يسعى الحريص ورزقه مقسوم — Al Jazzar Ibn Al Saraqu…

يَسعى الحَريص وَرزقه مَقسومُ

وَالحرص مَرتعه الخَصيب وَخيم

The greedy man strives, though his provision is allotted.

And greed's fertile pasture is noxious.

لَو نالَ بِالحَزم امرؤ حَظ الغنى

ماتَ الفَتى الكَسلان وَهُوَ عَديم

If a man gained a share of wealth through resolve,

the idle young man would die destitute.

سَبق القَضاء بِكُل ما هُوَ كائن

فمن النهي التَفويضُ وَالتَسليم

Destiny has already decreed all that will be;

so wisdom lies in entrusting matters and submitting.

قَد قَسَّمَ الأَرزاق بَينَ عِباده

رَبٌ رَؤوف بِالعِباد رَحيم

Livelihoods have been apportioned among His servants

by a Lord compassionate and merciful to His servants.

حرص الفَتى سَببٌ إِلى حِرمانهِ

وَطلابُهُ ما لَيسَ يُدرك شوم

A young man's greed is a cause of his deprivation,

and his pursuit of what cannot be attained is ill fortune.

ما بال دُنياي الدَنية لَم تُقم

أَودي أَكلُّ مَفوهٍ مَحروم

What ails my base world, that it has not straightened

my crookedness? Is every eloquent man deprived?

نُوديت واحدها وَرُخمت المُنى

بئس النِداء وَراءه التَرخيم

I was hailed as its unrivaled one, and my hopes were cut short.

Wretched is the call when truncation follows it!

قَدر عن الآمال أَصبَح مُقعدي

وَمِن المقادرِ مُقعَدٌ وَمُقيم

Fate has come to hold me back from my hopes;

and among decrees are those that seat one and those that raise one.

لا تَجزَعي يا نَفس إِن خَطبٌ عَدا

فَالحُر يَعثر تارَةً وَيَقوم

Do not despair, O soul, if calamity strikes;

for the noble man sometimes stumbles and rises.

لَيسَ العَجيب بِأن غَيري راضِعٌ

ثّدي المُراد وَأَنَّني مَفطوم

It is no wonder that another suckles

the breast of desire, while I am weaned.

فَكَذا الزَمان بِأَهلِهِ مُتَقَلب

لا البُؤس فيهِ وَلا النَعيم يَدوم

For such is time, fickle toward its people:

neither misery nor bliss in it endures.

إِن الفَقيه أَبا الوَليد المُنتقى

وَزرٌ كَفيل بِالمُراد زَعيم

Indeed, the chosen jurist Abu al-Walid

is a refuge, a surety for one's desire, a guarantor.

لَولا سُلوك يَمينه سبلَ النَدى

دَرَست وَلَم يُعلم لَهن رُسوم

Had his right hand not trodden the paths of bounty,

they would have faded, with no known traces left.

يا أَيُّها المَحروم مَأمول المُنى

أَجهلتَ أَن عَطاءه مَحتوم

O you denied the fulfillment of your hopes,

were you unaware that his giving is assured?

لا تَعدُ لُقياهُ وَزره مُسلِماً

فَلِقاؤُهُ يَكفيك وَالتَسليم

Seek no more than meeting him, and visit him with a greeting;

for meeting him and greeting him will suffice you.

وَأَنخ بِباب رِحابه بدن الرَجا

ء وَلا تخم فَالجود فيهِ خيم

And make hope's great camels kneel at the gate of his courts,

and do not shrink back, for generosity is his nature.

أَضفى الوقار عَلَيهِ حلة هَيبَةٍ

تَطريزُها التَبجيل وَالتَعظيم

Dignity has clothed him in a robe of awe;

its embroidery is veneration and exaltation.

مُتَواضع في رفعة ذي همةٍ

تَسمو إِلى كسب العَلا وَتَهيم

Humble in exalted rank, endowed with an ambition

that soars toward winning glory and is enamored of it.

