1. صُبحاً بدا من رأيِ خيرِ الدينِ

    أَغنى العيان لَه عن التبيينِ

    A dawn appeared from Khayr al-Din's counsel;

    the sight of it made explanation needless.

  2. أَنحى عَلى الظلماتِ مِن ظلمٍ ومن

    جَهلٍ فَزَحزحها بنورِ يقينِ

    It assailed the darkness of oppression and of

    ignorance, dispelling it with the light of certainty.

  3. بَرحَ الخفاءُ به فَأبصرَ خابطٌ

    في جاهليّةِ ضلّة وفتونِ

    Through it obscurity departed, and a stumbling wanderer gained sight

    amid ignorance, error, and seduction.

  4. وَاِرتاعَ متّخذُ الجنوحِ دريئةً

    واِرتاحَ مرتاعٌ إِلى التأمينِ

    He who took waywardness as a shield grew alarmed,

    and the frightened found comfort in assurances of safety.

  5. وَسرى بليلِ البردِ بردُ نسيمهِ

    في كلِّ داءٍ للنفوس دفينِ

    Through the cold night stole the coolness of its breeze,

    into every illness buried within souls.

  6. وَاِمتدّ ظلّ عُرى الأمانِ وأينعت

    وَاِفتنّ شادي العدلِ في التلحينِ

    The shade of security's bonds spread, and they ripened;

    and justice's singer artfully varied his melodies.

  7. لا غروَ إِن حَمَد الورى مسراهمُ

    بِصباحِ نصحٍ في اللّيالي الجونِ

    No wonder if humankind praised their night journey

    at a dawn of good counsel amid pitch-black nights.

  8. فَالخلقُ مرعيٌّ وراعٍ نظّموا

    نَظم الدِّلاصِ وسَردها الموضونِ

    For the people, tended and tending, were arrayed

    like smooth coats of mail and their closely woven mesh.

  9. وَالنصحُ فيهم والتناهي بَينهم

    عَن منكرٍ كَقَتيرِها المرضونِ

    Good counsel among them, and their mutual restraint

    from wrongdoing, were like its tightly fitted rings.

  10. عَهدٌ لَهم وَأمانةٌ يَرعونها

    بُقيا عَلى دنياهم والدينِ

    A covenant was theirs, and a trust they safeguarded,

    out of care for their worldly life and religion.

  11. وَالعدلُ سلطانٌ لكلّ مملّك

    يَقضي بِسلطان عليه مبينِ

    Justice is sovereign over every enthroned ruler,

    judging him with manifest authority.

  12. فَأعمّهم عدلاً أعمّ ولايةٍ

    وَأمدّ باعاً في سطاً أو لينِ

    So he whose justice reaches most widely has the broadest rule,

    and the longest reach, in force or gentleness.

  13. وَتساهُل الوالينَ عزلٌ كامنٌ

    وَتهاون بأمانةِ التمكينِ

    The laxity of governors is a latent dismissal,

    and negligence toward the trust of authority.

  14. إنّ الأمانةَ أشفق السبعان أن

    يَحمِلنَها وَخشينَ وهنَ متونِ

    Indeed, the seven heavens and seven earths shrank from the trust—

    from bearing it—and feared their backs would weaken,

  15. علماً بأنّ الإستقامَة وفق أم

    رِ اللّه عبءٌ آد كلّ ركينِ

    knowing that uprightness in accordance with the command

    of God is a burden weighing down every steadfast one.

  16. لكنّه الإنسانُ ناءَ بِحَملها

    ليُمازَ مهديٌّ من المفتونِ

    Yet it was man who shouldered its burden,

    so the rightly guided might be distinguished from the beguiled.

  17. وَالشرعُ نهجُ سعادةٍ في عادةٍ

    وعبادةٍ سمح بدون حزونِ

    Sacred law is a path to happiness in customary life

    and worship, gentle and free of rugged terrain.

  18. لكن عوادٍ مِن دواعٍ دونه

    منبثّةٌ بِمفاوز ورعونِ

    But hindrances born of temptations lie before it,

    scattered through desert wastes and mountain spurs.

  19. فتقحّمُ الشذَّانِ في أخطارها

    غَررٌ بدونِ مرافق وقرينِ

    Thus for lone wanderers to plunge into their dangers

    is a reckless hazard without a companion or fellow traveler.

  20. سِيما وَأَسبابُ الهوى المهوي النّهى

    مِن كلّ جانحةٍ أوَت لعطونِ

    Especially when the snares of desire, which casts down reason,

    come from every wayward soul sheltered in watering pens.

