رويدا إن للضيق انفراجا — Ahmad Alkiwani

رُوَيداً إِن لِلضيق اِنفِراجاً

كَما يَستَلزم اللَيل اِنبِلاجا

Be patient: hardship surely has relief,

Just as night entails the breaking of dawn.

بِحُسن نَظارة الفَتح المرجى

رَجاء الجامع الأَموي راجا

Through the fine stewardship of al-Fath, in whom hope is placed,

The Umayyad Mosque's hope prospered.

وَكانَ لِسانُهُ الحاليّ يَشكو

إِلى نَظَر يُلاحظهُ اِحتياجا

And its tongue of circumstance had complained

To a gaze that would attend to it, of its need.

وَذَلِكَ إِذ خلت مائة وَأَلف

وَست ثُمَّ خَمسون اِندِراجا

And this was when a hundred and a thousand had elapsed,

And six, then fifty, were counted with them.

بِغَوث الفَرد للامويّ أَرخ

بِفَتح اللَهِ قَد كَسب اِبتِهاجا

By the aid of the One, record the Umayyad Mosque's date:

Through Fath Allah, it has gained joy.

فَأَدرَكَهُ مِن الباري غَياث

كَما قَد فاجَأَ الغَيث الفِجاجا

So succor from the Creator reached it,

Just as rain suddenly surprises the mountain passes.

وَكانَ إِذاً ذُيول الريح مَرَّت

تَكادُ بِأَن تُثير بِهِ العَجاجا

And then, when the wind's trailing skirts swept past,

They nearly stirred up clouds of dust within it.

وَأَعوزَهُ الحَصير وَلَو يُراعى

أَكيد حُقوقِهِ فَرَشوهُ ساجا

And it lacked matting; had due regard been paid

To its binding rights, they would have floored it with teak.

مرمَّتهُ وَخدمتهُ ثَواب

وَقلَّ لَهُ وَإِن سَقَفوهُ عاجا

Repairing and tending it earns divine reward;

And even roofing it with ivory would be little for it.

دَرانكهُ وَآنكة وَكانَت

تَروق العَين وَشياً وَاِندِماجا

Its pile rugs and leadwork, which once

Delighted the eye with patterning and cohesion,

غَدَت قَطعاً تهاجرن اِنفِراداً

فَلا وَصلاً هُناكَ وَلا اِزِدواجا

Became fragments, each shunning the others in isolation:

So there was no joining there, nor any pairing.

فَوفى حَق خَدَمتِهِ قِياما

بِما يَرضى المُناجي وَالمُناجا

So he fulfilled its right to care, undertaking

What pleases the supplicant and the One invoked.

وَجَدّد كُل دَرس فيهِ نَشر

لعلم الدين بَحثاً وَاِحتِجاجا

And he renewed every lesson that disseminated

Religious knowledge through inquiry and argument.

أَقامَ بِهِ شَعائرهُ اِحتِساباً

فَعادَ إِلَيهِ رَونَقُهُ وَعاجا

He upheld its rites there, seeking divine reward;

So its splendor returned to it and settled there.

هَمام إِن تَكلم في مهم

بِحَرف واحد قَطع اللجاجا

A man of high resolve: if he spoke on a grave matter,

With a single word he cut short the wrangling.

وَإِن دَهمت خُطوب وَأَدلهمت

رَأَينا رَأيُهُ فيها سِراجا

And if calamities struck and grew dark,

We saw his judgment as a lamp amid them.

وَكَم مِن مُشكل بِدمشق أَعيا

معالجه فَكانَ لَهُ عِلاجا

And many a problem in Damascus baffled

Its would-be healer, yet he became its cure.

بِعَزم لا يَعوج عَلى فُتور

وَحَزم لا تَرى فيهِ إِعوِجاجا

With a resolve that never bends toward slackness,

And firm judgment in which you see no crookedness.

أَمد اللَه هِمَتُهُ بعز

وَروجها الَّذي خَلق الرَواجا

May God support his resolve with might,

And may He who created prosperity make it prosper.

وَمازج طَبعُهُ حُب المَعالي

بِحَيث غَدا لِهمَتِهِ مَزاجا

And love of lofty pursuits mingled with his nature,

So that it became the very temper of his resolve.

خَلائِقُهُ الزلال فَإِن تَعدى

عَلَيهِ مُجتَرٍ عادَت أَجاجا

His traits are sweet, clear water; but if one transgresses

Against him—a brazen offender—they turn bitter and briny.

إِذا اِجتَرَأَت عَلى اسد نعاج

وَنامَ لَها فَقَد حاكى النِعاجا

If ewes dare to challenge a lion,

And he sleeps before them, then he has become like the ewes.

فَلا زالَ اسمُهُ يَعتاد سَوحاً

مربعات لَهُ تَأَبى الرِتاجا

So may his name never cease frequenting open courts,

Verdant for him, refusing closed gates.

وَلا عَدمت مَساعيهِ اللَواتي

غَدَونَ لِهامة العَلياءِ تاجا

And may his endeavors never be lost, those

That have become a crown upon the head of lofty glory.