بنى السيف علياه وشيدها الندى

فلم يلق فيها مدخل يطمع العدا

The sword built his eminence, and generosity raised it high.

No opening was found in it to tempt the foes.

وفي السيف ما يغني ولكن بالندى

أحب بأن يثنى عليه ويحمدا

In the sword is what suffices, but through generosity

he preferred to be extolled and praised.

رأى أنه لا ملك إلا لماجد

تكرم وابتاع الثناء المخلدا

He saw that kingship belongs only to a noble man

who acts generously and purchases everlasting praise.

فأحسن حتى لم يدع عين ناظر

ترى حسنا إلا محياه إن بدا

He did good until he left no beholder's eye

to see beauty but his countenance, whenever it appeared.

سلكت إلى جذب القلوب طريقة

بلطف صنيع قل من يحوه اهتدا

You followed a path toward drawing hearts to you,

through gracious deeds, toward which few found their way.

ولم يرض لمكا فيه بالعسف أصبحت

رعيته تشكو كما يشتكى العدى

Nor did he accept a kingship in which oppression left

his subjects complaining of him as they would of foes.

فأقبلت بالإِحسان والمنِّ فيهم

تجدده في كل يوم تجددا

So you approached them with kindness and bounty,

renewing it afresh each day.

وقد ملئت منك القولب محبة

وأنت إليها لا تمل التوددا

And hearts have been filled with love for you,

while you never tire of showing them affection.

وأرضيت رب العالمين بطاعة

اطعت بها رب الورى متفردا

You pleased the Lord of all worlds through obedience,

obeying through it the Lord of creation, unrivaled.

وتلك يد العدل التي إن قبضتها

فما ثم إنسان يمد بها يدا

That is the hand of justice: if you withdrew it,

no one there would put forth a hand in justice.

وكشفك كربا ماورا الله كاشف

سواك له عنا ولا سامع ندا

You lift distress that, apart from God, no reliever

but you takes from us, nor does another hear the call.

لكم حسنات لا شريك لكم بها

تعمون فيها الخلق من راح أو غدا

You have good deeds in which you have no partner;

you extend them to all creation, whoever goes by evening or morning.

هنيئاً لكم فزتم بمالم يفز به

سواكم وقد مكنتم فاغنموا اليدا

Congratulations: you have won what has not been won

by anyone but you; empowered now, make the most of your hand.

فللعدل وجه يعجب الناس حسنه

ويشتاقه الاقصى ويدنى المبعدا

For justice has a face whose beauty delights the people;

the farthest yearn for it, and it brings the banished near.

فيا أيها المنصور يا نجل أحمد

وياضيغما تحت السرادق ملبدا

O al-Mansur, O son of Ahmad,

O lion crouching beneath the pavilion,

ويا أيها البحر الذي ظل جوده

بأمواجه فوق الأسرة مزبدا

O sea whose bounty keeps

foaming with its waves above the thrones.

لقد شاع بين الناس بالأمس أنكم

سمعتم وقد شد المشد وشددا

Yesterday word spread among the people that you

had heard the enforcer pressing hard and growing severe,

فقلتم عليك الرفق فالرفق لم يكن

مع الشيء إلا زان منه وسددا

and said, “You must be gentle, for gentleness is never

with anything without adorning it and setting it right.”

وكان مشد فيه رفق وقد أتي

على ما بكم لا حيف فيه ولا اعتدا

The enforcer had some gentleness, and the action was carried out

in keeping with your nature, without injustice or transgression.

فخفف وامتدت هنالك بالدعا

أيادي البرايا شاكرين لها اليدا

So he lightened the burden, and there stretched out in prayer

the people's hands, thanking the hand for that kindness.

كبدتم أعاديكم وغظتم حسودكم

بما يوجب الحسنى وما يدفع الردا

You pained your enemies and enraged your envier,

with what brings a good reward and averts ruin.

يسر الأعادي أن يذم عدوهم

وأنتم بمدح الخلق قد غظتم العدا

Enemies are delighted when their foe is condemned,

but through the people's praise you have enraged the foes.

إذا اختلف الأعداء عنكم ملامة

لتنشر محبتها المسامع موردا

When enemies differ over a reproach concerning you,

so that ears may spread fondness for it as it is recounted [wording unclear],

وعضوا عليها نادمين أكفهم

وأصبح راويها ملاما مفندا

they bite their palms in regret over it,

and its narrator becomes reproached and discredited.

علمت بأن الرفق زين فرمته

وأن الجفا شين فابعدته مدا

You knew gentleness was an adornment, so you sought it,

and harshness a disgrace, so you cast it far away.

وهل يستوى في الفضل مال مبارك

تأتي بما يرضى من الرفق والهدى

Can blessed wealth be equal in worth—

wealth attained through pleasing gentleness and guidance,

فعوق عنه الحادثات مثيرها

ونماه حتى عاد أضعاف ما بدا

from which the one who stirs calamities holds them back,

and which he grows to many times what it first was—

ومال كثير جاء من غير وجهه

بحيف وظلم شب ناراً فأوقدا

to abundant wealth acquired through improper means,

through injustice and oppression, kindling a fire and making it blaze,

وجاء لفيفا يملاء الأرض كثرة

ومن خلفه الأحداث مثنى وموحدا

coming in a mass that fills the earth with abundance,

with calamities behind it, in pairs and singly?

فما برحت ترميه والمال وافر

وتصدع منه الشمل حتى تبددا

They keep striking it while the wealth is plentiful,

and its gathered mass is shattered until it scatters.

وأصبح لا الأحداث أبقين ماله

ولا الحيف أبقى في رعيته جدا

He ends with calamities having spared none of his wealth,

nor has oppression left prosperity among his subjects.

فدتك ملوك طالب الخير منهم

يحث بهم صخرا ويعصر جلمدا

May kings be your ransom: the seeker of goodness from them

only prods rock and squeezes hard stone.

فما أنت إلا رحمة الله فوقنا

فحق علينا حمده يا ابن أحمدا

You are nothing but God's mercy above us,

so we owe Him praise, O son of Ahmad.

وما ملك عبدالله إلا مواهب

تفاجى البرايا باديات وعودا

Abdallah's kingship is nothing but gifts

that surprise humankind, new and renewed.

لقد وعدت عنك البرايا ظنونهم

بخير وقد انجزت للظن موعدا

The people's expectations had promised them, on your behalf,

good things; and you fulfilled the promise of those hopes.

رجوا أن يعدوا في مناقب فضلكم

عديد جميع النخل فيما تعددا

They hoped to count among the merits of your bounty

a number equal to all the palm trees in their reckoning.

وعدلك يأبى الاختصاص بغبطة

وغبطة من ترعاه متروكة سدا

Your justice rejects keeping happiness for yourself

while the happiness of those you tend is left neglected.

فكن حيث ما ظنوا وفوق الذي رجوا

فكل امريء يمشي على ما تعودا

So be all they expected, and more than they hoped,

for every person walks according to what he is accustomed to.

ودع كل رأى غير رأيك وحده

فما أنت عند المكرمات مقلدا

Leave every opinion other than your own alone,

for in noble deeds you are no imitator.

وصل رحم الحسنى فاصلك أصلها

إذا عقها من لا تدانيه مولدا

Uphold your kinship with goodness, for your root is its root,

when one far from you in birth proves undutiful to it.