Sol 6

  1. لك السعد أسعد يا صبا ما المشامُ

    أنفحُ خزامى فاح أم ذا بشامُ

    May happiness be yours, As‘ad; O breeze from the heights,

    Is that a breath of lavender, or the scent of balsam?

  2. فهل عن ربيعٍ بالأطايب جئتني

    فطاب بها مصر الفؤاد وشام

    Have you come to me from a springtime fragrant with flowers,

    So that the Egypt and Syria of my heart grow sweet with it?

  3. فبالله خبّر بالحقيقة يا صبا

    لك الخير ما هذي البروق تُشام

    By God, tell me the truth, O breeze:

    Bless you, what are these flashes seen in the distance?

  4. هل ابتسمت بالبشر غادقةُ الهنا

    أو افترّ ثغرٌ أو أدير مدام

    Has the cloud of joy smiled with glad tidings?

    Has a mouth opened in a smile, or has wine been passed around?

  5. فقال نعم أوقات سعدك أشرقت

    ومنها تراءى البدر وهو تمام

    It said: Yes, the hours of your happiness have dawned,

    And from them the full moon has appeared.

  6. وفيه صفت عكّارنا حيث أصبحت

    لها في علا السعد الكبير خيام

    In it, our Akkar grew clear when

    Tents rose for it on the heights of great happiness.

  7. ولاحت بها شمس السعود لمن غدا

    عليّاً له سعد السعود مقام

    There the sun of good fortune shone for one who became

    Ali, whose station is the highest good fortune.

  8. وما نور هذي الشمس عندي سوى جُدَا

    أيادٍ تفيض الجود وهي غمام

    To me, the light of this sun is only the bounty

    Of hands that pour out generosity like clouds.

  9. أيادٍ أرتنا كفَّها خيرَ راحةٍ

    لإحيا مواتِ الفضل وهي رِمام

    Hands whose palm has shown us the finest open hand,

    Reviving virtue from death, though it lay in ruins.

  10. قصوري بباب المدح قد سدّ طاقتي

    ولو أنّ لي عقد النجوم نظام

    My shortcomings at the gate of praise have exhausted my powers,

    Even if I could string the stars into a necklace.

  11. كميٌّ تراه في الكتائب باسماً

    بثغرٍ كزهر الروض وهو كِمام

    A brave warrior you see smiling among the battalions,

    With a mouth like a garden flower still in bud.

  12. رماح حمامٍ زيّن الهام همزها

    كأغصان روضٍ فوقهنّ حَمام

    Death-dealing spears: their points adorn the heads

    Like garden branches with doves perched above them.

  13. فتبصره من تحت حاجب قوسها

    عيونٌ ترى لاماً وما هي لام

    Then beneath the arch of their curved brows you see

    Eyes that make out the letter lām, though it is no lām.

  14. يخوض بحر الحرب وهو ملثّمٌ

    وليس لبدر التمّ ثمَّ لثام

    He plunges into the sea of war with his face veiled,

    Though the full moon there wears no veil.

  15. يشبّ بنار الحرب حيث الظما لها

    شرارٌ ومعقود القتام أُيَام

    He kindles the fire of war where its thirst

    Has sparks, and days are bound in clouds of dust.

  16. وفي نصب محرابٍ بجامع صولةٍ

    تصلّي سيوفُ الهند وهو إمام

    And when a prayer niche is raised in the mosque of might,

    The Indian swords pray, and he is their imam.

  17. فقل لمجاريه اقتصر لست قائلاً

    تجاري أُكاماً حيث أنت إِكام

    Say to whoever would rival him: stop. I do not say

    That you can vie with towering heights when you are but a mound.

  18. فهذا عليٌّ أسعد الجدّ في العلا

    له السعد عبدٌ والزمان غلام

    This is Ali, blessed by fortune in lofty rank;

    Happiness is his servant, and time his page.

  19. محت آيةَ الطائيّ سورةُ جودِه

    كآية ليلٍ قد محاها عَيام

    The chapter of his generosity effaced the verse of al-Ṭāʾī,

    As a sign of night is erased by daylight.

  20. هو البحر لكن بَرّ ساحله الندى

    وقد خاض خاض الناس فيه وعاموا

    He is the sea, yet the shore of his bounty is generous land;

    People have plunged into it, plunged again, and swum.

  21. وإنّي بهذا البحر في المدح سابحٌ

    وإن عذل العذّال فيه ولاموا

    And in praising him, I swim in this sea,

    Though faultfinders reproach and blame me for it.

