كذا فليعاني الملك من أعطي الملكا

ومن أصبحت غلب الرقاب له ملكا

Thus let him shoulder rule who has been granted kingship,

and to whom the thick-necked have become possessions.

نهضت وعقد البغي نظمه العدى

فبددته عزما قطعت به السلكا

You rose when the enemies had strung rebellion's necklace,

and scattered it with resolve, cutting its thread.

ومن حسم الثؤلول حال طلوعه

تدارك مشكواً لاذا قبل أن يشكا

Whoever cuts off a wart when it first appears

forestalls an affliction [one word unclear] before it is complained of.

أصابت ذوآل إذا أطاعت ندامة

على طاعة لم يشتكوا قبلها سفكا

Regret struck Dhu'al when it obeyed,

over obedience before which they had not complained of bloodshed.

وساقهم قبل النكاية توبة

ولا خير في ثوب الفتى بعد أن ينكا

And repentance led them before punishment,

and there is no good in a young man's garment once it is damaged.

وقال اشتروها صافنات تعزكم

فإن تعزاً عنكم تشغل الملكا

And he said, 'Buy them—poised steeds that will bring you honor,

for Ta'izz keeps the king occupied away from you.'

ظنت ذوآل أن يحيى كغيره

يعوقه صدغ إذا شعبه انفكا

Dhu'al supposed that Yahya was like anyone else,

distracted by a temple-lock when its strands came undone.

وقال اشتروها طار علم خلافهم

إِلى سمع يحيى وهو مصغ لما يحكى

And he said, 'Buy them'; news of their defiance flew

to Yahya's hearing, as he listened to what was recounted.

وما قادهم إلا وجوه خيوله

تعادى بأسد حين تنسبها تركا

And nothing brought them to heel but the faces of his horses,

racing with lions—Turks when you traced their lineage.

حرابك بلا شك نحو بحربها

وتبتك بالبيض المواضي الطلا بتكا

Your spears, without doubt, toward their battle [wording unclear],

and with keen, gleaming blades they sever necks outright.

فاشأم ما كانت عليهم خيولهم

أرادوا بها عزا فأورثهم هلكا

How ill-omened their horses proved for them!

They sought honor through them, but they left them ruin.

قتلت ذويها فوقها وهي تحتهم

بيوم رأوا منه الضحى ليلة حلكا

You killed their owners upon them, while the horses were beneath them,

on a day whose forenoon they saw as a pitch-dark night.

فيوم اشتروها فتن أموالهم بها

ويوم اعتلوها رحن أرواحهم سفكا

On the day they bought them, their wealth was put to trial through them;

on the day they mounted them, their souls departed in bloodshed.

فقال اتركوها من أشار بكسبها

فأن يقين السيف قد أذهب الشكا

Then the one who had urged acquiring them said, 'Leave them,'

for the sword's certainty had dispelled doubt.

فعادوا إليك الخيل حين تيقنوا

بأنهم أن لا يقودونها هلكا

So they returned to you with the horses when they became certain

that they would perish if they did not lead them to you.

لسعدك آيات بها عند أستوى

من الأمر ما اشتدت قواه وما ركا

Your good fortune has signs through which things become alike [wording unclear]—

affairs whose forces have grown strong and those grown weak.

فما احتجت في أخذ الخيول محطة

ولا صرف مال بل عفكتهم عفكا

You needed no encampment to take the horses,

nor expenditure of money; rather, you confined them utterly.

وكم من محطات جرت بسواكم

وصرف لكوك في اقتضا الخيل لا لكا

How many encampments others have had to endure,

and lakhs spent to obtain horses—but not by you!

فلا سعد إلا دون سعدك أنه

أذل لك الأعدا ودكهم دكا

All good fortune falls short of yours, for yours

has humbled your enemies before you and crushed them utterly.

وقد كانت الأعراب مدت رقابها

لتنظر ما يجري على هؤلا منكا

The Bedouins had stretched out their necks

to see what would befall these people at your hands.

فصيرتها أعني زوالاً نذيرة

لسائر عنك فهي قد قمعت عكا

So you made them—I mean Zuwal—a warning

to the rest on your behalf; it has already cowed Akk.

ورامت بنو رام مراما فأصبحوا

وقد أنزلتهم خيلك المنزل الضنكا

The sons of Ram sought an aim, but found themselves

brought by your horses into a cramped abode.

ودار عليهم بالردى فلك الردى

وماج كموج البحر بالراكب الفلكا

The sphere of doom revolved over them with destruction,

and surged like the sea about a man riding a ship.

فرق لهم يحيى وقد كسرت لهم

مناياهم عن عضل أنيابها الفكا

Then Yahya pitied them, when there had been broken for them

by their fates, the jaw away from its fangs' grip [wording unclear].

وآثار غنما بالنجاحين أثروا

على فعل أمر ليس يرضى به التركا

And traces of Ghanm at al-Najahayn left their mark [reading uncertain]

upon doing something the Turks would not accept.

ومر بعرج وهو غير معرج

ولكنه لما شكى منهم أشكا

He passed through Arj without turning aside,

but when he had cause to complain of them, he made them complain.

وأرسل فيهم قطعة من خيوله

نهكن يسيرا من دمائهم نهكا

He sent among them a detachment of his cavalry,

which thoroughly drained away a little of their blood.

واعرض عنهم حين عادوا لرشدهم

وأمَّ الهدى من كان عن نهجه أنكا

He turned away from them when they returned to their senses,

and whoever had been most hostile to guidance's path sought guidance.

