أما الزمان إلى سلمى فقد جنحا — Abn Rumi

أما الزمانُ إلى سلمى فقد جَنَحا

وعاد معتذراً من كل ما اجْتَرَحا

As for Time, it has inclined toward Salma,

And returned apologizing for all it had done wrong.

وليس ذاك بصُنْعي بل بصنع فتى

ما زال يُدني بلطف الصنع ما نزحا

This was not my doing, but the doing of a young man

Who has ever brought distant things near through gracious deeds.

مباركُ الوجه ميمونٌ نقيبتُهُ

يُوري الزنادَ بكفَّيه إذا قدحا

Blessed of face, auspicious in character,

He kindles the fire-sticks with his hands whenever he strikes.

به غدوتُ على الأيام مقتدراً

فقد صفحتُ عن الأيام أن صَفحا

Through him I have gained power over the days,

So I have pardoned the days, since he pardoned.

رفعت منه رفيع الذكر ممتدَحاً

ألفى أباه رفيع الذكر ممتَدحا

In praising him, I exalted one already exalted in renown,

Who found his father exalted in renown and praised.

مُعطىً لسانَ فمٍ معطىً لسان يدٍ

إنْ أجملا فصّلا أو فسَّرا شرَحا

Gifted with a tongue of speech, gifted with a tongue of the hand:

When both summarize, they give detail; when they interpret, they elucidate.

لو أن عبد الحميد اليوم شاهدَه

لطان بين يديه مُذعِناً وسَحا

Had Abd al-Hamid seen him today,

He would have bowed submissively before him and yielded.

ضربتُ شعري عن الكتَّاب قاطبةً

صفحاً إليه ومثلي نحوَه جَنحا

I turned my poetry away from all the secretaries,

And toward him; one like me would incline his way.

إياه كانت تراعي همتي وله

كانت تصون أديم الوجه والمِدَحا

My ambition had him alone in view, and for him

It guarded my face's dignity and reserved my praises.

أَتأَرْتُ عيني سوادَ الناس كلِّهِمِ

فما رأيتُ سواه فيهمُ وضَحَا

I fixed my eyes on the dark mass of all mankind,

And saw no brightness among them but him.

يَفْدي أبا الصقر إن قاموا بفديته

قومٌ إذا مَذقوا أفعالَهم صَرحا

Abu al-Saqr is ransomed—if they rise to ransom him—

By men who adulterate their deeds, while he keeps his pure.

فرعٌ تفرَّع من شيبانَ شاهقةً

مَنْ ساورتْها أماني نفسِه نجحا

A branch sprung from towering Shayban:

Whoever scales her with his soul's ambitions succeeds.

واهتزّ في نَبْعة صمّاء ما عَرفت

سهلاً ولا رَئِمت سيلاً وإن طَفحا

He swayed in a hard-grained nab‘ah tree that never knew

A plain, nor welcomed a torrent, even when it overflowed.

لا تشربَ الماءَ إلا من ذؤابتها

إذا الغمام عليها من علٍ نَضحا

It drinks water only through its crown,

When clouds sprinkle it from above.

فات المذاكيَّ في بدءٍ وفي عَقِب

سبْقاً إلى الغاية القصوى وما قرِحا

He outstripped mature racehorses at the start and finish,

Racing to the farthest goal before his teeth had matured.

فتىً إذا شئت لا جهْلاً ولا سفهاً

كهلاً إذا شئت لا شيباً ولا جَلَحَا

A youth, if you wish—but not in ignorance or folly;

A mature man, if you wish—but not in gray hair or baldness.

فَتَّاهُ شرخٌ شبابيٌّ وكهَّله

حِلمٌ إذ شال حلمٌ ناقصٌ رجَحا

Youth's fresh prime made him young; he was made mature

By forbearance that weighed heavier when lesser forbearance rose.

في وجهه روضة للحسن مونِقةٌ

ما راد في مثلها طرفٌ ولا سَرحا

In his face is a delightful garden of beauty,

Through whose like no eye has wandered or roamed.

طَلُّ الحياءِ عليها واقع أبداً

كاللؤلؤ الرطب لو رقرقتَه سَفحا

The dew of modesty rests upon it always,

Like moist pearls made to shimmer as they spill.

وجهٌ إذا ما بدت للناس سُنَّتُهُ

كانت محاسنُهُ حَوْلاً لهم سُبَحَا

A face whose countenance, when it appears to people,

Makes its beauties their rosaries for a whole year.

أنا الزعيم لمكحولٍ بغُرَّتِهِ

ألّا يرى بعدها بؤساً ولا ترحا

I guarantee for anyone whose eyes are kohled with his radiant brow

That afterward he will see neither misery nor grief.

