غير سهل فيك يا لمياء حزني — Abn Alsaati

غيرُ سهلٍ فيكِ يا لمياءُ حزني

بين سهلٍ من مغانيكِ وحزنِ

My sorrow over you, Lamya, is no easy thing,

between the level and rugged ground of your haunts.

كم بها من غصن بانٍ في نقا

مثمرٍ في جنح ليلٍ شمسَ دجن

How many a bān-tree bough stands there upon a dune,

bearing, beneath night's wing, a sun amid the gloom!

كلِّ ثاني السيف لحظاً وهوىً

وشقيقِ الروح قدّاً وتثنّي

Each is the sword's peer in glance and passion,

and the soul's twin in stature and swaying,

سافرٍ عن طلعة الشمس ضحىً

ناظرٍ عن مقلة الظبي الأغنّ

unveiling the sun's face at morning's height,

gazing through the eye of a soft-voiced gazelle.

ماس تيهاً وتغنّى طرباً

فهو ورقاً هتفتْ من فوق غصن

He swayed in pride and sang in rapture,

so he is like gray doves calling from atop a bough.

يجتني اللحظُ المنى من خدّهِ

وهو باللحظ على العشّاق يجني

The gaze gathers wishes from his cheek,

while with his gaze he wrongs the lovers.

فإذا ما وابلُ جاد ثرىً

فسقى ذاك الثرى وابلُ جفني

Whenever a downpour lavishes rain upon the soil,

then my eyelid's downpour waters that soil.

ومن العار ودمعي ديمةٌ

إن أراني للحيا حاملَ من

And it is shameful, when my tears are steady rain,

if I find myself indebted to the rain.

كان ظنّي أنَّ صبري منجدٌ

ثمَّ لما أنجدوا خيّب ظنّي

I thought my patience would come to my aid;

then, when they journeyed to Najd, it disappointed my hope.

فأقيموا وامنعوا وصلكمُ

قد قنعنا من هواكم بالتمنّي

So stay, and withhold your union;

we have settled for wishing for your love.

وسألنا الطيفَ عن عطفكمُ

فسلوهُ علّهُ يخبر عنّي

And we asked the dream-phantom about your affection;

ask it: perhaps it will tell you of me.

يا بتي عذرةَ لا عذرَ لكم

عن فؤادٍ رعتموه بعد أمن

O [children of] ʿUdhra, you have no excuse

for a heart you terrified after it had been secure,

بجفونٍ كالمواضي أرهفت

وقدودٍ مسنَ كالخطّي لدن

with eyelids like keen, sharpened swords,

and figures that swayed, supple as Khatti spears.

منعتْ منعكم مذ لقنتْ

عنكمُ البرحين من ضربٍ وطعن

They withheld as you do, ever since they learned

from you the two torments: striking and stabbing.

فأٍطلقوا قلبيَ من أسر الهوى

إنّما جاني الهوى عيني وأذني

So release my heart from love's captivity;

only my eye and ear are guilty of love.

لكمُ رقُّ الهوى منهُ كما

لعمادِ الدين رقُّ الشكر منّي

Its bondage to love is yours, just as

my bondage of gratitude belongs to ʿImad al-Din.

حلَّ في ربعيَ أهدابَ الحيا

قبلَ أن ينحلَّ فيه خيطُ مزن

He unfurled the fringes of rain within my dwelling,

before a thread from the rainclouds unraveled there.

لم أكنْ لولا نداء الجمُّ ذا

ناظرٍ سامٍ وقلبٍ مطمئنّ

But for his abundant [bounty], I would not have had

a lofty gaze and a heart at peace.

ثاقبٌ في كلِّ فضلٍ زندهُ

خاطرٌ خاطرهُ في كلِّ فنّ

In every excellence his fire-stick strikes fire;

his thought strides through every art.

أشبهَ الشمسَ سناءً وسناً

لا رمى الدهرُ معاليهِ بوهن

He resembles the sun in splendor and light;

may time never afflict his high achievements with weakness.

فلهُ باسقُ مجدٍ مبعدٍ

ولهُ بشرٌ من العافين مدني

His is a towering glory that sets him far above,

and a cheerful welcome that draws him near to petitioners.

أتقي الخطبَ وأرديهِ به

فهو سيفي حين يعرو ومجنّي

Through him I guard against calamity and strike it down;

he is my sword when it befalls me, and my shield.

