Sol 6.1

  1. أَيرجو أَن يزور وأَن يزارا

    خيال لو نفخت عليه طارا

    Does he hope to visit and be visited—

    a phantom that would fly away if you blew upon it?

  2. براه السقم حتى كاد يخفى

    ولم يقبل عن الذنب اعتذرا

    Sickness wore him away until he nearly vanished,

    and accepted no apology for the offense.

  3. وقال يعيش بعدي وهو يدري

    بأَن عليَّ في بقياه عارا

    It said, 'He lives on after me, though he knows

    that his survival brings disgrace upon me.'

  4. فقلت وأَي يوم غاب عني

    فعشت ولم أمت فيه مرارا

    I said, 'What day was it absent from me,

    that I lived through without dying many times?'

  5. أَمَّا أضنا ميت لولا عيوني

    تدور لكنت أَول من يوارا

    As for me, most wasted of the dead—were my eyes not

    turning, I would be the first to be buried.

  6. وقالوا خذ بنفسك في هواها

    رويداً فالسقام عليه جارا

    They said, 'Treat yourself, in your love for her,

    gently, for sickness has treated him unjustly.'

  7. ولولا فرط سقمي لم يكن لي

    غداً وجه يقابلها جهارا

    But for my extreme sickness, I would have no

    face to meet her openly tomorrow.

  8. حملت السقم أوله اضطراراً

    وإِكراها وآخره اختيارا

    I bore sickness at first out of necessity,

    and under compulsion, but at last by choice.

  9. وقد يخشى الفتى شيئا فيضحي

    له ما خاف مما خاف جارا

    A young man may fear something, and then

    what he feared becomes his protector against what he feared.

  10. سلو أهل من بجفنيه منام

    يجود به علي ولو غزارا

    Ask: is there anyone whose eyelids hold sleep

    who would lavish it upon me, even in abundance?

  11. فإني لو ظفرت ببعض نوم

    لخطتِ عليه أَجفَاني القصارا

    For if I won a little sleep,

    I would sew my short eyelids shut over it.

  12. وأين طريق نومي من دموعي

    أَيسبح أَم يخوض بها بحارا

    And where is my sleep's path amid my tears?

    Must it swim, or wade through seas of them?

  13. إِلى كم هكذا أسهر ودمع ٍ

    أَقطعُ فيه ليلي والنهارا

    How long must I stay awake like this, with tears

    in which I pass my night and the day?

  14. اجارةَ بيتنا إن كنت حقاً

    كما زعموا تراعين الجوارا

    O neighbor of our house, if you truly

    honor neighborly bonds, as they claim,

  15. فقصيّ بعض أخباري عليها

    فاخباري تلين لكِ الحجارا

    then tell her some of my story;

    for my story would soften stones for you.

  16. وقولي هل يظلُّ دم حرام

    وأحمدُ يوسعُ الحَقَّ انتصارا

    And say, 'Shall inviolable blood go unavenged,

    while Ahmad amply champions the right,

  17. ويضربُ بالظبا في كلِّ فجٍ

    طِلاً مالت عن الحق اغترارا

    and strikes with blades in every pass

    necks that strayed from right in self-delusion,

  18. ويأَخذُ للضعيفِ إذا تعدّى

    عليه من القوي الجَلد ثارا

    and takes, for the weak, when wrong is done

    to him, vengeance from the strong and stalwart?'

  19. وكم حق به وجدَ انتصافا

    وذي عجز به رزقَ اقتدارا

    How many a right has found redress through him,

    and many a helpless man been granted power through him!

  20. متى تشدد يديك بعروتيه

    جعلتَ لك الزمانَ به الخيارا

    Whenever you bind your hands to his two handholds,

    through him you make the best of times your own.

  21. لأحمد ابن إسماعيل ملك

    يطول بنو الرسول به افتحارا

    Ahmad ibn Isma'il has a kingdom

    through which the Messenger's sons stand tall with pride.

  22. إذا ذكرت مفاخره أطّرحنا

    فخار ممالك الدنيا اختيارا

    When his glories are recounted, we cast aside

    the pride of the world's kingdoms willingly.

  23. وبان لنابه أَنَّ المعالي

    شكت ممن مضى همما قصارا

    Through him it became clear to us that glory

    had lamented the meager ambitions of those gone before,

  24. وأن لنابه ملك زعيم

    يرى الإِسهاب في الفضل اختصارا

    and that in him we have a king and champion

    who deems profusion in bounty mere brevity.

  25. يداخلها به زهو تيهٌ

    إِذا عرض الجيوش ضحىً وسارا

    Through him, pride and haughty joy fill her,

    when he reviews the armies at midmorning and marches forth.

  26. وتعلم أَنه في كل قطر

    سيوقد دونها للحرب نارا

    And she knows that in every region

    he will kindle war's fire in her defense.

  27. مليك عنه تسند كل فخر

    إِذا عن غيره أَسندت عارا

    A king from whom you derive every glory,

    when from any other you would derive disgrace.

  28. متى تنزل به تنزل رياضاً

    من المعروف قد ينعت ثمارا

    Whenever you alight with him, you alight in gardens

    of kindness, whose fruits have already ripened.

  29. أَيا خير الملوك ولا أُحاشي

    إِذا قلت الجميع ولا أُمارا

    O best of kings—and I exclude none

    when I say 'all,' nor am I gainsaid—

  30. أعد نظراً ورأياً في زمانٍ

    تذيق صروفه الحر المرارا

    look again, and give thought to an age

    whose vicissitudes make the freeborn taste bitterness,

  31. وتحقره وتحقر فيه بغياً

    وعدواناً أَجارا واستجارا

    and scorn him, and in him scorn, unjustly

    and aggressively, shelter granted and shelter sought.

  32. وأَحسبها بذلك قد تعدّت

    على من لا يقيل لها عِثارا

    And I think that, by this, they have trespassed

    against one who will not pardon their stumble,

  33. ومن لو شاءَ رد الكيدَ عني

    بمنخر من يكايدني ضرارا

    and who, if he wished, would turn the plot away from me

    into the nostril of whoever plots to harm me.

  34. فكم شر أَتى سبباً لخير

    وكسْرٍ كان عقباه انجبارا

    For many an evil has become a cause of good,

    and many a fracture has ended in mending!

  35. فلا خفرَتْ ذمامَكم الليالي

    ولا ضامت لك الأيامُ جارا

    So may the nights never betray your pledge of protection,

    nor the days oppress a neighbor in your care.