السعد تخبرنا شواهد حاله — Ibrahim Riahi

السّعدُ تُخْبِرُنا شواهدُ حالِه

أن قد كسا علياك ثَوْبُ جمالِه

Good fortune—its signs tell us

that the robe of its beauty has clothed your eminence.

وعليك قد ضرب الفخارُ سُرادقاً

وببابك العالي مُنَاخُ رِحاله

And glory has pitched a pavilion over you,

and at your lofty gate is the resting-place of its saddles.

يَا مَنْ بِدَوْلَتِه الجفونُ تكحّلَتْ

بِالأَمْنِ إِذْ لجأت لبرد ظِلاله

O you under whose rule the eyes were kohled

with safety, as they sought refuge in the coolness of your shade.

بِكَ مفخرٌ للدّهر ليس بخامل

لِمَ لاَ وقد أصبحت من أقياله

In you Time has a source of pride that is not obscure;

why not, when you have become one of its kings?

فَلأَنْتَ ضَيْغَمُه ونَيِّرُ أُفقه

وخِضامُه الطّامي وطَوْدُ جلاله

For you are its lion and the luminary of its horizon,

its surging ocean and the mountain of its majesty.

أَنَّى يُحيط بك المديحُ وأنتَ مَنْ

تهوى بُدورُ التمِّ لَثْمَ نِعاله

How can praise encompass you, when you are one

whose sandals the full moons long to kiss?

لك خطّة الشّرَف التي لم يَحْوِها

مَلِكٌ وإنْ عَظُمَتْ خِصَال كماله

Yours is a station of honor never attained

by a king, however great his qualities of perfection.

وأصَالة الرأي الذي آثاره

رَوِيَتْ بما يُجْريه من سلساله

And yours is soundness of judgment, whose effects

have been watered by the limpid stream it sets flowing.

فلقد غَدَا خاقانُ عَصْرِكَ آخذاً

بسديد رَأْيِكَ في مُهِمِّ فِعَاله

For the khagan of your age has come to follow

your sound judgment in his important undertakings.

وعناك إذ قال المشير وحبّذا

لَقَبٌ حَوَيْتَ الفخرَ باستكماله

And he meant you when he said 'Marshal'—how excellent

a title, in whose full attainment you won glory!

ومِن العناية أن غَدّوْتَ مُطَوَّقاً

طوقَ الجلالة مِن سَنَا إفضاله

And one sign of favor is that you came to wear

the collar of majesty, from the radiance of his bounty.

كم قد تَطَاوَلَتِ آلِّرقابُ لِنَيْلِه

وتَسَارَعَتْ هِمَمٌ لجلب مِثَالِه

How many necks have stretched high to attain it,

and aspirations raced to obtain its like!

فَتَقَاصَرَتْ عن حَرْزِه وحُبِيتَه

ومَلأْتَ كفَّك من وثيق حِباله

Yet they fell short of securing it, while you were granted it,

and filled your palm with its sturdy cords.

وكساك تاجاً وهو أعظم آيةٍ

دلّت على المكنون من إقباله

And he clothed you with a crown, the greatest sign

that revealed the hidden depths of his favor.

وَلوِ آلْمَعِالِي صُوِّرَتْ وتجسَّدْت

لأتاك مَحْضُ الودّ من إقباله

Were lofty virtues given form and embodied,

pure love would come to you from his favor.

فبذا بلغتَ ذُرى السيادة مُدْرِكاً

شَأْواً منالُ النّجم دون مناله

Thus you reached the summits of sovereignty, attaining

a height harder to reach than the stars.

أنت الجديرُ بكلّ ما أُوليتَه

وخطرتَ يا ذا المجد في سِرْبَالِه

You deserve all that has been bestowed upon you,

and walked proudly, O lord of glory, in its robe.

مَنْ ذا يجاري أَحْمَداً في فضله

أَمَّنْ له نَسْجٌ على مِنْوَاله

Who can rival Ahmad in his excellence,

or who can weave after his pattern?

سبّاقٌ غاياتِ المكارمِ أوحدٌ

حاوي الفضيلةِ يَوْمَ رَفْعِ طواله

Foremost in reaching the goals of noble deeds, peerless,

possessor of virtue on the day his tether is lifted.

مَلِكٌ تصَحَّحَ أنّه فردُ العُلَى

مهما أَجَلْتَ الفكرَ في أَحواله

A king proved peerless in lofty distinction,

however much you turn your thoughts upon his affairs.

فله بِوَصْلِ المَكْرُماتِ عنايةٌ

ولها مزيدُ عنايةٍ بوصاله

He takes care to maintain his bond with noble deeds,

and they take still greater care to maintain their bond with him.

