بوادي الغضا للمالكية أربع — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

بوادي الغضا للمالكية أرْبُعُ

سقتها الحيا منَّا جفونٌ وأدْمُعُ

In Wadi al-Ghada lie al-Malikiyya’s dwellings;

Our eyelids and tears watered them with rain.

ومرتبع قد كانَ للريم ملعباً

على أنَّه للضيغم الوَردِ مصرع

And a spring pasture once served as a playground for gazelles,

Though it is a place of death for the tawny lion.

يقطّع فيها مهجة الصب شوقاً

وما الشَّوق إلاَّ مهجة تتقطَّع

There the ardent lover’s heart is torn apart with longing;

And what is longing but a heart being torn apart?

حَبَسْتُ بها صَحْباً كأَنَّ قلوبهم

من الشَّوق في تلك المنازل تُخْلَعُ

I detained companions there, as though their hearts

Were wrenched out by longing in those dwellings.

على مثل معوج الحنيَّة ضُمَّر

نبوع بها البيد القفار ونذرع

On lean mounts like the curve of a bow,

We span the barren deserts upon them and measure their breadth.

تحنُّ إلى أعلام سلعٍ ولعلع

لقد فتكت بالحبّ سلع ولعلع

They yearn for the landmarks of Sal‘ and La‘la‘;

Indeed, Sal‘ and La‘la‘ have slain the lover.

كأنْ فُصِدَتْ من أخدعيها وما جرى

لها بدمٍ قان هنالك أخدع

As though she had been bled from her two neck-veins—yet no

Neck-vein of hers flowed there with crimson blood.

وما هي إلاَّ عبرة دمويَّة

يجودُ بها في ذلك الربع مدمع

It is nothing but a bloody tear,

Which a weeping eye pours freely in that dwelling.

فحيَّت رسوم الدَّار وهي دوارس

جفون بما تسقى بها الدَّار تترع

So the dwelling’s traces, though effaced, were greeted

By eyelids brimming with what waters the dwelling.

كأَنَّ مطيَّ الركب في الشعب أصبحتْ

لها عند ذاك الشعب قلب مضيَّع

As though the caravan’s mounts in the ravine had come

To have a forlorn heart beside that ravine.

نريك بها من شدَّة الوجد ما بنا

فكلٌّ له منَّا فؤاد مُروَّع

There we show you what we suffer from the intensity of yearning;

For each of us has a terrified heart.

ولما نزلنا ليلة الخيف بالنقا

وفاضت على أطلال رامة أدمع

And when, on the night of al-Khayf, we alighted at al-Naqa,

And tears overflowed upon Rama’s ruins,

بحيث الهوى يستنزف العين ماءها

ويستهتر الصبر الذي لا يرقّع

Where love drains the eye of its water

And wears down patience beyond all mending,

ذكرنا بها أيَّان لهو كأَنَّها

عقيلة مال المرء بل هي أنفع

We recalled there times of delight, as though they were

The choicest part of one’s wealth—indeed, more beneficial.

وبتنا وأسياف من الشهب في الدجى

تُسَلُّ وزنجيّ الظلام يجدع

And we spent the night while swords of shooting stars in the darkness

Were unsheathed, and the black man of darkness had his nose cut off.

تحرّك ذات الطوق وجدي وطالما

تبيت على فينانة البان تسجع

The ring-necked dove stirs my yearning, and how often

She spends the night cooing on a leafy bough of the ban-tree.

تردد والأَشجان ملءُ حديثها

قديم الهوى من أهله وترجع

She repeats, with sorrows filling her utterance,

Love of old from those who knew it, and echoes it again.

وما ساءها بالبين ركبٌ مقوَّضٌ

ولا راعها يوماً خليطٌ مودع

No caravan striking camp has grieved her through separation,

Nor has a companion bidding farewell ever alarmed her.

فهل أنت مثلي قد أضرَّ بك الهوى

وهل لك قلب لا أبالك موجع

Are you, then, like me, harmed by love?

And have you an aching heart—may you have no father?

لئن نشرت طيّ الغرام الذي لها

فقد طُوِيَتْ منِّي على الوجدِ أضلع

Though she has unfolded the hidden folds of her passion,

Ribs of mine have indeed closed around yearning.

