يا مَنْ أغارُ عليه من غلائِله
ومَنْ أرِقُّ عليه من خلاخلِهِ
O you whom I envy for his intimacies,
And for whom I stay awake because of his worries,
أما تغار على ودِّي لصحبتهِ
أما ترقُّ لقبي من بلابلِهِ
Do you not envy my devotion to his companionship?
Do you not stay awake for fear over what might befall me?
ظبيٌ يرى كُلَّ وجهٍ من مَخاتلنا
ونَدَّريه فنعْمى عن مَخاتِلِهِ
A gazelle who sees the faces of our hunters from all sides,
And we drive it until it surrenders itself to them,
نحتالُ فيه فينجو من حبائلنا
ونحن نَنْشَبُ تترى في حَبائلِهِ
We outwit it until it escapes our snares,
While we get tangled up in its traps.
فظٌّ نُميط الأذى عنه فيُتعسنا
وليس في السيفِ عفوٌ عن صياقلِهِ
A fierce one who wards off harm from it, so he angers us,
The sword has no pardon for those it strikes.
لا تعجبا أن دمعاً فاض عن حُرَقِ
ماء أفاضته نارٌ من مراجلِهِ
No wonder a tear poured down from burning,
Water poured out by a fire from its boiler.
أراق دمعي هوى ظبيٍ أراق دمي
يا للقَتيل بكى منْ حُبِّ قاتلِهِ
My tear flowed from the love of a gazelle, my blood
By the slain, who cried for the love of his killer!
ما للمُعنَّى مُلَقّىً من عَواذِله
ما يستحقُّ المُعَنِّي من عَواذلهِ
The meaning has no gifts to match its virtues,
Just as the conveyor does not merit gifts equal to it.
إن الوزيرَ غدا وَصّالَ قاطِعِه
فاعمدْ إليه ودعْ قطّاع واصلِهِ
When the vizier comes to visit tomorrow, head to him
And leave those who sever ties and their causes.
يَمِّم أبا الصقرِ إن اللَّه فَضَّلَهُ
وفات كل نظيرٍ في فضائلِهِ
Aim Abu al-Saqr, for God has graced him,
And he surpasses all peers in his virtues.
من كُلّ طُولٍ وطَوْلٍ في شمائله
وكلّ جودٍ وجَوْدٍ في أناملِهِ
In every long and extended line of his features,
And all generosity and open-handedness of his fingers,
إذا ارتدى السيف لم يُمسكْ بقائمهِ
ليستقلَّ ولم يخططْ بسافلِهِ
When he dons the sword, he does not grasp its sheath,
He rises without needing to gird it round his waist.
سيفٌ تردّاه سيفٌ غيرُ ذي طَبَعٍ
كأنما الرمحُ يمشي في حمائلِهِ
A sword he unsheathes, unlike an unrefined sword,
As if the spear walks amongst its litter.
لا شيءَ أقربُ حَيناً من مُناضِلِه
أو من مُطاعنه أو من منازلِهِ
Nothing is closer at times than his opponent,
Or his thrusts or his assaults.
من لا يرى المال إلا هَمَّ خازنهِ
ولا يرى الزادَ إلا ثِقْل آكلِهِ
One who sees wealth only as a worry for its keeper,
And food only as a burden upon its consumer,
مما حفظناه من أمثال حكمتِه
لن يملكَ المال إلا كفُّ باذلِهِ
Of the wisdoms we have retained,
Only the palm of the giver owns wealth.
مَنْ كُلُّ كُفءٍ فقيرٌ من فضائلهِ
وكل عافٍ غنيٌّ من فواضلِهِ
Everyone lacking in merit is poor in virtue,
While the chaste is wealthy in overflowing virtue.
خِرْقٌ يشحُّ على صُغَرى محامِدِهِ
كيما يشح على كُبرى طوائلِهِ
A stingy one who is miserly with the smallest of his praise,
As he is miserly with the greatest of his treasures.
غيرانُ حينَ يحامي عن مكارمهِ
كالليث كادحَ ليثاً عن حلائلِهِ
Protective when defending his noble deeds,
Like a lion defending its cubs.
تلقاه عند مُبارة النظير له
كالسّيلِ دافعَ سيلاً عن مَسايلِهِ
You will find him, when competing with a peer,
Like a torrent driving back a torrent from its course.
مُنابذٌ لأعاديه وثروتِه
كلا الفريقين يُرمَى في مَقاتلِهِ
Turning away from his enemies and wealth—
Both groups are discarded in his battles.
يُكشّفُ الدهرَ عنه في تصرُّفِه
عن مُنصُلٍ قَلَعيٍّ من مناصِلِهِ
Fate exposes him in his disposition,
Like an Indian sword freed from its scabbard.
