وفيهن أضحيت يوم الأضاحي — Ibn Darray Alqastalli

وفيهنَّ أَضحَيْتَ يومَ الأَضاحِي

كتائِبَ مستقدِماتِ التَّهادِي

Among them you greeted the morning of the Feast of Sacrifice,

battalions advancing with a stately gait,

بأَجْمَعِ مولىً لشملِ العبيدِ

وأَخشَعِ عبدٍ لربِّ العبادِ

as the master who best unites his servants,

and the humblest servant before the Lord of all servants.

فأَوْسَعْتَهُنَّ نظامَ المصلَّى

وَقَدْ غَصَّ منهنَّ رحبُ البلادِ

So you gave them ample room in the prayer-ground's ranks,

though the land's wide expanse was already choked with them.

ملاعِبَةً للصَّبا بالنَّوَاصِي

مسامِيَةً للقَنا بالهوادِي

Their forelocks played with the east wind,

their necks vied in height with the lances.

تكادُ تَفَهَّمُ فصلَ الخطابِ

بتعويدِها لاسْمِكَ المستعادِ

They almost understand decisive speech,

through being accustomed to your oft-repeated name,

وعِرْفانِهِ فِي شِعارِ الحروبِ

وتِبْيَانِهِ فِي صَريخِ المُنادِي

and recognizing it in the watchwords of war,

and its proclamation in the herald's cry,

وتَرْدِيدِهِ فِي مجالِ الطِّعانِ

وتكريرِهِ فِي مَكَرِّ الطِّرادِ

and its repetition in the field of lance-combat,

and its reiteration where mounted pursuit charges,

وَفِي كلِّ ذكرٍ وفخرٍ ونشرٍ

وشكرٍ وشِعرٍ وشَدْوٍ وشادِ

and in every mention, boast, and proclamation,

thanks, poem, song, and singer.

فلما قَضَوْا بِكَ حقَّ السَّلامِ

ثَنَوْا لَكَ حقَّ سلامٍ مُعادِ

When, with you, they had offered the salutation due,

they gave you again the greeting you were owed.

فوافى قصورَكَ وفدُ السلامِ

بأَيْمَنِ حادٍ إليها وهَادِ

Then the delegation of greetings reached your palaces,

with the most auspicious chanting driver and guide leading there.

يخُوضُونَ نحوَكَ بَحْرَ العوالي

تموجُ بِهَا أَبْحُرٌ من جِيادِ

They wade toward you through a sea of lofty lances,

with which seas of noble steeds surge,

لمَلْءِ عيونِهِمُ من بهاءٍ

ومَلْءِ صدورِهمُ من وِدَادِ

to fill their eyes with splendor,

and fill their breasts with affection,

بمرأَىً هَداهُمْ إِلَى هَدْي هُودٍ

وعادَ إِلَيْهِمْ بأحلامِ عادِ

at a sight that led them to Hud's guidance,

and brought back to them the wisdom of ‘Ad.

وَقَدْ ذَكَّرَتْهُمْ جِفاناً نَمَتْكَ

إِلَى كلِّ ملكٍ رفيعِ العِمادِ

They were reminded of bowls that traced your lineage

to every lofty-pillared king,

مطاعِمُ مُدَّتْ بِهَا فِي الصُّحونِ

موائدُ مستبشِراتُ التَّمادِي

by meals for which, in the courtyards, were spread

tables rejoicing in the feast's continuance.

وكم خَطَّ جودُكَ بالمِسْكِ فِيهِمْ

شهادَتُهُ لمليكٍ جوادِ

How often your generosity wrote among them in musk

its testimony to a bountiful king:

سطوراً محوْنَ بياضَ المشيبِ

بنورٍ محا منه لونَ السَّوادِ

lines that erased the whiteness of gray hair

with a light that erased from it the color of blackness.

وراح قرينُ الشبابِ النَّضِيرِ

وفَوْدَاهُ خَطَّا شبابٍ مُفادِ

He went away with fresh youth as his companion,

his two temple-locks two lines of youth regained.

مشاهدُ غَلَّفْتَ منها الزمانَ

بغالِيةٍ مِسْكُها من مِدادِي

Scenes from which you anointed Time

with a rich perfume whose musk comes from my ink.

فأَشْعَرْتَها كلَّ بَرٍّ وبحرٍ

وأَنشَقْتَها كلَّ سارٍ وغادِ

Thus you made every land and sea know them,

and let every night-traveler and morning-traveler breathe their scent.

