كدأبك ابن نبي الله لم يزل — Ibn Hani Andalusia

كدَأبِكَ ابنَ نَبيِّ اللّهِ لم يَزَلِ

قتلُ الملوكِ ونقلُ المُلكِ والدُّوَلِ

It has ever been your wont, son of God's Prophet—

to slay kings and shift sovereignty and dynasties.

أينَ الفِرَارُ لِباغٍ أنتَ مُدركُه

لأمِّهِ مِلءُ كَفّيْها منَ الهَبَل

Where can a rebel flee whom you will overtake?

For his mother, both palms full of bereavement!

هَيهاتَ يُضْحي منيعٌ منك مُمتنِعاً

ولو تَسَنّمَ رَوقَ الأعصم الوَعلِ

Far be it that any well-defended man should be secure against you,

even if he climbed the horn of the white-footed ibex,

ولو غدا بخُلوبِ اللّيثِ مُدَّرِعاً

أو باتَ بينَ نُيوبِ الحيّةِ العُصُل

even if he went forth armored in the lion's claws,

or spent the night among a serpent's crooked fangs.

أمّا العَدُوُّ فلا تَحْفَلْ بمَهلكِهِ

فإنّما هو كالمحصُورِ في الطُّوَل

As for the enemy, pay no heed to his destruction:

he is merely like one confined by a tether.

وأي مستكبرٍ يعيا عليك إذا

قدت الصعاب فلا تسأل عن الذُلل

What arrogant man could prove too much for you, when

you have led the unruly? Ask nothing, then, of the docile.

خافوكَ حتى تفادَوْا من جَوانِحِهم

فما يُناجُونَها من كثرَةِ الوَهَل

They feared you till they shrank from their own hearts,

and no longer commune with them, so great their terror.

ما يَستقِرُّ لهُمْ رأسٌ على جَسَدٍ

كأنّ أجسامهم يَلعَبنَ بالقُلَل

No head of theirs rests steady on a body,

as though their bodies were playing with heads.

هذا المُعِزُّ وسيْفُ اللّهِ في يَدِهِ

فهل لأعْدائِهِ باللّهِ من قِبَل

This is al-Muizz, God's sword in his hand:

can his enemies, then, withstand God?

وهذهِ خيْلُهُ غُرّاً مُسَوَّمَةً

يخرُجن من هبَواتِ النقع كالشُّعَل

And these are his horses, white-blazed and marked,

emerging from drifting clouds of dust like flames.

إذا سَطا بادَرَتْ هامٌ مصارِعَها

كأنّما تتلقّى الأرضَ للقُبَل

When he attacks, heads hasten to their places of death,

as though meeting the earth to kiss it.

مُؤيَّداً باختيارِ اللّهِ يَصْحَبُه

وليسَ فيما أراهُ اللّهُ من خَلَل

Supported by God's choosing, which accompanies him,

there is no flaw in what God has shown him.

تَخْفى الجَلِيّةُ إلاّ عن بَصيرَتهِ

حتى يكونَ صوابُ القولِ كالخَطَل

The manifest truth is hidden from all but his insight,

until even sound speech seems like babble.

فقد شهِدتُ له بالمُعجِزاتِ كما

شَهِدْتُ للّهِ بالتّوحيدِ والأزَل

I have borne witness to his miracles, just as

I have borne witness to God's unity and eternity.

فأبْلِغِ الإنسَ أنّ الجِنَّ ما وألَتْ

منه ولو حارَبَتْهُ الشمسُ لم تَئِل

So tell humankind that the jinn have found no escape

from him; were the sun to fight him, it would not escape.

عَتَوْا فغادرتَ في صَحرائهم رَهَجاً

يمتَدُّ منهُم على الأفلاكِ كالظُّلَل

They rebelled, and you left dust in their desert,

stretching from them over the celestial spheres like canopies.

سرَى مع الشهبِ في عَلْيا مَطالعِها

فكان أولى بأعلى الأفْق من زُحَل

It traveled with the meteors to their highest rising places,

more entitled to the highest horizon than Saturn.

كأنّ منه الذي في الليلِ من غَسَقٍ

داجٍ وما بحواشي الغَيم من طَحَل

As though from it came the darkness in the night,

deep-black, and the dusky gray along the clouds' edges.

أرْدَتْ سُيوفُك جيلا من فراعنة

لم يفتأوا لقديم الدهر كالجبل

Your swords felled a race of Pharaohs

who had long stood like a mountain.

