أنت للعيد وهو للناس عيد — Alarjani

أنت للعيِد وهْو للنّاسِ عيدُ

صاحبٌ مُسعِدٌ ويومٌ سعيدُ

To the festival, itself the people's feast, you are

a joy-bringing companion; it is a happy day.

إنّما تَسعَدُ الأنامُ لعَمْرِي

بالّذي تَستمِدُّ منك السُّعود

By my life, people find their happiness only

through what good fortune draws from you.

وعلى ذاك فاغتنِمْه نزيلاً

فهْو بينَ الأنامِ يومٌ جَديد

So make the most of it as your guest,

for among humankind it is a new day.

لك فيه وبَعْدَه كلَّ يوم

فَرحٌ طارِفٌ وعزٌّ تليد

For you, on it and every day thereafter,

there is newfound joy and ancestral glory.

ولك الدّهرُ إنْ رضِيتَ غلامٌ

ولك النّاسُ ان قَنِعْتَ عَبيد

Time is your page, if that pleases you,

and people your slaves, if you are content with them.

كعبةٌ أنت والفِناءُ مَطافُ

واليدُ الرُّكنُ والحجيجُ الوُفود

You are a Kaaba, and your courtyard the place of circling;

your hand is the Corner, and the delegations the pilgrims.

فتحاياكَ مِدْحةٌ وثناءٌ

وضحاياك كاشِحٌ وحَسود

Your greetings are praise and acclaim,

and your sacrificial victims the spiteful and envious.

ومَساعيك للزَّمانِ حُلِيٍّ

وأياديك للكرامِ قُيود

Your endeavors are ornaments for Time,

and your favors are fetters for the noble.

عَرصاتُ كأنّها عرَفاتٌ

مِلْؤُها العُرْفُ والفَعالُ الحَميد

Courtyards that seem like Arafat,

filled with beneficence and praiseworthy deeds.

واسعاتٌ معَ اتّساعِ العطايا

فهْي بِيدٌ تُطوَى إليها البِيد

Spacious, as your gifts are vast,

they are deserts toward which deserts are crossed.

يا أَميناً للدّولتَيْن فكُلٌّ

لِذُراها برأيه التّشْييد

O trusted guardian of the two states, each

has its pinnacles raised by his counsel.

ماجِدٌ خصَّهُ بكُلِّ عَلاءٍ

واصطفاه ربُّ العلاء المَجيد

A noble man, singled out for every eminence

and chosen by the Glorious Lord of eminence.

فيه حَزْمٌ وفيه للخَطْبِ عزْمٌ

فهوْ في عسكَريْنِ وهْو وحيد

In him are prudence and resolve against calamity;

thus he has two armies, though he is alone.

كيف لا تَحْتمي جوانبُ مُلْكٍ

وله دونَهُنَّ هذي الجُنود

How could a kingdom's flanks not be defended,

when these troops stand before them in its service?

ثاقبُ الرأي لم يَخِبْ قاصدٌ منْ

هُ بحالٍ ولم يَفُتْ مَقْصود

Keen in counsel: no seeker of his help

has ever been disappointed, nor has any goal been missed.

في يدِ الدّولةِ العزيزةِ منه

أَبدَ الدّهرِ سَهْمُ رأيٍ سديد

The mighty state holds from him,

for all time, an arrow of unerring counsel.

فبِه لا يَزالُ يُصْمَى عَدُوٌّ

وبه لا يزالُ يُحمَي وَدود

With it an enemy is ever struck dead,

and with it a friend is ever protected.

وأَمامَ الإمامِ يُضْحي ويُمسي

بحُسامينِ وهْو عنه يَذود

Before the Imam, morning and evening,

he bears two swords and defends him:

قَلَمٍ يَقلِمُ الخطوبَ ورأْيٍ

بِهما يُبْدِيءُ العُلا ويُعيد

a pen that prunes calamities, and counsel,

with which he brings forth glory and renews it.

في نَواصي كِلَيْهِما للبرايا

كلُّ نُجْحٍ لمَطْلبٍ مَعْقود

To the forelocks of both, for humankind,

every success in a quest is bound.

قَلّدَتْه يدُ الخليفةِ تَخْصي

صاً وفخْرٌ في مِثْلِه التَّقْليد

The caliph's hand invested him with special

distinction; appointing one like him is an honor.

وتَناهَى له إلى الأمَد الأق

صَى من النُّصح فهْو لا يَستَزيد

His loyal counsel to him has reached the furthest

limit, so he asks for no more.

والمَراضي المُسترشِديّةُ لا يُد

رِكُ غاياتِهنَّ إلاَّ رَشيد

And the fullest approval of al-Mustarshid cannot

be won save by one rightly guided.

كم وفَى الّرأْيُ منه للقوم دَيْناً

حين ذُمّتْ من الرّجالِ العُهود

How often his counsel has paid the people a debt,

when men's pledges were condemned!

وكفَى المُلْك كلُّ طارقِ خَطْبٍ

كشفَتْ سِرَّها إليه الغُمود

And he spared the kingdom every oncoming calamity;

the scabbards disclosed their secret to him.

وشَفاهُ مِمّا شكاهُ فأَمْسَوا

وهمُ دون ما أَرادوا هُمود

And he healed it of its complaints; they ended

lifeless, short of what they had intended:

بين باغ والرُّمحُ حَشْو حَشاهُ

وعَدُوٍّ وَريدُه مَوْرود

one a rebel, a spear filling his entrails,

another an enemy whose jugular had been reached.

ففَداهُ مَنْ لا يَنالُ مَداهُ

في عُلاهُ وللمعالِي حُدود

So let whoever cannot match him be his ransom

in his eminence; lofty attainments have their limits.

