ما لي ارى الغاب عن وجه الهزبر خلا
وما لبدر الدجا عن برجه أفلا
Why do I see the forest turn away from the face of spring?
Why does the full moon wander from its mansion?
وما لبحر الندى الفياض هامدة
أمواجه لا ينادي جودها أملا
Why is the sea of dew stagnant, its waves silent,
No longer calling out its generosity or hope?
وما لريح المنايا وهي ساكنة
قد قضضت بالمنايا ذلك الجبلا
Why is the wind of death still when it has dashed
That mighty mountain to pieces with death?
مات الحياة لموت لا حياة له
الكاشف الكرب عن داع قد ابتهلا
Life itself has died at the death that knows no life.
The reliever of distress, who pleaded in supplication, has departed.
ما أوحش الربع مرءا بعد أحمده
وأجدب الأرض مرعا بعد ما رحلا
How lonesome the land has become without Ahmed,
And how barren after his departure.
ما كان أفجعه خطبا وافضعه
سلبا واسرعه في أمة خللا
None has been more woeful in calamity,
More deprived by loss, swifter to find fault among the people.
أجرى الدموع وأذكى في الضلوع أسى
نفى الهجوع وشب الحزن مشتعلا
He let flow tears and ignited in the ribs a heartache.
He sent away grief and lit up sorrow flaming.
صدع على كبد كم فت من عضد
وألبس الدهر بعد الحلية العطلا
He split open the liver of each officer whose strength he sapped,
And clothed the times anew in loss after finery.
نقلت يا دهر عنا من تود فدا
لو أنه كان عنه الكل منتقلا
O Fate! You have removed from us one whose ransom
Would have been all of us, had he but one debtor.
أعوزت نفسك فانظر كيف صرت به
يا دهر أعمى ضئيلا تشتكي الشللا
You have orphaned yourself, so see what you have become without him -
Blind, feeble Fate, complaining of paralysis!
نقلته ولسان الحال منه لنا
يقول والكل منا مطرق خجلا
You took him from us, though the voice of the state proclaims:
We are all downcast with shame before him.
أموت بينكم وحدي وما أحد
منكم يموت معي حزنا ولا وجلا
I die among you alone, with none to join me,
Grieving or fearing for me in death.
أين المفدون لي حيا أما رجل
منهم إذا قال قولا بالفدا فعلا
Where are they who owe their lives to me? Is there no man
Who, if he spoke one word of ransom, would act?
لاهم فدوني ولا في الموت شاركني
منهم صديق ولا في حفرتي دخلا
They owe me their lives, yet none shares death with me,
No friend joins me in my grave.
هيهات ليس سوى نفسي التي صدقت
معي بما تدعي يوم انقضت أكلا
Vain imaginings! None is left but my soul which has kept faith with me
On the day its pledge fell due.
ما كان الارياء كلما ذكروا
موت الرياء لموتى منهم وخلا
Those show-offs! Whenever the death of pretense was recalled,
It was as if their pretentious selves had never existed.
ولو أجبنا لقلنا قتل أنفسنا
عليك هين ولكنا نسى عملا
Had we responded, we would have said: “To kill ourselves for you
Would be easy, but we forget what we have done.”
ولا نلاقيك من أجل الشقاء به
والصبر يرجو به لقياك من نقلا
We do not face you out of misfortune through him,
While patience hopes through you for the relief of transport.
جيوش حزن تراءت لي وقد نظرت
إلى اصطبار ضعيف البطش قد خذلا
Armies of grief appeared to me when I looked
Upon the patience of the weak-armed, those who falter.
أمسى به اتقيها غير منتفع
كما توقى غريق اللجة البللا
When evening came, I feared them, deriving no benefit
As a drowning man fears the surge of rising floodwaters.
وأحمق من له نفس تحدثه
بأن يصادم بالقارورة الجبلا
Only a fool with a soul to lose
Would clash with the mountain as if it were a flask.
استغفر الله ما شيئ بممتنع
في قدرىة الله فاترك ضربك المثلا
I beg God’s forgiveness! Nothing thwarts
The power of God, so cease your proverbs.
إن السعادة للعادات خارقة
أما ترى سعد عبدالله ما فعلا
Surely happiness transcends custom?
Have you not seen Sa’d Abdullah - what he has done?
أمسوا ينادي له بالملك في بلد
وما درى وهو في أخرى وما سالا
They cried out to him as king in a city
While all unknowing he was in another, asking nothing.
والقيت في قلوب الخلق طاعته
فما عصى رجل في أمره رجلا
And obedience to him was cast into people’s hearts
So no man disobeyed him in his commands.
وهل يخالف أو يلفى بمعصية
أمر من الله في سلطانه نزلا
Who would oppose or evade obeying
A command from God descended into His appointed ruler?
ما أجمع الناس مذ كانوا على ملك
اجماعهم لك بالأمر الذي حصلا
Never have the people, since first they were,
Agreed about a ruler as they agreed on you.
حتى المنازع أغضى عن مطامعه
بحيث لو انه أعطى لما قبلا
Even the rival overlooked his own designs,
As if, were he given it, he would not accept the rule.
هذي السعادة لا في راكب خطرا
يحاول الملك إما فاز أو قتلا
This is the happiness not of one who dares
And seeks the throne, whether he wins or dies.
ملك عظيم أتى من غير مسئلة
وكل أمر أتى عفوا وما سئلا
A mighty rule unasked for, everything
Coming freely, nothing sought.
أعنت فيه كما قال النبي ومن
يسئل فذاك إلى ما ناله وكلا
You were aided as the Prophet said, and whoever
Seeks aid, that aids him to what he attained unasked.
فابشر بملك عقيم والإِله به
هو المعين على ما ناب أو شغلا
So rejoice in an unfailing rule, and God through it
Is the helper against what is past or is to come.
عناية بك منه لم تكن عبثا
لكن لتسلك عدلا عنه قد عدلا
His care for you was not in vain,
But that you might walk justly, as He was just.
وفي الولاية في الرؤيا التي صدقت
ما دل أنك فيها تقتفى الرسلا
In the true dream which came to you lies proof
You follow in it the footsteps of the messengers.
وفي البياض النقا مما يد نسها
فالحمد لله لا زيغا ولا ميلا
In the pure white hands that nothing can stain,
Thanks be to God, no swerving and no bent.
يا أيها الملك المنصور حيث مضى
بهيبة ملأت بالرعب كل ملا
O You, the supported king, before whom
Awe goes out spreading fear through every district!
ما مات من كنت عنه في الورى خلفا
تقوم بالملك تدبيراً ولا عزلا
None who was shielded by you in the world has died,
For you stand by the rule arranging and dismissing.
اتاك ربك سلطانا بخيرته
وقال للمبتغي ملكا لغيرك لا
Your Lord brought you untroubled rule by His choice,
Saying to the seeker of rule other than you: No!
ليهنك الملك رب العرش عاقده
دون الورى لك والسعد الذي كملا
May the rule please you which the Lord of the Throne girded,
Beyond all others for you, and the good fortune now perfected.
فبدل الخوف أمنا والبكا ضحكا
ووحشة الأرض أنسا والأسا جذلا
So for fear he made safety, for weeping laughter,
For the desolation of earth companionship, and for misery felicity.
ومن تكن من عقاب الله دولته
فان ملكك من غفرانه جعلا
He whose rule lasts because God forgives him -
Yours is a rule from His pardon made.
