Sol 6.1

  1. غيرُ العِدا بسيُوفِكُنَّ قَتيلُ

    وعُيُونُكُنَّ الصّارِمُ المَسْلولُ

    Those slain by your swords are not your foes,

    and your eyes are the keen sword drawn.

  2. أنّي لبِيضِ الهِنْدِ وهْي حَديدةٌ

    فَتَكاتُ ذاكَ الطَّرْفِ وهْو كَليل

    How could India's bright blades, sharp though they are,

    have the deadly force of that glance, languid though it is?

  3. بأبي ظِباءَ ربيعةٍ من عامرٍ

    سُقْمي لطَرْفِ عُيونها مَنْحول

    My father be ransom for Rabiʿa's gazelles of ʿAmir;

    my sickness is lent to the gaze of their eyes.

  4. تَجْنِي فَيَسلَمُ قَلْبُ مَنْ حارَبْنَه

    وفؤادُ مَن سالَمْنَه مَقْتول

    They wreak harm, yet the heart of one they fight survives,

    while the heart of one they make peace with is slain.

  5. يا مُقلةً نَجلاءَ كُلُّ دمٍ بها

    مِمّا سَفَكْتِ فإنّه مَطْلول

    O wide eye, every blood-debt laid to your charge

    for what you have shed goes unavenged.

  6. لو أَنَّ حَيَّكِ يَطبَعونَ سُيوفَهم

    من لَحْظِ عَيْنِكِ ما عَصاهُ قَبيل

    If your tribe were to forge their swords

    from your eye's glance, no tribe would defy yours.

  7. فسقَى ديارَكُمُ بشَرقِيِّ الحِمَى

    وَطْفاءُ عَقْدُ نِطاقِها مَحْلول

    May your dwellings east of the protected pasture be watered

    by a rain-laden cloud, its girdle's knot undone.

  8. صَيَّرْتُ كُلَّ العالَمين مُخالِفي

    حَسَداً عليكِ فما إليكِ رَسول

    I have made everyone in the world my foe

    out of jealousy over you; so no messenger goes to you.

  9. وسَبِقتَ من شَوْقٍ إلى عَيْني الكَرَى

    عَجَباً وأنت من الظِّباءِ خَذول

    And in my longing you reached my eye before sleep—

    how strange, when you are a gazelle that lingers behind!

  10. أُحْيِى وأَقتُلُ بِالهمومِ وبالمُنَى

    لَيْلِي فَيقْصُرُ ساعةً ويَطول

    I keep alive and kill, with cares and hopes,

    my night, which now grows short, now long.

  11. تَعِسَ العَواذلُ كيف يَسْلو عن هوىً

    قلبٌ عليه معَ الصِّبا مَجْبول

    Perish the reproachers! How can love be forgotten

    by a heart molded for it from youth?

  12. يا آمِري بالصّبْرِ عنه تَجَمُّلاً

    الصَّبْرُ عن غيرِ الحَبيبِ جَميل

    O you who bid me bear his absence with good grace,

    bearing anyone's absence but the beloved's is graceful.

  13. إنّي سمَحْتُ له بقلبي طائعاً

    يا لائِمينَ فأقصِروا وأَطِيلوا

    I have willingly given him my heart,

    O reproachers, desist—or go on at length.

  14. أَوَ ليس تاجُ المُلْكِ من آدابِه

    أَلاّ يُطاعَ على السَّماحِ عَذول

    Is it not one of Taj al-Mulk's principles

    never to heed a reproacher of generosity?

  15. وهْو الإمامُ المُقتدَى بفعالِه

    وهْو الهمامُ المُتّقي المَأْمُول

    He is the leader whose deeds are emulated,

    the noble, pious man in whom hopes rest.

  16. إنْ كان جادَ به الزّمانُ فإنَّه

    بجَوادِ آخَرَ مِثْلِه لَبَخيل

    If Time has been generous in granting him,

    it is truly miserly with another generous man like him.

  17. قُلْ في الورَى طُرّاً إذا استَثْنَيْتَه

    القولُ جَمٌّ والفعالُ قليلُ

    Say of all mankind, once you have excepted him:

    Words are many, and deeds are few.

