ومُستثقلٍ للشّامِ عزمي وربّما
سَبَقتُ إلى الوِردِ القَطا وهو سادِكُ
One who thinks my resolve for Syria slow—though often
I have outstripped the sandgrouse to the watering-place, though they kept their steady course.
لَعَمركَ ما خلّفتُ في أرضِ بابلٍ
هَوايَ ولا ضاقتْ عليّ المسالِكُ
By your life, I left no longing behind in the land of Babylon,
nor were the roads too narrow for me.
تبيتُ مَطايا الهَمِّ وهي شَوارِدٌ
لها بين قلبي والضُّلوعِ مَبارِكُ
The mounts of care pass the night roaming astray;
between my heart and ribs lie their blessed kneeling grounds.
أبَى الضيمَ لي أنْ أقبلَ الضيمَ صارمٌ
وقلبٌ إذا سيمَ الدنيّةَ فاتِكُ
A keen sword of mine refuses to let me accept humiliation,
and a heart, when offered baseness, turns deadly.
وكفٌّ بفعلِ الخيرِ والشّرِ ثرَّةٌ
وسنٌ على ما أحدثَ الدهرُ ضاحِكُ
A hand pours richly forth in deeds of good and ill,
and teeth laugh at whatever time brings forth.
يَودُّ الردى لي مَعشرٌ بنفوسِهم
وإنْ سَلكوا الفجَّ الذي أنا سالِكُ
A company wishes death upon me, staking their own souls,
even should they enter the very mountain pass I take.
فكيفَ تردونَ القصائدَ بعدَما
شَرَدْنَ وهنّ المُحصَناتُ الفَوارِكُ
How can poems bound for their goal be turned back, after
they have bolted—guarded, chaste women who spurn their husbands?
إذا أعظُمي زارتْ من الأرضِ حُفرةً
ولاكَ كُساها من فمِ التربِ لائِكُ
When my bones have visited a hollow in the earth
and there a black shroud of earth has clothed them,
فَمَنْ يجمعُ الألفاظَ وهي شَتائِتٌ
ومن يَملِكُ اللّذّاتِ وهي مَوالِكُ
who then will gather words when they lie scattered,
and who will possess delights that are themselves passing away?
وإنّي لأغْضي الطّرْفَ عن كلِّ منظَرٍ
يَصَبُّ إله الناسكُ المتماسِكُ
I lower my gaze before every sight
toward which even the steadfast ascetic might yearn.
وما ذاكَ من جهلٍ به غيرَ أنّني
عيوفٌ لأخلاقِ الألائمِ تارِكُ
That is not through ignorance of its worth; rather,
I am fastidious, forsaking the ways of base men.
فهلْ رجلٌ يشرى هوايَ بغارةٍ
تُفدّي عِتاقَ الخيلِ فيها النَيازِكُ
Is there a man who will purchase my devotion with a raid
in which noble horses pound even the meteors beneath them?
وهلْ تعْصِمَنّي بالعواصمِ رحلةٌ
إذا ارتكبتْ فيها القِلاصُ الرواتِكُ
Might a journey to the frontier fortresses shelter me
when sturdy she-camels undertake its crushing course?
تَحِنُّ رِكابي بالعِراقِ صَبابةً
وماشاكَ منها موضعَ الرجْلِ شائِكُ
My riding beasts in Iraq yearn with passionate longing,
though no thorn has ever pricked the saddle-place upon them.
صِلِ الأرضَ واقطعْها وإنْ بعُدَ المَدى
من العيسِ أوْصالاً ولانتْ عرائِكُ
Join the lands together and traverse them, even if the distance
wears apart the pale camels’ joints and softens their stubborn tempers.
لعلكَ يوماً أنْ تَروحَ ببلدةٍ
ومالُكَ مملوكٌ وسيفُكَ مالِكُ
Perhaps one day you will reach a city
where your wealth is possessed, but your sword remains master.
