حويت الشكر من بعد وأين — Al Tutili

حَوَيْتَ الشكرَ مِنْ بُعدٍ وأيْنِ

وحُزْتَ الفخرَ مِنْ أثرٍ وَعَين

You have won gratitude from afar and through weariness,

and gained glory through report and firsthand sight.

فلا صَفِرَتْ يداكَ منَ المعالي

فإني منكَ مملوءُ اليدين

May your hands never be empty of lofty honors,

for through you, both my hands are full.

وَلُحْ بينَ النجومِ أعزَّ منها

فإنّكَ بينَ أيّامي وبيني

Shine among the stars, more exalted than they,

for you stand between my days and me.

وما تنفكُّ ردْءاً للمعالي

وزيناً للأنامِ وأيَّ زين

You never cease to support lofty deeds,

and to adorn mankind—what an adornment!

أَنَوءَ المِرْزَمَيْنِ إليكَ عنّي

ففي يمناهُ نوءُ المرزمين

O rain of the two Mirzam stars, away from me!

For in his right hand lies the rain of the two Mirzam stars.

لديه صار شَمْلي كالثريّا

وكانَ بغيرِهِ كالشّعْرَيَين

With him, my fortunes clustered like the Pleiades,

whereas without him they were like the two Shiʿra stars.

فقلْ للفرقَدَيْنِ يُسامِياني

إلى خطَّينِ أو في خطّتَين

Tell the two Farqad stars to rival me in height,

along two lines, or in two courses.

إذا أصغَى الوزيرُ إلى ثَنَائي

فإني ثالثٌ للفرقدين

When the vizier listens to my praise,

I become a third beside the two Farqad stars.

فذر يَزَنٍ أنا أو ذو نُواسٍ

ومعذرةُ الإلهِ لذي رُعَيْن

Then I am Dhu Yazan, or Dhu Nuwas [reading uncertain];

and God's pardon be upon Dhu Ruʿayn.

إليكَ تدافعتْ خُوْصُ المطايا

بِجَوْبِ الأرْضِ بين وجىً وأين

Toward you pressed the sunken-eyed riding camels,

crossing the earth between footsoreness and weariness,

بكلِّ مقلّصِ السّربالِ ضرْبٍ

عزيزٍ في صُرُوفِ الدهر بين

with every lean, short-robed man,

mighty amid time's vicissitudes, unmistakably so.

سَما من جانِبَيْهِ إلى المعالي

على خطَرٍ منيعِ الجانبين

From both sides he rose toward lofty honors,

upon a high station, impregnable on both sides.

يخوضُ إليكَ غمرةَ كلِّ هولٍ

إذا لم يَصْلَ جاحمَ كلِّ حَيْنِ

He plunges toward you through the depths of every terror,

when he is not scorched by the blaze of every doom.

ويخترقُ الدُّجضى جُنْحاً فَجُنْحاً

وقد رانتْ عليه كلَّ رَيْنِ

He cleaves through darkness, stretch after stretch,

though it has enveloped him with every veil,

إلى أنْ ساعَفَتْكَ به الليالي

على صِدْقٍ حَذَتْه به وَمَيْن

until the nights favored you with him,

with the truth and falsehood they had bestowed upon him.

وَقَبَّلَ رَاحَتَيْكَ فلا تَلُمْني

إذا ما قلتُ قَبَّلَ دِيمَتَين

He kissed your two palms, so do not blame me

if ever I say he kissed two gentle showers.

تَقَلَّدْتَ النَّدى والبأسَ عمداً

فَصُلْتَ بأبيضينِ مُهَنّدين

You deliberately girded yourself with generosity and valor,

and charged with two gleaming Indian-steel blades.

وَخُيّرْتَ الثراءَ أوِ المَعَالي

وتاهَ الناسُ قِدْماً بينَ ذَيْن

You were given a choice of wealth or lofty honors,

and people have long wandered astray between those two.

وكانا خُطَّتَيْ كَرَمٍ ولكنْ

سَمَوْتَ إلى أجلِّ الخطتين

Both were noble courses, yet

you rose to the loftier of the two.

نَضَتْ دارُ الخلافةِ منكَ نَصْلاً

صقيلَ المتنِ ماضِيْ المضْرِبين

The house of the caliphate drew from you a blade,

polished along its back, keen on both cutting edges.

جَرَى الموتُ الزؤامُ على قَرَاهُ

كآثارِ النّيالِ على اللُّجَيْن

Swift death coursed along its back,

like the indigo-dyer's marks upon silver.

