جوارك من ضيم الخطوب مجير — Al Tutili

جِوَارُكَ منْ ضَيْم الخُطُوبِ مُجيرُ

وأنتَ على صَرْفِ الزَّمانِ أمير

Your protection shelters against the oppression of calamities,

And you are master over time's reversals.

وَكُلُّ جَوَادٍ عن مَدَاكَ مُقَصِّرٌ

وكلُّ كبيرٍ عن نَدَاكُ صغير

Every generous man falls short of your reach,

And every great man is small beside your bounty.

وظلُّكَ فَضْفَاضُ الغَلائِلِ سَجْسجٌ

وماؤُكَ فَيَّاض الجِمامِ نمير

Your shade, its robes flowing wide, is temperate,

And your water overflows its pools, pure and sweet.

وروضُكَ مطلولُ الجَنابِ صَقِيلُهُ

تَضَاحكَ نُوَّارٌ وأشْرَق نور

Your garden's borders are dew-drenched and gleaming;

Blossoms laugh together, and light shines forth.

وَأرْضُكَ أرضٌ للمكارمِ والعلا

تُناوِحُ هُضْبٌ أو تَعُبُّ بحور

Your land is a land of noble deeds and lofty rank:

Hills face one another, or seas surge.

وذكرُكَ لا ما دَنْدنض المسكُ حوله

بكيتَ وكيتٍ والكلامُ كثيرُ

And your renown—not what musk murmurs [unclear reading] around it,

With “such-and-such” and “so-and-so”—and words are many.

وبشرُكَ لا لمعٌ من البرقِ شامَه

مُلِظٌّ بأَكْنافِ البيوتِ حسير

Your cheerful welcome is no lightning-glimmer glimpsed

By a weary man lingering about the edges of houses.

يصرِّفه مَرُّ السنين بنهضةٍ

إلى الشيءِ أيْنٌ دونَهُ وفتور

The passing years drive him to an effort

Toward some goal, with exhaustion and languor before it.

وبات عليه ليلُ غَرْثَانَ بائسٍ

يطولُ على راعيه وهو قصير

Over him passed a hungry, wretched man's night,

Long for its watcher, though the night is short.

تململَ والتفَّتْ عليه غياهبٌ

تَرَى النجم فيها يَهْتَدي ويَجُور

He tossed and turned as deep darkness wrapped around him,

Where you see the star keep its course and stray.

وضافتْهُ أبكارُ الخطوب وَعُونُها

فكلٌّ لكلٍّ مُنْجدٌ وظهير

Calamities came as his guests, maidens and matrons,

Each helping and supporting the other.

فَبَيْناهُ يَقْريها حُشَاشَةَ نَفْسِهِ

وقد كاثَرتْهُ تَنْبرِي وَتَثُور

Then, while he fed them the last remnant of his life,

And they overwhelmed him in numbers, advancing and rising up,

تَنَسّمَ تلقاءَ الجنوبِ أو الصَّبا

نسيمُ الحيا تسْري به وتسير

From the south wind's quarter, or the east, there breathed

A breath of rain, borne along in the wind's nightly journey.

فما راعَه إلا تَبَسُّمُ بارقٍ

كما جال فكرٌ أو أشارَ ضمير

Nothing startled him except a lightning-flash's smile,

As a thought flits by or an inward feeling signals.

فأتْبَعَهُ طرفاً يودُّ لو أنَّهُ

عليه دليلٌ أو إليه سَفير

He sent his gaze after it, wishing that gaze might be

A guide to it, or an envoy sent toward it.

فما ارتدَّ حتى جلَّلَ الأُفْقَ مارجاً

يُوهّمه أنَّ الظلامَ سعير

Before his gaze returned, the flash had cloaked the horizon in flame,

Making him imagine that the darkness was a blazing fire.

وهبَّتْ على اسمِ الله أما نسيمها

فَرَوْحٌ وأما نَشْرُها فنشور

The wind blew—in God's name! As for its breeze,

It was relief; as for its fragrance, it was resurrection.

وهبت إلى أن ضاق عنها مهبها

صباً في ذيول المعصرات عثور

It blew until its own course could no longer contain it:

An east wind stumbling in the trailing skirts of rain-clouds.

وَهَبَّتْ فهبتْ كلُّ وطفاءَ جَوْنَةٍ

تكادُ تَفَرَّى أو تكادُ تفور

It blew, and every shaggy, black cloud rose,

Almost splitting apart, almost boiling over.

