من لطول الهم والحزن — Abdul Mohsen Al Suri

مَن لطُولِ الهمِّ والحَزنِ

ففُؤادي ليسَ يَصحَبُني

Who will aid me through this long anguish and sorrow?

For my heart does not keep me company.

خانَه الصَّبر الجَميلُ عَلى

ما يُقاسِيهِ ولم يَخُنِ

Noble patience has betrayed it in

what it endures, though it has not been faithless.

ليتَهُ طَرفي فأُبدِلُه

شَجوَهُ بالمَنظَرِ الحَسَنِ

Would that it were my eye, so I could exchange

its sorrow for a lovely sight,

ليُقاسِي ناظِري كَمَداً

لم يَكن لَولاهُ يكمِدُني

so that my eye might suffer a grief

that, but for it, would not have grieved me,

ويَرى قَلبي مَحاسِنَ مَن

كانَ يَهواهُ فَيَعذِرُني

and my heart behold the charms of the one

it used to love, and thus excuse me.

وعَلى الحالَينِ خُلفُهما

لم يَعد إلا عَلى بَدَني

Yet in either state, their discord

has harmed only my body.

كلَّما أمَّلتُ جارِحَةً

لي عَلى الكِتمانِ تُسعِدُني

Whenever I hoped that a member

of mine would help me keep my secret,

نَثرَت عَيني مُراغِمَةً

فوقَ خدِّي بُردَةَ اليَمَنِ

my eye, in defiance, scattered

a Yemeni mantle over my cheek.

جَهدُ سُقمي يا مَدامِعَها

أن تَبُوحي بي فتكتُمني

The height of my sickness, O tears of my eye,

is that you expose me, then conceal me.

وأسيلِ الخَدِّ شاحِبهِ

كُحِلَت عَيناهُ بالفِتَنِ

And a smooth-cheeked, pallid one,

whose eyes were kohled with temptations:

تركَت حُمَّاهُ وَجنَتَهُ

في اصفِرارِ اللَّونِ تُشبِهُني

his fever left his cheek

yellow in hue, resembling me.

وأرَى خَدَّيهِ وَردهُما

ما جَنَى ذَنباً فكيفَ جُنِي

And I see his cheeks: their rose

has committed no sin—how, then, was it plucked?

نُهِبا حتَّى كأنَّهما

ما حَوَت يُمنَى أبي الحَسَنِ

Both were plundered, till they seemed

like what Abu al-Hasan's right hand held.

لم يَدَعها الجُودُ تَملِكُه

والنَّدى وَقتاً من الزَّمَنِ

Generosity would not let the hand retain it,

nor would bounty, for a moment of time.

تَتَبارَى سُحبُها مُزناً

في أوانِ المَحلِ والمُزُنِ

Its rain-bearing clouds vie with one another,

in times of drought and rainclouds.

ذو جُفونٍ تَشتَري أبَداً

عَبرات النقع بالمُزنِ

He has eyelids that ever purchase

the tears of battle-dust with rainclouds,

وَيَدٍ تُبدي ندىً ورَدىً

تَجمعُ الضِّدَّينِ في قَرَنِ

and a hand displaying bounty and death,

binding the two opposites in one tether,

للعُفاةِ اللائِذِينَ بِها

وَذَوي الأحقادِ والضَّغنِ

for supplicants seeking refuge in it,

and those harboring grudges and rancor.

فإِذا مَا الخيلُ أورَثَها

كَرُّهُ شَوقاً إلى الوَطَنِ

And when the horses are made

to yearn for home by his charge,

ظَلَّ يَثني من أعنَّتِها

عَن عَليٍّ ما إِليهِ ثُنِي

it keeps turning back their reins

from Ali, toward whom they had been turned.

يا عليَّ الخَيلِ إن رَكضَت

سُربا بِالبيضِ واللُّدُنِ

O Ali of the cavalry, when it gallops

in bands with gleaming swords and supple spears,

أسَجايا مُلهَمٍ وَرِثَت

أم رَضاعاً كنَّ في اللَّبنِ

did you inherit the traits of an inspired man,

or were they in the milk you suckled?

ما كَذا كانَ الكِرامُ فسِر

لا عَلى حَدٍّ ولا سَنَنِ

The noble were not like this—so go on,

without bounds or a beaten path.

أنتَ تأتي المَجدَ مُبتَدِعاً

لا بتَمثيِلٍ عَليهِ بُنِي

You attain glory as an innovator,

not by copying a model on which it was built.

مُذ ولِيتَ الجُودَ معتَزِماً

ما عدا مَنٌّ عَلى مِنَنِ

Since you took charge of generosity with resolve,

no boastful reminder has marred your favors.

لَستُ بِدعاً في مَدِيحكَ بَل

جاءَ كلٌّ فِيهِ يَقدُمُني

I am not the first to praise you; rather,

everyone has preceded me in it.

فَلِساني إذ أتاكَ بهِ

إنَّما يَروِيهِ عَن أُذنِي

So my tongue, in bringing this praise to you,

merely transmits it from my ear.