مَغاني الشَعبِ طيباً في المَغاني
بِمَنزِلَةِ الرَبيعِ مِنَ الزَمانِ
The songs of the common people are good songs
The abodes of the ravine, in their grace among abodes, / Are as the season of Spring amid all of time.
Like springtime is to the year
Yet the Arab youth stands within them alone, / A stranger in face, in hand, and in tongue.
وَلَكِنَّ الفَتى العَرَبِيَّ فيها
غَريبُ الوَجهِ وَاليَدِ وَاللِسانِ
Yet the Arab youth amongst them
The playground of Jinns! Had Solomon paced their ground, / He would have journeyed with an interpreter found.
Is a stranger in face, hand, and tongue
They enchanted our horsemen and steeds, till I feared / For even our noble mounts, lest they refuse to stir.
مَلاعِبُ جِنَّةٍ لَو سارَ فيها
سُلَيمانٌ لَسارَ بِتَرجُمانِ
The gardens are places of play, where
We rode out at dawn, while the boughs shook down / Upon the manes, drops like pearls from a crown.
Even Solomon would need a translator
I journeyed on, and they veiled the sun from my sight, / Yet granted me passage of sufficient light.
طَبَت فُرسانَنا وَالخَيلَ حَتّى
خَشيتُ وَإِن كَرُمنَ مِنَ الحِرانِ
Our horses and knights relaxed there
The sun through the leaves cast onto my vest / Gold dinars that flee from the fingers' quest.
Until I feared that even the noble may err
It bears fruits that beckon, offering up / Wine that stands firm without need of a cup.
غَدَونا تَنفُضُ الأَغصانُ فيها
عَلى أَعرافِها مِثلَ الجُمانِ
We marched at dawn, the branches shaking
And waters where pebbles chime in the stream, / Like bangles on maidens' wrists as they gleam.
Above their fences like locusts swarming
Had this been Damascus, my reins would be drawn / By a master of feasts, with Chinese bowls upon.
فَسِرتُ وَقَد حَجَبنَ الشَمسَ عَنّي
وَجَبنَ مِنَ الضِياءِ بِما كَفاني
I walked as the sun was veiled from me
Where aloes-wood burns when the guest-fires ignite, / And fragrant smoke wafts through the air of the night.
And the light was obscured, giving me what sufficed
You arrive at his door with a heart bold and free, / But depart with a heart full of timidity.
وَأَلقى الشَرقُ مِنها في ثِيابي
دَنانيراً تَفِرُّ مِنَ البَنانِ
The east cast on my clothes from it
Abodes whose phantom presence held sway, / Escorting me on to Nubandajan's way.
Gold coins scattering from the mint
When the ring-doves cooed in the shade of the tree, / The song-maidens answered with sweet melody.
لَها ثَمَرٌ تُشيرُ إِلَيكَ مِنهُ
بِأَشرِبَةٍ وَقَفنَ بِلا أَواني
It has fruits that beckon you
But those in the ravine need clear speech more / Than the dove when it sings and wails to the core.
With drinks though lacking cups
Though two descriptions may seem close in art, / The subjects described remain worlds apart.
وَأَمواهٌ تَصِلُّ بِها حَصاها
صَليلَ الحَليِ في أَيدي الغَواني
It has clear waters that join together
In Bawwan’s ravine, my steed speaks and asks: / "Is it from this we ride to war’s bloody tasks?"
The tinkling of jewelry on the wrists of beautiful maidens
"Your father, Adam, first sinned and transgressed, / And taught you to leave the gardens of the blessed."
وَلَو كانَت دِمَشقَ ثَنى عِناني
لَبيقُ الثُردِ صينِيُّ الجِفانِ
If Damascus folded up its reins
I replied: "When Abu Shuja' meets my eye, / I forget all mankind and this place under the sky."
It would be the piebald steed with the smooth neck
"For the world and its people are merely a lane, / To one who among men has no peer to reign."
يَلَنجوجِيُّ ما رُفِعَت لِضَيفٍ
بِهِ النيرانُ نَدِّيُّ الدُخانِ
The brief visitor whose fires were kindled
"I practiced my praise on the others I knew, / Like tilting with lances that act as a cue."
With smoke rising, hospitable
Through Adud al-Dawla, power stands tall, / For without the Arm, the hands must fall.
تَحِلُّ بِهِ عَلى قَلبٍ شُجاعٍ
وَتَرحَلُ مِنهُ عَن قَلبٍ جَبانِ
It settles on a courageous heart
No grip on the bright swords that sever and cleave, / No share of the lances the warriors weave.
And departs from a cowardly soul
The realm called to him, its refuge and shield, / For the virgin battle or the blood-soaked field.