ممن إذا ما تعاطى نيل مكرمة

نالت يداه مَنال الطرف ما طمحا

He is one who, whenever he seeks a noble deed,

Has hands that reach wherever his gaze aspires.

لو يخطِبُ الشمسَ لم ترغب ببهجتها

عن خير من خطب الأزواجَ أو نكحا

If he wooed the sun, she would not, for all her splendor, turn away

From the best man ever to seek a spouse or wed.

مهما أتى الناسُ من طَول ومن كرمٍ

فإنما دخلوا الباب الذي فتحا

Whatever bounty and generosity people display,

They have merely entered the gate he opened.

لاقى الرجالُ غبوقَ المجد فاغتبقوا

منه ولاقَى صبوحَ المجد فاصطبحا

Men encountered glory's evening draught and drank

Of it; he encountered glory's morning draught and drank.

خِرقٌ به نشوةٌ من أريحيَّتِهِ

هيهات من منْتشيها أن يقال صحا

A consummate man, intoxicated by his own generous spirit:

No one intoxicated by it could ever be called sober.

يعطي المزاحَ ويعطي الجد حقَّهما

فالموتُ إنْ جدَّ والمعروف إن مزحا

He gives jest and earnest their due:

Death when he is earnest, kindness when he jests.

ممن إذا كان لاحِي البخلِ يَعذِره

فما يبالي بِلاحي الجود كيف لحى

Even when the reprover of miserliness would excuse him,

He cares nothing how the reprover of generosity reproaches him.

إن قال لا قالها للآمرين بها

ولم يقلْها لمن يستمنِح المِنحا

If he says 'No,' he says it to those who command him to say it,

Never to those who ask him for gifts.

يا بُعْد معناه من معنى اللئام إذا

شَحَوْا بلفظة لا أفواههم وشَحا

How far his meaning lies from that of the base, when

They open their mouths with the word 'No,' as he does!

لو لم يزد في بسيط الأرض نائلُهُ

لضاق منها علينا كلُّ ما انفسحا

Had his bounty not enlarged the earth's expanse,

All its spacious places would have felt narrow to us.

أضحت بجدواه أرضُ الله واسعةً

أضعافَ ما مدَّ منها ربُّها ودَحا

Through his beneficence, God's earth has become spacious,

Many times beyond what its Lord stretched out and spread.

فلاقحاتُ الأماني قد نُتِجْنَ به

وحائلات الأماني قد طوت لَقَحا

Through him, pregnant hopes have brought forth,

And barren hopes have enfolded new conception.

لو أن أفعاله الحسنى غدت شِيَةً

للمجد ما عَدَتِ التَّحْجيل والقُرحا

If his beautiful deeds became markings

For glory, they would be nothing but white stockings and a forehead blaze.

لا تحمدنَّ بليغاً في مدائحه

أفعالُه فسحت في مدحه الفُسَحا

Do not praise an eloquent poet for praising him:

His deeds have opened vast spaces for his praise.

ولو تجاوزه المُدَّاحُ لم يجدوا

في الأرض عنه ولا في القول مُنتدَحا

If the panegyrists passed him by, they would find

No room beyond him, in the world or in their words.

بُزُرْجُمُهْرُ بني العباس رُسْتُمهم

جلمود خَطْبَيْن ما صكُّوا به رَضحا

The Buzurgmihr of the Abbasids, their Rustam,

A boulder against two kinds of crisis, crushing whatever they strike with him.

ماضي الأداتين من سيف ومن قلم

كبش الكتابة كبش الحرب إن نطحا

Keen in both instruments, sword and pen,

The ram of writing, the ram of war when he butts.

وافى عُطاردَ والمريخَ مولدُه

فأَعطَياه من الحظَّينِ ما اقترحا

His birth coincided with Mercury and Mars,

And they gave him from their two fortunes what he desired.

لهُ من البأسِ حدٌّ لو أشار به

إلى الحديد على علّاتِهِ فلَحا

His valor has an edge that, if he pointed it

At iron, whatever its condition, would cleave it.

ويُمن رأيٍ ورفقٍ لو مشى بهما

بين الأنيس وبين الجنَّة اصطلحا

And auspicious judgment and gentleness that, if he walked with them

Between humankind and the jinn, the two would make peace.

في كفّه قلم ناهيك من قلم

نُبْلاً وناهيك من كف بها اتشحا

In his hand is a pen—what a pen

In nobility! And what a hand it is girded with!

