فتن الأنام بطرفه وبجيده — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

فَتَنَ الأنام بطَرْفِه وبجيدِه

وأبى الهوى إلاَّ تَلافَ عَميده

He captivated humankind with his gaze and his neck.

And love would have nothing but its stricken lover's ruin.

مُتَمنِّعٌ وَعدَ المشوقِ بزَورةٍ

يا ليته ممَّن يفي بوعوده

An aloof one promised the yearning lover a visit;

would that he were among those who keep their promises!

أنَّى أفوزُ بطارق من طيفه

ما دام هذا الطيف في تسهيده

How can I win a night-visit from his phantom,

while this phantom continues to keep me awake?

رَشأٌ يصولُ بحدِّ صارم ناظر

وقَفَتْ أسودُ الغاب عند حدوده

A young gazelle charges with the edge of his eye's keen sword;

the forest's lions halted at his bounds.

فليَحْذَر الصَّمصام من لحظاته

والصَعدة السمراء من أملوده

So let the keen sword beware of his glances,

and the dusky lance of his supple bough.

تاالله ما يحيي المتيَّم وصله

إلاَّ مميت سلوّه بصدوده

By God, none revives the love-stricken through his union

but he whose rejection kills the lover's power to forget.

شهدت محاسنه بجهل عذوله

وأقام حجّة حسنة بشهوده

His charms testified to his reprover's ignorance,

and he established a sound argument through his witnesses.

ولكم عَصَيْتُ مفنِّداً في حبّه

ورأيتُ عكس الرأي في تفنيده

How often I defied a critic over my love for him,

and found the reverse of sound judgment in his censure.

وأقول إذ نَبَتَ العذار بخدِّه

وَرَد الربيع فمرحباً بوروده

And when cheek-down sprouts on his cheek, I say:

Spring has arrived—welcome to its coming!

ولقد ظفِرْتُ به برغم عواذلي

وضمَمْتُه ولَثِمْتُ وَرْدَ خدوده

I have won him despite my reprovers,

and embraced him and kissed the roses of his cheeks.

وشكوْتُه حَرَّ الفؤاد من الجوى

شوقاً إليه فجاد في تبريده

I complained to him of my heart's burning from lovesickness,

yearning for him; he generously cooled it,

في مجلس عَبِقَت أرائج ندّه

وتنفَّسَتْ فيه مباخر عوده

in a gathering fragrant with the scents of his incense,

and the censers of his aloeswood breathed there.

واللَّيل يرفل باسوداد ردائه

والرَّوضِ يزهر باخضرار بروده

And night struts in the blackness of its robe,

and the garden blooms in the greenness of its mantles.

ويدير شمس الراح في غسق الدجى

قمرٌ تَطلَّع من بروج سعوده

And passing round the sun of wine in night's deep gloom

is a moon risen from his auspicious constellations.

والنَّجْمُ يرقبه بعين رقيبه

والبَدْر يلحظه بلحظ حسوده

And the star watches him with the eye of his watcher,

and the full moon eyes him with the gaze of one who envies him.

والزّقُّ تصْرَعُه السُّقاة وربَّما

قَطَعتْ يدُ الندمان حبلَ وريده

And the wineskin is felled by the cupbearers, and sometimes

the drinking companion's hand cuts the cord of its jugular vein.

حتَّى رأيتُ يَسْقُط فوقَنا

في نثر لؤلؤه ونظم عقوده

Until I saw it falling above us,

in the scattering of its pearls and the stringing of its necklaces.

وتفتَّح النّوارُ في أكمامه

فكأنَّما النَّوار أوْجُهُ غيده

And the blossoms opened within their calyxes,

as though the blossoms were the faces of its graceful beauties.

وإذا القيان تجاوَبَتْ بلُحونها

طَرب الحمامُ فَلَجَّ في تغريده

And when the singing girls answered one another with their melodies,

the doves thrilled and persisted in their cooing.

سَفَرَت محاسِنُ زهر روض زاهر

وتمايَلَتْ إذ ذاك هيف قدوده

The charms of a blooming garden's flowers unveiled themselves,

and at that moment its slender figures swayed.

والبان يركع فالنسيم إذا سرى

وصَلَ النسيمُ ركوعَه بسجوده

And the bān tree bows; when the breeze flows,

the breeze joins its bowing to its prostration.

إن تَنْهَبوا اللّذّات قبل فواتها

وهَبَ الزمان شقيَّه لسعيده

If you plunder pleasures before they pass,

time will yield its wretched one to its fortunate one.

ودعاكمُ داعي الصَّبوح وإنَّه

ليقوم سيفُ الصُّبح في تأييده

And the caller to the morning draught has summoned you, and indeed

the sword of dawn rises in his support.

أوَ ما ترون الأقحوان وضحكَه

من حَضّ داعيكم ومن تأكيده

And do you not see the daisies and their laughter,

as part of your caller's urging and his insistence?

وشقائق النُّعمان كيفَ تَضَرَّجتْ

بدَمٍ فظنَّ الكرمُ من عنقوده

And Nu'man's anemones—how they have reddened

with blood, which the vine thought came from its cluster.

