ليهْنك لبس المِهرجان وإن غدا

تُهنِّئه الدنيا بأنك لابسُهْ

Let your wearing of festival clothes delight you, even if the world tomorrow congratulates you for wearing them,

And that you are a pillar of the kingdom and the king whose standards kings’ measures fall short of,

وأنك ركنُ الملك والملِك الذي

تطول مقاييسَ الملوك مقَايسُهْ

And it congratulates you that no glory remains which you aspire to that your hands cannot attain, and that no palm remains to compete with it,

And that you have subdued misfortunes so that they submit to your might, so that no calamity remains which it can confront.

ويَهنيك أنْ لم يبقَ مجدٌ ترومُهُ

يداك وأن لم تبق كف تُنافسه

For preoccupations have left you vacant, and blessed is your vacancy from the judgments you were conducting.

Indeed, such leisure is for the likes of you, for it is the rehearsal of knowledge whose rehearsals do not pall.

وأنك ذلَّلت الخطوبَ فأذعنتْ

لعزِّك حتى ليس خَطْبٌ يمارسه

There remains in your self something that sparks and nothing can rival the striking of the flint of knowledge.

And a generous largesse whose wealth does not cease, its bounties given unstintingly and its rarities.

فقد فرَّغتك الشاغلاتُ وحبَّذا

فَراغُك من أحكام ما أنت سائسه

For every boon companion, the days of his life and the radiance of his face,

One day is overcast, another bright and sunny.

ألا فالْهُ لهوَ المرء مثلِك إنهُ

مُدارسُ علمٍ لا تُملُّ مَدارسه

All enjoy your hospitality, and indeed only the produce of palms is sweet whose roots are sweet.

And the taking of a share of listening, when the cares of the anxious youth are deadened by it.

تظل له من ذاتِ نفسك قادِحاً

وليس يُداني قادحَ العلم قابسه

The melodies of the world move you when its singers compete,

And the drinking of wine whose draughts God has declared lawful, to which bow the prime of youth and the obstinate.

وبذل كريم ليس ينفكُّ مالُهُ

كرائمُهُ مبذولةٌ ونفائسه

Colored by the vine are types, but for its darkening them would cover it a yellow shirt and its woof.

Its drinkers have voluntarily kindled its fire, and the body of fire is no body that one can touch.

لكل جليسٍ من يديه ووجهه

يدَ الدهرِ يومٌ غائمُ الجو شامسه

For it experienced the pain of cooking in days of old until its disgrace was stripped away from it and the doubts about it disappeared,

Then it stood in the abjection of lowliness until its clothes were crumpled away from its purity and its clothes.

تطيب مَجانيه جميعاً وإنما

تطيب مجاني من تطيب مَغارسه

And it was brought as a bride to the drinking of beneficence, so they held high festival which no ill-omened thing attended

And which encompassed on the horizon of the sky its good fortune, and on the earth its generosities and bells.

وأخذٌ بحظٍّ من سماعٍ إذا التقى

وهمُّ الفتى المهموم ماتت هَواجِسه

In the presence of a king whose might refuses vainglory, and who is adorned by both his intimates and his court.

He has a tranquility which if it touched stone would cause water to spring from its sides, and the withered to leaf.

تسيرُ بك الدنيا إذا ما تَنازَعتْ

نَواطقُة ألحانَهُ وخوارسُه

If his face, opinion or action shine radiantly in a night whose thick darknesses dazzle,

He espied the right course and proper hearing, while his judgments and estimations remain correct.

وشربُ شَمول أطلق اللَهُ شُربَها

تَدين لها بِكرُ الشباب وعانِسه

Two noble qualities tremble the generous man over them, as the fir trembled which resisting axes cut down.

When they tempt the soul of a well-fashioned man with loss and gain or the love of death that engulfs him.

من الكُمت ألواناً ولولا اصْطِلاؤها

عَلاها قميصٌ أصفر اللون وارِسه

But he resisted them for glory, for were his soul not aroused for a glory above which it rises he would not resist them,

And neither the sea, nor the seas with their depths, nor the lion, nor the lions with their cubs.