يمحو ويثبت أرزاقَ العباد به

فما المقادير إلا ما وحى ومحا

With it he erases and confirms the livelihoods of men:

Destinies are nothing but what he inscribes and erases.

كأنما القلم العُلْويُّ في يده

يُجريه في أيِّ أنحاء الأمور نحا

It is as though the celestial Pen were in his hand,

Which he sets moving in whatever direction of affairs he chooses.

هذا وإن جمحَت هيجاءُ أَقمحها

نِكْلاً من الشرِّ ما يَكْبَحْ به انكَبحا

All this; and if battle runs wild, he reins it up

With a curb of harm: whatever he curbs with it is restrained.

يغشَى الوغى فترى قوساً ونابلها

إذ لا تزال ترى قوساً ولا قُزَحَا

He enters battle, and you see a bow and its archer,

Where you keep seeing a bow, but no rainbow.

ذو رميتين مفدَّاتين واحدة

تصمي الرمايا وأخرى تُوصل المِنحا

He has two shots, both worth a ransom: one

Kills its targets outright; the other delivers gifts.

يغلغل النبل في الدرع التي رُتقت

رتقاً فلو صُبَّ فيها الماءُ ما رشحا

He drives arrows through armor joined

So tightly that water poured into it would not seep.

ويطعن الطعنة النجلاء يتبعها

شخبٌ دَرير إذا لاقَى الحصى ضَرحا

He delivers a broad spear-thrust, followed

By a copious gush that scatters pebbles when it strikes them.

ويضرب الهام ضرباً لا كِفاءَ له

ترى لما طار منه موقعاً طرَحا

He strikes heads with blows beyond all matching:

You see what flies from them land far away.

لمثل ذلك في الهيجاء من عملٍ

أنحى على الأدواتِ القينُ واجْتَنَحا

For work like that in battle,

The smith bent over his tools and leaned in.

يصول منه بمن عادَى خليقتَهُ

وَرْدُ السِّيالِ ترى في لونه صَبَحَا

Against those hostile to his nature, there charges from him

A tawny lion of the acacias, with a pale glow in its coat.

ليثٌ إذا زأر الليث الهِزَبْر له

لم يحسب الليثَ إلا ثعلباً ضَبحا

A lion who, if a mighty lion roars at him,

Reckons that lion nothing but a yelping fox.

عادَى فبادى العدا فيه عداوتَه

ولم يُخافتْ بها نجواه بل صدحا

He showed hostility, openly declaring it to his enemies;

He did not whisper it in private, but proclaimed it aloud.

وقال إذ قعقعوا شَنَّ الوعيد له

لن يرهبَ الليثُ ضأناً قعقعت وذحا

When they rattled the worn waterskin of threats at him, he said:

'A lion will never fear sheep rattling their dung-tags.'

يا من إذا ضاقت الأعطانُ في هَنَةٍ

زادت شدائدُها أعطانَه فَيَحا

O you who, when watering grounds narrow in some trouble,

Find your own watering grounds widened by its hardships!

ليَهْنَأ الملكَ أن أصلحتَ فاسده

وأن حرست من الإفساد ما صلحا

May the kingdom rejoice that you repaired what was corrupt in it,

And guarded what was sound against corruption.

رددتَهُ جعفريَّ الرأي بعد هوىً

في الواثقيَّة لو لم تثنه جمحا

You restored it to Ja‘fari counsel after a leaning

Toward Wathiqi ways that, unchecked by you, would have run wild.

بِيَارَشوخٍ وفتيانٍ لهم قَدَمٌ

فيمن وَفَى لمواليه ومن نصحا

With Yarashukh and young men of established standing

Among those loyal to their masters and sincere in counsel.

يا رُبَّ رأيٍ صوابٍ قد فتحتَ لهم

لولاك يا فاتح الأبواب ما انفتحا

How many a sound plan you opened up for them,

Which, but for you, opener of doors, would never have opened!

ولم تزل معهم في يوم وقعتهم

بالحائنين ونابُ الحرب قد كَلحا

You remained with them on the day of their assault

Upon the doomed, while war's fang stood bared,

حتى أدِلْتُمْ وهبّتْ ريح نصركمُ

وخاب وجه عدو الحق وافتضخا

Until you gained the upper hand and the wind of your victory blew,

And the face of truth's enemy fell in failure and disgrace.

وما بغيتم ولكن كنتمُ فئةً

سقيتمُ من بَغى الكأس التي جَدَحا

You did not transgress; rather, you were a band

Who made the aggressor drink the cup he had mixed.

