أمعتسف المهامه والموامي

على قلص سواهم كالسهام

O you who traverse the pathless wastes and deserts,

on young she-camels, lean as arrows,

أبن لي ما حداك إلى مرام

تركت به المطايا كالمرامي

tell me what drove you toward a goal

where you left your mounts like arrow-shafts?

أعن مصر أجد بك انتجاع

وطامي النيل يروي كل ظامي

Did a quest for pasture hasten you away from Egypt,

while the swelling Nile quenches every thirsty one?

فلا تك مثل منتجع جهاماً

يخلف خلفه صوب الغمام

So do not be like one seeking pasture from a rainless cloud,

leaving the clouds' downpour behind him.

أملتمساً نوالاً أو ثواباً

تعدهما لفقر أو أثام

Are you seeking bounty or reward,

laying both up against poverty or sin?

علي العاضد الهادي قدير

على الغفران والمنن الجسام

ʿAlī, al-ʿĀḍid the Guide has power

to forgive and bestow immense favors.

فألق عصا الإقامة في مقام

كرامته تزيد على المقام

So lay down your staff and settle in a station

whose honor surpasses the station itself.

ترى الجبهات والأقدام فيه

تفضل بالسجود وبالقيام

There you see foreheads and feet

gaining distinction through prostration and standing.

ولولا الحظ من أجر وفخر

لما رغمت أنوف في الرغام

And were it not for a share of reward and glory,

no noses would have been rubbed in the dust.

وسلم بالسجود على إمام

يجل عن التحية بالسلام

And greet with prostration an imam

too exalted for a greeting of peace alone.

وقبل ترب ساحته فمنها

عرفنا حرمة البيت الحرام

And kiss the dust of his courtyard, for from it

we learned the sanctity of the Sacred House.

وإن أذنت جلالته عليه

فزاحم إن قدرت على الزحام

And if His Majesty allows you into his presence,

then jostle, if you can bear the crush.

لعلك أن ترى في الدست وجهاً

به تشفى العيون من السقام

Perhaps you may see upon the throne a face

through which eyes are healed of sickness.

إذا رفعت ستور الملك عنه

رأيت البدر في الغيم الركام

When the royal curtains are lifted from him,

you see the full moon amid heaped-up clouds.

فهن به الشهور ولا تخصص

بذلك شهر فطر أو صيام

Then congratulate the months on him; do not single out

for this a month of fast-breaking or fasting.

فلولا نص عترته عليها

لما صارت مواسم للأنام

For were it not for his family's decree concerning them,

they would not have become festival seasons for humankind.

وإن من الغباوة أن تهنى

وأنت الشمس نوراً بالضرام

And it is folly to congratulate you—

you, the sun in brilliance—on a blaze.

وهل شهر الصيام سوى هلال

يزورك وافداً في كل عام

And is the month of fasting anything but a crescent

that visits you as an envoy every year?

جعلت له على شعبان فضلاً

بتحريم المباح من الطعام

You gave it precedence over Shaʿbān

by forbidding the food otherwise permitted.

وبينهما على التحقيق بون

بعيد لا يؤول إلى التئام

And between the two, in truth, lies a gulf,

vast, never leading to union.

إذا ما تم أدركه محاق

ووجهك دائماً بدر التمام

When it reaches fullness, the moon's dark phase overtakes it,

while your face is forever the moon at its fullest.

يعود من الكمال إلى انتقاص

ويصحبك الكمال على الدوام

It returns from perfection to diminishment,

while perfection keeps your company forever.

ولو ذهب المحاق به عرفنا

برؤيتك الحلال من الحرام

Even if the dark phase swept it away, we would know,

by seeing you, the lawful from the forbidden.

سموت على الهناء بكل شيء

سوى أيام كافلك الهمام

You have risen above congratulations on anything,

save the days of your magnanimous guardian.

فإن حياته أسنى العطايا

إذا عدنا لتحقيق الكلام

For his life is the loftiest of gifts,

when we return to the exact meaning of our words.

