Sol 6.1

  1. يا من به تُزْهَى الدهور

    وبقربه يقوى السرور

    O you through whom the ages are adorned,

    and in whose nearness joy grows strong,

  2. وببعده تدنو الكآ

    بة والصبابة والزفير

    and with whose distance sorrow draws near,

    along with longing and sighs.

  3. قد كان لي أُنس بقر

    بك فيه للظلماء نور

    I once found comfort in being near

    you, and in it light for the darkness,

  4. وتطرُّب وتنعّم

    يختال بينهما الحُبُور

    and rapture and delight,

    between which gladness strutted.

  5. حتى كأني في جِوا

    رِك للورى طُرّاً سمير

    Until I seemed, within your neighborhood,

    an evening companion to all mankind;

  6. وكأنّ كل الفاضِلي

    نَ لديَّ أجمعَهم حُضُور

    and as though all the eminent

    were with me, every one present.

  7. بل أنت أدناهم إذا أخ

    تلفت على الناس الأمور

    Rather, you are the nearest of them when

    affairs grow tangled for people.

  8. تعلوهُم فضلاً كما

    يعلو رعيَّته الأمير

    You surpass them in excellence, as

    a prince surpasses his subjects.

  9. ثم انتقلتُ فعاد أُن

    سِي وهو منتقِل نَفُور

    Then I moved away, and my comfort became

    a departing, elusive thing.

  10. وعلت طِباعيَ نَبْوةٌ

    واعتاد أخلاقي فتور

    Harshness came over my nature,

    and lassitude beset my character,

  11. حتى غدوتُ وناظري

    عن كل مرأىً لي حَسِير

    until I found my gaze

    weary of every sight before me.

  12. وتعطّلت فينا الصِّغا

    رُ عن الندامى والكبير

    And among us the small ones fell idle,

    for the drinking companions, and the great one too.

  13. وشَكَت لِمثْلِثها البُمُو

    مُ تعجَماً وشكاه زِير

    The bass strings complained to their third string

    in wordless tones, and a treble string lamented it.

  14. وتفجَّع المختار حتْ

    تى زُلزِلت منه الصخور

    And al-Mukhtar grieved until

    the rocks were shaken by him.

  15. فلوَ أنّ شعرك لم يُزِل

    بَثِّي سنا المستطير

    For had your poetry not dispelled

    my grief with its far-spreading radiance,

  16. لتطايرت منا النفو

    س ولم تحصّنها الصدور

    our souls would have flown from us,

    and our breasts would not have held them.

  17. رفّت معانيك اللوا

    تي ما له فيها نظير

    Your meanings gleamed—those

    in which it has no peer—

  18. مستحكمات تحت لف

    ظٍ أشرقت منه السطور

    firmly wrought beneath wording

    from which the written lines shone,

  19. عذْباً كأنّ بيانه

    للسامعين له سَحُور

    sweet, as though its eloquence

    were enchantment to those who hear it.

  20. وكأنّ نظم فُصولِه

    دُرّ على سَبَج نَثِير

    And as though the arrangement of its passages

    were pearls strewn upon jet.

  21. تصبو لرقَّته الخوا

    طِرُ حين يبدو والضمير

    Thoughts are drawn to its delicacy

    when it appears, and so is the heart.

  22. وكأن أسطُرَه الدُجَى

    وكأنه فيها بُدور

    Its lines are like the dark of night,

    and it, within them, like full moons.

  23. لله أنت فقد شَعَر

    ت وزِدتَ حتى لا نظِير

    God bless you! You have composed poetry

    and excelled until you have no peer;

  24. وعلمتَ حتى إنك ال

    علاَّمة الفَرْد الخطير

    and learned so much that you are the

    consummate scholar, peerless and eminent.

  25. عيِّ الفَرزْدق عن قري

    ضك وانْثَنَى عنه جَريرُ

    Al-Farazdaq was at a loss before your poetry,

    and Jarir drew back from it.

  26. ولقد طرِبتُ عليه حتْ

    تى كِدتُ من طربٍ أطير

    And so deeply did I thrill to it

    that I almost flew for joy.

  27. فاسلم سلمِت ممتَّعاً

    ما دام رَضْوى أو ثَبِيرُ

    So live safe—may you be safe—enjoying life,

    as long as Radwa or Thabir endure.