Sol 6.1

  1. لَقَد آن أَن تثني أَبيَّ زمامها

    وَتُسعفَ مشتاقاً بردِّ سلامِها

    Indeed, the time has come for Abiyy to turn back her rein,

    and favor a longing lover with her greeting in reply.

  2. سَلامٌ عليها كيف شَطَّت ركابُها

    وأَنّى دَنت في سَيرها وَمقامها

    Peace upon her, however far her riding camels have strayed,

    and wherever she draws near, in her journeying and her stay.

  3. حملتُ تَمادي صدِّها حين كان لي

    قوى جلَدٍ لم أَخش بثَّ اِلتئامِها

    I bore her persistent rejection when I still had

    strength to endure, whose cohesion I did not fear would unravel.

  4. وَكُنتُ أَرى أَنَّ الصُدودَ مودَّةٌ

    ستُدلي بقُربى الودِّ بعد اِنصرامها

    And I used to see rejection as affection

    that would plead love's kinship after its severance.

  5. فأَمّا وقد أَورى الهوى بجوانحي

    جَوى غُلَّةٍ لم يأن بلُّ أوامِها

    But now that love has kindled within my ribs

    the ache of burning thirst, whose quenching is not yet due,

  6. فَلَستُ لَعمري بالجَليد على النَوى

    وهَل بعدَها للنفسِ غيرُ حِمامها

    by my life, I am not steadfast against separation,

    and after her, has the soul anything but its death?

  7. إِذا قُلتُ هَذا آنُ تنعمُ بالرِضا

    يَقول العِدى هَذا أَوانُ اِنتقامِها

    When I say, 'Now is the hour she grants her favor,'

    the enemies say, 'Now is the hour of her revenge.'

  8. أطارحَها الواشونَ أَنّي سلوتُها

    وها أَنا قد حكَّمتُها في اِحتكامِها

    Have the talebearers told her I have forgotten her?

    And here I am, giving her authority over whatever she decrees.

  9. أَبى القَلبُ إِلّا أَوبةً لعهودِها

    وَحفظاً لها في أَلِّها وذِمامِها

    The heart would accept nothing but a return to her pledges,

    and keeping faith with her covenant and pledged bond.

  10. يُسفِّهني فيها وشاةٌ ولوَّمٌ

    ومن سَفهٍ إِفراطها في ملامِها

    Talebearers and reproachers call me foolish over her;

    and their excessive reproach is itself folly.

  11. وَهَل طائِلٌ في أَن يَلوم على الهَوى

    طَليقٌ وقَلبي مُوثقٌ بغرامِها

    And is there any use in love being reproached

    by one unfettered, while my heart is bound by passion for her?

  12. وَأَتعبُ من رام العذولُ سلوَّه

    محبٌّ يَرى نيلَ المنى في اِلتِزامِها

    And the most tormented of those the reproacher would have forget

    is a lover who sees his wishes fulfilled in embracing her.

  13. وأَنّي بعد الوصل أَرجو لقاءَها

    لِماماً ولكن كَيفَ لي بلمامِها

    And after union, I hope to meet her

    only rarely—but how can I have even a brief visit from her?

  14. أُحِبُّ لريّا نَشرها كلَّ نفحةٍ

    تَمرُّ بنَجدٍ أَو خُزامى خزامِها

    For the sweet fragrance of her scent, I love every breeze

    that passes through Najd, or lavender from her lavender plants.

  15. سَقى أَرضَ نَجدٍ كُلُّ وطفاءَ ديمةٍ

    وَما أَرضُها لَولا محطُّ خيامِها

    May every dense cloud of steady rain water Najd's land;

    and what would its land be, but for the place her tents are pitched?

  16. أَجل وَسَقى تلكَ الربوع لأَجلها

    وأَغدقَ مرعى رَندِها وَبَشامها

    Yes, may it water those dwelling grounds for her sake,

    and drench the pasture of their laurel and balsam trees.

