Sol 6.1

  1. شهدت لقد أعليت كعب المكارم

    وصنت محيا الجود صون المحارم

    I bear witness: you have indeed raised the stature of noble deeds,

    And guarded generosity's face as one guards what is sacred.

  2. فما حاتم الطائي ونحر عشاره

    عشاء وما أكل الضيوف الهواجم

    What, then, are Hatim al-Ta'i and his slaughter of pregnant she-camels

    At suppertime, and what the unannounced guests ate?

  3. لقد فتكت بالتبر كفك فتكة

    محت جود من يدلى بنحر البهائم

    Indeed, your hand has dealt raw gold such a deadly blow

    That it eclipsed the generosity of whoever boasts of slaughtering beasts.

  4. وأمطرت معنى الجود بالتبر ديمة

    غسلت بها عنه دماء السوائم

    You showered the very meaning of generosity with a steady rain of gold,

    With which you washed from it the blood of grazing livestock.

  5. وإنك في أفق الوزارة والسخا

    كشمس جلت عدلا ظلام المظالم

    And in the firmament of the vizierate and generosity, you are

    Like a sun that dispelled the darkness of injustice with justice.

  6. فمن كعلي أو فمن كمعيبد

    ومن كبنيه الأمجدين الأكارم

    Who, then, is like Ali, or who is like Mu'aybid?

    And who is like his most illustrious, noble sons?

  7. هم الأحمديون الذي إذا رموا

    قلامة ظفر عادلت بالأقالم

    They are the Ahmadis, who, whenever they cast away

    A fingernail clipping, it is a match for the pens.

  8. مخائلهم كالبرق نم على الحيا

    وأخلاقهم كالزهر بين الكمائم

    Their promising signs are like lightning heralding rain,

    And their virtues are like flowers amid the bud-sheaths.

  9. وأن عليا حين يعزى لك اسمه

    علي فما يدنو لغير المكارم

    And Ali, when his name is ascribed to you,

    Is lofty, approaching nothing but noble deeds.

  10. مقبل ظهر الكف وهاب بطنها

    كأن عليه الجود ضربة لازم

    His hand's back is kissed; its palm is lavish in giving,

    As though generosity were imposed upon him as a binding duty.

  11. فما مزنه يختال في ملعب الصبا

    تجر على الآفاق ذيل الغمائم

    No rain cloud of his, strutting in the east wind's playground,

    Trailing a train of clouds across the horizons,

  12. يضاحك فيها البرق غدران مائها

    وللرعد في عقباه تحنان رائم

    Within which lightning laughs with pools of its water,

    While thunder in its wake has a mother camel's yearning moan,

  13. باندى إذا شاب الثرى من بنانه

    وأسبغ ظلا في اتقاد السمائم

    Is more bountiful when earth grows gray from his fingertips,

    Nor casts fuller shade amid the blaze of scorching winds.

  14. فتى يستقل البحر ورداً لشارب

    ويستصغر الدنيا مناخا لقادم

    A youth who deems the sea too scant a draught for a drinker,

    And deems the world too small a campsite for a newcomer.

  15. مكارمه تفشي محط عفاته

    واراؤا تغشى مقيل الضراغم

    His noble deeds proclaim where seekers of his bounty alight,

    And his counsels envelop the lions' resting place.

  16. إذا اقتسمته نشوة البأس والندى

    تموج موج اللجة المتلاطم

    When the raptures of valor and bounty share possession of him,

    He surges like the deep's colliding waves.

  17. فاعداؤه من كره في مأتم

    وأضيافه من جوده في مواسم

    So his enemies, through his onslaught, are in mourning,

    And his guests, through his bounty, are amid festivals.

  18. فتى لا تراه ساحبا ذيل عزه

    ولا راكبا إلا ظهور العزائم

    A youth you never see trailing the train of his glory,

    Nor riding anything but the backs of firm resolves.

  19. ولا اختال إلا في مجال القنا ولا

    تبختر إلا في وجوه العظائم

    He never strutted except in the arena of spears, nor

    Swaggered except in the face of mighty ordeals.

  20. أقر وأرسا من قواعد يذئل

    وأقطع حدا من شفار الصوارم

    More steadfast and firmly anchored than the foundations of Yadh'il,

    And keener-edged than the blades of sharp swords.

  21. وأسحر من موج السراب مكائدا

    وأسرى وأهدى من سيول التهائم

    More beguiling in stratagems than the waves of a mirage,

    And swifter by night, surer of the way, than the lowlands' torrents.

  22. إذا أعوج صدر الرمح طعنا فانما

    يثقفه بين الطلا والجماجم

    When the spear's forepart bends from thrusting, he only

    Straightens it between necks and skulls.

  23. يجر على من لا يطيع مقالنا

    تسد على الأرواح طرق المناسم

    He leads a host against those who will not obey our words,

    That bars the hoof-paths to souls.

  24. وتبني عليه الطير في أفق السما

    رواقاً غشاه ريش جنح القشاعم

    And birds build above him in the expanse of the sky

    A canopy clothed in the feathers of old vultures' wings.

  25. إذا فتقت روس النصال عشاءه

    نثرن شعاع الشمس نثر الدراهم

    When the spearheads' points tear open its evening gloom,

    They scatter the sun's rays as dirhams are scattered.

  26. صقيل طراز المجد أروع باسل

    له نشوة عند السطا والمكارم

    A burnished adornment of glory, awe-inspiring and valiant,

    He knows rapture in onslaughts and noble deeds.

  27. خلوت به والأفق تصدا شمسه

    تباشير وضاح من السعد قادم

    I was alone with him as the horizon's sun grew tarnished,

    Harbingers of radiant good fortune drawing near.

  28. وشمت به سيفا على الدهر قاطعاً

    وصلت فلم أقرع به سن نادم

    And through him I drew a sword that cuts against Time,

    And I charged, never gnashing my teeth in regret on his account.

  29. وحسبي به أسمى عن التراب أخمصي

    فما وطئت إلا على ألف راغم

    And he suffices me: he raised my foot's arch above the dust,

    So I trod only upon a thousand humbled men.