رثت لنحولي في هواها وذلتي

وكثرة أعدائي عليها وقلتي

She pitied my wasting away in love of her and my abasement,

my many rivals for her, and my scant support.

وناشدتها في مهجتي حين ذا دنى

عواذلها ما أبصرت من تلفتي

And pleaded with her for my life, when this drew near,

her female reproachers, at the sight of my anxious turning.

جعلتك يا دهري بحل فلا آسى

وقد أسفرت نحوى وجوه الاحبة

I absolve you, O my Time; I no longer grieve,

now that the faces of loved ones have shone toward me.

وطارحنني يرضين قلبي تبسما

فاثلجن أكبادي وأطفين لوعتي

They exchanged smiles with me to please my heart,

cooling my vitals and quenching my burning longing.

قضت ظلمات العبد فيّ قضاءها

وما برحت تشتد حتى تجلت

The servant's darknesses carried out their decree upon me,

and kept growing harsher until they cleared.

وكم حملتني من اسا ثرت تحته

بضعف وحسادي تراقب وقعتي

How much sorrow they burdened me with, beneath which I struggled

in weakness, while my enviers watched for my fall.

فاأقبت الإيام خيرا وأجزلت

عطية أنس بعد شدة وحشة

Then the days brought good in their wake and lavished

a gift of fellowship after grievous loneliness.

غرست ودادا فاجتنيت ثماره

كذا الود ان تزرعه للحر ينبت

I planted affection and reaped its fruits;

thus affection grows when you sow it for a noble man.

فما ظفرت بالنجح يمنى مماذق

ولا عاد من سعي صدوق بخيبة

No dissembler's right hand has won success,

nor has a truthful man returned disappointed from his striving.

وهبت لهم نفسي فما بت نادما

ولا ظلت فيهم أشتكي غبن صفقة

I gave them my soul and never spent a night regretting it,

nor spent my days lamenting a losing bargain with them.

فقل لجهول لام مهلا فما أنا

إلى كل ذى ثغر مشيرا بقبلة

So tell the ignorant man who blamed me: Gently! I am not

offering a kiss to everyone with a mouth.

فلا تخدعن ما كل دار هي الحما

ولا كل بيضاء الترائب عزة

Do not be deceived: not every dwelling is the sanctuary,

nor every fair-breasted woman is ʿAzza,

ولا كل منظوم له التاج أحمد

ملوك ولكن شيمة فوق شيمة

nor everyone for whom a crown is fashioned is Ahmad.

They are kings, but one noble nature stands above another.

كريم المحيا يملأ الصدر هيبة

يروع ولكن خلقهللمحبة

Noble of countenance, he fills the breast with awe;

he inspires dread, yet his nature is for love.

إلى أين والشمس المنيرة تجتلي

أغرك نجم طالع في دجنة

Whither, when the radiant sun is plainly seen?

Has a star rising in deep darkness beguiled you?

وإن ابن إسمعيل للملك الذي

يمد إذا ما مد باعاً بقونة

Indeed, Ibn Ismaʿil is the king who,

when he extends an arm, extends it with strength.

هزبر تخال الضاريات نعاجه

إذا هز يوم الروع رمحا لطعنة

A lion: you would take the ravening beasts for his ewes,

when on the day of terror he brandishes a spear to thrust.

له من تليد المجد والفخر ما ادعا

إذا ما خشى من يدعي فلج حجة

His is whatever ancestral glory and pride he claims,

when a claimant fears a decisive proof.

حريص على العلياء قد حال دونها

وأمواله مقسومة في البرية

Eager for the heights, he has barred the way to them,

while his wealth is shared among all creation.

تمنت ملوك أن تشق غباره

لقد فاتها يا بعد ما قد تمنت

Kings have wished that they could cleave his dust;

it has eluded them—how far off is what they wished!

حبيب إلى الأسماع ذكراه لو روى

أحاديثه للصخر راو لأصغت

Dear to the ears is his remembrance; were a teller to recount

his tales to the rocks, they would listen.