  17. هوىً أَنشأتهُ المالكيَّةُ لَم يزل

    وَثيقاً على حلِّ العُرى واِنفصامها

    A love al-Malikiyyah kindled has never ceased to be

    firm, despite the untying and snapping of its bonds.

  18. فهَل علمت أَنَّ الهوى ذلك الهَوى

    وأَنَّ فؤادي فيه طوع زمامِها

    Does she know that this love is still that same love,

    and that my heart in it obeys her rein?

  19. وَلَم يُبقِ منّي الوَجدُ غيرَ حُشاشةٍ

    تراد على توزيعها واِقتسامها

    Passion has left of me only a remnant of life,

    sought to be apportioned and shared out.

  20. كَفاكِ فَحَسبي من زَماني خطوبُه

    فإِنَّ فؤادي عُرضةٌ لسهامها

    Enough from you! My time's calamities are enough for me,

    for my heart is a target for their arrows.

  21. أُساورُ منها كلَّ يوم وليلة

    صروفاً قعودُ الجدِّ دون قيامها

    Every day and night I grapple with its

    vicissitudes, my fortune sitting helpless before their rise.

  22. إِلى اللَه أَشكوها حوادثَ لم تزل

    تروِّعُ حتّى مقلتي في منامها

    To God I complain of them—calamities that never cease

    to terrify even my eye in its sleep.

  23. وَلَولا رَجائي في أَجلِّ مؤمَّل

    رجوتُ لِنَفسي منه بُرءَ سقامها

    Were it not for my hope in the noblest one I look to,

    from whom I hope for the cure of my soul's sickness,

  24. إِذاً لَقَضى خَطبُ الزَمان وصرفُه

    عليها وأَمست في إِسارِ لِزامِها

    time's calamity and vicissitude would surely have made an end

    of it, and it would lie captive to its inevitable doom.

  25. هو الأَبلجُ الوضّاحُ أَشرقَ نورُه

    فجلّى عن الدنيا قتامَ ظلامِها

    He is the radiant, resplendent one; his light shone

    and cleared from the world the dust of its darkness.

  26. أَجلُّ ذوي العَليا وواحدُ فخرها

    وأَكرمُ أَهليها ومولى كرامِها

    The noblest of those of high rank, peerless in its glory,

    and the most generous of its people, lord of its noble men.

  27. حَمى حوزةَ المجد المؤثَّل والعُلى

    فأَصبحَ من عليائها في سَنامِها

    He guarded the domain of deep-rooted glory and eminence,

    and stood at the summit of its heights.

  28. وَقام بأَعباءِ الشريعة ناهضاً

    فأَيَّدها في حلِّها وَحَرامِها

    He rose to shoulder the burdens of the Sacred Law,

    and upheld it in its permissions and prohibitions.

  29. به أَينعت روضُ النَدى وتهدَّلت

    فروعُ العُلى واِنهلَّ صوبُ غمامها

    Through him the gardens of bounty ripened, and down drooped

    the boughs of glory, while the rain of its clouds poured.

  30. فَتىً لا يَرى الأَموالَ إلّا لبذلها

    إِذا ما رآها غيرُه لاِغتنامِها

    A young man who sees wealth only as something to give away,

    while others see it as something to acquire.

  31. له منَنٌ يَربو على الحصر عدُّها

    غدا كُلُّ راج سارحاً في سَوامها

    He has favors whose number exceeds all reckoning;

    every hopeful seeker now roams among their grazing herds.

  32. نمتهُ سَراةٌ من ذؤابة هاشمٍ

    رقت شامخاتِ المجد قبل فِطامِها

    His lineage comes from nobles of Hashim's foremost stock,

    who scaled glory's towering heights before their weaning.

  33. وَلاحَت نجوماً في سماءِ فخارِها

    فأَشرقَ فيها وهو بدرُ تمامها

    They shone as stars in the sky of their glory,

    and he shone among them, its moon at the full.

