إن كان فوق الشمس للساعي قدَمْ

يسمو لها مُحلِّقٌ من الهممْ

If the sun above has a path for the one who seeks,

A soaring spirit will rise above worries.

فابغِ وراءَ ما بلغتَ غايةً

واطلب مزيدا في الذي نلت ورُمْ

So seek beyond what you have attained,

And ask for more of what you have gained and threw.

لم يَدَع الكمالُ فيك خَلّةً

يقال فيها ليت ذا النقصانَ تمّْ

Perfection has left no flaw in you,

Of which it can be said "I wish this flaw was gone!"

إلا الخلودَ فتملَّ خالدا

كما تشاء وبرغم من رغِمْ

Except for immortality - so become immortal

However you wish, despite whoever resents.

على الزمان طيِّه ونشره

وأنت غضُّ محدَثٌ على القِدَمْ

Fold time and unfold it,

While you remain a new speaker yet old.

تميس من ملكك في مُفاضةٍ

تردُّ فضلَ ذيلها على القَدَمْ

Get some of your kingdom freely,

With its excess flowing back to you.

حصينةٍ لم يتخلّلْ سردَها

نافذةٌ تبهَمُ أوْ صدْعٌ ثلَمْ

Impregnable, whose sequence

Has no crevice confused or crack broken.

كم تطلب الأعداءُ فيك مغمَزا

تَفنَى الضُّروسُ والحصى لم ينعجمْ

How enemies seek faults in you

While fangs wear out and pebbles do not grind.

ويحسُبون عثرةً ومُتعَبٌ

ناظرُ عثراتِ النجوم في الظُّلَمْ

They think a stumble what the watcher

Of stars' stumbles sees in the dark.

أضغاثُ ليلٍ ضاحكت بروقُها

حقيقةَ الصبح ومن نام حَلَمْ

Rubbish of night whose lightning laughed at

The truth of dawn and whoever slept, dreamt.

قد علم الله صَلاحَ خَلْقه

على يديك فقضى بما علِمْ

God has known the goodness of His creation through you

So He decreed what He knew.

والملكُ مذ ضممتَه يعرِف مَن

يفتح باعيْه عليه ويضُمّْ

And the kingdom, since you took it, knows who

Opens its gates for it and who shuts.

وكيف رُضتَ طفلَه على الصِّبا

وكيف رِشت شيخَه على الهَرَمْ

How you pleased its child in youth

And sprayed its elder with dignity in old age.

يوما أخٌ مساهمٌ بنفسه

في جُلِّ ما ناب ويوما أنت عَمّْ

One day an equal sharing himself

In all hardships, another day you are the pillar.

وطائرٍ من شُعبِ الرأي مضى

بدائدا طردَك بالذئب الغنَمْ

And a bird of diverse views gone

Lost in wilderness, you drove the wolf from the sheep.

أرسلتَ تدبيرك في أطرافه

يجمع من أقطاره حتى انتظمْ

You sent your strategy to its edges

To gather it from its corners until it came together.

وحدَكَ لم تقدحه عن مشاركٍ

زِيدَ ولو شورك بدرٌ ما استتمْ

None provoked you to share rule

Not even the full moon - had it consulted, it would not have reached perfection.

وقاطعٍ حبلَ الحفاظِ خالعٍ

شاور نجما مشرقيّا قد نَجمْ

And a dissenter severing the rope of allegiance

Who consulted a rising eastern star.

لانت لكفيه العصا فشقَّها

وما درى بأيّ كفٍّ تلتئمْ

You bent his staff and split it

And he knew not with which palm it would be spliced.

ثارَ وعزُّ الدين من أنصارِهِ

كواسرُ الجوّ وآسادُ الأجَمْ

The glory of religion rose from its supporters

Like rising eagles and roaring lions.

يزعم لا يرجِعُ دون غايةٍ

لولاك كان صادقا فيما زعَمْ

He claimed he would not return without fulfilling his goal

Had you not been, he would have been truthful in his claim.

قمتَ إليه بحشىً ساكنةٍ

كأنما لقيتَه ولم تقُمْ

You went against him with a silent army

As if you met him without rising.

تقود شهباءَ جميلا وجهُها

ما أُبصِرَتْ قبيحةً ما تَقتحمْ

Leading a beautiful-faced bay, her face

Was never seen ugly, never stubborn in battle.

تُمثِّلُ الأشخاصَ فيما صقَلتْ

من سابغ وافٍ وصمصامٍ خَذِمْ

She impersonates people in what she has polished

Of perfect brown and white and reddish hide.

يقُطر ماءُ بِيضِها وسمرها

علامةً أنًّ غداً تقطُر دَمْ

The water of her whiteness and blackness drips

Signaling that tomorrow blood will drip.

ومستقيماتٍ أبوها أعوجٌ

تقوم من طُرْق الوغى على لَقَمْ

And perfectly straight though her sire crooked,

She stands in the paths of turmoil upon slices.

