لهفي لشرخ شبيبتي وزماني

وتروحي لفتوة وطعان

Alas for the bloom of my youth and for my days,

and for my venturing forth to chivalry and combat—

أيام لا أعطي الصبابة مقودي

أنفا ولا يثني الغرام عناني

days when I never yielded my bridle to longing,

ever, nor did passion bend my rein;

وإذا اللواحي في تقحمي الردى

لا في المدام ولا الهوى تلحاني

when reproachers rebuked me for plunging into death—

not for wine, nor for amusement, did they rebuke me;

وإذا الكماة على يقين أنهم

يلقى الردى في الحرب من يلقاني

when warriors knew with certainty that

whoever met me in war would meet his death.

اعتدهم وهم الأسود فرائسي

فهم دريئة صارمي وسناني

I counted them—lions though they were—as my prey;

they were targets for my sword and spear.

والأسد تلقى مثلها مني إذا

لاقيتها بقوى يد وجنان

And lions, too, found their like in me whenever

I faced them with strength of hand and heart.

كم قد حطمت الرمح في لباتها

فتركتها صرعى على الأذقان

How many spears I shattered in their breasts,

leaving them felled upon their chins—

حتى إذا السبعون قصر عشرها

خطوي وعاث الضعف في أركاني

until seventy, with its decade, shortened

my stride, and weakness ravaged my limbs.

أبلتني الأيام حتى كل عن

ضرب المهند ساعدي وبناني

The days wore me down until my arm and fingers

grew weary of striking with the Indian blade.

هذا وكم للدهر عندي نكبة

في المال والأهلين والأوطان

And how many blows of fate have fallen upon me

in wealth, family, and homelands!

نوب يروض بها إباي وقد عسا

عودي فما تثنيه كف الحاني

Calamities with which fate disciplines my pride—yet my wood has hardened,

and no tender hand can bend it.

لا أستكين ولا ألين وقد بلا

فيما مضى صبري على الحدثان

I neither submit nor soften, though

past adversities have tested my patience.

فالآن يطمع في اهتضامي إنه

قد رام أمرا ليس في الإمكان

Now fate aspires to humble me; indeed,

it has attempted something impossible.

والناصر الملك المتوج ناصري

وعلاه قد خطت كتاب أماني

But al-Nasir, the crowned king, is my champion,

and his eminence has inscribed my charter of safety.

قد كنت أرهب صرف دهري قبله

فأعاد صرف الدهر من أعواني

Before him, I feared the reversals of time,

but he made time’s reversals my allies.

أنا جاره ويد الخطوب قصيرة

عن ان تنال مجاور السلطان

I am his neighbor; adversity’s hand is too short

to reach one who shelters beside the sultan.

ملك يمن على أسارى سيبه

فيعيدهم في الأسر بالإحسان

A king who shows favor to the captives of his sword,

then through kindness takes them captive anew.

خضعت له صيد الملوك فمن برى

أقلامه غرر على التيجان

The proud among kings submit to him; from the sharpening of

his pens come white marks of glory upon crowns.

ملأ القلوب محبة ومهابة

فخلت من البغضاء والشنآن

He filled hearts with love and awe,

leaving them free of hatred and rancor.

لي منه إكرام علوت به على

زهر النجوم ونائل أغناني

From him I have honor by which I rose above

the radiant stars, and bounty that enriched me.

قرن الكرامة بالنوال مواليا

فعجزت عن إحصاء ما أولاني

He joined honor to largesse, granting both continually,

until I could no longer reckon all he bestowed.

فناده أخلف ما مضى من ثروتي

وبقاؤه عن أسرتي أسلاني

His generosity replaced the wealth I had lost,

and his presence consoled me for my family.

فلأهدين إلى علاه مدائحا

تبقى على الأحقاب والأزمان

So I shall dedicate praises to his highness

that endure through epochs and ages—

مدحاً أفوق بها زهيرا مثلما

فاق المليك الناصر ابن سنان

praises in which I surpass Zuhayr, just as

the victorious king surpassed Ibn Sinan.

يا ناصر الإسلام حين تخاذلت

عنه الملوك ومظهر الإيمان

O defender of Islam, when

its kings failed it, and revealer of the faith:

بك قد أعز الله حزب جنوده

وأذل حزب الكفر والطغيان

through you God exalted the host of His soldiers

and humbled the party of unbelief and tyranny.

لما رأيت الناس قد أغواهم ال

شيطان بالإلحاد والعصيان

When you saw that the people had been led astray by

the Devil into heresy and rebellion,

جردت سيفك في العدا لا رغبة

في الملك بل في طاعة الرحمن

you drew your sword against the enemy, not from desire

for kingship, but in obedience to the All-Merciful.

فضربتهم ضرب الغرائب واضعا

بالسيف ما رفعوا من الصلبان

You struck them with wondrous blows, laying low

with the sword what they had raised of crosses.

وغضبت لله الذي أعطاك فص

ل الحكم غضبة ثائر حران

You grew angry for God, who granted you decisive

judgment—with the wrath of a blazing avenger.

فقتلت من صدق الوغى ووسمت من

نجى الفرار بذلة وهوان

You killed those who stood true in battle and branded whoever

escaped in flight with shame and humiliation.

وبذلت أموال الخزائن بعدما

هرمت وراء خواتم الخزان

And you spent the wealth of the treasuries after

it had grown old behind the treasurers’ seals,

في جمع كل مجاهد ومجالد

ومبارز ومنازل الأقرام

to gather every holy warrior and hardened fighter,

every duelist and challenger of champions—

من كل من يرد الحروب بأبيض

عضب ويصدر وهو أحمر قان

each one who enters war with a white,

keen blade and returns with it crimson-red;

ويخوض نيران الوغى وكأنه

ظمآن خاض موارد الغدران

who plunges into the fires of battle as though

a thirsty man were entering watering pools.

قوم إذا شهدوا الوغى قال الورى

ماذا أتى بالاسد من خفان

A people who, when they enter battle, make mankind say:

“What has brought the lions from Khafan?”

لو أنهم صدعوا الجبال لزعزعوا

أركانها بالبيض والخرصان

If they were to split the mountains, they would shake

their foundations with swords and lances.

فهم الذخيرة للوقائع بالعدا

ولفتح ما استعصى من البلدان

They are the reserve for clashes with the enemy

and for conquering lands resistant to conquest.

واسعد بشهر الصوم فهو مبشر

لعلاك بالتأييد والغفران

Rejoice in the month of fasting, for it heralds

to your highness divine aid and forgiveness,

في دولة عمت بنائلها الورى

فدعا لها بالخلد كل لسان

within a realm whose bounty has encompassed all mankind,

so every tongue has prayed for its immortality.