ما قضى إلا على الصب العميد — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

ما قَضى إلاَّ على الصّبِّ العميدِ

وغدا يعثر في ذَيل الصُّدود

He brought ruin only upon the love-wasted lover,

And goes stumbling in the trailing hem of disdain.

رشأٌ يقتنص الأُسْدَ ومَن

علَّمَ الظبي اقتناصاً للأُسود

A fawn who hunts lions—and who

Taught the gazelle to hunt lions?

بأبي الشادن يرنو طرفه

بلحاظٍ كلحاظ الرِّيم سود

My father be ransom for the young gazelle, whose eye gazes

With dark glances like those of the white gazelle.

ما أُلاقي من سيوفٍ وقناً

ما أُلاقي من عيونٍ وقدود

What I suffer from swords and spears

Is what I suffer from eyes and figures.

ويحَ قلبٍ لَعِبَ الشَّوقُ به

من عيون بابليَّات وجيد

Alas for a heart that longing has toyed with,

Because of Babylonian eyes and a neck.

ربَّ طيفٍ من زَرودٍ زارني

فسقى صوبُ الحيا عهدَ زرود

Many a dream-phantom from Zarud visited me;

So may rain's downpour water the days of Zarud.

فتذكَّرتُ زماناً مرَّ بي

طرب النشوة مرعيَّ العهود

Then I remembered a time I had lived through,

Joyous in intoxication, its pledges faithfully kept.

وبعيد الدَّار في ذاك الحمى

من فؤادي في الهوى غير بعيد

And one whose home lay far off in that sanctuary

Was not far from my heart in love.

يا دموعي روِّضي الخدَّ ويا

حرَّ نيران الجوى هل من مزيد

O my tears, make my cheek a garden; and O

Heat of longing's fires, is there still more?

أين أيَّامُ الهوى من رامة

يا لياليها رعاك الله عودي

Where are the days of love in Ramah?

O her nights—may God watch over you—return!

وبكاء المزن في أرجائها

وابتسام الراح عن درٍّ نضيد

And the clouds' weeping in her reaches,

And wine's smile revealing pearls in rows.

قَذَفَتْ أنجُمُها كأسَ الطلا

كلّ شيطانٍ من الهمِّ مريد

The wine-cup's stars have cast out

Every rebellious devil of care.

فأَدِرْها قهوةً عاديَّةً

عُصِرَت في عهد عادٍ وثمود

So pass it round, an ancient wine,

Pressed in the age of ʿAd and Thamud.

أيُّها السَّاقي وَهَبْ لي قُبلةً

هبةً منك بإحسان وجود

O cupbearer, grant me a kiss too,

A gift from you, with kindness and generosity.

أنا لا أَشرَبُها إلاَّ على

أُقحوانِ الثَّغر أو وَرْدِ الخدود

I drink it only with

The mouth's chrysanthemum or the cheeks' roses.

وبفيك المورد العذب الَّذي

أرتوي منه ومن لي بالورود

And in your mouth is the sweet watering-place

From which I drink my fill; who will grant me access?

وبقلبي نارُ خَدَّيْك الَّتي

لم تزل في مهجتي ذات الوقود

And in my heart is the fire of your cheeks, which

Has never lacked fuel within my soul.

من معيد لي زماناً قد مضى

بمذاب التِّبر في الماء الجَمود

Who will restore to me a time gone by,

With molten gold in ice-cold water?

دارتِ الأَقداح فيها طَرَباً

من يَدَيْ أَحوى ومن حسناءَ رود

The goblets passed round there in delight,

From the hands of a dark-eyed youth and a supple beauty.

وكأنَّ الكأس في توريدها

قُطِفَتْ واعْتُصِرَتْ من خدِّ خود

As though the cup, in its rosy hue,

Had been plucked and pressed from a young beauty's cheek.

في رياض غرَّدت ورقاؤها

بفنون السَّجع منها والنشيد

In gardens whose gray dove warbled

In varied strains of its cooing and song;

وغصون البان في ريح الصبا

تنثني بين ركوع وسجود

And the ban-tree boughs, in the east wind,

Bent between bowing and prostration.

فسقى تلك المغاني عارضٌ

مستطيرُ البَرقِ مِهدارُ الرُّعود

So may a raincloud water those abodes,

With far-flashing lightning and roaring thunder.

كانت الجنَّة إلاَّ أنَّها

لم تكن حينئذٍ دار الخلود

It was Paradise, except that it

Was not then the abode of eternity.

في ليالٍ أشْبَهَتْ ظلماؤها

بدخانٍ كانَ من ندٍّ وعود

On nights whose darkness resembled

Smoke from blended incense and aloeswood.

وكأَنَّ الأَنجُمَ الزّهر بها

أَعيُنٌ من وجدها غير رقود

And as though the bright stars within them

Were eyes kept wakeful by their longing;

وكأَنَّ البدرَ فيها مَلِكٌ

حُفَّ بالموكب منها والجنود

And as though the full moon there were a king,

Surrounded by their procession and troops;

وكأَنَّ الصُّبْحَ في إثر الدُّجى

طائرٌ يركض في إثر طريد

And as though dawn, on darkness's heels,

Were a bird racing after its quarry.

