أشد بأيامنا لتشهرها — Abn Rumi

أشدْ بأيامنا لتشهرَها

وقلْ بها معلناً لتظهرَها

Sing the praises of our days, to make them renowned.

Speak of them openly, to make them known.

وابغ ازدياداً بنشْر أنعُمها

لا تخف إحسانها فتكفُرَها

Seek greater bounty by spreading word of their blessings.

Do not hide their kindness, lest you be ungrateful for it.

مِنْ حَلَبِ الصُّنع أن تُبادر بال

نِعمة مُوليكها فتشكرَها

To milk beneficence, promptly acknowledge the

blessing to its giver, and give thanks for it.

إنّا غدونا على خلال فتىً

كرَّمها رَبُّنا وطهَّرَها

We began our day amid the virtues of a young man,

which our Lord ennobled and purified.

باكَرنا بالصَّبوح مُدَّلجاً

لنشوةٍ شاءها فبكَّرها

He came early with the morning draught, traveling before dawn,

for a rapture he desired and hastened to bring.

عاج بنا مائلاً إلى حِلَلٍ

قصورِ مُلكٍ له تخيرها

He turned aside with us toward dwellings—

royal palaces he had chosen for himself,

من إرثه عن أبي محمَّده

يا لك مأوى العلا ومفخرَها

from his inheritance from Abu Muhammad.

What a haven of loftiness, and a source of its pride!

أحكمَ إتقانها بحكمته

وشاد بنيانها وقدرها

With his wisdom he perfected their workmanship,

raised their structures and set their proportions,

وسط رياض دنا الربيع لها

فحاك أبرادها ونشَّرها

amid gardens to which spring drew near,

weaving their mantles and spreading them out.

وجادها من سحابه دِيَمٌ

ورَّد أنوارها وعَصْفَرها

And steady rains from its clouds drenched them,

turning their blossoms rose-red and safflower-hued.

وساق ما حولها جداولها

فشقَّ أنهارها وفجَّرها

It guided the streams surrounding them,

cleaving their riverbeds and making them gush.

فارتوتِ الماء من جوانبها

فزانها ربّنا ونضّرها

So they drank their fill of water from their sides,

and our Lord adorned them and made them lush.

فهْي لفرط اهتزاز رونقها

تُخيلُ نطقاً لمن تبصّرها

So, through the exuberant swaying of their splendor,

they seem to speak to anyone who looks closely at them.

كأنها في ابتهاج زهرتها

وجهُ فتى للسرور يَسّرها

As though, in the delight of their blossoms,

they were the face of a youth who readied them for joy.

إذا بدا وجهُهُ لزهرتها

حار لها تارةً وحيّرها

When his face appears before their blossoms,

he is bewildered by them at times, and bewilders them.

واختار من أحسن السقوف لها

أفضلها قيمةً وعَرْعرها

For them he chose, among the finest ceilings,

the choicest in value, with their juniper timber,

مشْعَرةً بالشموس من ذهب

بين عيون تنير مُشعرَها

adorned with suns of gold

between eyes that illuminate their ornamented surface.

كأنها في احمرارها شُمُسٌ

يعشَى لها من دنا فأبصرها

As though, in their redness, they were suns,

dazzling anyone who approaches and beholds them.

أمامها بركة مرخَّمةٌ

ترضى إذا ما رأيت مرمرها

Before them is a marble-lined pool,

whose marble pleases you whenever you see it.

أعارها البحر من جداوله

لُجّاً غزير المياه أخضرَها

The sea lent it, from its channels,

a deep expanse abundant in its greenest waters.

كأنما الناظر المطيفُ بها

فوق سماءٍ حنَى لينظرها

As though the onlooker circling it

were above a sky, bending to gaze at it.

رِباعُ مُلك يريك منظرُها

أنبلَ ذي بهجة وأكبرها

Royal dwellings, whose appearance shows you

the noblest and grandest seat of splendor.

لو قابلتْها بنا خلائقنا

لم نكُ في حسنها لنَعشِرها

If our characters set us in comparison with them,

we would not reach a tenth of their beauty.

ثم أتى مُبدعاً بمائدةٍ

عظّمها جاهداً وكبرها

Then, with inventive skill, he brought a banquet table,

striving to make it grand and large,

محفوفةً شهوةَ النفوس على

أحسنِ نَضْدٍ تروق مُبْصرها

surrounded by all that souls desire, in

the finest arrangement, delighting its beholder.

تخالها في الرُّواء من سعةٍ

كدارةِ البدر حين دورها

You would imagine it, in its splendor and breadth,

like the full moon's disk, when he had made it round.

ثم انثنينا إلى الشراب وقد

جاء بآلاته فأحضرها

Then we turned to wine, and already

he had brought its utensils and presented them,

من تُحَفٍ ما تُغِبُّ فائدةً

لم تكُ في وهمنا ولم نرها

rare treasures, never without some novelty

we had neither imagined nor seen.

