قلم به الاقليم أَصبح في حمى

قلم به الاقليم أَصبح في حمى

بشباته صرف الحوادث يُصرَف

بشباته صرف الحوادث يُصرَف

A pen through which the province has come under protection;

The pen has become feverish in the region

by its sharp point, the blows of fortune are turned aside.

With its youth dispensing events as they are dispensed

ولئن تقاصرَ قدّه فلقدِّه

ولئن تقاصرَ قدّه فلقدِّه

ظلّت له الأسل الطِّوال تقصَّف

ظلّت له الأسل الطِّوال تقصَّف

Though its stature is short, by its cutting stroke

And if its supply has been shortened, yet for it

the long spears keep splintering before it.

The long nights remain sleepless

هل تغنينَّ المرهفات غناءه

هل تغنينَّ المرهفات غناءه

وصليلها لصريره يستضعف

وصليلها لصريره يستضعف

Can keen blades ever match its service,

Will the sensitive ones sing its song?

when their clang is deemed feeble beside its scratching?

And will their tinkling be too weak for its rustling?

حَكَت الظُّبا والسمر فعلا منه لو

حَكَت الظُّبا والسمر فعلا منه لو

لاه لعطِّلَ صَارمٌ ومُثَقّف

لاه لعطِّلَ صَارمٌ ومُثَقّف

Blades and brown lances have copied a deed of its; were it

It has related tales of wolf and doe that if not for it

not for it, sharp sword and straightened spear would lie idle.

A blade would be idle and a pen blunt

طعن كمثلِ النقط منضافٌ إِلى

طعن كمثلِ النقط منضافٌ إِلى

ضَربٍ كما شُكِلَت بنقط أَحرف

ضَربٍ كما شُكِلَت بنقط أَحرف

Thrusts like dots are added to

Its stab is layers upon

blows, as letters are marked with dots.

Layers as letters formed of dots

كلٌ يتيهُ بأن حوى شبهاً له

كلٌ يتيهُ بأن حوى شبهاً له

فانظر إِلى المحكي فهو الأشرف

فانظر إِلى المحكي فهو الأشرف

Each glories in bearing a resemblance to it;

Each lost as to the likeness held

so look to the one imitated: it is the nobler.

So look to the narrative, it is most noble

يكفيه فخراً أنّ كلَّ مقدَّرٍ

يكفيه فخراً أنّ كلَّ مقدَّرٍ

يجري بما قد خطّه ويصرِّف

يجري بما قد خطّه ويصرِّف

It has glory enough that all that is decreed

It suffices as pride that every fate

runs its course according to what it has written and directs.

Flows by what it has inscribed and dispensed