أَلَم يَكُ جَهلاً بَعدَ سِتّينَ حِجَّةً
تَذَكُّرُ أُمِّ الفَضلِ وَالرَأسِ شَيبُ
Was it not still ignorance after sixty clear proofs
To remember the mother of virtue and the hoary head?
وَقيلُكَ هَل مَعروفُها راجِعٌ لَنا
وَلَيسَ لِشَيءٍ قَد تَفاوَتَ مَطلَبُ
And it was said to you, “Is her kindness to us lasting?”
And no longed-for thing remains as it was in the past.
عَلى حينَ وَلّى الدَهرُ إِلّا أَقَلَّهُ
وَكادَت بَقايا آخِرِ العَيشِ تَذهَبُ
When time changes, only its worst remains,
And the last remnants of life are near to passing.
فَإِن تُؤذِنينا بِالفِراقِ فَلَستُمُ
بِأَوَّلِ مَن يَنأى وَمَن يَتَجَنَّبُ
If you dismiss us, you are not
The first to turn away and avoid.
وَكَم مِن حَبيبٍ قَد تَناسَيتُ وَصلَهُ
يَكادُ فُؤادي إِثرَهُ يَتَلَهَّبُ
How many a beloved have I forgotten whose affection
My heart, its trace, is near to burning up!
أَلَسنا بِمَحقوقينَ أَن نُجهِدَ السُرى
وَأَن يُرقِصَ التالي لَنا وَهوَ مُتعَبُ
Are we not wronged that we exert the companionship
And the next one dances for us, and he is tired?
إِلى خَيرِ مَن تَحتَ السَماءِ أَمانَةً
وَأَولاهُ بِالحَقِّ الَّذي لا يُكَذَّبُ
To the best of all beneath the sky in trust
And in truth, which is not denied.
تُعارِضُ بِاللَيلِ النُجومَ رِكابُنا
وَبِالشَمسِ حَتّى تَأفُلَ الشَمسُ تُذأَبُ
Our mounts challenge the stars by night
And the sun, until the sun sinks down melted.
أُنيخَت وَما تَدري أَما في ظُهورِها
مِنَ القَرحِ أَم ما في المَناسِمِ أَنقَبُ
She swooned, and does not know whether in her back
Are wounds or what is in the vertebrae is dug up.
حَلَفتُ بِأَيدي البُدنِ تَدمى نُحورُها
نَهاراً وَما ضَمَّ الصِفاحُ وَكَبكَبُ
I swear by the hands of the bodies damp with blood
By day, and the warrior did not bandage and dress.
لَأُمٌّ أَتَتنا بِالوَليدِ خَليفَةً
مِنَ الشَمسِ لَو كانَ اِبنُها البَدرُ أَنجَبُ
A mother brought us a baby successor
From the sun, if its son were the full moon begotten.
وَإِن شِئتَ مِن عَبسٍ بِكَ مِنهُمُ
أَبٌ لَكَ طَلّابُ التُراثِ مَطالِبُ
And if you wish for a father through them for you—
Seekers of heritage, desiring are fathers for you.
وَمِن عَبدُ شَمسٍ أَنتَ سادِسُ سِتَّةٍ
خِلائِفَ كانوا مِنهُمُ العَمُّ وَالأَبُ
And from Abd Shams, you are the sixth of six
Successors, of whom were the uncle and father.
هُداةً وَمَهدِيِّينَ عُثمانُ مِنهُمُ
وَمَروانُ وَاِبنُ الأَبطَحَينِ المُطَيَّبُ
Guides and rightly-guiding—of them, Uthman
And Marwan and Ibn al-Abtahayn, made fragrant.
أَبوكَ الَّذي كانَت لُؤَيُّ بنُ غالِبٍ
لَهُ مِن نَواصيها الصَريحُ المَهَذَّبُ
Your father, for whom the decisive Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib
Had the eloquent sword, elegant and polished.
تَصَعَّدَ جَدٌّ بِالوَليدِ إِلى الَّتي
أَرى كُلُّ جَدٍّ دونَها يَتَصَوَّبُ
An ancestor ascended through al-Walid to her
Whom I see every ancestor beneath her desiring favor.
أَرى الثَقَلَينِ الجِنَّ وَالإِنسَ أَصبَحا
يَمُدّانِ أَعناقاً إِلَيكَ تَقَرَّبُ
I see the two races, jinn and mankind, have risen
Extending necks to you, drawing near.
وَما مِنهُما إِلّا يُرَجّي كَرامَةً
بِكَفَّيكَ أَو يَخشى العِقابَ فَيَهرُبُ
And neither of them but hopes for honor
Through your hands or fears punishment, so flees.
وَما دونَ كَفَّيكَ اِنتِهاءٌ لِراغِبٍ
وَلا لِمُناهُ مِن وَرائِكَ مَذهَبُ
And beneath your hands is no end for one who desires
And no refuge for one who retreats behind you.