  18. أمُصرِّفَ الأقلامِ وهْي دقيقةٌ

    يَكْفي بهنَّ الخَطْبَ وهْو جليل

    O wielder of pens, slender though they are,

    a crisis is mastered with them, mighty though it is.

  19. وتَنالُ مَهْما شئْتَ وهْي قَصيرةٌ

    ما لا يَنالُ الرُّمْحُ وهْو طَويل

    And with them, short though they are, you reach at will

    what the spear cannot reach, long though it is.

  20. لو لم يكُنْ مَرَضُ القنا حسَداً لها

    ما نالَ منْ أجسامهنَّ ذُبول

    If the spears' sickness were not envy of them,

    no withering would afflict their bodies.

  21. الخاطباتُ المُوجِزاتُ إذا جَرَتْ

    كَلماتُها دُوَلُ الملوك تَدول

    Those concise orators—when they pour forth

    their words, the dynasties of kings pass away.

  22. هُنَّ الفُصولُ فإنْ أخَذْنَ مآخذاً

    من قَلْبِ مَن يَشْناكَ فهْي نُصول

    They are decisive pronouncements; but if they gain a hold

    within the heart of one who hates you, they are blades.

  23. فلْيَشْكُرَنَّ صَنيعَكَ المُلْكُ الّذي

    أَبرمْتَه بالرَّأْيِ وهْو سَحيل

    Let the kingdom thank you for your service:

    you twisted it firm through counsel when it was a single strand.

  24. حَقّاً أقولُ لقد نصَحْتَ لرَبِّه

    إن كانَ يَنْصَحُ للخليلِ خليل

    Truly I say: you have counseled its lord faithfully,

    if ever friend has given faithful counsel to friend.

  25. شكَر الرَّعيّةُ منكَ سَعْىَ مُوفَّقٍ

    ما زالَ يَفْعَلُ صالحاً ويَقول

    The subjects have thanked you for the efforts of one guided to success,

    who never ceases to do and speak what is good.

  26. أَقْوالُه نَعَمٌ وأيْسَرُ بَذْله

    سَرَفٌ وجُلُّ عقابِه تَحْليل

    His words are 'yes'; the least of his giving

    is extravagance, and his severest punishment is merely token.

  27. ففِداءُ مَجْدِك حاسِدوه فإنّهمْ

    يَرجونَ أمراً ما إليه سَبيل

    May those who envy your glory be its ransom, for they

    hope for something to which there is no path.

  28. مُتتبِّعوكَ وما رأَوْا لكَ عَثْرةً

    ويُواصلونَ عِثارَهمْ وتُقيل

    They track you, yet have seen no stumble in you;

    they keep stumbling, and you lift them up.

  29. طلَبوا مكانَك ضِلّةً وجَهالةً

    والنّاسُ منهمْ عالِمٌ وجَهول

    They sought your station in error and ignorance,

    and people include the knowing and the ignorant.

  30. ولعلَّهمْ عَلموا بأنّك للعُلا

    أَولَى ولكنَّ المُنَى تَعْليل

    And perhaps they knew that your claim to high glory

    was stronger; but wishes are mere consolation.

  31. كم مَوقفٍ دونَ العَلاء وقَفْتَه

    والخَيلُ بالأَسلِ الطِّوالِ تَصول

    How many a stand you have taken in defense of glory,

    while horses charged with long spears!

  32. النَّقْعُ يَعلو والفَوارسُ تَدَّعى

    والبيضُ تَبرُقُ والعِتاقُ تَجول

    Dust rises, and the horsemen cry their names;

    bright swords flash, and thoroughbreds wheel.

  33. والأُفْقُ في شَفَقٍ منَ الدَّمِ مَدَّهُ

    يَومٌ كأنَّ ضُحاهُ منه أَصيل

    The horizon is veiled in a twilight of blood, spread by

    a day whose forenoon seems, through that glow, like evening.

