أَنَاديِك عزّ الدّينِ والصوتُ يُسْمَعُ

وأدعوكَ إذْ ضاقتْ بي الأرضُ أجمع

I call to you, ʿIzz al-Din, and my voice can be heard.

I summon you when all the earth has closed in on me.

وأدعُوكَ عز الدين إذ قصرت يدي

وضَاق به صدري وصَدرك أوسع

I call to you, ʿIzz al-Din, when my reach falls short,

and my breast constricts beneath it—while yours is broader.

تَتَبّعني الحسادُ قِدْماً وَلَمْ يَكُنْ

خلاَ أحدق من حاسدٍ يُتَتَبّع

The envious have long pursued me; and none

is keener-eyed than an envier who stalks his prey.

وجاءت من المملوك نحو رقعة

يكاد لها صُمُّ الجبال تصَدّعُ

Then from the mamluk came a certain note

at which the solid mountains might well split.

فصرتُ إلى سجن به كنتُ اشتهي

عدوَّك تجزيه مقيل ومضجع

And so I came to a prison I would have wished

upon your enemy as his midday lodging and his bed.

وأوحشني سجانُه وأحَلنَّي

محلاً به خدي على التربِ يوضع

Its jailer made me desolate and lodged me

in a place where my cheek is laid upon the dust.

وأمسيتُ لا الليلُ الدجوجي ينجلي

بحالٍ وَلاَ الصبحُ المشرقُ يَسطُع

I pass my evenings so that neither the pitch-dark night clears

nor the radiant morning rises.

أبيت كأني ساورتني ضئيلة

من الرقش في أنيابها السَّمُ مُنْقعُ

I lie awake as though a slender viper has assailed me,

one of the speckled kind, its fangs steeped in venom.

أسامِرُ قوماً ضامرين من الطَّوى

ضعافُ القوىَ أنفاسُهم تتقطع

I keep company with men wasted by hunger,

their strength so frail their breaths break off.

حيارى بمهجور الجوانب مظلمٍ

يَظَلّ به مِنْهم على الترب أذرع

Bewildered in a dark place, forsaken on every side,

some of their forearms lie outstretched upon the dust.

إذا أنَّ هَذا أنَّ ذاك كأنَّما

حشا ذا وهذا بالكلاليب تُنْزع

Whenever this one groans and that one groans, it is as though

the entrails of each were being torn out with hooks.

فَصرتُ لما بي ثم زاد الذي بهم

شجاني ونكؤُ الجُرح بالجرحِ أوجع

And so, besides what I myself endure, what they endure

deepened my grief—for reopening wound with wound hurts more.

ووَالله ما أحْدَثتُ ذنباً ولا يدي

تمدُّ إلى شيءٍ به الحبلُ يُقطع

By God, I committed no offense, nor did my hand

reach toward anything by which the bond would be severed.

ولا كان منّي ما يُعابُ وأننّي

لأَفْزَعُ مِن مَرِّ الرياح وأجزع

Nothing blameworthy ever came from me; indeed,

I startle and tremble even at the passing of the winds.

فيا عزَّ دين الله صوتَ مُثوَّبٍ

له منك حتى لا يصدع اضيع

O Glory of God’s faith, this is a caller’s voice

addressed to you, before it cries aloud, “I am lost!”

ويا عز دين الله صوت مثوب

له فيك مدحٌ كالفريد مُرصّعٌ

O ʿIzz al-Din of God, a caller’s voice

containing praise of you, set like a peerless jewel.

أغِثْني بجاهٍ منك أوْ بشفاعةٍ

فإنك واللهِ الشفيعُ المشفّعُ

Rescue me by your standing, or through intercession,

for, by God, you are the intercessor whose plea prevails.

ومن لم يجد ظلاً ظليلاَ يُكِنُّه

فلي منك يا سيفَ المماليك مَقنَعُ

Whoever cannot find deep shade to shelter him

has in you, Sword of the Realms, a refuge that suffices.

وخلْفي أهلٌ لو سمعتَ عويلُهم

لأشجاكَ منهم ما تراه وتسمع

Behind me are my family—if you heard their wailing,

what you saw and heard of them would grieve you.

وشيخٌ حَنَتْه النائبَاتُ وحَولَه

عجوزٌ لها دمعٌ وللشيخ أدمعُ

And an old man bent by calamities, beside him

an old woman with tears—and the old man weeps still more.

وأطفالُ دارٍ لو تغيَّبتُ ليلةً

عَوُوا كذئاب البيْد إذ هي جوّع

And the children of a household—were I absent one night,

they would howl like desert wolves when hungry.

وما لهم كافٍ سواي وكافلٍ

أذبُّ الأذى عنهم وإن غِبتُ ضُيُّعوا

They have no provider besides me, no guardian;

I ward harm from them, and if I am gone, they are lost.

تذكّر ثنائي عَنك وَارْثِ لضيقتي

فقد يرُحم المستأسرُ المُتضَرِّعُ

Remember my praise of you, and pity my distress;

a pleading captive may yet be shown mercy.

لعلّ من المولى الأتابك عطفةٌ

يضَمُّ بها شملي الشتيتَ ويجْمَعُ

Perhaps the lord Atabeg will grant a kindness

that gathers my scattered family and reunites it.

فما زلن أحلاَمُ الملوك وسيعةٌ

وإن كثر الواشون قولاً ووسَّعوا

The forbearance of kings has never ceased to be ample,

though informers multiply their accusations and enlarge them.

أجرني كفاك الله كلَّ مهمّةٍ

فما زلت للخيرات مذ كنتُ تزرع

Deliver me—may God spare you every hardship—

for you have always sown deeds of goodness.

وعِش الفَ عامٍ في السعادة ما سَرى

نسيمٌ وما باتت حمائم تسجَعُ

Live a thousand years in happiness, as long as

a breeze travels and doves spend the night cooing.