ما في خلالك خلة لا تكرم — Alablah Albaghdadi

ما في خلالك خلَّة لا تكرم

جود وفضل ديانة وتحلمُ

There is no trait among your qualities that is not noble:

generosity, excellence, piety, and forbearance;

ورزانة ما إن تخف فطودها

إن خفت الأحلام لود أيهمُ

and a gravity that never grows light: its mountain,

when minds grow flighty, stands solid and inaccessible.

يا من مساعيه التي حمت الورى

مثل النجوم مقيمة تنجمُ

O you whose endeavors, which have protected humankind,

are like stars, abiding and ever rising.

فلت صرائمك الصوارم واتقى

ماضي الأسنة بأسها والاسهمُ

Your firm resolves blunted swords, and

keen spearheads and arrows feared their might.

إيهاً فكم دامت لكفك ديمة

بخل السِّماك بمثلها والمِرزمُ

Go on! How often your hand has sustained a steady rain,

whose like al-Simak and al-Mirzam have withheld.

أقسمت ما وصفَ امرؤ في رأيه

بحزامة إلاّ ورأيك أحزمُ

I swear: no man has been described in his judgment

as prudent, without your judgment being more prudent.

أم الندى مذ طرقت بك أقسمت

تأتي بخرق فهي بعدك أيَّمُ

The mother of bounty, since bearing you, has sworn

to bear no other noble man; since you she is unwed.

لك يا ابن مجدالدين كف ثرة

بنوالها المشفوع يثري المعدمُ

O son of Majd al-Din, yours is a lavish hand;

by its redoubled gifts, the destitute grows rich.

ما موقف وقف الردى بفنائه

والبيض تنثر والعوالي تنظمُ

There is no battlefield in whose precincts Death has stood,

while white blades scatter men and lofty lances string them,

إلاّ وأنت معلّم أبطاله

ضرب القوانتس والكميّ المعلمُ

but you are its heroes' teacher

in striking helmets, and the armored warrior bearing insignia.

يا أيها الملك المعظم شأنه

بك يدفع الحدث الجليل الأعظمُ

O king whose station is exalted,

through you the gravest, greatest calamity is repelled.

قسمات وجهك قد يشابه حسنها

يا ذا الندى إحسانك المتقسمُ

The beauty of your features finds its likeness,

O lord of bounty, in your beneficence shared abroad.

أنت الربيع الطلق في يوم الندى

وربيعه في يوم ينسفك الدمُ

You are radiant spring on the day of bounty,

and Rabiʿa on the day when blood is spilled [name reading uncertain].

ليد الخلافة منك رمح طاعن

ثغر العداة وصارم لا يكهمُ

For the caliphate's hand, you are a spear piercing

the enemy's frontier, and a sword that never dulls.

فحسامك الماضي منية خالع

لولاه لم يك ذاك خطب يحسم

Your keen sword is the doom of one who renounces allegiance;

without it, that crisis could not have been settled.

يا رب هب هبة الإله لخائف

يلقى الأمان به وعاف يحرمُ

O Lord, grant Hibat al-Ilah to one in fear,

who finds safety through him, and to a supplicant left deprived.

واحرس أبا الفضل الكريم بمقلة

لك لا تنام إذا رقدن يحرمُ

And guard noble Abu al-Fadl with an eye

of Yours that never sleeps; if other eyes sleep, he is deprived [wording unclear].

فالمرء أكرم ما لديه عرضه

أبدا وأهون ماعليه الدرهمُ

A man's most precious possession is his honor,

always; the dirham is what he values least.

رحم الإله الخلق منه بعادل

أمواله من جورة تتظلمُ

God has shown humankind mercy through him, a just man,

whose wealth complains of the injustice it suffers.

طهرت له شم وعفَّت نظرة

فكأنه في بردتيه محرمُ

His character is pure, his glance chaste,

as though in his two cloaks he were a consecrated pilgrim.

وتراه طخياء كل دجنة

كالقار لونا وهو قار مطعمُ

You find him through every night's deep darkness—

pitch-black in color—hosting and feeding guests.

وربيع ربع لليتامى مخصب

وسحاب جود للأيامى مثجمُ

And a fertile spring for the orphans' dwelling,

and a cloud of bounty pouring rain for widows.

وإذا تجهمت الوجوه فوجهه

طلق لراجي الرفد لا يتجهمُ

When faces scowl, his face

is cheerful for whoever hopes for aid, and never scowls.

وإذا تأخرت الرجال فإنه

يوم الهياج المقدم المتقدمُ

And when men hang back, he

is, on the day of battle, the bold one advancing first,

في حيث أزرق كل لدن أحمر

والورد من وقع السنابك أدهمُ

where the blue steel of every supple lance is red,

and bay horses turn black from the pounding of hooves.

ومتى جرى في حلبة عربية

لم يدر قس ما البيان واكتم

Whenever he races in an arena of Arabic speech,

Quss knows not what eloquence is, nor Aktham.

قد قلت لما أن رماني بالأذى

زمن لكل أخي حجى يتهضم

I said, when I was struck with harm

by an age that oppresses every man of reason:

عولت بالجدوى على من يجتدي

وعدلت بالشكوى إلى من يرحم

For bounty I relied on one whom men petition for bounty,

and with my complaint turned to one who shows mercy.

وجعلت مجد الدين دوني عصمة

فكأنني في راس طود أعصمُ

I made Majd al-Din a shield before me,

as though I were a white-footed ibex on a mountain peak.

فلا شكرنه ما حييت وإن أمت

فلتشكرنه في ثراي الأعظمُ

I shall surely thank him as long as I live; and if I die,

let my bones thank him within my dust.

يا من بطل سماحه يروى الصدى

ويظل رأفته يلوذ المجرمُ

O you, by whose generosity's dew thirst is quenched,

and in the shade of whose compassion the guilty seek refuge:

ما روضة بكت السحائب شجوها

فيها وأضحى زهرها يتبسمُ

No garden—the clouds have wept their sorrow

within it, and its blossoms have come to smile—

للماء فيه تحدر وتحدب

وتسلسل وتصلصل وترغمُ

whose water descends and swells,

and flows in chains, tinkles, and murmurs [last reading uncertain],

طربت به الأغصان فهي موائل

لغناء ورق فوقها يترنمُ

whose branches thrill to it and lean

toward the song of gray doves warbling above them,

يوما بأحسن من سجاياك التي

هي من سجايا كل خلق أكرمُ

is ever lovelier than your qualities, which

are nobler than the qualities of any creature.

فبقيت مقصود المغاني مغنيا

بالرفد ما قصد الحطيم وزمزم

May you remain, your dwellings sought, enriching others

with gifts as long as al-Hatim and Zamzam are visited.

وسلمت مبرورا تصوم عن الخنا

أبدا ويفطر في ذراك الصومُ

And may you remain safe and blessed, fasting from foul speech

forever, while those who fast break their fast in your shelter.