ليلُ السُّرى مثلُ نهارِ المُقامْ

ما خفتَ أن تُظلَمَ أو أن تضامْ

The night of travel is like the day of staying,

You need not fear darkness or compression.

ودون صدر البيت مُرخًى به

عليك سِترُ الذلِّ صدرُ الحسامْ

With the house's chest laid open for you,

The mantle of disgrace is the breastplate of the sword.

وجانبُ الخفض على لينه

مع الأذى أوطأ منه السِّلامْ

And the side of lowliness in its softness,

Along with harm, is gentler than peace.

خاطرْ فإمّا عيشةٌ حُرَّةٌ

يُرغِدُها العزُّ وإمّا الحِمامْ

Resolve, for either there is a free life

Sustained by glory, or there is the dove.

كم تترك الجُمَّةَ مستروياً

بنُطفةٍ ليست تَبُلّ الأُوامْ

How much you leave the loaded water-skins full

With a sip that does not reach the buckets.

وترهَبُ الإصحار مستبرِداً

مع الضحى ظلَّ كسورِ الخيامْ

And you frighten the deserts while cooled,

With the dawn a shadow like remnants of tents.

نمتَ ونام الحظّ فافتح له

جفنَك وانهض فإذا قمت قامْ

You slept while fate was sleeping, so open

Your eyelids to it and rise, and when you rise, it rises.

تحتشم التغريرَ والرزقُ في ال

إقدامِ والحرمانُ في الإِحتشامْ

Modesty grasps prosperity and deprivation

Is in daring; prosperity is in resolve and privation in restraint.

زاحمْ على باب العلا ضاغطا

لا بدّ أن تدخُلَ بين الزحامْ

Compete at the door of the exalted, pressing,

You must enter among the crowds.

رامِ بها الليلَ فما يُسفر ال

نجاحُ إلا عن نقابِ الظَّلامْ

Seek it by night, for nothing reveals

Success but the veil of darkness.

مَوارقاً عن عُقْل أشطانِها

مروقَ فُوقِ السهم عن قوسِ رامْ

Sailing away from the mind of its harbors,

Cast off above the arrow from the bow of the archer.

لعلَّ حظًّا عُقمتْ هذه ال

أرضُ به يولَدُ بعد العقامْ

Perhaps this barren earth has failed

To bear for you a fortune that will be born after sterility.

من طلبَ الغايةَ خطواً على

ظهر الهوينا رامَ صعبَ المرامْ

Whoever seeks the ultimate step by step

On the back of caprice seeks the difficult aim.

لله مفطورٌ على عزِّه

أرضعه المجدُ لغير الفِطامْ

By his nature disposed to glory,

Suckled by majesty, unweaned.

لا يملِكُ الغِرِّيد إطرابَه

شجواً ولا نشوتَه للمدامْ

The warbler has no control over its trilling

Poignantly or its joy in wine.

ولا تُوازي صدرَه فُرجةٌ

تساكن الحبّ وتَقرِي الغرامْ

Nor does any split match his breast

Where love halts and passion dwells.

لولا السُّرى مستضوئاً لم يكن

يرفَع طرفاً لبدور التمامْ

Had it not been for the shining night, he would not

Have lifted an eyelid to the full moons.

ينسيه حَرَّ الغيظ بردُ اللَّمَى

وجائرَ الحظ اعتدالُ القوامْ

The coolness of taunting makes him forget

The heat of rage, and the justice of fate makes equanimity.

حتى تَرَى بعدَ بطونِ الرُّبَى

أبياتَه فوقَ ظهورِ الإكامْ

Until you see after the burdens of ashes

His verses above the humps of embers.

تحسبُ من صبوته بالعلا

وسعيِهِ خلفَ الأمور الجِسامْ

You reckon by his youth and his striving

For the lofty matters and great undertakings,

أنَّ زعيمَ الدينِ أغراه بال

عزة أو علَّمهُ الاِعتزامْ

That the leader of the faith seduced him

With glory or taught him determination.