كأنه بين أحوالٍ تَدَاوَلُهُ
بدرٌ تهاداه شتّى من مَغازلِهِ
As if he is passed between conditions that take turns with him,
Like a full moon courted from all its stages.
أحيا به اللَّهُ قوماً بعد هُلكهمُ
وأهلك اللَّه قوماً في غوائلِهِ
God gave life through him to a people after their destruction,
And God destroyed a people through their own transgressions.
كالبحرِ أروى بني الدنيا وأغرقهم
فهم رِواءٌ وغَرْقى في سواحلِهِ
Like the sea, he quenched the people of the world, and drowned them—
They are given drink, while drowned in its coasts.
أضحى الملوكُ وأضحينا نحمّلُهُ
تحميل منْ ليس يُخشى وهْيُ كاهلِهِ
Kings have become guests, and we are the hosts who burden him
With the burdening of one whose shoulder strength is never feared.
عليه أثقالُ أمرِ اللَّهِ يحملُها
والناس يا لَكَ من عبءٍ وحاملِهِ
Upon him are the heavy burdens of God's command that he carries,
While people say, "What a burden upon its carrier!"
كأنه وحدَه جيشٌ له لَجَبٌ
صواهل الأرض شتى من صواهلِهِ
It is as if he alone is an army, one with ferocious courage,
As if all of earth’s plains shook from his ferociousness.
فللرعاة أَحاظٍ من نصائحِهِ
وللرعايا أَحاظٍ من نوافِلِهِ
So the shepherds have shares of his advice,
And the flock have shares of his voluntary good deeds.
ترى دعاويَ قومٍ فوق حاصلِهِم
وما دعاويه إلا دونَ حاصلِهِ
You see the claims of people above their worth,
While his claims are only below his worth.
للأريحية مشيٌ في مفاصلِه
وليس للراح مشيٌ في مفاصلِهِ
For the gentle is a gait in their joints,
While the lame has no gait in their joints.
ذو الفضلِ في دهرِه لا عند ناقصهِ
بل عندَ كامِله بل عندَ فاضلِهِ
The virtuous one in his time, not with the deficient,
But with the perfect, or rather the superior.
يا كوكبَ الدهر قِدْماً في غياهبه
يا مَعْلمَ الدهر قدْماً في مَجاهلِهِ
O star of time, step forth into its darkness,
O landmark of time, step forth into its ignorance.
أصبحتَ في الذروةِ العلياء من شرفٍ
منازلُ الناسِ شتّى في أَسافلِهِ
You have reached the highest pinnacle of glory,
While the dwellings of people are diverse in its lowlands.
فَهم أنابيبُ رُمحٍ أنت عاملُهُ
لا بل سنانُ طرسٍ فوقَ عاملِهِ
For they are like the tubes of a spear while you are its worker—
No, but the blade of a lance above its worker.
يا مَعْقِلاً غيرَ مخشيٍّ غوائلُهُ
لمنْ أتته الدواهي من معاقلِهِ
O unassailable refuge for whom dangers approached
From his shelters when disasters came to him from his shelters!
أنت المخاطبُ لا يُهدي لسائلِهِ
سُوءَ استماع ولا يصغي لعاذلِهِ
You are the one addressed—he does not meet a questioner’s plea improperly,
Nor listen to one who reproaches improperly.
أما ترى الدهرَ قد ألقى كلاكله
على امرئٍ بينكم مُلْقَى كلاكلِهِ
Do you not see that fate has cast all its burdens
Upon a man among you, thrown all its burdens?
يا آلَ هَمّامِهِ يا آلَ مُرَّتِهِ
يا آلَ شيبانه يا آلَ وائلِهِ
O family of his worries, O family of his firmness,
O family of his white hair, O family of his virtues!
مالي حُرِمتُ وحُظَّ الناسُ كلُّهُمُ
ممن ذنوبيَ خيرٌ من وسائلِهِ
Why am I forbidden the fortune and share of all the people,
When my sins are better than their methods?
أُعيذُ عدلك أن يُلفَى بحضرتِه
خصمي وحقِّيَ مغلوبٌ بباطلِهِ
I seek the justice of your rule, that my opponent not be found
In your presence, while my truth is defeated by his falsehood.
ما حَقُّ ميدانِ مجدٍ أنتَ صاحبُهُ
إجراءُ ناهقِهِ قُدّامَ صاهِلِهِ
The field of glory is not deserving that you own it,
Parading his neighing horse in front of one who brays.
سائلْ بيَ الشعرَ إني من مَصاعبهِ
فإن أبيتَ فهبني من أَزامِلِهِ
Ask poetry of me, I am bound up in its difficulties,
But if you refuse, then grant me some of its tools.
أُعيذُ مُزنَك أن يشقَى ببارقهِ
شَيْمي وتسعدُ أقوامٌ بوابِلِهِ
I seek refuge in your glory, that its lightning not strike
My audacity, while people prosper through its rain.
