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حقا ولكن هل يرد الذاهب

Cease reproaching, for the reproacher does not tire.

Truly—but can what is gone be brought back?

أمعاقبي بجميع ما حاسبتني

دعني يحاسبني النهي ويعاقب

Will you punish me for all you have called me to account for?

Leave me; let reason call me to account and punish me.

لا تنكثن عهدي فإني واثق

لا تزهدن عني فإني راغب

Do not break my covenant, for I trust you.

Do not turn away from me, for I long for you.

تاللَه ما كانت جناية عامد

ولكم على خطأ أصاب الضارب

By God, it was no deliberate offense.

And how often a striker has hit his mark by mistake!

أنا واعتنائي في هواك لصادق

أو كنت من يخفي عليه الكاذب

I and my devotion to loving you are truly sincere.

Or were you someone who could fail to recognize a liar?

أعد التحقق في صفاي فإنني

عذب نمير لم يشبه الشائب

Examine my purity once more, for I am

sweet, wholesome water that no impurity has tainted.

ولقد رميت بسهم دهر ناكث

ولربما أخطا المراد الطالب

And I have indeed been struck by faithless Time's arrow.

And sometimes the seeker misses his desired goal.

ولئن حرمت القرب منك فطالما

بلغ الأماني بعد يأس خائب

And even if I am denied closeness to you, how often

a disappointed man has attained his wishes after despair!

ولغير سلوان بعدت وليس لي

أن ارتضى بحصول ما أنا غائب

I grew distant, not from forgetting you; nor can I

be content with fulfillment while I am absent.

لا والذي جعل المعالي سدة

يرقي لها الليث الهصور الغالب

No—by Him who made exalted honor a lofty seat,

to which the crushing, victorious lion ascends:

الماجد الندب الأجل الأروع ال

ورع الكريم الأريحي الواهب

the glorious, valiant, most august, awe-inspiring,

pious, generous, openhanded giver;

الباذل البر الحكيم لطائع

وعلى الأعادي فالأخوذ الغاضب

giving, benevolent, wise toward the obedient,

and against foes, the relentless, wrathful captor;

من آل جانبو لاد أكرم من مشت

بهم على سنن الكرام ركائب

from the house of Janbulad, the noblest of those whom

riding camels carried along the paths of the noble.

ماضي أمير المؤمنين وآمر ال

أمراء في شهبائه والنائب

The Commander of the Faithful's resolute champion, commander of the

emirs in his Shahba, and the deputy;

وأجل من عقدت له أيدي العلا

مهر الوزارة وهي بكر كاعب

and the most exalted for whom the hands of glory pledged

the vizierate's dowry—she a virgin with budding breasts.

كفل العواصم حين لم ير عاصم

عن خطبها ولها سواه خاطب

He took charge of the strongholds when no protector was seen

against their calamity, though they had another suitor besides him.

وغدت عليها جنة من بأسه

يكبو الجواد لها وينبو القاضب

And over them arose a shield of his might,

before which the charger stumbles and the cutting sword rebounds.

من بعد ما نصبت حبائلها العدى

فيها وقام لكل ندب نادب

After enemies had laid their snares

within them, and a mourner rose for every brave man.

واصطاد أدنى المعتدين أجلها

ويد الظلوم مصائد ومصائب

And the lowliest aggressor captured the greatest of them;

and the tyrant's hand is snares and calamities.

فأزاحهم منها بأمر ناف

لا تتقيه قبائل وكتائب

Then he drove them out of the strongholds with a banishing command,

which tribes and battalions cannot ward off.

وأحلها بمواكب طلعت بها

خرصان عثيرها فهن كواكب

And he occupied them with cavalcades in which rose

lances through their dust—stars themselves.

وإذا المهيمن خص أرضاً نعمة

فر المسيء وقر فيها التائب

And when the Guardian singles out a land for blessing,

the evildoer flees, and the penitent settles there.

يا خائفاً غدر الحوادث صادياً

صحب الفلاة وفل عنه الصاحب

O you who fear the treachery of events, parched with thirst,

who have kept company with the wilderness while your companion deserted you,

انزل بناديه فإنك آمن

واستسق أديديه فهن سحائب

alight in his court, for you are safe,

and ask his hands for rain, for they are rainclouds.

فالأكرمون فعالهن بوادر

وعلى النوائب ما اعتدين نوائب

The most generous—their hands' deeds are prompt,

and whenever calamities assail, those hands are calamities against them.

يا مالكا حفظ الذمام وسالكا

سبل الكرام وللكرام مذاهب

O master of keeping covenants, and follower of

the paths of the noble—and the noble have their ways.

قسما بمن أعطاك رتبتك التي

كسرى لها تبع وتبع حاجب

I swear by Him who gave you the rank to which

Kisra is a follower, and Tubbaʿ a chamberlain:

إني أؤمل يوم جاءتك المنى

ببشائر ترقي لها وتراقب

I set my hopes upon the day your wishes reached you

with glad tidings to which you aspire and which you await.

لو كنت من يهب البريد حياته

وأخو الرجا للروح سالٍ سالب

If I were one who gave the courier his life—

and the man of hope forgets his soul and strips it away—

فلقد كسبت بك العلا والعبدان

مولاه نال المجد فهو الكاسب

for through you I have indeed won glory; and the servant, if

his master has gained glory, is himself the winner.

وليهنك الرتب التي من دونها

للنيرات منازل ومراتب

May those ranks gladden you, beneath which

the luminaries have their stations and degrees.

فلأنت أهل أن تكون لعسكر ال

إسلام سر داراً وأنت تحارب

For you are indeed worthy to be, for the army of

Islam, commander-in-chief while you wage war.

فتنير ما أعطيت فكراً ثاقباً

من كل سهم منك نجم ثاقب

Thus you illuminate whatever you have given penetrating thought to;

from every arrow of yours comes a piercing star.

وسواك ما صحب العلا بتجارب

ولديك من كل الأمور تجارب

Others have not befriended glory through experience,

while you possess experience in every affair.

وبك الندى واليأس عم على الورى

فالناس إما طائع أو راهب

Through you, generosity and despair have spread over mankind,

so people are either obedient or afraid.

متعجب منك الحسود وربما

تدهى الدنى من العلى عجائب

The envious man marvels at you, and sometimes

wonders from the heights overwhelm the worlds below.

إذ لا يساويك العلا في غاية

أيظن بالماشي يساوي الراكب

Since glory itself cannot match you at the finish,

can anyone think a walker equals a rider?

فاسلم ودم رغماً لعرنين العدى

مهما اعتدت فلديك ناه ناهب

So live safe and endure, to spite the noses of your foes;

however they assail, you have one who restrains and plunders.

لا زلت يا إنسان عين زمانه

يهدي إليك رغائب وغرائب

May you ever remain, O pupil of your age's eye,

as it offers you coveted gifts and wonders,

عضد المليك وراحة من حيث ما

لمست جماداً فهو ماء ذائب

the king's supporting arm, a palm that, wherever

it touches lifeless matter, that matter becomes liquid water,

ما لاح برق الأبرقين عشية

وارتاح ناعمه وناح الناعب

as long as lightning flashes at al-Abraqayn at dusk,

and its fortunate one rejoices, and the raven caws.

فبقاء مجدك حُلي دهر عاطل

ومضاء عضبك للمصائب صائب

For your glory's endurance is jewelry for an unadorned age,

and your keen sword's cutting force strikes calamities true.