من اللائي لم ينهضنَ إلا تَدافُعَاً

تَكَدَّسُ أعجازٌ لها وصدور

Clouds that rose only by jostling one another,

Their rears and breasts heaping together.

دَلُوحٌ على هزِّ الرياح وأزّها

تَرَاكمَ وَدْقٌ واكفهرَّ صبير

Heavy-laden under the winds' shaking and goading,

Rain amassed, and the cloud-bank grew dark.

تمرُّ بِمَلْمُومِ الهِضَابِ فما تني

ولا تنثني حتى تَراهُ يصور

It passes a close-packed mass of hills, never slackening,

Nor turning aside until it sees the massif bow.

كذلك حتى حَدَّثَتْهُ عنِ المنى

فأصْغَى ولو أنَّ الملامَ عسير

So it continued until it spoke to him of hopes,

And he listened, though reproach is hard to bear.

وحتى أرَتْهُ كلَّ بيضاءَ شَحْمَةً

ولو أنها في راحتيه قَتير

Until it showed him every white thing as a lump of fat,

Even if, within his palms, it were mere gray hairs.

خَشُنْتَ فلم تَتْرُكْ وأنتَ مُنَازَعٌ

وَلِنْتَ ولم تأخُذْ وأنت قدير

You were stern and yielded nothing when opposed,

And gentle, taking nothing though you had the power.

وَوَقَرْتَ والهيجا يَجيشُ غمارها

وحتى لداء الموت أنت مبير

You remained composed while battle's depths seethed;

You are a destroyer even of the malady of death.

وأنت إذا ما الخيلُ جرَّتْ شكيمَها

وللموتِ عِيْرٌ بينها وَنَفِير

And you, when the horses drag their bits,

And death has its caravan and armed host among them,

من المجد دانِ دونه مُتَعرِّضٌ

إلى الهولِ سبَّاقٌ عليه جَسُور

Are close to glory, standing exposed in its defense,

First to face terror, daring in confronting it.

وأنت ابنَ زهرٍ مُنْتَهى كلِّ سُؤْدَدٍ

وإن كان منه أوَّلٌ وأخير

You, Ibn Zuhr, are the summit of all nobility,

Though it has a beginning and an end.

قريعُ إبادٍ كلما رامَ أو رمى

فليس على الأَيَّامِ منه خفير

The champion of Ibad: whenever he aims or shoots,

The days have no protector against him.

مِنَ الموقدين النارَ في كلِّ هَضْبَةٍ

تَضَاءَلَ عنها مِنْبَرٌ وسرير

One of those who kindle fire on every summit,

Beside which pulpit and throne seem small.

بني الحربِ مازالوا يَشِبُّونَ حولها

على أنها قبلَ الفِطَامِ تَزُور

Sons of war, they have always grown up around her,

Though she visits before they are weaned.

أحَلَّتْكَ أعْلَى ذِرْوَةِ المجدِ هِمَّةٌ

لها البأسُ رِدْءٌ والسماحُ سمير

An ambition has lodged you on glory's highest summit,

With valor as its helper and generosity its nightly companion.

وَجُرْدٌ عناجيجٌ ذكور يَكُرُّهَا

على الموتِ مُرْدٌ مُعْلَمُونَ ذكور

And sleek, spirited stallions, driven to charge

Against death by beardless warriors, marked for battle and manly.

وكلُّ رقيقِ الشفرتين متى يَخُضْ

إلى المجدِ بَحْرَ الموتِ وهو شَفير

And every fine, double-edged blade, whenever it plunges

Toward glory through death's sea, though itself an edge,

كفيلٌ بأَرْوَاحِ الأَنام مُوَكَّلٌ

عليمٌ بأسرارِ الحمام خبير

Charged with the souls of humankind, appointed over them,

Knowing and versed in the secrets of death.

حذاءَكَ منه حين يُغْمَدُ رَوْضَةٌ

ودونَكَ منه إذ يُسَلُّ غدير

Beside you, when sheathed, it is a garden;

Before you, when drawn, it is a pool.

له كلَّ يومٍ في أعاديك وَقْعةٌ

تحارُ مُنَاهم دونها وتَحور

Every day it strikes a blow among your enemies,

At which their hopes grow bewildered and retreat.

أطلَّ عليهمْ بالمنايا غِراره

فهلْ علموا أنَّ الحياةَ غُرُور

Its cutting edge loomed over them with death;

Have they learned that life is illusion?

