نجوم أمدتها بدور كوامل — Ibn Zamrak

نجوم أمدتها بدور كواملُ

لها النور من شمس الخلافة شاملُ

Stars sustained by full moons in their fullness,

their light encompassed by the sun of the caliphate.

وفي الشهب من بدر السماء مَشابهٌ

وفي البدر من شمس النهار مخايلُ

In the bright stars are likenesses of heaven's full moon,

and in the full moon are traces of the daytime sun.

وتُعرف فيها من أبيها شمائلٌ

كما في أبيها من أبيه شمائلُ

Their father's qualities are recognized in them,

as his father's qualities are recognized in their father.

مرتبُ في عد الحساب ثلاثة

وهنَّ لأقمار العلاء منازلُ

Their rank in the numerical reckoning is three,

and they are stations for the moons of eminence.

طلعن على حكم السعود أهلّةً

وسَرعان ما تبدو وهنَّ كواملُ

They rose as crescents under the sway of fortunate stars,

and how swiftly they appear as full moons!

تجلت إلى الأبصار من أفق الهدى

وَبُثَّت إلى الأنصار منها وسائلُ

They shone before the eyes from the horizon of guidance,

and through them means of approach were extended to their supporters.

فيا أيها المولى الذي شاد آخراً

من الفخر ما لم تستطعه الأوائلُ

O master, who in these latter days has built

such glory as the ancients could not achieve!

بنُوك كأمثال الأنامل عدة

فزانت يدَ الإسلام تلك الأناملُ

Your sons equal the fingers in number,

and those fingers have adorned the hand of Islam.

غصون بروض الجود منك ترعرعت

وقد جادها من صوب نعماكَ وَابِلُ

Branches that grew from you in generosity's garden,

watered by a downpour from the rain of your favors.

فوالله ما أدري إذا ما تذوكرت

أأَخلاقها تُجلى لنا أمْ خمائلُ

By God, whenever they are recalled, I cannot tell:

are their virtues unveiled before us, or leafy groves?

غيوثُ سماح والعفاة مسايلٌ

ليوث كفاح والكماة تنازلُ

Rains of generosity, with petitioners for their watercourses;

lions of combat, whom armored warriors confront.

سيوفٌ محلاَةً على عاتق الهدى

إذا تُنْتَضى تمضي وتنبو المناصلُ

Adorned swords upon the shoulder of guidance:

when drawn, they cut through while other blades recoil.

تخاف عُداة الدين منهم وتتقي

كما تتقي الأسدَ الظباءُ الجوافلُ

The enemies of religion fear them and beware,

as fleeing gazelles beware of lions.

وإن أبا الحجّاج وهو كبيرهم

محلُّ كثيرٍ دونه ممتضائلُ

And Abu al-Hajjaj, their eldest,

makes the standing of many diminish beneath his own.

عليك إذا استقبلت غرة وجهه

تخيلت أن الشمس في ما تقابلُ

Before you, when you face the brightness of his countenance,

you imagine that the sun is what you face.

إذا استُمطرت في المحل سُحْبُ بنانه

فهنّ لمستجدٍ هَوامٍ هواملُ

When the clouds of his fingers are asked for rain in drought,

they pour freely upon whoever seeks his bounty.

وإن سال ماء البشر فوق جبينه

فليس بمدفوع عن الورد سائلُ

And when the water of gladness flows upon his brow,

no petitioner is turned away from the watering place.

تقلّدَ منه عاتق الملك صارماً

له العزم نصل والسعود حمائلُ

From him the shoulder of kingship has donned a cutting sword,

whose blade is resolve and whose straps are fortunate stars.

وأبناؤه در تناسق عِقُدُهُ

يُحلَّى بهم من لَبَّةِ الفخر عاطلُ

His sons are pearls whose necklace is harmoniously strung,

adorning the bare throat of glory.

أزاهر في روض المحاسن أينعت

فلا روضها ذاوٍ ولا الزهر ذابلُ

Flowers ripened in the garden of excellence:

neither their garden withers nor its flowers fade.

