باليُمْنِ ما رفعَ الأميرُ وشيَّدا

وبِجَدِّه النعماءُ ما قد جدَّدا

By auspicious fortune the prince raised it and built it,

and by his fortune bounty renewed all it had renewed.

قصرٌ أنافَ على القصورِ بحُلَّةٍ

مَلِكٌ أنافَ على المُلوكِ مؤيَّدا

A palace towering over palaces in its splendid robe;

a king towering over kings, confirmed in power.

قُلنا وقد أعلاه جَدٌّ صاعِدٌ

في الجوِّ حتى ما يُصادِفُ مَصْعَدا

We said, when an ascending fortune raised it high:

into the sky—until it found no further height to climb.

أبنيَّةٌ ببنائِها فُضِحَ البِنَا

أم فَرقَدٌ بسَناه شانَ الفَرقَدا

Is it a building whose construction has put all building to shame,

or a Pole Star whose brilliance has shamed the Pole Star?

غُرَفٌ تَألَّقُ في الظَّلامِ فلو سرَى

بضِيائِها ساري الدُّجُنَّةِ لاهتدَى

Chambers gleam in darkness; were one to journey,

a traveler through murky night would find his way by their light.

عُنِيَ الرَّبيعُ بها فَنشَّرَ حولَها

حُللاً تُدَبِّجُ وَشْيَها أيدي النَّدى

Spring took pains over it, spreading all around

robes whose embroidery the hands of dew brocade.

فكأنَّما تُزجي السَّحائبُ فوقَها

جَيْشاً يهُزُّ البَرقُ فيه مِطْرَدا

As though the clouds above it were driving

an army in which lightning brandished a spear;

وكأنَّما نَشَرَ الهواءُ بجوِّها

في كلِّ ناحيةٍ رِداءً مُجسَدا

as though the air throughout its sky had spread

in every quarter a palpable mantle;

وكأنَّ ظِلَّ النَّخلِ حولَ قِبابِها

ظِلُّ الغَمامِ إذا الهجيرُ تَوقَّدا

and as though the palms’ shade around its domes were

the shade of clouds when the noonday blaze is kindled.

من كلِّ خَضراءِ الذَّوائبِ زُيِّنَتْ

بِثمارِها جيداً لها ومُقَلَّدا

It was adorned with every green and tress-bearing tree,

its fruits becoming both a neck for it and a necklace.

خرَقَتْ أسافُلهنَّ رَيَّانَ الثَّرى

حتى اتَّخَذْنَ البحرَ فيه مَورِدا

Their roots pierced the water-sated earth

until they made the sea beneath their watering place.

شَجَرٌ إذا ما الصُّبحُ أسفرَ لم يِنُحْ

للأمنِ طائرُه ولكن غَرَّدا

Trees whose birds, when morning unveiled itself, did not lament;

secure, they sang instead.

غَنِيَتْ مَغانيها الحِسانُ عنِ الحَيا

ما راحَ في عَرَصاتِهنَّ وما اغتدَى

Its lovely precincts had no need of rain:

morning and evening, through their courts there went

بمُشَمِّرٍ في السَّيْر إلا أنَّه

يَسري فيمنَعُه السُّرى أن يَبعُدا

a traveler with his skirts tucked up for speed—except that

he flowed by night, and that night-flow kept him from going far.

وَصَلَ الحَنينَ بِعْبَرةٍ مَسفوحَةٍ

حتى حَسبِنْاه مَشُوقاً مُكْمَدا

He joined his yearning to a streaming tear,

until we took him for a love-struck, grief-choked lover:

مُستَرْفِدٌ أمواجَ دِجلةَ رافدٌ

وجهَ الثَّرى أَكْرِمْ بهِ مُستَرْفِدا

a tributary begging bounty from the Tigris’ waves,

yet watering the face of earth—how noble a beggar!

ينفي الصدى عن جنة نفحاتها

أرج وبرد يشفيان من الصدى

It banishes thirst from a garden whose fragrant breaths

are perfume and coolness, both curing thirst.

كملت محاسنها فنشر يرتضى

وفواكه تجنى وظل يرتدى

Its beauties are complete: fragrance to delight in,

fruit to be plucked, and shade to be worn;

وبساط ريحان كماء زبرجد

عبثت بفصحته الجنوب فأرعدا

and a carpet of basil like emerald water—

the south wind played across its surface, and it thundered.

يشتاقه الشسرب الكرام فكلما

مرض النسيم سعوا إليه عودا

Noble drinkers yearn for it; whenever

the breeze falls ill, they hasten there as visitors.

يغشون زاهرة النبات كأنما

حملت لجينا في الغصون وعسجدا

They enter among the flowering plants as though those plants

bore silver upon branches of gold.

ومعرجا كالأين ما ونت الصبا

فإذا علته أرتك منه مبردا

Its winding course is like a serpent while the east wind lies faint;

but when the wind mounts it, it shows you a serrated file.

وقواطنا في الماء تحسب أنها

شم الهشاب لبسن ليلا أربدا

And forms abiding in the water—you would think them

lofty hills clad in a soot-black night,

مثل الإماء السود خاف إباقها

مولى فشد وثاقها وتشددا

like black bondwomen whose master feared their flight

and bound their fetters, drawing them tight.

نصبت حيازيما لها مشعوفة

بالماء تمنحه عناقا سرمدا

Girdles were raised for them, enamored

of the water and granting it an everlasting embrace.

لم تخل من زور يصادف معركا

ذا قسطل فيشيب فيه أمردا

Nor was it ever without a visitor encountering a battlefield

whose dust-cloud would turn a beardless youth gray.

بدع إذا ما الفكر حاول وصفها

يوما تحير دونها وتبلدا

A wonder: whenever thought attempts to describe it,

it halts before it, bewildered and dull.

لو عاينت أملاك فارس حسنها

خرت لها أملاك فارس سجدا

Had the kings of Persia beheld its beauty,

the kings of Persia would have fallen prostrate before it.

وعلا إذا لحظ الزمان شعاعها

ولى حسير الطرف عنها أرمدا

It rose sublime; when Time glanced at its radiance,

Time turned away, its gaze exhausted and inflamed.

فاسعد أبا حسن بمؤنق حسنها

والق الزمان بما تحاول مسعدا

Rejoice, Abu Hasan, in its enchanting beauty,

and meet Time, in all you seek, as one granted success—

حتى تمد أبا الوفاء بعرفه

كفا ومذكورا بسطوته يدا

until, Abu al-Wafa, you stretch out through generosity

a palm—and, renowned for its force, a hand;

فيكون ذا غيث الولي بجرده

ويكون ذاك ببأسه سم العدا

so that this, through its bounty, is rain to the friend,

and that, through its might, is poison to foes.

والبس مدائحنا التي ألبستها

شرفا بذكراك لا يبيد وسوددا

Wear our praises, which you yourself have clothed

in honor through your remembrance—and in imperishable glory.

من كل خالدة المحاسن ما حوت

ذكر امرىء إلا وراح مخلدا

For no deathless poem of lovely qualities contains

mention of the emirate without being made still more immortal.

أصبحت محسودا وهل يضحي الفتى

إلا على كرم الفعال محسدا

You have become envied—and when is a young man

ever envied, except for nobility of deeds?