حِمى الأمِيرِ أمانُ الخائفِ الوَجِلِ
وراحتاه حياةُ السَّهلِ والجَبلِ
The emir’s refuge is safety for the fearful and trembling;
his two palms give life to plain and mountain.
هُوَ الجوادُ الذي لولا مكارمُه
لم يُعَرفِ الجُودُ في الدنيا ولم يُنَلِ
He is the generous one whose noble gifts—were it not for them—
would leave generosity neither known in this world nor attained.
يا أوسعَ الناسِ صَدراً يومَ مَلحَمةٍ
وأضربَ الناسِ فيها هامةَ البَطلِ
O broadest-breasted of all men on the day of battle,
and hardest-striking among them at a champion’s crown!
فُصِدتَ والسعدُ في أعلى مطالِعه
مُقابلٌ منك سَعداً غيرَ مُنتقِلِ
You were bled while Fortune stood at the summit of its risings,
facing in you a felicity fixed, never to depart.
يدُ السَّماحِ جَرى منها سَحَابُ دمٍ
وكم لها من سَحابٍ في النَّدى خَضِلِ
The hand of largesse—from it flowed a cloud of blood;
and how many clouds has that hand, drenched in bounty’s dew!
مُورَّدُ السَّيلِ يُضحي من تَنسُّمِه
لطيبِه عن جَنِيِّ الوَردِ في شُغُلِ
Rose-red runs the torrent; whoever breathes its fragrance
is, for its sweetness, too engrossed to gather roses.
كأنَّما خاضَتِ الريحُ العبيرَ به
أو صَافَحت زَهَرَ الحَوذانِ والنَّفَلِ
It is as though the wind had waded with it through perfume,
or shaken hands with buttercup and clover blossoms.
فإن يكُن نالَ منكَ الفَصدُ ما عَجِزت
عنه الكُماةُ بحدِّ البِيضِ والأَسَلِ
If bloodletting has obtained from you what warriors failed to take
with the edges of bright swords and with spears,
فما على كَفِّك الآسي بِمبِضَعِه
أنحَى ولكنّه أنحَى على الأملِ
the physician, with his lancet, did not bear down upon your palm;
rather, he bore down upon Hope itself.
وإن يكُن مسَّها من جرحِه أَلَمٌ
فطالما أَلِمَت من كَثرةِ القُبَلِ
And if his wound has caused that hand pain,
how often it has ached beneath the multitude of kisses!
لا تَكذِبنَّ فلو جاز الفِداءُ لها
من الحديدِ فدَاها الناسُ بالمُقلِ
Do not call this false: if that hand could be ransomed from iron,
people would ransom it with their very eyes.
ما بالُ رسميَ من جَدْوى يَديك عَفا
فصارَ أوضحَ منه دارسُ الطَّللِ
Why has my customary share of your hands’ bounty been effaced,
until even the faded trace of a campsite is clearer than it?
لقد تجاوزْتَ بي وقتي وأيُّ حياً
في غيرِ إبَّانِه يَشفي من الغَلَلِ
You have carried me past my appointed time—and what rain,
falling outside its season, can relieve burning thirst?
وقد تَمَهَّلْتَ شَهراً بعدَه كَمَلاً
وإنَّما خُلِقَ الإنسانُ من عَجَلِ
You have delayed a full month beyond it,
though humankind was created of haste.
