محلك من متن السماكين ارفع

وعزمك من ماضي الغرارين اقطع

Your station is higher than the backs of the two Simak stars,

And your resolve cuts keener than a blade with two sharp edges.

وصدرك من شرق البلاد وغربها

ومن عرض اقطار السموات اوسع

Your breast is broader than the east and west of the lands,

And than the span of the heavens' farthest reaches.

وحلمك راس كالجبال وربما

تضعضع راسيها ولا يتضعضع

Your forbearance stands firm as mountains, though at times

Their rooted bulk may shake, while it never shakes.

وأمرك لا الأفلاك يغلب دورها

وكفاك لا الأنواء تهمي وتهمع

Your command—not the celestial spheres—masters their courses,

And your palms—not the rain-stars—pour and stream.

وحزمك لا ما احكمت حكماؤها

من الأمر ما يقمى الأعادي ويقمع

Your judgment—not what their sages have perfected

In affairs—is what abases foes and subdues them.

يمينا لشخص المجد أنت يمينه

ونفس الأماني أمنها إذ تروع

I swear: you are the right hand of glory embodied,

And the soul of hopes, their safety when they are frightened.

وكهف اللها المزبى على كل ربوة

إليه تفر المعتفون وتفزع

And a haven of bounty, raised high above every hill [reading uncertain],

To which seekers of gifts flee and turn for refuge.

علوت على أعلا الكواكب رفعة

وجُدت وأنواء السحائب تمنع

You have risen in eminence above the highest stars,

And given freely while the rain-bearing clouds withheld.

فما ناظر إلا لعلياك ناظر

ولا راحة إلا لجدواك ترفع

No observer looks except toward your lofty station,

And no palm is raised except for your bounty.

وإنك بالمعروف عن صنيعه

عليم به في وضعه حيث يصنع

Indeed, concerning kindness and its bestowal,

You know it well, placing it where it ought to be bestowed.

لعمرك اكرام اللئام بأهله

يضر واكرام الأكارم ينفع

By your life, honoring the base, to those who offer it,

Brings harm, while honoring the noble brings benefit.

ألم تر غراس الأراضي خبيثها

وطيبها يجنى لما هويزع

Have you not seen the plantings of the lands, their poor

And their good, harvested according to what is sown [reading uncertain]?

لك الخير وفيت المعالي حقوقها

بأيدي العوالي والأسنة شرع

May good be yours! You have paid high achievements their due,

With the hands of tall lances, their spearheads leveled.

إذا صلت فالآفاق ضاقت بأهلها

وان قلت فالأعناق نكس خضع

When you charge, the horizons close in upon their people,

And when you speak, necks bow low in submission.

شجاع مطاع عادل باذل اللهي

وفي سخي اريحي سميدع

Brave, obeyed, just, a giver of bounty,

Loyal, generous, openhanded, a noble lord.

إمام همام فاضل كامل النهي

أمير خطير القدر امجد اروع

A leader, valiant, virtuous, complete in understanding,

A prince of exalted rank, most glorious and awe-inspiring.

محامد لن تحصى ويحصر بعضها

وان كان رمل الخبت يحصى ويجمع

Virtues that cannot be numbered or even partly encompassed,

Even if the lowland's sands could be counted and gathered.

فصخروان سحت أياديه صخرة

لديه وعمرو منه عمري يجزع

So Sakhr—even when his hands pour forth—is a rock

Beside him; and ʿAmr, by my life, quails before him.

ومن قاس قسا في فصاحته به

فمن باقل بالعي أولى وأولع

And whoever compares Quss with him in eloquence

Then deserves tongue-tiedness more than Baqil and is more given to it.

فصيح من السعدى أسعد خطبة

وأشجي من الكندي شعراً وأشجع

Eloquent, more felicitous in oratory than al-Saʿdi,

And more moving in verse than al-Kindi, and braver.

فيا بن الألى أحسابهم وسيوفهم

بها يكشف الخطب الملم ويدفع

O son of those whose noble lineages and swords—

Through them, descending calamity is dispelled and repelled.

لبابك جاءت بي مآرب جمة

وصدق الولا فيها شفيع مشفع

Many needs have brought me to your door,

With sincere allegiance as their intercessor, whose plea is granted.

لو أرى محياها حياءً ذو النهى

يحقق وجه الأمر وهو مبرقع

If a discerning man showed their face out of modesty [reading uncertain],

He would discern the face of the matter, even while it is veiled.

وأنت قمين أن يبل غليلها

وغلة من أم الموارد تنقع

You are worthy to quench their burning thirst,

And the thirst of one who seeks the watering places is quenched.

وقبلك صاحبت الزمان وأهله

فما شاقني خل ولا وراق موضع

Before you, I kept company with time and its people,

But no friend stirred my longing, nor did any place delight me.

يقدمني عزمي وحظي مؤخري

ويوصلني حزمي ودهري يقطع

My resolve advances me; my luck holds me back,

My prudence brings me near; my age cuts me off.

ولا ذنب لي إلا الفضيلة انها

من الجهل في الأيام اشنا واشنع

I have no fault except excellence: it

Is, in these times, more hated and uglier than ignorance.