زواهر في أفق العلاء تطلعتْ

يشابِهُ بعضٌ بعضَها ويُشاكلُ

Luminaries rising on the horizon of eminence,

each resembling and matching the others.

فما منهم إلا أغرُّ مُحَجْلٌ

بورد المعالي في الشبيبة ناهلُ

Every one of them is radiant, marked with brilliance,

drinking from the waters of high distinction in youth.

أَقمت لها الأعذار موسم رحمة

تسنّتْ به للمتقين المآملُ

You made their circumcision rites a season of mercy,

through which the hopes of the God-fearing became attainable.

وما هو إلا مورد لسعادة

تفيض لها منه المنى والفواضلُ

It is nothing but a watering place of happiness,

from which wishes and blessings overflow.

وأجريتَ سَرعان الجياد بملعب

تذكّر فيه موقفَ الجِدِّ هازلُ

You set swift steeds running in a playing ground,

where even a jester remembered the field of earnest endeavor.

نجوم وآفاق الطراد مشارق

عليها بدورٌ من وجوهِ كواملُ

Stars, with the horizons of jousting for their places of rising,

bearing full moons in the fullness of their faces.

مفاتيح أبواب الفتوح فطالما

أُبيحت بها للكافرين المعاقلُ

Keys to the gates of conquest: how often

the unbelievers' strongholds were laid open through them!

فأشهبُ كالإصباح راق أديمه

وغالت به شهبَ السماء الغوائلُ

A gray horse, whose hide delights like daybreak,

through whom calamities swept away heaven's stars.

ألم تَرَ أن الشهب في الأفق كلّما

تجلّى له الإصباح فهْيَ أوائلُ

Have you not seen how the stars on the horizon, whenever

dawn reveals itself there, are the first to fade?

وأحمرُ زان الوردُ منه خميلةً

يَحُفُّ به نهرٌ من السيفِ سائلُ

And a bay horse, whose roses adorn a thicket,

surrounded by a flowing river from the sword.

جرت لونَه من فوقه مهج العدا

فلله منه الجامد المتسايلُ

Above him the enemies' lifeblood flowed in his hue:

God be praised for him, solid yet flowing!

تلاقي به أمثالَه فكأنها

جِمارٌ وقد أذكى بها البَأس باسلُ

You meet his like upon him, as though they were

embers in which a brave warrior has kindled battle.

إذا قبست بالركض في حومَةِ الوغى

تنير بها ليلَ القتام مشاعلُ

When they catch fire through galloping in the thick of combat,

torches made of them illuminate the night of battle-dust.

وأشقرُ مهما حاول البرقَ في مدى

يفوتُ جوادَ البرق منه المحاولُ

And a chestnut horse: whenever he challenges lightning over a course,

the challenger in him outstrips lightning's steed.

تحلَّى بمحْلول النُّضار أديمهُ

فكل محلَّى دونه فهو عاطلُ

His hide is adorned with molten gold,

so every adorned thing beside him seems unadorned.

وأدهمُ في مِسحِ الدُّجى متلفّعٌ

وقد خاض منه في الصباح الأسافلُ

And a black horse, wrapped in the sackcloth of darkness,

whose lower limbs have waded into morning.

يُكَلَّلُ بالجوزاء حَلْيُ لجامه

فدرُّ الدراري من حِلاهُ عواطلُ

Orion crowns the ornaments of his bridle,

so the pearls of the bright stars seem bare beside his adornments.

ولم يُرضِه سرج الهلال مُفضْضاً

فأعرض عنها للأهلة ناعلُ

The silvered saddle of the crescent did not please him,

so a farrier turned from it to the crescents.

واصفر في ثوب الأصيل قد ارتدى

ورُبَّتَما ودّتْ حِلاه الأصائلُ

And a dun horse, dressed in the robe of late afternoon:

how often the late afternoons desired his adornments!

وقد قُدْ من بُرد العشيّ جِلالُه

وفي ذيله صبغ من الليل حائلُ

His caparison was cut from evening's striped mantle,

and in its trailing edge is a fading dye of night.