  34. وعلى أُسودِ الرَّوْعِ كُلُّ مُضاعَفٍ

    يَلْوي بحَدِّ السّيْفِ وهْو صَقيل

    And battle's lions wear mail, each double-linked coat

    turning aside the sword's edge, polished though it is.

  35. حَلَقٌ كما اطّردَ الغديرُ حَبابُه

    نَسَقٌ وضاحي مَتْنِه مَشْمول

    Rings like a pool's unbroken rippling, its wavelets

    in ordered rows, its open surface swept by the north wind.

  36. لمّا بَرزْتَ تَضعْضعَتْ أركانُها

    فالخَيلُ زُورٌ والفوارسُ مِيل

    When you came forth, their pillars tottered:

    the horses veered aside, the riders leaned away.

  37. والرُعْبُ قَصَّر خَطْوَ كُلِّ مُطَهّمٍ

    فكأنّه بحُجولهِ مَشْكول

    Fear shortened the stride of every well-built steed,

    as though it were shackled by its white stockings.

  38. فَلَّ الصُّفوفَ وأثبتَتْها حَيرةٌ

    حتّى شَككْنا أنّهُنَّ فُلول

    It broke the ranks, but bewilderment held them still,

    until we doubted whether they were routed troops.

  39. وجلا ضَبابتَها بنُور جَبينِه

    مَلِكٌ لِما صانَ اللّئامُ يُذيل

    And he cleared its haze with the light of his brow—

    a king who lavishes what the base hoard,

  40. في سَرْجِ لاطمةِ الثّرَى بسَنابكٍ

    تَذَرُ الحُزونَ بِهِنَّ وهْي سُهول

    in the saddle of a mare that strikes the earth with hooves

    that leave rugged tracts as level plains.

  41. تطَأُ الشِّفاهَ منَ الملوكِ كأنّه

    منها لحافرِ مُهْرِه تَقْبيل

    She treads on kings' lips, as though it were

    a kiss from them upon his colt's hoof.

  42. حتّى رجَعْتَ بهِنَّ من أَعطافها

    وَطْءٌ على كَبِدِ الحَسودِ ثَقيل

    At last you returned with them; from their flanks came

    a heavy tread upon the envier's liver.

  43. ولقد مَنحْتَ النّهرَ منها ساعةً

    وذخَرْتَ أُخْرَى يَبْتليها النِّيل

    And you granted the river an hour with them,

    and reserved another for the Nile to put to the test.

  44. ويَداكَ يا ذا الجُودِ أجْرَى منْهما

    بقَناكَ تَطعَنُ أو قِراكَ تُنيل

    Your hands, O lord of bounty, flow more freely than both,

    whether you thrust with your spears or bestow your hospitality.

  45. أأبا الغَنائمِ دَعوةً من خادمٍ

    لو كان يُدْنيهِ إليكَ قَبول

    O Abu al-Ghana'im, a plea from a servant—

    if only acceptance could draw him near to you!

  46. أوَ لسْتُ سابقَ حَلْبةِ الشِّعْرِ الّذي

    أرضاكَ منه منَ المديحِ صَهيل

    Am I not the frontrunner in poetry's race,

    whose neighing of praise has pleased you—

  47. عُطْلاً منَ التّشْريفِ حتّى ليس لي

    لا غُرَّةٌ منه ولا تَحْجيل

    yet bare of honor, so that I have

    neither a white blaze from it nor white stockings?

  48. عِشْ ألفَ عامٍ ناعماً في دَولةٍ

    مَدَدُ النّماءِ بسَعْدِها مَوْصول

    Live a thousand years in ease, in a realm

    whose good fortune keeps prosperity's flow unbroken.

  49. إن صالَ جَدُّكَ بالسُّعود على العِدا

    فأَشَدُّ ممّا صالَ ما سيَصول

    If your fortune has assailed your foes with lucky stars,

    its future onslaught will be fiercer than its past.

  50. إنّ الخَميسَ يكونُ أوّلَ طالعٍ

    منه على عَيْنِ العَدُوِّ رَعيل

    For the first of an army to appear

    before the enemy's eyes is but a vanguard.