تذكر مهدا بالغوير ومعهدا — Ibn Al Jazari

تذكر مهداً بالغوير ومعهدا

فغار به الوجد المجد وانجدا

He recalled a cradle at al-Ghuwayr and a familiar abode.

So relentless longing bore him into lowlands and uplands.

وعن له بالأبلق الفرد بارق

فبات كما شاء الغرام مسهدا

And at al-Ablaq al-Fard a lightning flash appeared to him,

so he spent the night sleepless, as passion willed.

وبدد شمل الدمع بعد انتظامه

قديما على شمل نظيم تبددا

And he scattered the gathered tears after their ordering

long ago, over a close-knit company now dispersed.

والف ما بين الجوانح والجوى

تألف اوصال الجزور مع المدي

And he joined ribs and burning grief together,

as a slaughter-camel's limbs are joined with knives.

أخو شغف بالبيض يسهل دونها

عليه لقاء البيض والسمر والعدى

A man enamored of fair women, for whose sake

he finds it easy to face bright swords, tawny spears, and foes.

إذا اغتالت الظلماء وجه ذكائها

وابدت من الجوز شنفا منضدا

When darkness stole away the face of its sun

and displayed a strung earring from al-Jawz,

ولاح هلال والثريا كأنها

بجانبه مدت إلى قدح يدا

and a crescent shone, while the Pleiades seemed

beside it to stretch a hand toward a goblet,

تجشم هول البيد واعتسف الفلا

على اعوجى من أولي السبق اجردا

he braved the terror of the deserts and struck across the wastes

on a sleek Aʿwaji steed, one of the foremost racers.

ينيبلك ما فوق المراد بركضه

فتدرك منه اليوم ما ترتجي غدا

Its gallop grants you more than you desire,

so today you gain from it what you hope for tomorrow.

وما لاخيل إلا كالمقادير جريها

وحسبك ان تشقى بهن وتسعدا

The running of horses is only like fate's decrees;

and enough for you that through them you suffer and prosper.

وضم إليه من بني الهند صادق الأجابة

لم يخلفك في الأمر موعدا

And he added to it a son of India, faithful in response,

that never broke its promise to you in any affair.

جراز يجاري السحر من اعين المها

مضاء كأني منه جردت اغيدا

A cutting blade that rivals the magic of oryx eyes

in keenness—as though from it I had unsheathed a graceful youth.

ولست أبالي أي أمر ركبته

إلى الحب والولهان يستعذب الردى

I care not what ordeal I venture into

for love: the love-distraught finds death sweet.

وصعب الهوى سهل لمن كان عاشقا

سوى ان يرى فيه العذول المفندا

The hardships of passion are easy to one in love,

except seeing in it the censor who calls him foolish.

فأن حال جدى دون جدى عن المنى

فكم من فتى بالسعي لا يبلغ المدى

If my fortune keeps my striving from my desires,

how many a youth fails, despite his striving, to reach the goal!

سقى الله ايامي بوبلة وابلاً

واطلالها طلا وناديها الندى

May God water my days in Wabla with pouring rain,

its ruins with dew, and its gathering-place with bounty;

وعيشاً تقضى بالعواصم لم يكن

بأعذب منه في الزمان وارغدا

and the life spent in al-ʿAwasim: never was there

in all time a sweeter or more easeful life.

ملاعب آرام وخيس ضراغم

وموقد نيران ومنبجس الندى

Playgrounds of gazelles and a thicket of lions,

a kindling-place of fires and a wellspring of bounty.

عفاء على الأيام بعدك متزلا

عفا ومناخاً ينبت العز والمجد

Oblivion upon the days after you, O dwelling

now effaced, and O encampment that grows honor and glory!

لهجت بذم الدهر عنه وانني

ليشغلني مدحي الرئيس محمدا

I kept blaming Time on its account, and indeed

my praise of the chief Muhammad occupies me.

سليل الكرام الامجدين ولن ترى

بأكرم منه في الزمان وامجدا

Scion of the most glorious noblemen; never will you see

in all time anyone more generous or more glorious than he.

ونجل أولي الجود الذين اكفهم

على الدهر يستسقى بهن من الصدى

And son of men of bounty, whose hands

are forever invoked for water against thirst.

له همة لا ترضي البدر درهما

ولا الشمس ديناراً ولا الافق مقعدا

His ambition will not accept the full moon as a dirham,

nor the sun as a dinar, nor the horizon as a seat.

وبأس إذا لاقيته وهو اعزل

توهمته ينضى الصفيح المهندا

And valor: when you meet him unarmed,

you imagine him unsheathing an Indian blade.

وفضل أعاد الفضل فينا وجعفر

ويحي لدينا والربيع مخلدا

And bounty that brought al-Fadl back among us, and Jaʿfar,

and Yahya and al-Rabiʿ among us, immortalized.

