جسد أشبه شيء بالخيال — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

جَسَدٌ أشْبَهُ شيءٍ بالخيال

وفؤادي عن هَواكُم غيرُ سالِ

A body more like a phantom than anything else,

And my heart has not forgotten its love for you.

وعيونٌ نَثَرَتْ أدمُعَها

لثغورٍ نُظِمَتْ نَظْمَ اللآلي

And eyes that scattered their tears

For mouths strung like pearls.

دَنِفٌ لولا هواكم ما اغتدى

مَعَ حسن الصَّبر في أسوَأ حال

A lovesick man who, but for your love, would not have become,

Despite his admirable patience, so wretched.

قد براه الشَّوق فيكم فانبرى

وهو لا يُمتاز من عُود الخلال

Longing for you has worn him away, and he has wasted away,

Indistinguishable from a toothpick.

مُعرِضاً عن عاذلٍ في حبِّكم

لم يَكَدْ يُصغي إلى قيلٍ وقال

Turning away from anyone reproaching his love for you,

He scarcely listens to gossip and chatter.

يا خليليَّ وهَلْ من مسعدٍ

لشجٍ أصْبَحَ مشغوفاً بخالي

O my two friends, is there anyone to offer aid

To a grieving man enamored of one free of cares?

هل تريحون محبًّا من جوًى

أو تبِلُّونَ غليلاً ببلال

Will you relieve a lover of burning grief,

Or slake his burning thirst with moisture?

وخيالٍ زارني منكم فما

زادَني إذ زارني غيرَ خيال

And a phantom of you visited me, but

Its visit only made me more of a phantom.

هيَّجَ النَّارَ الَّتي أعهدها

ذات إيقاد بقلبي واشتعال

It stirred the fire I have long known,

Kindled and blazing in my heart.

ضاربٌ لي مثلاً منكم وما

لوجوهٍ أجْتَلِيها من مثال

It presents me with a likeness of you, yet

The faces I behold have no equal.

وبذكراكم على شحط النوى

كيف لا أَشرقُ بالماء الزُّلال

And remembering you, despite the vast distance of separation,

How could I not choke on clear, fresh water?

إنَّ بالشِّعب سقى الشّعبَ الحيا

زمناً مرَّ بوصل الغيد حالي

In the ravine—may rain water the ravine—there was

A time that passed sweetly in union with graceful beauties.

نَظَمَتْنا الرَّاحُ في أسلاكه

في ليالٍ مثل أيَّام الوصال

Wine strung us upon that time's threads,

On nights like the days of union.

كانَ للَّهو به لي منزلٌ

غرَّة في الأَعصُرِ الدهم الأَوالي

There I had a dwelling for delight,

A bright spot amid the dark ages of old.

سَنَحَتْ فيه الظِّبا واقْتَنَصَتْ

مهجَة الضيغم أحداقُ الغزال

Gazelles appeared there, and there was ensnared

A lion's heart by the eyes of a gazelle.

سَحَرَتني يا ترى من ذا الَّذي

علَّم الأَحداق بالسّحر الحلال

They bewitched me; I wonder who it was

That taught the eyes such lawful magic.

وَرَمَتْني فأَصابت مقْلَتي

يا سُليمى ما لعينيكِ وما لي

And they shot at me and struck my eye.

O Sulayma, what is the matter with your eyes—and with me?

كم أرَتْني لا أرَتْها راحةً

غيرَ ما يخطُرُ منهنَّ ببالي

How much they showed me—may I show them no rest—

Beyond what comes to my mind concerning them:

نظراتٌ كنتُ قد أرْسَلْتها

وبها يا سعد قد كانَ وبالي

Glances I had once sent forth,

And through them, O Sa'd, came my ruin.

ليتَ شعري يومَ صَدَّتْ زَيْنَبٌ

لمِلالٍ كانَ منها أَمْ دلال

Would that I knew, when Zaynab turned away,

Whether it was weariness on her part or coyness.

موقف التوديع كم أجْرَيْتَ لي

عبراتٍ رخصت وهي غوالي

O scene of farewell, how many you made me shed:

Tears grown cheap, though they were precious!

لم أجد فيك التفاتات إلى

كبدٍ حرَّى ولا دمعٍ مذال

In you I found no regard for

A burning liver, nor for tears freely shed.

أينَ لا أينَ لنوقٍ أصْبَحَتْ

تتراءى بين حلٍّ وارتحال

Where—ah, nowhere—are the she-camels now

Appearing between halting and departure?

قد ذكرنا عهدكم من بعدكم

فتعلَّلْنا بأَنفاس الشّمال

We recalled our time with you after your departure,

And sought solace in the breaths of the north wind.

انْقضى العَهْدُ جميلاً وانْقَضَتْ

دولةٌ كانتْ لربات الرِّجال

That time ended beautifully, and ended too

The reign that belonged to the ladies who ruled men.

كنتُ مشغوفاً فلمَّا أنْ بدا

وَضَحُ الشَّيب بفوديَّ بدا لي

I was enamored; but when there appeared

Gray hair's whiteness at my two temples, I changed my mind.

وأَراني في خطوبٍ طبَّقتْ

أنا والأَيَّام في حربٍ سجال

And I see myself amid calamities that engulf me,

I and the days in a war of alternating fortunes.

من رآني قالَ لي ممَّا رأى

هكذا تصنعُ بالحرّ اللَّيالي

Whoever saw me said, from what he saw,

'This is how the nights treat a freeborn man.'

