عزمٌ تجرَّدَ فيه النصرُ والظّفرُ

وفكرةٌ خمدت من تحتها الفكرُ

A resolve in which victory and triumph were stripped bare,

And an idea that extinguished thoughts beneath it.

ركبتَ في الله حتى البحرَ حين طما

آذيُّهُ وبسوطِ الريح ينحصر

You mounted the sea for God's sake when it raged,

Vexing it, though the wind's whip was confined.

طِرفٌ يَزِلُّ عليه سرجُ فارسه

وليس مما تضمُّ الحُزمُ والعُذَرُ

A gaze that alights, on which sways the saddle of its horseman,

And is not of that which prudence and excuse restrain.

كأنَّ راكبه في متنٍ ذي لبدٍ

غضبانَ تقدحُ من أنفاسِهِ الشرر

As if its rider in its undulating midst

Were wrathful, with sparks flashing from his breath.

حملتَ نفسك فيه فوقَ داهيةٍ

دهياءَ لا ملجأٌ منها ولا وزر

You carried yourself atop it, above a crafty one

Cunning, with no refuge or burden from it.

عُذِرَت لو أنه ميدانُ معركةً

يسمو له رَهَجٌ في الجوِّ منتشر

It would be excused if it were a battlefield

On which confusion in the air spread far.

في حيثُ للكرِّ والإقدامِ مضطربٌ

وحيث تملكُ ما تأتي وما تذر

Where valor and daring were disturbed,

And where you possess what you initiate and neglect.

عساك خلتَ حبابَ الماءِ من زَرَد

تعوَّدَ الخوضَ فيه طِرفُك الأثِرق

Perhaps you left the fish of the water from turquoise,

Whose swimming your bright-colored gaze grew accustomed to.

أو قلتَ في الموج خرصان معرضة

تحارب الجيش أو مصقولةٌ بُتُر

Or you said in the waves, "An unfazed army

Battling the troops," or "Polished with blades."

هي البسالةُ إلاَّ أنها سَرَفٌ

تنفي الحذارَ وممّا يُؤثَرُ الحذر

Such is courage, except it was excess

Negating caution-and caution is preferred.

لا تحملِ الدينَ والدنيا على خَطَرٍ

وليس يُحمَدُ في أمثالك الغرر

Do not risk religion and life upon danger,

For reckless abandon is not praised in your likes.

إن كان ثَوبُكَ مختصاً بلابسهِ

فقد تعلَّقَ من أذيالِهِ البشر

If your garb is exclusive to its wearer,

Then people have clung to its hem.

هلاَّ رحمتَ نفوساً حام حائمها

عليكَ واستولتِ الأشواقُ والذكر

Why not show mercy to souls whose passionate zeal

Was for you, and longing and remembrance took hold of them?

وعاد أجبَنَها من كان أشجعَها

شحّاً عليكَ وأحيا ليله السهر

And restore to the most cowardly of them the bravery they had,

Stingily toward you, and enliven the wakefulness of their night?

إنا لفي حمصَ نستقري محاضرها

وللقلوبِ بذاك اللجّ مُحتَضَر

We are in Homs, settling in its dwellings,

And for the hearts with that attachment, perishing.

لا نحسنُ الظنَّ إشفاقاً وقد ضمنت

لنا مساعيك أن يعنو لك القدر

We do not think well out of pity, and you secured

For us your efforts, so fate will support you.

كأنَّما النهرُ لما سرتَ سار على

ذاك المجاز فأجرى فُلكَكَ النهرَ

As if when you traveled, the river traveled in

That figurative manner, so sailed your ships the river.

كأنما قمتَ بالجدوى تساجِلُهُ

فناله دهَشٌ أو نابه حصَر

As if you stood to fight it with benefit,

So it was seized by shock or bit by frustration.

أحاط جودُك بالدنيا فليس له

إلا المحيط مثالٌ حين يُعتبَر

Your generosity encompassed the world, so there is nothing left for it

Except the ocean as an analogy when considered.

وما حسبت بأن الكُلَّ يحملُهُ

بعضٌ ولا كاملاً يحويه مختصر

And you did not consider that a portion

Could carry the whole, nor brief summarize the complete.

لم تثنِ عنكَ يداً أرجاءُ ضفتهِ

إلا ومدت يداً أرجاؤهُ الأخر

No coasts of its bank dissuaded a hand from you

Except that its other coasts extended a hand.

تواصِلُ اللحظَ حسرى من هنا وهنا

وليس غير الدعاءِ الجصُّ والحجر

The glance continues the desolation of longing from here and there,

With nothing but rubble and stone for aid.

فصرتَ فوق دفاعِ اللَه تهصرهُ

براحةِ البر والتقوى فينهصر

You became, above God's defense as you bolster it

With spiritual ease and piety, victorious.

كأنما كان عيناً أنت ناظرها

وكلُّ شطٍ بأشخاصِ الورى شفُر

As if you were an eye it regarded,

And every shore with earthly figures an eyelid.