أَعْيا شفاءُ الهمِّ إِن لَمْ تَشْفِهِ
وعتا مُلِمُّ الخطبِ إِن لَمْ تكْفِهِ
The solace of cares defies healing, if you cannot heal them,
And the stress of misfortunes continues, if you cannot relieve them.
وبكَ استبانَ الصُّبْحَ طارِقُ لَيْلِهِ
والْتَذَّ طَعْمَ الأَمْنِ خائِفُ حَتْفِهِ
The dawn disclosed itself weeping for the night it is heralding in.
And safety relished the taste of fear to its harm.
ولَرُبَّ خَطْبٍ لَمْ تَضِقْ ذَرْعاً بِهِ
ويضيقُ ذرعُ الواصفينَ بوصْفِهِ
And many a worry whose measure you cannot find too narrow
Has its measure too narrow for describers to describe.
لَمْ تَلْقَكَ الضَّرَّاءُ نابيَ حَدِّهِ
كَلّا ولا السَّرَّاءُ ثانِيَ عِطْفِهِ
Hardship did not come to you defiant of its proper bound,
Nor gladness repeating its favours.
نِعْمَ المُقَدِّرُ للأُمورِ بِرِفْقِهِ
رَكِبَ الزمانَ وَمَا اشتكى من عُنْفِهِ
How excellent the Ordainer of matters is in His gentleness!
He rode the times but did not complain of their violence.
رَحُبَتْ حدائِقُهُ لِمَرْتَعِ مُخْصِبٍ
وصَفَتْ مشارِبُهُ لِمَوْرِدِ مُرْفِهِ
His gardens were spacious for the foddering of fertile ground,
And his drinking-troughs overflowing for the watering of plenteous herbage.
مُستكمِلُ الإِنعامِ قبلَ أَوانِهِ
مثلَ الهِلالِ تمامُهُ فِي نِصْفِهِ
Perfecting favour before its time,
Like the crescent moon completing itself in half-form.
مُغْرى اليدَيْنِ بِضِعْفِ مَا رَجَتِ المُنى
بَدْءاً وأَجدِرْ أَنْ يَعُودَ بِضِعْفِهِ
Tempting hands with double what wish has sought -
Beginning, though fitter to restore twofold.
ومُسَرْبَلٌ من حِلْمِهِ وذكائِهِ
حُلَلاً مُطَرَّزَةً ببِارِعِ ظَرْفِهِ
And robed in the gathered wisdom and discretion,
Robes embroidered with the exquisite refinements of his taste.
شِيَمٌ سقاني صَفْوَها فَسَقَيْتُهُ
مَا شاءَ من صَفْوِ الوِدادِ وصِرْفِهِ
A nature whose pure draught I have drunk has intoxicated me
With whatever of pure affection and delight it contained.
فَتَرَكْتَ صَدْرَ المَجْدِ لابِسَ عِقْدِهِ
مِنِّي وجِيدُ الجودِ مُسْبِلَ شَنْفِهِ
You left the breast of glory wearing its necklaces
From me, and the forearm of bounty trailing its sleeve.
والأَرْضُ آذِنَةٌ لِصَوْتِ ثَنائِها
من هاتِفٍ تُصْغِي البلادُ لِهَتْفِهِ
And the earth giving news - with a calling voice - of his praise,
From a passionate one, to whom the lands listen with passion for his call.
فَلَيَأْتِيَنَّكَ شُكْرُ من لَمْ تُولِهِ
عَنِّي وصَفْوُ ثناءِ من لَمْ تُصْفِهِ
Then there shall come to you - from me - gratitude of him whom you did not befriend,
And the choicest of praise of him whom you did not describe.
من كَلِّ موصولِ الغرامِ بقَلْبِهِ
أَسَفاً لِبُعْدِي والسُّهادِ بِطَرْفِهِ
From everyone, whose love-knotted heart is tied to him,
Alas for my distance from him, with his glance's end turned in my direction,
ومُغَرَّبٍ تبكي السَّماءُ لِشَجْوِهِ
مِنِّي وتَلْتَهِفُ النجومُ لِلَهْفِهِ
And an exile for whom the sky weeps because of his burning grief,
From me, and for whom the stars pine from his pining,
لولا قَضاءُ فِراقِهِ وطَلبتَهُ
فِي غيرِ جَفْنِي ماثِلاً لَمْ تُلْفِهِ
If it were not for the ordaining of his separation from me, and your seeking him
In other than my eyelids, unaccustomed, you would not have found him.
أَبُنَيَّ لاحَ الفجرُ إِذْ بَلَغَ الدُّجى
أَمَداً فَسَلِّ الهَمَّ إِنْ لَمْ تَشْفِهِ
My son, dawn gleamed when darkness reached its term;
So rid care if you cannot heal it.
وتَرَكْتُ غَوْلَ البَرِّ مُعْدِمَ أُنْسِهِ
مِنِّي وهَوْلَ البحرِ فاقدَ إِلْفِهِ
And I left the worry of land having lost its intimacy
From me, and the awe of sea having lost its acquaintance.
هَذَا عَلَى خَفْقِ الشِّرَاعِ وقَلْسِهِ
حُرُمٌ وذاكَ عَلَى البعيرِ وخُفِّهِ
This one is on the flap of sail and spar,
That other on camel and slipper.
وقَصَرْتُ لَيْلِي بالسُّرورِ مُنَفِّساً
من طُولِ لَيْلِ النَّاجِياتِ وعَسْفِهِ
And my night I shortened, easing it
From the long nights of women wailing and harshness.
