هذا ابتداء له عند العلى خبر — Ibn Hamdis

هذا ابتداءٌ له عند العُلى خَبَرُ

يُحْكَى فيُصْغي إليْه الشُّهْبُ والبشَرُ

This is a beginning with a tale among the heights of glory,

recounted, so the bright stars and humankind listen to it.

كأنّه وهو من مَتْنِ الصّبا مَثَلٌ

من كلّ قُطْرٍ منَ الدنْيا له خَبَرُ

He seems a proverb, though still in the midst of youth;

from every region of the world comes news of him.

ما اسْتُحْسنَ الدَّهرُ حَتَّى زانه حَسَنُ

وأشرقت في الورى أيامُهُ الغررُ

The age was not deemed fair until Hasan adorned it,

and his radiant days shone among humankind.

شهمٌ له حينَ يَرمي في مناضلةٍ

سهمٌ مواقعه الأحداقُ والثغرُ

A gallant man who, when he shoots in an archery contest,

has an arrow whose marks are the eyes and the mouth.

لو خُصَّ عَصْرُ شبابٍ مِنْ سعادته

بلحظةٍ لم يَنَلْهُ الشيبُ والكبرُ

Were youth's season granted some of his good fortune

for a single moment, gray hair and old age would never touch it.

مُلْكٌ جديدُ المعالي في حمى ملك

ماضٍ كما طُبِعَ الصمصامة الذكرُ

A kingdom of fresh glories, under a king's protection,

keen as the Samsamah, forged of hard steel.

لَقَد نَهَضتَ بِعِبءِ الملكِ مُضطلعاً

به ظهيراكَ فيه السّعْدُ والقدرُ

Indeed, you have shouldered the burden of kingship with strength;

in bearing it, your two supporters are good fortune and destiny.

فإن نُصِرْتَ على طاغٍ ظفرتَ به

فما حليفاك إلا النصر والظفرُ

If you are granted victory over a tyrant and prevail against him,

your only allies are victory and triumph.

وإن خَفَضْتَ عُداةَ اللّه أو خُذلوا

فأنْتَ باللّهِ تستعلي وتنتصرُ

And if you humble God's enemies, or they are forsaken,

then through God you rise supreme and triumph.

أصبحتَ أكبرَ تُعْطي كلّ مرتبةٍ

حقّاً وسنّكَ مقرُونٌ بها الصغرُ

You have grown great, giving every rank

its due, though your age is still bound to youth.

يُخْشَى حُسَامُكَ مغموداً فكيف إذا

ما سُلّ للضرب وانهدّتْ به القَصَرُ

Your sword is feared while sheathed—how then when

it is drawn to strike, and thick necks crumple beneath it?

وليس يعجبُ من بأس مخايله

من مقلتيكَ عليها يشهد النظرُ

No one marvels at a valor whose signs

the gaze attests to in your two eyes.

والشبلُ فيه طباعُ الليثِ كامنةٌ

وإنّما ينتضيها النّاب والظفرُ

In the cub the lion's instincts lie hidden,

and only fang and claw unsheathe them.

إنّ البِلادَ إذا ما الخوْفُ أمْرَضَها

ففي أمانك من أمراضها نُشرُ

Indeed, when fear makes the lands sick,

in your protection lies healing for their ailments.

وما سفاقسُ إلا بَلْدَةٌ بعثَتْ

إليك عنها لسانَ الصدق تعتذرُ

And Sfax is only a town that has sent

to you, on its behalf, a truthful tongue to plead its excuse.

وأهلها أهلُ طَوْعٍ لا ذنوبَ لهم

إنِّي لأُقسم ما خانوا وما غَدروا

And its people are obedient folk, with no sins to their charge;

I swear indeed: they neither betrayed nor broke faith.

وإنّما دافعوا عن حتف أنفسهم

إذ خَذّمَتْهُمْ به الهنديّةُ البترُ

They only defended themselves against their own death,

when the cleaving Indian swords hacked them to death.

ضرورةٌ كان منهم ما به قُرفوا

وبالضرورةَ عنهم نَكّبَ الضررُ

What they were accused of doing was a necessity,

and through necessity harm was turned aside from them.

وَقَد جَرى في الَّذي جاؤوا به قَدَرٌ

ولا مَرَدّ لما يجري به القَدَرُ

Destiny ran its course in what they brought about,

and what destiny brings to pass cannot be turned back.

وما على النَّاسِ في إِحسانِ مملكةٍ

إذا تشاجرَ فيه المدّ والحَسَرُ

No blame lies on people for doing a kingdom good,

when flow and ebb contend within it.

كُلٌّ لِعَلياكَ قد كانَت حَمِيَّتُهُ

مؤكِّداً كلّ ما يأتي وما يَذرُ

Each one's zeal was for your exalted glory,

affirming it in all he does and all he leaves undone.

وهم عبيدُكَ فاصفحْ عن جميعهمُ

فالذنْبُ عند كريم الصفح مُغْتَفَرُ

They are your slaves; pardon them all,

for sin is forgiven by one generous in pardon.

بَكَوْا أباك بأجفانٍ مؤَرَّقة

أمْوَاهُهُنّ مِنَ النيرانِ تَنفجرُ

They wept for your father with sleepless eyelids,

whose waters burst forth from flames.

وَرَحمَةُ اللَّه تَترى منهُمُ أَبداً

عَلَيهِ ما كَرّتِ الآصالُ والبُكَرُ

And they invoke God's mercy in unceasing succession forever

upon him, as long as evenings and mornings return.

