عُوجوا عليها أَيُّها الرّكْبُ

لا عَارَ أن يَتساعَدَ الصَّحْبُ

Turn towards her, O caravan

There is no shame in companions helping one another

كُلٌّ له قَلْب ولا ألَمٌ

عَجَباً ولِي ألمٌ ولا قَلْب

Each has a heart but no pain

Yet I have pain but no heart

مالي سوى نَفَسٍ أُرَددُه

وَجْداً وَعيْنٍ دَمْعُا سَكْب

Other than a soul I keep repeating

And a tearful eye that pours forth weeping

للهِ يومَ الجِزْعِ مَوقفُنا

لمّا تَعرَّضَ للمَها سِرْب

Our stance on the day of anguish

When the herd was exposed to calamity

مُتَطِلعاتٌ للعُيونِ ضُحىً

وأكُفُّها لوجوهِها نُقْب

Gazelles glancing with their eyes at dawn

Their palms covering their faces like masks

يَرمُقْنَ من شَبَكِ البنانِ فما

يَرْنو حليمُ القومِ أو يَصبْو

They look through the lattice of distance but

The forbearing among the tribe do not glance or look

مِن كُلِّ فاتنةٍ لمِعْصَمِها

تُبدِي فيَشجَى القَلْبُ والقُلب

From each alluring gazelle her wrist

Appears so the heart sorrows and the heart pines

يَستَعذِبُ السّمعُ الملامَ لها

إنّ الغرامَ عذابُه عَذْب

The hearing finds her reproach sweet

For the agony of love is sweet torment

مَدَّتْ إليَّ يداً تُودِعُني

فدَنا إليها المُغرَمُ الصّبّ

She stretched out a hand to bid me farewell

So the love-smitten youth drew near

كالسّهْمِ راميهِ يُقَرّبُه

ولأجْلِ بُعْدٍ ذلك القُرب

Like an arrow its shooter brings closer

Yet because of distance that nearness

كم ليلةٍ لي في الهوى سَلَفتْ

لم يَلْقَ لي هُدْباً بها هُدب

How many nights have I spent in passion

Without gaining intimacy throughout them

كم فارقَ الأحبابُ فابتَعثوا

حُزْني إلى أن فارقَ الحُبّ

How those loved ones departed and so

My sorrow until love itself departed

فاليَومَ صُنْتُ حجابَ قلبيَ أن

تَسبيهِ بيضٌ صانَها الحُجب

Today I guarded the veil of my heart lest

White hands violate what veils guarded

وإذا تَصافَن أدمُعي حِصصاً

وَفْدُ الهموم فهجْرُكم كَعْب

And if my tears gather in groups

The burdens of sorrows your abandonment a shackle

فلْيَهنأِ الواشينَ أنّهم

شَبّوا لنا ناراً فما تَخْبو

So let the slanderers delight that they

Kindled for us a fire that will not die out

ألْقَوا قذىً في عينِ أُلفتِنا

حتّى تَكَدّرَ ذلك الشِرب

They cast filth into the eye of our familiarity

Until that clear drink was muddied

وبعَثْتُ للعُتْبَى نهايةَ ما

يُرضيهمُ فتَضاعَفَ العَتْب

I sent to the one who reproaches what

Should satisfy them but blame multiplied

ومضىَ بُجَيْرٌ باذلاً دَمَه

للصلْحِ فازدادتْ بهِ الحَرْب

A neighbor sacrificed his blood

For reconciliation but war increased

وإذا أتَى زمَنُ الفساد تَرَى

من حيث تُصِلحَ يَكبُرُ الخَطب

And when the time of corruption comes you see

From where one seeks to rectify, troubles magnify

وإذا انقضَى فأقَلُّ من نَفَسٍ

فيه يَعود ذليلاً الصَّعب

And when it passes the one with little soul

In it returns humiliated, the mighty

لايَنْتُ أيّامي وكم زَمَنٍ

تَرْكُ الغِلابِ به هو الغَلب

My days do not last and how many times

Has ceasing to overcome resulted in being overcome

قد أغتدِي بالعِيسِ مُبتكِراً

والصبْحُ طِفْلٌ في الدجى يَحبو

I rose early with vigor

While dawn in the darkness is still toddling

والرّكبُ يَطلُع في أوائلهم

أنجابُ قومٍ تحتَهم نُجب

And the caravan appears led by

The elite of a people under whom are the best

مِن كلِّ حَرْفٍ من حُروفِ سُرىً

مُتَعاقَباها الرَّفع والنّصب

Made of each letter of the name Saad

Whose inflections alternate between nominative and accusative

