بَرَزَت بزينتِها إليكَ الشامُ
وافترَّ بشراً ثغرُها البسّامُ
Sham has appeared to you adorned,
Her smiling lips have shone radiantly.
فتجاوبَ الأَطيارُ بين رياضِها
منها عليكَ تحيةٌ وَسلام
The birds sang amongst her gardens in turn
Greetings and peace to you from them.
صوتُ النسيمُ أمامَ حاجبِ شمسِها
هذاك إيماءٌ وذاك كلام
The voice of the breeze in front of the sun's brow
This is a gesture, that is speech.
شهدتْ بطلعتك (ابن ثابت) وافداً
أتعودُ (بابن الحارثِ) الأحلام
She witnessed your arrival, O Ibn Thabit
Do dreams of Ibn Al-Harith return?
يا شاعراً والدهرُ بعضُ رواته
باتتْ عليك تَحاسَدُ الأقوام
O poet, while fate cheats some of its storytellers
The tribes have become envious of you.
للعبقرية في قريضِك طابعٌ
وعليه من آي النبوغِ وسام
Genius has a stamp on your poetry
And the insignia of brilliance upon it.
لاحتْ عليه نفحةٌ قدسيةٌ
أدى إليها الوحيُ والإلهام
A sacred breath has shone from it
Revelation and inspiration led to it.
فكأنَّما المعنى رحيقُ مدامةٍ
واللفظُ شَفّافاً عليه جام
It is as if meaning were sweet wine
And the words transparently in a cup.
صوَّرتَ خائنةَ العيونِ لنا وما
تخفي الصدورُ وما تعيه إلهام
You pictured for us the traitorous eyes and what
The hearts conceal and inspiration discerns.
أُخذٌ من السحرِ الحلال نفثتَها
فكأنها عند النشيدِ مدام
Taken from permitted sorcery you breathed into it
As if at the melody of song it is wine.
أَدركتَ من غايِ الخلود مكانةً
بعدتْ فما طمعتْ بها (الأهرام)
You attained from the zenith of immortality a rank
After which the pyramids have no more ambition.
واشتدَّ أَسرُ الشعرِ فيك وَطالما
كانت تساور جسمَه الأَسقام
The bond of poetry in you has grown strong, and for long
Illnesses have beset its body.
تبني من الأبياتِ كلَّ ممردٍ
من شأْنِه التشييدُ والإِحكام
You construct from verses each stronghold
Meet for founding and consolidating.
في كل بيتٍ غادةٌ تنويلها
ووصالُها إلا عليكَ حرام
In each verse a young gazelle yielding to you
While joining with her is forbidden you.
فكأنها في البيتِ تشرق زهرة
وَكأنه من حولها أكمام
It is as if in the verse a flower rises radiantly
While around her are wraps.
حَدَّثْتَ عن ذاتِ الإِله بكل ما
ليستْ تحيط بدركِه الأَفهام
You told of the Divine Essence with all that
Minds cannot encompass of its perception.
وَكشفتَ سرَّ النفس وَهو مقنعٌ
ضلتْ محجةَ كنهِهِ الأَوهام
And you revealed the secret of the soul, while it is veiled,
The speculations of its essence went astray.
ذهنُ الرئيسِ (أبي علي) مرهفاً
عن دركه قَدْ عادَ وَهو كهام
The astute mind of the Chief, my father,
Turned away while it was in a stupor.
بأَبي وَأُمي (مصرَ) ماذا أَنجبتْ
بكَ من إِمامٍ ما شاء إِمام
By my father and mother, Egypt, what a peerless
Imam she brought forth in you, as imam desired!
فاجمع مشتتَ شملها فلربما
قامتْ مقامَ سيوفِها الأَقلام
So gather its scattered group, perhaps
The pens will take the place of its swords.
كم مِنْ مقامٍ كنت محموداً به
في موقفٍ زَلَّتْ به الأَقدام
How many a sublime rank you attained
When feet slipped in an occasion.
مصرُ العزيزةُ والشآم عَلَى الولا
إلفانِ ضمَّهما هوى وَغرام
Precious Egypt and Sham are to the viceroy
Passion and love that joined them.
والله ما نقضتْ لها عهداً وَلم
يخْفرْ لمصرٍ في الشآم ذمام
By God, she broke no covenant, nor
Did the bridle fail Egypt in Sham.
من عهد عمرو لم تحلّ عظيمةٌ
في مصر إلاّ شاركتها الشام
Since the covenant of Amr no glorious one
Reigned in Egypt but Sham shared her rule.
انظر تجدْ (بدمشق) ما يعيا به
قلمُ البليغِ وَيبهتُ الرسّام
Behold, in Damascus you will find that with which
The eloquent pen is bewildered, and the artist.
