كن لي على شكر ما أوليت من نعم

عوناً فإني بحق الشكر لم أقم

Be, as I thank you for the blessings you bestowed,

my helper, for I have not fulfilled gratitude's due.

أولا فأرشد إلى ما تستحق فقد

أقررت بالعجز عنه غير محتشم

Or else, guide me to what you deserve, for

I have confessed my inability to do so, without shame.

ولو نظمت النجوم النيرات إذاً

قلت فكيف ولم أنظم سوى الكلم

Even had I strung the shining stars, then

they would fall short—how then, when I have strung only words?

سمت ببدر بن رزيك وهمته

ذوائب المجد فاستعلت ذرى الهمم

With Badr ibn Ruzzik and his ambition rose

the crests of glory; so the summits of aspiration soared.

متوج تخدم الأملاك ساحته

لثماً ويلقى الأعادي غير ملتثم

A crowned ruler whose courtyard kings serve

with kisses; he meets his foes with his face uncovered.

قد جرب الدهر منه في وقائعه

قرماً صوارمه تشكو من القرم

Time has tested him in his battles:

a champion whose swords complain of hunger for flesh.

مقسم الفكر في بأس ومكرمة

موزع الرأي بين العفو والنقم

His thought is divided between valor and generosity,

his judgment apportioned between pardon and retribution.

قد حالف النصر والتأييد صارمه

فما يريق دماً إلا لحقن دم

Victory and aid have made a pact with his sword;

so he sheds no blood except to spare blood.

كم ظفر نائبة في الدهر قلمها

عزم المظفر بالصمصام والقلم

How many a claw of calamity through time was clipped

by al-Muzaffar's resolve, with the keen sword and the pen!

وموقف ينثر الهندي ما نظمت

فيه الأسنة من أشلاء كل كمي

And a battlefield where the Indian blade scatters what was strung

there by spearheads from the limbs of every armored warrior.

غدوت يا فارس الإسلام فارسه ال

مشهور بالكر في مستبهم البهم

You became, O knight of Islam, its knight, the

one famed for charging into the formidable warriors' tangled throng.

تقدمت بك فيه عزمة حلفت

لا تثني أو تلم البيض باللمم

A resolve carried you forward there, sworn

not to turn back until bright swords touched the locks of hair.

لما رأيت الطلى والبيض قد جمعا

جمعاً به فرقة الأرواح للرمم

When you saw necks and bright swords brought together

in a union that parted souls from mortal remains,

نادت صفاحك صفحاً عند قدرتها

والأسد تأنف من لحم على وضم

your blades called for pardon when power was theirs,

and lions disdain meat upon a butcher's block.

وعدت عنه ونور الفتح مشتعل

عن جانبيك ومن خلف ومن أمم

And you returned from it, the light of victory blazing

from your two flanks, from behind and from before.

ورب نازلة شمرت مجتهداً

في كشف غمتها عن كاشف الغمم

And many a calamity for which you girded yourself, striving

to lift its distress from the dispeller of sorrows,

فعل الوصي علي بالنبي وقد

همت بحرمته الكفار في الحرم

as Ali, the appointed successor, did for the Prophet, when

the unbelievers had threatened his sacred person in the Sanctuary.

مواطن نبت فيها عند غيبته

عنها ولست على غيب بمتهم

Situations in which you stood in his place during his absence

from them; and in unseen matters you are beyond suspicion.

بنيت بالسيف مجداً قال شامخه

إن العماد عماد غير منهدم

You built glory with the sword; its towering summit declared:

“Indeed, al-Imad is a pillar that will not crumble.”

نجل كريم رأينا من نجابته

حكم الكهول ولم يبلغ مدى الحلم

A noble son, in whose excellence we have seen

the wisdom of mature men, though he has not reached puberty.

شبيه مجدك في خلق وفي خلق

والشبل كالليث في بطش وفي قحم

He resembles your glory in form and in character,

and the cub is like the lion in onslaught and daring.

أخو النجوم التي بالسعد طالعها

بدر يجلي سواد الظلم والظلم

A brother of the stars whose rising is auspicious,

Badr, a full moon dispelling the blackness of darkness and injustice.

ملك تظل الخطايا وهي عايذة

من عفوه بمقيل عثرة القدم

A king: sins remain seeking refuge

from his pardon with one who forgives a stumbling foot.

له الصوارم مازلت مضاربها

يخطبن عنه غداة الروع في القمم

His are sharp swords whose striking edges have never slipped,

declaiming for him among the heads on the morning of terror.

وكل سابغة المضمار ما برحت

آذانها في الوغى تغني عن اللجم

And every long-striding mare of the course: unceasingly,

her ears in battle serve in place of bridles.

والمكرمات التي ما نال أيسرها

مؤمل قط من كعب ومن هرم

And generous deeds whose least was never won

by any hopeful petitioner from Ka'b or Haram.

قد خصه الله بالنعمى فعم بها

أثرى البرية والمثري من العدم

God singled him out for bounty, and he spread it among

the richest of mankind and those made wealthy from destitution.

في وجهه ويديه من سنى وحيا

ما في الغمامة من ماء ومن ضرم

His face and hands hold radiance and life-giving rain,

as a cloud holds water and flame.

فما يريك جبيناً غير منطلق

ولا بنان يمين غير منسجم

So he shows you no brow but a cheerful one,

nor right-hand fingers that do not flow freely.

لو أقسم الغيث يوماً أن يصافحني

نابت أنامل بدر عنه في القسم

If the rain one day swore to clasp my hand,

Badr's fingertips would take its place in keeping the oath.

جاورت منه كريماً لا بوائقه

تخشى ولا جاره يوماً بمنهضم

I have lived beside him, a noble man whose harm is never

feared, nor is his neighbor ever wronged.

لو لم أشاهد بعيني مجد شيمته

ما كنت أعرف معنى الجد والشيم

Had I not seen with my eyes the glory of his character,

I would not have known the meaning of grandeur and noble traits.

لا عرفه ببعيد عن مؤمله

ولا معارفه مذمومة الذمم

His kindness is not far from one who hopes for it,

nor are his acquaintances blameworthy in their obligations.

إذا تهلل بشراً واستهل ندى

أدل قاصده إدلال ذي رحم

When he beams with cheer and pours forth bounty,

his petitioner assumes the familiarity of a kinsman.

لم يخدم الدهر والأيام لي أملاً

حتى غدوت له من جملة الخدم

Time and the days never served a hope of mine

until I became one of his servants.

قد كثرت عدد الحساد أنعمه

عندي وما كثر الحساد كالنعم

The number of enviers has grown through his blessings

upon me; nothing multiplies enviers like blessings.

كم رحت منه أجر الذيل من خلع

أعلامها كرياض الحزن والعلم

How often I left him trailing the hems of robes of honor,

their embroidered stripes like gardens of upland and mountain.

أختال ما بين إنعام وتكرمة

يكل عن شكرها المفروض كل فم

I swagger between bounty and honor;

every mouth falls short of the thanks owed to them.

إن كنت أحسنت فالإحسان أنطقني

والشكر في نفحات الروض للديم

If I have done well, kindness has made me speak,

and the garden's fragrant breaths give thanks to the steady rains.

شكر القوافي على مقدار ما شربت

من خمرة عصرت من كرمة الكرم

The rhymes give thanks in proportion to what they drank

of wine pressed from the vine of generosity.

فإن بدا لك من ألفاظها طرب

فهز عطفي معانيها فلا تلم

And if their words reveal rapture to you,

and it sways the flanks of their meanings, then do not blame them.