ما فاز بالحمد ولا ناله — Sardar

ما فاز بالحمدِ ولا نالَهْ

من عِشقتْ راحتُه مالَهْ

No one has won praise or attained it

whose palm has fallen in love with his wealth.

لا والذي يرضَى لمعروفهِ

أن يفتح السائلُ أقفالَهْ

No, by the one content to let his bounty

have its locks opened by the petitioner.

تِرْبُ المعالي من له في النَّدَى

بادرةٌ تُخرِسُ سُؤَّالَهْ

The peer of high honors is he whose generosity

takes the initiative, silencing his petitioners.

بفاجىء الراجي بأوطارِه

كأنّه وسوَس آمالَهْ

He surprises the hopeful man with his wishes fulfilled,

as though he himself had whispered his hopes.

مُنْيتُهُ للطارق المجتدى

أن يُدرجَ الأرضَ فتُطوَى لَهْ

His wish for the night visitor seeking bounty

is to roll up the earth, so it lies folded for him.

مثل عميدِ الدولةِ المرتقِى

بحيثُ أرسَى المجدُ أجبالَهْ

Like ʿAmid al-Dawla, who has climbed

to where glory has firmly planted its mountains.

ذو الرأى قد شدَّ حيازيمَهُ

يصارع الدهرَ وأهوالَهْ

A man of judgment, he has tightened his girdles,

wrestling with time and its terrors.

إذا عَرا خطبٌ تصدَّى له

يوقدُ في جُنحِيْه أجذالَهْ

When a calamity strikes, he confronts it,

kindling his logs within its flanks.

مُصيبُ سهم الظنِّ لا ينطوى

غيبُ غدٍ عنه إذا خالَهْ

His arrow of surmise strikes true; never hidden

is tomorrow's mystery from him, once he envisions it.

كأنَّ في جنبيه ماويَّةً

تريه مما غاب أشكالَهْ

As though a mirror lay within his sides,

showing him the forms of things unseen.

بازلُ عامين ارتضَى وخدَه

في طَرْقه العزَّ وإقبالَهْ

A camel two years into maturity, he has chosen his swift stride

and onward advance in his approach to glory.

لا يشهدُ المغنمَ إلا لكي

يقسِمَ في الغازين أنفالَهْ

He comes to the spoils only

to divide his booty among the warriors.

إذا زعيمُ الجيش حامَى على

مِرباعه أنهبَ أموالَهْ

When the army's commander defends

his quarter-share, he lets his own wealth be plundered.

فعادةُ الجود وإسرافُه

قد كثرَّا بالشكر إقلالَهْ

Thus habitual generosity and its lavishness

have made his scant means plentiful through gratitude.

سامٍ إذا تِهتَ عليه وإن

وادعتَه طأطأ شِملالَهْ

Lofty when you treat him haughtily; yet if

you treat him peaceably, he bows his tall frame.

كأنما أقسمَ حبُّ العلا

عليه أن يُتعِب عُذّالَهْ

As though love of high renown had sworn

that he must exhaust those who reproach him.

فلا يَنْوا عنه عتابا ولا

أقوالُهم تزجُر أفعالَهْ

So they never cease reproaching him, nor

do their words restrain his deeds.

كم قد عرَتْه من يدٍ أتلفتْ

درهمَه فيه ومثقالَهْ

How many a hand has come to him, consuming

his dirham and his mithqal on its behalf.

خرَّفَ حتى حقروا عنده

مَنْ وزَن المالَ ومَن كالَهْ

He gave without measure, till beside him they scorned

those who weighed out wealth and those who measured it.

مشتبهُ الأطرافِ أعمامُهُ

يظنُّها القائفُ أخوالَهْ

His family branches are alike: his paternal uncles

a physiognomist would take for his maternal uncles.

إن جذَب الفخرُ بأبرادهِم

فكلُّهم يسحبُ سِربالَهْ

If pride tugs at their cloaks,

each of them trails his robe.

