ردا أحاديث المنى وأعيدا

ومعاهدا حسنت ربى وعهود

Bring back the tales of longing, and tell them anew,

And its old trysting-places, whose hills and covenants were fair.

داراً عهدت بها الأهلة أوجهاً

متهللات والغصون قدود

A dwelling where I knew crescent moons as faces,

Radiant, and branches as slender forms;

والأقحوان مباسماً معسولة ال

نغمات والورد الجني

Chrysanthemums as smiles, their honey-sweet—

Melodies, and freshly plucked roses as cheeks.

واستخبروا رياً برامة نافراً

لما لا يريد عن الصدود صدودا

Ask the deserted campsite at Rāmah for news:

Why will it not turn away from its aloofness?

لا تعرض الأرواح عن أجسادها

حتى يعرض مقلة أو جيدا

Souls do not turn away from their bodies

Until a lovely eye or graceful neck appears.

تهفو بسالفتيه سود ذوائب

من أجلها أهوى الليالي السودا

Black tresses flutter at the temples;

For their sake I love the blackness of nights.

وبملتقى العقدات من أردافه

غصن يحل عزائماً وعقودا

Where knotted bands meet at the hindquarters,

There is a bough that loosens firm resolves and knots.

متأود منع الحيا أعطافه

أن لا تميل على النقا وتميدا

Swaying—modesty kept that supple figure

From leaning over the dune and bending.

كالشمس إلا أنه متقلد

دراً كأفراد النجوم فريدا

Like the sun—save that he is girded

With pearls like solitary stars—himself peerless.

قذفت نوى قذفت بنا عن أرضه

فغدا قريب الصبر عنه بعيدا

Distance cast us out, flinging us from that land,

So one once near became far through endurance.

وزهدت في عيش نبت أكنافه

عني وفي حلف أضاع لبيدا

I renounced a life whose shelter drew away

From me, and a covenant that squandered Labīd.

ورغبت عن عرف وعرف أوجبا

أن أهجر المقصود والمقصودا

I turned away from favor, though favor and right required

That I forsake both the sought and the seeker.

ولست من عزمي وحزمي نثلة

نسبت غلي فأنكرت داودا

In my resolve and firmness, I am no palm tree

Attributed to Ghayl—a palm that denied David.

وشفعتها من منطقي بمهند

تفري مضاربه الطلى مغمودا

I joined it in my speech with Muhammad,

Whose sword-strokes cleave necks even while sheathed.

ماض يقلد السابري كأنه

قاض يقيم على الحديد حدودا

A keen blade that girds itself with Sābirī mail, as though

A judge enforcing ordained penalties upon iron.

وركبت من نسل الجديل وشذقم

قلصا أبيد بها السرى والبيدا

I mounted she-camels of al-Jadīl and Shadhqam’s stock,

Lean mounts with which I wear out night journeys and deserts.

أجني سكون الجسم من حركاتها

وإذا القيام أفاد كان قعودا

From their motion I reap the body’s repose,

And when standing brings gain, it turns to sitting.

ومتى جرت في الآل وهي رواكد

أبقت مياه الوجه فيه ركودا

Whenever they race through a mirage while it stands still,

They leave the water of the face within it undisturbed.

هجرت وصيد الباخلين فلم تنخ

إلا بخير الأكرمين وصيدا

I forsook the courtyards of misers; my camels never knelt

Except at the court of the finest of generous men.

وسرت ونجم الليل ترفع في الدجى

من صبح غرته لهن عمودا

They traveled while the star of night suckled, in darkness,

From the dawn of his brow, a guiding pillar for them.

ملك إذا أسدت يداه صنيعة

كانت قيود ندى تفك قيودا

A king: whenever his hands bestow a favor,

The bonds of generosity undo every other bond.

وإذا السؤال أمض قال سماحه

ليديه عودا للمكارم عودا

Whenever a petitioner approaches, his munificence says

To his hands, “Return—return—to noble deeds.”

كرم يولد في السماح بدائعاً

فيها معان تقبل التوليدا

A generosity that begets marvels within its giving,

Bearing meanings receptive to further begetting.

ينهل بارق بشره منا ولم

يسمعك للوعد الجميل رعودا

The lightning of his gladness pours rain upon us, though

No thunderings are heard from the thunder of his favors.

ويقل مع فصل الخطاب كلامه

إلا إذا كان الكلام مفيدا

With decisive judgment, his speech contains no utterance

Unless the words are useful.

تأبى له فصل المقال جلالة

أمرت بنقص مقاله ليزيدا

The majesty of his decisive eloquence disdains excess;

I was commanded to abridge his discourse, that it might increase in force.

ماش على سنن المعالي يقتفي

في المجد آباء له وجدود

He walks the paths of high achievement, following

Forefathers and grandsires in glory.

جازوا على الشعرى وجاوز حدهم

بفضائل لا تقبل التجديدا

They reached Sirius and passed beyond its bounds

With virtues that admit no limits.

أبقى سليم من مصال سيداً

ساد الكهول من الملوك وليدا

It left Sulaym, of Maʿadd, a lord;

As a boy, he ruled the elders among kings.

فبنى لبيت بني مصال جده

شزفاً فزادته النجوم مشيدا

The sons of his ancestral house, Banū Māʾil,

Are intercessors, and the stars raised them higher.

