مساعيك يهدي للنجاح طلابها

وتحدى لإصلاح الفساد ركابها

The pursuit of your endeavors leads to success,

and their mounts are urged on to set corruption right.

لقد أسفرت عن غرة المجد سفرة

دنا بك من بعد الرحيل إيابها

A journey has indeed unveiled glory's radiant brow;

its return brought you near after departure.

قدمت فأقدمت الحياة لأنفس

يمنيك إن ضن السحاب سحابها

You arrived and brought life to souls

whose raincloud, when clouds withhold, is your right hand.

وأطلعت نور العدل في كل بلدة

جبينك إن غاب الشهاب شهابها

You made the light of justice rise in every town;

when the bright star vanishes, your brow is its bright star.

ترحل عنها مذ رحلت أنيسها

فبان عليها وحشها واكتئابها

Since you departed, its familiar companion departed too,

and its loneliness and dejection showed upon it.

وكانت رحاب الملك تشكو فراغها

فمذ أبت ضاقت بالوفود رحابها

The royal courts had lamented their emptiness;

since you returned, their spaces have narrowed with delegations.

وأضحت تحيي بالسجود كرامة

ويشفي شفه اللاثمين ترابها

They are now greeted with prostration in homage,

and their dust heals the lips of those who kiss it.

ولله عزم كاملي وهيبة

نرى الدهر يرجو فضلها ويهابها

How wondrous are al-Kamil's resolve and majesty!

We see Time seeking its favor and fearing it.

يفرق في أهل الوداد ثوابها

ويجمع في أهل العناد عقابها

Its rewards are spread among the devoted,

and its punishment is heaped upon the defiant.

وكم أمنت ثغر المخافة قبها

ولاحت به للوافدين قبابها

How often its lean steeds have secured a dangerous frontier,

and its domed tents have appeared there to those arriving.

أفي كل يوم أنت مزج كتيبة

يسيل بها وهد الربى وشعابها

Do you send forth a battalion every day,

flooding the hills' hollows and ravines—

فيوماً إلى أرض الصعيد صعودها

ويوماً كما انصب الأتي انصبابها

one day ascending to the land of Upper Egypt,

another pouring forth like an onrushing torrent?

ولما رمت بالأمس حي لواتة

أطاعك عاصيها وذلت صعابها

When yesterday you sought out the clan of Lawata,

its rebels obeyed you, and its unruly ones were humbled.

ولو أنها ما أعتبتك مطيعة

لكان بأطراف الوشيج عتابها

Had it not obediently made amends to you,

its chastisement would have come at the tips of supple spears.

وأوطأتهم أيدي جياد متى ترد

لمعمورة كيداً أتاها خرابها

You trampled them beneath the forehooves of steeds that, whenever they come

against a thriving settlement in hostility, bring ruin upon it.

على صحف البيداء منها كتائب

سطور قناها في المصف كتابها

On the desert's pages, squadrons of these steeds

are lines; their spears in battle array are their scribes.

جياد عليها كاسمها من كماتها

فقد كرمت أعرابها وعرابها

Noble steeds bear armored champions noble as their name;

their Bedouins and their thoroughbreds alike are noble.

عليها أسود تحمل الغاب من قنا

ومن عجب أن يصحب الأسد غابها

Upon them are lions carrying forests of spears;

what a marvel that lions should travel with their forests!

متى ما تخاصمها الخطوب فإنما

بألسنة الأغماد يتلى كتابها

Whenever calamities contend with them, it is only

by the tongues of scabbards that their book is recited.

لها حجب يوم الوغى من مثارها

وأبوابها في السلم سهل حجابها

On battle day they have veils of the dust they raise,

but in peace their gates have approachable keepers.

إذا غضب الإسلام أرضاه بأسها

وما رضي الإسلام لولا غضابها

When Islam is angered, their might appeases it;

Islam would not be content but for their wrathful warriors.