  22. ومورد مدحي لي شفاءٌ من الظما

    ومدح سواه علّةٌ وزُنام

    The spring to which my praise comes cures my thirst;

    Praise of anyone else is sickness and affliction.

  23. وكلّ دعيٍّ يدّعي غيره ادعُهُ

    إلى ما عليه البيّنات تقام

    And any pretender who claims someone else: summon him

    To face what clear proofs establish.

  24. ففجر سواه في المكارم أوّلٌ

    وهذا هو الثاني عليه عَلام

    The dawn of all others in noble deeds is a first dawn;

    This is the second, marked by its own sign.

  25. فكم كأس أنسٍ من مدامِ طباعه

    تدور علينا حيث نحن ندام

    How many cups of companionship from the wine of his nature

    Pass among us when we are drinking companions.

  26. وألفاظه السحر الحلال وغيرها

    إذا سمعت أذناي فهي حرام

    His words are permissible magic; any others,

    When my ears hear them, are forbidden.

  27. فما أحنف في الحلم أو معن في الندى

    وهذا لكلٍّ عروةٌ وعصام

    Neither Aḥnaf in forbearance nor Maʿn in generosity compares;

    This man is, for each, an ʿUrwa and an ʿIṣām.

  28. فلولا نداه لم يقم بيت شاعرٍ

    وهل قام بيتٌ ليس فيه دِعام

    Without his bounty, no poet’s verse would stand;

    And can a house stand without a supporting pillar?

  29. وليس لمثلي مقصدٌ في زمانه

    سواه وما لي في الكرام مرام

    In his time, someone like me has no aim

    But him; among the generous, I seek no one else.

  30. وأين كرام الناس أين عظامهم

    بلى بالبلا تحت التراب عظام

    Where are the generous people? Where are their great ones?

    Yes, beneath the soil they are bones worn by decay.

  31. ذوَى روضُ أهل الفضل من ثمرِ الندى

    ولم يبق إلّا خروعٌ وثُمام

    The garden of the virtuous has withered for want of generous fruit,

    And only castor plants and coarse grass remain.

  32. فيمّم حمى جار الرضا المرتضي الّذي

    له بالوفا عهدٌ لنا وذمام

    So turn toward the refuge of the neighbor of the esteemed one,

    Who has pledged us faithful protection.

  33. دعانا بعين درّعتنا بلامه

    وياءٍ يمينٍ لليسار لِزام

    He called us with an eye and clothed us in his lām,

    And a yāʾ of the right hand joined fast to the left.

  34. ربيع العلا ترعاه عين عنايةٍ

    وعنه عيون الحاسدين نيام

    Springtime of high rank is watched over by an eye of care,

    While the eyes of those who envy him sleep.

  35. لقد أنجبته المكرمات وبعده

    تولّت عقيماً وهي بعد عَقام

    Noble deeds gave birth to him; after him

    They became barren, and barren they remain.

  36. فيا بدر سعدٍ لاح في ليل كربنا

    فلاح المنا والقصد وهو تمام

    O moon of happiness that rose in our night of distress,

    Our hope and aim shone forth with it in fullness.

  37. ويا غصن روض الفضل ما قطُّ هزّه

    نسيم سوادٍ راكدٍ ومدام

    O branch in virtue’s garden, never shaken

    By a sluggish, dark breeze or by wine.

  38. إليك نحثُّ اليعملات من الثنا

    وأنت لدرٍّ قُلِّدَته نظام

    Toward you we urge the swift mounts of praise,

    And you are the thread on which its pearls are strung.

  39. فلولاك ما فاه اللسان بمدحةٍ

    كدرٍّ ولا درّ النظام يُسام

    Without you, the tongue would utter no praise

    Like pearls, nor would the pearls of a necklace be prized.

  40. ولولا صفا جدواك عكّار ما صفت

    ولا راق منها الورد وهي صَوام

    Without the clarity of your gifts, Akkar would not have grown clear,

    Nor would its water have seemed pleasing while its springs were still.

  41. ألا في سبيل الله عين العلا بها

    على أهلها رعياً سهرت فناموا

    See how, for God’s sake, the eye of high rank

    Stayed awake to tend its people, so they could sleep.

  42. وهاكَ رعاك الله بنتَ قريحةٍ

    لها في عليٍّ صبوةٌ وغرام

    And take, may God protect you, this daughter of my imagination:

    She feels youthful longing and love for Ali.