من لصب مستطار القلب هائم — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

مَنْ لصَبٍّ مُسْتَطارِ القَلْب هائمْ

يشتكي المُهْجَةَ من رُمْحٍ وصارِمْ

Who will help a lovelorn wanderer, his heart distraught,

Lamenting his heart, wounded by spear and keen sword?

عاقَدَ الحبَّ على أنْ لا يُرى

في التصابي غير محلول العزائم

He made a pact with love never to be seen

In youthful dalliance except with his resolve undone.

إنَّما تَفْتِك في أحشائه

نظراتٌ ليس ترقيها التمائم

Nothing wreaks havoc in his vitals but

Glances that no amulets can charm away.

رحمة للصبِّ ما يشكو إلى

راحمٍ يوماً وهل للصبِّ راحم

Have mercy on the lovelorn! Never does he complain to

A merciful soul, even once—and is anyone merciful to the lovelorn?

يا خليليَّ انصفاني من جوًى

أنا مظلومٌ به والشَّوق ظالم

O my two friends, give me justice against love's anguish;

I am wronged by it, and longing is the oppressor.

ما لهذا البرق يهفو وامضاً

باتَ يبكيني نجيعاً وهو باسم

Why does this lightning flutter, flashing,

Making me weep fresh blood all night while it smiles?

ويثير الوَجْد يوري زنده

فاحِمَ اللَّيل وفرع اللَّيل فاحم

And rouses longing; its firestick sets ablaze

The coal-black night, whose tresses are coal-black.

أذكُرُ العيش وأيَّامَ الحمى

ناعمات العيش بالبيض النواعم

I remember life and the days in the cherished grounds,

Days of easy living with fair, tender women.

يا سقى الله الحمى من موطنٍ

يزأَرُ اللَّيث به والظبي باغم

Ah, may God water those cherished grounds—what a dwelling,

Where the lion roars and the gazelle softly calls!

كم وكم قد فتكتْ فانتصرَتْ

أَعْيُنُ الغزلان بالأُسْد الضراغم

How often, how often, have they dealt death and triumphed—

The eyes of gazelles over ferocious lions!

وكميٍّ حازمٍ أصْبَحَ في

قبضةِ الحبّ وما ثَمَّةَ حازم

And many a resolute armored warrior has ended in

Love's grasp, where no resolute man remains.

نامَ عنِّي غافلاً من كمدي

ربَّ ساعٍ ساهِر الطَّرف لنائم

He slept, heedless of me, unaware of my anguish;

Many a wakeful-eyed striver toils for a sleeper.

ويمجُّ الشَّهدَ من ريقَتِه

ولحظّي منه تجريع العلاقم

And he pours forth honey from his saliva,

Yet my share from him is being made to swallow bitterness.

حاربتْني الأَعيُنُ النجلُ ومن

مُهْجَتي غُذُّوا ومن لي أنْ تسالم

The wide eyes waged war on me, and from

My lifeblood they were fed; who can ensure they will make peace?

ما أحلَّ القتل إلاَّ عامداً

مستبيحٌ سيفُ عينيه المحارم

He sanctioned killing only with deliberate intent—

A violator whose eyes' sword breaches sacred bounds.

مُعْجَبٌ من حُسنْه مبتسمٌ

يُودعُ اللؤلؤَ هاتيك المباسم

Admiring his own beauty, smiling,

He sets pearls within those smiling mouths.

قاتلي من غير ذنبٍ في الهوى

أَنْتَ في قَتْلي رعاك الله آثم

My slayer, though I am guiltless in love,

You sin in killing me—may God preserve you!

سفكتْ أحداقُك السوُّد دمي

أينَ من أحداقك البيض الصوارم

Your black pupils have spilled my blood;

How can white, keen swords compare with your pupils?

فِعْلُ ألحاظك في عُشَّاقها

يَتَعدَّى بشباها وهو لازم

The action of your glances upon their lovers

Transgresses with their sharp points, though it is 'intransitive.'

لي على قَدِّك نَوْحٌ في الدُّجى

مثلما ناحتْ على الغصنِ الحمائم

For your figure I lament in the darkness,

As the doves lamented upon the branch.

ساغَ ما جرَّعْتني من غصَّةٍ

غير أنِّي عن جنى ريقك صائم

The choking anguish you made me swallow went down easily;

Yet I fast from the fruit of your saliva.

فَضَحَ الحبُّ الهوى في أهلِهِ

وبدا من كاتمٍ وما هو كاتم

Love laid passion bare in its people,

And it emerged from its concealer, who conceals it no more.

لا أرى الله عذولي راحةً

لامني فيك فما أُصغي للائم

May God let my reproacher know no repose;

He blamed me for you, but I heed no reproacher.

وبلائي كلُّه من لائمٍ

باتَ يلحو وحبيبٍ لا يلائم

All my affliction comes from a reproacher

Who scolds all night, and a beloved who will not agree.

والهوى داء كمين في الحشا

ليثَ شعري ما لهذا الدَّاء حاسم

And love is a sickness lurking in the vitals;

Would that I knew! This disease has no cure.

كانَ لي صبرٌ فما دام وما

كانَ صبر الصّبّ بعد الصَّدِّ دائم

I had patience, but it did not last; and never

Has a lover's patience endured after rejection.

كيفَ يسلو ذاكرٌ عهد الهوى

جدَّدَ الذكر لعهد متقادم

How can one who remembers love's covenant forget,

Having renewed the memory of a covenant long past?

عَجَباً للشَّوق يبني ما بنى

يا ترى يهدمه من بعدُ هادم

How strange is longing, building what it has built!

I wonder: will a destroyer later demolish it?

