فرض على الشعر أن يبدا بما يجب

من الهناء الذي وافى له رجب

Poetry must begin with the due

felicitations for which Rajab has arrived,

وأن تنافسه الأيام منزلة

كل المواسم ترجوها وترتقب

and the days must vie with it for a distinction

that all festive seasons hope for and await.

فاسعد به ألف عام واقتبل عمراً

تملا حقائبهما من ذكره الحقب

So rejoice in it a thousand years, and welcome a lifetime;

may the ages fill the saddlebags of both with its remembrance.

فإنما الدين والدنيا وأهلهما

رحى وأنت إذا دارت لها القطب

For religion, the world, and the people of both

are but a millstone, and you its axle when it turns.

بالعاضد اشتد عضد الحق وامتسكت

عرى الهدى وهو في إمساكها السبب

Through al-ʿAdid, truth's arm grew strong, and firm became

the bonds of guidance; he is what holds them fast.

خليفة لو تراخى عقد بيعته

لسابقتنا إليها السبعة الشهب

A caliph: had the knot of allegiance to him loosened,

the seven shining stars would have raced us to it.

تدارك الله شمل المؤمنين به

في حيث كادت عصا الإيمان تتشعب

Through him, God preserved the believers' unity

just when the staff of faith was about to splinter.

وألف الله شتات القلوب على ولائه

فهي عنه ليس تنقلب

And God united scattered hearts in allegiance to him,

so they do not turn away from him.

عمت رعايته أقصى رعيته

حتى استوى نازح فيها ومقترب

His care embraced the farthest of his subjects,

until the distant and the near were equal in it.

وأصبح الناس إخواناً بنعمته

كأن نعمته أم لهم وأب

Through his bounty, people became brothers,

as though his bounty were both their mother and their father.

قرت عيون الليالي من خلافته

بمن أقر حشاها وهي تضطرب

The nights' eyes were cooled with joy by his caliphate,

by him who stilled their heart while they trembled.

أغر تشهد لي أنوار غرته

بصدق ما أودعت من ذكره الكتب

A radiant one, whose shining brow bears witness for me

to the truth of what is set down about him in books.

إذا رأته عيون الأمة استبقت

إلى السجود له الأذقان والركب

When the community's eyes behold him, rushing forth

to prostrate before him are chins and knees.

لا تنظرن مجازاً حين ترمقه

فللحقيقة سر عنك محتجب

Do not take him for mere metaphor when you gaze at him;

for truth has a secret veiled from you.

وكعبة الله لولا قدرها حجر

ومندل الهند لولا عرفه حطب

And God's Kaaba, but for its dignity, would be stone,

and Indian aloeswood, but for its fragrance, firewood.

من دوحة المصطفى الهادي التي كرمت

فيها المنابت والأغصان والشعب

From the spreading tree of the Chosen One, the guide, where noble are

the roots, the boughs, and the branches.

أحييتم ذكره فيها وسنته

ولم يمت سلف أنتم له عقب

You have revived his memory and his practice within it,

and no forebear dies while you are his descendants.

يهدى بكم كل جيل تطلعون به

كأنكم في سماوات العلى الشهب

Through you, every generation in which you arise is guided,

as though you were the bright stars in the heavens of exaltedness.

مازال منصبكم هذا يقوم به

من نسلكم قائم في الله محتسب

This office of yours has always been upheld

by one of your lineage, serving God and seeking His reward.

يا طالب الشرف الأقصى ولو عدمت

بنو أبي طالب ما أنجح الطلب

O seeker of the highest honor—were there no

sons of Abu Talib, the quest would never succeed.

لا تخدعن فإن القوم اشرف من

يسمو به المجد أو تعلو به الرتب

Do not be deceived: these people are the noblest of those

whom glory exalts or ranks raise high.

ما الأجر والفخر إلا في محبتهم

فلا يتم عليك الزور والكذب

Reward and honor lie only in loving them,

so let neither falsehood nor lies deceive you.

لولا اتباع قريش دين جدهم

طوعاً وكرهاً لما دانت لها العرب

Had Quraysh not followed their forefather's faith,

whether willingly or unwillingly, the Arabs would not have submitted to them.

وليت أن نفوس الناس إذ قعدت

عن القيام بنعماهم بما يجب

Would that people's souls, when they failed

to repay their favors as duty required,

تجنبتهم بسجليها متاركة

فلا نصيب أنالتهم ولانصب

had left them alone, withdrawing both their buckets,

giving them neither a share nor hardship.

ولو تولت بنو رزيك نصرتهم

في سالف الدهر ما نابتهم النوب

Had the sons of Ruzzik undertaken their defense

in ages past, calamities would not have befallen them.

المضمرون من الإخلاص ما عجزت

عن حل عقدته الأوهام والريب

They harbor such sincerity that neither

fancies nor doubts can loosen its knot.

خضارم تنزل الأرزاق إن نزلوا

أرضاً وتركبها الآجال إن ركبوا

Oceans of bounty: sustenance descends if they settle

upon a land, and death rides across it if they ride.

