رؤوس العوالي للمعالي معاقل

وأيدي المواضي للأماني منازل

The tips of lofty spears are strongholds for high honors,

and the hilts of keen swords are dwellings for hopes.

فتلك بهذي شامخات وهذه

إذا ما تناءت قربتها المناصل

Those honors tower through these; and these hopes,

whenever they grow distant, sword blades bring them near.

فلا تطلب الأشياء ما لم تطل بها

فما في سواها للمؤمل طائل

So seek nothing unless you gain mastery through them;

for outside them the hopeful find no benefit.

بها تبرأ الأدواء بعد عيائها

وان دواء الأكرمين الذوابل

Through them ailments heal after resisting cure,

and slender spears are the cure of the noblest.

ومضمرة للأمر جرد ضوامر

ومسرودة لم تمض فيها العوامل

And sleek, lean steeds trained for the undertaking,

and woven mail that spearheads have not pierced.

وما صهوات الخيل إلا مكائد

ولا حلقات الزغف إلا حبائل

Horses' backs are nothing but stratagems,

and the rings of supple mail are nothing but snares.

فمن رام صيد المجد فليصطحبهما

فصائد هذي فوق هاتيك صائل

Whoever would hunt glory, let him take both along:

for the hunter with these, astride those, is a fierce assailant.

وان علق عن نيل المنى قدر المنى

ففي كل غال تعتريك الغوائل

And if fate's decree hinders the attainment of wishes,

perils assail you with every precious prize.

وأوفق من ذل المعيشة للفتى

مع العز داع للمنية عاجل

More fitting for a young man than a life of humiliation

is a swift summons to death, with honor.

فما الدهر من يبقى على متحمل

ولا الناس من فيهم لعبئك حامل

For time is not one to spare a patient sufferer,

nor is there among people a bearer of your burden.

وان اخلاء الرجال اوانس

لديك وفي الضراء عنك جوافل

Men's close friends are sociable companions

beside you, yet in adversity they flee from you.

وما زاتل يزري البؤس عن لباسه

اخا العقل حتى تزدريه العقائل

Poverty has never ceased to demean, [through his clothing],

the man of reason, until noblewomen scorn him,

وحتى يغض الطرف عنه خليله

وبعرق عن اقواله من يشاكل

until his close friend averts his gaze from him,

and one of like mind [turns away] from his words.

ورب غبي كنت احسن وده

ويقبح لي اقواله والفعائل

Many a fool whose friendship I nurtured,

yet his words and deeds seemed ugly to me.

تغافلت عن اشياء منه وربما

يسرك في بعض الأمور التغافل

I overlooked things he did; and sometimes

deliberate overlooking pleases you in certain affairs.

بغى فرماه البغي عني بأسهم

ألا إن بغي المرء للمرء قاتل

He transgressed, and transgression struck him with arrows on my behalf.

Truly, a man's wrongdoing is deadly to himself.

وما ناقم كالعفو وللذنب بارز

ولا آخذ كالحلم والحقد جائل

No avenger is like pardon when the offense stands exposed,

nor any captor like forbearance when rancor roams,

ولا ناقض للأمر والأمر مبرم

ولا دافع للخطب والخطب نازل

nor any like it to unravel a scheme when firmly knotted,

nor any like it to repel calamity when it descends.

وان اصطبار المرء عند اقتداره

على الضد مهما امتاز للضد خاذل

A man's patient endurance, when he has power

over his foe, however he excels, is that foe's undoing.

كذاك ندى المولى الأمير ابن منجك

على السحب مهما سحت السحب فاضل

So too the bounty of the lord, the emir Ibn Manjak,

surpasses the clouds, however freely the clouds pour.

همام تحلى العدى البأس والندى

لمن يرتجيه فهو حتف ونائل

A valiant lord who clothes his foes in battle-fury; bounty

is for whoever hopes in him: he is doom and largesse.

سما ونما مجداً وجداً لناظر

فلا الأفق مرموق ولا الخطب هائل

He rose and grew in glory and good fortune before the beholder,

so the horizon draws no gaze, nor does calamity inspire dread.

وطاب فروعاً من اصول زكية

يقصر عن إدراكها المتطاول

His branches are fair, springing from pure roots,

which those who stretch themselves high cannot reach.

وجلبب ثوب الفضل دون ردائه

وخير رداء للكريم الفضائل

He has donned the garment of excellence beneath his cloak,

and virtues are the finest cloak for the noble.