وبصدْري زفرة لو كُشِفَتْ

للصَّبا يومئذٍ هَبَّتْ سمائم

And in my breast is a sigh: if it were revealed

To the east wind, scorching winds would blow that day.

غير أنِّي والأَماني جمَّة

لا أُبالي وأبو سلمان سالم

Yet I, with hopes in plenty,

Care not, so long as Abu Salman is safe.

سيِّدٌ أمَّا نداه فالحيا

مستهلٌّ من سَحابٍ متراكم

A lord—as for his bounty, it is rain

Pouring from piled-up clouds.

فهو للصَّادي إذا بلَّ الصَّدى

مَوْرِدٌ عذبٌ وبحرٌ متلاطم

So he, to the thirsty when he quenches thirst,

Is a sweet watering-place and a surging sea.

شِمْتُ منه البَرق عُلْويُّ السَّنا

مُؤْذِنُ العارضِ بالغيث لشائم

I watched his lightning, lofty in radiance,

Heralding the cloud's rain to the watcher.

كسَحاب القطر إلاَّ أنَّه

يتبع السَّاجم منهلاً بساجم

Like rain clouds, except that he

Follows one pouring shower with another downpour.

إنَّ مَن يرويك عنه خبراً

لا كمن يرويك عن كعب وحاتم

Indeed, one who relates news of him to you

Is unlike one who relates news of Ka'b and Hatim.

عن رسول الله عن أبنائه

ما رَوَيْنا من أحاديث المكارم

From God's Messenger, from his sons,

Are the accounts of noble deeds we have related.

صفوة الله من الخلق وهم

عالم المعروف والنَّاس عوالم

God's elect among creation, and they are

A world of goodness, while people are many worlds.

هم هداة الخلق لولا جدُّهُم

وهداهم كانت الخلق بهائم

They are creation's guides; but for their forefather

And their guidance, creation would have been beasts.

آل بيتٍ خُلِقوا مُذْ خُلِقوا

للعلى ركناً وللدِّين دعائم

A household's kin, created from their first creation

As a pillar of glory and supports of the faith.

فَتَحَ الله علينا بِهمُ

في مفاتيح العطايا والخواتم

God has opened the way for us through them,

With the keys of gifts and the seals.

حبَّذا نَجْلُ عليٍّ إنَّه

عَبِقُ الأَخلاق عطريُّ النَّسائم

How fine is Ali's son! He is

Fragrant in character, his breezes perfumed.

قالَ من أبْصَرَهُ مستبشراً

هكذا فلْتَكُ أبناءُ الأَكارم

Whoever saw him said with joy:

Such should the sons of the noble be!

وارثٌ بعد أَبيه في العُلى

من بني هاشم ما أَوْرَثَ هاشم

He inherits, after his father, in glory,

From Banu Hashim what Hashim bequeathed:

شرفٌ محضٌ ومجدٌ باذخ

أَيُّ فرعٍ من فروع الفخر ناجم

Pure nobility and towering glory—

What a branch has sprung from the branches of pride!

يرتقي في كلّ يوم رفعةً

في المعالي ليس تُرقى بالسَّلالم

Each day he rises to a higher rank

In high honors that cannot be reached by ladders.

بأبي الأَشراف عن بأس لهم

أعربت سُمر القنا وهي أَعاجم

My father be the nobles' ransom! Of their might

The brown lances spoke eloquently, though they are speechless.

وتوالت من يديهم أنعمٌ

فازَ من كانَ لها ما عاش لائم

And favors followed one another from their hands;

Fortunate is whoever gathers them throughout his life.

لي ولي منكم وأَنْتم أَهْلُها

نِعَمٌ تَرفَعُني فوق النعائم

I have, yes I have, from you—and you are fit to bestow them—

Favors that raise me above the Na'a'im stars.

فَجُزِيتُم سيِّدي عن شاعرٍ

ناثرٍ فيكم مدى الدَّهر وناظم

So may you be rewarded, my lord, on behalf of a poet

Who writes prose and verse about you for all time,

مثلَ ما هَبَّتْ صَباً من حاجر

ترقص الأَغصان منها بالكمائم

As often as an east wind blows from Hajir,

The branches dance because of it, with their bud-sheaths.

ولنعمائِكَ فينا أَثرٌ

إنَّ آثاركَ آثار الغمائم

And your favors leave a trace among us;

Indeed, your traces are the traces of clouds.

هل دَرى السَّيِّد فيما قد درى

أَمْ هو الآن بما أَعْلَمُ عالم

Has the lord learned it among the things he has learned,

Or is he now aware of what I know?

إنَّ هِنْدواتِكم في كُرْبةٍ

ما له منها سواك اليوم عاصم

Indeed, your Hindawat is in distress;

He has no protector from it today but you.

تابَ ممَّا قد جنى من ذَنْبه

وعلى التَّوبةِ قد أصْبَحَ نادم

He repented of the sin he had committed,

And he has come to regret his repentance.

ولهذا أنا باستعطافكم

قارعٌ باللّطف أبوابَ المراحم

And for this reason, seeking your compassion, I

Knock gently at the doors of mercy.

إنْ تَشَأْ أَنْقَذْتَهُ أَوْ لا فلا

فَعلى أَيّهما أصْبَحتَ عازم

If you wish, you will save him; if not, you will not.

So which of the two have you now resolved upon?

فتَعَطَّفْ سيِّدي والطفْ به

وعليه إنَّه مولاي خادم

So show compassion, my lord, and be gentle with him,

And show him favor; indeed, my master, he is a servant.

دُمْتَ لي ظلاًّ ظَليلاً وله

إنَّما ظِلُّك للرَّاجين دائم

May you remain a sheltering shade for me and him;

Your shade alone endures for those who hope.