إن السعادة قد أظل زمانها

وافتر عن ثغر الهناء أوانها

Truly, the season of happiness has spread its shade,

and its hour has unveiled the smiling mouth of bliss.

وافاك أول عامها بمسرة

لا الفطر أهداها ولا رمضانها

The beginning of its year has brought you a joy

that neither Eid al-Fitr nor its Ramadan bestowed.

عام كأن شهوره من حسنها

درر تضاحك في السلوك جمانها

A year whose months, in their beauty, seem

pearls whose beads smile at one another upon their strings.

فتحت فتوحك بالسعادة بابها

فأسعد بمملكة عظيم شأنها

Your conquests have opened its gate with happiness;

so rejoice in a kingdom of mighty standing.

متقسم يوم الندى معروفها

متبسم يوم الهدى عرفانها

Its bounty is shared out on the day of generosity,

its knowledge smiling on the day of guidance.

مجداً بني عبد المجيد فإنكم

مندوحة نبوية أغصانها

Glory be yours, sons of Abd al-Majid, for you are

the branches of a prophetic spreading tree.

مذ غاب ناطقها فإنك سوسها

والترجمان لما قراه لسانها

Since its spokesman departed, you are its leader,

and the interpreter of what its tongue recited.

كم آية رويت لكم إسرارها

آل الوصي وللورى إعلانها

How many a verse has been transmitted: its hidden message is yours,

O house of the Legatee, and its public proclamation is mankind's.

درج الزمان وعندكم أسرارها

فيما ترون وعندكم إيمانها

Time has passed, yet its secrets remain with you

in what you perceive; with you, too, is faith in it.

وهب الخلافة شاركوكم في اسمها

أوليس فرق بينكم فرقانها

Grant that they share with you the caliphate's name:

has its Criterion not distinguished between you?

فكأنما تأويلكم أرواحها

وكأنما تفسيركم أبدانها

Your inward interpretation is, as it were, their souls,

and your exposition, as it were, their bodies.

كثرت عليها المدعون ومالهم

فيها إمامتكم ولا قربانها

Many have laid claim to it, yet they possess not

your imamate within it, nor any closeness to it.

نطقت بآية نصركم عن شيركو

سير يزيد على السماع عيانها

The sign of your victory is proclaimed, concerning Shirku, by

deeds whose sight surpasses their report.

أخبرتمونا عنه قبل مجيئه

أخبار صدق صح منه بيانها

You told us of him before his arrival,

truthful reports whose proof he confirmed.

فكأن علم الكائنات وديعة

مخزونة وصدوركم خزانها

It is as though knowledge of all that exists were a trust,

stored away, with your breasts its guardians.

تأتي الأمور وقد سطرتم ذكرها

فيكون بعد حديثكم حدثانها

Events arrive when you have already written their account,

so their occurrence follows your telling.

حتى كأن صروفها عن أمركم

تجري وأعنان السماء عنانها

It is as though their vicissitudes, at your command,

run their course, with heaven's reaches as their reins.

الله أكبر والخلافة فيكم

من أن تلين لحاسد عيدانها

God is greatest! The caliphate, vested in you,

is above having its branches bend before an envier.

أنى وبيعتك الكريمة جنة ال

مأوى وشاور الرضى رضوانها

How could that be, when your noble allegiance is the Garden of

Refuge, and Shawar, the well-approved, its Ridwan?

هو مقلة الدنيا وأسود عينها

والعاضد بن المصطفى إنسانها

He is the world's eyeball and the black of its eye;

and al-Adid, son of al-Mustafa, is its pupil.

وعد المهيمن أن سيظهر دينكم

عدة على كرم الإله ضمانها

The Guardian has promised to make your faith prevail,

a promise guaranteed by God's generosity.

أفتخمد الأعداء جذوة دعوة

قدحت بأنوار الهدى نيرانها

Will enemies then quench the ember of a summons

whose fires were kindled with the lights of guidance?

إن بات من عدد الملوك فإنه

لا يستوي نار الغضا ودخانها

Though he has come to be counted among kings,

ghada-wood fire and its smoke are not alike.