مفدي بأرباب المعالي ولم تزل

فداً لذكا هذي النجوم الأوافل

The lords of lofty honors are his ransom; ever

have these setting stars been ransom for Dhuka, the sun.

فما شمت منه البشر فاليسر ضمنه

وهل بارق إلا وعقباه وابل

Whenever you glimpse his cheerfulness, ease lies within it;

and is any lightning flash not followed by a downpour?

من القوم لم يستمنحوا بوسيلة

وما فضل جود تقتضيه الوسائل

He is of a people not petitioned for gifts through intercession;

what merit has generosity that intercession must exact?

ولا اكتسبوا إلا المحامد والعلا

ولا همهم إلا القنا والقنابل

They have gained nothing but praise and lofty rank,

and their only care is lances and cavalry squadrons.

وإن صديت في غارة عن خيلهم

فإن دم الأعدا لهن مناهل

And if their steeds thirst during a raid [wording unclear],

then enemy blood provides their watering places.

يعز على الساعين بالجد مجدهم

ولم ينل الجوزاء بالسعي سائل

Their glory is hard to attain for those who strive with diligence,

and no seeker has reached al-Jawza by striving.

ويعجز عن إدراكهم كل طالب

وهيهات أن يرقي السماكين راحل

Every seeker is powerless to reach them,

and no traveler can ever climb to the two Simak stars.

فيا بن الألى ما نالهم شر حاسد

وفي الحق لا يعلو على الحق باطل

O son of those whom no envier's malice ever touched,

truly, no falsehood rises above truth.

إليك الليالي سيرتني مغلغلا

وقد ثقلت اغلالها والسلاسل

The nights have sent me journeying far to you,

and their shackles and chains have grown heavy.

ترحلتُ عمن صير الضيم منزلا

لمثلي ومثلي عن حمي الضيم راحل

I departed from one who made oppression a dwelling

for one like me; and one like me quits oppression's precincts.

وأبعدني جهلاً وقر بجاهلا

دنيا ومن يدني ذوي الجهل جاهل

Ignorantly he banished me and drew close an ignorant,

base fellow; whoever brings the ignorant near is ignorant.

ومن لا يرى الأشياء حقا تشابها

على عينه راد الضحى والأصائل

To one who does not see things truly, both seem alike:

the height of morning and late afternoon, before his eyes.

ولي فيه اشعار تبلبل بابلا

وهاروت منها ذاهب العقل ذاهل

I have poems about him that would bewilder Babylon,

and leave Harut bereft of reason and dazed.

وصدق ولاءٍ لو منحت أقله

الجماد جرت منه المياه السوائل

And true loyalty: were I to give the least of it

to lifeless matter, flowing waters would issue from it.

ولكن إذا انقاد الفصيح لأبكم

ولو كان قُسا قال إنك باقل

But when an eloquent man submits to a mute,

even were he Quss, the other would say, 'You are Baqil.'

بقيت تلبي كل داع إلى الندى

فان الدواعي للنداء قلائل

May you live on, answering every caller to generosity,

for the reasons for calling are few.

بقاء السواري السبع من غير علة

فقد يكتسي النقص البدور الكوامل

Lasting like the seven night-roving stars, without infirmity;

for even perfect full moons may clothe themselves in waning.

فأنت الذي لو يمنح اللَهخلقه

خلالك لم يخلق من الناس باخل

For you are such that, were God to grant His creatures

your qualities, no miser would be created among mankind.

وأنت الذي لا يدرك العقل وصفه

ولا أحسب الأيام فيهن عاقل

You are he whose description the mind cannot grasp,

nor do I think the days have a rational one among them.

بك اكتسبت فخراً معالم جلق

على الأرض طرا وهو للشام شامل

Through you the landmarks of Jilliq have gained glory

above the whole earth, a glory embracing al-Sham.

وهذي بقاع الأرض من كل جانب

لكم ضمنها ملك وحصن وحاصل

And these tracts of earth, on every side—

within them you have dominion, a fortress, and revenues.

فأقسم بالبيت العتيق ألية

وما ضمنت اركانه والجنادل

So I swear an oath by the Ancient House,

and what its corners and great stones enclose:

لأنت بهذا لادهر اشفى لعلة

وأشرف من ضمت عليه الغلائل

surely, in this age you are the best cure for affliction,

and the noblest of all whom thin robes have enfolded.