وأَتْبَعْتَها من كِباءِ الثناءِ

عجاجاً يهُبُّ إِلَى كلِّ نادِ

You followed them with incense of praise,

a dust-cloud blowing toward every gathering-place:

نوافِجُ مَجْمَرُها من ضلوعي

تُؤَجِّجُها جمرةٌ من فؤادِي

musk-pods whose brazier is made of my ribs,

kindled by an ember from my heart,

بِما عَلَّمَ الهِنْدَ أَنَّكَ أمضى

غداة الوغى من ظُباةِ الحِدادِ

with what taught India that you are sharper,

on battle's morning, than the edges of keen blades,

وأَنَّ ثناءَكَ أَزكى وأَذكى

عَلَى الدهر من طِيبِهِ المستجادِ

and that praise of you is purer and more fragrant

through all time than its choicest perfume.

سوائِمُ فخرٍ عَلَتْ عن مُسيمٍ

يرودُ بِهَا مَرْتَعَ الإِقْتِصَادِ

Grazing herds of pride, too lofty for a herdsman

seeking for them the pasture of moderation,

ودعوى هوىً لَمْ يَزُرْ فِي كراهُ

خيالٌ ولا خاطرٌ فِي فؤادِ

and a love professed, never visited in slumber

by a phantom, nor by a thought within a heart.

وتلك عُلاكَ تُهادِي العيونَ

كواكِبَ مُقْتَرِباتِ البِعادِ

Those heights of yours give the eyes

stars whose far distances draw near:

أَوانِسُ تأْبى لَهَا أَنْ تَصُدَّ

مقادِمُها فِي الوغى أَوْ تُصادِي

companionable maidens, forbidden to turn away

by their advancing fronts in battle, or to court favor.

كواعِبُ مَجدِكَ حَلَّيْتَهُنَّ

بزُهْرِ المساعِي وبيضِ الأَيادي

The full-breasted maidens of your glory—you adorned them

with radiant deeds and white-handed favors.

نجومٌ تُنِيرُ بِنُورِ الأَمَانِي

وطوراً تنوءُ بِغُرِّ الغوادي

Stars shining with the light of hopes,

and at times laden with bright morning rainclouds.

وأَوْرَدْتَها كل بحرٍ يَمُورُ

بِما يُلْبِسُ الشُّهْبَ لونَ الوِرادِ

You led them to every sea that seethes

with what clothes gray steeds in the color of bay horses.

ودُسْتَ بِهَا كلَّ صعبِ المرامِ

وقُدْتَ بِهَا كلَّ عاصِي القِيادِ

With them you trampled every hard-to-reach goal,

and led every defier of the reins.

إذَا مَا تنادَتْ لجمعٍ ثَنَتْهُ

مُجِيبَ المُنادِي ليومِ التَّنادِي

Whenever they called to one another against a host, they turned it

into an answerer of the Caller on the Day of Calling.

بِهِنَّ شَعَبْتَ عِصِيَّ الشِّقاقِ

وعنهُنَّ أَوْضَحْتَ سُبْلَ الرَّشادِ

With them you split apart the staffs of discord,

and through them made clear the paths of right guidance.

فأَوْدَعْتَها فِي نواصِي الرِّياحِ

لتَنْثُرَها فِي أَقاصِي البلادِ

Then you lodged them in the forelocks of the winds,

to scatter them throughout the farthest lands.

فكَمْ أَنْبَتَ الشرقُ والغربُ منها

حدائِقَ تُغني عَنِ الإِرْتِيادِ

How often East and West have grown from them

gardens that spare all need for searching elsewhere.

ووَقْفاً على سَقْيِها ماءُ وجهي

وفَيْضُ دموعي وَمَا فِي مَزَادِي

Dedicated to their watering is the water of my face,

the flood of my tears, and what my waterskins hold.

وكم حَصَدَ الدهرُ للخُلْدِ منها

ثمارَ النُّهى وثِمارَ التَّهادِي

How often Time has harvested from them for eternity

the fruits of wisdom and the fruits of mutual giving.

فيا أَرْأَسَ الرُّؤَساءِ الجديرَ

بحُكْمِ السَّدادِ لقولِ السَّدادِ

O foremost of leaders, worthy,

by sound judgment, to utter sound words:

أَيَغْرُبُ عندَكَ نَجْمُ اغْتِرابِي

ومطلَعُهُ لَكَ فِي الأَرضِ بادِ

does the star of my exile set in your presence,

when its rising-place is plain to you upon the earth?

وأَسْقِي الوَرى عَنْكَ ماءَ الحياةِ

وأَرشُفُ منك حِميءَ الثِّمَادِ

I give mankind, on your behalf, the water of life,

yet sip from you the muddy water of scant pools.

وزَرْعِيَ فيكَ حَصِيدُ الخلودِ

وحظِّيَ منك لَقِيطُ الحَصادِ

My crop in you is a harvest for eternity,

yet my share from you is the gleanings of the harvest:

سِداداً من العَوْزِ المُسْتَجارِ

وأَكثرُهُ عَوَزٌ من سَدَادِ

a bare sufficiency against the poverty I seek refuge from,

yet most of it is a lack of right dealing.

