هو المجد ما يقظانه مثل نائم

ولا جاهل فيما يليه كعالم

Such is glory: one awake to it is not like a sleeper,

nor is one ignorant of what he undertakes like one who knows.

ولا مستبد الأمر غضبان للعلا

كراض بميسور من العيش حالم

Nor is one who commands his own affairs, fiercely intent on greatness,

like a forbearing man content with life's modest means.

وما قصبات السبق إلا لهالك

بحب المعالي لا لسالٍ وسالم

The reeds of victory belong only to one consumed

by love of lofty deeds—not to one forgetful and unscathed.

فخل فدتك النفس عذلي فقد اري

منال الرجا قبل الظنون الرواجم

So leave off reproaching me—may my soul ransom you—for I see

hope's attainment before blindly hurled conjectures.

وما أنا من يدني النواهي ويصحب

للواهي ويعني باللها واللهاذم

Nor am I one who courts forbidden things and yields

to diversions, concerning himself with gifts and sharp spears.

واني وان قلت سني لمدرك

مآثر اعمار النسور القشاعم

Though my years are few, I shall surely attain

great deeds that would fill the lifetimes of hoary vultures.

ومن يحتقر بالعجز في نيل غاية

خوافيه لم ينهض لها بالقوادم

Whoever, helpless in attaining a goal, belittles

his secondary wing-feathers will not rise to it on his primaries.

ومثلك لمياء الثنايا علقتها

وفارقتها سرى خيالٍ لحالم

And a maiden like you, dusky-lipped in her smile, I loved,

and parted from her like a phantom's night-visit to a dreamer.

تبسم منهما ابك خيفة هجرها

تبسم نور من بكاء الغمائم

She smiles [wording unclear] as I weep, fearing her desertion,

as blossoms smile from the weeping of clouds.

ويشكو فؤادي لحظها ويطيعه

كما يشتكي المظلوم من جور ظالم

My heart complains of her glance, yet obeys it,

as the wronged complain of a tyrant's injustice.

إذا هم جفني ان يهوم بعدها

ثناه جوى هامي المدامع هائم

When my eyelid intends to doze after her departure,

distraught, tear-streaming anguish turns it back.

ويعذب تعذيب لها مر آمراً

بمر حبال الهجر مر المطاعم

Her bitter torment grows sweet, though it commands

the twisting of estrangement's cords, bitter to taste.

ومن هام يلفي محنة الحب منحة

لديه ويرضى غنمه بالمغارم

Whoever is love-struck finds love's ordeal a gift

for him, and is content to earn his gains through losses.

ويوم كعينيك اتصالا وصولة

عليَّ وحبيك امتناعاً للائم

And a day like your eyes in close encounter and onslaught

upon me, and like my love for you in resisting reproachers:

تخال به الفرسان غرقي من الوحى

ببحر قنام طافح متلاطم

you would think the horsemen drowning amid the battle-din

in a brimming, surging sea of battle-dust.

إذا برقت فيه القواضب خلتها

تكشف عن لياتها والمعاصم

When the cutting swords flashed within it, I imagined her

baring her neckline and wrists.

تدرعت فيه الصبر حز ما فعلته

ولم ير عمري صابرٌ غير حازم

I armored myself in patience there, acting with resolve [wording broken];

and, by my life, none but a resolute man has been seen enduring.

وأمر حقير لا يرى الذل ضمنه

لراء ولم تمدد له كف رائم

And a petty matter, within which humiliation could not be seen

by an observer, and for which no seeker's hand was outstretched—

تركت له قومي لمجدري عاصماً

وفارقت اكراماً ديار العواصم

for its sake I left my people, protecting my glory,

and departed, for honor's sake, from the lands of al-Awasim.

وخالفت من قد قال قبلي تشوفاً

بلاد بها نيطت علي نمائمي

I differed from one who before me had said, longingly,

“Lands where my amulets were hung upon me.”

