Sol 6.1

  1. قَدِمْتَ فحيَّاك المهيمنُ بندرا

    لترجعَ مسروراً وتمضي مُظفَّرا

    You arrived; may the All-Protecting One bless you, Bandar,

    so that you return delighted and go forth victorious.

  2. وأقبلتَ بالعيد السَّعيد مبجَّلاً

    فهلَّل هذا العيدُ فيك وكبَّرا

    And you came with joyous Eid, honored,

    so this Eid proclaimed God's oneness and greatness in your honor.

  3. بشهرٍ محيَّاك استهلَّ هلالُهُ

    فقُلنا هلالُ العيد لاح مبشّرا

    In a month whose crescent rose in your countenance,

    we said, "The crescent of Eid has appeared, bringing good tidings."

  4. فلا ليلَ إلاَّ فيكَ أَصبحَ مُقمِراً

    ولا صُبحَ إلاَّ في جبينك أسفرا

    No night but became moonlit through you,

    and no dawn but shone forth upon your brow.

  5. وقلتُ لنفسي والأَماني لم تزل

    تخيّل لي إمكان ما قد تعذَّرا

    And I said to myself, while wishes still

    pictured for me the possibility of what had proved impossible:

  6. عسى أن أرى من بعد عيسى وبندر

    ببندر ما قد كنت في بندر أرى

    "Perhaps, after Isa and Bandar, I shall see

    in Bandar what I once used to see in Bandar."

  7. رعيتُ بهم روض المكارم مزهراً

    وأُسْقِيتُ منهم عارض الجود ممطرا

    Through them I grazed in the flowering meadow of noble deeds,

    and I was watered by their raining cloud of generosity.

  8. وكانوا على روض المجرَّة أمَّةً

    تَفَجَّرَ من أيديهمُ الجود أنهرا

    And they were a community upon the meadow of the Milky Way;

    generosity gushed from their hands in rivers.

  9. وتلك ديار أورِثوها منيعةً

    حَمَوْها ببيض تقطر الموت أحمرا

    Those were impregnable homelands they had been bequeathed,

    which they guarded with bright swords dripping crimson death.

  10. فكم طائل قد رامهم بخديعةٍ

    ولكنَّه ما طال إلاَّ وقصَّرا

    How many an assailant sought to overcome them through deceit,

    yet he never reached far without falling short.

  11. وكم قائل لي هَلْ وجدت نظيرهم

    فقلتُ له أين الثريَّا من الثرى

    And how many have asked me, "Have you found their equal?"

    I told him, "How far the Pleiades are from the earth!"

  12. ذكرت ومن ينساهم القلب ساعةً

    على أنَّني فيهم أَذوب تَذَكّرا

    I recalled—and whose heart could forget them for an hour?—

    though I melt in remembrance of them,

  13. زماناً بهم طلق المحيَّا ومنزلاً

    من العزِّ أمسى بالحديد مسوَّرا

    a time whose face smiled through them, and a dwelling

    of glory that stood encircled with iron.

  14. تدرّ علينا الخير أخلافها المنى

    وكان لنا في الدَّهر أنْ نتخيَّرا

    Hopes poured goodness upon us from their teats,

    and in those days we were free to choose.

  15. أَلم تنظر الأَيَّام كيف تبَدَّلَتْ

    بأَحوالها والدَّهر كيف تغيَّرا

    Have you not seen how the days have changed

    in their fortunes, and how time has altered?

  16. وكانتْ أُمورٌ ما هنالك بعدها

    يكادُ لها الجلمود أنْ يتفطَّرا

    And events befell that nothing could surpass,

    at which solid rock would almost split apart.

  17. وقد كانَ ذاك المنهل العذب صافياً

    بهم قبل هذا اليوم حتَّى تكدَّرا

    That sweet watering-place had been clear

    through them before this day, until it grew turbid.

  18. وقامت لها ساق على سوق فتنة

    تباع بها الأَرواح بخساً وتشترى

    And strife rose to its feet in its marketplace,

    where souls were sold for a pittance and bought.

  19. إلى أنْ تلافيتَ العشيرة فارعَوَتْ

    وأصبح فيها آمراً ومُؤَمَّرا

    Until you rescued the clan, and it came to its senses,

    and he became among them a commander and an appointed chief.

  20. وأَخْمَدْتَ تلكَ النَّار بعدَ وقودها

    وقَد أَوْشَكَتْ لولاك أَنْ تتسعَّرا

    And you quenched that fire after its kindling,

    and, but for you, it would soon have blazed fiercely.

  21. جمعتَهُم بعد الشتات وسُسْتَهم

    وأَقْصَيْتَ منهم من عَصى وتكبَّرا

    You united them after their dispersal and governed them,

    and removed from their midst whoever disobeyed and grew arrogant.

  22. وما راح يستغني عن الرأي عسكرٌ

    وكم دمّر التدبير والرأي عسكرا

    No army has ever dispensed with sound judgment,

    and how many armies planning and judgment have destroyed!

  23. وما كانَ أقواها لديك قبيلة

    لو انتصرت للبأس نصراً مؤزَّرا

    And how mighty a tribe it would have been in your eyes,

    had it won a resounding victory for valor!

  24. إذا الحرُّ ألفى الضَّيمَ شرط حياته

    رأى الرأي فيها أنْ يموتَ ويقبرا

    When a free man finds humiliation the condition of his life,

    he sees the prudent course in such a life as dying and being buried.

  25. لقد فازَ من أصبحْتَ في النَّاس شيخَهم

    ومن كنتَ فيه هادياً ومدبّرا

    Those whose chief you have become among men have surely prospered,

    and those among whom you have been a guide and steward.

  26. دعوتَهُم للخير إذ ذاك دعوةً

    كشفتَ بها عنهم من الضُّرِّ ما عرا

    At that time you summoned them to goodness with a call

    by which you removed from them the harm that had befallen them.

  27. سلكتَ سبيلَ الأَوَّلين فلم تَحِدْ

    عن الرُّشد أو تُلقى عن الورد مصدرا

    You followed the path of the forebears and did not swerve

    from right guidance, nor were you driven back from the watering-place.

  28. سَعَيْتَ إلى المجد الأَثيلِ مُوَفَّقاً

    ومَن حَلَّ بالتَّوفيق صَدراً تصدَّرا

    You strove toward deep-rooted glory, favored with success,

    and whoever sits at the head through success takes the lead.