هُمُ استبدوا بأسلابِ الليوثِ وهُم

جَزّوا نواصيَ أهْلِ الخَيم والحُلَل

They alone had claimed the spoils of lions, and they

had shorn the forelocks of the people of tents and encampments.

من عهد طالوتَ أو من قبله اضطرمتْ

تَغْلي مَراجلُهمْ غَيظاً على المِلَل

From Talut's time, or earlier, they blazed,

their cauldrons boiling with rage against the faiths.

لقد قصَمتَ من ابنِ الخَزْرِ طاغيةً

صَعْبَ المقادةِ أبّاءً على الجَدَل

You have indeed crushed a tyrant in Ibn al-Khazr,

hard to lead, resistant to being thrown down,

إذ لا يزالُ مُطاعاً في عَشيرتِهِ

تُلقَى إليه أُمورُ الزَّيْغ والنِّحَل

when he was still obeyed within his clan,

and matters of deviation and sects were entrusted to him.

يكادُ يَعصي مَقاديرَ السّماءِ إذا

رَمَى بعينيه بين الخيل والإبل

He all but defied the decrees of heaven when

he cast his eyes among the horses and camels.

حَسَمْتَ منه قديمَ الداءِ مُتّصِلاً

بالجاهِلِيّةِ لاهٍ بالعِدَى هَزِل

You excised from him an ancient disease reaching back

to the Age of Ignorance, lightly making sport of foes.

من جاحِدي الدِّينِ والحقِّ المُنير ومن

عادي الأئِمّةِ والكُفّار بالرُّسُل

One of those who denied religion and the shining truth, and of

those hostile to the Imams and disbelieving in the messengers,

ومِن جبَابرَةِ الدّنْيا الذينَ خَلَوْا

وأنْزَلَ اللّهُ فيهم وَحْيَهُ فتُلى

and of the world's tyrants who passed away,

concerning whom God sent down His revelation, which was recited.

أتاكَ يَعْلُوهُ من عِصْيانِهِ خَفَرٌ

حتى كأنّ بهِ ضَرْباً من الخَجَل

He came to you covered in bashfulness for his rebellion,

as though afflicted with a kind of shame.

يُديُرهُ الرُّمْحُ مهتزّاً بلا طَرَبٍ

إلى الكتائبِ مُفتَرّاً بلا جَذَل

The spear turns him, swaying without rapture,

toward the battalions, grinning without delight,

مُرَنَّحاً من خُمار الحَتْفِ صَبَّحَهُ

وليسَ يخْفى مكانُ الشارِبِ الثمِل

reeling from the stupor of death that greeted him at dawn;

the drunken drinker's whereabouts cannot be hidden.

كأنّما غَضَّ جَفْنيه الأزُومُ على

صَدرِ القَناةِ أوِ استَحْيا من العَذَل

As though the fierce one had lowered his eyelids over

the spear's breast, or felt ashamed of reproach.

وما نَظَرْتَ إليه كلّما جَعَلَتْ

تمْتَدُّ منه برأسِ الفارسِ الخَطِل

And whenever you looked at him, as it began

to stretch out from him, bearing the foolish rider's head,

إلاّ تَبَيَّنْتَ سِيما الغَدْرِ بَيّنَةً

عليه والكفرِ للنَّعْماء والغِيَل

you plainly discerned the marks of treachery

upon him, of ingratitude for favors, and of treacherous murder.

تُصْغي إليه قُطوفُ الهامِ دانِيَةً

وإنّ أسْماعَها عنْهُ لَفي شُغُل

Clusters of heads incline close to listen to him,

though their ears are surely occupied elsewhere.

بَرْزٌ بصفحَتِهِ لولا تَقَدُّمُهُ

لم يُعرَفِ الليْثُ بينَ الضّبِّ والوَرَل

Conspicuous in profile—but for his precedence,

the lion would not be known among the lizard and monitor.

إذا التَقَى رأسُهُ عُلْواً وأرؤسُهُمْ

سُفْلاً رأيتَ أميراً قائمَ الخَوَل

When his head meets theirs, his on high

and theirs below, you see a prince with servants standing about him.

لو كان يُبصر مَن لُفّتْ عَجاجتُهُ

رَأى حَوالَيْهِ آجاماً من الأسَل

If he could see those his dust cloud had enveloped,

he would see thickets of spears around him.

ولوْ تأمّلَ مَن ضُمّتْ حَريبتُهُ

لقسَّم الطرفَ بينَ الفَجْع والثَّكَل

And if he considered those whose wealth had been seized,

his gaze would be divided between anguish and bereavement.

