خَيرُ الهَوى ما نَجا مِنَ الكَمَدِ
وَعاشِقُ العِزِّ ماجِدُ الكَبِدِ
The best love is that which escapes decay,
And the lover of glory has a liver that's hardened.
ما حَمَلَ الذُلَّ ظَهرُ مارِنَةٍ
وَلا اِنزَوى عَن طَبيعَةِ الصَيَدِ
The back of the ostrich never bore humiliation,
Nor did it shy away from the nature of the hunt.
كَيفَ يُرَبّي الحَياةَ مُقتَبِلٌ
يَرى المُنى عاقِراً بِلا وَلَدِ
How can one who faces life raise a family
When he sees wishes barren without children?
يَعذُلُني في الزَماعِ كُلُّ فَتىً
وَالسَيفُ إِن قَرَّ في الغُمودِ صَدي
The youths blame me during hard times,
Yet the sword, when settled in its sheath, makes a clanging sound.
أَنا النُضارُ الَّذي يُضَنُّ بِهِ
لَو قَلَّبَتني يَمينُ مُنتَقِدِ
I am the blossom in which they take pride,
If turned by the right hand of the critic.
إِنّي أَظُنُّ الظُنونَ صادِقَةً
كَأَنَّ يَومي طَليعَةٌ لِغَدي
I think pure thoughts,
As if my day heralds my tomorrow.
ما وَتَرَ الدَهرُ لِمَّتي وَيَدي
تَأخُذُ قَبلَ المَشيبِ بِالقَودِ
Fate has not bound my hand and destiny
To be seized by death before old age.
تَغدُرُ بي وَفرَتي وَكُنتُ إِذا
طَلَبتُ غَيرَ الوَفاءِ لَم أَجِدِ
It betrayed me, my ability, though whenever
I sought anything but loyalty, I did not find.
بَعدَكُم حَنَّتِ الرِكابُ وَسا
لَ الرَكبُ بِالصَحصَحانِ وَالجَدَدِ
After you the camel litters have pined,
The camel litters for the newly arrived and the returning.
وَاللَيلُ بَينَ النُجومِ تَحسَبُهُ
يَخطِرُ في نَثرَةٍ مِنَ الزَرَدِ
The night amidst the stars seems
To glimmer with its scattering of pearls.
لَيلي بِبَغداذَ لا أَقَرُّ بِهِ
كَأَنَّني فيهِ ناظِرُ الرَمَدِ
My night in Baghdad gives me no rest,
As if I were watching one with diseased eyes.
يَنفُرُ نَومي كَأَنَّ مُقلَتَهُ
تُشرَجُ أَجفانُها عَلى ضَمَدِ
My sleep is disturbed as if its eyelid
Were being peeled back over an inflammation.
أُفكِرُ في حالَةٍ أُطاوِلُها
وَفَعلَةٍ تَخضِبُ القَنا بِيَدي
I reflect on a condition I prolong
And an action that dyes the lances with my hands.
لِلنَفسِ أَن تَبعَثَ العَزائِمَ وَال
رَأيَ وَكُلُّ الفِعالِ لِلجَسَدِ
It is for the soul to rouse determination and perspective,
While all action belongs to the body.
ها إِنَّها نَومَةٌ بِسَورَتِها
أَقالَتِ العَينَ عَثرَةَ السَهَدِ
It is a nap, with its effects,
That has relieved the eye of drowsiness.
لا اِطَّرَدَت بي إِلَيكَ سابِحَةٌ
حَتّى أَرى النَقعَ عالِيَ الكَتَدِ
No swimming woman drives me insistently to you
Until I see the sand dunes rising high.
ما لِيَ لا أَركَبُ البِعادَ وَلا
أُدعى عَلى القُربِ بَيضَةَ البَلَدِ
Why do I neither ride faraway nor
Call down upon nearness the egg of the city?
أَصحَبُ مَن لا أَلومُ صُحبَتَهُ
غَيرَ نَزورِ النَدى وَلا جَحِدِ
I accompany those whose company I do not blame,
Other than the visiting of dew or denial.
فَتىً رَأى الدَهرَ غَيرَ مُؤتَمَنٍ
فَما فَشا سِرُّهُ إِلى أَحَدِ
A young man who saw Time as untrustworthy,
So he confided his secret to no one.
وَاِتَّهَمَ الخَيلَ فَهوَ يَمتَحِنُ ال
مُهرَةَ قَبلَ الطَرادِ بِالطَرَدِ
He suspected horses, so he tests
The trained one before the race with driving away.
في كُلِّ فَجٍّ يَقودُ راحِلَةً
تَجذِبُها الأَرضُ جِذبَةَ المَسَدِ
In every expanse he leads a riding beast
That the ground pulls like a voracious eater.
لا يُبعِدُ اللَهُ غِلمَةً رَكِبوا
أَغراضَهُمُ وَاِستَفَوا مِنَ البُعُدِ
May God not remove young men who rode
Their purposes and benefited from remoteness.
رَمَوا بِعَهدِ النَعيم وَاِصطَنَعوا
كُلَّ بَخيلِ الذُبابِ مُطَّرَدِ
They discarded the covenant of bliss and imitated
Every stingy housefly that is driven away.
