Sol 6.1

  1. مفاعلتُن مفاعلتُن فعول

    بكم يزداد وافرها جمالا

    Mufāʿalatun, mufāʿalatun, faʿūl.

    Through you, its wāfir gains in beauty.

  2. وهل في غيركم للشعر معنى؟

    وهل في غيركم بلغ الكمالا؟

    And does poetry have meaning in anyone but you?

    And has it reached perfection in anyone but you?

  3. فإن قلناه من قبل انتصارا

    نقله الآن فخرا واحتفالا

    So if we recited it before in support,

    we recite it now with pride and celebration.

  4. روىْ المجدُ حكايتَهُ فلمّا

    روينا احْمرَّ من خجلٍ وقالا

    Glory recounted its tale; then, when

    we recounted ours, it blushed with shame and said:

  5. جُعلتُ فداكمُ لكنّ شكًّا

    تخلّلَ مهجتي وأبى العدولا

    May I be your ransom! But a doubt

    penetrated my heart and refused to turn aside.

  6. تعقّبَ خطوَه في الجسمِ همٌّ

    تسنّمَ هامتي وأبى النّزولا

    A worry followed its footsteps through the body,

    mounted the crown of my head and refused to descend.

  7. وأين يحطّ شكٌّ حطّ همٌّ

    ترقّبُهُ لعمرِكَ لنْ يطولا

    And wherever doubt alights, worry alights;

    by your life, the wait for it will not be long.

  8. وإن كثُرتْ دواعي الهمِّ فينا

    فوُلْدُ الشكِّ أغلظهُ نزيلا

    And though reasons for worry abound within us,

    doubt's offspring is its harshest lodger.

  9. فقلتُ إذا رويتُ روَوْا وعند

    الحقيقةِ يؤثرُ الشكُّ الرّحيلا

    So I said: if I recount, they will recount; and at

    the truth, doubt prefers departure,

  10. فيحذو حذوَهُ همٌّ عرفتُ ال

    همومَ فما عرفتُ لهُ مثيلا

    so a worry follows its lead; I have known

    worries, but I have known none like it.

  11. وشكّي أنّني يومًا سمعتُ

    بكُمْ فغدا عليّ اسميْ ثقيلا

    And my doubt is that I once heard

    of you, and my name grew burdensome to me.

  12. وهمّي أنّه إن صحّ ظنّي

    غدا عيشيْ مع اسمِي مُستحيلا

    And my worry is that, if my suspicion proves true,

    living with my name will become impossible.

  13. لأنتم عينُهُ ولقدْ أبنتُمْ

    لِمن كان اسمُهُ المجدَ الدَّليلا

    You are indeed its very essence, and you have made clear

    the proof to one whose name was Glory.

  14. ولو عرفَ الّذي كنّانيَ المج

    دَ ما المجدُ لأعطىْ اسْمًا بَديلا

    And had the one who named me Glory known

    what glory was, he would have given me another name.

  15. ولو عرفَتْ بخلقِكمُ الرَّواسيْ

    يُ ما انتظرَتْ دُهورا كيْ تقولا:

    And had the steadfast mountains known of your creation,

    they would not have waited ages to say:

  16. فلو كنّا علىْ الغيْبِ اطّلعنا

    لقُلنا ربَّنا اجْعَلنا سُهولا

    Had we looked into the unseen,

    we would have said: Our Lord, make us plains.

  17. ولو عرفَتْ بكمْ أممٌ أُذِّلَتْ

    لظلَّ دعاؤُها حتّى تَزولا:

    And had humiliated nations known of you,

    their prayer would have continued until they ceased to be:

  18. فلو لحِقَتْ بنا أيّامُهم أوْ

    قضَى فيها لنا الرّحمنُ جِيلا

    If only their days had reached us, or

    the All-Merciful had allotted us a generation in them!

  19. بِكُم فُجِئتْ منىً أمست تظنُّ

    الّذي حظِيتْ بهِ قبلًا قليلا

    Through you, hopes were astonished and came to consider

    what they had gained before as little.

  20. وهذيْ قدسكُمْ حظِيتْ بما قدْ

    تُدانيهِ السَّما عرضًا وطولا

    And this Jerusalem of yours has gained what

    the sky may approach in breadth and length.

  21. خيالٌ كمْ تزيَّنتِ المُنى كيْ

    تروقَ لهُ فيأتيَها ذَلولا

    A vision—how often hopes adorned themselves to

    please it, so it would come to them docilely!

  22. فخُيِّبَ سعيُها فالحُسنُ إنْ لمْ

    يكُنْ قُدسًا فلن يُرضيْ الفُحولا

    But their striving was thwarted: beauty, if it

    is not Jerusalem, will never please the stallions.

  23. وإذْ منَّ الكريمُ على شبابِ

     الزّمان برُسْلِهِ منّا جَميلا

    And when the Generous One favored the youth of

    time with His messengers—a beautiful favor—

  24. وآثرهُ بكم شيخًا ليُمسيْ

     لسابقِهِ بذا المنِّ عَديلا

    and favored it in old age with you, so it might become

    through this favor the equal of its former self,

  25. فما الثّقلانِ إلا هُمْ وأنتُمْ

    ورأيُ الغيْرِ لنْ يلقىْ قَبولا

    the two weighty kindreds are none but them and you,

    and others' opinion will find no acceptance.

