ديارَ شعري سقاكِ السعد ماطرَه
ما أحسن الحيّ عادَ الأنس زائره
The rain of good fortune watered the abode of my poetry,
How good is the living when intimacy returns as a visitor!
يا عائدين بمغناهم إلى أفقٍ
عوْدَ النجوم جلت عن دياجرَه
O you who return with their songs to the horizon,
The stars shone brightly when you returned to its chambers.
محبّكم جامع الأشواق مالئةً
أشواقه في صميم القلب فاطرَه
Your lover gathered longings overflowing
His longings in the heart’s core that created them.
يا رُبَّ ليلٍ بطيءِ الصبح بعدكم
قد باتَ فيه صريع الجفن ساهره
O lord of a slow night after you
In it, the eyelid’s captive remained awake.
أبلى له السقمُ لمَّا طالَ بعدكم
جسماً أبى العهدُ أن يبلي سرائره
Sickness weakened him when you were long absent,
A body that refused to age its secrets.
حتَّى غدا بخمارِ القربِ في طربٍ
بعد البعاد الذي قد كان خامره
Until he returned in joy with the wine of nearness
After the separation that had worried him.
يا حبَّذا القلب خفَّاقاً بعشقتكم
ما كانَ أيمنَ في العشَّاق طائره
How wonderful a heart fluttering with love for you!
No bird was luckier among lovers in flight.
ما كان أولى بسبقِ الدَّمع يذكر لو
قد أخطرت لمعاتُ البرق خاطره
No tears were more deserving to flow in remembrance if
Flashes of lightning stirred his thoughts.
عشْ يا وزير التقى والبرّ محتوياً
في الأجرِ والدكر أولاهُ وآخره
Live long, minister of piety and righteousness, fulfilled
In reward and remembrance, he began and ended it.
ويا سليمانَ ملكٍ في سيادته
لا ينبغي لسريٍّ أن يسايره
And O Solomon, sovereign in his rule
To whom no secret dares to profess equality.
لو صوَّر الشام شخصاً كنت صاحبه
وجامع الشام وجهاً كنت ناظره
If Damascus were imagined as a person, you would be its companion,
And the collector of Damascus, its overseer.
عمرت من ذا وذا صرحين قد شكرا
يقظان من ذا الذي لم يمس شاكره
You built two palaces, which offered thanks,
Awake, who is this sleeper that no grateful one touched?
فمن رآكَ وآثاراً ظهرت بها
رأى سليمانَ واسْتجلى عمائره
Whoever sees you and the monuments made clear through you
Sees Solomon and beholds his buildings.
في جامع الشام أركانٌ مصدرةٌ
تملي الثنا واردَ المعنى وصادِرِه
In the Damascus Mosque are glistening pillars
That inspire poetry and initiate its meanings.
سعادة لحظت أركان مستلمٍ
قد كادَ بعدك أن تدمي محاجره
Good fortune beheld the pillars of an establisher
Who almost made its stones weep after you.
وفي المحاريب من نص التقى سيرٌ
كادت ترنح من عجب منابره
In the niches, the practice of piety has a tradition
Its platforms almost swayed in awe.
وفي أعاليه سرجٌ من محامدكم
قبل القناديل تستعلي منائره
In its heights, praise of you is a lamp
That ascends above the oil lamps.
وفي حمى الشام والدُّنيا لواحدها
ذكرٌ يعرّف عرف المسك ذاكره
In protecting Damascus and the land, they are one,
A remembrance that reveals the scent of musk in its protector.
أرضى بها الله والسلطان ذو قلم
بالخير أعيى ابن سهل أن يحابره
May God and the Sultan, whose pen
Brought goodness, be pleased with it. Ibn Sahl cannot compete with it
حيث الرَّعية والديوان قد مدحا
ممدَّحاً خصَّت العليا مآثره
Where people and government praised
The one praised, his supreme qualities singled him out.
شمْ في العلى فضله والجود جعفره
والنسك عمَّاره والعزم عامره
Inhale in the Highest his excellence and generosity Jafar,
And the devotion of his reconstruction and determination its restoration.
كم باب نصرٍ وكم باباً إلى فرجٍ
فتحت يا فائزَ المسعى وظافرَه
How many doors of victory and doors to relief
You opened, O winner of the race and the one who attained it.
زكت عناصر مولانا وأردفها
فضلٌ فأول ما زكى عناصره
The elements of our Master were purified
And a favor followed them, so the first thing it purified was his elements.
تقوى مخافتها لله خوَّف من
ذكراه أسدَ الفيافي أن تجاوره
Fear of God frightened it, frightening
The lions of wastelands from settling near it.
وهمَّة ركبت شهب النجوم فما
يسطاع بهرام أفق أن يسايره
And an aspiration rode the meteors of stars, so
The horizons cannot equal it.
وجود كفَّين في سرٍّ وفي علنٍ
لا تجسر المزنُ أيضاً أن تكاثره
Generosity from two concealed and revealed hands
Daring cannot compete with it.
ثنى عن العرضِ الأدنى به بصراً
ثنى إلى الجوهرِ الأعلى بصائره
He averted his gaze from the lowest temptation
And turned his insights to the highest essence.
فليهنه الذكر سيار المديح له
إن قيلَ ما اخْترتَ منه قلتُ سائره
So let praise, the traveler of eulogy for him
Delight him. If asked what I chose from it, I say all of it.
والأجر كم جائع عار يقولُ لقد
أصلحتَ باطنَ ملهوفٍ وظاهره
And how much hungry honor says you mended
The inside and outside of an anxious one.
وكم صنائع معروفٍ تقول ألا
ما كانَ أربحَ في الصنفين تاجره
And how much good crafts say, is there not
More profitable merchandise among the two types than its merchant?
فلتهنه خلعٌ دامت مبشرة
بيمنه منصباً أضحى مباشره
So let him be delighted by robes that remain
Good omened through appointment which actualized it.
بيضاً وخضراً كأنَّ الطيلسان بها
غيمٌ سقى الرَّوضَ فاسْتجلى أزاهره
White and green, as if the brocade by them
Were clouds that watered the garden and made its flowers shine.
شعار نعم وزير قد دعوه إلى
نعم البيوت فوفَّاه شعائره
The slogan of the minister’s blessings called him
To the blessed homes, so he completed its rituals.
مدَّ البنان بأقلامٍ لها نعمٌ
لمثلها يعقد المثني خناصره
He extended his fingertips, which had blessings,
To which the doubled join their wrists.
أغصان رزق لديه أو نجوم هدًى
فقل أزاهره أو قل زواهره
Branches of sustenance with him, or stars of guidance,
So say its flowers, or say its shining stars.
يا فائض البحر من جودٍ ومن كرمٍ
أن شئت كامله أو شئت وافره
O overflowing sea of generosity and nobility,
If you will, perfect it, or if you will, make it abundant.
يا ذا البراعة من أسعفت مدحته
لقد أعدْت إلى بحرٍ جواهره
O you of skill, when I praised him in eulogy
I prepared for a sea its pearls.
يا من تقول البرايا حين أمدحهُ
قد أفردَ الله ممدوحاً وشاعره
O you who say to the open country when I praise him
God singled out the praised and the poet.
خذها عجالة منْ نوَّرت في مدحٍ
بالنورِ أسطرَه والنوْر خاطره
Take it quickly from one who illuminated
Its lines with light, and light his thoughts.
لئن نشرت على دهرِي قصائده
لقد طويت على حبٍّ ضمائره
If I publish his eulogies over my lifetime
I have folded love for him in my conscience.
