طمع المرء في الحياة غرور

وطويل الآمال فيها قصير

A person's craving for life is delusion,

and one whose hopes in it are long is short-lived.

وحياة الإنسان ثوب معار

واجب أن يرده المستعير

Human life is a borrowed garment

that the borrower is bound to return.

يفرح المرء بالمسرات أحيا

ناً وهيهات أن يدوم السرور

A person rejoices in delights at times,

but how far joy is from lasting!

ويريد الصفاء من ود دنيا

لم يزل في صفائها تكدير

He seeks pure affection from a world

whose purity has always held some murk.

طالما عوشرت فغرت وعزت

وبدت في السرور منها الشرور

Often has she been courted, only to deceive and prove elusive,

and her evils have appeared amid joys.

ولكم واثق بها خدعته

وهو مغرى بحبها مغرور

How many who trusted her she has deceived,

while they were infatuated with her love and deluded!

ولكم قدر الفتى فأتته

نوب لم يحط بها التقدير

How often has a young man planned, only to be met

by misfortunes his calculations never encompassed!

ضاع تدبير حازم لم يعنه

من له الأمر فيه والتدبير

A prudent man's planning was lost when he was not aided

by the One who holds its command and governance.

ليت يوم الاثنين لم تبتسم لي

عن محياه لليالي ثغور

Would that, on Monday, no smile had greeted me

from the mouths of the nights upon that day's face.

طلعت شمسه بيوم عبوس

حير الطير شره المستطير

Its sun rose upon a frowning day

whose far-spreading evil bewildered the birds.

وتجلى صباحه عن جبين

إثمد الليل فوق مذرور

Its morning unveiled a brow

with the night's kohl scattered over it.

صبح المجد في صبيحة ذاك الي

وم غبراء صيلم عنقفير

On the morning of that day, glory was assailed

by a dusty, devastating, monstrous calamity.

بلغ الدهر عندها ما تمنى

وعليها كان الزمان يدور

Time attained through it all it had desired,

and toward it all time had been turning.

حادث ظلت الحوادث مما

شاهدته من جوره تستجير

A calamity that left the other calamities

seeking refuge from the tyranny they witnessed.

ترجف الأرض حين تخبر عنه

وتكاد السماء منه تمور

The earth trembles when told of it,

and the heavens almost surge because of it.

طبق الأرض من مصاب أبي الغ

ارات خطب له النجوم تغور

At the loss of Abu al-Gharat, the earth was covered

by a calamity before which the stars sink.

فض ختم الحياة عنك حمام

لا يراعي إذناً ولا يستشير

Death broke the seal of life upon you,

heeding no permission and consulting no one.

وترقت إلى ثبير خطوب

شاخ تحت التراب منها ثبير

Calamities rose as high as Thabir,

and beneath the earth Thabir grew old through them.

ما تخطى إلى جلالك إلا

قدر أمره علينا قدير

Nothing dared reach your majesty except

a fate that the All-Powerful set in command over us.

بذرت عمرك الليالي سفاهاً

فسيعلمن ما جنى التبذير

The nights squandered your life foolishly;

they shall surely learn what squandering has brought.

سوف يصحو سكران وقت ويلقى

سورة الخمر شارب مخمور

One drunk on time will sober, and a drunken drinker

will face the fierce force of wine.

قل لصرف الردى بأي زمان

قدت صعباً إباؤه مشهور

Say to death's onslaught: in what age

did you lead an untamable one whose defiance was renowned?

وبأي الرقى توصلت

حتى سكن الصعب واستكان النفور

And by what incantations did you prevail,

until the untamable grew still and the skittish submitted?

يا غياث الأنام هل من لقاء

تشتفي لوعة به وزفير

O refuge of mankind, is there a meeting

through which anguish and sighing may find relief?

يا أمير الجيوش هل لك علم

أن حر الأسى علينا أمير

O Commander of the Armies, do you know

that the heat of grief is now our commander?

إن قبراً حللته لغني

إن دهراً فارقته لفقير

Indeed, a grave where you dwell is rich;

indeed, an age you have left is poor.

هل يداوى بلثم تربك داء

جره فقدك الأجاج المرير

Can kissing your grave's soil heal an affliction

caused by your briny, bitter loss?

عطل المدح والنسيب وقامت

قدم الرثاء وهي عثور

Praise and love poetry lay idle, while there stood

the foot of elegy, though prone to stumble.

إن أقم فيك والرثاء جبان

فمديحي كما علمت جسور

If I rise to lament you—and lament is timid—

my praise, as you knew, is bold.

يا أبا الوفد والضيوف تفضل

بقراهم وغيرك المأمور

O father of delegations and guests, bestow

hospitality upon them, though another must carry out the command.

وأجرهم أن يحجبوا عن ضريح

حل فيه منك العزيز المجير

And shelter them from being barred from a tomb

where you, the honored protector, have come to dwell.

فلعل العيان يشفي نفوساً

نغلت من همومهن الصدور

Perhaps the sight may heal souls

whose breasts have festered with their sorrows.

