دارت عيون في محاجر — Abdul Mohsen Al Suri

دارَت عُيونٌ في مَحاجِر

لتديرَ في الحيِّ الدوائِر

Eyes turned within their sockets,

to set misfortunes circling through the quarter.

فإذا مررتَ بفِتيَةٍ

في فِتنَةٍ منها فحاذِر

So if you pass by young men

bewitched by them, beware.

فلربَّما جلبَ الحَدي

ثُ حَوادثاً مِنها نوادِر

For often talk has brought

happenings, some of them strange.

إن كان ذاكَ فما تكو

نُ على قبولِ النصح قادِر

If that is so, you will not be

capable of heeding advice.

فإذا مررتَ بسَلوةٍ

لا تَستطيعُ تُطيعُ آمِر

And if you come upon solace,

you cannot obey one who commands you.

تأتي بِعجزٍ ظاهرٍ عن

ها وعُذرٍ غير ظاهِر

You show a clear inability to attain

it, and an excuse that is not apparent.

وأشدُّ ما يلقاهُ مُع

تَذِرٌ إذا لم يلقَ عاذِر

And the hardest plight of one who makes excuses

is finding no one who will excuse him.

يا ربّ مكسورِ اللوا

حِظِ لا يزالُ الدهرُ كاسِر

Ah, many a languid eye,

yet forever breaking hearts!

تلقاهُ بعدَ رُقادِه

وكأنَّما قد باتَ ساهِر

You see it after its sleep,

as though it had stayed awake all night,

من غادةٍ أمِنت وقد

سفكت دمي ثورات ثائِر

from a graceful maiden, safe—though she had

shed my blood—from an avenger's fury.

فتشهَّرت ثِقةً به

ذا في القبائل والعشائِر

So she flaunted herself, trusting in

this, among the tribes and clans.

جاوَرتُها فوَجدت حُك

مَ جُفونِها في الجار جائِر

I lived beside her, and found the rule

of her eyelids unjust toward the neighbor.

فتركتُ قلبي في البُيو

تِ أسيرها ونهضتُ سائِر

So I left my heart in the dwellings,

her captive, and rose to depart.

وسمِعتُه مستَنصِراً

فأجَبتُه أن ليسَ ناصِر

And I heard it calling for help;

so I answered it: there is no helper.

إن كان ناظِرُها سبا

كَ فمَن يُناظِرُ فيك ناظِر

If her eye has taken you captive,

then who will dispute with an eye over you—

مُتَعوِّدٌ حملَ الكبا

ئِر فَوقَ أعناقِ الأكابِر

one accustomed to loading grave sins

upon the necks of the great?

ناديتُه لما أغا

رَ على النفوسِ مُغارَ واتِر

I called to it when it raided

souls with a slayer's onslaught,

وتَتابَعت غاراتُه

من أنتَ من عَوفِ بن عامِر

and its raids followed one another:

Who are you? Are you of Awf ibn Amir?

ما كُنتُ أعرفُ واحداً

من مَعشرٍ يَلقى العشائِر

I have never known a single man

of a people that faces other clans,

ما لم يكُن منهم أوا

ئِلهم كذلكَ والأواخِر

unless their first men were

likewise, and their last men too—

بينَ الذوابل والبوا

تِر كالذوابِل والبواتِر

amid slender lances and keen swords,

themselves like slender lances and keen swords.

لكنهم أمضى إذا

ركِبوا وأنفذُ في السرائِر

Yet they are sharper when

they ride, and pierce more deeply into hearts.

كلٌّ تراهُ كالسحا

بةِ بالندى والبأسِ ماطِر

Each you see is like a cloud,

raining bounty and martial might.

فإن اعتَرضتَ مُجاحِداً

لي في المقالَة أو مناكِر

And if you object, contradicting

me in this claim or denying it,

فانظُر تَجد في حامدٍ

تلكَ المحامدَ والمفاخِر

then look: you will find in Hamid

those virtues and glories.

يدُه تباكر بالردى

وتجودُ بالوَسميِّ باكِر

His hand comes early bearing death,

and pours forth early autumn rain.

فتَرى لها في كلِّ أر

ضٍ نادِباً منها وشاكِر

So, on its account, in every land you see

one mourning because of it, and another thankful.

كم باتَ يَحمِلُ ذابلاً

قد شفَّه حبُّ المَناحِر

How often he has spent the night bearing a slender lance,

which love of throats has worn thin!

فتخالُه متقلِّباً

من كفِّ حامله مبادِر

So you fancy it writhing,

eager to spring from its bearer's palm,

مع فِتية سبقت ضَما

ئِرُهم إلى الحَرب الضوامِر

with youths whose resolves outstripped

the lean steeds on the way to war.

وردَ اللقاءُ صُدورَهم

وأقامَ فيها غَير صادِر

Battle entered their breasts,

and stayed there, never departing,

بِمُعَوِّداتٍ للسُّرى

يُخفينَ أصواتَ الحَوافِر

on steeds accustomed to night journeys,

that muffle the sounds of their hooves.