راج يقال الصبر يبذل نفسه

حيث المنية ضيق ميدانها

Hoping to be excused his patience [reading uncertain], he offers his life

where death's arena is narrow.

من معشر تغدو السماحة والردى

مما حوت أجفانها وجفانها

From a people whose generosity and death-dealing

come from what their scabbards and bowls contain.

ولقد دفعت إلى ثلاث نوائب

كادت تشيب لهولها ولدانها

Indeed, you were thrust into three calamities

whose terror almost turned their children gray.

فعصابة غزية غادرتها

وأجل ما ترجوه منك أمانها

One was a Ghuzz band that you left

with safety their greatest hope from you.

وعصابة رومية عاشرتها

فتأدبت وتهذبت أذهانها

And a Roman band with whom you associated,

so their minds grew disciplined and refined.

وعصابة مصرية بك أصبحت

فوق البرية راجح ميزانها

And an Egyptian band that, through you, came to have

a scale outweighing all humankind.

خلصت كل قبيلة من ضدها

لما التوت وتعقدت عقدانها

You freed every tribe from its adversary

when its knots grew twisted and tangled.

أشبهت نوحاً مدة وهداية

في أمة متزايد طغيانها

You resembled Noah in duration and guidance

among a people whose rebellion kept increasing.

وكأنما البرج المنيف سفينة

والنيل يوم كسرته طوفانها

The lofty tower was as though a ship,

and the Nile, on the day you breached it, its deluge.

وتداركت بلبيس منك عواطف

يسع الزمان وأهله غفرانها

Your acts of compassion came to Bilbays's rescue,

their forgiveness embracing time and all its people.

أقسمت لولا حسن رأيك لاغتدى

الناقوس في بلبيس وهو أذانها

I swear, had it not been for your sound judgment,

the bell would have been Bilbays's call to prayer.

بلد لو انهدمت قواعد سوره

بيد النصارى لم يعد بنيانها

A town—had the foundations of its wall been demolished

by Christian hands, its buildings would not have risen again.

أبقيتها للمسلمين وإنه

ليعز بعد خرابها عمرانها

You preserved it for the Muslims; indeed,

its rebuilding after ruin would have been hard.

شفع النساء إليك فيه فشفعت

في سيئات رجالها نسوانها

The women interceded with you for it, and you accepted

its women as intercessors for its men's misdeeds.

وهب الجرائم للحرائم قادر

ترضى سطاه ولا يرى إذعانها

A man of power pardoned crimes for the women's sake,

whose might wins approval and is never seen to yield.

رأي حقنت به دماء خلائق

ظنت بأن دروعها أكفانها

A judgment by which you spared the blood of multitudes

who had thought their armor would be their shrouds.

كانت وزارتك القديمة مشرعاً

صفواً ولكن كدرت غدرانها

Your former vizierate was a watering place

of clear water, but its pools were muddied.

غصبت رجال تاجه وسريره

من بعدما سجدت له تيجانها

Men usurped his crown and throne

after their crowns had bowed before him.

أخلى لهم دست الوزارة عالماً

أن سوف ينزغ بينهم شيطانها

He vacated the vizierate's seat for them, knowing

that its devil would sow discord among them.

قد كان أودع في الرقاب صنائعاً

كفرت فأرداها بها كفرانها

He had already laid favors upon their necks;

these were denied, and denial of them brought those necks to ruin.

هجر الوزارة حين ينكر عرفها

وكذا النبوة إن نبت أوطانها

He left the vizierate when its goodness was disowned,

as prophethood does when its homelands reject it.

وأرى قرانات الكواكب لم تكن

إلا واثر في عداك قرانها

I see that conjunctions of the stars have never occurred

without their conjunction leaving its mark on your foes.

وإذا رميت معانداً بمكيدة

وأردت أن يجني عليه زمانها

And when you target an adversary with a stratagem

and wish its time to bring him harm,

هبت عليه من الرياح دبورها

ومن الكواكب طالع دبرانها

the west wind blows against him from among the winds,

and among the stars, their Aldebaran rises.

فأسلم كفيل خلافة علوية

أضحى بسيفك ظاهر برهانها

So live in safety, guardian of an Alid caliphate

whose proof has become manifest through your sword.