أرخا أثيث الدجى الجاني على الفلق

وسل مصقولة بيضا من الحدق

Luxuriant darkness was let fall, encroaching upon dawn,

and polished white blades were drawn from the eyes.

فانظر إلى قصب تستل من حدق

وأعجب على فلق في حالك الغسق

Behold reeds being drawn from eyes,

and marvel at dawn within pitch-black dusk.

عسالة القد مذ راشت لواحظها

سهامها صادت الضرغام بالخلق

Swaying of figure, ever since her glances feathered

their arrows, she has captured the lion with her beauty.

ومذ زها ورد خديها بوجنتها

تكدرت في المآقي حمرة الشفق

And since the roses of her cheeks blossomed on her cheek,

twilight's redness grew murky in the corners of the eyes.

إذا تثنت بمثل الغصن أو رشقت

باللحظ أمسى المضنا على الورق

When she sways like a bough, or shoots

with her glance, the love-worn one ends up upon the leaves.

يرجي من الضرب والطعن الخلاص ولا

يرجي الخلاص لأمر الحسن والملق

He hopes for deliverance from blows and stabbing, but does not

hope for deliverance in matters of beauty and blandishment.

يا هند إن دمي في عنق سافكه

فاخشي من الله قالت ليس في عنقي

O Hind, my blood rests upon its shedder's neck.

So fear God! She said, “It is not upon my neck.

قتلي محاسن خلقي فعل خالقها

ولست آثم إلا أن جنى خلقي

My slaying you comes through the beauties of my form, the work of their Creator;

and I am not guilty, unless my form has sinned.”

عجبت من سقم عينيها وناهدها

رمانة الغض من كل السقام بقى

I marvelled at the languor of her eyes, while her budding breast,

a tender pomegranate, remained free of every illness.

وما لواحظها تصمى وقد علقت

بالكف لا مقلتيها حمرة العلق

Yet her glances do not kill outright, though there has clung

to her palm, not her eyes, the redness of blood.

كأحمد خصصت بالوبل ديمته

غير العدا والعدا بالبرق والصعق

Like Ahmad, whose raincloud singled out for downpours

all but his foes—and his foes for lightning and thunderbolts.

الناصر الملك بن الأشرف الملك أب

ن الأفضل الملك بن القادة السبق

Al-Nasir the king, son of Al-Ashraf the king, son

of Al-Afdal the king, descendant of the foremost leaders.

من ليس تحصى إذا عدت محاسنه

ومن يحاول عد الشهب لم يطق

He whose merits cannot be numbered when counted;

whoever attempts to count the bright stars cannot.

يعطي الجزيل ويرضى بالقليل رضى

مسامح غير جبّاه ولا نزق

He gives abundantly and is content with little, with the contentment

of one indulgent, neither harshly reproachful nor rash.

الخطب أصغر قدرا عند همته

من أن يجوز كحل الطرف بالارق

A calamity is too small in the eyes of his resolve

to be allowed to kohl his eye with sleeplessness.

وما على الليث من قرد رقى حجرا

ففات أو ثعلب آوى إلى نفق

What has a lion to fear from a monkey that climbs a rock

and escapes, or a fox that shelters in a burrow?

للرمح في الدرع ما يغنيه مدخله

عن مدخل الابرة الخرقاء في الخرق

For the spear, entering armor is enough to spare it

the clumsy needle's passage through rags.

هم في يديك فما من مهرب لهم

عن المسآء ولا مناى عن القلق

They are in your hands, with no escape for them

from distress, and no refuge from anxiety.

كم جاهل ظلت الآمال تركبه

من جهلة طبقا يرديه عن طبق

Many an ignorant man has been ridden by his hopes,

through ignorance, one stage casting him down from another,

حتى توهم أن الموت عافية

وأنه خال في المرهون بالغلق

until he imagined death to be well-being,

and himself unencumbered among those pledged beyond redemption.

فجئته من ورا آماله بسطاً

لم يحتسبها وفتق غير مرتتق

Then you reached him from beyond his hopes with displays of force

he had not reckoned with, and a rent beyond repair.