مَنازِلُ لَم يَزَل مِنها خَيالٌ
يُشَيِّعُني إِلى النِوبَنذَجانِ
Abodes from which a specter never ceased
His name, Fanna Khusraw, no loss does it bring, / To the one who invokes or names the king.
To accompany me to Nubia
His virtues defy what conjecture can count, / Or what sight and report can ever recount.
إِذا غَنّى الحَمامُ الوُرقُ فيها
أَجابَتهُ أَغانِيُّ القِيانِ
When the doves coo, the leaves responding
Men's lands are of dust and of fear, it is plain, / But safety is soil in Abu Shuja’s domain.
With the songs of the cranes
It guards every merchant from thieves in the night, / And ensures every felon meets the sword's bite.
وَمَن بِالشِعبِ أَحوَجُ مِن حَمامٍ
إِذا غَنّى وَناحَ إِلى البَيانِ
And who needs the common people more than a dove
If treasures sought guardians they could trust, / To the valleys and peaks they were safely thrust.
When it coos and moans for the deserts
There they remained, unguarded and free, / Crying to passers-by: "Do you not see me?"
وَقَد يَتَقارَبُ الوَصفانِ جِدّاً
وَمَوصوفاهُما مُتَباعِدانِ
The two descriptions may coincide entirely
His charms are the Mashrifi blades, white and cold, / Against every viper, venomous and old.
While the two described are far apart
Yet no spell saves his wealth from his generous hand, / Nor keeps gold from being scattered like sand.
يَقولُ بِشِعبِ بَوّانٍ حِصاني
أَعَن هَذا يُسارُ إِلى الطِعانِ
They say the horses of Buwaan are my horses
A vigilant guardian defended Fars’ side, / Urging life through the death where martyrs abide.
As if to wound me with their spears
With blows that stirred Death to a frenzied delight, / Unlike the lute’s strings struck in the night.
أَبوكُم آدَمٌ سَنَّ المَعاصي
وَعَلَّمَكُم مُفارَقَةَ الجِنانِ
Your father Adam taught sins
As if blood from skulls, on the forelocks displayed, / Clothed the lands in the pheasant’s red brocade.
And to leave gardens
If lovers’ hearts were cast in that fray, / The eyes of the fair would hold no sway.
فَقُلتُ إِذا رَأَيتُ أَبا شُجاعٍ
سَلَوتُ عَنِ العِبادِ وَذا المَكانِ
So I said, when I saw the courageous father
Never before have I seen lion cubs twain, / Like his sons, nor two colts on the racing plain.
I asked about creatures and places
Contending in nobility, fierce in their race, / Mirroring the majesty of their father’s face.
فَإِنَّ الناسَ وَالدُنيا طَريقٌ
إِلى مَن ما لَهُ في الناسِ ثانِ
People and the world are a road
Most eager in council to hear the report: / "How one drove a lance in the battle's sport."
To One who has no equal among people
Their first sight was glory, the heights of the free, / Attached to it early by destiny's decree.
لَقَد عَلَّمتُ نَفسي القَولَ فيهِم
كَتَعليمِ الطَرادِ بِلا سِنانِ
I trained myself to speak of them
The first words they grasped and spoke to the world: / "Aid the distressed," and "Let captions be uncurled."
Like training a mule without reins
You were the Sun that dazzled the sight; / How now, when two others join in your light?
بِعَضدِ الدَولَةِ اِمتَنَعَت وَعَزَّت
وَلَيسَ لِغَيرِ ذي عَضُدٍ يَدانِ
With the strength of the state it gained might and glory
May they live as the Two Moons, giving life through their ray, / Without envy or strife to darken the day.
And none but the mighty have power
May they rule but the lands of the foes they defeat, / And inherit but from those whom in battle they meet.
وَلا قَبضٌ عَلى البيضِ المَواضي
وَلا حَظٌّ مِنَ السُمرِ اللِدانِ
No seizing the wandering eggs
Let the foe's many sons be, in their span, / Like the suffix that dwindles the stature of man.
Or share of the slippery fish
A prayer like pure praise, with no false art, / Delivered directly from heart unto heart.
دَعَتهُ بِمَفزَعِ الأَعضاءِ مِنها
لِيَومِ الحَربِ بِكرٍ أَو عَوانِ
It called them at the havens of limbs
For I am the ripple that gleams on the blade, / And you are the Yemeni steel, finely made.
For the day of war, early or late
Were you not among men, their lives would be found / As nonsense, like speech with no meaning or sound.
