بغرة وجهك منا القسم — Alarjani

بغُرّةِ وجْهكَ منّا القَسَمْ

وما الصِّدْقُ إلاّ أجَلُّ القِسَمْ

By the radiance of your face we swear;

and truthfulness is the noblest of portions.

أيا مَلِكَ الأمراءِ الّذي

به الدِّينُ عَزَّ فما يُهْتَضَم

O king of princes, the one

through whom the faith grew mighty and suffers no oppression!

ولمّا غدا عِزُّ دِينِ الهُدَى

لك اسْماً سواكَ به لم يُسَمّ

When “Glory of the Faith of Guidance” became

your name, by which no other was called,

تَعنْونَ منه بأُولَى الحُروفِ

كتابٌ لكَ اللهُ قِدْماً رَقَم

its first letter became the heading of

a writ God inscribed for you long ago.

فليس هلالٌ ُيَرى في السّماءِ

بطَوْقٍ على النّحْرِ منْها انْفَصَم

No crescent seen in the sky

is a broken neck-ring upon heaven’s throat;

بلِ اللهُ للفَلَكِ المُعْتلي

بمُفْتَتَحِ العَيْنِ منْها وسَم

rather, God branded the lofty sphere

with the opening stroke of its letter ʿayn.

وخوفاً على أعُينِ النّاظري

نَ نوراً لسائرِها ما أتَمّ

And, fearing for the eyes of onlookers,

He did not fully light the rest of it.

فهل قد دَرى فلَكٌ دائرٌ

بأيِّ سِماتِ العَلاءِ اتَّسَم

Has the revolving sphere, then, learned

what marks of eminence it bears?

وقد قادَهُ اللهُ قَوْدَ الحِصانِ

إلى مَلِكٍ مُلْكُه ذو عِظَم

God has led it like a steed

to a king whose dominion is vast,

وأمْطاهُ صَهْوتَه فامْتِطَى

وحكَّمه في الوَرى فاحْتكَم

and set him upon its back, and he mounted,

and made him ruler over mankind, and he ruled.

وقد كان بالنّارِ وَسْمُ الذَّليلِ

فبالنُّورِ وسَّمَهُ لا جَرَم

The lowly were branded with fire;

so He branded it with light, assuredly.

ولو لم يكنْ سابحاً تحتَهُ

بسلْكِ البروج إذا ما احْتَزَم

Were it not swimming beneath him,

it would not gird itself with the zodiac’s cord.

أيا مَلِكاً حُسْنُ آثارِه

بهِ اعتذَر الدَّهرُ عَمّا اجْتَرم

O king, through whose fair deeds

Time apologized for the crimes it committed!

ملوكُ البلادِ وأقْلامُهُمْ

تَساعَى معاً نحوهُ بالقِمَم

The kings of the lands, and their pens,

race toward him together, heads foremost:

فإمّا إليه وُفودُهُمْ

وإمّا رسائلُهمْ والخِدَم

either their delegations come to him,

or their letters and services.

كأنَّ ذُراهُ بكفِّ الزَّما

ن طِرْسٌ وكلُّ مليكٍ قَلَم

As though his heights, in Time’s hand,

were a parchment, and every king a pen.

إذا ما أتابكَ خِدْنَ النّدى

أتَى بك صْرفُ زمانٍ غَشَم

If, Atabeg, companion of generosity,

a ruthless turn of time has brought you,

فقد أحْسَنَ الدَّهرُ فيما أساءَ

إليك ولكنّه ما عَلِم

then Time did good through the harm it did

to you, though it knew it not.

سَحابٌ يصوبُ على الطّارقِي

نَ بالنِّعَمِ الغُرِّ صَوْبَ الدِّيَم

A cloud raining upon those who come knocking,

with radiant blessings, like steady rains;

ولكنْ إذا صَعَقَ المارِقِيي

نَ صُبّتْ عليهمْ سياطُ النِّقَم

but when it strikes the rebels with lightning,

lashes of vengeance are poured upon them.

حكَتْ إرَماً فارس إذ غَدَتْ

وليس بها اليومَ منهمْ أَرَم

Fars has come to resemble Iram,

with not one of them remaining there today.

بلادٌ بها الشَّيبُ أضحَى يُهابُ

بغَيرِ جَوازِكَ قَصْدَ اللِّمَم

A land where even gray hair has come to fear

approaching men’s locks without your leave.

شفَيْتَ على حينَ إشْفائها

حُشاشتَها من دَخيلِ السَّقَم

When it stood at death’s brink, you healed

its fading life of the sickness lodged within.

وداويْتَ أطرافَها بالحُسام

فلا داءَ بالمُلْك إلاّ انْحَسَم

You treated its extremities with the sharp sword,

so no ailment in the realm escaped excision.