فإذا اختبرت العزم كان عرمرماً

وإذا اعتبرت الشخص كان وحيدا

When you test his resolve, it is a mighty host;

When you consider the man himself, he stands alone.

ضعف الزمان عن القيام بحقه

فقضاه مما يستحق زهيدا

Time proved too weak to render him his due,

And paid him only a meager part of what he deserves.

ولو أنه يسعى بغاية جهده

أبقى وراء الاجتهاد مزيدا

It is his way to strive toward the utmost of his fortune,

Leaving beyond every exertion still more to attain.

والشمس لو نطقت لقالت قل لنا

يا عزمه أنى تريد مزيدا

If the sun could speak, it would say, “Tell us,

O his resolve, where do you still seek more?”

لا تعجلن فإن تحت رماده

جمراًَ ذكياً لا يخاف خمودا

Do not be hasty: beneath his ashes lies

A glowing ember that does not fear extinction.

ووراء طحلبه نمير ينجلي

عما قليل إن أردت ورودا

Beyond his quest is a limpid spring that will appear

Before long, if you desire to drink.

ولكم أجاب مثوباً بعزيمة

هجرت نهوداً حين رام نهود

How often he answered calamities with a resolve

That spurned lesser souls when he sought the heights.

وملمة في الملك غادر ثلمها

بمضائه وقضائه مسدودا

How many a crisis in the realm—its breach he left

Sealed by the soundness of his judgment and counsel.

متعقب لحن الزمان يرده

بفصيح فعل بيناً مردودا

He follows every solecism of time and corrects it

With eloquent action, making its error plain.

شكر الورى لك في البحيرة سيرة

أبقت عليك من الثناء خلودا

All people thanked you for your conduct in al-Buḥayrah,

Leaving praise of you immortal.

سعدت بعدلك بعد جور طالما

أشقى طريفاً واستباح تليدا

Through your justice it prospered after long oppression

Had tormented new possessions and laid inherited wealth waste.

ونسخت من جور الولادة شريعة

يتوارثون رسومها تقليدا

You abrogated the law of the governors’ injustice,

Whose practices they had inherited through imitation.

أيدت بالتقوى وصادق عزمة

جلبا إليك النصر والتأييدا

You held fast to piety and true resolve,

Bringing you victory and divine support.

ومهابة السمت الملوكي الذي

يغدو بها أسد العرينة سيدا

And to the awe of your royal bearing, through which

The lion of the thicket goes forth as a lord.

فقدت بك الإسكندرية أنسها

فأعدت فيها أنسها المفقودا

Alexandria had lost in you its familiar solace,

Then you restored within it the solace it had lost.

كنا وأنت على البحيرة نازل

والثغر يشكو فترة وخمودا

We were there while you were encamped by al-Buḥayrah,

And the frontier town complained of languor and torpor.

جزنا بدارك لا خلت فتصورت

فيها النفوس جلالك المعبودا

We passed by your residence—may it never be empty—and souls

Pictured within it your majesty, adored.

فجعلت سدة بابها ورحابها

حرماً وصحبي ركعاً وسجودا

I made the threshold of its gate and its courts

A sanctuary, with my companions bowing and prostrate.

واستشعروا وجه السما متبسماً

فيها وبشر جبينك المعهودا

They took on the countenance of a smiling sky

And the gladness of your familiar brow.

حتى إذا قدم الركاب يحفه

نصر يحف ميامناً وسعودا

Until, when the caravans arrived around it,

Victory attended them, with auspicious signs and fortunes.

فطلعت في جنباتها متهللاً

كالبدر لا بل للوجود وجود

You rose within its precincts, beaming,

Like the full moon—no, the very essence of existence.

عنت الوجوه بها لوجهك خدمة

وغدت تبدد لثمها تبديدا

Faces bowed there in service to your face

And scattered their kisses lavishly.

وسريت في نادي نداك مجهزاً

حمداً يزور مقامك المحمودا

I traveled through the assembly of your generosity, bearing

Praise that visits your praiseworthy station—

من كل نادرة تهز رواتها

منها قناة بل فتاة رودا

From every rare poem that makes its reciters sway:

A spear from it—nay, a tender maiden.

سيارة في الأرض بات ثناؤها

وهي المقيمة في العقال شرودا

Roaming the earth, its praise spends the night abroad;

Though lodged in minds, it remains a wanderer.

يحدي إليك بها لفكري سابق

لا مكذباً أملاً ولا مكدودا

A forerunner of my thought urges it toward you,

Neither letting hope prove false nor wearing away.

فاعتد يا خير الملوك بصاحب

أمسى عليك من الورى معدودا

So take, O best of kings, a companion

Who now is counted among mankind as yours—

خل يزين ولا يشين وربما

كنت الفتى هرماً وكنت لبيدا

A friend who adorns and never disgraces; perhaps

I was a vigorous youth when aged, and aged when a child.

ما عذر أفكاري وقد علقت ندى

ملكاً مجيداً أن أكون مجيدا

What excuse have my thoughts, when they have clung to the bounty

Of a glorious king, if I am not glorious?

متهللاً بشراً ومنهلاً ندى

ألقى الكرامة عنده والجودا

Beaming with welcome and pouring forth generosity,

With honor and munificence found at his side.

أبدى الندى وأعاده ليفيدني

في المكرمات العطف والتأكيدا

He first bestowed bounty, then renewed it, so that I might gain

In noble gifts both favor and confirmation.