وأبناء لديه الزيديون لأنهم

أطاعوا وزادوا بالتزامهم الدركا

And the Zaydi sons stand with him, because they

obeyed and increased their attainment through their commitment.

وبيت حسين فيه أبنا عبيدة

عبيد أرقاء يعدونهم ملكا

And the house of Husayn, with the sons of Ubayda in it,

are bondsmen, slaves whom they count as possessions.

وأبناء زعل ظل من ظل منهم

ولو لم تكن أنسيت باك بمن يبكا

And among the sons of Za'l, those who remained still remained,

even if you had not made a mourner forget through one mourned [wording unclear].

وأبناء صم غير صم إذا دعوا

إِلى الخير لم يعرف بهم رجل شكا

The sons of Summ are not deaf when called

to goodness; no man among them was known to doubt.

وصيرتم في الواعظات مواعظاً

لعبس وعبس غير خافية عنكا

You made them examples among admonitory deeds

for Abs—and Abs is not hidden from you.

ولا بد من يوم أغر محجل

لعبس فما يلقوا لهم منكم مزكا

A blaze-faced, white-stockinged day must come

for Abs; they will find none among you to vindicate them.

وتمحو من الخبثاء خبث طباعها

وتدخلها البوطا وتحراضهم ابكا

You will erase the wickedness from the wicked ones' natures,

and put them into the crucible, stirring them to tears [wording unclear].

وفي حرض كان الخطان من بنى سبا

وهم لكم غلمان صدق بدا لك

In Harad were the Khattan, of the sons of Saba [reading uncertain],

and they are your faithful servants, as became clear to you.

أزلهم الشيطان جهلا ومن يصخ

بأذن إِلى الشيطان يأفكه أفكا

Satan made them stumble through ignorance; whoever listens

with an ear to Satan, Satan leads him utterly astray.

فإن تنتقم تعذر وان تعف عنهم

فعفوك عن اخلاقك الشم ما انفكا

If you take revenge, you are excused; and if you pardon them,

your pardon has never been divorced from your lofty character.

ومثلك مأمون على الخلق إن سطا

فبالفضل أن يضحك وبالعدل إن ابكا

One like you can be trusted with people, even when he strikes:

if he makes them laugh, it is through grace; if he makes them weep, through justice.

فقضيت اشجانا وعدت مظفرا

لما عاد كمه سمع أعداك منشكا

You settled cares and returned victorious,

when the blindness of your enemies' hearing was pierced [wording unclear].

واصلحت أطراف البلاد ولم تدع

وراءك طاغ يرفع الرأس أن صكا

You set the country's borderlands right, leaving no

tyrant behind you to raise his head if struck.

فأهلا وسهلا جاء بالخير ماجد

يرى كل يوم منه من امسه أزكا

Welcome, welcome! A noble man has brought good,

each day of his seen as more fruitful than his yesterday.

فلا طرف إلا امتد مرتقبا له

ولا ثغر إلا افتر من طرب ضحكا

No eye but stretches out, watching for him,

and no mouth but opens in laughter from delight.

فلما بدا خروا سجودا لربهم

يرون سجود الشكر حينئذ نسكا

When he appeared, they fell in prostration to their Lord,

regarding thanksgiving's prostration then as worship.

فقد عرفوا مقدار قربك منهم

ببعدك عنهم واشتكوا منه مايشكا

They have learned the worth of your closeness to them

through your distance from them, and complained of its grievances.

ففي كل دار فرحة ومسرة

وفرحة داري لا تحد ولا تحكا

In every house there is joy and happiness,

and my house's joy can neither be bounded nor recounted.

لقد نال داري منك ياملك الورى

من الفضل شيئاً لم أكن نلته منكا

My house has received from you, O king of humankind,

a bounty I had never received from you before.

لأنك يا يحيى أعدت شبابه

وقد دكت الأيام أركانه دكا

For you, O Yahya, restored its youth,

when the days had utterly battered its pillars.

وأما شبابي لم يعد بل أعدت لي

شبيبة نفسي فهي كالعهد بل أذكا

As for my youth, it did not return; instead, you restored to me

my soul's youth, as it was of old—indeed, more ardent.

وما خالف الأمر المشد ولا انثنى

لترك وكم عذر به يوجب التركا

The overseer neither disobeyed the command nor turned aside

to abandon it, though many excuses might have warranted abandonment.

ولو غيره وكلت بي بان عجزه

وما كنت أوليه ملاما به نسكا

Had you entrusted me to anyone else, his incapacity would have shown,

nor would I have blamed him for it, in piety [wording unclear].

فقل لعداه الكل سدوا مسده

وأسمع فيه منكم الزورو الافكا

Tell all his enemies, 'Fill his place,

and let me hear your lies and slanders about him.'

ولو سبكوا شخصاً جميعاً لما وفوا

يقينا لما يأتي ولا قاربوا الشكا

Were all of them cast together into one person, they would not match,

certainly, what he achieves—nor even make the comparison doubtful.

فلا زلت ميمون النقيبة ناهضا

باعباء ملك نص من أعطى الملكا

May you ever remain fortunate in spirit, shouldering

the burdens of kingship decreed by the Giver of kingship.

وشكرك مما لا تؤدي حقوقه

رفيع منيع لا ننال له سمكا

Gratitude to you is something whose obligations cannot be fulfilled—

lofty and unassailable, its height beyond our reach.