عِتابٌ على الدُّنيا وَقَلَّ عِتابُ

رضينا بما تَرْضى ونحنُ غِضابُ

Reproach upon the world yet reproach is scant

We're content with how things are though we're distraught

وقالتْ وأصغينا إلى زُورِ قولها

وقد يَسْتَفِزُّ القولُ وهو كذابُ

She spoke and we listened to the lies she told

Though speech can provoke even when falsehood's wrought

وَغَطَّتْ على أبصارِنا وقلوبِنَا

فطالَ عليها الحَوْمُ وهي سَراب

She obscured our visions and our hearts as well

So blame lingered though she is a mirage

ودانت لها أفواهُنَا وعقُولنَا

وهل عِنْدَهَا إلا الفناءُ ثواب

Our mouths and minds submitted to her thrall

Does she offer aught but perdition as wage?

وتلك لعمرُ ا أما ركوبُهَا

فَهُلْكٌ وأما ُحكْمُهَا فَغِلاب

By my life her ways are either ruin or defeat

Or governance that is but conquest's guise

نلذُّ ونلهو والأعزَّةُ حولها

رُفَاتٌ ونبني والديارُ خراب

We revel and make merry with nobles round

Though homesteads lie in wreck and rubble arise

وَتخْدَعُنَا عما يُرَادُ بنا منىً

لبحرِ المنايا دونهنَّ عُبَاب

She tricks us from the purpose intended for us

To the sea of death where veils waft as the tide

ونغتنمُ الأيامَ وهيَ مصائبٌ

لهنَّ علينا جيئةٌ وَذَهاب

We seize upon days though they be calamities

That come and go bearing us little beside

بكتْ هندُ من ضِحْكِ المشيب بمفرقي

أَمَا عَلِمَت أنَّ الشبابَ خِضَاب

India wept from the laughter of grey locks at my temples

Know you not youth is but borrowed attire?

وقالت غُبَارٌ ما أَرى وتجاهلت

وليس على وَجْهِ النّهارِ نِقَاب

The dust said "I see nothing" feigning ignorance

Though daylight's face is never fully hid

هل الشيبُ إلا الرُّشْدُ جلَّى غوايتي

فأصبحتُ لا يَخْفَى عليّ صواب

Is grey hair not wisdom that chased my confusion hence

I wake with right choices no more obscured

وَأَصْبَحَ شيطاني يَعَضُّ بنانَهُ

وقد لاحَ دوني للقَتيرِ شِهَاب

My devil now gnaws at his fingers in my presence

As the first gleams of dawn have now occurred

أأعفو لِصَرفِ الدَّهْرِ عن هَفَوَاتِهِ

على حينَ لا يأتي عليَّ عِقَاب

Shall I pardon the turns of fate for its trespasses

When punishment tarries and comes not to my side?

وأتركُهُ يَمْضي على غُلَوَائِهِ

وقد قَلَّ إعتابٌ وطال عتاب

Shall I let it continue its excesses unabashed

When reproach is little and grievance has cried?

برئتُ من العلياءِ إن لم أردَّهُ

ولي ظُفُرٌ قد عَاثَ فيه وناب

I'm done with heights if I do not set it aright

When my might has raged in it chewing like a hound

وإن لم أنَهْنِه من شَبَاهُ بِعَزَمَةٍ

تَذِلُّ لها الأِشياءُ وهي صعاب

And if I don't subdue it with resolute might

That humbles all things no matter how profound

وقائلةٍ ما بالُ حمصٍ نَبَت به

وَرُبَّ سؤالٍ ليس عنه جواب

And say "What ails Homs that thorns have sprouted?"

Yet some questions have no answers to expound

نبت بي فكنتُ العُرفَ في غيرِ أهلْه

يعودُ على أهليه وهو تَبَاب

I was exotic fruit transplanted among those not my own

That recoils upon its planter with its vines tightly bound

فبالله ما استوطَنْتُها قانعاً بها

ولكنَّني سيفٌ حواهُ قِراب

By God I did not settle contented in its climes

But a sword sheathed waiting to be drawn

أيُغْضِبُ حُسَّادي قيامي إلى العُلا

وقد قعَدوا لما ظفرتُ وخابوا

Shall I enrage enviers by rising to the heights?