أتَعْلَمُ ما أوْلَيْتَها اليومَ حِمْيرٌ

فَتَشْكُرَهُ إنَّ الكريمَ شكور

Does Himyar know what you have bestowed on her today,

And give thanks for it? The noble are grateful.

نهضتَ بعبأَيْ جِدِّها واجتهادها

تَسُرُّ ليالي مُلكها وَتَسُور

You shouldered the twin burdens of her resolve and endeavor,

Gladdening the nights of her reign and towering high.

وفيتَ بِحقَّيْ نُصْحِها وَوِدَادها

تُدَبِّرُ علماً أمْرَها وتدير

You discharged the twin duties of counsel and affection for her,

Managing her affairs with knowledge and directing them.

دعاكَ أميرُ المؤمنين لنصرِه

بحيثُ التوَى نَصْرٌ وَخَامَ نصير

The Commander of the Faithful called you to his aid,

Where help had turned aside and the helper had shrunk back.

ولم تُغْنِ عَنْهُ الضُّمَّرُ القُبُّ حَوْلَهُ

تَبَارى ولا البيضُ الرِّقاقُ تُبير

The lean, hollow-flanked steeds around him did not avail him,

Racing each other, nor the slender white blades laying waste,

ولا كلُّ لدن القدِّ أمَّا مُعَرّضٌ

فأعمى وأمَّا مُشْرَعٌ فبصير

Nor any supple-shafted spear—when held crosswise,

Blind, but when leveled, keen of sight.

به غُلّةٌ شَمَّاءُ عن كلِّ مَوْرِدٍ

سوى ما أباحتْ أضلعٌ ونحور

It has a thirst too proud for any watering-place,

Except what ribs and throats lay open.

وحسبُ وليِّ العهد منكَ وعَهْدِهِ

أخٌ وأب أو صاحبٌ وأمير

For the heir apparent and his covenant, you suffice:

A brother and a father, or a companion and commander.

تحلَّيْتُما للمُلْك تَكْتَنِفَانِهِ

أبو حَسَنٍ يُسْدي وأنت تُنير

You two adorned yourselves for kingship, standing on either side of it:

Abu Hasan lays the warp, and you weave the weft.

تقولُ أعادِيهِ عليّ مُصَمِّمٌ

بِيُمْنى يَديْهِ ذو الفَقَار شهير

His enemies say, “Ali is unyielding;

Dhu al-Faqar is drawn in his right hand.”

أبا زُهْرُ والأحْزان حولي فوادحاً

ولولاكَ لم يَخْلُصْ إليّ سرور

Abu Zuhr, with sorrows weighing heavily all around me,

Without you no joy would reach me.

ويا زُهْرُ يا كلّ الحياة وبعضُهُمْ

وحاشاك نار لا أقول حرور

O Zuhr, O all of life! Some of them,

Far be it from you, are fire—I do not say mere scorching heat.

إليكَ تولاّني هوايَ وإنني

إليكَ وإن أغْنَيْتَني لفقير

My longing has drawn me to you, and I

Need you, though you have made me rich.

أعِنْدَكَ أني ضِعْتُ بعدك ضَيْعَةً

تَعَلَّمَ منها الدهرُ كيفَ يَجورُ

Do you know I was lost after you in such abandonment

That time learned from it how to wrong?

وأنِّيَ وَلَّيْتُ العدوَّ مَقَاتلي

فأصبح يُوْمِي نَحْوَهَا وَيُشير

And that I exposed my vital spots to the enemy,

So he began to gesture toward them and point?

سأولي أبا مروانَ شُكْرِيَ كلَّهُ

وإني بِشُكْرِ الأكرمين جَدير

I shall bestow all my thanks on Abu Marwan,

And I am worthy to thank the noblest.

فماليَ قد ضاقت عليَ مسالكي

وساعات ليلي في النهار شهور

Why, then, have my paths narrowed about me,

And my night's hours become months within the day?

وراحتك الطُّولي إلى كلّ مَفْخرٍ

وإنْ طالَ فخرٌ أو أطالَ فخُور

While your palm reaches farthest toward every honor,

However long a boast may be, or a boaster prolong it.

إليك الهنا يا أبا العلاء قوافياً

تَضَوَّعَ منها عَنْبَرٌ وَعَبير

To you, Abu al-Ala, congratulations in rhyming verses,

From which ambergris and blended perfume waft.

وَدُمْتَ على غيظِ الحَسُودِ بِغِبْطَةٍ

تجورُ على صَرْفِ الرَّدَى وتجير

May you remain in bliss, to the envier's spite,

Tyrannizing over death's reversals and granting refuge.