بنفسي من الجانبين بالطرف جانباً

له شافع من حسنه ومشفع

With my life I would ransom one of those who turn their gaze aside;

His beauty gives him an intercessor, and one whose plea is accepted.

يجرِّعني ما لم أذقه من النوى

إلاَّ من حميّا الوجد ما أتجرَّع

He makes me swallow what I had never tasted of separation,

Save what I swallow of yearning’s heady heat.

بذلت له من أدمع كنت صنتها

ذخائرها وهو الحبيب الممتع

I gave him tears I had kept safe—

Their treasured stores—he is the beloved who brings delight.

ويا ربَّما أدميت طرفي بوامضٍ

من البرق في الظلماء يخفى ويلمعُ

And oh, how often I bloodied my eye with a flashing gleam

Of lightning in the darkness, vanishing and shining again.

وقلتُ لسعد حين أنكر لوعتي

عداك الهوى إنِّي بظمياء مولعُ

And I said to Sa‘d when he denied my anguish:

May love spare you: I am infatuated with Zamya.

تولَّت لنا أيام جمع وأقلعت

فلم يبقَ في اللَّذَّات يا سعد مطمع

Our days of union turned away and departed;

So no hope of pleasure remains, O Sa‘d.

وأصبح بالحيِّ العراقي ناعباً

غرابٌ بصرف البين للبين أبقع

And in the Iraqi encampment there croaked

A pied crow of parting, amid separation’s turns.

وغابت بدور الظاعنين عشيَّةً

بأنضاء أسفارٍ تخبّ وتوضع

And the full moons of those departing vanished one evening,

On travel-worn mounts that trotted and hastened.

أراني مقيماً بالعراق على ظما

ولا منهل للظامئين ومرتع

I find myself dwelling in Iraq in thirst,

With neither a watering-place nor pasture for the thirsty.

وكيف بورد الماء والماء آجن

يُبَلُّ به هذا الغليل وينقع

And how, by drinking water when the water is stagnant,

Can this burning thirst be soothed and quenched?

لعلَّ وما تجدي لعلَّ ورُبَّما

غمائم غمّ أطبقت تتقشع

Perhaps—though ‘perhaps’ avails nothing—and it may be

That clouds of grief which closed overhead will disperse,

يعود زمان مرَّ حلوُ مذاقه

وشمل أحبَّائي كما كانَ يجمع

A bygone time, sweet to the taste, will return,

And my loved ones be gathered together as before.

فقد كنتُ لا أعطي الحوادث مقودي

وإنِّي لريب الدهر لا أتوجَّع

For I once never gave calamities my reins,

And did not lament the reversals of time.

كأنِّي صفاةٌ زادها الدهر قسوةً

من الصم لا تبلى ولا تتصدَّعُ

As though I were a rock that time had made harder,

Of solid stone, neither wearing away nor cracking.

فسالمتُ حرب النائبات فلم تزلْ

تقودُ زمامي حيث شاءت فأتبع

So I made peace with calamities’ war, and they kept

Guiding my reins wherever they wished, and I followed.

وكنت إذا طاشت سهام قسيّها

وقتني الردى من صنع داوود أدرع

And whenever the arrows of their bows flew wildly,

Coats of mail of Dawud’s handiwork shielded me from death.

فمن جوده إنِّي رُبِيتُ بجوده

وزير له الإِحسان والجود أجمعُ

For through his bounty I was indeed nurtured by his bounty—

A minister to whom all beneficence and generosity belong.

وَرَدَّ شموس الفضل بعد غروبها

كما ردَّها من قبل ذلك يوشع

And he restored the suns of excellence after they had set,

As Yusha‘ had restored them before that.

وقام له في كلِّ منبر مدحة

خطيب من الأَقلام بالفضل مصقع

And on every pulpit of praise there arose for him

An eloquent orator among the pens, proclaiming his excellence.

ومستودع علم النبيِّين صدره

ولله سرٌّ في معاليه مودعُ

His breast is the repository of the prophets’ knowledge,

And God has a secret deposited in his lofty qualities.

كأَنَّ ضياء الشمس فوقَ جبينه

على وجهه النور الإِلهي يسطعُ

As though the sun’s radiance were above his brow;

Upon his face the divine light shines.