مهيب الرضا لا يسبق السخط عفوه

كريم متى يغضب تلقى برحمة

Awe-inspiring when pleased, his anger never outruns his pardon;

generous—whenever he grows angry, you are met with mercy.

به الحدس والرأي الذي إن أاده

أظل على ابناء ما في الطوية

He has intuition and judgment; when he seeks it,

he peers into the tidings of what lies within [wording uncertain].

يميز عدوا من صديق بلحظة

ويعرف من يلقا بأول نظرة

He distinguishes an enemy from a friend at a glance,

and recognizes whomever he meets at first sight.

فيا من حوى سرا خفيا لربه

وأثاره في الخلق غير خفية

O you who hold a hidden secret of your Lord,

while its traces among creation are not hidden,

أعد نظرا وأعجب لما الله صانع

فما هي إلا محض ايضاح قدرة

look again and marvel at what God is doing:

it is nothing but a pure demonstration of power,

وما هي إلا من لدنه عناية

أرتك من الآيات أكبر آية

nothing but providential care from Him,

showing you the greatest sign among His signs,

لتعرفه عرفان علم فقابلن

بأكبر شكر منك أكبر نعمة

so you may know Him with certain knowledge; then requite

the greatest blessing with your greatest thanks.

بطانتك الادنون والعصبة التي

تفديك بالأرواح في كل وقعة

Your closest confidants, and the band who

ransom you with their lives in every battle,

ومن لا يساوي في رضاك نفوسهم

إذا ما دعوا للموت مثقال ذرة

and those whose lives, for your good pleasure, do not weigh,

when summoned to death, so much as a mote—

أراك بهم ما لم يكن في حسابهم

وأنفذ فيهم ما قضاه بحكمة

through them He showed you what they had never reckoned,

and carried out in them what He wisely decreed.

فأعمتهم الأقدار حتى يدنسوا

بما ليس فيهم من ظنون وتهمة

Fate blinded them until they were sullied

with suspicions and an accusation of what was not in them.

وأبدا القضا منهم على صور العدى

جسوماً لكم فيها قلوب أحبة

Destiny displayed, in the semblance of enemies,

bodies that held for you the hearts of loved ones.

دعوهم بكم حتى توافوا وفوجئوا

بما راعهم من هول تلك المكيدة

They summoned them in your name until they assembled and were startled

by the horror of that plot which appalled them.

وما عرفوا كيف السبيل وكلهم

يرى الجهل مخصوصا به في القضية

They did not know which way to turn, and each of them

thought himself alone ignorant of the affair,

فيحسب أن الأمر قد تم دونه

فقلد تقليدا بغير تثبت

so supposed that the matter had been settled without him,

and followed unquestioningly, without making certain.

فظلوا وللاقدار في المرء حكمها

مشاة على أمر بغير بصيرة

Thus they remained—fate has its sway over man—

walking into an affair without insight.

وغلقت الأبواب وانقطع الرجا

وما شك فيما زوروا رُب فطنة

The doors were locked, and hope was cut off,

and many a keen mind never doubted what they had forged.

فأوحست الدنيا وأظلم أفقها

ومات باهليها البلاد وضجت

The world grew desolate, and its horizon darkened;

the land died with its people, and cried aloud.

وقلنا ألا موت يباع فيشترى

ويظفر ملهوف بأكرم ميتة

We said: Is there no death for sale, to be bought,

so a desperate man might win the noblest death?

فبيناهم والأمر يزداد غلظة

ونحن نقاسي شدة بعد شدة

While they were thus, and matters grew harsher,

and we endured hardship after hardship,

إذا بالندا في الناس قد جاء أحمد

فلا تسألوا عن فرجة بعد كربة

suddenly a cry among the people: Ahmad has come!

Ask not about the relief that followed anguish!