قضاءٌ لَهُ فِي يدِ الإِقتضاءِ

زِمامٌ ومن سابِقِ البَغْيِ حادِ

A payment whose reins lie in the hand of demanding it,

with prior injustice as its driver,

كعِلْمِكَ من خَطْبِ دهرٍ رماني

بأَسهُمِ واشٍ وغاوٍ وعادِ

as you know from the calamity of an age that struck me

with the arrows of a slanderer, a miscreant, and an aggressor.

يَسُلُّونَ بينَ الأَمانِي وبيني

سيوفَ القِلى ورماحَ البِعادِ

They draw, between my hopes and me,

the swords of hatred and the lances of estrangement.

زمانٌ كَأَنْ قَدْ تَغَذَّى لِسَعْيٍ

لُعابَ أَفاعٍ وحيَّاتِ وادِ

An age as though, for its striving, it had fed on

the saliva of vipers and valley snakes.

فأَودَعَ من نَفْثِهِ حُرَّ صدري

سِماماً لَياليَّ منها عِدَادِي

Then, from its venomous breath, it lodged in the core of my breast

poisons whose recurring pangs afflict my nights.

وأَطْفَأَ نُورِي وناري عليماً

بأَنْ سيُضِيءُ الدُّجى من رَمَادِي

It quenched my light and my fire, knowing

that darkness would be lit by my ashes.

وهانَ عَلَيْهِ نَفاقِي بفَقْدِي

لبَيْعِ حياتِيَ بَيْعَ الكَسادِ

My marketability mattered little to it, since I had lost

any sale for my life—a sale of unsalable wares.

ولولا القضاءُ الَّذِي فَلَّ عزمي

وآدَ شَبا حَدِّه مَتْنَ آدِي

Had it not been for fate that blunted my resolve,

and whose keen edge bent the backbone of my strength,

وأَنِّيَ دِنْتُ إِلهي بِدينٍ

من الصَّبْرِ جَلَّ عَنِ الإِرْتِدادِ

and had I not served my God with a faith

of patience too exalted for apostasy,

لغاضَتْ بِهِ قطرَةٌ من سحابِي

وأَوْدَتْ بِهِ شُعْلَةٌ من زِنادِي

a drop from my cloud would have made it sink,

and a flame from my fire-strikers would have destroyed it.

وَمَا انْفَرَجَتْ مُبهَماتُ الخطوبِ

بمثلِ اشْتِدادِ الأُمُورِ الشِّدادِ

Nor have intractable calamities ever been relieved

by anything like the worsening of grievous affairs.

فكِلْني لحاجِبِكَ المستجيرِ

بذِمَّتِهِ كلُّ قارٍ وبادِ

So entrust me to your chamberlain, whose protection is sought

by every settled dweller and desert-dweller,

ليَقْسِمَ لي سهمَ حمدي وشكري

وينزِعَ سهم الأَسى من فُؤادي

that he may allot me the share due for my praise and thanks,

and draw the arrow of grief from my heart,

ليقتادَني بِيَدِ الإِصْطِناعِ

ويخلَعَ من يَدِ دهرِي قِيادِي

that he may lead me by the hand of patronage,

and wrest my reins from the hand of my age,

ويكتُبَ فَوْقَ جبيني ووجهي

إِلَى نُوَبِ الدهرِ حِيدي حَيادِ

and write across my brow and face,

to Time's vicissitudes: 'Turn aside! Keep away!'

وحسبي فإِمَّا رِباطِي أراني

ثوابِيَ منه وإِمَّا جِهادِي

That suffices me: either my frontier vigil has shown me

my reward from him, or my warfare has.

فإِنْ شَطَّ من غَرْبِ شأَوِي مَدَاهُ

وعادَتْ أَمانِيَّ منه العَوَادِي

If his reach lies far beyond the vigor of my striving,

and adversities oppose my hopes of him,

فأَنتَ عَلَيْهِ دَليلي وعَوْنِي

وجدواكَ ذُخْرِي إِلَيْهِ وَزَادِي

then you are my guide to him and my helper,

and your bounty is my reserve and provisions for reaching him.

فلا أَبعدَ الدَّهْرُ منكُمْ حياةً

تَلي نِعَماً مَا لَهَا من نَفادِ

May Time never deprive you of a life

accompanied by blessings that never run out;

ولا خذَلَتْكُمْ يَدٌ فِي عِنانٍ

ولا خانكُمْ عاتِقٌ فِي نِجادِ

may no hand fail you upon the reins,

and no shoulder betray you beneath a sword-belt.