أرى الدهر صافاني ومال إلى الصلح

ومن بعد حرماني أتاني بالنُجح

I see that Time has befriended me and inclined toward peace.

And after my deprivation, it has brought me success.

وأصغي إليَّ الجد حين دعوته

ولاحت تباشر المنى لي من صُبحي

And Fortune listened to me when I called upon it,

and the first glad tidings of my wishes appeared with my dawn.

أتاني على الإبحار والبرّ برّه

بأسرع من شكوى احتياجي إلى السمح

His kindness reached me over sea and land,

more swiftly than my plea of need to the generous one.

فلم تكُ إلا دعوة فأجابني

إجابة صنو وهو لي سيد لحّ

It was only a call, and he answered me

as a brother would, though he is my true lord.

ولو لم يجرني من زماني بفضله

لأصبحت في بؤس وأمسيت في برح

Had he not protected me from my times through his bounty,

I would have met morning in misery and evening in anguish,

وحنت بأشجاء التمني فإن لي

لجرحا ممضاً دونه ألم الجرح

and perished from the pangs of longing, for I have

a searing wound beside which a wound's pain is slight.

فلي في نهار جهد سبح وحرفة

وفي ليلتي حبس وحُرف عن السبح

For by day I have arduous striving and privation,

and at night, confinement and exclusion from striving.

إذا كنت لا أشكو إليه فمن عسى

يكون إليه مشتكى الضرّ والتَّرح

If I do not complain to him, then who might

be the one to receive complaints of hardship and grief?

ومن ذا الذي تلقاه في الناس مسجحاً

سواه إذا اضطر المضيم إلى السجح

And whom among people do you find forbearing,

other than him, when the wronged must seek leniency?

خلائق لا يوفي الثناء بوصفها

ولو كنت حسّان البلاغة والفصح

Virtues that praise cannot fully describe,

even if I were the Hassān of eloquence and of the eloquent.

أغار على أوصافه الغر أنها

تشاركها أوصاف آخر في المدح

I jealously guard his radiant qualities, lest

another man's qualities share their praise.

هداني له جدّي وقد كنت غاوياً

مع الشعراء البائرين ذوي الكسح

My fortune guided me to him, when I had been astray

among unsuccessful poets, the lame.

وكان زماني مازحاً فمزحته

فلما تعاطى الجدَّ ملت عن المزح

My time was jesting, so I jested with it;

but when it turned to earnestness, I turned away from jest.

فصار لشعري رونق وطلاوة

وحُقَّ له الإملاء في ملأ فصح

So my poetry gained lustre and sweetness,

and deserved to be dictated before an eloquent gathering.

وقد كان في سوق الأعاجم كاسداً

مقالي واطرائي عليهم بلا ربح

Yet in the market of non-Arabs, unsaleable had been

my words and my praise of them, yielding no profit.

فكم بتُّ أُنضي خاطري لمديحهم

فقمت وبي رنح وأعييت كالطلح

How often I spent the night exhausting my mind to praise them,

then rose reeling, exhausted like a worn-out camel.

ولم يغن عني ما مدحتهم به

فتيلاً وما ازدادوا سوى البخل والشح

What I praised them with did not avail me

a date-stone's fiber, and they grew only in stinginess and greed.

ولم ينقدوا كفارة الكذب الذي

عليّ بأعلى اللوح ما هو بالممحي

Nor did they pay the expiation for the falsehood

recorded against me high on the Tablet, unerased.

ولو أنني راسين عصري فيهم

وملطن ما استحققت منهم سوى النشح

Even had I been my age's Racine among them,

and Milton, I would have earned from them only a trickle.

فها أنا ذو ربح ولست بمفتر

ثناء وإطراء وكنت بها أُلحي

Now here I am, making a profit, without fabricating

praise and flattery, for which I once was reproached.

فحل يا زماني بين فوزي ومطلبي

أن أسطعت واستعدى الخطوب على فدحي

So come between my success and my aim, O Time of mine,

if you can, and enlist calamities to crush me!

فلي باسمه استفتاح كلّ قضية

ويمناه اقليد السعادة والفتح

For in his name I begin every undertaking,

and his right hand is the key to happiness and victory.

ألا فليزرني اليوم من كان مزرياً

بشأني يجد كوخي اعزَّ من الصرح

Now let him visit me today—whoever once disparaged

my standing; he will find my hut more honored than a palace.

علا بمعاليه مقامي ورتبتي

وصرت إلى أقصى الأماني ذا طمح

His lofty virtues have raised my standing and my rank,

and now I aspire to the furthest reach of wishes.

إذا أبصرت عيناي من هو مخفق

كدأبي من قبل انتحلت له نصحي

If my eyes see someone who has failed,

as was my wont before, I offer him my counsel,

وقلت له أبشر بما أنت طالب

فمن يدع يوماً باسمه فاز بالسنح

and tell him: Rejoice in what you seek!

For whoever one day invokes his name wins good fortune.

هو الماجد النائي مدى الدهر صيته

قريب من الداعي على القرب والنزح

He is the noble one whose renown travels far through all time,

yet near to the suppliant, whether near or far.

فليس علي بعد يؤخر رفده

وليس على قرب يمل من المنح

Thus, even at a distance, he does not delay his bounty,

nor, when near, does he tire of giving.

هو الحازم النحرير طلاّع أنجد

كريم نزيه النفس ذو خلق سجح

He is resolute, discerning, a scaler of heights,

generous, pure of soul, with a gentle disposition.

مليك أجلّ الخلق سامي الذري الذي

مناقبه الغرَّاء تغني عن الثرح

A sovereign, noblest of creation, lofty of summit, whose

radiant virtues need no exposition.

أميري ومولاي الكريم وسيدي

ومن هو بعد اللّه لي سند الركح

My emir, my generous patron, my lord,

and he who, after God, is my rock of support.

تظنّيت فيك الخير والفضل كله

فحققت ظني فهو دوني في صح

I imagined in you all goodness and generosity;

you made my expectation real: it lies before me in the open.

أتاني وعد عنك إنك منزلي

لديك كما أنزلت أهلي في ندح

A promise from you reached me that you will lodge me

with you, as you lodged my family in spacious ease.

ولا ريب عندي أن وعدك منجز

وأني لا أحتاج معه إلى فسح

I have no doubt that your promise will be fulfilled,

and that with it I shall need no respite.

فهاك مني المدح خدمة مخلص

فجد بالرضى عنه فديتك والصفح

Take this praise from me, the service of a devoted man;

grant it your approval and pardon—may I be your ransom.

ودم كهف عزَّ للذليل وملجإ

لقاصده ما انجاب ليل من الصبح

And remain a cave of strength for the lowly, a refuge

for whoever seeks it, as long as night gives way to dawn.