يا للصوارم والرماح الذبل — Alhees Bess

يا لَلصَّوارم والرِّماحِ الذُّبَّلِ

نصراً ومَنْ أنجدتُما لم يُخْذَلِ

O sharp swords and slender spears!

Grant aid: whoever you two have helped is never forsaken.

لو شئتما ومشيئةٌ بمشيئةٍ

جادَ الزمانُ وبالعُلى لم يبْخلِ

If you two wished, with one will matched by another,

Time would be generous and would not withhold high rank.

نكَّبْتُما شَرفي وظِلُّ حِماكُما

لحمى الوضيعِ ونُصرة المُسترذل

You two have blighted my honor, while the shade of your protection

shelters the lowly and supports the despised.

وعصيتماني في الَمرام وقُلْتما

درستْ تميمٌ فالخفارُ بِمَعْزلِ

You two defied me in my aim and said,

"Tamim has vanished, so protection is set aside."

كم راحَ مُلكٌ فارْعوي بعَزيمةٍ

فَضَلَ الأخيرُ بها مَقامَ الأوَّلِ

How many a reign has passed! Take heed of a resolve

by which the later man surpassed the earlier man's station.

فاقْنَيْ فخارَكِ يا مُجاشعُ واعلمي

أنِّي لكمْ من هِمَّتي في جَحْفلِ

So claim your glory, O Mujashiʿ, and know

that, for you, I stand amid a mighty host formed of my resolve.

أنا فارسُ اليومين يومِ مقالةٍ

ووغىً أصولُ بصارمي وبمقْولي

I am the knight of both days: the day of speech

and of battle; I charge with my sword and my tongue.

فالحبْرُ والرجلُ الكميُّ كلاهما

مُسْتأصَلانِ بمعْركٍ وبمُشكلِ

The scholar and the armored warrior alike

are uprooted in battle and in a difficult question.

رَحلَ الشبابُ فقيل فاتتهُ العُلى

مَهْلاً فانَّ عزائمي لم تَرْحَلِ

Youth departed, and they said, "High rank has eluded him."

Wait: my resolutions have not departed.

سِيَانِ شَيبْي والشَّبابُ تَوّقُّراً

فكذاكَ في ادْراكِ كلِّ مُؤمَّلِ

My gray hair and my youth are alike in dignity;

so too in attaining every hope.

كرُمَ الدُّجى عما يشينُ فلم أبتْ

خشْيانَ واشيةِ الصَّباحِ المُقبلِ

The night was above disgrace, so I did not pass it

fearing the tale-bearing morning to come.

فلئنْ أخذتُ من الزمانِ فَسابحٌ

جارٍ بفخر السَّبْقِ أيُّ موكَّلِ

If I have gained from Time, I am a fleet steed,

racing for the glory of coming first, wholly intent.

ولئنْ غرضتُ فصارمٌ ذو رونقٍ

خفيَتْ جواهرُه لفقْدِ الصَّقيلِ

And if I grow weary, I am a sword of luster,

whose fine metal is hidden for want of a polisher.

ولئن جُهلت وغيرُ شعري واصفي

فالعيْبُ أنِّي حازمٌ لم أجْهَلِ

If I am unrecognized, and something other than my poetry portrays me,

my fault is that I am prudent and have not acted foolishly.

ما للملوكِ تسنَّموا شَعَفاتها

ورسبتُ في قعر الحضيض الأسفل

Why have kings scaled its summits,

while I have sunk to the bottom of the lowest depths?

انْ كان بأساً فالمعاركُ والوغى

أو كان فضلاً فهي حقُّ الأفضلِ

If the claim is valor, there are the battlefields and warfare;

or if merit, it is the right of the most meritorious.

ظلمتْ فضائليَ المَقاولُ مثْلما

ظَلمتْ جمال الدين مأوى العُيَّل

Tongues have wronged my virtues, just as

they wronged Jamal al-Din, refuge of the needy.

مدحوهُ كي يحووا مناقبَ نفسهِ

فَطمتْ فسالتْ بالمدائحِ منْ عَلِ

They praised him to encompass the virtues of his soul,

but his virtues overflowed, pouring forth praises from on high.

فأتيت أبذل ما استطعت ومنْ بُردْ

نقْلَ الخِضَمِّ إِلى المَزادة يخجل

So I came to offer what I could; whoever would seek

to carry the vast sea into a waterskin will be ashamed.

