قضى على جد شانيكم بإتعاس — Alarjani

قضَى على جَدِّ شانيكم بإتْعاسِ

وخَصَّ قلبَ مُواليكْ بإيناس

Your hater's fortune was doomed to misery,

and your loyal supporter's heart was granted solace,

عِزٌّ قدمْتَ به تَختالُ مُبتهِجاً

في ظِلِّ مُعتَلِجِ الأطرافِ نَوّاس

by the glory with which you came, striding proudly and joyfully,

beneath a swaying standard's shade, its edges tossing.

وعُدتَ بالخيلِ مَنصوراً فوارسُها

عَوْدَ الأُسود إلى أَفناء أَخياس

You returned victorious with the cavalry, its riders

returning like lions to the precincts of their wooded lairs.

لمّا قَدِمْتَ على إثرِ الرَّبيعِ لنا

هَزَّ النّدى كُلّ غُصْنٍ للمُنى عاس

When you came to us in spring's wake,

bounty stirred every withered branch of hope.

أَنْدَى الرَّبيعَيْنِ للرَّاجي بنانُ يَدٍ

مليئةٍ بسِجالِ الجُودِ والباس

The more bountiful of the two springs, to the hopeful, is a hand's fingertips,

brimming with bucketfuls of generosity and valor.

وأَكْرمُ الوابلَيْنِ الدانِيَيْنِ يَدا

مُبخِّلٍ كُلَّ واهي القَطْرِ رَجّاس

And the nobler of the two nearby downpours is the pair of hands

of one who makes every rumbling, weak-raining cloud seem miserly.

أنت الّذي قَرَنَ الخُلْقُ الكريمُ له

سَماحَ كعْبٍ بإقدامِ ابْنِ مِرداس

You are the one in whom noble character has joined

Ka'b's generosity with the boldness of Ibn Mirdas.

لا ذاكراً عِظَمَ الأحقادِ إن سلَفتْ

ولا لأدنَى حُقوقِ القومِ بالنّاسي

Never remembering the weight of grudges once they are past,

nor forgetful of even the slightest of people's rights.

حِلْمٌ رسا وتَسامَتْ فوقَه هِمَمٌ

كما تَسامَتْ فروعُ الشّاهِقِ الرّاسي

Forbearance stands firm, and aspirations rise above it,

as the summits of a towering, firmly anchored mountain rise.

يَحِنُّ للمجدِ يَستقصي مَداهُ إذا

حَنَّ الخليعُ إلى النَّدْمانِ والكاس

He yearns for glory, pursuing its farthest bounds, while

the libertine yearns for the drinking companion and the cup.

إذا أظلَّتْ هوادي الخَطْبِ واشتبهتْ

كسَمْتِ طامسةِ الأعلامِ أملاس

When the harbingers of calamity loom overhead and grow obscure,

like the course through a smooth waste whose landmarks are effaced,

رَميْتَ بالرأيِ لا يُخْطِي شَواكلَها

والفَسْلُ يَضرِبُ أخماساً لأسداس

you strike with judgment, never missing their flanks,

while the weakling frets, reckoning fifths against sixths.

رَأيٌ إذا بتُ دون المُلْكِ تُعمِلُه

حَسِبتَه في الدُّجى لألاءَ نِبْراس

A judgment you exercise in the realm's defense as I pass the night—

I take it in the darkness for a lamp's bright gleam.

ومأزِقٍ يَملأُ الأسماعَ مَوقِفُه

دَعْوَى فوارسَ أو تَصهالَ أفراس

And many a strait of battle whose scene fills the ears

with horsemen's cries or the neighing of steeds,

والبِيضُ في سُدُفاتِ النَّقْعِ لامعةٌ

كَفرْعِ أشمطَ مَوشيٍّ بإخْلاس

while bright swords gleam in battle dust's dark veils,

like a grizzled man's hair, patterned in black and gray.

صاك النّجيعُ بها تحت العَجاجِ كما

وَشَّحْتَ أوضاحَ قِرطاسٍ بأنقاس

Gore clung to them beneath the swirling dust, as

you adorned a sheet's white expanses with ink.

فَرَّجتَ ضِيقتَه والخَيلُ عابِسةٌ

تَرْدي بكلِّ رَبيطِ الجَأشِ قنْعاس

You opened a way out of its straits while the horses scowled,

bearing at a gallop every stout-hearted, stalwart warrior,

حتّى تركْتَ العِدا شَتَّى مَصارِعُهم

فهم رهائنُ أقيادٍ وأرماس

until you left the foes with their death-sites scattered;

so they are hostages to fetters and graves.

مآتمٌ لنساء المارقِينَ غَدَتْ

بها لذِئبِ الغَضا أيّامُ أعراس

Mourning gatherings for the rebels' women became

wedding days there for the wolf of the ghada thickets.

مَيامناً لو دعا آلُ الرّسولِ بها

على العِدا نُصِروا في يومِ أوطاس

Such blessings that, had the Messenger's family invoked them

against their foes, they would have been granted victory on the day of Awtas.

يا ماجداً خَضِلاً تاه العلاءُ به

فَهزَّ أعطافَ عالي التِّيهِ مَيّاس

O noble man, lush with bounty, in whom eminence exulted,

so it swayed its flanks, strutting in towering pride.

وأعدَتِ النُّورَ شمسَ الأفْقِ غُرَّتُه

كما تَوقَّد نِبراسٌ بنِبْراس

And his radiant brow imparted light to the horizon's sun,

as one lamp is kindled by another.