ورائق رأي لم تشبه شوائب

من الدهر والآراء مجلوة الصدا

And clear judgment, untouched by the blemishes

of Time, and opinions burnished free of rust.

وشاهد عقل الألمعي محقق

يميز ما بين الضلالة والهدي

And the proven witness of a keen-sighted mind,

distinguishing error from guidance.

فلو لم يجل ماء الحياء بوجهه

خشينا عليه من ذكاء توقدا

Had modesty's moisture not shone upon his face,

we would have feared his brilliance might set him ablaze.

ولو لم نصب صوب الندي من بنانه

على الخلق خلنا الغيث اندي واجودا

Had we not found bounty pouring from his fingertips

upon mankind, we would have deemed rain more giving and generous.

تعود بسط الكف طبعاً وليس من

تكلف شيئاً مثل من قد تعودا

Open-handedness is his natural habit; and no one who

affects a thing is like one long accustomed to it.

فيا من نراه جحفلا من مهابة

به ونراه في الفضائل اوحدا

O you whom we see as a whole army through the awe

you inspire, and whom we see peerless in virtues,

لقد ضرنا من كان يطلب نفعنا

وأبعدنا ظلما ولو شاء أسعدا

he who sought our benefit has indeed harmed us

and unjustly cast us away, though he could have made us happy.

قريب ولكن لا قرابة بيننا

وجار ولكن جار في الحكم واعتدى

He is near, yet there is no kinship between us;

and a neighbor, yet unjust in judgment and transgressive.

واعضل داء الدهر يأس ابن حرة

كريم عداك اللؤم يسأل اعبدا

And Time's most intractable malady is a freeborn man's despair,

a noble man—may baseness pass you by—begging slaves.

فلا تحسبن اللَه جل بغافل

عن المعتدي والناس ان يتركوا سدى

Never think God—exalted is He—heedless

of the aggressor, or that people will be left untended.

ودم يا وحيد المجد والجد والعلا

وبيت الفخار المحض ركناً مشيدا

Live on, O peerless one in glory, fortune, and eminence,

and, O house of pure pride, remain a lofty pillar,

الموذ به في كل روع وحادث

ونعتده عضبا صقيلا مجردا

in whom refuge is sought against every terror and calamity,

whom we count a sharp, polished, unsheathed sword.

فما توهن الأيام من كان ملجأ

له العبيون العليون محتدا

For days cannot weaken one whose refuge

is the lofty ʿAbiyyun, his ancestral stock.

وما زالت العلياء تصفو لمصطفى

شقيقك ما شاهدت احمد احمدا

And high honor has ever shone clear for Mustafa,

your brother: never have I seen an Ahmad more praiseworthy.

فقد عفتم الدنيا متاعاً وحزتم

من الحمد زاداً والمكارم موردا

For you have spurned worldly possessions and gained

praise as provisions, and noble deeds as a watering-place.

وقلدتم الأعناق مناً ولا أرى

فتى منكم إلا ثناءً مقلدا

You have garlanded necks with favors; I never see

a youth among you except garlanded with praise.

وقد جاءك العيد الذي أنت عيده

وعيد الذي أضحى فضحى وعيدا

The feast has come to you, whose own feast you are,

and the feast of him who greeted the forenoon, sacrificed, and celebrated.

تؤبد ايام السرور به لنا

وان لم يكن في الدهر يوماً مؤبدا

Through it you make our days of joy endure forever,

though it is not itself an everlasting day in time.

وتغنى به حتى التليد مواهبا

وتحيي على الأنفاس مجداً مجددا

Through it you enrich even ancestral wealth with gifts,

and with every breath revive a glory renewed.

وان تنحر الأنعام بيضاً فطالما

نحرت بأنعام به الفقر اسودا

And if you slaughter white livestock, how often

have you slaughtered black poverty with bounty at this feast!

ولم تهلك الأعداء فيه بسطوة

ولكن بفضل لا يغب إذا بدا

You have not destroyed enemies at it by force,

but by bounty that never lapses once it appears.

وان اشد القتل عند ذوي النهى

بأن تجعل الأعداء حولك حسدا

And the harshest killing, to those endowed with reason,

is to make the enemies around you envious.

واني وان نقحت فيك قصائدي

وارسلتها غرا مع الدهر شردا

And I, even if I polish my poems about you

and send them forth radiant, roaming with Time,

وجئت بكل من غريب وحكمة

وجبت بها شرقاً وغربا مغردا

and bring forth every rarity and word of wisdom,

and travel with them east and west, singing,

وحليتها من در فيك قلائداً

وحليتها من در كفيك عسجدا

and adorn them with necklaces of pearls from your mouth,

and adorn them with gold from the pearls of your two hands,

لكالرجل المهدي إلى البحر قطرة

وللدهر أعواناً وللبدر فرقدا

am like a man who offers the sea a drop,

and Time helpers, and the full moon a Farqad star.