ومَن كان سيفُ الدولةِ العَضْبُ سيفه
وناصرهُ لم تنتهِكه النّواهِكُ
Whoever has Sayf al-Dawla’s trenchant sword for his own sword,
and has him as defender, cannot be violated by ravagers.
رَمى بصدورِ الخيلِ هاجرةَ الوَغى
وللموتِ ظِلٌّ تبتنيهِ السّنابِكُ
He flung the breasts of his horses into the noonday heat of battle,
while death had shade built for it by their hooves.
يموتُ إذا ما قيلَ إنّكَ عائِشٌ
ويَحْيا إذا ما قيلَ إنّكَ هالِكُ
The foe dies when told that you are living,
and lives only when told that you have perished.
فتى الحربِ ما للحربِ عندكَ بُغيةٌ
إذا رَويتْ خِرْصانُها والبَوانِكُ
Warrior of battle, what desire can warfare retain in your presence
once you have watered its spearheads and its stout lances?
مدى الحربِ سلماً والرحيلِ إقامةً
وبَذْلُكَ ما تحوي الأكُفُّ المَسابِكُ
The furthest course of war becomes peace, and departure becomes residence,
while your largesse is all the gold that hands can hold.
تَعُدُّ جموعُ الرومِ سلمَكَ مَعْرَكاً
ألا إنّ سِلمَ الغالبينَ مَعارِكُ
The assembled Romans count your peace itself a battle;
indeed, the peace of conquerors consists of battles.
لهم منكَ أسيافٌ حِدادٌ وذُبَّلٌ
مِدادٌ وخيلٌ تعتليها الصعالِكُ
From you they have keen-edged swords and supple spears,
reinforcements and horses mounted by fierce raiders.
إذا أشرقتْ أسيافُهم ووُجوهُهُمْ
فيومُكَ فيهم أبيضُ اللونِ حالِكُ
When their swords and their faces blaze forth,
your day among them is radiant white—and black with doom.
ولمّا رأوا ألاّ معاذَ وإنّما
طويلُ شَمامٍ عند خيلِكِ حاتِكُ
When they saw that there was no refuge, and that only
lofty Shamam, beneath your cavalry, was being rent open,
وإنّكَ للبحرِ المُسَخّرِ خائِضٌ
إليْهِ وللسدِّ المُمنّعِ هاتِكُ
they knew that you would wade into the subjected sea
and break through the most impregnable barrier.
نَضَوْكَ ثيابَ الحقدِ غيرَ مُفاضةٍ
وأعطوكَ ما أعطتْ هواكَ الممالِكُ
They stripped away their garments of hatred before you, though close-fitting,
and gave you what kingdoms had granted to my longing.
سَما بكَ همٌ لو سَما النجمُ نَحوَهُ
ثناهُ كَلالٌ أو فَناءٌ مُواشِكُ
A care of mine soared toward you as a star soars,
until exhaustion—or swiftly approaching death—turned it back.
بعيدُ المدى نوءُ العَطايا سِجالُهُ
ونوءُ المَنايا طُرْقُهُ والمسالِكُ
Far-reaching are his gifts, whose rains pour down by turns;
and the storms of death fill his roads and pathways.
فما لقيتْ منكَ الرّغائِبُ واللها
وما لقيتْ منكَ الدماءُ السّوافِكُ
Whatever desires and delights have encountered at your hands
is matched by what streaming blood has encountered there.
بنفسي وأهْلي والصّوارمُ والقَنا
فتىً شِعْبُهُ للزّائِرينَ مَناسِكُ
By my life, my family, the keen swords, and the spears—
he is a hero whose valley is a sanctuary for visitors.
أقامَ على ما بينَ مصرٍ وبصرةٍ
مُقاماً تَحاماهُ الليوثُ الفَواتِكُ
Between Egypt and Basra he has taken up
a station that even deadly lions avoid.
وفي كلِّ يومٍ سيّدٌ من عبيدِهِ
به الثّغْرُ ثَغرٌ كشّفته المضاحِكُ
Each day a lord stands there among his servants;
through him the frontier is a smiling mouth whose laughter he has revealed.
