لئن بعدت عن ناظر الصب داره

فقد قر في قلبي المعنى قراره

Though his abode is distant from the lover's gaze,

His resting place is settled in my tormented heart.

غزال نفار اعقب الأنس وحشة

وما الظبي إلا بعده ونفاره

A skittish gazelle who replaced intimacy with loneliness;

Yet a gazelle is nothing but remoteness and flight.

احاشيه مع منع التلاقي من الجفا

وما هو إلا البدر ناءٍ مزاره

I absolve him of coldness, though he withholds our meeting;

He is but the full moon, whose dwelling is far away.

حبيب إلى قلبي تجنيه والهوى

إذا ما اجتناه طاب منه ثماره

His unjust treatment is dear to my heart; and love,

When one harvests it, bears sweet fruit.

عجبت لقلبي فيه ما ازداد لوعة

من الحب إلا زاد فيها اصطباره

I marvel at my heart concerning him: never does it grow more anguished

With love without growing more steadfast in that anguish.

ولا سحت الأجفان سحب مدامعي

لأطفائه إلا تأجج ناره

Nor do my eyelids pour down clouds of my tears

To quench it without its fire blazing higher.

ومما دهاي واستثار صبابتي

وقرب لي حيني وحان انتظاره

Among the things that afflicted me and stirred my yearning,

And drew my death near, until it was time to await it,

مقال فتاة الحي لما قليتها

ألم تر عاري الحب لم يخف عاره

Was the tribe's maiden's remark when I spurned her:

"Have you not seen that one bare of love has his shame exposed?"

وما علمت أن الحوادث جمة

وأي حسام ليس ينبو غراره

And she did not know that calamities are many;

What sword is there whose edge never fails?

ولم ترض لي عذرا بعذري حبها

الا ربي معذور رماه اعتذاره

She accepted no excuse from me, though my excuse was love for her.

Ah, many a man with a valid excuse is undone by his own apology!

لام الليالي تزدريني بخطبها

ومن يزدريه الدهر يبلى وقاره

Why do the nights scorn me with their calamities?

Whoever time scorns has his dignity worn away.

ومن جاورته النائبات بجورها

تباعد عنه الأقربون وجاره

Whoever calamities dwell beside with their oppression,

His closest kin and his neighbor withdraw from him.

خليلي ما تولى الدنا تسترده

ومالي بدهر لم يدم مستعاره

My two friends, what worldly life bestows, it takes back;

What have I to do with an age whose borrowed gifts do not last?

سأصبر فالأيام بؤس ونعمة

وقد يعقب البدر المنير سراره

I shall endure, for the days bring misery and blessing;

And the shining full moon may follow its dark phase.

وأصحب آمالي الأمير محمداً

ليروي صداها وبله وانهماره

And I make Emir Muhammad the companion of my hopes,

That his downpour and torrents may slake their thirst.

ميرزكا فعلا ومجداً ومحتدا

ومن أثمر المعروف طاب نجاره

An emir pure in deeds, glory, and lineage;

Whoever bears the fruit of kindness has noble stock.

يلبيك من قبل السؤال نواله

ويأتيك دون الانتظار نضاره

His bounty answers you before you ask,

And his gold comes to you without waiting.

يجاري الغوادي المثقلات سماحه

ويعلو على أهل المعالي افتخاره

His generosity rivals the rain-laden morning clouds,

And his pride rises above the men of lofty honor.

يميت الندى عمداً فينشره الثنا

وما ميتة المعروف إلا انتشاره

He deliberately puts generosity to death, then praise revives it;

Yet the death of kindness is only its wider spread.

ويهتز المعافين حين سؤالهم

سروراً وما دارت عليه عقاره

And he thrills at the petitioners' requests,

With joy, though his wine has not gone round.

إذا شهد الهيجاء خلت حسامه

وميضاًوسحبا ما يثير غباره

When he enters the fray, I imagine his sword

A lightning-flash, and the dust he raises, clouds.