بالحاجِبِ الأَعْلى المُجِيرِ لِهِمَّتِي
حَتَّى أُجِرْتُ من الزَّمانِ وصَرْفِهِ
With the Most High, the Guardian, sheltering my resolve,
Until I won from time and its caprice.
مَلِكٌ يُلاقِي العِلْمَ راضِيَ سَعْيِهِ
فَيَرُدُّ عنهُ الجهلَ راغِمَ أَنْفِهِ
A king who meets knowledge smiling at its seekers,
Repulsing ignorance from it while it chokes at its repulse.
وإِذا تَأَلَّقَ بارِقٌ من سَيْفِه
فِي الرَّوْعِ أَشْفَقَتِ الرُّبى من خطفِهِ
And when a flash lights from his sword
In awe, the hill-tops are fearful of its seizure.
أَو لاحَ فِي رَهَجٍ شِهابُ سِنانِهِ
نَذِرَتْ شياطينُ الضَّلالِ بِقَذْفِهِ
Or there appears in a cloud a spark of his blade's lightning,
The devils of error take warning of its striking them down.
قادَ الجيادَ إِلَى الجهادِ وَحَفَّنِي
بِنَدى يَدَيْهِ تَحْتَ ظِلَّيْ سَجْفِهِ
He drove stallions to the holy war, and favoured me
With the dew of his hands under my shade's protection.
بوزيرِهِ الغادِي إِلَيَّ بِبِرِّهِ
وأَمِينِهِ الحاني عَلَيَّ بعَطْفِهِ
With his minister, proceeding unto me with his benevolence,
And his trustee, leaning affectionately over me with his care.
أَظلَمْتُ فاسْتَوْقَدْتُ نورَ جبينِهِ
وظمئْتُ فاسْتَسْقَيْتُ وابِلَ كَفِّهِ
I was darkened, so I kindled the light of his brow,
I was thirsty, so I drank from the cloudburst of his palm.
وبِهِ جزيْتُ النائباتِ بصاعِها
صاعاً وسُمْتُ الدَّهْرَ خُطَّةَ خَسْفِهِ
Through it I requited hardships with their fill,
And I pierced the times with the point of its trenchant sword.
فإِذا أَحِلُّ ففي مُضاعَفِ بِرِّهِ
أَوْ أَسْتَقِلُّ ففي مُضاعَفِ زَغْفِهِ
So if I come near, I come near through the multiplication of his grace,
And if I withdraw, I withdraw through the multiplication of his disdain.
ولْيعلمِ الأَقرانُ حينَ تدِبُّ لي
تَحْتَ الوغى أَنِّي لَحِقْتُ بِصَفِّهِ
And let contemporaries know, when destiny runs at me
Beneath confusion, that my streaming flag will join his streaming flag.
ولئِنْ نَهَدْتُ إِلَيْهِمُ فَبِسَيْفِهِ
ولئِنْ كَرَرْتُ عَلَيْهِمُ فَبِطَرْفِهِ
And if I plunge fiercely upon them, then 'twill be with his sword,
And if I return to the charge against them, then 'twill be with his glance.
كَرَماً بِفِطْرَةِ هِمَّةٍ وسِيادَةٍ
أَغْلَيْتُ فِي تِبْرِ الثَّناءِ بِصَرْفِهِ
With a courage, by congenital energy and sovereignty,
Whose stirrups my praise in description overtakes not.
ونَدىً هَدَيْتُ المنعِمينَ سَبيلَهُ
سَبْقاً وأَقْرَأْتُ الكِرامَ بِحَرْفِهِ
And a calling whose direction I have guided the beneficent -
A precedence by which I have given lesson to the generous.
فاسْمَعْ فقد أَهديتُها لَكَ غادَةً
تُلْهيكَ عن لَثْمِ الحبيبِ وَرَشْفِهِ
So listen! For to you I have sent it, she-camel, straying,
To distract you from kissing the beloved's lip and savouring it.
جاءَتْكَ تزجُرُ طَيْرَ واجِبِ مَهْرِها
فِي نسبةٍ لك كُرِّمَتْ عن خُلْفِهِ
She has come to rebuke the bird of duty for its negligence
In an ancestry attributed to you, which she has honoured against being disgraced.
أَنِسَتْ بِبُرْءِ الهَمِّ فِي اسْمِكَ بعدَما
كَسَفَتْ سَنا بَدْرِي دياجي كِسْفِهِ
She has been happy, through you being named, with the loss of care, after
Sorrow had eclipsed my shining full moon's light.
بِكْراً تَحَلَّتْ جَوْهَرَ الشُّكْرِ الَّذِي
أَنتَ الوَفيُّ بحَقِّهِ فاسْتَوْفِهِ
A maiden who has put on the essence of thanks - which you deserve -
Do you then fulfil its right! And complete it!
فَلَيَنْجُمَنَّ على النُّجومِ بِحُسْنِهِ
ولَيَعْرِفْنَّ الجوُّ نَفْحَةَ عَرْفِهِ
It will surely gleam like stars, with its beauty,
And make the air recognise the fragrance of its bouquet.
ولَيُزْهَيَنَّ عَلَى الغمامِ نَفاسَةً
مَن صادَ مِثْلي فِي حَبائِلِ عُرْفِهِ
And it will assuredly display itself, on the clouds, as a bride
Who, the like of me, has been cut off from the bonds of his regard.
