أتاها رسولي فاسمعوا ما جرا له

لقد رابني لما سمعت مقاله

My messenger came to her; listen to what befell him.

I was indeed troubled when I heard his account.

رأته فقالت أنت من بعض رسله

فقال نعم قالت فصف لي حاله

She saw him and said, “You are one of his messengers.”

He said, “Yes.” She said, “Then describe his condition to me.”

فقال كئيب القلب قالت فجسمه

فقال نحيل من رآه رثا له

He said, “Sorrowful at heart.” She said, “And his body?”

He said, “Wasted; whoever sees him pities him.”

فقالت وزدني قال أما نهاره

فيبكي وأما ليله لا كرى له

She said, “And tell me more.” He said, “As for his day,

he weeps; as for his night, he has no sleep.”

فلما وعت ما قال قالت قتلته

وان دام هذا راح لالي ولاله

When she understood what he said, she said, “I have killed him.

And if this lasts, he will be lost both to me and to himself.

ووالله ما فارقته عن ملالة

ومن ذاك يمناه تمل شماله

By God, I did not leave him out of weariness.

And whose right hand ever tires of his left?

ولكن وشاة كثروا في حديثهم

فبعد القوم أحرموني وصاله

But slanderers were excessive in their talk.

Away with those people! They deprived me of union with him.”

صدقت فيما تقول فما لها

إذا حدث الواشي تسيغ محاله

You spoke truly in what you say; why, then, does she,

when the slanderer speaks, swallow his falsehood?

وأمّا منامي يوم شدوا رحالهم

رأى الدمع في عيني فشد رحاله

As for my sleep, the day they readied their saddles,

it saw the tears in my eyes and readied its own.

فقلت له ارجع قال اسكنت موضعي

عدوي وتدعوني فما لي وماله

I said to it, “Return!” It said, “You lodged in my place

my enemy, yet you summon me! What have I to do with him?

إلى أين تدعوني ومالك مقلة

تجف ولا شوق يرجىّ زواله

Where do you summon me, when you have no eye

that dries, nor any longing whose end can be hoped for?

وقلبك قلب كلما قيل قد أتى

من الشوق جيش قال يأتي أنا له

And your heart is a heart that, whenever told, ‘There has come

an army of longing,’ says, ‘Let it come! I am its match.’”

فعد يا رسولي نحو ليلى وقل لها

فتاك على هذا الجفا لا بقا له

So return, my messenger, to Layla, and tell her:

“Your young man cannot live on amid such coldness.

فإن كان من خوف عليه هجرته

فأكثر ما قد خفت بالهجر ناله

If you deserted him out of fear for him,

then most of what you feared has befallen him through your desertion.

أعيدي عليه الروح بالوصل ساعة

واش بعدها ما بدا له

Restore his spirit to him with one hour of union;

[let] a slanderer afterward [say] whatever he pleases.”

فما زلت ألقى مثلها بعد مثلها

فللّه قلبي ما أشد احتماله

I have never ceased to meet one such affliction after another.

By God, my heart—how great its endurance!

أسالم صرف الدهر وهو محارب

وامسيى وحيدا وهو يعبي رجاله

I make peace with the vicissitudes of Time, while it wages war,

and evening finds me alone while it musters its men.

لقد أسرفت في نحس حظي حوادث

تعد على الإِنسان ذنبا كما له

Calamities have indeed gone too far in blighting my fortune,

counting a man's excellence against him as a sin.

سأطلب ثارى من زماني بأحمد

من كان ذا ثأر كثأري سعى له

Through Ahmad I shall seek my vengeance on Time;

whoever has a claim to vengeance like mine would pursue it.

فما أحمد ممن يضيع جاره

ولكنه ممن يضيع ماله

Ahmad is not one to neglect his neighbor,

but he is one to squander his wealth.

سلوا عن عطاياه خزائن ماله

ولا ترحموها حين تشكو نواله

Ask his treasuries about his gifts,

and do not pity them when they complain of his largesse.

فلو لم تفرغها عطاياه لم تبت

تقبل أفواه الملوك نعاله

For had his gifts not emptied them, never through the night

would the mouths of kings be kissing his sandals.

به فاقتدوا يا طالبي المجد والعلا

ولكن بعيد أن تنالوا مناله

So follow his example, seekers of glory and eminence,

though it is a distant hope that you should reach his stature.

أخو عزمات أيد الله سعيها

وذو سطوات ويل من تنضى له

A man of firm resolves whose striving God has strengthened,

and of mighty onslaughts—woe to him against whom they are unleashed!

فتى لم يضع حزما ولا بات نادما

يلاحظ عقبي الأمر لا منثنى له

A young man who never let prudence slip, nor spent a night regretting,

watching the outcome of affairs, with no turning back.

وقور أذا خفت حلوم ذوى النهى

وقد هال خطب قلت لاشيء هاله

Composed when the minds of the wise grow flighty,

even when a calamity strikes terror, you say, “Nothing has shaken him.”

سمعنا باخبار الملوك فلم نجد

لأحمدنا ثان يكون مثاله

We have heard accounts of kings, yet we have not found

another who could be our Ahmad's equal.

ملوك وزنا الالف منهم بواحد

فخفوا ولم نحصى بوزن خصاله

Kings—we weighed a thousand of them against one,

and they proved light, though we had not fully weighed his virtues.

تسير العطايا والمنايا أمامه

لمن رام جدواه ورام نزاله

Gifts and deaths travel before him,

for whoever seeks his bounty, and whoever seeks combat with him.

هنيئاً لا سمعيل ما بلغ ابنه

من الرتب العليا التي شادها له

Congratulations to Ismail on what his son has attained

of the lofty ranks he has raised for him.

لقد طال إسمعيل فخرا بأحمد

وللسحب فخرا بالحيا لا انتهى له

Ismail has grown tall indeed with pride in Ahmad,

and the clouds' pride in their rain has no end.

إذا ما انتمى نحو الملوك تخاضعت

نجوم السماء الزهر في افقها له

When he traces his descent to kings, there bow down

the bright stars of heaven in its horizon before him.

نمته ملوك ستة قد تناسقوا

تناسق منظوم أمنت اختلاله

He descends from six kings, aligned in succession,

in the order of a strung necklace, secure against disarray.

فأحمدهم فيما علمنا أحمد

يميل مع المعروف حيث أماله

So the most praiseworthy of them, as far as we know, is Ahmad,

following goodness wherever it leads him.

وقاه اله العرش مما يخافه

وأكرم مثواه وأنعم باله

May the God of the Throne guard him from what he fears,

honor his dwelling, and grant him peace of mind.