سماء الدجى ما هذه الحدق النجل

أصدر الدجى حالٍ وجيد الضحى عُطل

O sky of night, what are these wide eyes?

Is night's breast jeweled, while morning's neck is bare?

لك اللّه من عزم أجوب جيوبه

كأني في أجفان عين الردى كحل

God bless such resolve! I traverse its folds,

As though I were kohl within the lids of death's eye.

كأن الدجى نقع وفي الجو حرمة

كواكبها جند طوائرها رسل

As though darkness were dust, and the air held a sanctuary,

Its stars an army, its flying creatures messengers.

كأن مطايانا سماء كأننا

نجوم على أقتابها برجها الرحل

As though our mounts were a sky, as though we

Were stars on their saddle-frames, the saddle its constellation.

كأن القُرى سكْرى ولا سكر بالقرى

كأن الربا ثكلى وما بالربا ثكل

As though the villages were drunk, though no drunkenness is in them;

As though the hills were bereaved mothers, though the hills know no bereavement.

كأن السرى ساقٍ كأن الكرى طلا

كأنا لها شرب كان المنى نقل

As though night-travel were a cupbearer, as though sleep were wine,

As though we were its drinking companions; wishes were the sweetmeats.

كأن الفلا نادٍ به الجن فتية

عليه الثرى فرش حشيته الرمل

As though the wilderness were a gathering-place, the jinn its young men,

Earth spread upon it as bedding, its stuffing sand.

كأن الربا كُوم كأن هزالها

لكثرة ما يغتالها الخف والنعل

As though the hills were high-humped camels, as though their wasting

Came from the frequent ravages of padded hooves and shoes.

كأن الذي تنفى الحوافر في الثرى

خطوطٌ مساميرُ النعال لها شكل

As though what the hooves scatter in the soil

Were written lines, the horseshoe nails their vowel marks.

كأنا جياع والمطيّ لنا فم

كأن الفلا زاد كأن السرى أكل

As though we were hungry, and the mounts our mouth;

As though the wilderness were provisions, as though night-travel were eating.

كأن بصدر العيس حقداً على الثرى

فمن يدها خبط ومن رجلها نكل

As though the pale camels bore hatred for the earth in their breasts,

So their forelegs batter it, and their hindlegs punish it.

كأن ينابيع الثرى ثدي مرضع

وفي حجرها مني ومن ناقتي طفل

As though earth's springs were a nursing mother's breast,

And in her lap, a child made of me and my she-camel.

كأنا على أُرجوحة من مسيرنا

لغورٍ بها نهوي ونجدٍ بها نعلو

As though our journey set us on a swing:

On it we plunge into low ground, and on it rise to high ground.

كأنا على سير السواني مسافة

لمجهلة تمضي ومجهلة تتلو

As though, in distance traveled, we moved like water-drawing camels,

Toward one uncharted waste that passes, and another that follows.

كأن الدجى جفن كأن نجومه

على ظهره حليٌ كأنا له نصل

As though darkness were a scabbard, as though its stars

Were ornaments on its back, as though we were its blade.

كأن بني غبراء حين لقيتهم

ذئاب كأني بين أنيابهم سخل

As though the sons of dust, when I encountered them,

Were wolves, as though I were a kid between their fangs.

كأن أبانا أودع الملك الذي

قصدناه كنزاً لم يسَع ردَّه مطل

As though our father had deposited with the king whom

We sought a treasure whose repayment admitted no delay.

كأن يدي في الطرس غواص لجة

بها كلمي درّ به قيمتي تغلو

As though my hand upon the page were a diver in the deep,

Where my words are pearls through which my value rises.

كأن فمي قوس لساني له يد

مديحي له نزع به أملي نبل

As though my mouth were a bow, my tongue its hand,

My praise its drawing-back, my hope arrows launched with it.

كأن دواتي مطفِل حبشية

بناني لها بعل ونفسي لها نسل

As though my inkwell were an Abyssinian woman with a child,

My fingers her husband, my soul her offspring.

كان بنيها عكس أبناء عصرنا

فإن يُرضَعوا يبكوا وإن يفْطموا يسلو

Her sons were the opposite of the sons of our age:

If suckled they weep, and if weaned they cease to grieve.

وإن ضربت أعناقهم عاش ميتهم

فقتلهم أن لا يعمهم القتل

And if their necks are struck, their dead come alive;

For they die when killing does not reach them all.

كأن ألهمت فضل الذي باسمه جرت

فسارت وما غير الرؤوس لها رجل

As though they were inspired by the excellence of him in whose name they ran,

So they traveled, with nothing but their heads for feet.