وصاعدةٍ في الجو ملء عنانها

تُسامتُ أعنان السما وتطاولُ

And a soaring shaft, reaching its full extent into the air,

matching the heights of heaven and striving beyond them.

طلعت تحيّي البدر منها بصعدة

عليها لواءُ الصبح في الأفق مائلُ

It rose to greet the full moon with a straight spear,

upon which dawn's banner leans across the horizon.

وقد أعربت بالرفع عن طيب فخرها

متى نصبتها في الفضاء العواملُ

Through elevation it proclaimed the excellence of its pride,

whenever the agents erected it in the open air.

يمدُّ لها الكفٌُّ الخضيب بساعدٍ

ويشكي السماك الأعزل الرمح عاملُ

The Dyed Hand extends an arm toward it,

and the spearhead arms al-Simak the Unarmed.

وتنتابها هيفُ العصي كأنها

سِهام وعاها للرمية نابلُ

Slender shafts come at it, as though they were

arrows an archer had gathered for the shot.

تُراوغها طوراً وطوراً تُضيفها

فسامِ لأعلى مُرتقاها ونازلُ

Sometimes it evades them, sometimes it receives them:

one rises to its highest reach, another descends.

وبالأمس كانت بعض أغصان دوحها

فنقَّلها عنها على الرغم ناقلُ

Yesterday they were among the branches of their trees,

until someone unwillingly transplanted them away.

فحنت إلى أوطانها وتسابقت

تعاود مسراها بها وتواصلُ

They yearned for their homelands and raced

to retrace their course there and keep returning.

وبرج منيف في ذراها قد ارتقى

لتُرفَعَ منه للبروج الرسائلُ

And a lofty tower has risen upon its summit,

that messages might be raised from it to the celestial towers.

تَطَوَّر حالات أتى في جميعها

بأوضاع حلي وصفه متغافلُ

It passed through forms, appearing in all of them

with arrangements of jewels inadequately described.

فتاجُ بأعلاها وشاح بخصرها

وفي الساق منه قد أُديرت خلاخِلُ

A crown at its top, a sash about its waist,

and anklets encircling its leg.

وما هو إلا قائم مدَّ فلكه

إلى الله في البقيا لما صَدَّ سائلُ

It is but a standing figure, stretching its sphere

toward God for preservation, when a petitioner turns away.

ولله عينا من رأى القصر حوله

منازلُ بالنصر العزيز أواهلُ

God bless the eyes of whoever saw the palace surrounded by

dwellings filled with mighty victory!

تروقك فيه للبدور مطالعٌ

إذا مثلَتْ في ساحتيه الأماثلُ

There, places where full moons rise delight you,

when eminent men appear in its two courtyards.

مظاهر أقمار مراتبُ أنجم

منازلُ بالنصر العزيز أواهلُ

Displays of moons, stations of stars,

dwellings filled with mighty victory.

وقد كان هولُ الحفل رَوْعَ أَهِلَّةٍ

وأُشِعرَتِ الإشفاقَ تلك المحافلُ

The terror of the gathering had frightened the young crescents,

and those assemblies were made to feel apprehension.

فأبدت به أبناء نجلك أوجهاً

تبين إلى السارين منها المجاهلُ

But there your son's children revealed faces

whose light makes unknown paths clear to night-travelers.

فلا الحفل مرهوب ولا الخطو قاصر

ولا السرب مرتاع ولا الروع هائلُ

The gathering is not feared, nor is the step hesitant;

the flock is not alarmed, nor is the fright overwhelming.

ولا القلب منخوب ولا الحِلمُ طائش

ولا العقل معقول ولا الفكر ذاهلُ

The heart is not stricken, nor is composure flighty;

the mind is not fettered, nor is thought bewildered.

أولئك أبناء الخلافة بوكروا

وتجري على أعدائهنَّ الصواهلُ

Those are the children of the caliphate, attended early,

while neighing steeds run against their enemies.

هنيئاً بها من سنّة نبويّة

زها الفخرَ محصول لديها وحاصلُ

Joy be yours in this prophetic custom!

There, glory's harvest, gathered and growing, flourished.