وقَتْ شاربيها النارَ عمداً بنفسها

وما كان جسمُ النار جسماً تُلامسه

More truthful in his generosity in every crisis, and more valiant when the trembling of his steed’s legs shake his horsemen,

By him the age, however much it is dispraised, hopes- his beseecher and his despairer.

فقاست أليمَ الطبخ يوماً مُكَمَّلاً

يخالسُها أجزاءها وتُخالسه

Tomorrow he will attain what he will attain, even if what of glory he already has would suffice him

But he refuses except to act with its like when an inheritance that guards the inheritance is lost.

فلما تجلَّى حِلُّها من حرامها

وزالت عن المرتاب فيها وساوسه

So cease, you who speak ill, to extinguish his light- but that is a light whose wicks you cannot snuff,

You have attained the star so extinguish it! How can you attain it? And if you attained it you would not leave unextinguished.

ثوتْ في قَرار الدَنِّ حتى تهلهلت

ملابسُها عنِ صَفْوها وملابسه

Abu Ahmad, still your glory remains a morsel that chokes every envious or evasive rival.

I swear you are the speaker, the doer, who tomorrow glory will be confined by its fetters.

وزُفَّت إلى شَربِ كرام فمهْرجوا

بها مِهْرجاناً غاب عنه مَناحسه

When your peer attains his peer, your peer is as the star- touch it and you violate its taboo!

You have attained the mounts of the world and are not like the ruled is to you the ruler.

وحَفَّته في أفقِ السماءِ سُعودُهُ

وفي الأرض خِيريَّاته ونَراجسه

Indeed, many a saying you have said, O Ibn Tahir, by which after tumult its echoes resound,

And deed the doers saw you do, so they bent their necks abased, each humbled before you.

لدى ملك يأبَى له الزَّهوَ قَدْرُهُ

ويُزهَى به جُلاسه ومَجالسه

After it speech is ashamed, so that those adept at speech fall silent,

Until speech leaves the mute inept.

له راحة لو مستِ الصخر أنبعت

جوانبُه ماءً وأورق يابسه

To action every doer is urged so that all of them circle back to it wearing it.

I am amazed by him who gifts you poetry as a present yet speaks poetry while beneath you in rank.

إذا وجهُهُ أو رأيُهُ أو فَعالُهُ

تبلَّجن فيِ ليلٍ تجلّتْ حَنادِسه

Does he gift you poetry after hearing by your poetry, except one inattentive of heart and sleepy?

You who can summon speech by power so that diffident speech comes to you familiar.

رأى الراح قدْماً والسماع ولم تزل

مسدَّدةً آراؤُهُ ومَحادسه

Is that not so? Or does the stumbler in resolution spurn it from you, after seeing your gifts?

You who have cleared the way for bounty until its path smiled, like a downpour that laughs at thickly planted meadows.

شعارَين يهتز الكريمُ عليهما

كما اهتزَّ صَمْصَامٌ جلتْه مَداوِسه

Barriers all but bar poetry from you when it measures itself one day against your poetry, unequal.

So it hies with joy that there is no seller of praise when it sees you, though you drive a hard bargain against it.

إذا خامرا نفسَ امرئٍ زيّنا له

سدى أو ندى أو وِرْدَ موتٍ يُغامسه

You who says to its people what debars them from poetry in every manner they have not seen the like of,

And do what summons them to it so that they all recoil to it, donning it again.

فضافاهما للمجد لا أن نفسهُ

إذا لم يَهزّاها لمجدٍ تُشاكسه

So their leaving it is an avowal of selves that you are beyond mankind and jinn a horseman.

And their speaking it gratitude you lead them to by deed no base souls have dared.

وما البحر أضحى والبحارُ شعابه

ولا الليث أمسى والليوثُ فرَائسه

Customs of honor that arouse gratitude when firstborn, how can gratitude slumber when honor is watchful?

Though the best of saying from them is from you and from your traces- their fervid fancy takes its heading.

بأصدق جوداً منه في كل أزمة

وبأساً إذا ما الروْع ريعت فَوارسه

Who learned what you have said and done, so the produce of the planting you planted gave its harvest.

Even if the enemies are unwilling to allow you your share, it is plentiful share, undiminished by rivalry,

به أعتب الدهرُ المذمَّم أهله

فأثَّل راجيه وَأَمَّل يائسه

And even if the unjust belittle your due, it is a weighty due, not unjustly depreciated.

