لكم من ودادي ناصر ليس يخذل

ولي خاطر يغرى بكم حين يعذل

In my affection you have a champion who never forsakes you;

and my heart is enamored of you whenever it is reproached.

أأحبائنا يهنيكم اليوم أنكم

تجورون في ظلم الوداد وأعدل

O our beloved ones, does it please you today that you

wrong our affection, while I remain just?

تبدلتم بعد النوى وسلوتم

وقلبي لا يسلو ولا يتبدل

You changed after separation and ceased to pine,

but my heart neither ceases to pine nor changes.

فإن كان شيبي أصل عيني عندكم

فكل شباب نازل سوف يرحل

If my gray hair is, in your view, the source of my fault [reading 'fault' for the unclear 'eye'],

then all youth is a sojourner bound to depart.

وما الشعر المسود إلا حديقة

تروق الفتى أوراقها ثم تذبل

Black hair is nothing but a garden

whose leaves delight a young man, then wither.

ومن نصلت بالشيب صبغة رأسه

فليس له إلا التقى والتنصل

And he whose hair's color has faded with grayness

has nothing left but piety and renunciation.

ومن لم ترعه الأربعون فإنه

عليل بأخبار الصبا يتعلل

And whoever forty years have not chastened is

an ailing man who consoles himself with tales of youth.

أيا قلب هل تنهاك واعظة النهى

وتزجرك الأيام لو كنت تقبل

O heart, does reason's admonition restrain you,

and do the days rebuke you, if you would but heed?

أمالك هم غير نظم قصيدة

تضمنها بالقول ما ليس تفعل

Have you no concern but composing a poem

in which you declare in words what you do not do?

تغزلت حتى صوحت زهرة الصبا

وقالت قوافي الشعر كم يتغزل

You sang of love until the blossom of youth withered,

and poetry's rhymes said, 'How much he sings of love!'

كأن أبا الفتح المظفر لم يجب

عليك له الحق الذي ليس يجهل

As though Abu al-Fath al-Muzaffar were not owed

his well-known due by you.

فتعدل عن نفل الكلام لفرضه

فمن لم يقم بالفرض لا يتنفل

So turn from optional speech to what is obligatory;

for whoever neglects the obligatory cannot make a voluntary offering.

فيا خابط العشواء في طلب الغنى

وعقل الفتى من وصمة الجهل معقل

O you who stumble like a night-blind camel in pursuit of wealth,

a man's reason is a stronghold against the stain of ignorance.

صن القول لا تبديه إلا لمنعم

تصان القوافي باسمه حين تبذل

Guard your verse: reveal it only to a benefactor

whose name safeguards the rhymes when they are offered.

أمنت غلو الشعر فيما أقوله

ولي شاهد من فضل بدر معدل

I need not fear poetic exaggeration in what I say,

and in Badr's excellence I have a witness of proven integrity.

كريم يرينا شيمة البدر والحيا

جبين له يوم السماح وأنمل

A generous man: the qualities of the full moon and rain are shown to us

by his brow and fingertips on the day of giving.

له راحة تنهل جوداً بنانها

ووجه إذا قابلته يتهلل

He has a palm whose fingertips pour forth bounty,

and a face that beams whenever you meet him.

تقيل الأماني تحت ظل اصطناعه

وصرف الليالي تحته يتظلل

Hopes take their noonday rest beneath the shade of his patronage,

and the nights' vicissitudes seek shelter beneath it.

ومن عجب أن المنية لم تزل

تفيض بها يمناه وهي تقبل

And it is a wonder that death is ever

poured from his right hand, even as that hand is kissed.

أتتنا به الأيام آخر منعم

ولكنه في حلبة الجود أول

The days brought him to us as the latest benefactor,

yet in generosity's racecourse he is first.

بقية بيت لم يزل في سراتهم

كفيل بأرزاق الورى يتكفل

The surviving scion of a house whose chiefs have always included

a guarantor who undertakes humankind's sustenance.

يكل شجاع الطرف دون جلاله

إذا ما رآه الناظر المتأمل

A fearless gaze falters before his majesty

when the reflective beholder looks upon him.

حمى الدين من أبناء رزيك عصبة

على عزمهم دين الهدى يتوكل

A band of Ruzzik's sons has protected the faith;

the religion of guidance relies upon their resolve.

دعائم هذا الملك بل هضباته

إذا زل رضوى أو تزلزل يذبل

The pillars of this realm—rather, its mountains—

even should Radwa slip or Yadhbul quake.

ملوك تري الأيام بأساً ونائلاً

بأمرهم العالي تجود وتعدل

Kings who show the days might and bounty;

at their exalted command the days give freely and act justly.

أقام لها بدر بن رزيك دولة

دعائمها بيض رقاق وذبل

Badr ibn Ruzzik established for them a dynasty

whose pillars are thin white blades and slender spears.

وقام بأثقال الرياسة بعدما

مضوا وهي من حمل الشواهق أثقل

And he shouldered the burdens of leadership after

they departed, though it is heavier than bearing lofty mountains.

وأي خطوب الدهر جلت فلم يكن

على فارس الإسلام فيها المعول

And what calamities of time grew grave without

the Knight of Islam being relied upon to meet them?

وكم ليلة نحو الأعادي سريتها

ووجهك فيها من سميك أجمل

And how many a night you marched toward the enemies,

and your face that night was fairer than your namesake.

ومعترك لولا ثباتك أشفقت

رجال فلم تثبت من الرعب أرجل

And many a battlefield where, but for your steadfastness, fear would have seized

men, and their feet would not have stood firm for terror.

خليلي لا بالسفح من رملة الحمى

ولكن بحيث الوفد يسعى ويرمل

My two friends—not on the sandy slope of the protected grounds,

but where delegations hasten and stride briskly.

جزى الله عني آل رزيك فوق ما

يؤمل من حسن الجزاء المؤمل

May God reward the house of Ruzzik on my behalf beyond what

the hopeful could hope for in generous recompense.

هم خلصوني بالنفوس التي لها

محل من الجوزاء أعلى وأفضل

They saved me with lives that possess

a station higher and nobler than al-Jawza.

وكافا أبا النجم الهمام وخصه

بأفضل ما يجزى امرؤ متفضل

And may He reward the noble Abu al-Najm, favoring him

with the finest reward a generous man can receive.

فقد تابع الإحسان حتى خجلت من

نداه وتكرار الصنائع يخجل

For he kept bestowing kindness until I was abashed by

his bounty; repeated favors make one blush.

يهنك من شهر المحرم زائر

يقابله جد لسعدك مقبل

May a visitor from the month of Muharram gladden you,

whom good fortune greets, coming to bring you happiness.

وعام له في كل يوم وليلة

رحيل إذا هذا الجناب ومنزل

And a year that, every day and night, has

a journey to this court and a resting-place [reading 'to' for the unclear 'when'].

تحمله من در فكري فرائداً

يتوج منها رأسه ويكلل

You load it with rare gems from the pearls of my thought,

with which it crowns and garlands its head.

محاسن لولا بحر جودك لم تكن

جواهرها من بحر غيرك تحصل

Beauties that, but for the sea of your generosity, could never have

their jewels obtained from anyone else's sea.

تجمل أجياد الملوك وقد غدت

بأوصافكم أجيادها تتجمل

They adorn kings' necks, and now

their own necks are adorned with descriptions of you.