لم يلْقَ جالوتُ من داودَ ما لِقيَتْ

شُراتُهُ منك في حَلٍّ وفي رِحَل

Goliath did not suffer from David what

his zealots suffered from you, at halt and on the march.

فمِنْ ظُباكَ إلى عَليا قَناكَ إلى

نارِ الجحيم فما يخلو من النُّقَل

From your sword edges to the summits of your spears, then to

the fire of Hell—he never ceases changing places.

قل للبرِيّةِ غُضّى من عِنانِكِ أو

سِيري لشأنِك ليس الجِدّ كالهزَل

Tell creation: slacken your rein, or

go about your business; earnestness is not jest.

لم ألقَ في الناسِ مُجهولَ البصيرَةِ أو

مُسَوِّفاً نفسَه قولاً بلا عمَل

I have met no man of obscure insight, nor

one who puts himself off with words devoid of deeds.

لم أثْقَفِ المرءَ يَعْصي مَن هداه ومَن

نجّاه من عثراتِ الدَّحْض والزَّلَل

I have not found a man disobeying the one who guided him and

saved him from the stumbles of slipping and falling.

قد قَرّ كُرسيُّ عَدنانٍ ومنبرُها

بفاتِحِ المُدْن قَسراً مؤمن السبُل

Adnan's throne and pulpit have now been made secure

by the conqueror of cities by force, who makes roads safe,

مَن لا يرى العَزْمَ عَزماً يُستقاد له

إذا جِبالُ شَرَورَى منه لم تزُل

who does not deem resolve truly worthy of obedience

if the mountains of Sharawra do not move before him;

مَن صَغَّرَ المَشرِقَينِ الأعظمين إلى

مَن فيهما من مَليكِ الأمر أو بطل

who made the two mighty Easts seem small, down to

every sovereign ruler or champion within them;

وطبَّقَ الأرضَ من مِصرٍ إلى حلَبٍ

خيلاً ورَجْلاً ولفَّ السهْلَ بالجبل

and covered the land from Egypt to Aleppo

with horse and foot, joining plain to mountain.

وأُوردتْ خيْلُه ماءَ الفُراتِ فما

صَدَرْنَ حتى وَصَلْنَ العَلَّ بالنهَل

His horses were brought to the Euphrates' water, and

did not depart until they had joined second draught to first.

حتى إذا ضاقَ ذَرْعُ القوْمِ وافترقوا

في الذلِّ فِرْقَينِ من بادٍ ومُمتثِل

Until, when the people's endurance failed and they split

in humiliation into two groups, the perishing and the submitting,

وعادَ طُولُ القَنا في أرضِهم قِصَراً

وأنفدوا كلَّ مذخورٍ من الحِيَل

and the long spears grew short within their land,

and they exhausted every stored resource of cunning,

ألقَوْا بأيديهِمُ منه إلى سبَبٍ

بينَ الإله وبينَ الناس متّصِل

they reached out their hands through him toward a bond

joined between God and humankind.

فإن يكُنْ أوْسَعَ الأملاكِ مَغفِرَةً

فالسيْفُ يسقُطُ أحياناً على الأجَل

If he is the most forgiving of kings,

yet the sword sometimes falls at the appointed hour of death.

وإن يكُنْ عَقلُ مَن ناواه مخْتَبَلاً

فإنّ للنّصْلِ عَقلاً غيرَ مُختَبَل

And if the mind of one opposing him is deranged,

the blade has a mind that is not deranged.

وليسَ يُنكَرُ من هادٍ لأمّتِهِ

غَولُ المواحيدِ للبُقيا على الجُمل

Nor is it blameworthy for a guide of his community

to destroy individuals to preserve the whole.

فلا يَسُغْ للوَرى إمهالُهُ كرَماً

فإنّما تُدَركُ الغاياتُ بالمُهَل

Let humankind not relish the respite he grants from generosity,

for goals are only reached by taking time.

ولا يُسيئَنَّ ذو الذنبِ الظُّنونَ بهِ

إذا استقادَ له في ثوبِ مُنتَصل

Let the guilty man not think ill of him

when he submits to him in the garb of one pleading innocence.

فلا عجيبُ بمن أبقَتْ ظُباهُ على

ملوك مصر أن استبقى ولم يغل

There is no wonder that one whose sword edges spared

Egypt's kings should spare others and not destroy.

