لا زلت غوثا إذا ناداك ملهوف — Abn Rumi

لا زلت غوثاً إذا ناداك ملهوفُ

بحيث أنت ومن والاك مكنوفُ

May you ever be a rescuer when someone in distress calls you,

wherever you are; those loyal to you are sheltered.

تالله ما ضاع معروف نفحت به

نحوي ولا بار مدح فيك موصوف

By God, no kindness you bestowed has been wasted

on me; nor has praise of you, put into words, gone unsold.

قد قلت إذ طلعت نعماك تخبرني

إني بفضلك ما عُمِّرت ملحوف

When your blessings rose to speak to me, I said:

“I am cloaked in your bounty for as long as I live.”

لا يعتبد أحد شعري بنائله

فإنه بأبي العباس مظلوف

No one can enslave my poetry with his gifts,

for it is reserved for Abu al-Abbas.

أيقنت إذ وامضتني منك بارقة

أني بسيبك مربوع ومخروف

I became certain when a lightning gleam from you flashed upon me

that your bounty waters me in spring and autumn.

ما زلت أذكر معروفاً بعثت به

خلفي وقصرك بالمدّاح محفوف

I keep recalling a kindness you sent

after me, while your palace was surrounded by panegyrists.

والفلس رب يخر الساجدون له

والشعر منصرف عنه ومصروف

The copper coin is a god to whom worshipers fall prostrate,

yet my poetry turns from it and is kept away.

وآمرين بغير الرشد قلت لهم

لا ألفظ العذب إن العذب مرشوف

And to those urging what was not sound judgment, I said:

“I will not spit out sweetness; sweetness is to be sipped.”

تالله أبى قليلاً طاب ملبسه

وهل قليلُ مُسوس الماء معيوف

By God, should I reject a little gift so pleasantly clothed?

And is a little mildly brackish water to be spurned?

أليس قد جاءني والطير ساكنةٌ

والنفس آمنة والوجه مكفوف

Had it not come to me while the birds were still,

my soul secure and my face shielded?

أنّى أرتّب شعري فوق نافلة

عاجت علي ووجه الرزق مصروف

How could I rank my poetry above a freely given gift

that turned toward me while livelihood's face was turned away?

لئن زهوت بشيء لا زمان له

إني إذا لزهيد الرأي مضعوف

If I boasted of something out of season,

I would indeed be paltry in judgment, deemed weak.

لو كنتمُ من ذوي التمييز أعجبكم

زوج إلى زوجة تهواه مزفوف

Had you been people of discernment, you would have admired

a husband escorted to a wife who loves him:

عرف يزف إلى كفٍّ مُدَفَّعةٍ

طرف العيون بنور الله مطروف

a favor escorted to a hand repeatedly rebuffed,

a gaze dazzled by the light of God.

ما أستقل قليلاً أنت باذله

ذكراك إياي بالمعروف معروف

I do not deem a little gift paltry when you bestow it;

your remembering me with kindness is itself a kindness.

أليس قد لاحظتني منك خاطرة

إن الشريف لمن دوني لمشروف

Has not a passing thought from you already looked kindly upon me?

A man noble to those beneath me is himself surpassed in nobility.

وجهت نحوي معروفاً تعاظمني

إلا لقدرك إن الحق مكشوف

You directed toward me a kindness that seemed too great for me,

save in view of your stature; the truth is plain.

والعَود أحمدُ قولٌ قد جرى مثلاً

وعرف مثلك بالعودات موصوف

“A return is more praiseworthy” is a saying gone proverbial,

and the kindness of one like you is known for repeated returns.

فأجره لي إن النفس قد ألفت

آثار كفيك والمعروف مألوف

So let it flow for me, for my soul has grown accustomed

to the traces of your hands; kindness becomes familiar.

لا ينقطع وثنائي غير منقطع

كلّا بل الحسي قبل البحر منزوف

Let it not cease, while my praise never ceases;

no—the sand-well runs dry before the sea.

جدواك أكرم من أن لا أصادفها

وقفاً ومدحي عليك الدهر موقوف

Your bounty is too noble for me not to find it

a lasting endowment, while my praise is pledged to you for all time.

قد سار باسمك مدح لم أوفِّكَهُ

وقد يبلغك الغايات محذوف

Praise has traveled in your name, though I have not given you its full measure;

even what is curtailed may carry you to the farthest goals.