شمسٌ من الاحسان عَمَّ ضياؤها

بل أيةٌ جاءَتْ لحُجَّةِ مُرسَلِ

A sun of beneficence, whose light has spread everywhere,

rather, a sign come as proof for a messenger.

اِعجازها عَدمُ النَّظيرِ وصَرْفةٌ

حَسبتْ بنانَ الباذلِ المُتَطوِّلِ

Its miracle is its lack of any equal, and a restraint

that [apparently] checked the fingers of the bountiful giver.

فالناس بين أخي ندى توْفيقهُ

قاصٍ وآخَرُ في العَطاءِ مُبخَّلِ

People are either men of bounty whose good fortune

is distant, or others deemed miserly in giving.

ومُحمدٌ تَوفيقُه ونَوالُه

يتجاريانِ إِلى المُسيفِ المُرْمِلِ

But Muhammad's good fortune and his bounty

race each other toward the impoverished and penniless.

يُعطي الجزيلَ لسائلي معروفهِ

يجودُ بالنُّعْمى إذا لم يُسْألِ

He gives lavishly to those who ask his kindness;

he grants blessings when no one asks.

ويزيدهُ شوس الخطوب طَلاقةً

فيكونُ أبْسم ما يُرى في المُعضلِ

The scowling of misfortunes increases his cheerfulness,

so he is seen smiling most in dire difficulty.

لو بزَّهُ عافوهُ في خضرِ الدجى

ما ضمَّهُ من لبْسةِ المُتفضلِ

If his petitioners stripped him in the dark green of night

of the single garment that enfolded him,

لم يُحدِث القُرٌّ العنيفُ بوجههِ

نَدَماً ولو جاءَ الشتاءُ بأفْكلِ

the fierce cold would bring to his face

no regret, even if winter came with shivering fits.

ثقلتْ به الأعنْاقُ من منن النَّدى

فالهامُ مُطرقةٌ لذاكَ المُثقلِ

Necks are weighed down by the favors of his bounty,

so heads bow to the one who has burdened them.

فاذا تَلاقي الناس كان حديثُهمْ

عن كل جَفنِ بالخجالةِ مُسدلِ

So when people meet, their talk is

of every eyelid lowered in shame.

أُسَراءُ معروفِ الوزيرِ فكلُّهمْ

عانٍ تَراهُ مُطلقاً كمُكبَّلِ

Captives of the minister's kindness, all of them

are prisoners: you see each free, yet as one in chains.

من سَمْرَقَنْدَ إِلى تِهامةَ شاهدٌ

فضلَ الجمالِ على الحَيا المُتَهلِّلِ

From Samarkand to Tihamah, a witness attests

to Jamal's superiority over the smiling rain.

السُّحبُ تُمطر ما تُظِلُ وجوده

يسري ودارُ مُقامهِ بالمَوْصلِ

Clouds rain on what they shade, but his generosity

travels, though his home is in Mosul.

وتَقرُّ عينُ مُحمدٍ بمَحَمَّدٍ

مُحيْي دريسيْ شَرْعهِ والمَنزل

And Muhammad's eye finds joy in Muhammad,

reviver of his two faded vestiges: his law and dwelling,

مِعْمارِ مرْقدهِ وحافِظ دينهِ

ومُعينِ أمتَّهِ بجودٍ مُسْبل

builder of his tomb and guardian of his faith,

and helper of his community through bounty poured forth.

جعل المدينةَ مصْرَ ريفٍ آهِلاً

نشوْانَ يمْرحُ بالنَّعيمِ المُخضلِ

He made Medina a populous city in fertile country,

intoxicated, reveling in lush delight.

فكأنها بالخِصْبِ منْ قُرُباتهِ

بلدٌ على شطِّ الفُراتِ السَّلْسلِ

So, fertile through his acts of devotion, it seemed

a town on the bank of the sweet-flowing Euphrates.

فلو انه في عصرهِ نَزلتْ لهُ

في مدحهِ سُوَرُ الكِتابِ المُنْزلِ

Had he been in his age, there would have descended for him

in his praise chapters of the revealed Book.

خِرْقٌ يُناطُ قميصهُ ورداؤهُ

بعُبابِ زخَّارٍ وهضبةِ يَذْبُلِ

A man of mettle, his shirt and cloak are fastened

to a surging ocean and the height of Yadhbul.

