هذا أبو مُضر كفتنا كَفُّه
شكوى اللئضامِ فما نَذُمُّ لئيما
This is Abū Muḍar, whose hand has spared us
This is Abu Mudar; his hand has spared us
complaints against the base—so we need revile no villain.
complaints against the base, so we blame no base man.
هذا الجسيمُ مَوَاهباً هذا الشري
ف مَنَاصِباً هذا المهذَّب خِيما
This man, immense in gifts; this man, exalted in
Here is one great in gifts, here is one noble
rank; this man, refined in character.
in rank, here is one refined in character.
سمكَت كهمّتهِ السماءُ ومُثِّلت
فيها خلائقُه الشراف نُجُوما
The sky rose as high as his ambition, and within it
The sky rose as high as his ambition; portrayed
his noble qualities were figured as stars.
within it were his noble qualities as stars.
نشوان قد جعل المحامدَ والعُلا
دون الُمدَامة ساقياً ونَديما
Intoxicated, he has made praise and lofty glory—
Intoxicated, he has made praiseworthy deeds and glory
instead of wine—his cupbearer and companion.
his cupbearer and boon companion, rather than wine.
أعدَى الأنامَ طباعُهُ فتكَرَّمُوا
لو جاز أن يُدعَى سواه كريما
His nature proved contagious to mankind, and they grew generous—
His nature infected humankind, and they became generous—
if anyone but he could rightly be called generous.
if anyone but him could be called generous.
لو لم أُشرِّف بامتداحك مَنطقي
ما انقاد نحوك خاطِري مزموما
Had I not ennobled my speech by praising you,
Had I not ennobled my speech by praising you,
my thought, held in rein, would never have turned toward you.
my thought would not have been led toward you on a rein.
لكن رأى شَرفَ المصاهر فاغتَدى
يُهدي إليك لُبَابه المكتوما
But it saw the honor of kinship and thereupon began
But it saw the nobility of its prospective in-law, and began
to offer you its secret essence.
offering you its hidden essence.
فحباك من نَسجِ العقول بغَادَةٍ
قَطَعَت إليك مقاصداً وعُزُوماً
Thus it bestowed on you, from the weaving of minds, a maiden poem
So it bestowed on you a graceful maiden woven by minds,
that journeyed to you bearing purposes and firm resolves.
who traversed purposes and resolves to reach you.
لما تَبَيَّنَتِ الكفاءَةَ أقسَمَت
ألا تغرب بَعدَها وتقيما
When she discerned your equal worth, she swore
When she recognized a match of equal standing, she swore
never thereafter to journey westward, but to remain.
never to go far away thereafter, but to remain.
لا تبغها مَهراً فقد أمهَرتَها
نُعمَاك عندي حادثاً وقديما
Do not seek a dowry for her: you have already dowered her
Seek no dowry for her; you have already dowered her
with favors to me, both new and of old.
with your favors to me, both new and old.
ألزمتُ شكرك منطقي وأناملي
وأقمتُ فكري بالوفاءِ زَعِيما
I have bound my speech and fingertips to thank you,
I have bound my speech and fingertips to thanking you,
and appointed my thought the guarantor of fidelity.
and made my thought a guarantor of fidelity.
Sol 6.1