  21. أوَ ما رأيتَ الفاردينَ تنوشهم

    أَيدي العَوادي بالأذى والهونِ

    And have you not seen the isolated ones assailed

    by the hands of adversity with harm and humiliation?

  22. لا أَظهُراً أبقَوا ولا شققاً طووا

    تنضى قواهُم حوّماً بوكونِ

    No mounts did they preserve, no distances did they traverse;

    their strength wears away as they hover around nests.

  23. رَكدت حميّتهُم وَهانَ عليهم

    بيعُ الفخارِ بصفقة المغبونِ

    Their zeal grew stagnant, and it became easy for them

    to sell their glory in a cheated man's bargain.

  24. هلّا وَهُم أهلُ الكمال وجذمهُ

    سَقطوا عِليه بناجذٍ لضنينِ

    Why, when they are the people of perfection and its very root,

    did they not grip it with a miser's molar?

  25. أجروا إليه في مجاري سابق

    جلّى وهُم صرعى فنون فتونِ

    Have they raced toward it along the courses of a frontrunner

    who led the field, while they lie felled by manifold seductions?

  26. أَفيَطمعونَ ولا مجاراةَ لهم

    بِلحاقهِ أمنيّةُ المأفونِ

    Do they then hope, though unable to keep pace,

    to catch him? A fool's wish!

  27. هَيهاتَ لأمٌ في تَفاريق العصا

    إِذ بدّها اِستبدادها بشؤونِ

    How remote is the mending of a splintered staff,

    when its parts' separate pursuits have scattered it!

  28. إلّا برأبٍ حُوّل ذي تدرأ

    يذرُ الضبابَ أليفةً للنونِ

    Except through the repair of a resourceful man of might,

    who leaves lizards on friendly terms with fish.

  29. مَرمى مرامِ النجمِ دون مرامهِ

    لَو لَم يَكُن مِن همّ خير الدينِ

    Even the goal of reaching a star would fall short of this goal,

    were it not among Khayr al-Din's concerns.

  30. ذاكَ الوزيرُ الأوحدُ الشهم الّذي

    فَرَع الشوامخَ شامخَ العرنينِ

    That peerless, gallant minister who

    surmounted the towering heights, his nose held high.

  31. فَهوَ الّذي جاسَ الممالكَ خبرهُ

    وَحَبا سياسَتها حبا تلهينِ

    For he is the one whose experience explored the kingdoms,

    and graced their governance with welcome offerings.

  32. أَملى مجلّة حكمةٍ سنّى بها

    قَيد الطليقِ ومطلق المسجونِ

    He dictated a volume of wisdom through which he made possible

    the restraint of the unfettered and the release of the imprisoned.

  33. وَجلا قوانينَ الحماية برزةً

    وَمسالكَ العمرانِ والتمدينِ

    He laid the laws of protection openly bare,

    and the paths of social flourishing and civilization.

  34. وَرَعى ذمامَ المعلواتِ وصانهُ

    وَأبانَ وجهَ النصحِ غير مصونِ

    He honored the pledge of lofty achievements and safeguarded it,

    and revealed the face of good counsel, no longer concealed.

  35. رَوضٌ بِه تأوي النهى للوارفِ ال

    مسكون حولَ المشرع الملزونِ

    A garden where minds take refuge in the shady,

    inhabited place around the thronged watering-place.

  36. في كلّ سطرٍ منه لجّةُ خضرمٍ

    تُلقي فريدَ اللؤلؤِ المكنونِ

    In every line of it lies the depth of a vast sea,

    casting up the choicest hidden pearls.

  37. ما شامهُ النقّادُ إلّا أرّخوا

    الأقومُ الخيريّ نقد أمينِ

    The critics never beheld it without recording its date:

    The Khayri ‘Most Upright’: a trustworthy appraisal.

  38. فَلك يدير زواهرَ الحكمِ الّتي

    هيَ هديُ مختبطٍ وَرجم ظنينِ

    A celestial sphere turning wisdom's radiant stars, which

    are guidance for the bewildered and stones hurled at the suspect.

  39. طَلَعت بِه شمسُ الهدى من مشرقِ ال

    خَضراءِ في ربعِ الملا المسكونِ

    Through it the sun of guidance rose from the eastern horizon of

    al-Khadra, in humanity's inhabited realm,

  40. تَهدي الورى لِلأقومِ الأممِ الّذي

    أَدنى منَ الطلباتِ كلّ شطونِ

    guiding humankind to the straightest, most direct path, which

    brought within reach every distant object of desire.

  41. فليَهتدوا وَليَحمدوا وَيؤرّخوا

    صبحاً بدا مِن رأي خير الدينِ

    So let them follow guidance, give praise, and record the date:

    A dawn appeared from Khayr al-Din's counsel.