ورُحمى له من عاذر بان عذره

وأوهم نقصاً فضله متطاولُ

And mercy upon the circumciser, whose excuse was plain,

who suggested a loss, though his merit towered high.

فنقص هلال الأفق ما زال مؤذناً

لمرآه أن يبدو لنا وهو كاملُ

The incompleteness of the horizon's crescent has always foretold

to its beholder that it will appear to us complete.

ومن نقص ظل الشمس تزداد رفعةً

إلى أن تُرى والظل في الشرق مائلُ

As the sun's shadow diminishes, the sun rises higher,

until it is seen with its shadow leaning eastward.

وإن تابع النقص الشهور فإنها

على إثره تأتي وهنّ كواملُ

Though diminution follows the months,

they come after it in their fullness.

ونقص صلاة الظهر يوم عَروبةٍ

لمعنى كمال أوضحته الدلائلُ

And the shortening of the noon prayer on Arubah's day

serves a meaning of perfection clarified by the proofs.

وإن نقص البازي رياش جناحه

يزيد استباقاً وهو للصيد خاتلُ

If the falcon's wing-feathers are reduced,

he gains speed as he stalks his prey.

ونستفرغ الأنعام ما في ضروعها

عشياً لتغدو والضروع حوافلُ

We empty the livestock of what is in their udders

at evening, so they greet morning with udders full.

ونقص زكاة المال فيه وُفورُه

ومشق ذباب السيف يخشاه صاقلُ

The wealth deducted as alms brings wealth its abundance,

and the sword-tip's slash is feared by its polisher.

لك الخير من صنع جلوتَ محاسناً

يُحدّي بها حادي السُّرى ويناقلُ

May goodness be yours: through your deed you revealed beauties

which the night-travelers' driver chants as he changes pace.

ألا هكذا فليعقد الفخرُ تاجَه

ويسمو إلى أوج العلا ويطاولُ

Indeed, thus let glory fasten its crown

and rise to the summit of eminence, striving ever higher,

بأبلج غار الصبح منه بطلعة

لها البدر تاج والنجوم قبائلُ

through a radiant man whose appearance made dawn jealous:

for that visage the full moon is a crown, and the stars are tribes.

إذا خطب العليا تخطّتْ بركبِهِ

على خطر المسعى القنا والقنابلُ

When he woos the highest station, with his company advance

the spears and squadrons, despite the peril of the quest.

ولو رام إدراك النجوم بحيلة

لأحرزَ من إدراكها ما يُحاولُ

Were he to seek the stars by some contrivance,

he would attain what he attempted of their attainment.

وإن طلبت زُهرُ النجوم لَحَاقَهُ

فمن دون ما تبغي المدى المتطاولُ

And if the bright stars sought to catch him,

a vast distance would stand before their goal.

وتخفُقُ بالنصر العزيز بنودُهُ

إذا خَفَقَت فيها الصّبا والشمائلُ

His banners flutter with mighty victory

when east winds and north winds stir within them.

وليل جهاد بات يرعى نجومه

فلا الليل مُنْجَابٌ ولا النجم آفلُ

And a night of jihad, whose stars he stayed awake watching:

the night does not clear away, nor does the star set.

يُراعي حماة الدين فيه بمقلة

يُراعي بها الإسلامَ كافٍ وكافلُ

He watches the defenders of religion there with an eye

through which a protector and guardian watches over Islam.

إذا اشتاق هزّ الريح خافق بنده

وإن حَنَّ غنَّتْه الجياد الصواهلُ

When he yearns, his fluttering banner stirs the wind;

when he longs, the neighing steeds sing to him.

وفي الله عن وصل الأحبة مرغَبٌ

وفي الغزوِ عن ذكر المنازل شاغلُ

In God is a pursuit beyond reunion with loved ones,

and campaigning distracts from remembering the dwellings.

من الخزرجين الَّذين نمتهُمُ

عشائر من قحطانها وفصائلُ

He is of the Khazrajis, whose ancestry was raised

by clans and branches of their Qahtan.

تسامى إلى ماء السماء فجودُهُ

بماء سماءٍ في البسيطة حائلُ

He rises to Ma' al-Sama, and his bounty

stands in the way of heaven's rain upon the earth.