حدَّثَ بالشاهد من غيبه

مصدَّقُ الدعوى مزَكَّى الكلامْ

He spoke of witnesses from his unseen world,

Truthful of claim, immaculate of speech.

يريك بالجذوة من فضله

ما خلفَها من لهب واضطرامْ

He shows you the embers of his overflowing virtue

What flames and combustion lie behind it.

أسرارُ وجهٍ شفَّ عن خُلْقِه

تطلُّعَ الخمرِ وراءَ الفِدَامْ

The traits of a face that revealed his nature

Aspiring to wine behind the cupbearer.

وجهٌ ترى البدرَ به مسفرا

وهو هلالٌ لك تحت اللثامْ

A face in which you see the full moon shining

While it is a crescent concealed from you by the veil.

ماء الحياءِ الرطب والحسنُ في

وجنته ماءٌ وراحٌ وجامْ

The moist modesty and beauty in his cheek

Are water, spices and wine.

قد كان لو أُفرِجَ عن طُرْقهِ

منسجماً أو همَّ بالإنسجامْ

Were he to devote himself to a kiss in worship,

He would pray to it and fast.

لو عكفَ الحسنُ على قِبلةٍ

تعبُّدا صلَّى إليه وصامْ

And a resolve makes easier whatever

Great matters it seeks to diminish.

وهمّةٌ أيسرُ ما ترتقِي

إليه تهوينُ الأمورِ العِظامْ

It trod upon the air and his enviers

With the tread of disgrace over coal.

داست به الجوَّ وحسّادَه

مَداوسَ الذِّلَة فوق الرَّغامْ

He healed the king when he was sick and healed him

From the lengthy illness of the messengers of frustration.

شفا بها الملكَ وقد شفَّه

من سُفراء العجزِ طولُ السَّقامْ

His opinions saved him before his day

From the thoughts of a rescuing victory, pure and blaming.

كفَته منه قبلَ أيامِهِ

آراءُ نصرٍ هنُّ بيضٌ ولامْ

And he pushed away from himself and denied sitting

The decimating misfortunes raging and uprising.

ورَدَّ عنه وادعا قاعدا

دُهمَ الخطوب الثائراتِ القيامْ

And he was counted after his brother and after

His brother third, for completeness.

وعُدَّ من بعد أخيه ومن

بعدِ أخيهِ ثالثا للتّمامْ

A means between this and that

By which the thread and the system were perfected.

واسطةٌ من بين هذا وذا

تكامَلَ السلكُ بها والنّظامْ

For they are three of equal rank, for every

Ritual of the pilgrimage rites that are performed.

فهم ثلاثُ الخَيفِ في كلِّها

لمنسِكِ الحج فروضٌ تقامْ

Ask Ali about his adversary, we are content

With the witnesses of the contender against him.

سل بعليٍّ خصمَه إننا

نقنَع فيه بشهود الخِصامْ

He who envies him will inform you that he alone

Is this people’s inevitable destiny.

يُخبِرْك من يحسدُه أنه

ضرورةً واحدُ هذا الأنامْ

A child girded with melancholy, from whom

No talisman's knot has been untied.

تمنطق السوددَ طفلا وما

فُضَّ من العُوذَةِ منه خِتامْ

And to the sublime in his company was born

A fiftieth birthing from which he sleeps.

وهبَّ للعلياء في عَشْرِه

ولدةُ الخمسينَ عنها يَنامْ

So he passed in his tyranny preceding

While people followed his lead, and he was the imam.

فمرَّ في غَلْوِتِهِ سابقا

والناس مأمومون وهو الإمامْ

And the wind invited while trying to catch him:

“Repel him if there is any flaw in him.”

والريحُ تدعو وهي تقتصُّه

رُدُّوه إن كان لفيه لجامْ

O eyes of the people! Look and wonder

At the matured glory of this boy.

يا أعيُنَ الناس انظري واعجبي

بذَّ كهولَ المجد هذا الغلامْ

He extended to asking while the enemy

Stretched out two hands to bestowal and vengeance.

مدّ إلى سؤَّاله والعدا

يَدَيْنِ للإنعام والإنتقامْ

Breaking and mending in a stance

Between extending either of the two and clasping.