يا قومُ قد خُلِقَ السُّرورُ إذا انقضى

فخذوا بكأس الراح في تجديده

O people, joy has been created; when it comes to an end,

take up the cup of wine to renew it.

يومٌ به سلمان وافى مقبلاً

قد كانَ للمشتاق أكبرَ عيده

A day on which Salman arrived, drawing near,

was the longing lover's greatest festival.

قَرَّتْ به عين المفارق طلعةً

قمْريَّة بحضوره وشهوده

The parted one's eye was gladdened by his countenance,

moonlike, through his presence and attendance.

في فقدِه فَقِدَ السرور وإنَّما

وُجِدَ السرور جميعُه بوجوده

In his absence joy was lost, and only

in his presence was joy found in full.

وتَولَّدَ الفَرح المقيمُ لأهْلهِ

وأجادَ طيبَ العيش في توليده

And abiding joy was born among his people,

and he perfected life's sweetness in bringing it forth.

فكأنَّه فَلَقُ الصَّباح إذا بدا

في رفع رايته وخفق بنوده

He is like daybreak when he appears,

as he raises his banner and his standards flutter.

فالسعدُ والإقبالُ من خُدّامه

لا بل هما في الرقّ بعض عبيده

Good fortune and prosperity are among his servants;

no, rather, in bondage they are but some of his slaves.

ظَفِرَتْ يدي منه بأكرم ماجدٍ

نظمت قوافي الشعر في تمجيده

In him my hand gained the most generous of noblemen;

I composed poetic rhymes to glorify him.

ما زال مجتهداً بكلّ صنيعةٍ

يدعو الكريمُ بها إلى تقليده

He has ever striven in every benefaction

through which a generous man invites others to emulate him.

المال ما مَلَكتْه راحةُ كفِّه

فَدَعَتْه شيمتُه إلى تبديده

Whatever wealth the palm of his hand has held,

his nature has urged him to scatter it.

تُغني مواهبه الحطام تكَرُّماً

نَشْراً لذكر ثنائه وحميده

His gifts enrich worldly dross out of generosity,

spreading remembrance of his praise and his virtues.

إنِّي لأذكره وأُنْشدُ مَدْحَه

وأميلُ مَيْل الغصن عند نشيده

I indeed remember him and recite his praise,

and sway like a branch when it is sung.

ومشيد أبْنِية المفاخر والعلى

تسمو بيوت المجد في تشييده

And he builds the edifices of honor and eminence;

the houses of glory soar through his construction.

إنْ عَدَّتِ النَّاس الفخار فإنَّه

إنسانُ مقلته وبيت قصيده

If people reckon up glory, he is

the pupil of its eye and the verse of its ode.

الله أكرمَ آل بيتِ محمدٍ

حيث اصطفاهم من كرام عبيده

God honored the family of Muhammad's House,

when He chose them from the noblest of His servants.

حازوا من الشرف الرفيع أبِيَّهُ

فهمُ ولاةُ طريفه وتليده

They won the proudest part of lofty honor,

so they are lords of its new-won and inherited glory.

وإذا تَورَّثَ والدٌ منهمْ عُلىً

لا يورثُ العلياءَ غيرَ وليده

And when a father among them inherits eminence,

he bequeaths exalted rank to none but his son.

ما للبنين الغُرِّ من آبائه

أم أين للآباء مثل جدوده

What illustrious sons can claim fathers like his?

Or where can fathers find the like of his grandfathers?

نفسي الفداءُ له وقلَّ له الفدى

من كانَ للإحسان غارس عوده

My soul be his ransom—and any ransom for him is little—

he who planted the stem of beneficence.

الله يَعلمُ والبريَّةُ كلُّها

أنِّي أفوز بعزّه وبجوده

God knows, and all creation too,

that I succeed through his might and his generosity.

أقبلت إقبال السحاب تباشرت

زهر الرُّبا ببروقه ورعوده

You came as clouds come; rejoicing

were the hilltop flowers at their lightning and thunder.

قد غبتَ عن بغداد غَيْبَة حاضرٍ

في فكر صاحبه وقلب ودوده

You were absent from Baghdad like one still present

in his companion's thoughts and his loving friend's heart.

وإذا طَلَعتْ على الأحبَّة بعدها

فمُوفَّقٌ كلُّ إلى مقصوده

And when you appear before your loved ones after that,

each is granted success in reaching his goal.

يا من يَسُرُّ الأنجبين قدومُه

كسروره بضيوفه ووفوده

O you whose arrival gladdens the noblest,

as he delights in his guests and visiting parties.

فلقد ركِبْتَ الوَعَر غير مقصَّرٍ

وقَطَعْتَ يومئذٍ فدافد بيده

For you have ridden rough terrain, without falling short,

and that day crossed the broad wastes of its deserts.

ولقد تَعِبْتَ فخذ لنفسك راحةً

واطلق عنان الأُنس من تقييده

And you have indeed grown weary; take some rest for yourself,

and loose the rein of merriment from its tether.

واسرح من اللَّذات في مُتَنَزَّهٍ

خَلَطَ الغرامُ ظِباءه بأسوده

And roam among pleasures in a pleasure-ground

where passion has mingled its gazelles with its lions.