يا ابنَ عبدِ الكريم يا مَنْ غدا عِقْ

داً من المكرماتِ والدّهرُ جِيد

O son of Abd al-Karim, you who have become a necklace

of noble deeds, while Time is the neck!

بك أمسَتْ لَيْلاتِيَ السّودُ بِيضاً

في زمانٍ أيّامُه البِيضُ سُود

Through you my black nights have turned white,

in an age whose white days are black.

أنا أشكو إليكَ يا مُشتكَي الأح

رار دَهْراً في خُلْقِه تَنْكِيد

I complain to you, refuge of the freeborn,

of an age whose disposition brings misery.

قَبضَتْ خَطْويَ الهمومُ فمِنْ قل

بي لرِجْلي في منزلي تَقْييد

Worries have checked my steps: from my heart

a fetter binds my foot within my home.

وعلى أنَّني أُقِلُّ حُضوري

فلك القَصْدُ بالهَوى والقَصيد

Although I seldom come into your presence,

you are my destination in love and verse.

وفِراري إليكَ إن راب يومٌ

وبِلالي عليك إنْ جَفّ عُود

To you I flee if a day brings alarm,

and on you I depend for moisture if a bough dries out.

لك شُكْري وليس كلُّ لِسانٍ

ناشرٍ شُكْرَ مثْلِه مَحْمود

My thanks are yours; not every tongue

proclaiming gratitude to one like him deserves praise.

شمِلَ الغيثُ كلَّ عُودٍ بسُقْيا

هُ ولكنْ ما طاب إلاّ العُود

The rain reached every stem with its watering,

yet only aloeswood grew fragrant.

فأعِدْ نظرةً إلى عُلَقي أُخْ

رى وللفضل مُبْديءٌ ومُعيد

So look once more upon my treasured things,

for bounty has its initiator and its renewer.

قبلَ أنْ يَبعُدَ القريبُ من الدّا

رِ يُقَرّب من المَرامِ البعيد

Before the one near the dwelling goes far away,

and the distant one is brought close to his goal.

فإذا عشْتَ فالدّيارُ جِنانٌ

لذوي الفضْلِ والحياةُ خُلود

For as long as you live, the dwellings are gardens

for the worthy, and life is immortality.

زِدْ بأيّامِك ابتهاجاً ومنها ال

عِيدُ باليُمْنِ واحدٌ مَعْدود

Rejoice ever more in your days; among them the

festival is counted as just one blessed day.

عيدُ نَحْرٍ وافاك عُطْلاً ومن رِفْ

دِك وافَى في النّحْرِ منهُ عقود

A Feast of Sacrifice came to you unadorned; from your bounty

necklaces came to rest upon its throat.

وافدٌ لا يزالُ بالسّعْد منه

صَدرٌ ليس يَنْقَضِي ووُرود

A visitor whose auspicious

departures and arrivals never end.

أنت في الدَّهر لا تزالُ مُقيماً

وهْو يَمضي مُردَّداً ويعود

You remain ever present through time,

while it passes away repeatedly and returns.

أبداً تَستَجِدُّ منهُ بُروداً

تَكْتَسيهنّ حين تَبلَى بُرود

Ever you acquire fresh mantles from it,

wearing them when other mantles wear out.

فالْقَ أمثالَهُ فَمِثلَك لم يَلْ

قَ وإن راقَه الجُموع الحُشود

So welcome its like; one like you it has never

met, though thronging crowds have delighted it.

هل رأى العيدُ قَطُّ قبلَك مَولىً

كُلُّ معنىً في جودِه مَوْجود

Has the festival ever seen, before you, a lord

in whose generosity every excellence is found?

وجْهُه المُستَهلُّ والأنملُ العَشْ

رُ ففي كُلِّ لحظةٍ منه عِيد

His face is the rising crescent, and his fingertips are ten;

so every glance from him is a festival.

ناحِراً للعُداةِ حتّى لوَحْشِ ال

بيد أيضاً بلَحْمِهم تَعْييد

He slaughters foes, so that even the beasts of the

deserts celebrate a feast on their flesh.

يَقتُلُ الحاسِدين قَتْلاً نَداهُ

ويُرجّى قِراهُ نَسْرٌ وسِيد

His generosity kills the envious outright,

and a vulture and a wolf hope for his hospitality.

فله في مواقفِ الجُود بَأْسٌ

وله في مَواقِف البأْس جُود

He has might in the fields of generosity,

and generosity in the fields of might.

عشْ عزيزاً مُحقِّقاً ما تُرجِّي

في اللّيالي مُبلَّغاً ما تُريد

Live in honor, realizing what you hope for,

through the nights, granted all you desire,

رائياً في ابْنكَ النّجيب من الآ

مال ما قد رأَتْه فيكَ الجُدود

seeing in your noble son those hopes

that your forefathers once saw in you.

كيف لا يَفْرِسُ المعاليَ شِبْلٌ

رشّحَتْه لَهُنّ تلك الأُسود

How could a lion cub not hunt down high honors,

when those lions have prepared him for them?

يا أبا عبدِ اللهِ دام لك اللّ

هُ مُعِيناً وحاطَك التّأييد

O Abu Abd Allah, may God remain

your helper, and may support surround you.

كلّما أمَّل الحسودُ لِنُعْما

ك انتِقاضاً أُتيحَ منها مَزيد

Whenever the envious man hopes your blessings

will diminish, still more of them are granted.

فوق وُسْعِ الورى بلَغْتَ من العِزْ

ز وللمجدِ بَعدُ فيك وُعود

You have attained honor beyond mankind's capacity,

yet glory still has promises in store for you.