فاكمل بحيث ترى فيه نقيصته

فالبدر وافٍ بحيث الشهر منصوف

So complete it wherever you see its deficiency,

for the full moon is complete when the month is halved.

يا أحمد الخير يا من لا يعد له

بدء جميل بسوء العود مخلوف

O Ahmad of goodness, O you never reckoned to have

a fair beginning belied by a bad return.

سلِّم من الريث والإقلاع جائزتي

فالعرف بالريث والإقلاع مأووف

Keep my reward safe from delay and cessation,

for kindness is blighted by delay and cessation.

وما أزيدك إقبالاً على كرم

وإن غدا وهو عند الناس مشنوف

I do not make you any more eager for generosity,

even if it should come to be hated among the people.

أنت الذي لو سكنا ظلَّ يعطفُه

لين المَهَزِّ إذا ما اهتزَّ معطوف

You are the one who, even were we still, would go on being bent

by the suppleness of your sway, yielding whenever stirred.

قد كان يحميك حمد الناس علمُهُمُ

بأن قلبك بالمعروف مشعوف

The people's knowledge could have denied you their praise:

that your heart is passionately enamored of kindness.

وواضعٍ قدماً في المجد قلت له

إن المقام الذي حاولت زحلوف

And to one setting a foot on glory I said:

“The footing you sought is slippery.

خلِّ العلا لأبي العباس يكفِكَها

والْعَب فحسب وليد الحيِّ خذروف

Leave high renown to Abu al-Abbas; he will take care of it for you,

and play: a spinning top suffices the tribe's child.”

فتى له عزمات في مذاهبه

تمضي فتقضي وصفُّ الزحف مصفوف

A youth whose firm resolves along his chosen paths

advance and decide matters while the battle line stands arrayed.

يا من يعاديه مهلاً إنه رجل

مزلزل بأعاديه ومخسوف

O you who oppose him, take it slowly: he is a man

who brings earthquakes and engulfment upon his enemies.

يكيد فالسيف مقطوع هناك له

والدرع مهتوكة والرمح مقصوف

He devises his stratagem, and there his foe's sword is severed,

the armor torn open and the spear snapped.

فقرنه الدهر مغلوب وهاربه

طِلبٌ ولو حملته الريح مثقوف

His opponent is forever defeated; whoever flees him

is quarry, caught even if the wind carries him.

سالمه تسلم وإن خالفت موعظتي

فأنت في مخلب العنقاء مخطوف

Make peace with him and be safe; if you disregard my counsel,

you are snatched away in the Anqa's claw.

خذها فإنك أخّاذ نظائرها

منوَّهٌ بك في العزّاء مهتوف

Take it: you readily take others like it,

your name acclaimed, cried aloud in adversity.

يا أجبن الناس من ذم وأجرأهم

والجيش بالجيش في الهيجاء ملفوف

O most fearful of people of blame, and boldest of them

when army is entangled with army in battle.

يا راعياً أصبح القوم الخماص به

في بطنة ما لمن ضافته شرسوف

O shepherd through whom the hungry people have come

to fullness—no rib shows on any guest of his.

وُلِّيتَ أمراً فلا المُرعي أمانتَه

فيها مخونٌ ولا المرعيُّ معسوف

You were entrusted with a charge: neither the one entrusting his trust

is betrayed in it, nor is the one in your care oppressed.

يا من إذا اختبرت يوماً مذاقتُه

ففيه طعمان معسول ومذعوف

O you whose savor, whenever it is tasted,

contains two flavors: honeyed and venomous.

يا من معاطفه لا الصمُّ حاش له

ولا مكاسره الخوارة الجوف

O you whose bending parts are not solid rock—far from it—

nor whose joints are feeble and hollow.

أدعوك دعوة ملهوفٍ معوّلُهُ

وكم أجيب بغوث منك ملهوف

I call on you with a distressed man's plea to his mainstay;

how many a distressed man has been answered with help from you!

وإنني لأرجي منك تلبية

وذاك في قلب من يدعوك مقذوف

I indeed hope for a response from you;

that hope is cast into the heart of whoever calls on you.

كأنني بك قد ألبستني نعماً

كأنها الفوف لا بل دونها الفوف

It is as though I see you already clothing me in blessings,

like fine striped cloth—no, such cloth falls short of them.

ولان لي كل شيء بعد قسوته

فالجذعُ جُمّارةٌ والعظمُ غضروف

Everything has softened for me after its hardness:

the trunk is tender palm-heart, and bone is cartilage.