خفة الروح واجتناب الثقاله

فتحا للريض باب المقالة

Lightness of spirit and shunning ponderousness

Have opened the door to speech for the novice poet.

فليدعني من التمعقل تيس

ليس يدري من أين تأتي الغزالة

Let some billy goat spare me his affected wisdom,

Who does not know whence the sun comes.

مل فكري في الشعر من فرد لون

أي نفس لا تعتريها الملالة

My mind has tired of a single color in poetry:

What soul is never overtaken by weariness?

كل يوم كدح ومدح وقدح

يشعل القلب كاشتعال الذبالة

Every day, toil, praise, and disparagement

Set the heart alight like a burning wick.

قد بدا لي أن اجعل الجد هزلاً

فليقل في عاذل ما بدا له

It has occurred to me to turn seriousness into jest;

So let a reproacher say of me whatever he pleases.

قلت إذ قيل لي ألست بعدل

في كذا في كذا من أم العدالة

I said, when asked, 'Are you not an upright witness,

In this and that, from the mother of probity?'

لو فتشنا عدولنا لخجلنا

ووجدنا صفو الرجال حثالة

If we scrutinized our upright witnesses, we would blush,

And find the cream of men to be dregs.

غير أنا في دولة الملك النا

صر محيي الهدى مميت الضلالة

Yet we are in the reign of King al-Na-

sir, reviver of guidance, destroyer of error,

ساتر العيب حافظ الغيب نرجو

وبل إحسانه ونخشى وباله

Concealer of faults, keeper of secrets; we hope for

His bounty's downpour, and fear his punishment.

ملك جمل الكفالة لما

فوضت نحوه أمور الكفالة

A king who beautified guardianship when

The affairs of guardianship were entrusted to him.

ورث المجد عن أبيه فقلنا

لم يرثها أبو شجاع كلالة

He inherited glory from his father, so we said:

'Abu Shuja did not inherit it by collateral succession.'

فاق أهل الزمان شرقاً وغرباً

وبنقصانهم عرفنا كماله

He surpassed the people of his age, east and west;

And through their shortcomings we recognized his perfection.

بسط الله في البسيطة والخل

ق جميعاً يمينه وشماله

God has extended, throughout the earth and all crea-

tion, his right hand and his left.

فاجتلوا من حياته وحياه

كل وقت جميله وجماله

So behold, in his life and his rain of bounty,

At every moment, his kindness and his beauty.

أيها لسيد الذي أنكرتني

نوب الدهر مذ عرفنا نواله

O master, through whom I am no longer known

To Time's vicissitudes, since we came to know his bounty,

عرضت حاجة ومالي فيها

حين تقضى إلا ثواب الدلالة

A need has arisen, in which I have no share,

When it is fulfilled, except the reward for pointing the way.

كان لي جعبتان أوجب حكم

الشرع أن يدفعا إلى النباله

I had two quivers; the ruling of

Sacred law required both to be handed to the archers.

فتفضل بسكر وكباش

كيفما شئت نقدة أو حواله

So graciously grant sugar and rams,

However you wish: in cash or by payment order.

فلو أن السها غريمي وأضحى

منك لي ناصر نتفت سباله

So if Suha were my adversary, and

I had a champion from you, I would pluck out his whiskers.

وعلى رأيك الجميل ارتياشي

وانتعاشي من عطلتي والبطالة

And on your gracious judgment rests my gaining feathers,

And my revival from inactivity and idleness,

ليقول الورى بغير خلاف

صنع الخير عند من فيه آله

So that all people may say, without dispute:

'He has done good for one endowed with ability.'

والدعاوى إذا رجعنا إلى الحق

عليكم حماقة وجهالة

And claims—when we return to the truth—

Against you are folly and ignorance.

أي حق على علاك لضيف

أنت حليت باصطناعك حاله

What claim upon your eminence has a guest

Whose lot you have adorned through your patronage?

قد غدا شعره لملك كلباً

ينبح الناس عنك فوق الزبالة

His poetry has now become a dog in a king's service,

Barking at people on your behalf atop the rubbish heap.