كأن الأمير اختصها فاعتلت به

معارجُ أسبابُ السماء لها سفل

As though the prince had chosen them, and through him they scaled

Ascents beneath which heaven's ladders lie.

وإلا فما بالُ الملوك نراهمُ

عبيد قناة لا تمر ولا تحلو

Otherwise, why do we see kings

Slaves to a reed that is neither bitter nor sweet?

ألا عَتَبَتْ جُمْل وبيني وبينها

من البيد عذرٌ لو به علمت جمل

Ah, Juml reproached me, while between me and her

Lies an excuse made of deserts—if Juml only knew it.

تعجب من شكواي دهري كأنني

شَكوت لما لم يشكه الناس من قبل

She marvels at my complaints against my times, as though I

Had complained of what no one had complained of before.

يذكرني قرب العراق وديعة

لدى اللّه لا يسليه مال ولا أهل

The nearness of Iraq reminds me of a trust

In God's keeping, whom neither wealth nor family consoles.

حنته النوى عني وأضنته غَيبتي

وعهدي به كالليث جؤجؤه عبل

Separation from me has bent him, and my absence has wasted him;

Yet I remember him like a lion, his chest broad and strong.

إذا ورد الحجاج لاقى رفاقَهم

بفوَّارتي دمع هما السجل والنجل

Whenever the pilgrims arrive, he meets their companions

With two fountains of tears—a brimming bucket and a gushing spring.

يسائلهم أين ابنه كيف حاله

إلامَ انتهى لِمْ لَمْ يَعُد هل له شغل

He asks them where his son is, how he fares,

How far he has come, why he has not returned, whether he has work.

أضاقت به حال أطالت له يد

أأخّره نقص أقَدَّمه فضل

Has hardship hemmed him in? Has a generous hand prolonged his stay?

Has a failing held him back? Has merit brought him forward?

أفيصوا عن الفرع الذي أنا أصله

وما بال فرع ليس يحضره الأصل

Tell me fully of the branch whose root I am,

And what of a branch whose root is not beside it?

يقولون وافى حضرة الملك الذي

له الكنف المأمول والنائل الجزل

They say he came into the presence of the king

Whose protection is hoped for, whose bounty is abundant.

فَقِيدَ له طِرف وحُلّت له حبى

وخِير له قصر ودرَّ له نزْل

A noble steed was led to him, and gifts unwrapped for him;

A palace was chosen for him, and hospitality flowed for him.

وفاضت عليه مطرة خلفية

بها للغوادي عن ولايتها عزل

And a shower from Khalaf poured upon him,

By which the morning rainclouds are dismissed from their office.

يذكرهم باللّه ألاّ صدقتم

لديّ أجدُّ ما تقولون أم هزل

He adjures them by God: ‘Do speak truthfully

To me—is what you say earnest, or a jest?’

فدى لك ما أبناء دهرك من غدا

ولا قوله علم ولا فعله عدل

May those of your age be your ransom—those who are

Without learning in their speech or justice in their deeds.

طوينا للقياك الملوك وإنما

بمثلك عن أمثالهم مثلنا يسلو

We passed kings by to meet you; only

Through one like you do men like us forget their like.

ولما بلوناكم تلونا مديحكم

فيا طيب ما نبلو ويا صدق ما نتلو

And when we tested you, we recited your praise;

How sweet what we experience, how true what we recite!

ويا ملكاً أدنى مناقبه العلى

وأيسر ما فيه السماحة والبذل

O king whose least virtue is exaltedness,

And whose simplest qualities are generosity and giving!

هو البدر إلا أنه البحر زاخراً

سوى أنه الضرغام لكنه وبل

He is the full moon—except that he is the surging sea,

Save that he is the lion—yet he is a downpour.

محاسن يبديها العيان كما ترى

وإن نحن حدثنا بها دفع العقل

Beauties that sight reveals, as you can see,

Yet when we tell of them, reason rejects them.

فقولا لِوَسّام المكارم باسمه

ليهنك إذ لم تبقِ مكرمة غفل

So tell, you two, the man who brands noble deeds with his name:

May you rejoice, for you have left no noble deed unbranded.

وجاراكَ أفراد الملوك إلى العلى

فحقاً لقد أعجزتهم ولك الخصل

The peerless kings raced you toward the heights;

Truly, you outstripped them, and the victory is yours.

سما بك من عمرو بن يعقوب محتد

كذا الأصل مفخوراً به وكذا النسل

A lineage from ʿAmr ibn Yaʿqub has raised you high;

Such is the stock to boast of, and such the offspring.