وبعيد عنك السلو بشيء

ولك الفكر موطن والضمير

To forget you through anything is far beyond reach,

for thought and the heart are your dwelling.

سوف تمضي وحزننا مستجد

بعد ذا الشهر أشهر ودهور

There shall pass, while our grief stays ever new,

months and ages after this month.

لا يظن الزمان أنك تنسى

عظم الخطب فالسلو عسير

Let time not think that you will be forgotten;

the calamity is immense, and forgetting is hard.

يحسن الصبر في البلاء وهذا

فادح ماعليه منا صبور

Patience is fitting in affliction, but this

is crushing; none of us can bear it patiently.

سخنت بالبعاد عنك عيون

كنت حياً وطرفهن قرير

Eyes burn hot at being parted from you;

while you lived, their gaze was cool with contentment.

أنست بالحداد فيك إلى أن

شجبت أوجه وطالت شعور

They grew familiar with mourning for you, until

faces grew wan and hair grew long.

سهرت حسرة عليك ونامت

مقل في وفائها تقصير

They kept vigil in anguish for you, while some slept—

eyes whose faithfulness fell short.

لا تظن الأيام أنك ميت

لم يمت من ثناؤه منشور

Let the days not think that you are dead;

one whose praises are spread abroad has not died.

لك رضوان زائر ولقوم

هلكوا فيك منكر ونكير

Ridwan visits you, while for certain people

who perished on your account there are Munkar and Nakir.

حفظت عهدك الخلافة حفظاً

أنت منها به خليق جدير

The caliphate has preserved your covenant with a care

that you merit from it and rightly deserve.

أحسنت بعدك الصنيعة فينا

فاستوت منك غيبة وحضور

After you, it has treated us graciously,

so your absence and presence have become alike.

وأبى الله أن يتم عليها

ما نوى حاسد لها أو كفور

And God would not let be fulfilled against it

what an envier or an ingrate had intended.

ضيقوا حفرة المكيدة لكن

ضاق بالناكثين ذاك الحفير

They narrowed the pit of their plot, but

that very pit closed in upon the oath-breakers.

وتجروا على القصور بقدر

وسراج الوفاء فيها ينير

They dared assail the palaces as fate decreed,

while the lamp of fidelity shone within them.

حرم آمن وشهر حرام

هتكت منهما عرى وستور

A secure sanctuary and a sacred month—

the bonds and veils of both were violated.

لا صيام نهاهم لا إمام

طاهر ترب أخمصيه طهور

Neither fasting restrained them, nor an imam,

pure himself, with purifying dust beneath his soles.

أخفروا ذمة الهدى بعد علم

ويقين أن الإمام خفير

They violated the covenant of guidance after knowing

with certainty that the imam was its guarantor.

وإذا ما وفت خدور البوادي

بذمام فما تقول القصور

If the women's tents of the desert are faithful

to a covenant, what can the palaces say?

غضب العاضد الإمام فكادت

فرقاً منه أن تذوب الصخور

The imam al-Adid grew angry, and the rocks almost

melted away in terror of him.

أدرك الثأر من عداه بعزم

لم يكن في النشاط منه فتور

He exacted vengeance from his foes with a resolve

that never slackened in its vigor.

واستقامت بنصره وهداه

حجة الله واستمر المرير

Through his victory and guidance, there stood firm

God's proof, and the twisted cord held fast.

إذا مضى كافل فهذا كفيل

أو وزير ولى فهذا وزير

If a protector has passed, this one is a protector;

or if a vizier has departed, this one is a vizier.

دولة صالحية خلفتها

دولة عادلية لا تجور

The reign of al-Salih has been succeeded

by the reign of al-Adil, which does no wrong.

نشرت ذكرها وأحيت علاها

هكذا هكذا يكون النشور

It spread that reign's memory and revived its glory;

thus, thus is resurrection wrought.

لو رأت عينه فعالك قرت

واستقرت بساكنيها القبور

If his eye could see your deeds, it would be comforted,

and the graves would rest at peace with their inhabitants.

كل ما أنت فاعل من جميل

فهو عنه مخلد مأثور

Every fine deed that you perform

is immortalized and remembered as coming from him.

شرف باذخ ومجد رفيع

يستوي فيه أول وأخير

Lofty nobility and exalted glory,

in which the first and the last stand equal.

أعقب الدهر بؤسه بنعيم

رب حزن في الطي منه سرور

Time has followed its misery with bliss;

many a sorrow conceals joy within its folds.

ما شكونا كسر النوائب حتى

قيل في الحال كسركم مجبور

We had scarcely lamented the break dealt by misfortunes

when we were told at once: your break is healed.

نصر الناصر العلى بالعوالي

ولنعم المولى ونعم النصير

Al-Nasir upheld glory with lofty spears;

how excellent a lord, how excellent a champion!

ملك طالما تمناه تاج

ورتاج ومنبر وسرير

A king long desired by crown,

and palace gate, and pulpit, and throne.

لو خلا الدست قبله ومن وقار

خف شوقاً إليه دست وقور

Had the dais been empty before him, and bereft of solemnity,

a solemn dais would have grown light with yearning for him.