وَقينةٍ إن مُنِحْتَ رؤيتَها

رَضِيتَ مسموعَها ومنظرها

And a singing girl: if you were granted sight of her,

you would be pleased with her voice and appearance.

إذا بدَتْ لِلعيون طلعَتُها

أبدتْ لها سرّها ومُضْمَرها

When her countenance appeared before the eyes,

they disclosed to her their secrets and hidden thoughts.

شمسٌ من الحسن في مُعَصفرةٍ

ضاهتْ بلونٍ لها مُعصفرها

A sun of beauty in a safflower-dyed dress,

she matched that safflower dress with her own coloring,

في وجناتٍ تحْمَرُّ من خجلٍ

كأن ورد الربيع حمَّرها

in cheeks reddening from shyness,

as though spring's roses had dyed them red.

يسعَى إليها بكأسه رشأٌ

أنَّثَهُ اللَهُ حينَ ذكَّرها

A gazelle-fawn hastens to her with his cup,

whom God made feminine when He made her masculine.

تُشْبه أعلاهُ لا تُغادِرهُ

وينْثني مشْيها مؤزَّرَها

She resembles his upper form, matching it exactly,

and her girdled hips sway as she walks.

يقول من رآهُ وعاينَها

سبحان من صاغه وصورها

Whoever sees him and beholds her says,

Glory to Him who fashioned him and formed her!

في كفّه كالشَهاب لاح على

ظلماء ليلٍ دجتْ فنوَّرها

In his palm it flashes like a shooting star against

the blackness of a darkened night, lighting it up.

كأن زُرْقَ الدَّبا جوانبها

تاحَ لها تائحٌ فنفَّرها

Its edges seem like blue locust nymphs,

which a chance intruder has come upon and scattered.

إن برزت للهواء غيرها

أو قُرِعَتْ بالمزاج كدَّرها

If it is exposed to air, the air alters it;

or if struck with diluting water, that clouds it.

فليسَ لِلشَارب الحصيف سوى

أن تتراءى له فَيَبْدُرها

So the discerning drinker has only

to see it appear before him and hasten to it.

ثم أتت سُرَّعاً مجامرُهُ

تمنحها نَدَّها وعنبرها

Then his censers swiftly arrived,

bestowing their fragrant incense and ambergris upon it.

يا لذةً للعيون قد عَلِمتْ

بأنها جُمِّعَت لتبهرها

O delight for eyes that well knew

that it was gathered together to dazzle them!

أو شهوةً للنفوس ما برحت

تُبدي لنا حسنها لنشهرها

Or an object of desire for souls, never ceasing

to show us its beauty, that we might proclaim it.

يا حسرتي كيف غاب وهب ولم

يكن لنا حاضراً فيحضُرَها

Alas, how could Wahb be absent, and not

be here with us to attend it?

إذا أتى سالماً كمُنيتنا

أعادها محسناً وكرَّرها

If he comes safely, as we wish,

he will generously renew it and repeat it.

أحسنُ من كل ما بَدأتْ به

أخلاقُهُ إذْ بدا وأظهرَها

Finer than all that was offered at first

are his virtues, when he appeared and revealed them:

من كرم يستبي مُعاشِرَهُ

وعشرةٍ لا نذُمُّ مَخبرَها

a generosity that captivates his companions,

and companionship whose true character we never fault,

وخدمةٍ للصديق دائمةٍ

تَجشَمُها النفسُ كي يوقِّرها

and constant service to a friend,

which his soul undertakes, that he may honor it.

تواضعٌ لا تشوبُهُ ضَعةٌ

وشيمةٌ لا يرى تفتُّرَها

Humility untainted by abasement,

and a disposition whose flagging is never seen.

أَيا خلالاً كَمُلْنَ فيه لقد

حسَّنها اللَه ثم كثَّرها

O virtues perfected in him! Truly,

God has beautified them and then multiplied them.

ويا أبا القاسم اغتنِمْ مِدَحي

تغنمْ من المكرُمات أفخرَها

And, Abu al-Qasim, seize my praises:

you will gain the proudest of noble distinctions.

واعلم بأني امرُؤٌ إذا سنحتْ

للفظه المأثُراتُ حبَّرها

And know that I am a man who, when

noble deeds present themselves to his words, embellishes them,

ثم حدا نطقَها بفطنته

فساقها مُوشكاً وسيَّرها

then, with his wit, chants to spur their telling,

driving them swiftly and sending them on their way.

ها إنها مِدحةٌ مبالغةٌ

إن امرُؤٌ منصِفٌ تدبَّرها

Behold, this is a lavish panegyric,

if a fair-minded man reflects upon it.