أَرَبعَ البَلى إِنَّ الخُشوعَ لَبادِ

عَليكَ وَإِنّي لَم أَخُنكَ وِدادي

Four times, no - submission is lost

O abode of decay, desolation hangs plain upon you, yet I have never betrayed you in my love.

To you, though my affection has not betrayed you

Accept my excuse, for I see you held hostage by the winds and the lash of morning rain.

فَمَعذِرَةً مِنّي إِلَيكَ بِأَن تَرى

رَهينَةَ أَرواحٍ وَصَوبِ غَوادي

So accept my apology, let it be

I possess no artifice to ward off your harm, nor can I bid fortune to return to these ruins.

That you see my soul held hostage, wandering in its valleys

If I am exiled from this courtyard, 'tis because the hand of Time has struck my heart with the bow of Death.

وَلا أَدرَأُ الضَرّاءَ عَنكَ بِحيلَةٍ

فَما أَنا مِنها قائِلٌ لِسُعادِ

And I cannot ward off harm from you through any trick

Though you may have traded your squalor for grace, my eyes have swapped their slumber for stinging grit.

For I have no power over fate

I shall depart upon a brisk and noble steed, subdued to my will, needing no driver's song to haste.

وَإِن كُنتُ مَهجورَ الفِنا فَبِما رَمَت

يَدُ الدَهرِ عَن قَوسِ المَنونِ فُؤادي

And if devastated by death I am, by what aim

Born of the wind when still, yet when she storms, she lifts a head firm as an anvil, high and proud.

Has the hand of fate from the bow of death released my heart

How many stones she shattered in the waste, surging through valleys like the Euphrates' flood.

وَإِن كُنتَ قَد بَدَّلتَ بُؤسي بِنِعمَةٍ

فَقَد بُدِّلَت عَيني قَذىً بِرُقادي

And if you have replaced my misery with bounty

Yet all this toil, beside the Prince and visiting him, weighs no more on my camel than a crawling tick.

Then my eyes have been replaced - specks for slumber

In Fadl I witness a spirit of such grace, it stirs eternal envy in all other generous souls.

سَأَرحَلُ مِن قودِ المَهاري شِمِلَّةً

مُسَخَّرَةً ما تُستَحَثُّ بِحادي

I will travel from the bondage of restrictions disheveled

A youth whose wealth is not consumed by wine, but by hands that give, and give again.

Controlled, not to be hurried by any guide

You see the people flocking to his door, thick as swarms of locusts descending on the land.

مِنَ الريحِ ماقامَت وَإِن هِيَ أَعصَفَت

نُهوزٌ بِرَأسٍ كَالعَلاةِ وَهادي

By the wind - it stands still yet if it rages

A day to raise the pauper to the rank of kings, and a day to harvest necks in early light.

A bellowing she-camel, with a leader and guide

His bounty casts its shade on Nizar's tribes, and rises high over Himyar and Murad.

فَكَم حَطَّمَت مِن جَندَلٍ بِمَفازَةٍ

وَخاضَت كَتَيّارِ الفُراتِ بِوادِ

How many hut made of branches in the desert

And should a wretch, betrayed by ill-starred luck, be fooled by false lightning or the thunder’s roar—

It has destroyed, and plunged through the floods of Euphrates

Then Fadl ibn Yahya ibn Khalid strikes him down with sharp blades, proud in their long baldrics.

وَما ذاكَ في جَنبِ الأَميرِ وَزَورِهِ

لِيَعدِلَ مِن عَنسي مَدَبَّ قُرادِ

And that is nothing compared to the Prince and his might

Leading a crimson host, vast and deep, like a tunic woven of war-steeds and spears.

To equal an obstinate old she-camel from Unays

He is none other than Fate itself, descending with full force upon all who dare oppose him.