When they sat plots against me long sincespawned

وَأروَعَ لا ينأى على عَزَمَاتِهِ

مَرَامٌ ولا يُخْفِي سَنَاهُ حِجَاب

The loftiest aim turns not from its intents

With goals no veil can obscure or enshroud

من الحضرميّين الأُولى أحْرَزوُا العلا

بَنَوا فأطالوا أو رَمْوا فأصابوا

The first Hudhramis attained the heights

Building, succeeding, casting well their bow

من المانعينَ الدهرَ حوزةَ جارِهِمْ

وأشلاؤهُ بين الخُطُوبِ نهضاب

They made the times a neighbor to their defiance

Its limbs struck down mid the war-cry's resound

همُ عَرَضُوا دون المعالي فأصْبَحَت

مطالبَ لا يدنو لَهُنَّ طِلاَب

They laid themselves before ambition so it became

Aspiration no seeker can surround

وهم جَنَحوا بالمعتفين إلى ندىً

هو القَطْرُ لا يأتي عليه حساب

They took refuge with the exalted in a sanctum

That falls as drops none can recount

سجايا على مرِّ الليالي كأنَّما

هي المُزْنُ فيه رحمةٌ وعذاب

Hardships over the course of nights that seem

At once compassion and torment endowed

مواردَ فيها سَمُّ كلِّ مُعَاندٍ

ولكنها للمُسْتَقِيدِ عذاب

Stations in which is poison for every dissenter

Yet for subordinates agony profound

تُخَوِّفُني صَرفَ الزمانِ وقد حَدَث

برحلي إلى ابنِ الحَضْرَمِيِّ ركاب

The turning of time frightens me now that

My steed is pointed toward the Hudhrami’s abode

إذا الله سنَّى لي لقاءَ محمدٍ

تفتَّحَ دوني للسماحةِ باب

When God destines me to meet Muhammad

The gate to magnanimity shall open broad

فتىً لم تُسَافِر عنه آمالُ آملٍ

وكان لها إلاَّ إليه إياب

A youth in whom no hopeful's dreams grew cold

And to which they circled back from every road

ولا ظَمِىءَ العلمُ المُضَيَّعُ أهْلُهُ

فساغ له إلا لديه شراب

And whom expanding knowledge never abandoned

So that it thirsts for none but what his hands bestowed

لهُ هِمَمٌ في البأسِ والجودِ والندى

لها فوق أثْباجِ النجوم قباب

In valour, bounty, and grace he has grandeur

With pavilions above the stars' studded node

وَأقْسِمُ لولا ما لَهُ من مآثرٍ

لأصبح رَبْعث المجدِ وهو يَبَابُ

By oath were it not for the glory of his feats

He would be glory's ruins and its crumbling code

مآثرُ هنَّ المجدُ لا كسبُ درهمٍ

وهنَّ المعالي لا حُلَىً وثياب

His glories are but honor not profit of coins

And sublimity not raiment or fine goods

يغيظُ العدا منه أغرُّ حُلاحِلٌ

أشمُّ طُوَالُ الساعدين لُبَاب

The rival grits his teeth with ankles exposed

As high waisted pants on him cut a sorry ode

ولا عَيْبَ فيه لامرىءٍ غير أنَّه

تُعَابُ له الدنيا وليس يُعَابُ

No fault in him except the world finds fault

Though he is above any fault thus bestowed

هو الأسَدُ الوَرْدُ الذي سار ذِكْرُهُ

وليسَ له إلا البَسَالَةُ غاب

He is the rose, the lion, whose fame has coursed

With only gallantry as his trode

تَبَوَّأ من دارِ الخلافةِ مَقْعَداً

له فيه عَنْ حُكْمِ القضاءِ مَئاب

He gained his seat in the caliphate's abode

Judgements fly from him as decrees broadly load

تباهَتْ به منذُ استقلَّ بأمرها

كما تتهادى لِلْجلاءِ كَعَابِ

Since he took up its reins the land glories in him

As clouds burst when the radiant light overode

سَلِ الدينَ والدنيا هل ابتهجا به

كما انجابَ عن ضوءِ النهار ضبابُ

Ask religion and the world if they rejoiced in him

As the day's splendor evokes mist from night's dim road

نَضَاهُ أميرُ المؤمنين مُهنّداً

له الحِلْمُ مَتْنٌ والمضاءُ ذُبَاب

The Commander of the Faithful extolled him

Judgement his firmness, decree his sparks explode

له المَثَلُ الأعلى مَعاداً ومبدءاً

وللحاسدِ العاوي حصىً وتراب

He is the ideal exemplar from first to last

While for enviers there are pebbles and only eroded stone

ألانتْ لك الأشياءَ وهي صليبةٌ

عزائمُ في ذات الإله صِلاب

Have not all things yielded before your iron will?

Determined spirits with divine fire goad

إليك أبيَّاتاً من الشِّعْرِ قُلْتُهَا

بُودِّيَ لَوْ أنيِّ لهنَّ كتاب

Verses of poetry I composed for you

Would that they could for you a book encode

فإن تَتَقَبَّلْهَا وتلك مطيتي

فيا مَنْ رأى خطباً ثناه خطاب

If you accept them that would be my steed

O you whose judgment finest discourse has flowed

وهل أنا إلا الروضُ حيَّاكَ عَرْفُهُ

وقد بَاكَرَتْهُ من نَدَاكَ سَحَاب

But am I not the garden greeting you in fragrance?

With clouds from your vicinity first sewed

ومن يُثْنِ بالصُّنْعِ الجميلِ فإنَّه

شَكُورٌ ولا مثلَ المزيَدِ ثواب

Who thanks goodness has surely gratitude still to reap

While for bounty given the reward is never owed

وهل أنا إلا عبدُ أنْعُمِكَ التي

هي الأريُ إذ كلُّ المواردِ صَاب

But am I not the servant of your blessings?

The champion when all springs run corrode

وما شهدَ المجدُ الذي أنت سرُّه

فإنك بحرٌ والكرامُ سَرَاب

What glory that you are its secret has witnessed?

You are the sea and all bounty is but miraged

وها أنا يا رِضْوَانُ باسمك هاتفٌ

فهل لي إلى دار المُقَامَةِ باب

A path for me to the abode?

Can rivals penetrate your grandeur on high

وهل يُدْرِكُ الحسَّادُ غَورَكَ في العُلا

وإن طالَ مَكْرٌ منهمُ وخِلاَب

When their schemes pace about long having slowed?

When they vie with you in glory you are a lion

إذا نافسُوكَ المجدَ كنتَ غضنفراً

إذا زار لم تَثْبُت عليه ذِئاب

Whose claws do not spare the jackals when they're goaded

No arena flared save by your flashing blades

وما احمرَّ إلا من صِيالِكَ مَعْرَكٌ

ولا اخْضَرَّ إلا من نَداكَ جَنَاب

No meadow greened save by your rain its shade bestowed