جاراك قوم فقالوا بعدما وقفوا

عمر التخلق لا يمتد كالخلق

Some sought to rival you, then said once they had stopped:

“Assumed character does not endure as innate character does.”

محاسن في الورى شتى بك اجتمعت

وقدرة الجمع لا تلقى لمفترق

Virtues scattered among mankind have gathered in you,

and the power of union is not granted to what is scattered.

يا من يحاول منه غير شيمته

اعادة الخير شرا غير متفق

O you who seek from him something contrary to his nature:

turning goodness into evil does not accord with him.

سهولة الماء تأبى أن يناسبها

ما ليس منحد إلا رجا من الطرق

Water's yielding nature refuses to be matched

by what does not slope downward, save a roadside verge.

حلمت عفوا ولم تحلم مداهنة

عن المسئ حال الغيظ والحنق

You were forbearing out of pardon, not out of dissimulation,

toward the wrongdoer amid rage and rancor.

وكنت خيرا لهم منهم وقد جعلوا

حلوقهم من حبال الموت في الربق

You were better to them than they were to themselves, though they had placed

their throats in the loops of death's ropes.

أغضيت حلما ولم تعجل بسفك دم

حتى أتوك بعذر غير مختلق

You overlooked their deeds in forbearance and did not hasten to spill blood,

until they came to you with an excuse that was not fabricated.

ما أضمروا لك مكروها ولا اجتعموا

لنقض عهد ولكن الشقي شقي

They harbored no harm against you, nor did they gather

to break a covenant; but the ill-fated remain ill-fated.

أطلقت بعضهم فضلا ومكرمة

فالحق به البعض وارحم من هناك بقي

You freed some of them out of bounty and generosity;

so let the rest join them, and have mercy on whoever remains there.

ما اقدر المجد أن يرضيك عن نفر

هم من يديك مكان السيف والدرق

How well glory can win your favor for men

who are, in your hands, as sword and shield!

أنت الغنى وما بالكل عنك غني

فارحم مواليك وأنقذهم من الغرق

You need no one, while none can do without you.

So have mercy on your retainers and rescue them from drowning.

ولا تقل قيل لي عنهم فما أحد

عليك من حاسد يخلو ومن حنق

Do not say, “I was told about them”; for no one

is free of envy or rancor toward you.

وهبهم مثلما قالوا وحاش لهم

فإن عفوك عمن تاب لم يضق

And suppose them to be as others said—far be it from them!

Your pardon is not too narrow for those who repent.

ما اخطاؤا بل أراد الله مكرمة

تملأ لك الأرض منها بالثنا العبق

They did not err; rather, God intended an act of generosity

that would fill the earth for you with its fragrant praise.

فإنها قصة بلهاء لو نسبت

إلى المجانين لم تحسن ولم تلق

For it is a foolish tale that, were it attributed

to madmen, would seem neither good nor fitting.

أخذتهم أخذ جبار وقدتهم

إلى السلامة قود الراحم الشفق

You seized them with a mighty ruler's grasp, and led them

to safety as a merciful, compassionate guide.

ولم تطع أحداً في قتلهم كرماً

بل قلت يا عفو عندي ما تشا فثق

Generously, you obeyed no one in putting them to death;

instead you said, “O Pardon, with me is whatever you wish: be assured.”

فتمم الفضل واجعل ما تجود به

لله فيهم ولا تنظر إلى العلق

So complete your generosity, and make what you bestow

on them for God's sake; pay no heed to precious possessions.

وإدخل بهم عتقاء حوليك غدا

في الخز والقز فوق الشرق العتق

Bring them in tomorrow as freed men around you,

in silk-and-wool and silk, upon noble steeds.

واسمع بإذنيك وأنظر كم يد بسطت

تدعو وتنثنى وكم من منطق ذلق

Listen with your own ears, and see how many hands are raised,

praying and bending, and how many fluent tongues,

تعجبا من سجاياً ما سبقت بها

ولا أعترى ملك منها إلى خلق

in wonder at traits in which none has preceded you,

nor has any king approached a single such trait.

عفو عظيم وابدال بسيئة

حسنا وعرض عن الادناس أى نقي

Great pardon, and replacing an evil deed

with good, and honor free of defilement—how pure!