في كلِّ جمعٍ صالحٍ هاتفٌ

ما يأتلِى يضربُ أمثالَهْ

In every worthy gathering, a herald

never tires of holding him up as an example.

أما ترى الرقشاءَ في كفَّه

كأنها سمراءُ ذَبَّالَهْ

Do you not see the speckled serpent in his palm,

as though it were a supple brown spear?

إذا تثنَّتْ فوق قِرطاسِها

رأيتَها بالفضلِ مختالَهْ

When it sways above its paper,

you see it strutting in its excellence.

فتارةً تشَفِى بِدرياقِها

وتارةً بالسُّمِّ قتَّالَهْ

At times it heals with its antidote,

and at times it is deadly with poison.

ينِفُثُ في أطرافِها رُقيةً

تعالجُ العِىَّ وأغلالَهْ

He breathes an incantation into its tips,

that cures inarticulacy and its fetters.

قد صيَّرت سحبانَ في وائلٍ

كأنّه عَجماءُ صَلصالَهْ

It has made Sahban among Wa'il

seem like an inarticulate, clattering creature.

لا رجَعتْ نُعماه حَسرَى كما

راجعَ هذا القلبُ بَلبالَهْ

May his bounty never return exhausted, as

this heart has returned to its anguish.

عاودَه من دائه نَكسُهُ

من بعد أن شارف إبلالَهْ

A relapse of its illness has revisited it,

after it had come close to recovery.

ولو صحا طورا لعنَّفتُه

في حبّه بيضاءَ مِكسالَهْ

And were it sober for a while, I would rebuke it

for loving a fair, languid woman,

أو رشأً قد لثَّموا وجهَه

فجاء مثلَ البدر في الهالَهْ

or a gazelle-fawn whose face they have veiled,

so he appears like the full moon within its halo.

أبعْدَ ما عمَّم كافورُهُ

رأسى وأعفَى الرأسُ صَقَّالَهْ

After camphor-white has turbaned

my head, and my head has spared its shaver,

أجيبُ طيفا زار عن زروةٍ

وأسأل الربعَ وأطلالَهْ

do I answer a dream-visitor come from afar,

and question the dwelling and its ruins,

ويطرُدُ التحصيلَ من خاطري

صهباءُ أو صفراءُ سلسالَهْ

while sound judgment is driven from my mind

by tawny wine, or smooth-flowing golden wine?

وليس خِدْنى بالهِدانِ الذي

هجوعُه يألفُ آصالَهْ

My companion is no sluggard whose

slumber keeps company with his afternoons,

لا يترجَّى الضيفُ إمراعَهُ

ولا يخاف الجارُ إمحالَهْ

whose plenty no guest looks to,

and whose dearth no neighbor fears.

لكنّه الأشعثُ في سِربهِ

يحدو إلى العلياء أجمالَهْ

Rather, he is the disheveled one among his band,

chanting his camels onward toward the heights.

يبيت ضبُّ القاع من خوفهِ

مستثفرا دهماءَ شوَّالَهْ

The lizard of the plain spends the night in fear of him,

with a black, tail-raised scorpion tucked beneath its tail.

أشهَى له من قَينةٍ مطربٍ

عناقُهُ جرداءَ صَهَّالَهْ

More pleasing to him than an enchanting singing-girl

is embracing a sleek, neighing mare.

قد عاشر الوحشَ بأخلاقه

وباين الحيَّ وجُهَّالَهْ

In his ways he has lived among wild beasts,

and kept apart from the tribe and its fools.

كلٌّ له في سعيِه مَذهبٌ

وكلُّ عيشٍ فله آلَهْ

Each has his own path in his striving,

and every way of life has its equipment.

وهذه الأيامُ إن حُقِّقت

شرّابَةٌ للخلق أكَّالَهْ

And these days, if truly examined,

drink creation down and devour it.