحجا من سُكُونِه صِيغاً

راقتْ وصيغَ الذكاءُ من حَرَكهْ

Wisdom was cast from his stillness in forms

that delighted, and intelligence was cast from his movement.

يجمعُ ضدَّيْنِ من جلالته

في كل قلب ولُطْف منسلكهْ

He joins two opposites through his majesty

in every heart, and his gentle passage into it.

مستحْكمُ الرأي غيرُ مُخْدَجِهِ

مُصَمّمُ العزمِ غيرُ مُرتَبكهْ

His judgment is fully formed, never stunted;

his resolve steadfast, never entangled.

قد حاز ما في الشبابِ من أنقِ ال

حُسْنِ وما في المشيبِ من حُنَكهْ

He has gained what youth holds of exquisite

beauty, and what gray hair holds of seasoned wisdom.

فهو رضَى العينِ حين تُبْصِرُه

والرأي عَفْواً وبعْدَ مُعْتركهْ

Thus he is the eye's delight when it sees him,

and the mind's, on impulse and after its searching trial.

جاهرْ به المُلْكَ والملوكَ معاً

ولا تُسَتّرْهُ خوف مُنْتَهكهْ

Boast openly of him before kingship and kings alike,

and do not conceal him for fear of one who might dishonor him.

أخُو فعالٍ كأنَّ زُهْرَ نُجو

مِ الليلِ مطبوعةٌ على سككهْ

A man of deeds, as though the bright stars

of night were stamped upon his coins.

مُشْتركُ الحظ لا محصَّله

مُحَصَّلُ المجد غيرُ مشتركهْ

His fortune is shared, not exclusively his;

his glory is exclusively his, not shared.

منتهك المالِ لا ممنَّعه

مُمَنَّعُ العِرضِ غيرُ منتَهكهْ

His wealth is open to plunder, not guarded;

his honor is guarded, never violated.

يحلُو على سَمعه السؤالُ وما

زالتْ نَعَمْ حُلْوةً على حَنَكهْ

Requests are sweet to his hearing, and never

has 'yes' ceased to be sweet upon his palate.

كأنما القطْرُ من ندى يده

والبرَقُ من بِشْرِهِ ومن ضَحكهْ

As though rain came from the dew of his hand,

and lightning from his cheerfulness and laughter.

لم يجْعَلِ الغدْر للوفاءِ أخاً

مُذْ كان في فَتْكه ولا نُسُكهْ

He has never made treachery a brother to fidelity,

since he first existed, neither in his deadly assaults nor his devotion.

طبيعةً لا تزالُ تُخْلِصُها ال

أيَّامُ والتّبر عِنْد مُنْسبكهْ

An inborn nature, ever refined by

the days, like raw gold at its smelting.

كم حسناتٍ له مُشهَّرة

أسَرَّها ما استطاع من مَلَكِهْ

How many good deeds of his are publicly known,

though he concealed them as far as lay within his power.

صيَّرني جودُهُ إلى فُسح ال

عيشِ فأغنيتُ طالبي مُسكهْ

His bounty brought me into the spacious comforts of

life, so I enriched those seeking its bare sustenance.

في منزلٍ برُّ كلّ بادية

من صَحْنِهِ والبحار من بركهْ

In a house where every desert's dry land

is part of its courtyard, and the seas part of its pools.

تَصْبحُني فيه كُلُّ شارقة

جَدْوى حثيث النوالِ مُدَّركهْ

Every sunrise there brings me

bounty, swiftly bestowed, gift following gift.

أُقاتِلُ الحرَّ في غلائلهِ

والقُرَّ في خَزّهِ وفي فَنكِهْ

I fight the heat in his light tunics,

and the cold in his silk-and-wool cloth and his fennec fur.

لو دونيَ البحرُ جاء نائلُهُ

أسْبحَ من فُلكه ومن سَمَكِهْ

If the sea lay in my way, his bounty would come

swimming better than its ships and its fish.

يا ابنَ عُبَيْد الإلهِ يا ابنَ أبي ال

قاسمِ شافي السلطانِ من نُهَكِهْ

O son of Ubayd al-Ilah, O son of Abu

al-Qasim, who healed the sovereign of his exhaustion.

يا ابنَ الوزير السَّديد منزَعُهُ

برغْمِ أنفِ العِدا ومؤتفكهْ

O son of the vizier, unerring in his aim,

to the chagrin of his foes and his slanderer.

يا ابنَ الذي أصبحَتْ مآثرُهُ

من ضحكاتِ الزمان لا ضُحَكهْ

O son of him whose glorious deeds became

Time's smiles, not its laughingstocks;

الجامع الشملَ بعدَ فرقته

والواصلِ الحبلَ بعد منْبتكهْ

who reunited the company after its dispersal,

and rejoined the cord after its severing.

شُكريكَ فرضٌ ولست بالغه

ولستُ في حالةٍ بمُتَّرِكهْ

Thanking you is my duty, yet I cannot fully fulfill it,

and in no circumstance do I abandon it.

خُذْها تهادي إليك طائعةً

مثلَ تهادي الغدير في حُبَكهْ

Accept it, gliding willingly toward you,

like a pool's gentle swaying in its ripples.

نُعْماك في منزلي مخيِّمةٌ

والشّعرُ في نَصِّه وفي رَتَكهْ

Your bounty is encamped within my home,

while poetry goes at full gallop and at a trot.