يُخالِطُ البِشْرَ في ضاحي أسِرَّتِه

حَياءُ أروعَ للأقْرانِ فَرّاس

Mingling with cheerfulness in the bright expanse of his brow

is the modesty of a splendid man, a fierce slayer of his peers.

ويَظلِمُ المالَ للعافِين مجتهِداً

ظُلْماً كَساهُ به حَلْيَ العُلا كاس

He wrongs his wealth for petitioners, striving hard—

a wrong through which a giver clothed him in the jewels of eminence.

قلبٌ على مالهِ من فَرْطِ رأفتِه

على كَرائمهِ يومَ النَّدى قاس

A heart that, toward his wealth, through its deep compassion

for his cherished ones, is harsh on the day of bounty.

نَماكَ للمجدِ حتّى مَلّكوكَ بِه

نَواصيَ الفخر قَومٌ غيرُ أنكاس

They raised you to glory until, through it, they gave you mastery

over pride's forelocks—a people who were no weaklings.

ساسوا الممالكَ حتّى قرَّ نافرُها

لم تَبقَ مكرمةٌ إلاّ بِسُوّاس

They governed kingdoms until their restive ones grew calm;

no noble quality remained without its stewards.

منَ قاس غيرَكمُ يومَ الفخارِ بكمْ

فإنَّما قاس أشخاصاً بأجناس

Whoever compared others with you on the day of boasting

merely compared single persons with whole races.

عَمرْتَ بعدَهمُ للمُلكِ منزلةً

عَجماء قبلك لم تُعْمَرْ بآناس

After them, you inhabited a station of kingship,

mute before you, never inhabited by men.

وخَصَّك المَلكُ المَيمونُ طائرُه

بمفْخَرٍ جَلَّ عن حَدٍّ ومقْياس

And the king, whose omen is auspicious, singled you out

with a distinction beyond all limit and measure.

إذا تَسامَى إليه حاسدٌ وقَفتْ

أنضاءُ آمالِه صُغْراً على الرّاس

When an envier seeks to rise to it, there halt

the worn-out mounts of his hopes, abjectly standing on their heads.

لمّا دَعاكَ مليكُ النّاسِ قاطبةً

بتاجِه المُعتلي يا أشرفَ النّاس

When the sovereign of all the people called you

his exalted crown, O noblest of men,

أرادَ أنّك والأعداءُ راغمهٌ

تَدومُ كالتّاج مَحمولاً على الرّاس

he meant that you, while your enemies are humbled,

should endure like a crown, borne upon the head.

أدْنَى سَراياكَ ما تَرمي العدوَّ به

كوامناً خيلُه في طَيِّ قِرْطاس

The least of your detachments is that with which you strike the foe,

its horses lurking in the fold of a sheet.

يَسْري إليهم سِراراً لا يَنِمُّ به

إلى المسامع إصْغاءٌ لأحْراس

It travels by night to them in secret, never betrayed

to ears by the listening of guards.

جَيشٌ يُكِتّبُهُ في كُتْبِه قَلَمٌ

يَرمي خُدودَ العِدا طُرّاً بأنقاس

An army that a pen marshals in its letters,

striking all the enemies' cheeks with ink.

يُرضِي ولّياً ويُشْجي حاسداً أبداً

بعِزّ جاهِك فهْو الجارِحُ الآسي

It pleases a loyal friend and forever grieves an envier

through your mighty standing: it both wounds and heals.

زجْرْتُ بالسّعدِ طَيْري منكَ مُغْتبِطاً

لمّا زَجرْتُ إلى ناديك أعياسي

I augured good fortune from you with my bird, rejoicing,

when I drove my pale camels toward your assembly.

فلامَني فيكَ أقوامٌ وهل عَجَبٌ

إنّ الحُطيئةَ يُطْرِي آلَ شَمّاس

Some people reproached me over you; but is it strange

that al-Hutay'a should extol the family of Shammas?

أجَلْ وَلاؤكَ موسومٌ به أبداً

قلبي ومَدحُكَ موصولٌ بأنفاسي

Yes, loyalty to you is stamped forever upon

my heart, and praise of you is joined to my breaths.

وما قصَدْتُك إلاّ بعدَ ما اجتمعَتْ

وَسائلٌ أحصدَتْ للنُّجْحِ أمراسي

I did not seek you until there had come together

means of approach that tightly twisted my ropes for success.

ولو تَعرَّيتُ عنها لم يَضِرْ أملي

إنّ الغزيرةَ لا تَمْرِي بإبساس

Even had I been stripped of them, my hope would not have suffered:

indeed, a rich-milking camel needs no coaxing to yield.

غَرسْتُ عندك آمالي لأُثمرَها

فامِطْر بإنْعامِك المأْمولِ أغراسي

I planted my hopes with you, to bring them to fruit;

so rain your hoped-for bounty upon my plantings.

وكلُّ حَيٍّ فقد أولَيتَه نِعَماً

فهل لرأيِكَ إنعامٌ على شاس

You have bestowed blessings on every living soul;

so will your regard bestow a favor upon Shas?

لا زِلْتَ في حُلَلٍ للعيشِ ذائلةٍ

ما فاحَ في الرَّوضِ نَشْرُ الوَرْدِ والآس

May you ever wear the trailing robes of life,

as long as rose and myrtle waft their fragrance in the garden.