أَغْنَتْ مَهَابَةُ ذكره عن سيفه

ودفاعِهِ عن قصره بنباله

The awe his name inspires has spared him the need for his sword

and for defending his palace with his arrows.

أفضى لهزم عُدَاتِه تَخْمينُهُمْ

في بطشه ومرورُ طَيْفِ خياله

His foes' defeat follows from their imagining

his onslaught, and from the passing phantom of his image.

جَأْشٌ يلين له الحديدُ وصَوْلةٌ

تستوقفُ الضّرغامَ عن أشباله

A steadfast heart before which iron softens, and an onslaught

that keeps the lion from his cubs.

ورحيبُ صدرٍ ضمَّ حِلْماً واسعاً

يلقى به الجاني مُنَى آماله

And a broad breast that holds vast forbearance,

through which the offender finds his hopes fulfilled.

وندىً أناف على الغمام رعاية

إذ سَيْبُهُ بمواهبٍ من ماله

And generosity that surpasses the clouds in care,

for his bounty consists of gifts from his wealth.

فإذا الكرام تبسّطت أَيْمانُهم

أربى على معروفهم بشِماله

When the generous stretch out their right hands,

he surpasses their bounty with his left hand.

تاهت على كلّ البلاد بلادُه

وسما بها الأمراء تحت حِجاله

His land glories above all other lands,

and within it the princes rose beneath his canopies.

أبْدَى بها الجيشَ العرمرمَ وُشِّحَتْ

أَصْنَافُه بالأُسْدِ من أبطاله

He displayed there a mighty host; adorned were

its ranks with the lions among his heroes.

وأنال مسجدَها المعظّمَ رِفْدَهُ

وسقى مُصَوَّحَ نَبْتِه بزُلاله

And he granted his bounty to its revered mosque,

and watered its withered growth with his clear water.

وحباه من كتب العلوم نفائساً

تُزْري بنفح الرّوض في آصاله

And he endowed it with treasures of scholarly books

that put the garden's evening fragrance to shame.

أطْلَعْتَهَا في أَفْقِ فَضْلِك أَنْجُماً

يَمْحُو بها السّاري دُجَى إشكاله

You made them rise as stars on the horizon of your bounty,

by which the night-traveler dispels the darkness of his perplexity.

وأَجَلْتَ فيها راحة المُثري ومَنْ

قد صُفِّدَت كفّاه من إقلاله

And you let the wealthy man's hand roam through them, and that of one

whose hands had been shackled by his poverty.

وبها أَزَحْتَ شدائِداً عن عاجزٍ

وكَشَفْتَ ما أَصْمَاه من أهواله

And through them you removed hardships from a helpless person,

and dispelled the terrors that had struck him down.

يا أيّها الملك الذي عَشِقَ العُلَى

وسعى إليها سَعْيَ صّبٍّ وَالِهِ

O king who fell in love with the heights,

and strove toward them like a lovesick, distraught lover,

خُذْها إليكَ قصيدةً بل دُمْيَةً

حَوْرَاءَ جَلَّلَها آلْحَيَا بجِلاله

take it to yourself as a poem—nay, a figurine,

with wide, dark eyes, cloaked by modesty in its mantle.

زُفَّتْ فمن فَرْطَ اللّطافةِ خِلْتُهَا

تُغْنِي لطيفَ الطّبع عن جِرْيَالِه

She was led forth as a bride; so exquisite was she that I thought her

able to spare one of refined taste the need for his red wine.

عَجَزَتْ عن التّفصيل فيما نِلْتَهُ

مِنْ سُؤْدَدٍ فَسَعَتْ إلى إجماله

She could not recount in detail what you attained

of glory, so she sought to sum it up.

واهْنَأْ بعيدٍ قد أَظلّك وقتُه

وسناؤُه واسْلَمْ إلى أمثاله

And rejoice in an Eid whose season has cast its shade over you,

and its radiance too; may you live safely to see others like it.

هذا ولولا الشّرعُ عَيَّنَ وقتَه

لأنفكّ يومَ العيد عن شوّاله

Thus—and had sacred law not fixed its time,

the day of Eid would have broken free of its Shawwal;

إذْ كلّ يوم من زمانك موسِمٌ

يُغْنِي جبينُك عن طلوع هلاله

for every day of your age is a festival,

your brow makes the rising of its crescent needless.

لا زال ملكك زينةَ الدّنيا ولا

ذاقت مدى الأيّامِ طَعْمَ زواله

May your reign ever be the world's adornment, and may the world never

taste, through all the days, the flavor of its passing.

وبَقِيتَ ترفُلُ في مطارف سؤددٍ

ومسرّةٍ بمحمّدٍ وبآلِه

And may you keep walking proudly in bordered robes of glory

and joy, by Muhammad and his family.