والكسرُ والجبرةُ في موقفٍ

ما بين بَسطٍ منهما وانضمامْ

He gave generously until he left no remainder

For himself, neither sea nor cloud.

وجاد حتى لم يَدعْ فضلةً

عليه للبحر ولا للغمامْ

He sees the violation of what he preserves

Of his abundant wealth as waste of promise and breach of oath.

يَرى لما يحَفظُ من وفره

إضاعةَ العهدِ ونقضَ الذمامْ

As if what of his money has dissolved

And dispersed pleasantly were prohibited to him, illicit.

كأنَّ ما قد حلَّ من ماله

وطاب محظورٌ عليه حرامْ

His critic tempted him into extravagance,

So he desires whoever asks him to be blamed.

أغراه بالتبذير لُوَّامُه

فودّ من يسأله أن يُلامْ

May he who opposes your heights ransom you, if

The ransom of the generous were the malicious.

يفديك مَن عادى معاليك أن

كان فداءَ الكرماءِ اللئامْ

Your slips behind you tax him heavily

While he has not torn the garment of rising.

تُوقِصه خلفَك عَثْراتُه

كبواً وما شقَّ رداءَ القيامْ

Wielding a paralyzed and loosened sword

Not bound by a scabbard.

يذارع الجوّ بمشلولةٍ

محلولةٍ لم يرتبِطها عِصامْ

Sheathing it randomly, he who drew it

And could not strike a decisive blow.

يُغمِدها من حيث سُلَّتْ ومَن

سلَّ ولم يقدِر على الضرب شامْ

He climbs seeking you while your feet

Are about to descend at the two valleys of Shamam.

يصعَد يبغيك وقد أوشكتْ

رجلاك أن تنزل بابنيْ شَمامْ

You have been blessed with upbringing and my hand has grown long

And produced flesh, furnishing bones.

طابَ بكم تُربِي وطالتْ يدي

وأنبتتْ لحما أثيثاً عِظامْ

And it restored to me in your wealth

My dried grapes and baldness after my greying.

وعاودتْني حين أغنيتمُ

بعد مشيبي شِرّتي والعُرَامْ

So receive it as a delightful foal

With congratulations and joyous faces.

فاستقبِلوها غُرَراً طَلْقةً

مع التهاني ووجوهاً وِسامْ

Beautiful of face whenever she calls

Men from behind the curtain.

بارزةَ الحسن لكم كلَّما

نادتْ رجالا من وراء الفِدامْ

Generous men have allied me through you

To her unmarriageable ones, noble men.

كرائما صاهرني منكُمُ

على عَذْاراها رجالٌ كرامْ

When the distinguished women complain of woe

For them through you is lasting bliss.

إذا المَهيرات شكونَ الشَّقا

طاب لها فيكم نعيمٌ ودامْ

Proceeding freely, her forearms not confined

By form nor her tresses restrained by headband.

سائرة لم يعتقل رُسغَها

شُكل ولم يحبِس طُلالا زِمامْ

She left no distance between Nejd and familiarity

Nor abandoned Iraq for Syria.

لم تترك الغورَ لنجدٍ مع ال

إلف ولم تهجر عراقاً لشامْ

Birds with you while ostriches in your company

And caravans with ostrich chicks.

مع النُّعامى طائرات بكم

وجافلات معَ طَردِ النَّعامْ

Your reputations in the folds of whatever

The docile camel carried are for a gentle people.

أعراضُكم في طيّ ما حمّلتْ

لطائمٌ وهي لقوم لِطامْ

Remnants of the ornaments of your accounts

As long as chokers are the adornment of the doves.

بواقيا حليةَ أحسابكم

ما دامت الأطواقُ حَلْيَ الحَمامْ

The Nayrouz has not served the ascent of you

For which it is a bracelet or handmaidens.

ما خدَم النيروزُ إقبالَكم

فهي لها أسورة أو خِدامْ

A day of the year but in your state

It turns a thousand years.

يومٌ من العام ولكنَّه

يكُرُّ في دولتكم ألفَ عامْ