أقول لمستامِ الربيع وقد غدا

يَرودُ مَصَابَ الغيث والعامُ ماحلُ

I say to one seeking spring pasture, who has gone out

searching where rain has fallen, though the year is barren:

أمامك دار للغنيِّ بربه

بأرجائها للمعتفين مناهلُ

Before you is the house of one self-sufficient through his Lord;

throughout its grounds are watering places for petitioners.

تفجّر من كفيه عشرة أبحر

يغَضُّ بهنّ البحر وهي أناملُ

Ten seas burst forth from his two palms,

before which the sea lowers itself—and they are fingers.

فتجري بها سفُنُ الرجاء إلى مَدّى

وليس إلى الجودي من الجود ساحلُ

The ships of hope sail upon them far into the distance,

and bounty has no shore by which to reach al-Judi.

فراجيه تستجدي العفاة نوالَهُ

وسائلُه تُرجى إليه الوسائلُ

Those who hope in him—the petitioners—seek his bounty;

his petitioner is sought as a means of approach to him.

أحاديثُ عنه في السماح غريبةٌ

يُروّي عواليها عطاءٌ وواصلُ

Wondrous reports of his generosity,

whose loftiest transmissions are narrated by Ata and Wasil.

لك الله من نالٍ غمامُ بَنانه

أَقامت فروضَ البِرِّ منها النّوافلُ

God keep you, a giver whose finger-clouds

have made voluntary gifts fulfill the duties of kindness.

طلعتَ بأفق الغرب نَيَّرَ رحمةٍ

وقد شَرُفَتْ منك العُلا والفضائلُ

You rose on the western horizon as a luminary of mercy,

and through you eminence and virtues gained honor.

فحمدك أحرى ما أفادت حقائب

وذكرك أسنى ما أقلّت رواحلُ

Your praise is the worthiest thing baggage has brought,

and your remembrance the brightest thing mounts have carried.

تروم جواري الشُّهب شأوّكَ في العُلا

ومن دونه للنَّيِّرات مراحلُ

The coursing stars aspire to your reach in eminence,

but before it lie stages even for the luminaries.

وفي الصبح من ذاك الجبين أشعةٌ

وفي الشمس من ذاك المحيَّا دلائلُ

In dawn are rays from that brow,

and in the sun are signs of that countenance.

وفي الروض من رياك عَرفٌ ونَفْحَةٌ

وفي الغيث من يُمناك جود ونائلُ

In the garden are fragrance and a breath of your scent,

and in the rain are generosity and gifts from your right hand.

إذا أنت لم تُزْجِ الجنود إلى العلا

فإن جنود الله عنك تقاتلُ

If you do not send armies toward eminence,

God's armies fight on your behalf.

وإن لم تقوِّمْها سهاماً مريشةً

فإن سهام الله عنك تناضلُ

And if you do not shape them into feathered arrows,

God's arrows contend on your behalf.

تريش لك الأقدار أسهم أسعد

تُصَابُ بها للدارعين مقاتلُ

The fates feather arrows of happier fortune for you,

which strike the vulnerable places of armored men.

لك العز تستجلي الخطوبُ بنوره

فليس له إلا الصّباحَ مماثلُ

Yours is the glory by whose light ordeals are laid bare;

nothing resembles it but morning.

إذا العزم لم يصقلْ حسامَ كميِّه

فما نافع ما قد جَلّتُهُ الصياقلُ

If resolve has not sharpened its warrior's sword,

what the polishers have burnished avails nothing.

فقبل مضاء السيف تُمضي عزائمٌ

وبعد بناء الرأي تُبنى المعاقلُ

Before the sword cuts, firm resolves decide;

after judgment is built, strongholds are built.

وما يستوي والعلم لله وحده

عليم بأعقاب الأمور وجاهلُ

They are not equal—and knowledge belongs to God alone—

one who knows the outcomes of affairs and one who is ignorant.

تُظلَّلُ سحبُ الطّير جيشَكَ حيثما

تميلُ به الراياتُ وهي حواملُ

Clouds of birds shade your army wherever

the banners turn it, laden as they are.