So live forever in humble life and fortune, even if opposed by one of discordant hatred.

غدا يَبتني ما يبتني ولو اكتفى

كفاه من المجد الحديثِ قَدامِسه

You have not ceased to be, on a day you hurl a fleet, for you have many a day hurled its armadas.

And a narrow strait, its glass surfaces gleaming and its Indian blades and spears flashing.

ولكن أبَى إلا فعالاً بمثله

إذا ضاع إرثٌ يحرس الإرثَ حارسه

The swelling waves of death enfolded my brother, yet their tracks were encompassed by streaming defenders.

He came to you letting the dove lead him on though not deterred by those of evil and slanderous natures

فيا قائل السوءَى لتُطفِئَ نورَه

وذلك نورٌ لا تبوخ مَقابسه

Who see me with an eye of delusion and falsehood, as an object of perdition, while the fates haggle over him.

Before he spoke- and the guards were around you, horsemen like a torrent therein are threatening forms,

نَل النجمَ فاطمسْه وأنَّى تنالُه

ولو نلتَه ما خلتُ أنك طامسه

With cries of warriors, of piercing resolves, their chests dense, their sides massy cuirasses.

So his hopes were diminished and plans made vain, though they were such as are not usually vain.

أبا أحمدٍ لا زال مجدك غُصّةً

لكل حسودٍ أو يواريه رامسه

And he was brought to a basin whose roses remained a pact, pouring the water of life while the sea is parching.

How many an object of desire- the death blow stands between it and attainment,

حلفتُ لأنت القائلُ الفاعل الذي

غدا المجدُ محبوساً عليه حَبائسه

And the expectation of a suppliant, disappointment in the promise, abject.

He who jousts with the raging maelstrom to subdue it- the maelstrom will surely subdue him.

يراك إذا نال النظيرُ نظيرَهُ

نَظيرك مثلُ النجم عَزّت مَلامسه

And how many a foe of yours has his death blow tasted from the penetrating blades of death and its hacking swords!

While another- deliverance and granted quarters have rescued him to the innermost quarters of an abode you have surely raided.

رأستَ بني الدنيا وليس بنازل

بمنزلةِ المرؤوس من أنت رائسه

You have busied yourself with the ethics of the age to tame them, so its unruly may be valiant and its wretch grow prosperous.

You have disciplined them like a meadow whose permanent rain has made it fruitful,

ألا رُب قول قلتَهُ يا ابن طاهرٍ

أصاختْ له بعد الهدير قَناعسه

Weeping over it until its frowner breaks into laughter.

Tomorrow between open and fast closed, cowled and turbaned.

وفعل رآك الفاعلون فعلتَهُ

فأغضوا وكلٌّ ذلُّه لك عاكسه

Bowing in prayer to the orb of the sun aslant, their heads inclined to it if the wind has not followed what inclines.

At times the Magians turn to it in worship and at times the Christians humble themselves before its temples.

لك القولُ يستحيي ذوو القول بعدَهُ

من القول حتى يترك النبسَ نابسه

Though its diffusion of light praises God since it remains ever sowing it.

Ever bestowing life, distinguished, guarded, tilted now one way now the other, embraced.

إلى الفعل يَستخذي له كل فاعل

من الناس حتى الأصيد الرأس ناكسه

If no downpour befalls it the dew leaves it verdant, handsome, vying.

When you brought together the daughters of poetry in truth, it befitted brides be revealed to you.

عجبتُ لمن أهدى لك الشعرَ تحفة

ومن قال شعراً وهو دونك خانسه

My poetry has shrunk from all but you- so I have launched it toward you and it clings fast to you.

