دِمَنٌ أَلَمَّ بِها فَقالَ سَلامُ
كَم حَلَّ عُقدَةَ صَبرِهِ الإِلمامُ
Ruins he came upon, and said: Peace be upon you.
How often a visit untied the knot of his endurance!
نُحِرَت رِكابُ القَومِ حَتّى يَغبُروا
رَجلى لَقَد عَنُفوا عَلَيَّ وَلاموا
The people’s mounts were slaughtered, until they left behind
A man over whom they had long labored—and laid blame.
عَشِقوا وَلا رُزِقوا أَيُعذَلُ عاشِقٌ
رُزِقَت هَواهُ مَعالِمٌ وَخِيامُ
They loved without being granted requital—is a lover to be blamed?
Landmarks and tents alike were endowed with love for him.
وَقَفوا عَلَيَّ اللَومَ حَتّى خَيَّلوا
أَنَّ الوُقوفَ عَلى الدِيارِ حَرامُ
They heaped all blame upon me, until they made it seem
That pausing at the dwellings was forbidden.
ما مَرَّ يَومٌ واحِدٌ إِلّا وَفي
أَحشائِهِ لِمَحِلَّتَيكِ غَمامُ
Not a single day passed except that within
Its very depths were clouds for your two encampments.
حَتّى تُعَمَّمَ صُلعُ هاماتِ الرُبا
مِن نَورِهِ وَتَأَزَّرَ الأَهضامُ
Until the bare crowns of the hilltops were turbaned
With their light, and the lowlands girded themselves in it.
وَلَقَد أَراكِ فَهَل أَراكِ بِغِبطَةٍ
وَالعَيشُ غَضٌّ وَالزَمانُ غُلامُ
Once I beheld you—shall I behold you again in happiness,
When life was fresh and time itself a boy?
أَعوامُ وَصلٍ كانَ يُنسي طولَها
ذِكرُ النَوى فَكَأَنَّها أَيّامُ
Years of union whose length would be forgotten
At the thought of parting, so that they seemed mere days.
ثُمَّ اِنبَرَت أَيّامُ هَجرٍ أَردَفَت
بِجَوىً أَسىً فَكَأَنَّها أَعوامُ
Then the days of your estrangement swept past, followed
By consuming longing and grief, until they seemed like years.
ثُمَّ اِنقَضَت تِلكَ السُنونُ وَأَهلُها
فَكَأَنَّها وَكَأَنَّهُم أَحلامُ
Then those years and all their people passed away,
As though both the years and they had been dreams.
أَتَصَعصَعَت عَبَراتُ عَينِكَ أَن دَعَت
وَرقاءُ حينَ تَصَعصَعَ الإِظلامُ
Have the tears in your eyes begun to show—or did
A ringdove call when darkness first began to stir?
لا تَنشِجَنَّ لَها فَإِنَّ بُكاءَها
ضَحِكٌ وَإِنَّ بُكاءَكَ اِستِغرامُ
Do not sob for her: her weeping
Is laughter, while your tears are consuming passion.
هُنَّ الحَمامُ فَإِن كَسَرتَ عِيافَةً
مِن حائِهِنَّ فَإِنَّهُنَّ حِمامُ
They are doves; but if augury construes their cry
For one doomed, then they are death itself.
اللَهُ أَكبَرُ جاءَ أَكبَرُ مَن جَرَت
فَتَحَيَّرَت في كُنهِهِ الأَوهامُ
God is greatest! One greater than all who came before has arisen—
So great that imagination stands bewildered before his essence:
مَن لا يُحيطُ الواصِفونَ بِقَدرِهِ
حَتّى يَقولوا قَدرُهُ إِلهامُ
One whose measure no describer can encompass,
Until they say: his measure is inspiration itself;
مَن شَرَّدَ الإِعدامَ عَن أَوطانِهِ
بِالبَذلِ حَتّى اِستُطرِفَ الإِعدامُ
One who drove poverty away from its homeland
By giving, until poverty itself had nowhere left to dwell;
وَتَكَفَّلَ الأَيتامَ عَن آبائِهِم
حَتّى وَدِدنا أَنَّنا أَيتامُ
Who assumed the care of orphans in place of their fathers,
Until we wished that we ourselves were orphans.
مُستَسلِمٌ لِلَّهِ سائِسُ أُمَّةٍ
لِذَوي تَجَهضُمِها لَهُ اِستِسلامُ
Submitted to God, a governor of the nation,
Yet toward all besides Him, all proud strength and refusal.