رقَّ فيه الجوُّ حتَّى خِلتَه

رقَّةَ القاضي بنا عبد الحميد

The air there grew so tender that I thought it

The tenderness toward us of Judge ʿAbd al-Hamid.

لَطُفَتْ أخلاقُه وابْتَهَجَتْ

كابتهاج الرَّوض يزهو بالورود

His character is gracious and joyful,

Like the joy of a garden flourishing with roses.

إنَّ من يأوي إلى أحكامه

إنَّما يأوي إلى ركن شديد

Indeed, whoever seeks refuge in his judgments

Seeks refuge only in a mighty pillar.

عادلٌ في الحكم يمضي حكمه

بقضاء الرّبّ ما بين العبيد

Just in judgment, he carries out his ruling

By the Lord's decree among His servants.

كلَّما كرَّرْتُ فيه نظراً

رَمَقَتْني منه أَلحاظُ الورود

Whenever I looked at him anew,

The glances of roses looked at me from him.

حجَّتي فيه الأَيادي والنَّدى

وجميل الصّنع بالخلق الحميد

My evidence for him is his favors and generosity,

And fine deeds born of praiseworthy character.

وشهودي من مزاياه ولا

تثبت الحجَّةُ إلاَّ بالشُّهود

And my witnesses are drawn from his virtues; no

Proof is established except through witnesses.

قمرٌ في المجد يكسوه السَّنا

شرف الآباء منه والجدود

A moon in glory, clothed in radiance;

His fathers and forefathers draw honor from him.

وافرُ الجود يدا آملِهِ

إنَّما تغرف من بحرٍ مديد

Abundant in bounty; the hands of one who hopes in him

Draw only from a vast sea.

ذو نوالٍ مستباح نيلُه

من مُنيلٍ ومراد لمريد

Possessed of bounty freely there for the taking,

From a bestower, a sought-for boon for the seeker.

عالم فيه لنا فائدة

فجزى الله مفيد المستفيد

A scholar in whom we find benefit;

So may God reward the benefactor of those who benefit.

أَلمعيٌّ ناظرٌ في بَصَرٍ

في خوافي غامضِ الأَمر حديد

Keen-witted, looking with a vision

Sharp to the hidden aspects of obscure affairs.

وبما في ذاته من هِمَمٍ

كلّما تُرْهَفُ أَزْرَتْ بالحديد

And the aspirations within his very being,

Whenever honed, put iron to shame.

شَرَحَتْ معنى معاليه لنا

فهيَ لا تخفى على غير البليد

They have revealed to us the meaning of his high merits,

So they are hidden from none but the dull-witted.

وأَرَتْنا منه في أَقرانه

مُفْرداً يغني عن الجمع العديد

And they have shown us in him, among his peers,

A single man who can stand for a numerous host.

شرعةُ الدِّين ومنهاج الهُدى

قائمٌ بالقسط مجريُّ الحدود

The law of religion and the path of guidance,

Upholding justice, enforcing the prescribed penalties;

حاملٌ للحقِّ سيفاً خاضعٌ

لمضاه كلُّ جبَّار عنيد

He bears a sword for truth; submissive

To its cutting force is every stubborn tyrant.

يُرتجى أو يُختشى في حدِّه

مُؤْنِسُ الوعد وإيحاش الوعيد

At its edge are hoped for or feared

The comfort of promise and the terror of threat.

وَعَدَتْني منه آمالي به

فوَفَتْ لي بعد حَوْلٍ بالوعود

My hopes, drawn from him, promised him to me,

And after a year fulfilled their promises to me.

فحمِدْتُ الله لما أنْ بدا

طالعاً كالبدر في برج السعود

So I praised God when he appeared,

Rising like the full moon in the constellation of good fortune.

عاد للمنصب قاضٍ لم يزل

كلّ يومٍ هو في عيد سعيد

A judge returned to office, never ceasing

To spend each day in joyful celebration.

وبفضل الله يعلو مجده

فتعالى الله ذو العرش المجيد

And by God's grace his glory rises;

So exalted is God, the glorious Lord of the Throne.

يا عماد المجد في المجد ويا

دُرَّة التَّاج ويا بيت القصيد

O pillar of glory in glory, and O

Pearl of the crown, and O heart of the poem!

دمتَ في العالم عطرياً الشذا

دائمَ النعمة مَكبوتَ الحسود

May you remain in the world, sweetly fragrant,

With lasting blessings and your envier abased.

يا لك الله فتًى من مُبدِئٍ

بالندى والفضل فينا ومعيد

God be with you—what a youth, initiating

Bounty and favor among us, and renewing them!

وقوافيَّ الَّتي أُنشِدُها

نُظِمتْ في مدحه نظم العقود

And my rhymes, which I recite,

Were composed in his praise as necklaces are strung.

أَطلَقَتْ فيه لساني أَنعُمٌ

قيَّدَتْني من عُلاه بقيود

Favors have set my tongue free to praise him,

And bound me in bonds from his lofty greatness.

أَنا لولا صيِّبٌ من سَيْبِه

ما ارتوى غُصْني ولا أَورَقَ عودي

As for me, were it not for a downpour of his bounty,

My branch would not have drunk its fill, nor my stem put forth leaves.