شهدتُ أن عظيم الترك يومئذٍ

بِيُمنِكَ افتتح الفتحَ الذي فتحا

I testify that the great leader of the Turks that day

Won the victory he won through your auspicious aid.

ما كان إلا كسهمٍ سدَّدته يدٌ

فما تلعثم ذاك السهمُ أن ذبحا

He was only like an arrow guided by a hand,

And that arrow did not hesitate to slaughter.

بَصَّرْتَهُ رشْدَه في نصر سادته

بضوء رأيك حتى بان فاتضحا

You showed him his right course in helping his masters,

By the light of your judgment, until it appeared unmistakably.

فليشكروا لك أن كابدتَ دونهمُ

تلك الغمارَ التي تُودي بمن سبحا

Let them thank you for having endured on their behalf

Those depths that destroy whoever swims in them.

نصرتَهُمْ بلسانٍ صادقٍ ويدٍ

قولاً وصَولاً ولقَّيتَ العدا تَرحا

You helped them with a truthful tongue and a hand,

In speech and assault, bringing the enemy grief.

حتى أفأتَ عليهم ظلَّ نعمتهم

عَوداً كما فاء ظلٌّ بعدما مَصحا

Until you restored to them the shade of their prosperity,

Returning as a shadow returns after fading.

ببعض حقك أنْ أصبحت عندهُمُ

مُشاوَرَاً في جسيم الأمر مُنْتَصَحا

It is but a portion of your due that you have become, among them,

One consulted in great affairs, whose advice is sought.

أنت الذي ردَّ بعد الله دولتَهم

فليُوفَ كادحُ صدقٍ أجرَ ما كدحا

You are the one who, after God, restored their rule:

Let an honest toiler be paid the wages of his toil.

لولاك ما قام قطب في مُرَكَّبِهِ

أُخرى الليالي ولا دارت عليه رحى

But for you, no axle would have stood in its mounting

In the nights to come, nor any millstone turned upon it.

بك استقادتْ مطايا الملك مذعنةً

وأردف الصعبُ منها بعدما رَمَحا

Through you, the mounts of kingship became obediently tractable,

And their unruly mount accepted a rider after kicking.

نفسي فداؤك يا من لا مؤمِّله

أكْدى ولا مستظِلٌّ في ذَراه ضَحا

My soul be your ransom, O you whose hopeful supplicant

Never fails, and whose sheltered guest never stands in the sun!

لولاك أصبح في بدوٍ وفي حضرٍ

ديوانُ أهلك بين الناس مطَّرَحا

But for you, in desert and town,

The verse-book of your people would lie discarded among men.

أضحى بك الشعر حيّاً بعد مِيتَتِهِ

إلا حُشاشةَ نفسٍ عُلِّقت شبحا

Through you poetry lives after its death—

Save a last wisp of soul clinging to a mere form.

لا يسلب الله نعمى أنت لابِسُها

فما مشيتَ بها في أرضه مرحا

May God never strip you of the blessing you wear:

You have not walked proudly in His earth while wearing it.

كم كاشح لك لا تُجدي عداوته

عليه ما عاش إلا الوَريَ والكَشَحا

How many a hidden enemy's hostility brings him

Only inward disease and rancor, as long as he lives!

ممن ينافس في العلياء صاحبَها

ولو تحمَّل أدنى ثِقْلِها دَلحا

One who rivals the possessor of lofty standing,

Yet would stagger under its slightest burden.

تُعْشِي بضوئك عينيه فَيَنْبَحُهُ

ليَنبَحِ الكلبُ ضوءَ البدر ما نبحا

Your light dazzles his eyes, and he barks at it:

Let the dog bark at the full moon's light as much as it will.

لما تبسم عنك المجدُ قلت له

قهقِهْ فلا ثَعَلاً تُبدي ولا قلحا

When glory smiled, revealing you, I said to it:

'Laugh aloud—you show neither extra teeth nor yellowing!'

أجراك مُجرٍ فما أخزيت حلبته

بل وجه أيِّ جوادٍ سابقٍ سبحا

One set you racing, and you did not disgrace his racecourse;

Rather, what a champion steed's face swept ahead!

قال الإمام وقد درَّت حلوبته

بمثلك استغزَرَ المستغزِرُ اللَّقحا

The Imam said, when his milch camel flowed freely:

'With your like, one seeking more milk makes milch camels yield abundantly.'

أتاك راجيك لا كفٌّ له مَرِنت

على السؤال ولا وجه له وَقُحا

Your hopeful petitioner came to you, his hand unpracticed

In begging, and his face unashamed by shamelessness,

على قَعودٍ صحيح الظهر تامِكِهِ

ما كَلَّ من طولِ تَرْحالٍ ولا طَلحا

On a young riding camel, sound-backed and high-humped,

Not wearied by long travel or exhausted.

