بقيتَ ولا كانَ الزمانُ ولا بقى

فنائِلُهُ بَدْءٌ ونَيْلُكَ مُنتَهى

You remained, while time itself expired and ended;

Its beginning faded, while yours will never cease.

قد أفنيتَ آمالي بجودِكَ والمُنى

وجودتني حتى غنيتُ عن الغِنى

You destroyed my hopes with your generosity, my wishes-

Made me rich, until I was free of all needs.

وصيرتَني من بعدِ ما كنتُ واقفاً

أقولُ لدهري كلّما جاءَ ههنا

You made me, after having stood still, say-

Whenever time comes here-depart! Begone!

فودَّ نزارٌ لو يَسُرُّ ربيعةً

بأنّكَ أضجرتَ الأفاقِرَ باللُّها

Nizar was keen to please Rabia

That you have made the destitute rich through God;

وأنكَ لا تنفكُ تحت عَجاجَةٍ

تُقطَّعُ فيها المشرفيةَ بالطُلى

That you never leave a tent, rent

With swords through which Al-Musharrafiah was severed.

ثَنَتْها من الصخرِ السنابكُ فاغتدتْ

تَردُّ عن الفرسانِ عاديةَ الظُبى

Its folds curved from the rocks, so it rose high

Repelling the horsemen, accustomed to running wildly.

إذا يئستْ عُقبانُها من خَصيلة

رفعتَ إليها الدارعينَ على القَنا

When their hooves lost hope of the foals-

You raised the armored warriors up toward it on the spear points.

سيوفُكَ أمضى في النّفوسِ من الرّدى

وخوفُكَ أمضى من سيوفِكَ في العِدَى

Your swords more deadly to souls than perdition,

Your fear more fatal than your sword points to the foe.

وليلُكَ صُبْحٌ ما يَحولُ من الظُبى

وصُبحكَ ليلٌ ما يضيءُ من الثّرى

Your night a morning that does not get obscured by the dust cloud,

Your dawn a night that gleams not for all the hills.

وأنتَ الذي لوْلاهُ ما عُرِفَ النّدى

ولا كانتِ الدُنْيا ولا خُلِقَ الوَرى

You, without whom honor was not known

Nor the world was, nor the creation made.

فتىً يتجافى لذةَ النومِ جفنُه

كأنّ لذيذَ النومِ في جَفنهِ قَذَى

A prince whose eyelids eschew the pleasure of sleep,

As though the sweetness of sleep in his lids were irritation.

أطرفُكَ شاكٍ أمْ سهادُكَ عاشِقٌ

يَغار على عينيكَ من سِنَةِ الكَرَى

Does your sentry frown, or does your pillow incline

Jealously at your eyes because of the decrepitude of old age?

ومن سهَرت في المكرُماتِ جُفونُهُ

رعَى طرْفُهُ في جوِّها أنجُمَ العُلا

He whose eyes were deprived of sleep for glorious deeds

His gaze shepherded among the stars in its expanse.

وليس ينامُ القلبُ والجفْنُ ساهرٌ

ولا تغمُدُ العينانِ والقلبُ منتضى

The heart cannot sleep while the eye is awake

Nor sheathe the eyes while the heart is roused.

ألا إنّ عينَ المرءِ عُنوانُ قَلبهِ

تُخبِّرُ عنْ أسْرارِهِ شاءَ أمْ أبى

Indeed the eye of a man reveals his heart

Reporting its secrets whether he wishes or not.

رأيتُ كريماً يأكلُ الناسُ زادَهُ

إذا سَئِموا أزوادَهُ سَئِمَ الطّوَى

I saw a generous man whom people ate his provisions-

If they wearied of their own provisions they wearied of (going on) living.

يَرى ما تَرى أبصارُهُمْ وهو مُطْرِقٌ

وما لا تَرى أبصارُهُم عينُه تَرى

He sees what their eyes see while he remains silent,

And what their eyes do not see his eye does see.

فقلتُ سحابٌ أسْتَظِلُّ بظِلّه

ولا امترى غيرَ المودةِ والهَوى

So I said a cloud from whose shade I take shelter-

Neither refusing affection and love nor bartering them.

فلم أرَ عيشاً قبلَهُ متزهِّداً

ولا صادِياً قبلي يَفِرُّ منَ الحَيا

Before him I saw no hermit life of asceticism,

Nor did I see, before myself, anyone flee from life.

لرأيكَ سيفَ الدولةِ الهمُ دونَه ال

عزيمةُ والوعدُ الذي دونَهُ النّدى

To your view, Saif al-Dawla, care is inferior.

Only determination and the promise inferior to care.

فلا زلتَ تُبلى جِدّةَ الدّهْرِ باقياً

وتلبس أثْوابَ الحياةِ بِلا مَدَى

You continue to don the garment of time persisting,

And to wear the raiment of life endlessly.