وَأيْنَ السيفُ نسبتُكَ ابنُ قيلٍ

وَحَسْبُ السَّيْفِ أنْ يُدْعَى ابنَ قين

What is a sword beside you? By lineage, you are a king's son;

a sword must be content to be called a smith's son.

أقمتَ العدلَ بالقِسْطَاسِ فينا

ولم تحفلْ بعذلِ العاذلين

You established justice among us with the balance,

and paid no heed to the censurers' blame.

وكمْ منْ لائمٍ لكَ في المعالي

كأنَّ له عليكَ فضولَ دين

How many a critic reproaches you for your noble deeds,

as though he held an outstanding debt against you!

أتاكَ بِنُصْحِهِ جَوْراً وَجهلاً

كما نَصَح الأمينَ أبو الحسين

He came to you with counsel, unjustly and ignorantly,

as Abu al-Husayn counseled al-Amin.

أذلُّ لديكَ منْ وَتِدٍ بقاعٍ

وَأقْبَحُ فيه من بَرَصٍ بكين

More abased before you than a stake in a plain,

and uglier in it than vitiligo on a vulva,

فآبَ اليومَ منك وليس يَدْري

بخطِّ الباهليِّ من الحُضين

he returned from you today, unable to distinguish

al-Bahili's handwriting from al-Hudayn's.

أنا أُهْدِي إليكَ الشعرَ حقاً

وبعضُ الشعر همزةُ بينَ بين

I truly offer you poetry,

while some poetry is an 'in-between' hamza.

ولي أدَبٌ أمتُّ إليكَ منه

بأنصاريَّة وبهجرتين

I have literary learning through which I claim a bond with you,

through an Ansari affiliation and two migrations.

ولما كنتَ بغدادَ القَوافي

جلبتُ إليكَ ماءَ الرافدين

Since you were the Baghdad of rhymes,

I brought you the water of the Two Rivers.

وكم جارٍ ليدرِكَ منْ غُباري

تردَّى لِلْجَبينِ ولليدين

How many a runner, trying to catch some of my dust,

tumbled onto his forehead and both hands!

وقدْ وَأبيكَ أعْذَرَ غيرَ آلٍ

ولكنّي بعيدُ الغايتين

And, by your father, he did his utmost, sparing no effort;

but I am far beyond reach at both finish lines.

وَأنتَ أبا الحسينِ لنا ربيعٌ

على رَغْمِ الذينَ أو اللَّذَيْن

You, Abu al-Husayn, are springtime to us,

despite them, whether many or two.

سَدَدْتَ مَفَاقِري وَأشَدْتَ باسمي

فها أنا منكَ بينَ عِنَايَتَيْنِ

You met my needs and made my name renowned;

so here I stand between two forms of your care.

كفيتَ تصاوُنِي وكففتَ فَقري

بقاسٍ منْ شُئُونيَ أو بِلَيْن

You preserved my dignity and checked my poverty,

whether my circumstances were harsh or gentle.

وقدماً كنتُ بينهما كأني

أسيرُ اثنينِ أو زوجُ اثنتين

Formerly, between those two, I seemed

a captive of two men, or a husband to two women.

أُلاقي ذا وذلكَ منْ مديحي

بأضيعَ من دُرَيْد في حُنَين

I meet this one and that with praise of mine,

more wasted than Durayd at Hunayn.

وألتمسُ العَلاء بغيرِ مالٍ

سِوَى الشّكْوَى بِقَلْبٍ أو بعين

I seek high standing without wealth,

save complaint through heart or eye.

وما تُغْني الصلاة بلا طَهُورٍ

ولو شُرِعَتْ بِطُولى الطُّولَيَين

Prayer avails nothing without purification,

even if begun with the longer of the two long surahs.

فعدتُ كأنني غذ قلَّ مالي

خشيتُ عليه أختَ بني خشين

So I became as though, when my wealth dwindled,

I had feared for it the sister of Banu Khushayn.

أهنّيكَ المكارمَ والمعالي

وإنكَ منهما في حِلْيَتَيْن

I congratulate you on noble deeds and lofty honors,

for you wear their two adornments,

وفتحاً كنتَ أحْظَى النّاسِ فيه

فدونكَ أكرمَ الأكرومتين

and on a victory in which you were the most fortunate of men;

so accept the nobler of the two honors.

وإن العيدَ جاءَك وَهْوَ يَسْعى

على وَجَلين من هجرٍ وبين

Indeed, Eid came to you in haste,

with two fears: estrangement and separation.

جعلتُ به رِضاكَ بديلَ حَجّي

فيهنيني أَبرُّ المَنْسِكَيْن

On that day, I made your approval a substitute for my pilgrimage;

so may the more righteous of the two rites gladden me.