  34. أَمولى المَوالي شيخِها وغلامِها

    وَربّ المَعالي فذِّها وتؤامِها

    O master of masters, of their elder and their youth,

    and lord of lofty deeds, their single ones and their paired,

  35. رقيت من العَلياءِ أَرفعَ ذروةٍ

    مقامَ ذُكاء والبَدرُ دون مقامها

    you climbed the loftiest peak of eminence,

    the station of Dhuka—the full moon lies below her station.

  36. فأَصبح لا يَرجو لحاقك لاحقٌ

    بعلياك إلّا شانَها باِهتضامِها

    So no pursuer now hopes to catch up with you

    in your eminence without disgracing it by diminishing it.

  37. فدتكَ أناسٌ أَنتَ أَوَّلُ عزِّها

    ودولةُ قومٍ كنت بَدءَ قوامِها

    May a people ransom you, whose might began with you,

    and a people's state, whose stability you first established.

  38. يُناويكَ فيها جاهِلٌ كُلُّ همِّه

    دِراككَ في سُبل العُلى واِقتحامها

    An ignorant man vies with you there; his only concern

    is catching you on the paths of eminence and forcing his way along them.

  39. وَهَيهات كم جاراكَ جَهلاً عصابةٌ

    فخلَّفتَها آنافها في رغامها

    How far-fetched! How many bands have ignorantly raced you,

    and you left them behind, their noses in the dust.

  40. وَكَم غابِطٍ نُعماك لجَّ بجهله

    ضلالاً وقد أَوردته من جِمامها

    How many a man coveting your bounty persisted ignorantly,

    in error, though you had brought him to drink from its brimming pools.

  41. فأَغضيتَ عنه صافحاً متفضِّلاً

    وَعادَت عليه هاطلاتُ اِنسجامِها

    You overlooked him, forgiving and gracious,

    and its pouring showers fell upon him once more.

  42. وإنّي على ما قد جنيتُ لواثقٌ

    بِسَهل السَجايا منك لا بعُرامها

    And despite the wrong I have done, I am surely confident

    in the gentleness of your character, not its fierceness.

  43. فَهَل تُسعفني من رضاكَ بنظرةٍ

    تَنال بها الآمالُ أَقصى مرامِها

    Will you favor me with a glance of your approval,

    through which hopes reach their furthest goal?

  44. يَكاد يحلُّ اليأسُ نَفسي لما بها

    إذا نظرت فيما جنَت باجترامِها

    Despair almost unravels my soul for what afflicts it,

    when it looks upon what its transgression has wrought.

  45. وَتطمعُني أَخلاقُك الغرُّ أَنَّها

    رياضٌ زهت أَنوارُها في كِمامِها

    Yet your radiant virtues give me hope, for they are

    gardens whose blossoms glow within their calyxes.

  46. فَكَيفَ وقد منَّيتَني منك مُنيةً

    بوعد أَرى كلَّ المنى في اِستلامِها

    How could I despair, when you have held out a cherished hope to me,

    with a promise—in attaining it I see all my wishes fulfilled?

  47. وإنَّك مِمَّن يَسبقُ القَولَ فعلُه

    وكم من رجال فعلُها في كَلامِها

    You are one whose deeds precede his words,

    while many men's deeds exist only in their speech.

  48. وَقُربي إليك الدهرَ أَقصى مطالبي

    وَإِن كثرت من روقها ووسامِها

    And closeness to you forever is the utmost of my desires,

    however many there are, with all their charm and beauty.

  49. فَخذها نظامَ الدين وابنَ نِظامه

    محبَّرةً تزهو بحسن نِظامِها

    So take it, Nizam al-Din, son of Nizam al-Din,

    richly embellished, glorying in the beauty of its composition.

  50. ضننتُ بها عن كُلِّ سمعٍ وإنَّما

    مديحُك كانَ اليومَ فضُّ خِتامها

    I guarded it jealously from every ear, and only

    praise of you has broken its seal today.