لِلشِّعْرِ في الدَّهْرِ حُكْمٌ لا يُغَيِّرُهُ
مَا بِالْحَوادِثِ مِنْ نَقْضٍ وَتَغْيِيرِ
Poetry has in time an authority that nothing alters,
Not what events bring of destruction and change.
يَسْمُو بِقَوْمٍ وَيَهْوِي آخَرُونَ بِهِ
كَالدَّهْرِ يَجْرِي بِمَيْسُورٍ وَمَعْسُورِ
It elevates some folk and others are debased by it,
Like time itself flowing with ease and hardship.
لَهُ أَوَابِدُ لا تَنْفَكُّ سَائِرَةً
فِي الأَرْضِ مَا بَيْنَ إِدْلاجٍ وَتَهْجِيرِ
It has everlasting marvels that march on unceasing
Through the earth amid darkness and illumination.
مِنْ كُلِّ عَائِرَةٍ تَسْتَنُّ فِي طَلَقٍ
يَغْتَالُ بِالْبُهْرِ أَنْفَاسَ الْمَحَاضِيرِ
From every vanished encampment it gleans in the open
To steal away men's breaths in their settlements.
تَجْرِي مَعَ الشَّمْسِ فِي تَيَّارِ كَهْرَبَةٍ
عَلَى إِطارٍ مِنَ الأَضَواءِ مَسْعُورِ
It runs with the sun in a current like flickering light
On a frame made of rays filled with radiance.
تُطَارِدُ الْبَرْقَ إِنْ مَرَّتْ وَتَتْرُكُهُ
فِي جَوْشَنٍ مِنْ حَبِيكِ الْمُزْنِ مَزْرُورِ
It chases the lightning should it pass by and leaves it
In boiling foam of the churned-up sea.
صَحَائِفٌ لَمْ تَزَلْ تُتْلَى بِأَلْسِنَةٍ
لِلدَّهْرِ في كُلِّ نَادٍ مِنْهُ مَعْمُورِ
Pages that voices still chant in each circle of time
That is lived in: for poetry every clan has renown.
يَزْهَى بِهَا كُلُّ سَامٍ فِي أَرُومَتِهِ
وَيَتَّقِي الْبَأْسَ مِنْهَا كُلُّ مَغْمُورِ
With it each chief of repute takes pride in his manor
And every debased one fears its reproof.
فَكَمْ بِهَا رَسَخَتْ أَرْكَانُ مَمْلَكَةٍ
وَكَمْ بِهَا خَمَدَتْ أَنْفَاسُ مَغْرُورِ
How many a kingdom's pillars it made firm stand
And how many an overweening one's breath it extinguished.
وَالشِّعْرُ دِيوانُ أَخْلاقٍ يَلوحُ بِهِ
مَا خَطَّهُ الْفِكْرُ مِنْ بَحْثٍ وَتَنْقِيرِ
Poetry is the register of the mores wherein the mind
Has inscribed all it pondered and picked out.
كَمْ شَادَ مَجْدَاً وَكَمْ أَوْدَى بِمَنْقَبَةٍ
رَفْعاً وَخَفْضَاً بِمَرْجُوٍّ وَمَحْذُورِ
How much glory it builds up and how much shame it brings down,
Exalting and abasing with hopes and terrors.
أَبْقَى زُهَيْرٌ بِهِ مَا شَادَهُ هَرِمٌ
مِنَ الْفَخَارِ حَدِيثاً جدَّ مَأْثُورِ
Zuhayr eternized himself with what an old man built up
Of news turned legend repeated and broadcast.
وَفَلَّ جَرْوَلُ غَرْبَ الزِّبْرِقَانِ بِهِ
فَبَاءَ مِنْهُ بِصَدْعٍ غَيْرِ مَجْبُورِ
And Jarwal by it came to ruin when he cast
Aspersions that left him broken beyond repair.
أَخْزَى جَرِيرٌ بِهِ حَيَّ النُّمَيْرِ فَمَا
عَادُوا بِغَيْرِ حَدِيثٍ مِنْهُ مَشْهُورِ
Al-Nābigha disgraced Ḥayy of al-Numayr with it, so they
Spoke of nothing else repeated from him far and wide.
لَوْلا أَبُو الطَّيِّبِ الْمَأْثُورُ مَنْطِقُهُ
مَا سَارَ فِي الدَّهْرِ يَوْمَاً ذِكْرُ كَافُورِ
Had glorious Abū Nuwās never spoken his splendid lines,
In time his name would not once have been mentioned.