عبْدٌ أخٌ في ضيفهِ وودادهِ

لا يستحيلُ وسيدٌ في المَحْفِلِ

A servant to his guest, a brother in his affection,

never changing, yet a master in the assembly.

لو حلَّ قفراً أوقدتْ رمضاؤهُ

ظُهراً لبُدِّلَ بالربيعِ المُبْقِلِ

Were he to dwell in a waste whose scorched ground blazed

at noon, it would be changed to sprouting spring.

وطريد مُجدبةٍ يُظاهر ضُرَّهُ

خوفٌ يُريهِ أمْنَهُ كالمَقْتلِ

And one driven from barren land, whose distress is compounded

by fear that makes his safety seem a killing ground—

نَبَتِ البلادُ به فكلُّ مُعَرَّسٍ

قلِقٌ عليه صارِخٌ بتَرَحُّلِ

the lands spurned him, so every resting-place

was uneasy with him, crying out for departure.

عرقتهُ غبراءُ المطالع أزْمةٌ

شوهاءُ عضْبُ شمالها كالمُنْصُلِ

A famine with dust-gray horizons gnawed him bare,

hideous, its north wind's cutting edge like a sword-blade;

شنعاءُ مُخْلِفةٌ النجومِ جَنوبُها

مطْرودةٌ عن جوِّها بالشَّمْألِ

ghastly, belying the stars, its south wind

driven from its sky by the north wind.

يتعَّوضُ العيْمانُ من مَذَقاتها

بَوْلاً ويقْدِرُ منْ هَبيد الحنظل

The thirsty man makes do, instead of its watered milk,

with urine, and cooks colocynth seeds.

ذهبَ الصَّلى بجفانها وقُتودها

فالحيُّ غيرُ مُدعْدعٍ ومُرَحَّل

The fire consumed its bowls and saddle-frames,

so the tribe is neither roused nor readied to move.

تركتْهُ لو حَلَّ النَّعيمَ وخِصبهُ

حوْلاً لغيرهُ اغْبرارُ المُمْحل

It left him such that, even if he settled amid delight and abundance

for a year, a famine victim's gray pallor would still mark him.

آويتهُ فحميتهُ ورفَدتَهُ

فغَدا بجْورِ زمانه لم يحْفِلِ

You sheltered him, protected him, and gave him aid,

so he no longer cared about the injustice of his time.

ولقد كشفت بسيف رأيك غَيْهَباً

نسخَ النَّهارَ بليلِ نقْعٍ ألْيَلِ

And indeed you dispelled, with the sword of your judgment, a darkness

that effaced daylight with a pitch-dark night of dust.

ورددتها قُبْلاً كأنَّ عَجاجَها

بالقاعِ مرْكومُ الغَمام الأكْحلِ

And you repelled them face-on; their swirling dust seemed

a piled mass of dark clouds upon the plain.

تَطْوي الموارد وهي ظامئة الحشا

وتَشيمُ ورْداً من نَساً أو أكْحلِ

They sweep past watering places, thirsty in their bellies,

and watch for a draught from a thigh-vein or an arm-vein.

تجري بحُمسٍ في الدروع كأنهم

جِنَّانُ عبْقرَ أو ضَراغمُ غيطل

They run bearing fierce men in armor, as though they were

jinn of ʿAbqar or lions of a dense thicket.

سنُّوا الدروع على الصخور وركَّبوا

عزمانهمْ في المُشْرَعاتِ العُسَّلِ

They fitted armor over rocks, and mounted

their resolves in the leveled, quivering spears.

وجروا إِلى الأسلاب شدَّةَ ساغبٍ

ضارٍ تمكَّنَ منْ شهيِّ المَأكلِ

And they rushed toward the spoils with the charge of a hungry

predator that has gained hold of appetizing food.

فكفيتَهم بمكيدةٍ ورويَّةٍ

جعلتْ ديارهُمُ تُرابَ القسْطلِ

So you mastered them through stratagem and deliberation,

which turned their dwellings into the dust of battle-clouds.

أمُحمَّدٌ ولقد دعوتُ مُمَدَّحاً

ومن النَّجاح نداءُ سمْحٍ مُفْضلِ

O Muhammad! Indeed, I have called upon one much praised;

and calling on a generous benefactor is a means to success.

هذا الزمانُ وهذه فُرصُ العُلى

وأنا المُشارُ وما بدا لكَ فافْعَلِ

This is the age, and these are the chances for high rank;

and I am the one singled out: do whatever seems good to you.