شغْلي عن الرّبع أن أُسائلَه

وأن أطيلَ البُكاء في خَلَقِهْ

My preoccupation from the quarters is to ask about them

My preoccupation keeps me from questioning the campsite,

And to prolong weeping in their presence

Or prolonging my weeping over its worn traces.

بالسجن والقيد والحديد وما

يُنقضُ عند القيام من حلَقِهْ

With prison, shackles, iron and what

Consumed by prison, shackles, and iron, and the sound

Would be removed at the time of standing from its ring

Of rings that clank whenever I attempt to rise.

في كل لصٍّ إذا خلوتُ به

حدَّث عن جحده وعن سرَقِهْ

In every thieves when I was alone with him

Surrounded by every thief who, when I am alone with him,

He talked about his unbelief and about his theft

Speaks only of his denials and his thievery.

لو خُلقت رجله كهامته

إذاً لبارى البُزاةَ في طلَقِهْ

If his leg was created like his worry

If his feet were fashioned to match his cunning head,

Then he would have surpassed the spies in their speed

He would surely race the falcons in his escape.

بدّلت جيرانه وبِلْيته

في خطّ كفّ الأمير من ورَقِهْ

I changed his neighbors and his afflictions

I have exchanged my neighbors and my ordeal

In the line of the prince's palm from his paper

For the stroke of the Prince’s palm upon his parchment.

يا أيها السيد الهمام أبا ال

عباس والمستعاذُ من حَنَقِهْ

O the honorable master, Abu Al-Abbas, and the one seeking refuge from his wrath

O gallant master, Abu al-Abbas,

I mean the prince, who by his awe

You from whose wrath one seeks refuge;

أعني الأمير الذي لهيبته

يخفق قلب الرضيع في خِرَقِهْ

The heart of the infant flutters in its wrap

I mean the Prince, for whose imposing awe

The one who shows justice among his subjects

The heart of the infant trembles within his swaddle.

المظهر العدل في رعيته

والمعتدى حلمه على نزقِهْ

And the transgressor, his patience on his annoyance

He who manifests justice among his subjects,

When I examined him, I saw for him

Whose clemency prevails over his sudden anger.

لما تأملته رأيت له

مجداً تضلُّ الصفات في طرقِهْ

Glories in which attributes go astray in its ways

When I gazed upon him, I beheld a glory

I looked from his nature to the king

In whose vast paths all descriptions go astray.

نظرت من طبعه إلى ملك

يغضى حماة الشآم من خُلُقِهْ

Protectors of Damascus frown from his ethics

I saw within his nature a kingly spirit,

If you do not see his bloodshed with his power

Before whose character the guardians of Syria lower their gaze.

لو ما ترى سفكه بقدرته

كان دم العالمين في عنقِهْ

The blood of both worlds would be in his neck

Were it not for the blood he sheds by his power,

O you when the imam denied through him

The blood of all the worlds would hang upon his neck.

يا من إذا استنكر الإمام به

مات جميع الأنام من فرقِهْ

All the people died of his separation

O you, whom if the Imam employs in his displeasure,

Every day he moves to a work

All of mankind would perish from sheer terror.

في كل يوم يسرى إلى عملٍ

في عسكر لا يُرى سوى حدقِهْ

In an army that is seen only its pupils

Each day he marches forth to some great deed,

The ground burns from his lightnings

Amidst an army where nothing is seen but eyes.

تشتعل الأرض من بوارقه

ناراً وتنبو السيوف عن درَقِهْ

Fire, and the swords shine from his armors

The earth ignites from the lightning of his steel

The heat has affected his beauty

Into fire, and swords glance harmlessly off his shield.

قد أثّر القيظ في محاسنه

وفاح ريح العبير من عرقِهْ

And the smell of musk has come out from his sweat

Though the summer heat has marked his fair features,

It is as if the sun has not visited a country

The fragrance of ambergris still wafts from his sweat.

كأنّما الشمس لم تزر بلداً

في الأرض إلّا طلعتَ في أُفُقِهْ

In the land except you have risen on its horizon

It is as if the sun never visited a land

Oh owner of the Emir, in the man

Upon this earth, unless you rose within its horizon.

اللَه يا ذا الأمير في رجل

لم تبق من جسمه سوى رمقِهْ

Nothing remained of his body but his breath

For God's sake, O Prince, have mercy on a man

How much the light of dawn hoped for you tomorrow

Of whose body nothing remains but a dying breath.

كم ضوء صبح رجاك في غده

وجنح ليل دعاك في غَسقِهْ

And the wing of night called upon you in its darkness

How often the light of dawn hoped for you in its morrow,

He called upon you from a whirlpool to save him

And the wing of night called out to you in its dusk.

ناداك من لجّة لتنقذه

من بعد مالا يشكُّ في غرقِهْ

From drowning, of which he does not doubt in his drowning

He cried out to you from the depths to save him,

When he no longer doubted he was sure to drown.