يغر بحسن الرأى راج ويخدع

فيسعى وهل شيء سوى الحظ ينفع

A hopeful man is beguiled by sound judgment and deceived,

so he strives; yet does anything but fortune avail?

إذا كان رزق المرء من فعل غيره

فلا شيء من سعي على الرزق أضيع

If a man's sustenance comes through another's action,

then nothing is more wasted than striving for sustenance.

هو الحظ يمسى الصل ذاوٍ من الظما

وقد شرقت بالرى في الماء ضفدع

Fortune it is: the viper reaches evening withered with thirst,

while a frog in the water has choked on its fill.

ولو كانت الارزاق بالحذق كان لي

بها مشرع وحدي وللناس مشرع

Were livelihoods gained through skill, I would have

a watering place for myself alone, and all others one together.

ولكنها الارزاق لا الحزم في الفتى

وان جل يعطيه ولا العجز يمنع

But such is sustenance: no man's resolve,

however great, grants it to him, nor does incapacity withhold it.

إلى الله اشكو ضيغم في حباله

يجوع وكلب مرسل يتضلع

To God I lament a lion caught in its bonds,

going hungry while a dog let loose gorges itself;

ودهر لأهل النقص سلم وصرفه

باشرافه في حرب ذى الفضل مولع

and an age at peace with the deficient, whose dealings

with its nobles are bent on war against the worthy.

خبات له من أحمد رغم أنفه

وشعواء من غاراته تتوقع

Abasement comes to it from Ahmad, against its will,

and a fierce onslaught from his raids is expected.

إذا مد نحوى كفه قلت كفها

فإني عليم أن عدت كيف تقطع

If it stretches its hand toward me, I say, 'Hold it back!'

For I know, should you return, how it will be severed.

وحسبي صوت واحد يا لأحمد

أفل به ناب الخطوب واقرع

And one cry suffices me: 'Ahmad, help!'

With it I blunt and batter the fang of calamities.

ومن كابن إسمعيل الناصر الذي

تذل له الرقاب وتخضع

And who is like Ibn Ismail, al-Nasir, before whom

necks are humbled and bend in submission?

خليفة رب العالمين اقامه

يسن لنا في المكرمات ويشرع

A caliph whom the Lord of the worlds established,

he establishes and ordains for us the practice of noble deeds.

ويهدى إليها من أضل سبيلها

ويحفظ من أشراطها ما يضيع

He guides to them whoever has lost the path to them,

and safeguards whatever of their requirements falls into neglect.

هزبر يعد العار اصلاح جسمه

إذا شيب بالافساد في الأرض موضع

A lion who deems it shameful to tend his own body

if any place in the land is tainted with corruption.

حماها فلو فاحت دماء بقفرة

لهابت ذياب ان تشم واضبع

He protected it: were blood to give off its scent in a wasteland,

wolves and hyenas would fear to sniff it.

يظل ويمسى الذيب يعوى من الطوى

ومسرحه المحدود للشاء مرتع

The wolf passes day and evening howling with hunger,

while its bounded range is pasture for sheep.

إذا مد ناس نحوها الطرف رده

خيال سنان بين عينيه يلمع

If a forgetful man casts his gaze toward them, it is turned back

by the image of a spearhead gleaming between his eyes.

ترى رسل الاملاك من كل وجهة

قياما على أبوابه تتضرع

You see the envoys of kings from every quarter

standing at his gates, imploring.

فذا كتبه مقبولة ومليكه

يجاب وذا في وجهه الكتب ترجع

One envoy's letters are accepted, and his king

is answered; another has his letters returned in his face.

ومن جار سولا منهم عاد نحوهم

نذيرا يريهم ما يراه ويسمع

Whoever among them overreached in his request returned to them

as a warner, showing them what he sees and hears.

يعود بما يصحى من السكر ملكه

وينهاه عن ذكر المحال ويردع

He returns with what sobers his king from drunkenness,

and forbids him to utter absurdities and restrains him.

ومن خص بالإعراض منهم وجاءه

وعيدك أنسى جفنه كيف يهجع

And whoever among them is singled out for rejection, and to whom

your threat comes—it makes his eyelid forget how to sleep.

وضاقت كضيق السجن عنه بلاده

فما عنده فيها لجنبيه مضجع

His country grows cramped around him like a prison,

so he has no resting place there for his sides.

وقد جربوا في الحرب والسلم أحمداً

فما فيه الا حين ترضيه مطمع

They have tested Ahmad in war and peace,

so there is no hope of gain from him except when you please him.

صدوق إذا مانوا اوثوب إذا كبوا

حفيظ إذا خانوا العهود وضيعوا

Truthful when they lie, quick to leap when they stumble,

faithful when they betray and neglect their covenants.

نشا في العلا كهلا وطفلا ويافعا

وكانت غذاه وهو في المهد يرضع

He grew amid eminence—in manhood, childhood, and youth—

and it was his nourishment while he suckled in the cradle.

متين القوى أرسى من الطود حلمه

أذاهب ريح الطيش لا يتزعزع

His strength is firm; his forbearance is more firmly rooted than a mountain:

when the wind of rashness blows, it does not waver.

يدين بأن المكرمات فرائض

وحق يؤدى ليس فيها تبرع

He believes that noble deeds are obligations,

and a due to be fulfilled, not a voluntary gift.

فيا أبن سليل الملك يا عنصر العلا

ويا من به يعطى الإله ويمنع

O son of a royal scion, O source of eminence,

and O you through whom God gives and withholds,

أنا الناظم العقد الذي ليس ينبغي

على الجيد إلا جيد علياك يوضع

I am the stringer of the necklace that should not

be placed on any neck but Your Highness's.

أسرك في نظم وأرضيك ناثرا

ولي شاهد من هذه ليس يدفع

I delight you in verse and please you in prose,

and I have in this testimony that cannot be denied.

فما لزماني جامح لا عنانه

بكفى فاثنيه ولا هو طيع

Then why is my time so headstrong? Its rein is not

in my palm to turn it, nor is it obedient.

وما ذاك من حقي وهذي مدائحي

تماط لها حجب القلوب وترفع

That is not my due, while these are my praises,

for which the veils of hearts are drawn aside and lifted.