همم سمت رتبَ العلا حَتّى غَدَت

وَكَأَنَّها فَوقَ النُجوم نُجوم

Ambitions rose beyond the ranks of glory, until they were

like stars above the stars.

مُتَوقد الآراء يَقظان النُهى

طبٌّ بِأَدواء الزَمان عَليم

His thoughts blaze; his intellect is wakeful,

an expert well versed in the ailments of the age.

حُلو وَمُر للمرير مَذاقه

كَالدَهر فيهِ شَقاوَةٌ وَنَعيم

Sweet, yet his taste is bitter to the bitter man,

like time, in which are misery and bliss.

شادَ العلا بيد العَطاء فَمجده

عالي البِناء وَغَيره مَهدوم

He built glory with the hand of giving; thus his glory

is lofty in its construction, while others' is demolished.

مِن مَعشَرٍ ما زالَ في أَموالهم

حَق لِمَن يَرجوهم مَعلوم

He is of a people in whose wealth there has always been

an acknowledged share for those who place hope in them.

الفَضل فيهِ وَفي ذَويه لَم يَزَل

مِنهُ حَديث فيهمُ وَقَديم

Excellence has never ceased in him and his kin;

among them are both new and ancient instances of it.

لِلّه مِنهُ أَيُّ فارس مَقولٍ

يَعنو لَهُ المَنثور وَالمَنظوم

By God, what a knight of speech he is!

Prose and verse bow before him.

ماضٍ أَقامَ مَنار كُل فَضيلةٍ

وَأَسال سَيل الجود وَهُوَ عَريم

Resolute, he raised the beacon of every virtue,

and made generosity's torrent flow in all its might.

وَفَقيه شورى إِن تعرض مشكلٌ

جَلّى دُجى الأَشكال وَهُوَ عَديم

And a jurist of counsel: if a difficult question arises,

he dispels perplexity's darkness, and it is no more.

ضافي الذُيول مِن السَكينة وَالتُقى

يَقظان مَأمون الجِهات سَليم

With ample, trailing hems of serenity and piety,

watchful, trustworthy on every side, unblemished.

مُتَبَرع بِبَلاغة وَفَصاحةٍ

تَعنو إِلَيها يَعرب وَتَميم

Lavish with eloquence and clarity of speech,

before which Ya'rub and Tamim bow.

قَد شَدَ أزر المأثرات كَما تَرى

شَدَّ البِناء الواهي التَدعيم

He has strengthened noble deeds, as you see

reinforcement strengthen a frail building.

عقم الزَمان عَن أَن يَجيء بِمثله

إِن الزَمان بِمثله لَعَقيم

Time has grown barren, unable to bring forth his like;

indeed, time is barren of anyone like him.

يا مِن يُؤنبه عَلى صِلة النَدى

أَعلمتَ مِن في المُكرَمات تَلوم

O you who rebuke him for bestowing bounty,

do you know whom you blame for noble deeds?

هَيهات نَقل الصَخر أَعسَرُ مَطلَباً

أَن يَستَحيل عَن العَطاء كَريم

Impossible! Moving rock is a harder undertaking

than for a generous man to turn away from giving.

لَيسَ اِبتِذال المال يُفنيه وَلا

يُبقيهِ في كَف اللَئيم اللوم

Freely spending wealth does not consume it, nor

does reproach preserve it in the base man's hand.

حسب الكَريم محامد تَبقى لَهُ

وَكَفى اللَئيم بِأَنَّهُ مَذموم

For the generous man, enduring praise is enough;

and enough for the base man is that he is condemned.

لَما رَأَيت سَماءَ جودك زُيِّنَت

بِنُجومِ جودٍ نوؤها مَسجوم

When I saw the sky of your generosity adorned

with stars of bounty whose rain pours down,

أَرسَلت شَيطانَ اِفتِقاري سامِعاً

فَلَعله بِشهابها مَرجوم

I sent the demon of my poverty to listen,

so perhaps he will be pelted by its shooting star.