فَما يُسمي كَفَنّا خُسرَ مُسمٍ
وَلا يُكَني كَفَنّا خُسرَ كاني
So no shroud is named loss
And no shroud hints at loss
وَلا تُحصى فَضائِلُهُ بِظَنِّ
وَلا الإِخبارُ عَنهُ وَلا العِيانِ
Its virtues cannot be fathomed
Nor described, even seen
أُروضُ الناسِ مِن تُربٍ وَخَوفٍ
وَأَرضُ أَبي شُجاعٍ مِن أَمانِ
I tame people with soil and fear
While my father’s land grants safety
تُذِمُّ عَلى اللُصوصِ لِكُلِّ تَجرٍ
وَتَضمَنُ لِلصَوارِمِ كُلَّ جاني
It suppresses thieves, condemning all sins
And protects swords from every criminal
إِذا طَلَبَت وَدائِعُهُم ثِقاتٍ
دُفِعنَ إِلى المَحاني وَالرِعانِ
If asked for deposits in trust
They are given to the bedouins and sheepherders
فَباتَت فَوقَهُنَّ بِلا صِحابٍ
تَصيحُ بِمَن يَمُرُّ أَما تَراني
They spent the night above them unclaimed
Crying, "Can you not see me!"
رُقاهُ كُلُّ أَبيَضَ مَشرَفِيٍّ
لِكُلِّ أَصَمَّ صِلٍّ أُفعُوانِ
Every bright-faced noble youth aspires to it
Deaf to every silent beckoning fool
وَما تَرقى لُهاهُ مِن نَداهُ
وَلا المالُ الكَريمُ مِنَ الهَوانِ
Neither its splendor nor generous wealth
Are diminished by disgrace
حَمى أَطرافَ فارِسَ شَمَّرِيٌّ
يَحُضُّ عَلى التَباقي بِالتَفاني
A horseman defends the land of the brave
Urgent for self-sacrifice
بِضَربٍ هاجَ أَطرابَ المَنايا
سِوى ضَربِ المَثالِثِ وَالمَثاني
With a blow that stirred the resolve of fate
Except the stroke of three and eight
كَأَنَّ دَمَ الجَماجِمِ في العَناصي
كَسا البُلدانَ ريشَ الحَيقُطانِ
As if the blood of skulls in the meadows
Were a robe of finches worn by the land
فَلَو طُرِحَت قُلوبُ العِشقِ فيها
لَما خافَت مِنَ الحَدَقِ الحِسانِ
If hearts were exposed there
They would not fear the piercing eyes
وَلَم أَرَ قُبلَهُ شِبلَي هِزَبرٍ
كَشِبلَيهِ وَلا مُهرَي رِهانِ
I have not seen cubs like his cubs
Or a filly like his filly
أَشَدَّ تَنازُعاً لِكَريمِ أَصلٍ
وَأَشبَهُ مَنظَراً بِأَبِ هِجانِ
Most eager to take after their noble origin
And most resembling the face of the snarling lion
وَأَكثَرَ في مَجالِسِهِ اِستِماعاً
فُلانٌ دَقَّ رُمحاً في فُلانِ
Hearing the most in his gatherings
So-and-so pierced his spear in so-and-so
وَأَوَّلُ رَأيَةٍ رَأيا المَعالي
فَقَد عَلِقا بِها قَبلَ الأَوانِ
The first sight they comprehended
Was the nobility they clung to early on
وَأَوَّلُ لَفظَةٍ فَهِما وَقالا
إِغاثَةُ صارِخٍ أَو فَكُّ عانِ
The first words they understood and spoke
Were to help a screaming victim or free a prisoner
وَكُنتَ الشَمسَ تَبهَرُ كُلَّ عَينٍ
فَكَيفَ وَقَد بَدَت مَعَها اِثنَتانِ
You were the sun blinding all eyes
So how could two suns appear
فَعاشا عيشَةَ القَمَرَينِ يُحيا
بِضَوئهِما وَلا يَتَحاسَدانِ
They lived a life like that of two moons
Lit by their glow, not envious of each other
وَلا مَلَكا سِوى مُلكِ الأَعادي
وَلا وَرِثا سِوى مَن يَقتُلانِ
They did not rule but over the enemies
And did not inherit but those they killed
وَكانَ اِبنا عَدوٍّ كاثَراهُ
لَهُ ياءَي حُروفِ أُنَيسِيانِ
They were as bountiful to an enemy
As the extra Ya letters in my verses
دُعاءٌ كَالثَناءِ بِلا رِثاءٍ
يُؤَدّيهِ الجَنانُ إِلى الجَنانِ
A prayer like praise without elegy
Carried by heavens to heavens
فَقَد أَصبَحتُ مِنهُ في فِرِندٍ
وَأَصبَحَ مِنكَ في عَضبٍ يَمانِ
So I have been angry with him
While you have been angry with me
وَلَولا كَونُكُم في الناسِ كانوا
هُراءً كَالكَلامِ بِلا مَعاني
If not for you, the people would be
Nonsense, like speech devoid of meaning