وقرب لي عنها البعاد مضيع

حفظت له عهدي كحفظي غرائمي

A faithless man brought distance from them near to me;

I kept my pledge to him as carefully as my obligations.

إذا غبت هاداني بقلب محارب

وإن أبت ناجاني بلفظ مسالم

When I was absent, he offered peace with a hostile heart;

and if I returned, he spoke privately to me in peaceful words.

ولا خير فيمن لا يدوم بقاؤه

وليس على حمد يدوم بدائم

There is no good in one whose constancy does not last,

nor is he steadfast in a praiseworthy life.

ودهرٍ ذميم ظلت فيه كأنني

أراقب عيشي من شفاه الأراقم

And a blameworthy age in which I lived as though

I awaited my livelihood from the lips of spotted vipers:

لقيت به الأعداء أدنى من المنى

وشمت به الأرزاء شيم المنادم

in it I found enemies nearer than my hopes,

and surveyed calamities as I would a boon companion.

فمن سره ما ساءنا ساء لنفسه

ومن راشه ما هاننا جد نادم

Whoever delighted in what distressed us has wronged himself;

and whoever was feathered by what humbled us is deeply regretful.

يهون صعب الأمر علمي إنما

عظام الرزايا للرجال الأعاظم

What eases hard affairs is my knowledge that

great calamities are for the greatest men.

وحسن اعتقادي بالآله وانني

دخلت حمى حامٍ من الدهر راحم

And my good faith in God, and that I

have entered a merciful protector's refuge against time:

أجل أولي العليا الأمير محمد

وسيف بني سيفا الكرام الأكارم

the most illustrious of the exalted, Emir Muhammad,

and the sword of the noble, most generous Banu Sayfa;

أمير نمير حوضه لمحرم

حياض المنى حار الجوانح حائم

an emir whose pool is clear and sweet for one denied

the pools of hope, hot-hearted and circling thirstily.

ابى مجده إلا التياما لناظرٍ

ونائله إلا انتثاراً لناظم

His glory accepts only union for the beholder,

and his bounty only scattering for the verse-weaver.

شجاع يرى في الحرب اقدم من يرى

وأحجمهم عند اتخاذ المغام

Brave: in war he is seen as the boldest man one sees,

and the most reluctant when it comes to taking spoils.

كريم يميت الجود عفواً وغيره

يود من الدنيا انتشار المكارم

Generous, he lets his giving die unmentioned, while another

wishes the world to spread his noble deeds.

بمن بلا من ويرتد طرفه

حياءً عن العافين من غير واصم

He gives favors without reminders, and turns his gaze away

in modesty from petitioners, without shaming them.

ومن يتبع المعروف منا أراكه

بناءً ولكن لم يكن غيرها دم

Whoever follows kindness with reminders—I show him to you

as a builder, though he is only a destroyer [wording broken].

من القوم ان جالوا فتبا لمرحب

بحرب وان جادوا فبعداً لحاتم

Of a people who, when they charge—woe to Marhab

in war! And when they give—away with Hatim!

حييون إلا في التقاء جحافل

كذاك الحيا خيم الليوث الضراغ

They are modest, except when mighty armies meet;

such modesty is the nature of fierce lions.

فيا ابن الأولى احسابهم وسيوفهم

بها كشف اظلام وقمع لظالم

O son of those whose lineages and swords

dispel darkness and subdue the oppressor!

نهنيك بالعيد السعيد وانما

يهنى بك الأعياد أسعد قادم

We congratulate you on the happy feast; yet it is

the feasts that are congratulated through you, most fortunate arrival.

وليد لقد مادت لمولده القنا

ودانت ليمناه رقاب الصوارم

A newborn—at his birth the lance-shafts truly swayed,

and the necks of sharp swords submitted to his right hand.

وقيدت الجرد الجياد طوائعا

لمرسومه وانحل عقل الرواسم

The sleek, swift steeds were tethered willingly

to his decree, while the hobbles of trotting camels came undone.