فلاقى بها عقبان طير وراية

تُبيد الأعادي والرماحُ حبائلُ

There eagles meet—those of birds and of a banner

that annihilates enemies, with spears for snares.

فقل لعميد الروم دونك فارتقبْ

طلائعَ فيها للمنايا رسائلُ

Say to the leader of the Rum: beware, and watch for

advance forces bearing messages of death.

وشِمْ بارقَ السيف اللموع جفونُه

سحابُ قتام تحته الدَّمُ سائلُ

Watch the flashing lightning of the sword, whose sheaths are

clouds of dust, with blood flowing beneath them.

ولا تزجُر الغربان في البحر إنها

سفائن والبحرُ المذلَّلُ حاملُ

Do not divine omens from the ravens on the sea; they are

ships, borne upon the humbled sea.

ولكنها واللهُ يُنجزُ وعده

جوارٍ بآساد الرجال حواملُ

But they—and God fulfills His promise—

are vessels bearing lions among men.

ومخضرَةِ الأرجاء في جَنَبَاتها

مسارحُ تحميها الرماحُ الذّوابلُ

And a place green on every side, along whose edges

are pastures guarded by slender spears.

ترى الدوحَ منها بالأسنة مزهراً

إذا ما سقته للسيوف الجداولُ

You see its great trees flowering with spearheads

whenever streams from the swords water them.

تَبُلُّ غليلَ الرمح من مُهج العدا

إذا ما كَسَتْ منها الرَماحُ غلائلُ

They quench the spear's thirst with the enemies' lifeblood

when the spears wear robes made of it.

فيا عجباً للرمح روِّيتَهُ دماً

وقد راق منه العينَ ريّانُ ذابلُ

How wondrous the spear: you have quenched it with blood,

and a well-watered yet withered shaft delights the eye!

لقد كَملَتْ فيك المحاسنُ كلُّها

وما كلُّ من يُعطي الخلافة كاملُ

All excellences have reached perfection in you,

but not everyone granted the caliphate is perfect.

فعند جميع الخلق شكرُك عاجلٌ

وعند الإلهِ الحقّ أجرك آجلُ

Among all creatures, thanks to you are immediate;

with the true God, your reward awaits hereafter.

ودونك من نظمي جواهرَ حكمة

يفاخرُ منها السحر بالشعر بابلُ

Take from my verse jewels of wisdom,

through which Babylon boasts of poetry's magic.

وما هو غلا ذكرُ أوصافِك العلا

فتفعل يا مولايَ والعبدُ قائلُ

It is nothing but the mention of your lofty qualities:

you act, my master, while your servant speaks.

فتُتلى على الأسماع منها بدائع

وتُجلى على الأبصار منها عقائلُ

Their marvels are recited to the ears,

and their noble beauties are unveiled before the eyes.

ولو أنني أدركتُ أعصار من مضى

لما قال فيها الشاعر المتخايلُ

Had I reached the ages of those long departed,

the vaunting poet would not have said:

وإني وإن كنت الأخير زمانُه

لآتٍ بما لم تستطعه الأوائلُ

Though I am the latest in time,

I bring what the ancients could not achieve.

ولا افتخرت قدماً إيادٌ بقُسّها

ولا استصحبت سحبانَ في الفخر وائلُ

Nor would Iyad long ago have boasted of its Quss,

nor would Wa'il have enlisted Suhban in its boasting.

فلا زلت يا مولايَ موردَ رحمةٍ

عطاشُ الأماني في رضاك نواهلُ

May you ever remain, my master, a watering place of mercy,

where thirsty hopes drink their fill in your favor.

تقيمُ رسوم المعلُوات بمغرب

وذكرُك في أقصى البسيطة جائلُ

You uphold the traditions of lofty deeds in the West,

while your remembrance travels to the earth's farthest reaches.

وأدركتَ في الأعداء ما أنت طالب

وبُلِّغت في الأبناء ما أنت آملُ

May you attain against your enemies all that you seek,

and be granted in your sons all that you hope.