فلست من سخطة المردي على خطر

ما دُمتَ من عَفوِهِ المُحيي على أمَل

You are not in danger from the destroyer's wrath

so long as you hope for his life-giving pardon.

لَعَلّ حِلْمَكَ أمْلى للذّينَ هَوَوْا

في غَيّهِمْ بين مَعفورٍ ومُنجَدِل

Perhaps your forbearance gave respite to those who fell

in their error, some dust-covered and some laid low.

فلا شفى داءَهم إلاّ دواؤهُمُ

والسيْفُ نِعْمَ دَواءُ الداء والعِلل

May nothing cure their sickness but its remedy;

the sword is an excellent cure for disease and ailments.

لم يُترَكِ اليومَ منهم غيرُ شِرذِمَةٍ

لو أنّهم إثِمدٌ ما حُسَّ في المُقَل

Today no more than a small band of them remains;

were they antimony, they would not be felt in the eyes.

لو بعضُ ما باتَ يُطَوى في جوانحهم

يَسمو لِغَيلانَ لم يَربَعْ على طَلَل

If some of what lies folded in their breasts

were to loom before Ghaylan, he would not linger at a ruined campsite.

فرَغتَ للحج من شُغل الهِياجِ فلوْ

سألتَ مكّة قالتْ هيْتَ فارتحِل

You are free for pilgrimage from the business of battle; were you

to ask Mecca, she would say: Come, set forth!

وكان في الغرْبِ داءٌ فاتّقَاكَ لَهُ

برأسِ كلِّ فلانٍ في العِدى وفُل

There was an ailment in the West, which sought protection from you

with the head of every this-one and that-one among the foe.

فقد توَطَّدَ أمرُ المُلْكِ فيهِ وقدْ

نَدَبْتَ نَدْباً إليه غيرَ مُتَّكِل

The affairs of sovereignty there are now secure, and

you have dispatched a valiant man there, not one reliant on others.

لمّا شَدَدتَ بعبدِ اللّهِ عُروَتَهُ

أعزَزتَ منه مصونَ العِرض لم يَذِل

When you strengthened its bond through Abd Allah,

you exalted in him one of guarded honor, never abased.

عَرفتَ في كلِّ صُنع اللّه عارفَةً

فما تَهُمُّ بفعلٍ غيرِ مُنفعِل

You recognized a kindness in every act of God,

so you contemplate no deed that is not brought to pass.

ولاختيارِكَ فضْلُ الوَحي إنّك لا

تأتي المآتيَ إلاّ من عَلٍ فَعَل

Your choice has the merit of revelation: you do not

approach your aims except from height upon height,

مُستهدِياً بدَليلِ اللّهِ تتبعُهُ

وقادحاً لزِنادِ الحِكمَةِ الأوَل

seeking guidance through God's guide, whom you follow,

and striking sparks from the ancient fire-sticks of wisdom.

وإنّ مُلْكاً أقَرَّ اللّهُ قُبّتَهُ

بابنِ الإمامِ لَمُلْكٌ غيرُ منتقِل

A sovereignty whose pavilion God has established

through the Imam's son is surely a sovereignty that will not pass away.

لو نازَعَ النَّجْمَ ما أعياه مَنزِلُهُ

أو نازَلَ القَدرَ المقدورَ لم يُهَل

Were he to rival the stars, their station would not defeat him,

or challenge ordained destiny, he would not be daunted.

قد فِئتَ من بَرَكاتِ الأبطحيِ إلى

ما لا يفيءُ إليه الظِّلُّ في الأُصُل

Through the Abtahi's blessings, you have come to

what no shadow reaches in the late afternoon.

تَوالَتِ الباقِياتُ الصّالحاتُ لَهُ

تَواليَ الدِّيَمِ الوكّافةِ الهَطِل

Enduring righteous deeds followed one another for him,

like steady rains, pouring and streaming.

ألَيسَ أوّلَ ما ساس الأمور أتَتْ

عَفواً بما كان لم يَحسَبْ ولم يَخَل

As soon as he first governed affairs, did they not come

freely, bringing what he had neither reckoned nor imagined?

فالفَتْحُ من أوَّل النعمى به ولَهُ

عَواقبٌ في بَني مَروانَ عن عَجَل

Conquest is among the first blessings through him, and it has

swift consequences among Banu Marwan.

بِرِيحِهِ أرْدَتِ الهيجا بني خَزَرٍ

وباسمهِ استظهرَتْ في الغزْو والقَفَل

By his wind, battle laid Banu Khazar low,

and by his name gained strength in raid and return.

