أَبَداً كَذا عَنكَ السُعودُ تُناضِلُ
وَسُيوفُها قَبلَ السُيوفِ تُقاتِلُ
Forever thus do your auspicious stars contend on your behalf,
their swords doing battle before other swords can strike.
وعيونُها بكَ إذ تَقَرُّ قريرةٌ
وَأَكُفُّها لَو قُلتَ يَوماً ناوِلي
Their eyes, resting upon you, are tranquil and content,
and their hands—if one day you said, “Place in my palm
كَفّي النُجومَ الطالِعاتِ تُناوِلُ
وَإِذا أَقَمتَ فَفي ذَراكَ مُقيمَةٌ
the rising stars”—would place them there.
When you stay, they dwell within your shelter,
مَهما أَقَمتَ وَإِن رَحَلتَ تُراحِلُ
يَتَعَجَّبونَ لِعاجِلٍ مِنها وَما
however long you remain; and if you journey, they journey too.
They marvel at such haste—but how
أَدراهُمُ أَنَّ الأَجَلَّ الآجِلُ
عَهدي بِأَبوابِ المُلوكِ مَعاقِلاً
could they know that what comes later is greater?
I had known the doors of kings as fortresses,
فَلَها يُحاصِرُ نازِلٌ وَينازِلُ
مِن دونِها لِلبُخلِ بابٌ مُقفَلٌ
where a visitor is besieged and must do battle.
Before them, stinginess has a door locked fast,
وَإِلَيكَ لِلجَدوى الطَريقُ السابِلُ
فَاليَومَ أَصبَحتُم بِحاراً لِلنَدى
but to you the road of bounty lies open and well-trodden.
Today you have become seas of munificence,
مِن دونِها الأَبوابُ وَهيَ سَواحِلُ
لا عُطِّلَت تِلكَ المَنازِلُ إِنَّها
with doors before them—and those doors are shores.
May those dwellings never stand deserted: indeed,
لِلنازِلينَ عَلى نَداكَ مَنازِلُ
لا يَدَّعونَ عَلَيكَ باباً مُقفَلاً
they are homes for all who alight upon your bounty.
No one claims that you keep a door locked;
أَو لا فَيُسأَلُ عَنكَ مَن هُوَ قافِلُ
تَتَفَسَّرُ الأَحلامُ مِن آمالِنا
or else, let any homeward traveler be asked about you.
Therein, our dreams are interpreted through our hopes,
فيها وَأَكثَرُها قَديماً باطِلُ
ما عِندَ ذاكَ الجودِ خَلقٌ آيَسٌ
though most of those dreams were false in days gone by.
Before such generosity, no creature is left despairing
إِلّا الَّذي هُوَ فيهِ يَوماً عاذِلُ
ما لَم يَكُن في رَوضِهِم بَقلٌ فَما
except one who, someday, would censure it.
Without green growth in their meadow, even
سَحبانُ لَو مَطَرَتهُ إِلّا باقِلُ
لا خارِجٌ دَخَلَت عَلَيهِ غِبطَةٌ
Sahbān, though rain showered him, would be only Bāqil.
No outsider has been touched by envy because of it,
مِنها وَلَم يَخرُج عَلَيها داخِلُ
قُلنا وَما فَعَلوا فَما أَغناهُمُ
nor has any insider gone out against it.
We have spoken; but their deeds—how little need they have,
عِندَ المَكارِمِ ما يَقولُ القائِلُ
amid noble acts, of anything a speaker can say!
Sol 5.6