رَأَيتُ لِفَضلٍ في السَماحَةِ هِمَّةً

أَطالَت لَعَمري غَيظَ كُلَّ جَوادِ

I saw in generosity and magnanimity a zeal

Farewell to this world if we should lose you, O Sons of Barmak, you who come and go.

That enraged every noble horse

Through Fadl ibn Yahya, the paths of guidance shine, and through him, my Lord has quelled the fear of every land.

فَتىً لا تَلوكُ الخَمرُ شَحمَةَ مالِهِ

وَلَكِن أَيادٍ عُوَّدٌ وَبَوادِ

A man whose fat is not melted by wine

So take this noble verse from me, O Fadl; it yields to you, though wild and hard to tame.

Rather hands accustomed to generosity and grace

Perfect in meter as Khalil defined, precise as Qutrub's art—such gems are my armor before kings.

تَرى الناسَ أَفواجاً إِلى بابِ دارِهِ

كَأَنَّهُمُ رَجلاً دَباً وَجَرادِ

You see people in droves at the door of his abode

It suffers no shame that Jarwal wrote it not, nor Ka'b of the Muzani, nor the famed Ziyad.

As if they were one crawling creature and locusts

فَيومٌ لِإِلحاقِ اَلفَقيرِ بِذي الغِنى

وَيومُ رِقابٍ بوكِرَت لِحَصادِ

A day to elevate the poor to the rich

And a day of necks bowed down for the harvest

أَظَلَّت عَطاياهُ نِزاراً وَأَشرَفَت

عَلى حِميَرٍ في دارِها وَمُرادِ

His gifts gave shade and excelled

Over the donkeys in their settlements

وَكُنّا إِذا ما الحائِنُ الجَدِّ غَرَّهُ

سَنى بَرقِ غاوٍ أَو ضَجيجُ رِعادِ

And whenever disaster's seriousness deluded him

The lightening of heavy clouds or roar of thunder swayed him

تَرَدّى لَهُ الفَضلُ اِبنَ يَحيى اِبنِ خالِدٍ

بِماضي الظُبى يَزهاهُ طولُ نِجادِ

Generosity sprawled out to serve him, son of Yahya, son of Khalid

With the running of gazelles lengthening the lineage of glory

أَمامَ خَميسٍ أُرجُوانٍ كَأَنَّهُ

قَميصٌ مَحوكٌ مِن قَناً وَجِيادِ

Before a red Khamis that is as though

A shirt woven from silk and horse hair

فَما هُوَ إِلّا الدَهرُ يَأتي بِصَرفِهِ

عَلى كُلِّ مَن يَشقى بِهِ وَيُعادي

For it is nothing but time with its ups and downs

Visiting misery and enmity upon all

سَلامٌ عَلى الدُنيا إِذا مافُقِدتُمُ

بَني بَرمَكٍ مِن رائِحينَ وَغادِ

Greetings upon the world when you are lost

O children of the Barmuk, of basil and meadows

بِفَضلِ بنِ يَحيى أَشرَقَت سُبُلُ الهُدى

وَأَمَّنَ رَبّي خَوفَ كُلِّ بِلادِ

Through the generosity of the son of Yahya, the paths of guidance shone

And my Lord secured every city from fear

فَدونَكَها يا فَضلُ مِنّي كَريمَةً

ثَنَت لَكَ عَطفاً بَعدَ عِزِّ قِيادِ

So for you, O Generosity, from me as a precious gift

Which has praised you after the glory of leadership

خَليلِيَّةٌ في وَزنِها قُطرُبِيَّةٌ

نَظائِرُها عِندَ المُلوكِ عَتادي

Khaliliya is its scale, Qutrubiya its peer

The likes of them for kings are wishful thinking

وَما ضَرَّها أَن لا تُعَدَّ لِجَروَلٍ

وَلا المُزَني كَعبٍ وَلا لِزِيادِ

It matters not that it be not counted for Jarwal

Nor Ka'b al-Muzani, nor for Ziyad