فإن تَكِلْهُ إلى ماضي عزائِمِهِ

تَكِلْهُ منها إلى الخطِّيَّةِ الذُّبُل

If you entrust him to his decisive resolves,

you entrust him through them to slender Khattian spears.

مهما أقامَ فذو التَّاج المقيمُ وإن

تَلاكَ رَيثاً فبعدَ المشهدِ الجَلل

However long he stays, he is the established crowned one; and if

he follows you after a delay, it is after the momentous encounter,

وبعد توطيدِ مُلكِ المَشرقينِ لِمَنْ

ثوى وأمْن العذارى البيض في الكِلَل

and after securing the sovereignty of the two Easts for the one

who remains, and the safety of fair maidens in their curtained chambers.

إذا نَظَرتَ إليْه نَظْرَةً دَفَعَتْ

إليك شِبهَكَ في الأشْباهِ لم يفِل

When you look upon him, a single glance conveys

your likeness to you among all likenesses, undiminished.

تَرَى شَمائِلَ فيه منكَ بيّنةً

لم تنْتَقِلْ لكَ عن عَهدٍ ولم تَحُل

You see in him clear traits of your own,

never departed from your former ways, nor altered,

كما رأى المَلِكُ المنصُورُ شيمَتَهُ

تَبُدو عليك من المنصور قبل تَلي

as King al-Mansur saw his own character

showing in you from al-Mansur, before you ruled.

الآنَ لّذَّتْ لنا مِصرٌ وساكِنُها

وللسَّوابِحِ والمَهْرِيّةِ الذُّمُل

Now Egypt and its inhabitants are sweet to us,

and to the swimming steeds and swift Mahri camels.

ما مَكثُنا معشرَ العافين إنّ لنَا

في البَينِ شغلاً عن اللذّاتِ والغَزَل

Why do we linger, we seekers of bounty? For we have

in separation enough to distract us from pleasures and love.

فليتَنَا قد أرَحْنا هَمَّ أنفُسِنَا

أوِ استراحَتْ مطايانا من العُقُل

Would that we had relieved our souls of care,

or that our mounts were freed from their hobbles.

ليَعْقِدِ التاجَ هذا اليومُ مفتخراً

إن كان تُوِّجَ يْومٌ سائرُ المَثَل

Let this day bind on the crown in pride,

if ever a day famed in proverb was crowned.

ألا تَخِرُّ لهُ الأيّامُ ساجِدَةً

إذْ نالَ مَكرُمَةً أعيَتْ فلم تُنَل

Will not the days fall prostrate before it,

since it won an honor that defied attainment and went unwon?

تكَنَّفَتْهُ المساعي فهو يَرفُلُ من

وَشْيِ الرّبيعِ وَوَشْي المجد في حُلَل

Great deeds have encompassed it, and it trails proudly in

robes embroidered by spring and embroidered by glory.

فيه الربيعان من فصل الربيع ومن

وقائع النصر تشفي من جَوى الغُلَل

In it are two springs: that of the season, and that of

victorious battles, which heal the anguish of burning thirst.

فقُلْ إذا شئْتَ في الدنيا وبهجتِها

وقُل إذا شئْتَ في السَّرّاء والجَذل

Speak as you wish of the world and its splendor,

and speak as you wish of prosperity and joy.

ما أخَّرَ اللّهُ هذا الفَتحَ منذُ نَما

إلاّ ليَصْحَبَهُ بالعِدَّةِ الكَمَل

God delayed this conquest, from the time it first grew,

only to accompany it with the full array,

فيَقرنَ الفصْلَ بالحَفل الجميع ضُحًى

وتُحْفَةَ الحربِ بالأسلابِ والنَّفَل

joining the season with the whole gathering at midmorning,

and war's gift with spoils and extra booty.

تَجَمَّعَ السَّعْدُ والإبّانُ فاتّفَقَا

وزَهرةُ العيش تَتلو زهرةَ الأمَل

Good fortune and the fitting season gathered and coincided,

and life's blossom follows the blossom of hope,

ومَشهَدُ الملكِ طلقاً والسجودُ إلى

شمس الهُدى واتّصال الشمس بالحمل

and the sight of the king, radiant, and prostration before

the sun of guidance, and the sun's conjunction with Aries.

فما تَكامَلَ مِن قبلي لمُرْتَقِبٍ

إذناً ولا لخطيبٍ ما تكامل لي

Never before me has any hopeful petitioner enjoyed

such complete leave, nor any orator, as I have.