وسارت إلى الدنيا بشائر يومه

فساءت وسرت من عدى وعوادم

Glad tidings of his day traveled into the world,

saddening enemies and gladdening the destitute.

وجاء لأرباب العلا خاتما كما

لكل نبي جاء افضل خاتم

He came as a seal to the lords of greatness, just as

to all prophets came the finest seal.

وجرد عزماً ضمن عزمك آخذاً

بنهج علي بين أبناء هاشم

He unsheathed resolve within your resolve, following

the path of Ali among the sons of Hashim.

فدم أيها المولى تهادى بأنعم

من اللَه في عيش من الدهر ناعم

So endure, my lord, receiving blessings

from God, in a life of ease through time;

منيعا عن الأعدا سريعا إلى الندى

رفيعا من العليا مريع المعالم

impregnable to enemies, swift toward generosity,

exalted in greatness, rich and fertile in your domains,

الى ان ترى في دولة وسيادة

سراة بنيه حاكما اثر حاكم

until you see, in dominion and sovereignty,

the noblest of his sons, one ruler after another.

وهاك فقد جاءت تجرع صابها

مراسلة الصابي وشعر كشاجم

And take it: it has come, making others swallow its bitter sap—

al-Sabi's correspondence and Kushajim's poetry.

من القاصرات الطرف يقصر دونها

تطاول اعناق الرجال الأعاجم

One of the downcast-eyed maidens, before whom falls short

the straining of foreign men's necks.

قواف هي الماء الزلال لشارب

صفاها أو السحر الحلال لشائم

Rhymes that are limpid water to one drinking

their clarity, or lawful magic to the beholder.

ضننت بها إلا لمجدك انها

الى خير مخدوم هدية خادم

I kept them for your glory alone; they are

a servant's gift to the best of masters.

الذ لناءٍ من دنوء إلى الحما

واشهى لأذن من هذيل الحمائم

Sweeter to one far away than drawing near to the sanctuary,

and more pleasing to an ear than the cooing of doves.

فدونكها مولاي بكراً ودع هرا

تلوك به الأشداق لوك الشكائم

So take it, my lord, a virgin, and leave idle chatter

which jaws chew as they chew bits.

ولا زلت تدني قاصر العزم قاصيا

لمجد وتنضى قاصما اثر قاصم

May you ever bring the weak-willed, though distant,

toward glory, and unsheathe smiter after smiter.

يفديك من يكفر سخائك ساخراً

ويضمر في احشائه من سخائم

May he who mockingly denies your generosity ransom you,

and hides rancors within his entrails,

ويقصى الندى عن كفه ولسانه

كأقصاء سر في حشاشة كاتم

and banishes generosity from his hand and tongue,

as a secret is shut away in a concealer's inmost heart.

ويرضيك رب العرش عن كل درة

دررت بها الخيرات بين العوالم

May the Lord of the Throne give you joy for every outpouring

with which you poured blessings among the worlds,

ويسقي ضريحاً ضم والدك الرضا

وصوب الغوادي المثقلات السواجم

and water the tomb that holds your father with favor

and the downpour of heavy-laden, streaming morning clouds.

فما أحزن الأيام قبل مصابه

شهيد توي إلا الحسين بن فاطم

For before his loss, the days were saddened by no

fallen martyr except Husayn, son of Fatim.

ولا بكت العينان من قبله دما

على هالك الله من عهد آدمك

Nor had the two eyes before him wept blood

over the dead—by God—since Adam's time [unclear ending].

وما مات من أصبحت طالب ثاره

ولا مال من أبقاك أقوى الدعائم

Nor has he died whose vengeance you now seek;

nor has he fallen who left you as the strongest of supports.

ولا تثبت الأقوال بعض صفاتكم

ولا تثبت الأقوام عند التقاوم

Words cannot set down even some of your qualities,

nor can peoples stand firm when contending with you.

فعفواً إذا قصرت فالعذر واضح

ومن لي بأحصاء الحيا المتراكم

So pardon me if I fall short: the excuse is plain,

and who can help me count the accumulating rain?