لئن نظمت ليالي الملك عقداً

عليك فإنه سلك النظام

If indeed the nights of kingship have strung a necklace

upon you, he is the thread that holds it together.

وإن شرفت صفاتك فهو منها

بمنزلة الوفاء من الذمام

And if your qualities are noble, he stands among them

as fulfillment stands to a covenant.

رعى حرم الخلافة منه طرف

طريف عنده خبر المنام

An eye of his guarded the caliphate's sanctuary;

to it, the very tidings of sleep were a novelty.

وحاط سوامها من كل خطب

فيا لله من راعي سوام

And he shielded its grazing herds from every calamity—

O God, what a shepherd of herds!

وباشر عند نصرتها المنايا

مباشرة اصطلاء واصطلام

And in defending it, he grappled with death,

directly facing battle's fire and annihilation.

وناط وراءها بعرى وفاء

تصان عن انفصال وانفصام

And he secured its rear with bonds of loyalty

protected from separation and rupture.

جعلت زمام أمرك في يديه

فرد عليك تدبير الزمام

You placed the reins of your affairs in his hands,

and he restored to you control of the reins.

وأسندت الأمور إلى عظيم

يكشف غمة الكرب العظام

And you entrusted affairs to a great man

who lifts the gloom of grievous woes.

فأصلح فاسد الأيام حتى

أعاد قطوبهن إلى ابتسام

He mended the corruption of the days, until

he turned their scowling into smiles.

وداوى علة الدنيا بعزم

شفى الدنيا من الداء العقام

And he treated the world's sickness with a resolve

that healed the world of its incurable disease.

وأيد ملكه بأبي شجاع

وذلك من تمام الاهتمام

And he strengthened his rule with Abū Shujāʿ,

and that was a sign of consummate care.

فأسفر وجه ملك عاضدي

يشار به إلى عضد الإمام

Thus the face of ʿĀḍidī sovereignty grew radiant,

pointing to the imam's supporting arm.

تعطلت العلى منه إلى من

يشرف سامي الرتب السوامي

Glory lay bereft of him until the coming of one

who ennobles the loftiest of exalted ranks.

بنى بالناصر المحيي مناراً

تقطع دونه نفس الكرام

He raised through al-Nāṣir the Reviver a beacon,

short of which the noble run out of breath.

ولم يك نص والده عليه

بذلك رمية من غير رام

His father's designation of him

for that was no shot by an unskilled archer.

وذلك رأي محتبك خبير

يجلي رأيه سدف الظلام

And that was the judgment of a sound-minded expert,

whose judgment dispels the veils of darkness.

يرى الأشياء من أمم بفكر

يريه كل خلف من أمام

He sees things close at hand through thought

that shows him all that lies behind from what lies before.

تبيت بأمره الأقدار فينا

توزع بين عفو وانتقام

At his command, destinies pass the night among us,

apportioned between pardon and vengeance.

إذا ما الحلم خفض من سطاه

مشت بين السكينة والعرام

When forbearance tempers his might,

they tread between tranquility and fierceness.

به طالت بنو رزيك باعاً

على الحيين من يمن وشام

Through him, the Banū Ruzzīk surpassed in reach

both tribal peoples, of Yemen and Shām.

ملوك علموا همم القوافي

ترفعها عن النفر اللئام

Kings who taught the ambitions of rhymes

to hold themselves aloof from ignoble men.

اقصر من عنان المدح فيهم

فيغلبني ويجمح بي لجامي

I draw in the reins of praise for them,

but my bridle overpowers me and bolts away with me.

وأستر شكرهم خجلاً فيبدو

وعرف المسك ينفح في الختام

And I hide my gratitude to them in bashfulness, yet it shows,

while musk's fragrance wafts through its seal.

لقد حسنت بدولتهم ليال

كأن الناس منها في منام

Truly, nights grew lovely under their rule,

as though, because of them, people were in a dream.

فلا أشرفن قط على انصراف

ولا أفضين قط على انصرام

So may they never draw near to departure,

nor ever come to an end.