أرسلها ترعى ألاء ونفل — Sharif Al Murtaza

أرسلها ترعى أَلاءً ونَفَلْ

تامكةً بين الجبالِ كالجبلْ

Send her out to graze on alāʾ shrubs and clover,

high-humped among the mountains, like a mountain.

حنّ لها نبتُ الخُزامى باللّوى

وشبّ حَوْذانُ العميم واِكتَهلْ

At al-Liwā, the lavender growth yearned for her,

and al-ʿAmīm's buttercups grew and matured.

مِن يَعْمَلاتٍ ما وردن عن هوىً

ولم تَبِتْ مِن شلّها على وَجَلْ

One of tireless she-camels that never watered at whim;

nor did you spend a night fearing their being driven off.

كرائمٌ يبذلن للضّيف قِرىً

ودونهنّ البيضُ تدمى والأَسَلْ

Noble she-camels that offer the guest his fare,

before whom bright swords and spears are bloodied.

يوسعْنَنَا الرَّسْلَ مقيمين وإنْ

سرنا فيوسعن الرّسيمَ والرَّمَلْ

They lavish milk on us while we stay; and if

we travel, they give us swift strides and a trot.

كَمَلْن حتّى ما يُعَيَّرْن إذا

جدّ فخارٌ بسوى قربِ الأجلْ

They reached perfection: none reproach them, when

boasting grows earnest, save that their end is near.

قد قلتُ للسّارين يبغون العُلا

وربّ سارٍ عَمِيَتْ عنه السُّبُلْ

I have told night travelers seeking high rank—

and many a traveler has found the paths obscured—

في مَهْمَهٍ مُلتَبسٍ أقطارُه

لو نَسَلَ الذّئب به صبحاً لَضلْ

in a trackless waste whose reaches blur together,

where even a wolf trotting through at dawn would stray;

يسترجف الطِّرْفَ إذا خبّ به

غبَّ السُّرى ريح النّعامى والشَّمَلْ

the noble steed is made to shudder as it trots with him,

after night travel, by the south and north winds—

أمّوا بها مالكَ أملاكِ الورى

عمادَ هذا الدّين سلطانَ الدُّوَلْ

Head on her toward the lord of mankind's kings,

the pillar of this faith, the sovereign of realms,

حيث تُرى الهامُ إليه سجّداً

وأرضُه معمورةٌ من القُبَلْ

where heads are seen prostrate toward him,

and his ground is thronged with kisses;

والسُّؤْدُدُ الرَّغْدُ وأموالُ الغنى

تُهان في عِراصِهِ وتُبتَذَلْ

and abundant eminence and stores of wealth

are held cheap and freely spent in his courts;

وَمَنبتُ الجود الّذي نُوّارُه

يُمطَرُ في كلّ صباحٍ ويُطَلْ

and the seedbed of generosity, whose blossoms

receive rain and dew every morning;

الثّابتُ العزمِ إذا طيشٌ هفا

والواجدُ الرّأي إذا الرّأي بَطَلْ

steadfast in resolve when rashness stumbles,

and possessed of judgment when judgment fails;

ذو فكرةٍ تُنير كلَّ ظلمةٍ

كأنّها جَذوة نارٍ تشتعلْ

with a thought that lights every darkness,

as though it were a blazing firebrand.

ظَلْتَ بحرّ الحرب في عصابةٍ

يُحرّمون الطّعنَ إلّا في المُقَلْ

You remained in the heat of battle among a band

who allow no thrusts except into eyes,

من كلّ سيّارٍ إلى الذّكرِ وإنْ

شتّتَ ذاك الذّكرُ شملاً أو قُبَلْ

each ever journeying toward renown, even if

that renown sunders fellowship or kisses;

كأنّه أَقنى على مَرْقَبةً

يُدمِي إذا ضمَّ وإنْ أُدْمِي نَشَلْ

as though he were a hook-beaked raptor on a lookout height,

drawing blood when he grips, and wrenching free if bloodied.

حتّى حميتَ جانبَ الملكِ وقد

خِيف عليه ثَلَلٌ بعد ثَلَلْ

Until you defended the realm's flank, when

breach after breach was feared for it.

لَولا مداواتُك مِن أمراضهِ

بالضّربِ والطّعنِ جميعاً ما أبَلْ

Without your treating its maladies

with blows and thrusts together, it would not have recovered.

كم صعبةٍ ركبتها معضلةٍ

تُطعمها الريثَ إذا أكدَى العَجَلْ

How many an unruly, intractable challenge you have ridden,

feeding it deliberation when haste proved barren;

وطامحٍ بغير حقٍّ للعُلا

زحزحتَه عن التّراقي فنزَلْ

and many a man aspiring without right to high rank

you pushed back from climbing, and he came down;

وجامحٍ إلى الهوى ومائلٍ

عن النُّهى رددتهَ عن المَيَلْ

and many a man rushing headlong toward desire and swerving

from reason, you turned back from his wayward course.