يَتَجَنَّبُ الآثامَ ثُمَّ يَخافُها
فَكَأَنَّما حَسَناتُهُ آثامُ
He shuns transgressions, then fears even his virtues
As though his good deeds themselves were sins.
يا أَيُّها المَلِكُ الهُمامُ وَعَدلُهُ
مَلِكٌ عَلَيهِ في القَضاءِ هُمامُ
Not merely a mighty king: his justice too
Is a mighty sovereign ruling over him.
ما زالَ حُكمُ اللَهِ يُشرِقُ وَجهُهُ
في الأَرضِ مُذ نيطَت بِكَ الأَحكامُ
God’s decree has never ceased to shine upon his face
Since judgment over the earth was entrusted to your hands.
أَسَرَت لَكَ الآفاقُ عَزمَةُ هِمَّةٍ
جُبِلَت عَلى أَنَّ المَسيرَ مُقامُ
The horizons have yielded to the resolve of your ambition,
Fashioned in the conviction that journeying is repose.
إِلّا تَكُن أَرواحُها لَكَ سُخِّرَت
فَالعَزمُ طَوعُ يَدَيكَ وَالإِجذامُ
Even if their spirits were not subjected to you,
Your purpose would make travel itself their settled station.
الشَرقُ غَربٌ حينَ تَلحَظُ قَصدَهُ
وَمَخالِفُ اليَمَنِ القَصِيِّ شَآمُ
The East becomes West wherever your onward gaze
Falls; Yemen’s distant marches become Syria.
بِالشَدقَمِيّاتِ العِتاقِ كَأَنَّما
أَشباحُها بَينَ الإِكامِ إِكامُ
Upon noble, full-bodied she-camels, as though
Their forms among the hills were hills themselves;
وَالأَعوَجِيّاتُ الجِيادِ كَأَنَّها
تَهوي وَقَد وَنَتِ الرِياحُ سَمامُ
And upon swift, well-bred horses, as though
They played while upright lances turned to arrows.
لَمّا رَأَيتَ الدينَ يَخفِقُ قَلبُهُ
وَالكُفرُ فيهِ تَغَطرُسٌ وَعُرامُ
When you saw religion’s heart trembling
While unbelief strutted in insolent violence,
لَوَرَيتَ زَندَ عَزائِمٍ تَحتَ الدُجى
أَسرَجنَ فِكرَكَ وَالبِلادُ ظَلامُ
You struck fire from the flint of your resolve beneath the darkness,
And your thought lit countries submerged in night.
فَنَهَضتَ تَسحَبُ ذَيلَ جَيشٍ ساقَهُ
حُسنُ اليَقينِ وَقادَهُ الإِقدامُ
You arose, trailing the hem of an army driven
By firm conviction and led by daring.
مُثعَنجِرٍ لَجِبٍ تَرى سُلّافَهُ
وَلَهُم بِمُنخَرِقِ الفَضاءِ زِحامُ
A surging, roaring sea whose forward flood
Crowded even the vast expanse of open ground.
مَلَأَ المَلا عُصباً فَكادَ بِأَن يُرى
لا خَلفَ فيهِ وَلا لَهُ قُدّامُ
It filled all space with tumult, until it seemed
To have neither rear behind it nor front before it.
بِسَواهِمٍ لُحُقِ الأَياطِلِ شُرَّبٍ
تَعليقُها الإِسراجُ وَالإِلجامُ
With lean, close-flanked horses
Held fast by saddle and bridle;
وَمُقاتِلينَ إِذا اِنتَمَوا لَم يُخزِهِم
في نَصرِكَ الأَخوالُ وَالأَعمامُ
And warriors whose lineage, when they recited it,
Left maternal and paternal uncles alike unnamed.
سَفَعَ الدُؤوبُ وُجوهَهُم فَكَأَنَّهُم
وَأَبوهُمُ سامٌ أَبوهُم حامُ
Darkened by tireless campaigning, their faces seemed
To trace their ancestry, like Ham, to Ham.
تَخِذوا الحَديدَ مِنَ الحَديدِ مَعاقِلاً
سُكّانُها الأَرواحُ وَالأَجسامُ
They took iron itself as fortresses of iron,
Fortresses inhabited by spirits and bodies.
مُستَرسِلينَ إِلى الحُتوفِ كَأَنَّما
بَينَ الحُتوفِ وَبَينَهُم أَرحامُ
They went freely toward death, as though
Death and they were joined by ties of blood.