قَلّوا عَلى كَثرَةِ العَدُوِّ لَهُم
كَم عَدَدٍ لا يُعَدُّ في العُدَدِ
For their many enemies they said,
“How many in number who cannot be counted!”
لي فيهِمُ أَشرَفُ الحُظوظِ إِذا ال
رَوعُ أَعانَ الحُسامَ بِالعَضَدِ
For me among them are the noblest portions if
Ferocity aids the swords with support.
وَأَينَ مِثلُ الحُسَينِ إِن حَسُنَت
صَنائِعُ البيضِ وَالقَنا القَصِدِ
And where is the like of al-Husayn, if the acts
Of the white blades and the lances are made fine?
أَبلَجُ إِن صاحَتِ المَطِيُّ بِهِ
فَدى التَنائي بِعَيشَةِ الرَغَدِ
I shine if the riding camels shout for him,
Ransoming the best life with pleasant life.
ما خَلَعَ الدَهرُ عَنهُ سّابِغَةً
وَاللَيثُ لا يُنتَضى مِنَ اللَبَدِ
Time has not stripped it of its perfect garment,
And the lion is not scratched off of the liquid pitch.
لَو أَمطَرَتهُ السَماءُ أَنجُمَها
عِزّاً لَما قالَ لِلسَماءِ قَدي
If the sky rained its stars down upon him,
He would not say to the sky, “Enough!”
لا يَسأَلُ الضَيفُ عَن مَنازِلِهِ
وَمَنزِلُ البَدرِ غَيرُ مُفتَقَدِ
The guest need not ask about his houses,
And the house of the moon is not sought.
رَأى الظُبى في الغُمودِ آجِنَّةً
وَالخَيلَ مَلطومَةً عَنِ الأَمَدِ
He saw the antelopes in the thickets leaping
And the horses disabled from the battle.
فَاِستَلَّ أَسيافَهُ وَأَورَدَها
غَمرَ المَنايا بِمائِها الثَمدِ
So he unsheathed his swords and made them drink
The gulps of death with their sharpness.
تَخلِقُ أَجفانُها وَيَعرِضُها
دَمُ الطُلى في غَلائِلٍ جُدَدِ
Their eyelids would be created and displayed by
The blood of melted metal in new strands.
يا قائِدَ الخَيلِ في سَنابِكِها
ما يَشمَتُ السَهلُ مِنهُ بِالجَلَدِ
O leader of the horses in their horseshoes,
The plains do not gloat over him with wounds.
يَفديكَ يَومَ الخِصامِ مُمتَهِنٌ
كَأَنَّهُ مُضغَةٌ لِمُزدَرِدِ
A despised man ransom you on the day of dispute,
As if he were a bite for the snarling one.
وَصارِخٍ رافِعٍ عَقيرَتَهُ
فَكَكتَ عَنهُ جَوامِعَ الزَرَدِ
And a screaming challenger raising his voice,
So the coats of mail were removed from him.
إِذا المُنى قابَلَتكَ أَوجُهُها
صَفَّدتَ باعَ المَطالِ بِالصَفَدِ
When different sorts of death faced you,
You shackled the sellers of requests with shackles.
رُبَّ مَخوفٍ كَأَنَّ طَلعَتَهُ
تَلقى المَطايا بِطَلعَةِ الأَسَدِ
How often a fright, as if its rising
Were the horses meeting the rising of the lion!
حَطَطتَ فيهِ الرِحالَ مُحتَزِماً
وَأَنتَ ثاني المُهَنَّدِ الفَرَدِ
You alighted among them solemnly,
While you are the unique, the distinguished hero.
تَسحَبُ بُردَيكَ في مَلاعِبِهِ
وَما اِقتَفَتهُ بَرائِنُ الأَسَدِ
You drag your robe in its grounds
While the coats of mail did not pursue it.
زادَكَ في كُلِّ ما خُصِصتَ بِهِ
في كُلِّ أَمنٍ وَيَومِ مُحتَشِدِ
Your increase in all you were endowed with,
In every security and mobilized day!
كُلَّ أَصَمَّ الكُعوبِ مُعتَدِلٍ
خَلَت أَنابيبُهُ مِنَ الأَودِ
Every stubborn, straightening neck,
Its vertebrae are free of deviation.
وَكُلَّ طاغي الغِرارِ تَلحَظُهُ
مِن غِمدِهِ في طَرائِقٍ قِدَدِ
And every arrogant, deluded one you glance at
Out of its sheath in firm strips.
وَلَأمَةٍ سالَ فَوقَها زَرَدٌ
كَالماءِ في قِطعَةٍ مِنَ الزَبَدِ
And a nation above which a coat of mail flows
Like water above a piece of froth.
حُكمُكَ بِالسَيفِ غَيرُ مُنهَجِمٍ
وَأَنتَ بِالضَربِ غَيرُ مُتَّئِدِ
Your rule is by the sword without astrology,
And you are a striker without aiming carefully.
لِلَّهِ بيتٌ رَفَعتَ عِمَّتَهُ
أَغناهُ سُلطانُهُ عَنِ العَمَدِ
By God, a house you erected and gave height to,
Its sovereignty enriched it, needing no columns.