ولمّا قلعْتَ قِلاعَ البُغاةِ

بسَيْفكَ من كُلِّ طَوْدٍ أشَمّ

When you uprooted the rebels’ fortresses

with your sword from every towering mountain,

فلم يَبْقَ إلاّ لعُصْمِ الجِبالِ

مَعاقِلَ كانتْ لها مُعْتَصَم

and none but the mountain ibex retained

the strongholds that had been their refuge,

ثَنيْتَ إليها صُدورَ الجِيادِ

لتُنْزِلَ أَيضاً عُصاةَ العُصُم

you turned your steeds’ breasts toward them,

to bring down the defiant ibex too.

عَشِيّةَ ناديتَ فُرسانَها

فَشَدّوا حَيازيمَهمْ والحُزُم

On the evening you summoned their horsemen,

they tightened their waistbelts and saddle-girths.

وشمسُ الأصيلِ كَمَلْكٍ عَصا

كَ فاصْفَرَّ من فَرَقٍ وانْهزَم

The setting sun was like a king who defied

you, then paled with terror and fled.

وعادَ من الغدِ لمّا عفَوْتَ

منيعَ المكانِ رفيعَ العَلَم

He returned next day, when you pardoned him,

secure in his station, his banner raised high.

فلمّا نَضا الأُفْقُ بُرْدَ الظّلا

مِ ثاروا إلى خَيلهمْ باللُّجُم

When the horizon shed the mantle of darkness,

they sprang to their horses, bridles in hand,

بيُمْنِ أخي طَلْعةٍ طَلْقةٍ

يكادُ مُحيّاهُ يُحْيي الرِّمَم

under the good fortune of one with an open, radiant face,

whose countenance almost brings dead bones to life.

له كلُّ أنمُلَةٍ كَعْبةٌ

مُعظّمةٌ ركْنُها يُسْتلَم

Every fingertip of his is a Kaaba,

venerated, its corner reverently touched.

فلو نَطَق الوحشُ قالتْ لهُ

وقد صدَقَتْ فلَهُنَّ الحُرَم

If wild beasts could speak, they would say to him—

and they would speak truth, for sanctuary is their right—

غدتْ فارسٌ حَرَماً مُذْ ملكْتَ

فكم ذا إباحةُ صَيْدِ الحَرم

“Fars has been a sanctuary since you ruled;

how long, then, will hunting in the sanctuary be allowed?”

أيا مَلِكاً بنَدَى كفِّه

غدا البحرُ مُفْتَضِحاً فالْتَطَم

O king, through the bounty of whose hand

the sea was shamed and slapped its face!

تكادُ من الجودِ ألا يكونَ

شعارُكَ في النّاسِ إلاّ نَعَم

Your generosity all but leaves you

no watchword among men except ‘Yes.’

كفَى العربَ الفخْرَ للدَّهرِ أنْ

بمَنْطِقها الشِّعْرُ فيكَ انْتظَم

It is glory enough for the Arabs, for all time,

that poetry praising you was strung in their tongue.

فإنْ أكُ غُصْتُ على الدُّرِّ فيكَ

فمنْ أجْلِ أنّك بحْرٌ خِضَمّ

If I have dived for pearls in praising you,

it is because you are a vast, deep sea.

طَويْتُ إليك ملوكَ الزَّمانِ

وهل يتَيمَّمُ جارٌ لِيَمّ

I passed over the kings of the age to reach you;

does one beside the sea purify himself with dust?

وما أنا إلا القديمُ الوَلاءِ

وأَوثَقُ أهْلِ الولاءِ القُدُم

I am but your long-devoted loyalist,

the staunchest of your longstanding adherents.

تَزاحمَ آمالُ نَفْسي عليك

كما اسْتبقَ الخَيْلُ في مُزْدحَم

My soul’s hopes crowd toward you,

as horses race one another in a throng,

رَجا أنَّ فيك مَزيدَ العَلاءِ

ومنكَ مَنالُ مُنىً تُغْتَنَم

hoping that in you lies still greater glory,

and from you, the attainment of wishes worth winning.

فأمّا الّذي قد تَرجّيْتُ فيك

فبُلِّغْتُهُ وهْو عندي الأَهَمّ

As for what I had hoped to find in you,

I have attained it—and that matters most to me.

وأمّا الّذي أَترجّاهُ منْك

ففي جَنْبِ جُودِكَ أَمْرٌ أَمَم

As for what I hope to receive from you,

beside your bounty, it is a trifling matter.

فعِشْ ما تَوالَى لجَفْنِ النّها

رِ عن ناظرِ اللّيلِ فتْحٌ وضَمّ

Live while the eyelid of day keeps on

opening and closing over the eye of night.

شَغَلْتَ شِفاهَ الورَى والأكُفَّ

بما فيكَ من كَرَمٍ في الشِّيَم

You have busied mankind’s lips and hands

with the nobility of your character:

فلم تُخْلِ أنت يداً من لُهاك

ولم يُخْلِ منْ شُكرِكَ النّاسُ فَم

you have left no hand empty of your gifts,

and people have left no mouth empty of thanks to you.