عوَّدتَها الحربَ فما تفِرُقُ ما

أوعيَةُ العليقِ من فُوسِ الُّلجُمْ

You have trained her for war, she does not panic

Like vessels of butter from the striking of minted coins.

وغيره فالتَ أشراكَ الوغى

قبضتَه مكراً بأشراكِ الكَلِمْ

And you cunningly entangled the battle's legs

Grasping it with the legs of words.

جرّدت من فيك له قاطعةً

يوم الحجاج تقتلُ القِرنَ الخصِمْ

You stripped away from yourself for it a cutter

On the day of reckoning that kills the rival's horn.

قال بنو الحرب وقد كتبتها

مالَ على السيفِ وفاءً للقلَمْ

The people of war said, and you wrote it,

It leaned to the sword in loyalty to the pen.

إنّ حِبَاء آنفاً حُبِيتَه

عن المنَى كان كثيرا وعظُمْ

Indeed the gifts you were gifted recently

Were great and plentiful beyond wishes.

لا عنُقٌ جيداءُ طالت طمعا

في مثله قطّ ولا أنفٌ أشمّْ

No graceful neck has longed for its like,

Nor has any nose smelled its scent.

أخلعةٌ عليك أم هديّة

إلى الرياض أهديت من الديَمْ

Are they robes of honor upon you or gifts

You gifted to gardens from rain?

أم من نداك طُبِعتْ ورُصِّعتْ

بجوهر الأخلاق منكَ والشيمْ

Or were they minted and studded from your bounty

With the jewel of manners from you and excellence?

قد كان يُرضى الوزراءَ قبلها

ما أُعطيَ الأتباع منك والخدَمْ

Ministers before were pleased with less

Than what followers gained from you and servants.

ويشكرون ما كسا إذا ضفا

عليهم وما امتُطي إذا كرُمْ

They would thank whatever clothes covered them

If bestowed, and whatever mounts if honored.

ما أُهِّلوا لما ابتنى موسدا

جِلستَهم وما سقَى وما خَتَمْ

They were not qualified for what you built as a seat

For them, or what you served or sealed.

لا الدرَّ لاثوا عِمًّةً قطّ به

ولا النضارَ سحبوا ذيلا وكُمّْ

They never drew out pearls as an aunt's inheritance

Nor pulled the train of a judge's gown.

ولا مشت جيادُهم وخَرَزُ ال

تيجان في الأكفالِ منها واللُّجُمْ

Their steeds' feet never walked with anklets

And necklaces dangling from their necks and temples.

قِيدتْ لهم مركوبةً مجنوبةً

محزَّماتٍ وسوى ذات الحُزُمُ

You bridled for them a trained cross-girded

Mare fully equipped and evenly balanced.

قد كان يُجنَىَ منبِتُ التبرِ لَها

فخلتُها الآن جَنَى البحرِ الخضمّْ

The crop of sabers used to be harvested for it

But you have now left it to reap the harvest of the vast sea.

نُعمى أُحِلَّت بك في محلِّها

ومعشر تَغلَط فيهمُ النَّعَمْ

Blessings have been endowed through you in their stead

And a group you have erred in bestowing blessings.

أعلقَك المجدَ بلا مساجل

عِرْضٌ جميعٌ وثراءٌ مقتَسَمْ

Glory has tied you without contention

Wealth shared and virtues not usurped.

وشيمٌ لم تغتصبها طِيبَها

أبَّهةُ الملكِ وتعظيمُ الأُمَمْ

Of an essence unspoiled by the arrogance of rule

And reverence of nations.

يا ناشر الأمواتِ في إحسانه

ما بالُ حظّي وحده تحت الرَّجَمْ

O reviver of the dead through his grace

Why is my share singled out for stoning?

نبّهتَ أرزاقَ الورى ورزقِيَ ال

نائمُ والتأميلُ فيك لم ينمْ

You have awakened the sustenance of all

While my sustenance sleeps and hoping in you does not sleep.

يقولُ قومٌ وانبسطتُ واصفا

حالي لهم ويعهدوني أحتشِمْ

Some people say as I describe my state to them

And they perceive me as modest.

يقدَمُ فخرُ الملكِ ثمّ تنجلي

غاشيةُ الليل إذا الصبُح قدِمْ

The pride of rule comes first then the overwhelming

Of night recedes when dawn arrives.

فقلت قد أسلفتُه شِكايةً

لو قد وفى لرقَّ منها ورحمْ

So I said I had complained of it earlier

If it had fulfilled, it would have been kind and merciful.

وقد رأى حاليَ قبلَ سيره

لحما كما ترونها على وضَمْ

It had seen my state before its travel

As raw flesh as you now see it skinned.

لكنني استزدته فقال لي

ناصِحهُم إن تستزد فلا جَرَمْ

But I asked it for more so it said to me

"Their adviser - if you ask for more, no doubt

العتبُ ذنبٌ قلت إني تائبٌ

شريطةُ التوبةِ تركٌ وندَمْ

Reproach is a sin". I said "I repent"

On condition repentance is abandonment and regret".