ماجدٌ ثابتُ جاشٍ ونهىً

يقظٌ نافذُ آراءٍ وذهن

Noble, steadfast in courage and judgment,

alert, penetrating in opinion and intellect.

فهو داني الفضل من محتاجهِ

وبعيدُ العزم عن ضعفٍ وأفن

His bounty is close to whoever needs it,

and his resolve is far from weakness and folly.

يا أبا حامد أعظمْ بالنّوى

يا لها عن مثلكم صفقة غبن

O Abu Hamid, how grievous is separation!

What a losing bargain it is to part from one like you!

قد سمحتم للمحبينَ بها

وهي تجزي ذلك الجودَ بضنّ

You have generously granted it to those who love you,

yet it repays that generosity with stinginess.

كم سألنا الجمعَ لو تجدي إذنْ

وعتبناها لو أنَّ العتب يغني

How often we begged for reunion, if only it would then avail,

and reproached separation, if reproach could help.

غبتمُ عن جلّقٍ لا عدمتْ

منكمُ بهجةَ إحسانٍ وحسن

You have left Jilliq—may it never lack

the joy of your kindness and beauty.

فهيَ في بعدكمُ نارُ لظى

وهي في قربكمُ جنّةُ عدن

In your absence it is a blazing fire,

and in your presence a Garden of Eden.

ما نواحيها فساحاً بعدكم

لا ولا الطيرُ فصاحاً غيرَ لكن

Its quarters are no longer spacious without you,

no, nor are its birds eloquent, but tongue-tied.

لم تبتْ مذ بنتمُ أغصانها

راقصاتٍ والقماريُّ تغنّي

Since you departed, its branches have not spent the night

dancing while the turtle-doves sing.

مرحباً بالملك النّاصر من

مزنةٍ تسري إلى الحيّ المبنّ

Welcome to King al-Nasir, a

raincloud traveling by night toward the settled encampment!

باذلُ المجدين جاهاً وغنىً

قاتلُ الإلفينِ من لؤمٍ وجبن

Giver of both glories, rank and wealth,

slayer of the twin companions, baseness and cowardice.

فهو في السّلم وفي يوم الوغى

بنداهُ والسُّطا يقني ويفني

Both in peace and on the day of battle,

with his bounty and force he enriches and annihilates.

من إذا أوجسَ خوفاً مالهُ

من نداه لم يعوذه بخزن

He who, when his wealth senses fear

of his bounty, does not shelter it by hoarding.

وإذا حبّرتُ فيهِ مدحةً

قالتِ الرّيح أو البرقُ ألكني

Whenever I compose a panegyric about him,

the wind or lightning says, "Send me as your messenger."

تشهدُ الأعداءُ بالسبقِ لهُ

فهيَ تثنى عن مساعيهِ وتثني

His enemies bear witness to his preeminence;

they fall short of his endeavors, yet sing his praise.

لم تزل في كلِّ حالٍ كفّهُ

تهدمُ المالَ وللأعداءِ تبني

His hand has never ceased, in any circumstance,

tearing wealth down and building for his foes.

لجأتْ دولتهُ منك إلى

ظلِّ مجدٍ طالَ ركناً كلَّ ركن

Through you his realm has sought refuge in

the shade of a glory whose pillar overtops every pillar.

شهرتْ علياكَ حتى أنّها

غنيتْ عن هوَ في الخلق وأعني

Your eminence has become so renowned that it

needs no "he" or "I mean" among mankind.

وتطوّلتَ إلى أن زدتَ عن

قولِ من يرغبُ في الغاية زدني

You have been so lavish that you have surpassed

the cry of one seeking the utmost: "Give me more."

لكَ عندي مننٌ واضحةٌ

في جلابيبٍ من الأيام دكن

I owe you favors bright and clear

amid the dark robes of the days.

كم نفتْ عن كلّ قلبٍ لوعةً

خامرتهُ وقذىً عن كلِّ جفن

How often they banished anguish from every heart

it had pervaded, and motes from every eyelid.

فابقَ لي ما ناحَ في أيكيّةٍ

صادحٌ حنَّ إلى إلفٍ ووكن

So live on for me as long as, in a wooded thicket,

a songbird mourns, longing for a companion and a nest.