فقمت ولا أدرى إلى أين وجهتي

أجر ثيابي ساعيا فوق قدرتي

I rose, not knowing which way I was headed,

dragging my garments, hurrying beyond my strength.

أقول لربي الحمد من لي بوجهه

وأسجد شكرا سجدة بعد سجدة

I say: Praise to my Lord! Who will grant me sight of his face?

And I prostrate in thanks, prostration after prostration,

إلى ان بدا لي غرة الجيش وجهه

منيرا كبدر التم أول طلعة

until his face appeared to me, the army's bright blaze,

shining like the full moon at its first rising.

والقيت نفسي نحوه متبادرا

اشق لها الحجاب من غير حشمة

I cast myself toward him, rushing forward,

forcing a path through the chamberlains without reserve.

فرق وكف الطرف حتى لثمته

ثلاثا ودمعي سافحا فوق وجنتي

He softened and lowered his gaze, until I kissed him

three times, my tears pouring down my cheek.

وقال لي اركب قلت كلا لا مشين

وألزمني حتى ركبت مطيتي

He said to me: Mount. I said: No, I shall walk.

He insisted until I mounted my riding beast.

فللَّه من يوم أغر محجل

لبكرته ذنب محي بالعشية

God be praised for a day white-blazed and white-stockinged,

whose morning's fault was erased by evening.

فلم ترعيني مالكا سر عبده

كما سرني عن ملكه ملك رأفة

Never has my eye seen a master delight his servant

as a king of compassion has delighted me through his rule.

ومن هو يستفتي عن العبد قلبه

فيفتيه عن غش به أو نصيحة

He is one who consults his heart about the servant,

and it tells him whether there is deceit in him or sincere devotion.

وأقسم عن تلك العصابة لو أتى

إليهم كتاب منك يوم الخديعة

I swear on behalf of that band: had there reached

them a letter from you on the day of deception,

لطاروا سرورا واقتفوا ما أمرتهم

وقدت بهم من شئت قود البهيمة

they would have flown for joy and followed what you ordered,

and through them you would have led whomever you wished as one leads a beast.

صناديد لولا أنت ما طار ذكرهم

ولا اهتز منهم درب صنعا وصعدة

Champions whose renown, but for you, would never have flown abroad,

nor would the road of Sanʿa and Saʿda have trembled before them.

اقلهم اقلهم عثرة ما تمخضت

بها فكرة يوما ولا بعض ليلة

Pardon them, pardon them a lapse that never arose

from any thought, on any day or even part of a night.

ولا صدرت قصدا ولا اتصفوا بها

ولا طرقت إلا طروق المصيبة

It was neither deliberate nor a trait of theirs,

and came upon them only as calamity comes.

واعص مشير السوء فيهم فإنه

عدو لهم أو خادع في المشورة

Disobey whoever counsels evil against them, for he

is their enemy, or deceitful in his counsel.

فعذرهم أبدا من الشمس في الضحى

وأظهر لا يخفى على ذي بصيرة

Their excuse is clearer than the sun at midmorning,

more evident, not hidden from anyone with insight.

فما أبلغتهم قدرة الله ريقهم

ولا أمهلت منهم نياما ليقظة

God's power gave them no time even to swallow their saliva,

nor gave their sleepers time to wake.

ولم يبنهم في الذنب إلا عقوبة

تخطت اليهم قبل علم الخطيئة

Nothing marked them as guilty but a punishment

that overtook them before they knew of the offense.

مواليك هم والكف والزند والسطا

وأحبابك الأدنون أهل الحفيظة

They are your loyal retainers, your palm, your forearm, your striking force,

your nearest loved ones, men of protective zeal.

فهب لهم ارواحهم واصطنعهم

فوالله ما ينسونها من صنيعة

Grant them their lives, and take them into your favor;

by God, they will never forget such a kindness.

بقيت بقاء الدهر تحمى صروفه

وتدفع عن دين الهدى كل بدعة

May you endure as long as time, warding off its vicissitudes,

and repel every innovation from the religion of guidance.