أمن رقبة عاف السلام مودعا — Al Sari Al Raffa

Was it fear of being watched that made him shun the greeting as he bade farewell,

and check the headlong tears when they rushed forth,

and turn from the lovely fair-skinned women, though they appeared

and revealed to his eyes all their charms?

They emerged: one a full moon veiled in darkness,

flirting with a lion masked in iron;

another a supple bough girdled with a sand dune,

swaying when the veil stirred its two flanks.

They mixed for him love's sweetness with bitterness;

he is made to swallow what he has swallowed of its anguish.

If one day love's bonds fall apart,

how likely patience's bonds are to fall apart too!

I was kept from a visitor who, when visiting a lover,

makes wishes visible, though once they were only heard of.

He hushes the jewelry's sweetness, though rising

is its melody, and hides the musk when its fragrance spreads.

And gives me in sleep what, were I to ask for it

while he and I were awake, he would withhold.

Will Time release from its claws

a brave man, provided he is not escorted [wording unclear],

patient under calamities, loving his poverty

and his scant means, lest he be humbled and submit?

And will the accuser who charges the innocent be deterred?

For he has gone among humankind with it, and hastened onward.

O master of radiant rhymes, their like is used as charms;

indeed, a viper has fled, spewing potent poison.

And how, when I have blended every rare marvel

of speech that puts diluted wine to shame?

And I have set springs of sweet speech flowing,

offering humankind a watering place, evening and morning.

And I have raced ahead in its rare marvels, which

the people's foremost runner falls short of, even if he strives.

Will the emir, then, hear from me a declaration of innocence

which I stand to proclaim between the two rows?

A song of praise—if you behold its strung necklace,

you would take it for a gathering of gems and gold.

A youth who stormed the heights before his weaning,

and terrified his enemies before he began to grow.

A generous man whose bounty, after fulfilling its duty,

makes extra offerings from love of giving, freely volunteering.

In him we face the sun, its light close at hand,

though its rising-place lies far across the sky's expanse.

And we ask of him, preeminent in generosity;

and if we neglect to ask, he gives unbidden.

When the panegyrists excel, his kindness excels,

and he is more wondrous still in the kindness he bestows.

And if Time persists in harming him, then

his qualities become, therein, more harmful and more helpful—

the noble deeds of a radiant man, when

the kings of humankind stretch to the utmost in noble deeds.

He has a palm whose downpour is never compared with rain

in drought without proving more generous and abundant.

You see the petitioners' hopes in need of his ample wealth,

yet his enemies see in it no prospect of gain.

Favours from one famed for favours: he initiates them

naturally, when one day the man being petitioned merely puts on a show.

When the first part of day passes with its torrent,

it departs, leaving a spring pasture at the night's end.

Traits lovelier to behold than the garden's ornaments,

and better pasturage than the clouds' handiwork.

Abu Taghlib, may you never cease vanquishing your opponent,

when the armored warrior recoils, stricken with terror.

You meet him with the sword, using no deceit,

and lead it to drink from his jugular and his neck vein.

Restore to clarity the faded trace of your kindness,

for the excuse has come plainly to light and proved convincing.

For I have, in fine praise of you, a means of approach

that gives your kindness a secure place with me.

And a second: your cousin is indeed my intercessor;

and were he to implore the rain, it would pour forth and hasten.