الغوطتانِ محيطةٌ كلتاهما
بدمشق تُخفى فيهما الآكام
The two Ghoutas surround it, both of them,
Concealing the meadows within them.
زندانِ مدَّهما أخو شوقٍ إلى
مشتاقةٍ فدنتْ فتمَّ لزام
The prison of their reaching out in longing
To an ardently desiring beloved, so the bond was completed.
والغوطتانِ عَلَى محيَّا جلقٍ
من سندسٍ عند الشروقِ لثام
The two Ghoutas upon a face of polished beauty
Are at dawn a wrapper of silk.
نسجتْ لها شمسُ الصباحِ خيوطَها
برداً عليه طرائقٌ وَسهام
The morning sun wove its threads for it
With graces and arrows upon them.
والبدرُ أَلبسها إِزاراً أبيضاً
من نورِه فكأَنه إِحرام
And the moon clothed it in a white loincloth
Of its light, as if it were sacral dress.
هل كان غصنٌ في خمائلِ (جلَّق)
نايٌ وَأنفاسُ النسيمِ زنام
Was there a branch in the thickets of Jallaq
A flute, and the breaths of the breeze, a tune?
هي صفوةُ اللهِ البديع بأرضه
فإِذا صبوتُ لها فكيف أُلام
It is God’s choicest in His earth,
So how can I blame it if I pour forth to it?
طافَ الخليلُ بها وَبارك حولها
نوحٌ وَخار بها الإقامةَ (سامُ)
Khalil roamed around it and blessed its environs.
Noah sighed for it, and Sam made residence there.
قد كان للمجدِ الموطدِ ركنُه
من (قاسيون) ذروَة وَسنام
The pillar of firmly rooted glory
Was from Qasioun a summit and high place.
قمْ واستلمْ دورَ الخلافةِ إِنها
أَمسى لها بيدِ الردى استسلام
Arise, and assume the office of caliphate, it has
Fallen by the course of time into surrender.
طفْ في زواياها وَعظِّمْ شأْنها
من شأْنها التعظيم والإكرام
Wander in its retreats and hallow its precincts,
It is meet to hallow and honor it.
ماذا دهى الخضراءَ صوَّحَ غصنها
وَعلا محيّاها الوسيمَ قتام
What has thrilled the verdant, its branch quivering,
And its handsome and lofty expanse filled with mist?
فكأنها لم يأْتلقْ في أُفِقها
عمرُ الخلبفةُ والإِمامُ هشام
As if in its horizon the era of Caliph Omar
And Imam Hisham never shone forth.
أَعززْ عَلى الخلفاءِ ذل بلادِهم
وَلو انهم تحتَ الترابِ رمام
Make more precious to the Caliphs the abasement of their lands
Even if they are beneath the dust, decomposed.
قل للذي وَسعتْ سياستُه الورى
ضاقتْ سياستها بنا الأيام
Say to him whose governance encompassed the world,
Its eras have become too narrow for us.
واعطفْ لقبرِ أبي المظفر ساعياً
أَفَلَمْ يعزَّ بسعيه الإِسلام؟
And turn with reverence to Abu al-Muzaffar’s tomb,
Did not his efforts ennoble Islam?
قل للذي غلب الحوادثَ بأْسُه
إِنّا بأَيدي الحادثات نضام
Say to him who overcame events with his might,
“We are in the hands of events, overpowered.”
فجعتْ بفقدِ التاجِ (جِلَّقُ) وانطوتْ
من بعدِ نشرٍ تاكمُ الأَعلام
Jallaq was bereaved by loss of the crown, and folded up
After being spread out, the flags scattering.
والبدرُ أَفجع ما يكون خسوفه
في ليلةٍ زهراءَ وَهو تمام
The moon, how disconsolate is its eclipse
On a brilliant night, at its fullest phase!
(شوقي) وَإِني مستجيرٌ عائذٌ
بك إِنْ مناني العيُّ والإِفحام
Shawqi, I take refuge, pleading,
With you, if blame and testing afflict me.
من ذا يقول وَأَنت منه بمشهد
أَفليس غايةَ أَمرِه الإِبهام
Who can speak, while you are present,
Is not the course of his affair ambiguity?
أقدمتَ حيث ارتاع كلُّ مفوَّهٍ
قد يركب الأَمرَ المخوفَ غلام
You came forward where every eloquent one feared,
A boy may ride the formidable situation.
يا أيها الحفل المعظَّم قَدْرَ من
كانتْ تُعظَّمُ قبله الأصنام
O you venerable gathering, honoring one
Whose like idols were honored aforetimes.
وَلَوه وَجْهَكمُ وحيّوا قبلةً
كَرُمَتْ وأَنتمْ للسلام قيام
I bid you welcome, greet a sanctuary,
You arose for peace, so greet in return.