فانظر إليه بعينٍ طالما ضَرَحتْ

عنها قذى خَلَّة المختل فانضرحا

Look upon him with an eye that has so often swept

Away the mote of a needy man's poverty, clearing it away.

فما يُجلِّي الذي تكنى به قنصاً

كما تُجَلِّي ابنَ حاجات إذا سنحا

The falcon in your byname does not sight prey

As you sight a child of need when he appears.

بل طرفُ عينيك أذكى حين تَثْقُبُهُ

للمجد من طرف عينيه إذا لمحا

Indeed, your eyes' glance is keener when you sharpen it

For glory than its eyes' glance when it spies.

بك افْتَتحْتُ ونفسي جدّ واثقةٍ

ألا أقول بغبٍّ ساء مفتَتحا

With you I began, my soul quite certain

That I will not say afterward, 'An ill beginning!'

أمطِرْ نداك جنابي يكسُه زهراً

أنت المُحَيَّا بريَّاه إذا نفحا

Rain your bounty on my precincts, clothing them in blossoms:

It is you whom their fragrance greets when it wafts.

إن أنت أنهضت حالي بعدما رزَحتْ

فأنت أنهضت ملكاً بعدما رزحا

If you raise my condition after it has sunk,

You have already raised a kingdom after it sank.

لا بِدْع أن تُنْهِضَ الرَّزْحَى وتُنْعِشَهُمْ

وأن تَحمَّل عنهم كل ما فدحا

It is no novelty that you raise the weighed-down and revive them,

And bear for them everything that weighs heavily.

كأنني بك قد خوّلتني أملي

وأنت جذلانُ مملوءٌ به فرحا

I can almost see you granting me my hope,

Delighted, filled with joy at it.

أثني عليك بنُعماك التي عَظُمت

وقد وجدت بها في القول منفسَحا

I praise you for your great favors,

In which I have found ample room for speech.

أقول فيما أجيب السائلين به

أيَّانَ ذلك والبرهان قد وضحا

I shall say, in answering those who ask,

Whenever that may be—the proof is already clear—

لاقيتُ من لا أبالي بعده أبداً

من ضنَّ عني بمعروفٍ ومن سمحا

'I have met one after whom I shall never care

Who withholds kindness from me or who gives freely.

ألقيتُ سَجْلِيَ منه إذ مَتَحْتُ به

إلى كريم يُرَوِّي سَجْلَ من مَتَحا

I cast my bucket, as I drew with it from him,

Into a generous man who fills the bucket of anyone who draws.

فاضت يداه إلى أن خلتُ سَيْبَتها

بحرين جاشا لحين المدِّ فانتطحا

His hands overflowed until I imagined their outpouring

As two seas surging at high tide and colliding.

وجاد جودين أما الكفُّ فانبسطت

بما أنالَ وأما الصدرُ فانشرحا

He gave in two ways: his palm opened

With what he bestowed, while his breast expanded gladly.

ورُبَّ معطٍ إذا جادْت أنامله

ضنَّ الضمير بما أعطى وما منحا

Many a giver, when his fingers give freely,

Has a heart that begrudges what he gives and grants.

عَفَّى كلومَ زماني ثم قلَّمه

عني فأحفاه ثم اقتصّ ما جرحا

He effaced the wounds of my Time, then clipped its claws

For me, pared them close, then avenged the wounds it made.

وما تصامم عني إذ هتفتُ به

كالناظرين بصوت الهاتف البَحَحا

He did not pretend deafness when I called to him,

Like those who wait for the caller's voice to grow hoarse.'

يا عائفَ الطيرِ من طلّاب نائله

لايُثْنِيَنَّك عنه بارحٌ بَرَحا

O bird-diviner among the seekers of his bounty,

Let no passing bird of ill omen turn you away from him.

عِفِ الثَّناء الذي تُثني عليه به

ولا تَعِف باكراتِ الطير والرَّوَحَا

Read omens in the praise with which you praise him,

Not in birds departing at morning or returning at evening.

فإن قَصْرك أن تلقى بعَقْوته

بحراً من العُرف لا كَدْراً ولا نزحا

For your goal is to encounter in his courtyard

A sea of kindness, neither murky nor depleted.

إذا الوَنَى قيَّد الحَسْرى وعقَّلها

فيمَّمَتْهُ استفادت في الخطا رَوَحا

When fatigue fetters exhausted mounts and hobbles them,

They gain ease in their strides when they make toward him.