آسادُ مَوتٍ مُخدِراتٌ ما لَها
إِلّا الصَوارِمَ وَالقَنا آجامُ
They led armored companies whose only reins
Were cutting swords and pliant spears.
حَتّى نَقَضتَ الرومَ مِنكَ بِوَقعَةٍ
شَنعاءَ لَيسَ لِنَقضِها إِبرامُ
Until, with a single blow, you broke the host of al-Rum—
A breaking no repair could ever mend.
في مَعرَكٍ أَمّا الحِمامُ فَمُفطِرٌ
في هَبوَتَيهِ وَالكُماةُ صِيامُ
On a battlefield where death broke its fast
While the warriors, amid its clouds, kept fasting.
وَالضَربُ يُقعِدُ قَرمَ كُلِّ كَتيبَةٍ
شَرِسِ الضَريبَةِ وَالحُتوفُ قِيامُ
There the blow hammered the horn of every battalion,
Savage in assault, while death stood upright.
فَفَصَمتَ عُروَةَ جَمعِهِم فيهِ وَقَد
جَعَلَت تَفَصَّمُ عَن عُراها الهامُ
Their union was shattered there, although
Their severed heads slipped free of every bond.
أَلقوا دِلاءً في بُحورِكَ أَسلَمَت
تَرَعاتِها الأَكرابُ وَالأَوذامُ
They lowered buckets into your seas, letting them run free—
Their bucket ropes and straps paying out behind them.
ما كانَ لِلإِشراكِ فَوزَةُ مَشهَدٍ
وَاللَهُ فيهِ وَأَنتَ وَالإِسلامُ
Polytheism could win no share in such a scene,
For God was there, and you, and Islam.
لَمّا رَأَيتَهُمُ تُساقُ مُلوكُهُم
حِزَقاً إِلَيكَ كَأَنَّهُم أَنعامُ
When you saw their dominion falling around them,
They circled toward wounds like grazing cattle.
جَرحى إِلى جَرحى كَأَنَّ جُلودَهُم
يُطلى بِها الشَيّانُ وَالعُلّامُ
Wounded men fell upon wounded men, as though their skins
Were hides with which troughs and standards might be covered.
مُتَساقِطي وَرَقِ الثِيابِ كَأَنَّهُم
دانوا فَأُحدِثَ فيهِم الإِحرامُ
They dropped like the scattered leaves of locusts, as though
They had entered consecration when slaughter overtook them.
أَكرَمتَ سَيفَكَ غَربَهُ وَذُبابَهُ
عَنهُم وَحُقَّ لِسَيفِكَ الإِكرامُ
You honored your sword by withholding its edge and point
From some of them—and your sword deserved that honor.
فَرَدَدتَ حَدَّ المَوتِ وَهوَ مُرَكَّبٌ
في حَدِّهِ فَاِرتَدَّ وَهوَ زُؤامُ
You turned back the edge of death, though death rode
Upon its blade; deadly as it was, it recoiled.
أَيقَظتَ هاجِعَهُم وَهَل يُغنيهُم
سَهَرُ النَواظِرِ وَالعُقولِ نِيامُ
You spared their fugitives—but could they be saved
By sleepless eyes while their minds lay sleeping?
جَحَدَتكَ مِنهُم أَلسُنُ لَجلاجَةٌ
أَقرَرنَ أَنَّكَ في القُلوبِ إِمامُ
Stammering tongues among them denied your worth,
Yet confessed that within their hearts you were the guide.
اِسلَم أَميرَ المُؤمِنينَ لِأُمَّةِ
نَتَجَت رَجاءَكَ وَالرَجاءُ عُقامُ
Through peace you secured the believers for a nation
Whose hope in you bore fruit when every other hope was barren.
إِنَّ المَكارِمَ لِلخَليفَةِ لَم تَزَل
وَاللَهُ يَعلَمُ ذاكَ وَالأَقوامُ
Noble deeds have never ceased to belong to the caliph—
God knows this, and so do all peoples.
كُتِبَت لَهُ وَلِأَوَّليهِ وِراثَةً
في اللَوحِ حَتّى جَفَّتِ الأَقلامُ
They were inscribed for him, inherited from his earliest forebear,
Upon the Tablet, until the pens ran dry.
مُتَواطِّئو عَقِبَيكَ في طَلَبِ العُلا
وَالمَجدُ ثُمَّت تَستَوي الأَقدامُ
You have made the pursuit of exaltation your enduring road,
And there, at glory, every footstep comes to rest.