لَسْتُ مُنحطًّا بها عن رتبة

ومقامي من عليّ القدر العالي

I am not lowered by them from my rank,

And my standing comes from Ali, whose worth is lofty,

من مُثيبي سَعَة العيش وإنْ

كنتُ منها اليوم في ضيق حال

From him who grants me abundance in living, although

Today my circumstances in that regard are straitened.

مَوْرِدٌ أَصْدُرُ عنه بالَّذي

أَبْتَغيه منه في جاهٍ ومال

A watering place I depart from with what

I seek from him in influence and wealth.

إنْ تَقَدَّمْتُ إليه فالمنى

من نداه والعطاء المتوالي

If I approach him, my hopes are fulfilled

Through his generosity and his ceaseless giving.

وإذا أَبصرتُ منه طلعةً

راعني بين جمالٍ وجلال

And when I behold his countenance,

He awes me with both beauty and majesty.

لم تَطِشْ دهياءُ ما وقَّرها

من حُلومٍ راسياتٍ كالجبال

No dire calamity unsettles what he has made steady

With judgments firmly rooted like mountains.

ومزيلٍ كلَّ خطبٍ فادحٍ

للرزايا غير مرجوّ الزَّوال

And a dispeller of every crushing calamity,

Whose fall afflictions cannot hope for.

لم تكد تُحصى سجاياه الَّتي

رَفَعَ الله بها بيتَ المعالي

His virtues can scarcely be counted,

Through which God raised the house of lofty honor.

وخلالٍ يُشْرِفُ المجدُ بها

يُعْرَفُ المعروف من تلك الخلال

And qualities through which glory rises,

Goodness is known by those qualities.

مُتْبِعُ الحُسنى بحسنى مثلها

يَصِلُ الدهر بها والدَّهر قال

He follows one good deed with another like it,

Befriending time through them, though time is hostile.

رَجلٌ أُوتيَ من خالقه

صَولةً تُرْغِمُ آناف الرِّجال

A man endowed by his Creator

With might that rubs men's noses in the dust.

يتوالى مُنْعِماً إحْسانَه

وأَجلُّ الغيث ما جاءَك تالي

He keeps bestowing his kindness,

And the finest rain is that which comes to you again.

ولَهُ الله فغايات العُلى

نال أَقصاها على بُعْدِ المنال

And God is with him: the utmost heights of glory—

He has reached their furthest, despite their remoteness.

آل بيتٍ كلّ خير فيهمُ

آل بيت المصطفى من خير آل

A household in which all goodness dwells,

The household of the Chosen One, among the finest families.

سادةِ الدُّنيا وأعلام الهُدى

منقذي العالم من هلك الضَّلال

Masters of the world and beacons of guidance,

Deliverers of the world from the ruin of error.

بأبي من سادةٍ أذخرهم

لمعاشي ومعادي وآمالي

My father be the ransom of those lords I hold in reserve

For my livelihood, my hereafter, and my hopes.

قوَّموا الدينَ وشادوا مجده

ثَقَّفوا السّؤدد تثقيف العوالي

They upheld religion and raised its glory;

They straightened nobility as tall spears are straightened.

دوحةٌ شامخةٌ منها الذرا

أنا منها أَبداً تحت ظلال

A spreading tree whose summits tower high,

Beneath whose shades I am forever.

كَمُلَ الفضل بهم بهجته

أَين بدر التّمّ من هذا الكمال

Through them, excellence's splendor reached perfection;

What is the full moon beside such perfection?

شغل الشكر لساني ويدي

بعليٍّ بعد محمود الفعال

Gratitude has occupied my tongue and my hand

For Ali, after Mahmoud, praiseworthy in deeds.

رُحْتُ أَسْتَحلي قوافيَّ به

وهيَ فيه أبدَ الدَّهر حوالي

I came to savor my rhymes through him,

And in his praise they are forever sweet.

لعطاءٍ غير ممنونٍ ولا

يُحْوج العافي إليه بالسُّؤال

For bounty without reminders of debt, which does not

Require the seeker to petition him.

إنَّ لي فيه وربّي أَمَلاً

منجز الميعاد من غير مطال

Indeed, by my Lord, I have a hope in him,

A fulfiller of promises without delay.

فكأنِّي رَوضةٌ باكرها

صيّبُ المزن وحلاً بعد حال

I am as though a garden visited early

By the clouds' downpour, state after state [wording uncertain].

لا أرى منفصلاً عن ثروة

وبعليائك مولاي اتّصالي

I do not find myself cut off from wealth,

And my bond, my lord, is with your eminence.

نِلتُ فيك الخير حتَّى إنَّني

صِرْتُ لا أَطمع إلاَّ بالمحال

Through you I have attained such good that I

Now aspire to nothing but the impossible.

منعمٌ في كلّ يومٍ نعمةً

وكذاك المفضل العذب النوال

Bestowing a blessing every day:

Such is the benefactor whose giving is sweet.

لا براحٌ عن مغاني سيّد

ولدى عليائه حطَّت رحالي

No departure from a lord's dwelling places,

And at his lofty station my saddlebags have come to rest.

حُزْتَ أَجرَ الصَّوم فاهنأ بعده

سيِّد السَّادات في هذا الهلال

You have won fasting's reward; rejoice after it,

O master of masters, at this crescent moon.