تضم عليه السابغات جيوبها

كما ضم للحظ الصحيح شفاره

The ample coats of mail close their collars around him,

As he draws his eyelids together for an unerring look.

ويرسل نجم الرجم من سهم قوسه

فيحرق شيطان الأعادي شراره

And he launches a stoning star from his bow's arrow,

So its sparks burn the demon of his foes.

من القوم هم قطب المعالي من الورى

لهم فلك الأحسان عم مداره

Of a people who are the axis of lofty honors among mankind,

The sphere of kindness is theirs, its orbit encompassing all.

إذا مثل المعروف في الناس جامعاً

فمنبره من جودهم ومناره

If kindness took shape among people as a congregational mosque,

Its pulpit and minaret would be fashioned from their generosity.

تراءوا من العليا بدوراً وفي الندى

بحوراً إذا ما الجود غاضت بحاره

From the heights they appear as full moons, and in generosity,

As seas, when the seas of bounty have run dry.

ولما شهدت الجود يوجد فيهم

ولم يبق في الأيام إلا ادكاره

And when I saw generosity living in them,

Though these days have kept nothing of it but memory—

وأنت الذي في الدهر يا ابن عليه

كفيل بخصب المجد بين بداره

And you are the one in this age, O son of ‘Aliyya,

Who guarantees glory's abundance, whose eager haste is plain—

هجرت إليك الأقربين محبة

فخذ بيدي فالدهر ساء عثاره

I forsook my closest kin for you, out of love;

Take my hand, for time's stumblings are grievous.

ارجي اصطحاب العيش عندك آمنا

وقد راعني اصعاده وانحداره

I hope to keep company with life, secure beside you,

For its rising and falling have frightened me.

لأسمو إلى المجد الرفيع ومن سما

بعزك سامٍ عزه وانتصاره

That I may rise to lofty glory; whoever rises

Through your might attains exalted might and victory.

أبوك الذي ساد الزمان وأهله

ودانت لدى علياه صغراً كباره

Your father ruled his age and its people,

And its great men, humbled, bowed before his eminence.

تحلى بحلم في الزمان وحكمة

يهجن منها قسه ونزاره

He was adorned in his age with forbearance and wisdom,

Before which the age's Quss and Nizar are put to shame.

وراح وقد ابقاك ذخرا من الورى

وما مات ذو فضل وأنت ادخاره

And he departed, leaving you a treasure among mankind;

A man of worth has not died while you are his treasured legacy.

ولا قصرت أيام من كنت فرعه

ولا انقض يوماً في الزمان جداره

Nor have the days of him whose branch you are been cut short,

Nor has his wall ever crumbled through the ages.

ولا ظلمت أشياعه وعفاته

ولا الضاع مأسوراً ولا ضاع ثاره

Nor have his followers and petitioners been wronged,

Nor has a captive been abandoned, nor his blood-vengeance lost.

فدم يا لعين الدهر والهادي للورى

رشيداً ومأمون الزمان جواره

So endure, O eye of the age and guide of mankind,

Rightly guided, with your protection secure against time.

ودونك غراء القوافي إذا اكتسى

بها الدهر حلى بالدراري نهاره

And take this radiant-rhymed ode: whenever it is worn

By time, its day is adorned with shining stars.

إذا راح يرويها النسيم من الحمى

تهادي شذاها رنده وعراره

When the breeze goes reciting it from the sanctuary,

Its bay trees and ‘arar flowers exchange gifts of its fragrance.

لقد أمطرتها ديمة من نوالكم

فوشى رباها نوره وبهاره

Indeed, a steady rain of your bounty has watered it,

So its blossoms and yellow flowers embroidered its hills.

وحلى علاك الحمد منها قلائداً

من الدر يجلو نظمه ونثاره

And praise adorned your eminence with necklaces drawn from it,

Of pearls, gleaming whether strung or scattered.

فلا زلت مشهور الفضائل في الورى

وليس يزين الفضل إلا اشتهاره

May you remain famed for your virtues among mankind,

For nothing adorns excellence but its renown.