سارَتْ تُلاعبُ ظِلّها مَرَحاً

وكأنّ تابعةً لها سَقب

It walked, its shadow playfully caressing it

As if a follower, over it hovering

دستِ العُلا والمكرماتِ بنا

ودَعا الجمالَ الماءُ والعُشب

Supreme power and honor touched us gently

And beauty invited water and vegetation

وتَخيّرتْ أرضاً يَحُلُّ بها

قاضي القُضاةِ فعَمّنا الخِصب

It chose a land in which will settle

The judge of judges so we were blessed

رَحُبَتْ خُطاها في مَزارِ فتىً

للزّائرينَ فِناؤه رَحْب

Its steps were spacious in the shrine of a youth

Whose courtyard for visitors is vast

ركْنٌ به الإسلام شُدَّ فقد

حَجّتْ ذُراه العُجْمُ والعُرب

A pillar which Islam leans on firmly

To which both non-Arabs and Arabs made pilgrimage

شَمسٌ فتَاويهِ أشِعَتُها

فبِها يَضيء الشَرْقُ والغرب

A sun whose radiance

Illuminates East and West through it

وغدا القنا الخَطّيّ من قلَمٍ

فَرْدٍ يُخَطُّ بكَفّهِ رُعب

And the Nile became a thin script of a

Solitary pen which by its strokes inspires awe

ولَرأْيهِ الآراءُ تابِعةٌ

كالجِذْلِ يَستَشْفي به الجُرب

And opinions are subservient to its opinion

Like a skin disease one treats with it

يضَعُ الأمورَ به مَواضِعَها

فتُديمُ حَمْدَ هِنائهِ النُّقْب

It places matters in their proper places

So its praise by the elite remains eternal

يا ماجداً لذُيولِ هِمّتِه

شَرَفاً على أعلى السُها سَحب

O Majid, for the loftiness of its ambition

Nobility above the highest clouds

ما أبصرتْ عينٌ له زَمناً

مِثْلاً ولا نَطقتْ به الكُتْب

No eye has seen the like of it in any time

Nor books mentioned the same

من مَعْشَرٍ بغَمامِ أنمُلِهمْ

عن آمليهم يُطْرَدُ الجَدْب

From a people whose clouds’ shadows

Drive away barrenness from those hopeful of rain

بِيضُ الوجوهِ ففي الحباءهمُ

هِضَبٌ تَسُحُّ وفي الحُبا هَضب

White of face so in their shining of teeth

Are peaks overlooking while in their gaps are slopes

فلكٌ يَظَلُّ علىالعباد إذا

يَجْري وسامي رأيهِ القُطب

A sphere that shades the servants when

It turns, its opinion most exalted

منه استنارَ شهابُ دينِ هُدىً

منهم نشا وله العُلا تِرب

Through it the celestial torch of the religion of guidance shone

Through them noble origins arose and to it is sublimity

فلقد عَلا ما شاءَ طَودُ عُلاً

لشهابِ دينٍ فوقَه شَبّ

Indeed it ascended as high as it willed the towering stature

For the celestial torch of religion above which flames kindled

فَبقِيتُما مُتَسرْ بِلَىْ حُلَلٍ

للعِزِّ لا يُخشَى لها سَلب

So you two remained decked in worn-out garments

Of honor which cannot be pilfered

حتّى تَرى هذا الشِّهابَ غدا

ووراءه من نَسْلِه شُهب

Until you see this celestial torch tomorrow

And behind it meteors from its progeny

يا ناصراً للدينِ تُبصرُهُ

ولسانه من دونه عضب

O supporter of religion whom you see

While your tongue without it is barbed

بصوارم الآراء تنصره

والصّارمُ الهِنْدِيُّ قد ينْبو

With the swords of opinion you support it

And the Hindu sword can bend

ضرْبٌ من الأعمالِ تُعمِلُه

لا طَعْنَ يَعدِلهُ ولا ضرب

A type of deed you undertake

Which no censure can equal nor any blow

يا عادلاً في حُكمِه أبداً

لم منك أدنَى نَظْرةٍ حَسْب

O you just in your rule, never

Have I glimpsed from you the slightest neglect

بكَ جئْتُ أستَعدِي على زَمَني

وخضامُه إن لم تُعِنْ صَعْب

Through you I came to seek justice for my time

Though its adversities if you do not help are formidable

فإلى متى تَغْزو حوادثُه

وإلى متى قَلبي لها نَهب

Until when will its events attack

And until when will my heart to them be prey?

