هز السرور معاقد التيجان

وثنى معاطف ملة الإِيمان

Joy shook the fastenings of crowns,

and made the shoulders of the creed of faith sway.

جلت الفتوح على الأنام لأحمد

بعد الفتوح ذوابل المران

Ahmad’s victories were revealed to humankind,

victory after victory, by slender ashwood spears.

وطوت حزون الأرض بعد سهولها

طي السجل وحزن كل مكان

And they folded up earth’s rugged tracts after its plains,

as a scroll is rolled up, and the rough ground of every place.

وجرا لسعدك خارقات لا مرا

في أنها بعناية الرحمن

And wonders occurred for your good fortune—there is no doubt

that they came through the All-Merciful’s care.

جردت سنجرا مس في أمر عني

والله جرده لأمر ثان

You dispatched Sanjar yesterday on a matter concerning me;

but God dispatched him for another purpose.

وافا مغيرا ليس يعلم ما الذي

وافي له حتى التقى الجمعان

He came raiding, unaware of what

he had come for, until the two armies met.

هجم العدو موافقعا بقدومه

لشقائه وسعادة السلطان

The enemy rushed in, its arrival coinciding

with its own misery and the sultan’s good fortune.

لو كان ميعادا لما خلناهما

في ذلك الميقات يلتقيان

Had it been an appointed meeting, we would not have thought the two

would meet at that very appointed time.

ولاستراق السمع قد جاؤا إلي

رشد بغير لذلك الشيطان

And to steal a hearing, they came to—

guidance, without ... for that devil [text unclear].

اعجوبة ما قط كان ولا يكو

ن كمثلهما في سائر الازمان

A marvel: never has there been, nor will there be,

anything like the two of them in all the ages.

لله سر في علاك وهذه

جاءت لهذا السر كالعنوان

God has a secret in your exalted rank, and this

has come like a heading for this secret.

نم ملأ جفنك بعد هذا واثقا

بالله واشكره على الإحسان

Sleep your eyelids’ fill after this, trusting

in God, and thank Him for His beneficence.

وألق السلاح فإن سعدك قد كفى

فاضرب به وأطعن وبت بأمان

Lay down your weapons: your good fortune has sufficed;

so strike with it, thrust, and spend the night secure.

خذا ما أتتك فقد أتتك مواهب

منه بلا كيل ولا ميزان

Take what has come to you: gifts have reached you

from Him, without measure or scales.

لم ترض غير السيف خدنا والظبا

يا من نداه وسيفه اخوان

You accepted no companion but the sword and its blades,

O you whose generosity and sword are brothers.

يا من أقول وقد علمت بأنه

لجبال حمير والمداد يعاني

O you of whom I say, knowing it to be so,

to the mountains of Himyar, while the ink labors:

بين الجبال اليوم بحر ثامن

يجرى جلامدها وبحر ثاني

“Among the mountains today is an eighth sea,

setting their boulders flowing, and a second sea.”

الناصر ابن الاشرف السامي الذرا

ملك الملوك وفارس الفرسان

Al-Nasir, son of al-Ashraf, exalted in his heights,

king of kings and horseman of horsemen.

كل الملوك لديه حاشى قومه

اضحوا كألفاظ بغير معان

All kings beside him, except his own people,

have become like words without meanings.

فضل الملوك على حداثة سنه

فضل ابن آدم سائر الحيوان

Despite his youth, he surpassed kings

as Adam’s son surpasses all other living creatures.

أغنت ظباه الموت عن أعوانه

فمشى باعداه بلا أعوان

His blades spared Death the need for helpers,

so it went off with his enemies, without helpers.

وعن الظبا يغنيه سعد لم يزل

يرمى العدا بنوائب الحدثان

And good fortune spares him the need for blades, never ceasing

to strike his foes with time’s calamities.

يا من يجير على صروف زمانه

خذ لي بثأري من صروف زمان

O you who give shelter against the turns of your time,

avenge me upon the turns of time.

وضع الخمول على نباهة منصبي

وملا يدي لكن من الحرمان

It laid obscurity over the distinction of my station,

and filled my hands—but with deprivation.

تمسي تعللني أضاليل المنى

منها لمطل الوعد والليان

At evening, the delusions of hope soothe me,

from them, owing to postponed promises and procrastination.

قد أسرفت في بخس حظي ثم لم

تقنع بنحس الحظ والنقصان

They have gone too far in shortchanging my share, and still have not

been content with ill fortune and loss.

مالي أخاف من الزمان وصرفه

وعلام القاه بقلب جبان

Why do I fear time and its changes?

And why do I face it with a cowardly heart?

هلا استجرت بأحمد فأجارني

وشكوت جور صروفه فكفاني

Why did I not seek refuge with Ahmad, so he might shelter me,

and complain of time’s unjust turns, so he might shield me?

يا من إذا ما قلت غير مماذق

أدعو القريض لمدحه فأتاني

O you—when I say without dissembling,

“I summon verse for his praise,” it comes to me.

إني أنزه عن سواك مدائحا

لك عن فلان صنتها وفلان

I keep my praise-poems apart from anyone but you;

for you I have guarded them from so-and-so and so-and-so.

لا استبيح الشعر إلا فيكم

وبه لغيرك لا يفوه لساني

I allow myself poetry only in your praise,

and my tongue utters it for no one else.

عندي لكم مدح إذا ما أنشدت

هز السرو معاقد التيجان

I have praise for you: whenever I recite it,

joy [apparently intended] shakes the fastenings of crowns.