حَتَّى إِذا قيلَ قد حازَ العُلى حَسَنٌ

مَدّوا إلى أحمَدَ الألحاظَ وانتظروا

Until, when it was said, 'Hasan has attained the heights of glory,'

they cast their glances toward Ahmad and waited.

وقَبّلوا من مذاكي خيله فَرحاً

حوافراً قد علا أرساغَها العفرُ

And joyfully they kissed his full-grown steeds'

hooves, dust having risen over their pasterns.

مالوا عليها ازدحاماً وهي تَرْمَحُهُمْ

فكم بها من كسيرٍ لَيسَ يَنجَبِرُ

They pressed upon them in a crowd, while the horses kicked them;

how many were broken by them, never to be mended!

شوقاً إليهم ومحضاً من وفائهمُ

لم يَجْرِ في الصّفْوِ من أخلاقه كدرُ

out of longing for them and from their pure loyalty.

No murk ever ran through the clarity of his character.

أَبوكَ مَدَّتْ عليهم كفُّ رأفتِهِ

منها جناحاً مديداً ظلّه خَصِرُ

Your father's compassionate hand spread over them

a far-reaching wing of its own, whose shade was cool.

حَدَّتْ لَهُم في قَوامِ الأَمرِ طاعتُهُ

حدّاً فما وَرَدُوا عنه ولا صَدَروا

Obedience to him set for them, in the ordering of affairs,

a boundary they never left, whether coming or going.

وألَّفَ اللَّهُ في الأوطانِ شَملهُمُ

فنُظّموا في المغاني بعدما نُثروا

And God gathered them together in their homelands,

so they were strung together in their dwellings after being scattered.

وأَنت عَدْلٌ فسِرْ فيهم بسيرَتِهِ

فالعَدْلُ في المُلكِ عنه تُحْمد السيرُ

You are just: follow his course among them,

for through justice in kingship, conduct earns praise.

أنتمْ مُلوكُ بني الدُّنْيا الَّذين بهمْ

تَرْضَى المنابِرُ والتيجانُ والسررُ

You are kings of this world's sons, those in whom

pulpits, crowns, and thrones take delight.

أعاظمٌ من قديم الدَّهر مُلْكُهُمُ

تَرَى المَفاخِرَ تَسْتَخْذي إذا افتخروا

Great ones, whose kingship reaches back to ancient times;

you see glories abase themselves whenever they boast.

من كلّ مقتحمٍ في الحرب مُعْتَزِم

فمن فرائسه آسادُها الهُصُرُ

Each one plunges into battle with resolve,

and its crushing lions are among his prey.

ذِمْرٌ له في ضمير الغِمْد ذو شطبٍ

كأنّه بارقٌ يسطو به قمرُ

A champion, with a grooved blade in the sheath's hidden heart,

as though it were lightning with which a moon strikes.

شُمْسُ العداوَةِ حَتّى يُستقادَ لهم

وأعظمُ النّاسِ أحلاماً إذا قَدَروا

Fierce in enmity until redress is won for them,

yet the most forbearing of men when they hold power.

إِلَيكَ طَيِّبَ روض المدح نَفْحَتهُ

لمّا تَفتّحَ فيه بالنّدى زَهَرُ

To you comes praise's garden, sweet in its fragrance,

when blossoms opened within it with the dew.

يَجوبُ مِنهُ ذَكِيُّ المِسكِ كُلَّ فلاً

طيباً ويعبرُ منه العنبر الذفرُ

From it, fragrant musk traverses every wilderness,

in fragrance, and pungent ambergris passes forth from it.

كأنّ زُهْرَ الدراري فيه قد نُظِمَتْ

كما تنظّمُ في أسلاكِها الدررُ

As though bright, glittering stars had been strung within it,

as pearls are strung upon their threads.

يا من تضاعفَ فيضُ الجود من يدِهِ

كأنَّما البحرُ من جَدْوَاهُ مُختَصَرُ

O you whose hand's outpouring of generosity has multiplied,

as though the sea were his bounty in miniature.

إنّي نَأيتُ وحظِّي حُطَّ منزلةً

كأنّما طول باعي عاقَهُ قِصَرُ

I have gone far away, and my fortune has been lowered in rank,

as though my long reach were hindered by shortness.

وقد نُسيتُ وذكري لا خفاءَ به

والمِسكُ يُطْوَى ونشرٌ منه ينتشرُ

I have been forgotten, though my renown is not hidden,

and musk is wrapped away, yet its fragrance spreads.

وقَد بَعَثتُ رِثاءً في أَبيكَ ولي

حُزْنٌ عَلَيهِ فُؤادي مِنهُ يَنفَطِرُ

I have sent an elegy for your father, and I have

grief for him that rends my heart.

وما بدا ليَ جُودٍ أمَرْتَ به

عينٌ تفوز به عيني ولا أَثَرُ

Of the bounty you ordered, nothing has appeared to me—

neither substance for my eye to enjoy, nor any trace.

وكفّكَ المزنُ تسْقي من دَنَا ونأى

وليس من غيرِ مُزْنٍ يرتجى المطرُ

Your hand is the rain cloud, watering those near and far,

and rain is hoped for from nothing but rain clouds.

بَقيتَ للدينِ والدّنيا وأهلَهُما

وَمُدّ في رتب العليا لك العمرُ

May you endure for religion, the world, and the people of both,

and may your life be prolonged in the loftiest ranks.