  26. نصرتُمْ سيِّد الثّقلين حُبّا

    وما هِبتُمْ عدوًّا أو خَذولا

    You aided the master of humans and jinn out of love,

    and feared neither an enemy nor a betrayer.

  27. تسابقتمْ لنُصرتِهِ أقلّهْ

    وهُم أُممٌ بكمْ أمستْ فُلولا

    You raced to aid him, few though you were,

    while they were nations, reduced by you to routed remnants.

  28. ألا أكرِمْ بِمن نصَروهُ حيًّا

    ومن نصروهُ شمسًا لنْ تمِيلا

    Indeed, how noble are those who aided him alive,

    and those who aided him—a sun that will never set!

  29. ومُنكِركُم وقد أعْرضْتُ عنهُ

    الّذي من قبلِكم نكرَ الرّسُولا

    And whoever denies you—and I have turned away from him—

    is the one who denied the Messenger before you.

  30. وغابِطُكم رأى خيرَ الدُّروبِ

    دروبَكم وأقومَها سَبيلا

    And one who envies your fortune sees the best of paths

    in your paths, the straightest in course.

  31. حباكمْ ربُّكمْ شرفًا رفيعا

    ولم يُؤثرْ بهِ إلّا قلِيلا

    Your Lord bestowed lofty honor upon you,

    and favored only a few with it.

  32. حملتُمْ همَّ أمّةٍ استُذلَّتْ

    وصارَ فتيُّها رهِلًا علِيلا

    You bore the burden of a nation brought low,

    and its youth became flabby and sickly,

  33. وأعذبُ مائِها مِلْحًا أُجاجا

    وأكرمُ تُربِها قحْلًا بَخيلا

    and its sweetest water, salty and bitterly briny,

    and its noblest soil, barren and miserly,

  34. وأشجعُ أُسْدِها ضبًّا خَدوعا

    وأسطعُ نجمِها قزمًا أَفُولا

    and the bravest of its lions, a deceitful lizard,

    and its brightest star, a fading dwarf,

  35. وأبلغُ وصفِها نقلًا وزورا

    وأشعرُ شعرِها شطَطًا هَزيلا

    and its most eloquent description, copying and falsehood,

    and its finest poetry, excessive and feeble,

  36. وأعلىْ صوتِها صمْتًا مُريبا

    وأقصىْ فعلِها صوْتًا عَويلا

    and its loudest voice, a suspicious silence,

    and its utmost action, a wailing cry,

  37. وأكثرُ وقتِها لعِبًا ولهوا

    ومَبلغُ علمِها قالا وقيلا

    and most of its time, play and diversion,

    and the extent of its knowledge, 'he said' and 'it was said.'

  38. بحورُ الشّعرِ وافرُها جميلٌ

    وأكملهُ بكُم زادَ اكتمالا

    Among poetry's meters, the wāfir is beautiful,

    and its most perfect grew more perfect through you.

  39. بسيفكمُ يُتِمُّ اللهُ وعدًا

    لهُ عشتُمْ وما حِدْتُم فتيلا

    With your sword, God fulfills a promise

    for which you lived, never straying a thread's breadth.

  40. إذا من غمدِه استُلَّ التقيتمْ

    ببابكمُ أخا الدّمِ والدّخيلا

    When it is drawn from its sheath, you meet

    at your door your blood brother and the outsider,

  41. لتقبيلِ الأياديْ، والخوافِ

    إذا سمِعوا لهُ صوتًا صَليلا

    there to kiss hands—and the fearful,

    when they hear its ringing sound.

  42. ومن يخشَ الدّماءَ يعِشْ عميّا

    ومن يهبِ النِّزالَ يمُتْ ذليلا

    And whoever fears bloodshed lives blind,

    and whoever fears combat dies abased.

  43. فلمّا صارَ ملمُوسًا نظَرتُ

    إلىْ نفسيْ وفي كُتبِي خَجولا

    And when it became tangible, I looked

    at myself and into my books, ashamed.

  44. حلفتُ بربِّكمْ ما عزّ فيها

    سوى رجلٍ لهُ بتُّم قبيلا

    I swore by your Lord: none was exalted in them

    except a man for whom you became a clan.

  45. وميّتكمْ شهيدٌ عند ربٍّ

    كريمٍ ماتَ سُقْمًا أم قتيلا

    And your dead one is a martyr before a Lord

    most generous, whether he died of sickness or was slain.

  46. وحيّكمُ اصْطفاهُ البيتُ خلًّا

    ومنكمْ تصطفيْ القُدسُ الحَليلا

    And the House chose your living one as a close friend,

    and from you Jerusalem chooses her consort.

  47. وأيّ اسمٍ تسمّيتُمْ بهِ صا

    رَ بعد أنِ اسْتُهلَّ بكُم أثيلا

    And any name by which you called yourselves became

    noble once it began with you;

  48. وأيّ اسمٍ تخيّرتُمْ كرامًا

     لصاحِبكُم أقامَ لهُ احْتِفالا

    and any name you nobly chose

    for your companion held a celebration for him.