نظري لهذا العيش كيف مزاجه — بديع الزمان الهمذاني

نظري لهذا العيش كيف مزاجُهُ

نظر إليك نِساجُه وعلاجه

My view of this life and how it is blended

is a gaze toward you—its fabric and its cure.

ولقد عهدت حماك وهو معرَّس

لي دخْله وعلى سوايَ خراجه

And I have indeed known your sanctuary as a resting-place,

its income mine, its levy borne by others.

في جنحِ ليل رق عنا ثوبه

وصفت مدامته ورق مِزاجه

In the dark of a night whose robe thinned away from us,

and whose wine grew clear and whose blend grew delicate.

ماضي الغِرار يدُ الأمير محمد

طبعَته لليوم المثار عَجاجه

A keen-edged blade—the hand of Emir Muhammad

forged it for the day whose dust is stirred.

ليل كأن أبا شجاع بدرُه

يجلو الدجى والعنبريّ سراجه

A night as though Abu Shujaʿ were its full moon,

dispelling the darkness, and al-ʿAnbari its lamp.

فتدفقت بنداهما أنواؤه

وتبرجت لعلاهما أبراجه

So its rain-bearing stars poured forth with the bounty of both,

and its constellations adorned themselves for the eminence of both.

حي الأمير العنبريّ وقل له

يا كعبة آمالُنا حُجاجه

Salute Emir al-ʿAnbari and say to him:

O Kaaba, whose pilgrims are our hopes!

أنت ابن بيت في السماء مكانه

سقفاً وفوق المشتري معراجه

You are the son of a house that reaches heaven

with its roof, and whose stairway rises above Jupiter.

أركبتني فرس الكرامة ملجماً

وعليك بعد لجامه إسْراجه

You have mounted me on honor's bridled steed;

and after bridling it, you must still saddle it.

ولئن فعلت لأشكرنك في الورى

شكراً تموج عليكم أمواجه

And if you do, I shall surely thank you among humankind,

with gratitude whose waves surge over you all,

بمدائحٍ لا ينمحي ديباجها

وبخاطرٍ لا ينتهي عَجَّاجه

with praises whose brocade never fades,

and with a mind whose dust-raising tumult never ends.