أيهدي إليك الشعرَ بعد سماعِه

بشعرِك إلا غافِلُ القلب ناعسه

وأنت الذي يدعو الكلامَ بقدرةٍ

فيأتيه وَحْشي الكلام وآنسه

أذلك أم يَزويه عنك وقد رأى

عطاياك إلا عاثرُ الجَدّ ناعِسه

وأنت الذي سحَّ النوالَ بَنانُهُ

كما سحَّ غيثٌ ضاحك المزنِ راجسه

تكاد تعوق الشعرَ عنك عوائق

إذا قاسه يوماً بشعرك قائسه

فيَحدو به أنْ ليس للحمدِ بائع

يراك وإن أغْلى عليك تُماكسه

تقول الذي ينهى عن الشعر أهلَه

بكل طِرازٍ لم يَرَوا ما يجانسه

وتفعل ما يدعو إليه فكلُّهم

يكرُّ عليه عائداً فيُلابسه

فتركهُمُ إياه إقرار أنفُس

بأنك دون الإنس والجن فارِسه

وقولُهُمُ إياه شكر تقودهم

إليه بفعل لم تَشنْه خَسائسه

عوائدُ عُرْفٍ يوقظ الشكرَ نخسُه

وكيف ينام الشكرُ والعرفُ ناخسه

على أنهم مَنْ أحسن القول منهمُ

فمنك ومن آثارِك امتار هاجسه

تعلَّم ما قد قلتَهُ وفعلتهُ

فأهدى جنى الغرس الذي أنت غارسه

لئن نَفِس الأعداءُ حظك إنه

لحَظّ جزيل لا يعنَّف نافسه

وإن بخسَ المُطْرون حقك إنهُ

لحق ثقيل لا يُظلَّم باخسه

فعِش أبداً في خفض عيشٍ وغبطةٍ

وإن رَغمت من ذي شقاقٍ مَعاطسه

ولا زلتَ في يوم ترنُّ قيانه

فكم لك من يوم أرنت معاجِسه

ومعتركٍ ضَنْكٍ تلوح زِجاجُهُ

وتبرقُ هِنْديّاته وقوانسه

شهدت فضلَّت تُرّهاتُ أخي المُنى

وقفَّت على آثارِهن بسَابسه

أتاك مُدِلّاً والحمام يسوقُهُ

ولم تنهه من قالِ سوءٍ عَواطسه

يراني بعينٍ من غرورٍ وباطلٍ

مُنىً من ضلال والمنايا تشاوسه

فلا قال والخَطِّيّ حولك بينه

فوارسه كالغيل فيه عَنابسه

بأرعنَ جرّارٍ عِراضٍ صدورُهُ

كثافٍ نَواحيه ضخام كَرادِسه

فذيدت أمانيه وهنّ خَوامِسٌ

وقد كان ممّا لا تُذاد خوامسه

وأُورد حوضاً ظلَّ عقد وروده

يجود بماء النفس والبحر قالسه

وكم من مُنى حالَ المَنَى دون نيلها

وظنِّ مدلٍّ خاس بالعهد خائِسه

ومَنْ قامَسَ الحوتَ الملجِّج مرةً

ليقمِسَه فالحوت لا شك قامسه

وكم لك من ضِدٍّ أذاقتْه حتفَهُ

مناصلُ موتٍ ناجزٍ ومَداعِسه

وآخر نجّاهُ نجاءٌ موائلٌ

إلى عُقر دارٍ أنت لا شك جائسه

عُنيتَ بأخلاق الزمان تروضُها

ليبأسَ عاتيه ويَنعم بائسه

منحْتُكَها كالروض جادتْه دِيمةٌ

بكت فوقه حتى تضاحك عابسه

غدا بين مفتوقٍ وبينِ مكمَّمٍ

مُبَرْنَسةً قُسَّانه وشَمامسه

يُصلِّي لقرن الشمس ميلاً رؤوسه

إليها إذا لم يتبع الريحَ مائسه

فطوراً تُولِّيه المجوسَ صلاتُة

وطوراً توليه النصارى بَرانسه

على أنه يُثني على اللَه نشْرُهُ

بنُعمى غدٍ إذ لم يزل وهو غارِسه

حَياً جاده وَسميُّهُ ووليُّهُ

يراوحه طوراً وطوراً يُغالسه

إذا لم يُصِبه وابلٌ طلَّه الندى

فغادَره خُضراً حِساناً طنافسه

وكنتَ إذا ما الشعر صينت بناتُهُ

حقيقاً بأن تُجلَى عليك عرائسه

تقاعس شعري عن سواك فسقْتُهُ

إليك فأضحى مُعْنِقاً مُتقاعِسه