أوسَعْتُ قَوماً في الورى مِقةً

فإذا لِمَقْتٍ لي بها حَلب

I was generous to a people in creation contemptible

Yet for that contempt to me they milked rancor

وغرَسْتُ آمالاً لتَحْلوَ لي

ثَمَراتُهنّ فمازكا التُّرب

And I planted hopes to sweeten for me

But their fruits the soil did not ripen

والبَخْتُ ما لم يأتِ مُقبِلُه

طَبْعاً فما لزِمامِه جَذب

Luck is not present unless its onset comes

Naturally so pulling its reins is futile

قد كان ظَنّي غيرَ ذا لهُمُ

والظّنُّ طِرْفٌ ربّما يَكبُو

My assumption about them was different

And assumption is an edge that can veer

ولئن تَدارك منهمُ نَظَرٌ

وأُتيحَ إثْرَ تَصَدُّعٍ شَعب

If some insight can save them from it

And a crack from splitting is made accessible

فلقد تُقصِّرُ دون غايتِه

أيدي الجوادِ ويُدرِكُ العَقب

Then it falls short of its objective

The hands of the generous but the steps of the late fulfill

والفَجْرُ ليس بكائنٍ أبداً

صِدْقٌ له ما لم يَكُنْ كِذب

Dawn never comes into being definitively

Unless what did not exist comes into being

يا صاحباً لو لا عِنايتُه

بَوليّه ضاقَتْ به الرُحب

O companion, were it not for His care

For His loyal ones, even the vast would be straitened

حالي عنِ المعَهود حائلةٌ

مَرِضَتْ وأنت بِبُرْئها طَبّ

My state, contrary to custom, prevents

It fell ill, and you are the one to cure it

وأشَدُّ ما بي أنّ مَرضتها

من حيث كان تَوقَّعَ الطِبّ

What pains me most is that its illness

Came from where a cure was anticipated

خذْها تَهُزُّ العِطْفَ من طَرَبٍ

حتى كأنّ رُواتَها شَرب

Take it, shaking from so much passion

As if its tellers were intoxicated

مَوشِيّةً وَشْيَ الرّياضِ وقد

سَحَبتْ عليها ذَيْلَها السُّحب

Adorned and the adornment of gardens, clouds

Having drawn their tails over them

تُجلَى عليك وأيُّ مَنقبَةٍ

إلا وأنت لِبكرِها خِطب

Revealed to you, and what maiden

Whose virginity you did not seek in marriage

وإليك لا منك اشتيكتُ بها

فاسمَعْ فشِعْبُك للهُدَى شَعب

And to you, not from you, I complained of it

So listen, for your path is the path of guidance

وإذا شَحذْتَ العزْمَ مُؤتنِفاً

نَصْري فحِزْبُ اللهِ لي حِزب

And if you sharpen resolute intention

My victory, for God's party is my party

فمتى يُقبِّضُ أن أقولَ وقد

تَمّتْ لديك مَطالبي الجُرب

So when can I say, since

My requests from you are fulfilled, enough!

كم بِتُّ ذا أرَقٍ وذا قَلَقٍ

فالآنَ قَرَّ الجَفْنُ والجَنب

How many nights I remained sleepless and anxious

But now the eyelid and the side are still

جُدْلي بجِدٍّ منك أحْىَ به

فالدّهرُ دَهرٌ كُلُّه لعب

Preoccupy me with seriousness from you that revives me

For time is an era whose entirety is play

أمّا القريضُ فعَنْه يَشغلُني

زَمَنٌ خَبيئةُ صَدْرِه خِبّ

As for poetry, it preoccupies me from it

An era whose chest hides cunning

فاليومَ لي من نظْمِه عَجَبٌ

ولقد عُمِّرْتُ ولي بهِ عُجب

Today its prosody amazes me

And I have lived long but it still amazes me

شَبَكُ الكريم قصيدةٌ نُظِمتْ

وبديعُ بَيتٍ وَسْطَها الحَبّ

The nets of the generous ensnare an ode composed

With the wonderful beauty of its verse love

فأصِخْ وأولِ من الصنائع ما

تَرضى المَبادىءُ منه والغِبّ

So roar with the first of skills what

Beginnings approve of and endings cultivate

فالجودُ فِعْلٌ واحدٌ وبه

لك شاكرانِ العَبْدُ والرَّبّ

For generosity is a single deed by which

Both your thankful servant and Lord are grateful