وَقائِلَةٍ لي ما فَعَلتَ إِذا اِلتَقَت
وَراءَكَ أَبوابُ المَنايا القَواتِلِ
And a woman asked me: 'What did you do when
the gates of deadly doom closed behind you?'
فَقُلتُ لَها ما بِاِحتِيالٍ وَلا يَدٍ
خَرَجتُ مِنَ الغُمّى وَلا بِالجَعائِلِ
I told her: 'Not through cunning or power
did I escape dire distress, nor through payments;
وَلَكِنَّ رَبّي رَبُّ يونُسَ إِذ دَعا
مِنَ الحوتِ في مَوجٍ مِنَ البَحرِ سائِلِ
but my Lord is Yunus's Lord: when he prayed
from within the whale, amid a flowing wave of the sea,
دَعا رَبَّهُ وَاللَهُ أَرحَمُ مَن دَعا
وَأَدناهُ مِن داعٍ دَعا مُتَضائِلِ
he called upon his Lord—and God is the most merciful of those invoked,
and the nearest of them to a suppliant who prayed in humility.
وَما بَيَّنَ الأَيّامَ إِلّا اِبنُ لَيلَةٍ
رُكوباً لَها وَالدَهرُ جَمُّ التَلاتِلِ
And none but Ibn Laylah has made the days plain,
by riding them, while time abounds in upheavals.
لَهُ لَيلَةُ البَيضاءِ إِذ أَنا خائِفٌ
لِذَنبي وَإِذ قَلبي كَثيرُ البَلابِلِ
His was the night of al-Bayda, when I was afraid
because of my sin, and when my heart was full of anxieties.
فَما حَيَّةٌ يُرقى أَشَدَّ شَكيمَةً
وَلا مِثلَ هَذا مِن شَفيعٍ مُناضِلِ
For no serpent that is charmed is fiercer in temper,
nor is there an intercessor like this staunch defender.
يَجِدُّ إِذا الحَجّاجُ لانَ وَإِن يَخَف
لَهُ غَضَباً يَضرِب بِرِفقِ المُحاوِلِ
He presses hard when al-Hajjaj softens; and if he fears
his anger, he strikes with the gentleness of one feeling his way.'
Sol 6.1