شفى غلة الدنيا شجاع بن شاور

إلى أن تجلى شكها وارتيابها

Shujaʿ ibn Shawar quenched the world's burning thirst,

until its doubt and misgiving cleared away.

ولاذت بعطفيها المنيعين دولة

به عاد من بعد المشيب شبابها

A state sought refuge at their two impregnable flanks;

through him its youth returned after gray-haired age.

تتيه بيوميه سماحاً ونجدة

ويزهو به محرابها وحرابها

It glories in his two days, of bounty and valor,

and its prayer niche and spears exult in him.

وبالجانب الغربي جردت عزمة

يفل بها ظفر الأعادي ونابها

On the western side you unsheathed a resolve

that blunts the enemies' claw and fang.

إذا ما بغتها همة كاملية

فقد ولغت بالأسد فيها ذئابها

Whenever al-Kamil's resolve seeks it out,

its wolves have already lapped lions' blood within it.

هم فتحوها ثلمة في عصا العلى

ولولاك في شعبان ظل انشعابها

They opened that breach in the staff of glory;

but for you in Shaʿban, its splintering would have endured.

دعيت لها لما دعت آل شاور

فما شعرت إلا وأنت جوابها

You were summoned to it when it called on Shawar's house;

before it knew it, you were its answer.

فتحت على الهادي أبي الفتح بالظبى

وبالرأي قطريها وقد سد بابها

For al-Hadi Abu al-Fath you opened, with sword blades

and counsel, both its regions, though its gate was barred.

وسكنتها والسيف في الجفن نائم

ولولا حذار الضرب دام اضطرابها

You pacified it while the sword slept in its sheath;

but for fear of striking, its unrest would have endured.

تكفلتها عن حضرة شاورية

منابك عنها في الأمور منابها

You undertook its charge on behalf of Shawar's court;

as its deputy in affairs, you stood in its very place.

ولو لم تناصب عن وزارة شاور

أعاديه لم يستقر نصابها

Had you not opposed, on behalf of Shawar's vizierate,

his enemies, its foundations would not have stood firm.

فلا غرو أن أفضى إليك نعيمها

وأفضى إلى شاني علاك عذابها

No wonder its bliss has come to you,

and its torment to whoever hates your eminence.

وأصبح مقسوماً بأمرك في الورى

ندى وردى شهد الليالي وصابها

By your command, there is apportioned among mankind

bounty and death—the nights' honey and bitter sap.

وما نحن إلا روضة كاملية

أياديك يا رب السماح ربابها

We are nothing but a garden of al-Kamil,

whose rainclouds, O lord of generosity, are your benefactions.

وقد ظمئت آمالنا نحو مزنة

ذهاب القوافي أن يظن ذهابها

Our hopes have grown thirsty for a raincloud;

to imagine its passing would be the ruin of rhyme.

نعد لها الأوقات إذ كل مزنة

سواها سراب لا يرجى شرابها

We count the hours awaiting it, for every raincloud

besides it is a mirage from which no drink is hoped.

وهذي قوافي الشعر يثنى عنانها

إليك وتلوى عن رحال رقابها

These verses of poetry have their reins turned

toward you, their necks bent away from other camps.

وما ذاك إلا أنها فيك لم تزل

تفوه بصدق لم يشبه كذابها

That is only because, concerning you, they have always

uttered truth untainted by their falsehood.

وهنيت عن شهر الصيام وظائفاً

من العمل المبرور يرجى ثوابها

May you be blessed in the fasting month's observances—

accepted good works whose reward is hoped for:

صيام يزكيه قيام وخشية

رقيب عليها خوفها وارتقابها

fasting purified by night prayer and reverent fear,

with their own fear and vigilance standing guard over them;

وألطاف أفعال من الخير لم يثب

إلى أحد إلا إليك انتسابها

and gracious deeds of goodness, ascribed

to no one but you.

بقيت فإن الجود واليأس والعلى

قشور إذا عدت وأنت لبابها

May you endure, for generosity, despair, and eminence

are husks when counted, while you are their kernel.