ما شككنا وفي الظنون يقين

أن أمر الورى إليه يصير

We never doubted—and surmise can hold certainty—

that the affairs of mankind would pass to him.

لم يلقب ذخر الأئمة إلا

وهو كنز لملكهم مذخور

He was called 'Treasure of the Imams' only because

he was a treasure stored up for their kingdom.

لم تزر بابه الوزارة إلا

وله العير قبلها والنفير

The vizierate visited his door only when

the caravan and the fighting host were already his.

لم يحز رتبة الكفالة إلا

والليالي إليه فيها تشير

He gained the rank of guardianship only when

the nights themselves pointed to him for it.

ما أراد الجلوس إلا تجلى

ملك أبلج وملك كبير

He had only to wish to take his seat, and there appeared

a radiant king and a mighty kingdom.

أشرق الدست منه عن نور وجه

يرجع الطرف عنه وهو حسير

From him the dais shone with the light of a face

from which the gaze returns exhausted.

هو شمس الهدى وأبناء رزي

ك نجوم من حوله وبدور

He is the sun of guidance, and Ruzzik's sons

are stars and full moons around him.

هم يمين على العدى حين يسطو

وهو قطب به رحاهم تدور

They are a right hand against the foes when he strikes;

he is the pivot around which their millstone turns.

ركبوا صهوة العلى بصعود

مالهم من صعودهن حدور

They mounted glory's saddle, ascending;

from climbing those heights, no descent awaits them.

الليوث التي رداها عنيد

والغيوث التي نداها بحور

Lions whose death-dealing is relentless,

and rains whose bounty is seas.

سكنوا طائش القلوب وكانت

مرجل الشر والبلاء يفور

They calmed the restless hearts, which had been

a cauldron of evil and affliction, boiling over.

وأقاموا ميل الرقاب إلى أن

تركوها مهابة وهي صور

They straightened the crooked necks, until

they left them bowed in awe.

عززوا الملك من عيون الأعادي

بذكور تقلدتها ذكور

They fortified the kingdom against the eyes of foes

with hardened swords girded on by valiant men.

عميت عن كمالهم كل عين

أي طرف يضر وهو ضرير

Every eye has grown blind to their perfection;

what eye can do harm when it is blind?

حملوا ملكهم وحاطوا حماهم

فهم فوقه سوار وسور

They upheld their kingdom and guarded their domain;

over it they are a bracelet and a rampart.

أهل بيت إذا نصحتك عنهم

فهم اللب والأنام القشور

A household: if I counsel you honestly about them,

they are the kernel, and mankind the husks.

لم أعرهم شهادة مع أني

لمديحي من فضلهم أستعير

I have not lent them my testimony, though I

borrow from their virtues for my praise.

سادهم أبلج يفديه منهم

بأبيه صغيرهم والكبير

A radiant lord rules them, whom they would ransom

with their fathers, young and old alike.

عادل أقسمت صروف الليالي

أنها في زمانه لا تغير

A just ruler; the vicissitudes of night have sworn

that in his reign they will make no raids.

ساس أمر الورى بعزم وحزم

أغنياه عما يقول المشير

He governed mankind's affairs with resolve and prudence,

which spared him the need of an adviser's words.

مستقل ثقل الخطوب اللواتي

تنحني تحت ثقلهن الظهور

He bears the weight of those calamities

beneath whose weight backs bend.

رضيته النفوس طوعاً وكرها

واطمأنت على يديه الأمور

Souls have accepted him willingly and unwillingly,

and affairs have settled peacefully in his hands.

نصر الجود بأسه بالعطايا

فالندى للردى أخ ونصير

Generosity aided his might with gifts;

bounty is thus a brother and ally to death.

طالعوا سيرة الملوك ففيها

خبر الجود عنهم مسطور

Read the history of kings, for in it

the record of their generosity is inscribed.

وانظروها لتعلموا فضل ملك

ماله في بني الزمان نظير

And examine it, to know the excellence of a king

who has no peer among the sons of this age.

إن مصراًً بعدله ونداه

بلد طيب ورب غفور

Through his justice and bounty, Egypt is indeed

a goodly land, with a forgiving Lord.

لا يقولن جاهل بالقوافي

ذهب الناقد السميع البصير

Let no one ignorant of rhymes say:

the critic, sharp of ear and eye, has gone.

فالمرجى أبو شجاع خبير

بمقادير أهلهن خبير

For Abu Shuja, in whom hope is placed, is discerning,

discerning of the stature of rhyme's masters.

كنت أخشى بأن يقول المنادي

أيها الضيف جف عنك الغدير

I used to fear that the herald might say:

O guest, the pool has dried up for you.

فابتداني بفضله قائلاً لي

لك ظل فيه المحل الأثير

Then he took the initiative in favoring me, saying:

you have shade, and within it a favored place.

ثم أدى اليد التي كل خل

حاسد لي من أجلها وغيور

Then he granted the favor for which every friend

is envious and jealous of me.

ملك القلب واللسان فهذا

مضمر حبه وهذا شكور

He won my heart and tongue: the former

harbors love for him, and the latter offers thanks.