أيُّ فتىً من قبل أنْ أرشدتَه

قعقع أبوابَ المعالي فدخَلْ

What young man, before you guided him,

rattled the gates of high distinction and entered?

وأيُّ خرقٍ عَبَقَ الجود به

لم يُسألِ المعروفَ يوماً فبذَلْ

And what magnanimous man, fragrant with generosity,

gave freely without ever being asked a favor?

وَأَيُّ ماشٍ في مزلّاتِ الرّدى

جاز ولم يُخش عليه مِن زَلَلْ

And what traveler through death's slippery places

has crossed without anyone fearing he might slip?

وأين ما حُمّل ما حُمّلتَه

بين عظيمٍ وجسيمٍ فحملْ

And where is one charged with what you were made to bear,

great and weighty burdens, who then bore them?

مِن معشرٍ ما خُلقتْ إلّا لهمْ

أَسِرَّةُ الملكِ وتيجانُ الدُّوَلْ

From a people for whom alone were created

the thrones of kingship and the crowns of realms;

ما وُلدوا إلّا وفي أيديهمُ

أزمّةُ الدَّوْلاتِ مِن عَقْدٍ وَحلْ

they were not born without already holding in their hands

the reins of dynasties, to bind and loose.

في حُلَلِ الملك لهمْ كاسيةً

أجسادَهمْ مَنْدوحةٌ عن الحُلَلْ

With the robes of kingship clothing

their bodies, they need no other robes.

قد جاءني ما كنتَ تهديه على

شَحْطِ النّوى طوراً وفي قربِ النَّزَلْ

What you used to send me has arrived, across

great separation at times, and with lodgings close at hand:

قولٌ وفعلٌ ألحقاني بالعُلا

والماءُ قَد يلحق غصّاً بالطُّوَلْ

words and deeds that both raised me to high rank;

and water may bring a tender shoot to lofty growth.

فضّلتني على الورى وكلُّ مَنْ

فضّلته على الورى كلّاً فَضَلْ

You favored me above mankind, and everyone whom

you favored above mankind has surpassed them all.

وقلتَ ما حَلَّيْتَنِي الدّهَر به

وكم ثويتُ موسعاً من العَطَلْ

And you said what adorned me for all time,

and how often I had dwelt, lavishly unadorned!

كَم لكَ عِندي نِعَمٌ فُتن المُنى

ولم تنهلنّ بُنيّاتُ الأَسَلْ

How many favors of yours I hold that surpassed wishes,

while the little daughters of the spears never drank their first draught.

أرفلُ منهنّ وكم ماشٍ أرى

على الثّرى في مثلهنّ ما رَفَلْ

In their splendor I trail my robes; how many walkers I see

upon the earth who never trailed robes in their like!

يا أيّها المالك منّي رِبْقَةً

أعيتْ على الشُّمِّ العرانين الأُوَلْ

O you who hold my halter,

which defied the proud-nosed lords of old,

كَم رامَ منّي بعضَ ما أجرَرْتُه

مَن مدّ ضَبْعَيه له فما وَصَلْ

how many sought from me some of what I handed over—

men who stretched both arms toward it but never reached it!

أَيقَظتني على القريض بعدما

نكّب غاويه طريقي وعَدَلْ

You awakened me to poetry after

its tempter had shunned my path and turned away.

وقال في مجدك إنْ كنتَ تفي

عقدتَ أنْ لا تقرضَ الشّعرَ فَحَلْ

And it said of your glory: "If you would do it justice,

you vowed not to compose verse—so unbind that vow."

فخذ كما أثَرْتَها قافيةً

كأنّما شيءٌ سواها لم يُقَلْ

So take a rhyme, as you have stirred it into being,

as though nothing other than it had ever been said.

نزّهتُها لمّا أردتُ سَوْقَها

إلى علاك من نسيبٍ وغَزَلْ

I purified it when I wished to bring it

to your high rank, of love-preludes and love poetry.

كأنّما هشّتْ وقد صِيغتْ بها

حَبُّ القلوب من سرورٍ وجَذَلْ

As though, already fashioned within it, there rejoiced

the hearts' very cores, in joy and gladness.

لا ملّك اللّهُ لنا غيرَكمُ

ولا نأى عزّكُمُ ولا اِنتقلْ

May God set none but you to rule over us,

and may your might never depart or pass elsewhere.

ودارُ ملكٍ أنتَ فيها لم تزلْ

مأهولةً من الوفود والخَوَلْ

And may the royal house in which you dwell always remain

thronged with delegations and attendants;

ودرّتِ النُّعمى عليكمْ ثَرَّةً

ونلتموها عَلَلاً بعد نَهَلْ

and may bounty flow upon you copiously,

and may you receive it, a second draught after the first.