صيد يقوم مقام الألف واحدهم

غلب إذا وقفوا في حيز غلبوا

Proud, high-headed lords: one of them equals a thousand,

thick-necked stalwarts who prevail wherever they take their stand.

أندى الملوك وجوهاً غير أنهم

ترضى المواضي بأيدهم إذا غضبوا

The most gracious-faced of kings, yet

the keen blades find satisfaction in their hands when they grow angry.

لا تنكر الدولة الغراء إذ كسرت

كسر الزجاج ما من كسرها شعبوا

Let the radiant state not deny—when it was shattered

like glass—what they pieced together from its fragments.

هم قواعدها السفلى وذروتها ال

عليا وأوتادها المرساة والطنب

They are its lowermost foundations and its summit—

the highest—and its firmly anchored pegs and tent-ropes.

إن فاتهم حرب صفين فقد بلغوا

في مصر من نصركم أضعاف ما طلبوا

If they missed the battle of Siffin, they have attained

in Egypt, by aiding you, many times what they sought.

ثاروا لثأر أبي المنصور فانكشفت

بكاشف الغمة الأهوال والكرب

They rose to avenge Abu al-Mansur, and dispelled were

the terrors and afflictions by the dispeller of distress:

الصالح المبتغى من صهركم نسباً

بعصمة وهو في دين الهدى سبب

al-Salih, who sought kinship through marriage into your house,

through a marriage bond; he is a bond in the faith of guidance.

وكل حبل ولاء لا يناط إلى

ولائكم فهو عند الله منقضب

And every cord of allegiance that is not tied to

allegiance to you is severed in God's sight.

إنا إلى الله في الدنيا على مهج

لها مصير إلى الأخرى ومنقلب

In this world we are bound for God, with souls

whose destination and return are in the world to come.

شكت فراق أبي الغارات أربعة

الملك والنسك والمعروف والأدب

Four things lamented the departure of Abu al-Gharat:

sovereignty, devotion, beneficence, and letters.

في مثل ذا اليوم إجلالاً وتهنئة

كانت تزف له الأشعار والخطب

On a day like this, in reverence and congratulation,

poems and orations were led to him in procession.

فنافستا المنايا منه في ملك

لنفسه في سبيل الله يحتسب

So the two vied with death over him, a king

who sought reward for his soul in the cause of God.

مضى وأعقب من ذخر الأئمة من

يزهو به الأشرفان المجد والحسب

He passed away, leaving among the imams' treasures one

in whom the two noblest things—glory and ancestral honor—take pride.

متوج ناب فينا بعد والده

نيابة البحر لما غابت السحب

A crowned ruler who took his father's place among us,

as the sea takes over when the clouds disappear.

فكل معتصب بالتاج غير أبي ال

شجاع فهو لهذا الحق مغتصب

Every wearer of a crown, except Abu al-

Shujaʿ, is a usurper of this right.

وهل أحق بصدر الدست من ملك

له من الملك موروث ومكتسب

And who better deserves the foremost seat of state than a king

whose sovereignty is both inherited and earned?

عالي المحلين من مجد ومن همم

أذياله فوق وجه السحب تنسحب

Exalted in both stations, glory and aspiration,

his trailing robes sweep above the face of the clouds.

لا يستوي وملوك الأرض في شرف

إلا كما يتساوى الجد واللعب

He and the kings of earth are no more equal in honor

than earnestness and play are equal.

يبدو تحجبه عنا مهابته

فوجهه الطلق باد وهو محتجب

He appears, yet his majesty veils him from us;

so his cheerful face is visible, while he remains veiled.

ما أن تبسم عنه وجه مجلسه

فقام إلا وفي ثغر الندى شنب

Never did his gathering's face smile upon him

and he rise, without sweet freshness in generosity's mouth.

ولا غزونا أياديه بمسألة

إلا سلبناه ما يقنى القنا السلب

Nor did we ever raid his bounty with a request

without taking from him spoils such as spears acquire.

تهل نعمته طوراً ونقمته

من راحة شأنها الإعطاء والعطب

At times his bounty pours down, and at times his wrath,

from a palm whose way is giving and destruction.

في كل حبة قلب من محبته

عقيدة باعثاها الرعب والرغب

In the kernel of every heart, from love of him,

lies a conviction with two motives: fear and desire.

قد استرقت قلوب العالمين له

مهابة يتلافاها بما يهب

The hearts of all peoples have been enslaved to him

by an awe he counterbalances with what he gives.

وراحة لم تزل تهمي ندى وردى

مثل الغمامة فيها الماء واللهب

And a palm that ceaselessly rains dew and death,

like a cloud containing water and flame.

لا يعدمنك أمير المؤمنين فما

في نفسه غير أن تبقى له أرب

May the Commander of the Faithful never lose you, for

his heart has no wish but that you remain for him.

لأنه مقلة الدنيا وناظرها

وأنت حاجبها والجفن والهدب

For he is the world's eye and its pupil,

and you its eyebrow, eyelid, and lashes.