وزير ومر الحادثات يزيده

ثباتاً وحلماً فهو إذا ذاك أروع

A minister: the bitterness of calamities increases his

Steadfastness and forbearance; then he is more awe-inspiring.

إذا ضعضعَ الخطب الجبال فاًنَّه

هو الجبل الطود الذي لا يضعضعُ

When catastrophe shakes the mountains, he is indeed

The towering mountain that cannot be shaken.

عرانينه قد تشمخر إلى العُلى

أشمُّ إلى الأَعلام في المجد أفرعُ

His peaks soar proudly toward the heights,

Proud and lofty, towering toward the summits of glory.

أمدَّ على قطر العراقين ظلّه

إذا عصفت في الملك نكباء زعزعُ

He spread his shade over the land of the two Iraqs,

When a violent crosswind raged through the realm.

ويُقْدِمُ حيث الأسد تحجم رهبةً

ويسطو وأطراف المنيَّة شرع

He advances where lions hold back in fear,

And strikes while death’s points are leveled.

يمدُّ يداً طولى إلى ما يرومه

فتقصر أبواعٌ طوالٌ وأذرعُ

He stretches a far-reaching hand toward what he seeks,

And long arm-spans and arms fall short.

إذا ذَكَرَ الجبَّارُ شدَّةَ بأسِه

يلين لمن يلقاه منه ويخضعُ

When a tyrant recalls the strength of his might,

He yields and submits to anyone from him whom he encounters.

لقد سارَ من لا زال ينهل قطره

سحاب عن الزوراء بالجود مقلع

He has indeed departed—may his rain never cease to pour—

A cloud departing al-Zawra’ with its bounty.

فما سالَ يوماً بعد جدواه أبطحٌ

بسيب ولن تسقى من الغيث أجرعُ

Since his bounty departed, no pebbled watercourse has ever flowed

With a generous flood; nor will rain water a sandy tract.

ولا مرَّ فيها غير طيب ثنائه

أريج شذًى من طيِّب المسك أضوعُ

Nor has any fragrance drifted there except his sweet praise—

A waft of scent more fragrant than sweet musk.

ولا عمرت في غير أنواع مدحه

بيوت على أيدي الفضائل ترفعُ

Nor have there been built, except in the forms of his praise,

Houses raised by the hands of virtues.

أبا حسن هل أوبةٌ بعد غيبةٍ

فللبدر في الدُّنيا مغيب ومطلعُ

O Abu Hasan, is there a return after absence?

For the full moon in this world has a setting and a rising.

لئن خَلِيَتْ منك البلاد التي خلت

فلم يخل من ذكرى جميلك موضعُ

Though the lands you left have been emptied of you,

No place is empty of the remembrance of your kindness.

ففي كلِّ أرض من أياديك ديمة

وروض إذا ما أجدى الناس ممرعُ

For in every land is a steady rain of your favors,

And a lush meadow whenever it bestows bounty on the people.

يفيض الندى من راحتيك وإنَّها

حياضٌ بنو الآمال منهنَّ تكرعُ

Generosity overflows from your palms, and they are

Pools from which the sons of hope drink deeply.

وإنِّي على خصب الزمان وجدبه

إليك وإن شطَّ المزار لأهرعُ

And I, through time’s abundance and drought,

Hasten to you, however distant the journey.

ولو أنَّني وُفِّقتُ للخير أصبحت

نياقي بأرض الروم تخدي وتسرع

And had I been granted success toward good,

My she-camels would stride and hasten in the land of Rum,

إلى مالكٍ ما عن مكارمه غنًى

وغير ندى كفَّيه لا أتوقَّعُ

Toward a master whose noble generosity none can do without;

And I expect nothing but the bounty of his hands.

فألثم أقدام الوزير التي لها

إلى غاية الغايات ممشًى ومهيع

Then I would kiss the minister’s feet, which have

A path and a broad road to the utmost of all goals.

وأُثني عليه بالَّذي هو أهله

وأُنْشِدُهُ ما قلتُ فيه ويسمعُ

And praise him as he deserves,

And recite to him what I have said of him, while he listens.