وَعَظَتكَ واعِظَةُ القَتيرِ

وَنَهَتكَ أُبَّهَةُ الكَبيرِ

The preacher's admonition preached you,

The warner of gray hair has admonished you,

And the old man's interdiction interdicted you,

And the dignity of old age has restrained you.

وَرَدَدتَ ما كُنتَ اِستَعَر

تَ مِنَ الشَبابِ إِلى المَعيرِ

You recanted what you borrowed

You have returned what you had borrowed

Of youth, till you changed to decrepitude.

Of youth back to its lender.

وَلَقَد تَحُلُّ بِعَقوَةِ ال

أَلبابِ مِن بَقَرِ القُصورِ

You used to consort with bright damsels

For you once alighted in the courtyards

Inside the best houses,

Of hearts, among the gazelles of the palaces.

وَبِما تُواكِبُهُنَّ ما

بَينَ الرُصافَةِ وَالجُسورِ

And with them, between porch and wall,

How often you rode alongside them

Were images to steal reason itself in man’s dress.

Between Al-Rusafa and the bridges:

صُوَرٌ إِلَيكَ مُؤَنَّظا

تُ الدَلِّ في زِيِّ الذُكورِ

The pleasure quarters and places of vines forget you,

Figures displaying their coquetry to you,

And so do the battlements and the wickets.

Clad in the attire of men.

عُطلُ الشَوى وَمَواضِعِ ال

أَسوارِ مِنها وَالنُحورِ

Languorous, pregnant, burdened camels forget you,

Their limbs bare of ornament, as are

As do the honor, the swords in the scabbards.

Their wrists and their throats.

أُرهِفنَ إِرهافَ الأَعِن

نَةِ وَالحَمائِلِ وَالسُيورِ

Their temples bend sideways,

They are slender, honed like reins,

Their mustaches smelling sweetly aromatic.

Like sword-belts and leather straps.

وَمُوَقَّراتٍ في القُرا

طِقِ وَالخَناجِرُ في الخُصورِ

Like wild cows they passed into a garden,

Carrying themselves with dignity in tunics,

Casting down pearls.

With daggers at their waists.

أَصداغُهُنَّ مُعَقرَبا

تٌ وَالشَوارِبُ مِن عَبيرِ

A flower whose butterfly goes to and fro

Their sidelocks are curled like scorpion tails,

In profuse scattering and shedding.

And their mustaches are traces of perfume.

مِثلَ الظِباءِ سَمَت إِلى

رَوضٍ صَوادِرَ مِن غَديرِ

Now I have turned to abstinence,

Like gazelles gazing up towards

And have tested the result of pleasures.

A meadow, returning from the stream.

زَهَرٌ يَطيرُ فَراشُهُ

كَتَساقُطِ الدُرِّ النَثيرِ

This in a sea of waves enclosing ships,

Blossoms whose petals take flight

In spaciousness and capacity to accommodate all.

Like the falling of scattered pearls.

فَالآنَ صِرتُ إِلى النُهى

وَبَلَوتُ عاقِبَةَ السُرورِ

With a free genie in it

But now I have turned to wisdom

Whose haunts are thronged.

And have learned the outcome of pleasure.

هَذا وَبَحرِ تَنائِفٍ

وَعرِ الإِجازَةِ وَالعُبورِ

I have approached it because of its spaciousness

All this, plus a sea of desolate wastelands,

Seeking by means of the intrepid she-camel the noblest object of God's grace in the world.

Rugged to traverse and cross.

لِجِنِّ فيهِ حاضِرٌ

جَمَّ المَجالِسِ وَالسَميرِ

O Excellence, you have surpassed range,

Where the Jinn have a settled presence,

So you have transcended all comparison!

Crowding the assemblies and night-talks.

قارَبتُ مِن مَبسوطِهِ

بِالعَنتَريسِ العَيسَجورِ

You are the magnified and the extolled

I shortened its vast expanse

In eyes and hearts.

Atop a sturdy, swift she-camel.