وهمي من الدنيا المعالي ونيلها

وما هم قلبي الرقمتان ولعلع

My concern in this world is high achievement and attaining it;

My heart's concern is not al-Raqmatan or Laʿlaʿ,

ولا نسمة سحرية شحرية

ولا بارق من بارق وهو يلمع

Nor a dawn breeze from al-Shihr,

Nor a lightning flash from Bariq, gleaming,

ولا عذب ماء بالعذيب على ظما

ممض بجرعاء الحمي يتجرع

Nor sweet water at al-ʿUdhayb, to relieve a thirst

That sears, sipped on the sandy rise of al-Hima,

ولا رشأ أحوي ولا صوت قينة

ولا قدح فيه الرحيق المشعشع

Nor a dusky gazelle, nor a singing-girl's voice,

Nor a cup filled with wine diluted to brilliance.

ولكنه لدن واجرد سابح

ومسرودة زغفا وابيض بسطع

Rather, a supple lance and a sleek, swimming steed,

A broad coat of linked mail and a white sword that flashes,

واتلاف ما احوى على طلب العلا

وهذا طريق للمكارم متبع

And spending all I possess in pursuit of loftiness:

This is a well-trodden path toward noble deeds.

واني من خلى بأيسر ده

اسروا سرى ما دعاني واسرع

And at the slightest affection from my friend [reading uncertain],

I rejoice and travel by night whenever he calls me, and hasten.

قليل مودات الرجال كثيرة

وأيسرها عند النوائب تقنع

A little of men's affection is much,

And the least of it in misfortune is enough.

أبرّك من يلقاك بالبشر وجهه

وواساك في الضراء من يتوجع

The kindest to you is he who greets you with a smiling face,

And he who feels your pain stands by you in adversity.

ولكنني لم الف غيرك وافيا

واكثر من تلقي بخون ويخدع

But I have found none faithful except you,

And most whom you meet betray and deceive.

فحاولت أن ألقى المنايا أو المنى

لديك وعرنين العدا بك أجدع

So I sought to meet either death or my desire

At your side, and through you sever the enemy's nose.

تملكت مني جانبا لا اضيعه

لغيرك في الدنيا وغيري المضيع

You have claimed a part of me that I will not squander

On another in this world; others are the squanderers:

لسانا طرياً بالمديح وأنملا

سحائبها من نفثها لا تقشع

A tongue fresh with praise, and fingers

Whose clouds, born of their breath, never disperse;

وقلباً على حفظ المودة عامراً

ولكنه إن سمته الضيم بلقع

And a heart full of resolve to preserve affection,

Yet a barren waste if you impose humiliation upon it.

وصيرتني عبداً لأمرك طائعا

واني الأك الأنام اضيع

You have made me a servant obedient to your command,

And I disregard all mankind except you.

ولي رتبة فوق الثريا محلها

ودون ثري فيه نعالك توضع

I hold a rank whose place is above the Pleiades,

Yet below the earth upon which your sandals rest.

وسلسال لفظ سائغ الورد عذبه

له مشرب صاف نمير ومشرع

And a flowing stream of words, its sweetness easy to drink,

With a clear, pure drinking place and a way down to its water.

وما قصدت الاك قبل قصائدي

ولم يرها قوم سواك ويسمعوا

Before now, my poems have sought none but you,

No people other than you have seen or heard them.

منمقة تزهو على زهر الربى

وتشرق كالزهر السواري وتطلع

Embellished, they outshine the flowers of the hills,

And shine and rise like stars journeying through the night.

لو اعتبر الرائي مواقع لفظها

تيقن ان السحر في الشعر يجمع

Were an observer to examine how their words are placed,

He would be certain that magic is gathered in poetry.

وغيري طفيلي القوافي واشعب

المعاني له في كل ما عن مطمع

Another is a parasite upon rhymes, an Ashʿab

Of meanings, with an appetite for everything that appears.

فأبعد مرماه واوفر حظه التشدق

في اغراضها والتقعقع

His furthest aim and greatest portion are bombast

In their themes, and hollow rattling.

وكل على مقدار همة نفسه

وإبداعها يبدي الغريب ويبدع

Each, according to the measure of his soul's ambition

And its creativity, reveals the wondrous and devises anew.

بقيت تهادى بالقريض وترتجي

وتنجز ما أوعدتنيه وتنجع

May you live on, gifted with verse and looked to in hope,

Fulfilling what you promised me and bringing relief.

بك استغنت العينان عن كل ذاهب

وان فارقته وهي تدمي وتدمع

Through you, my eyes have no need of anyone who departs,

Though I parted from him with them bleeding and weeping.

فللقلب مغنى من رجاك ومغنم

وللحظ مرعي في ذراك ومرتع

The heart finds in hope of you a home and a gain,

And my gaze finds in your shelter a pasture and a grazing ground.

وكم مرة فارقت بابك والهوى

يشيع قلبي نحوه ويودع

How often I have left your door while love

Escorted my heart toward it and bade farewell.

أكلفه ود السوى فيمله

وهيهات أن يمحو الطباع التطبع

I charge it with loving others, but it tires of that;

Never can acquired habits erase one's innate nature.

فما زلت استقصي رضاك وارتجي

بذاك واخشي من سطاك واخشع

I have kept seeking your approval to the utmost, and hoping

Through that, fearing your might and bowing humbly,

مدا الدهر أو تبني عليّ صفائح

ويبلى مع الأيام مثوى ومضجع

For all time, or until stone slabs are laid above me,

And, with the passing days, my abode and resting place decay.