سقى اللهُ من أسقى من العزّ آملاً
سحائِبَ تَمريها الرِّياحُ السّواهِكُ
May God rain upon the giver who waters hopes from honor
with clouds milked by the coursing winds.
وأعطى المُنى والسؤلَ من حقّقَ المُنى
بساكنِها والظُّلْمُ أرعنُ ماحِكُ
He granted wishes and petitions to whoever truly sought them,
through the land’s inhabitant, while oppression towered destructively.
سِناناً أعارته يَمينَكَ صَعْدَةً
لها في قلوبِ الدارِعينَ مَسالِكُ
A spearhead to which your right hand lent a shaft
finds pathways through the hearts of armored men.
ومن لكَ في الدُنْيا بأروعَ ماجدٍ
يُواسيكَ في أهوالِها ويُشاركُ
Who in this world can offer you a more splendid nobleman,
one who consoles you in its terrors and shares them with you?
إذا شامَ برقاً من سمائِكَ شائِمٌ
تَعرَّضَ منك العارضُ المُتدارِكُ
Whenever a watcher glimpses lightning from your sky,
a swiftly following rain cloud comes forth from you.
إليكمْ بَني اليونانِ منّي نصيحةً
منحتُكُموها والدِّيارُ دَكادِكُ
To you, sons of Greece, I offer counsel,
while your homelands lie in heaps of rubble:
دَعوا الليثَ لا يَفْرِسْكُم الليثُ إنّهُ
متى ما يُصرِّفْ نابَه فهو صائِكُ
leave the lion alone, lest the lion devour you—alas!
Whenever he turns his fang upon you, it pierces.
أبى اللهُ إلاّ آلَ حمدانَ إنّهمْ
غَواربُ سادتْ تغلِباً وحوارِكُ
God has willed none but the House of Hamdan; truly they are
lofty crests risen over Taghlib and every proud withholder.
همُ الشّمسُ في صدرِ النّهارِ ترفّعتْ
وفي هامةِ الليلِ النّجومُ الشّوابِكُ
They are the sun raised high in the heart of day,
and, at the crown of night, the interwoven stars.
مدحتُكَ لا إني لغيركَ مادِحٌ
أبَتْ هِمَمٌ لي في السّماءِ سَوامِكُ
I have praised you—not because I would praise another;
ambitions towering into the sky forbid me that.
وعزمٌ بأطرافِ الهمومِ معرِسٌ
وهمٌّ لأطْرافِ الرّماحِ مشابِكُ
Mine is a resolve that camps at the remotest edges of care,
and a purpose that grapples with the points of spears.
ولكنكَ المقدارُ سَلَمَ فضلَهُ
لكَ الملكُ والمَملوكُ والمتمالِكُ
Yet fate itself has surrendered its excellence to you;
yours are king, subject, and every would-be king.
وما اعتاضَ مدحٌ أنتَ ربّ كلامِهِ
نَداكَ مُسَدِّيةِ ومجدُكَ حائِكُ
My praise takes no recompense elsewhere when you are lord of its speech:
your bounty supplies its warp, and your glory is its weaver.
وشَطبةِ مَلكٍ للجِيادِ سُيوفُهُ
وإنْ سبقتْها المُدْرَكاتُ الركائِكُ
A kingly blade whose swords are his steeds—
even if the slender, armored mares should outstrip them.
إذا أعجبتْ صملاخة أعجبَ النّدى
تمايلُه في مالهِ وهو تامِكُ
When a dove’s swaying song delights him, generosity delights him still more—
his own graceful swaying amid his wealth, tall and full.
تناهبها الحيانِ بَكْرٌ وتغلِبٌ
وأسلمَها الحيانِ سعدٌ ومالِكُ
The two tribes, Bakr and Taghlib, plunder that wealth,
while the two tribes, Sa‘d and Malik, surrender it freely.