لِأَزورَ صَفوَ اللَهِ في ال

دُنيا مِنَ الكَرَمِ الخَطيرِ

When minds contemplate you perspicaciously,

To visit God’s chosen one in this

They deem you generosity and prolific goodness itself.

World, of momentous generosity.

يا فَضلُ جاوَزتَ المَدى

فَجَلَلتَ عَن شَبَهِ النَظيرِ

And when eyes consider you attentively,

O Fadl, you have surpassed the limit,

They deem you the essence of a discerning glance.

And act too grand to have any peer.

أَنتَ المُعَظَّمُ وَالمُكَب

بَرُ في العُيونِ وَفي الصُدورِ

You remained mature in your reason

You are the one exalted and magnified

While still in the period of immaturity,

In all eyes and in all hearts.

فَإِذا العُقولُ تَفاطَنَت

كَ عَرَضنَ في كَرَمٍ وَخيرِ

Till opulent youth overtook you

When minds seek to comprehend you,

And you put on the garment of scarcity.

They encounter only generosity and goodness.

وَإِذا العُيونُ تَأَمَّلَت

كَ صَدَرنَ عَن طَرفٍ خَبيرِ

Renounce familiar places and haunts,

And if eyes contemplate you,

Instinct and conscience! By God,

They return with a knowing gaze.

ما زِلتَ في عَقلِ الكَبي

رِ وَأَنتَ في سِنِّ الصَغيرِ

God distinguished the Caliphate for you

You have always possessed the elder's wisdom

So He chose you with clear-sightedness.

Even while you were young in years.

حَتّى تَعَصَّرَتِ الشَبي

بَةُ وَاِكتَسَيتَ مِنَ القَتيرِ

When events perplexed you,

Until youth was wrung dry

You sufficed to settle matters.

And you were clothed in gray hair.

عَفُّ المَداخِلِ وَالمَخا

رِجِ وَالغَريزَةِ وَالضَميرِ

You surpassed the tribe absolutely

Virtuous in your dealings,

As Thursday surpasses the rest of the week.

In nature and in conscience.

وَاللَهُ خَصَّ بِكَ الخَلي

فَةَ فَاِصطَفاكَ عَلى بَصيرِ

Whoever compares others with you

God has specially favored the Caliph with you,

Compares the insignificant with the immense.

Choosing you with divine insight.

فَإِذا أَلاثَ بِكَ الأُمو

رَ كَفَيتَهُ قُحَمَ الأُمورِ

Where are the sequent stars

So when he entrusts affairs to you,

Of the lunar mansions and full moons?

You spare him the hardships of rule.

آلَ الرَبيعِ فَضَلتُمُ

فَضلَ الخَميسِ عَلى العَشيرِ

Where are the few, sons of the few,

O Family of Al-Rabi‘, you have excelled,

Among the many, sons of the many?

Surpassing others as an army outnumbers a clan.

مَن قاسَ غَيرَكُم بِكُم

قاسَ الثَمادَ إِلى البُحورِ

A people who in the days of Mecca

Whoever compares others to you

Endured the greatest vicissitudes;

Compares shallow puddles to the seas.

أَينَ النُجومُ التالِيا

تُ مِنَ الأَهِلَّةِ وَالبُدورِ

So they protected the provinces of the Caliphate

Where are the trailing stars

While it was vast.

Compared to the crescents and full moons?

أَينَ القَليلُ بَنو القَلي

لِ مِنَ الكَثيرِ بَني الكَثيرِ

Had they not stayed therein,

Where are the few, sons of the few,

The pillars would have collapsed because of decay.

Compared to the many, sons of the many?

قَومٌ كَفَوا أَيّامَ مَك

كَةَ نازِلَ الخَطبِ الكَبيرِ

A people who, in the days of Mecca, handled

The descent of the great calamity.

فَتَدارَكوا جُزُرَ الخِلا

فَةِ وَهيَ شاسِعَةُ النَظيرِ

They rescued the fragments of the Caliphate

When its equal in peril was far to find.

لَولا مُقامُهُم بِها

هَوَتِ الرَواسي مِن ثَبيرِ

Were it not for their standing firm within it,

The anchored peaks of Mount Thabir would have fallen.