وأحور في عينيه هاروت بابل — Abn Alsaati

وأحورَ في عينيهِ هاروتُ بابلٍ

رمى فاتقينا نبلهُ بالمقاتلِ

And a dark-eyed one, with Harut of Babylon in his eyes,

shot, and we warded off his arrows with our vital parts.

يدافع عن ألحاظهِ بجفونهِ

ولم أر جفنا صال دون المناصل

He defends his glances with his eyelids,

and never have I seen an eyelid charge in defense of blades.

فقيرٌ من الأمثال مثرٍ جمالهُ

وما رقّ من دمع العيون لسائل

Poor in equals, abundant in beauty,

he has never softened for a tear flowing from the eyes.

تعرَّض لي لمَّا جننت بحبّهِ

فقيَّدني من صدغهِ بسلاسل

He approached me when I went mad with love for him,

and bound me with chains from his temple-locks.

ولو لم يكن بدرَ الملاحة لم يكن

تنقَّل في أحشائنا في منازل

Had he not been beauty's full moon, he would not have

moved through mansions within our innermost hearts.

يزور فيسري في نجوم قلائدٍ

ودجية أصداغٍ وسحب غلائل

He visits, traveling by night among the stars of necklaces,

the darkness of temple-locks and clouds of gauzy robes.

وما عاف دمعي شائماً بارق الحيا

سوى أنهُ يشتاق برد المناهل

My tears, watching the lightning of rain, do not turn away,

save that they long for the coolness of watering places.

أبي الحسن إلاَّ أن أهيم بقدّهِ

فمن أجلهِ أهوى نسيم الثمائل

Beauty insisted that I be madly in love with his stature,

and for his sake I love the breeze over water-pools.

ولولا تثنيه لما بت سامعاً

إلى كل غصن شائقات بلابلي

Were it not for his swaying, I would not spend the night listening

at every branch to my nightingales' yearning songs.

إذا أطرب الأسماع نطقُ نطاقهِ

فيا خجلة اللاحي وعيَّ العواذل

When his girdle's speech enchants the ears,

oh, the reprover's shame and the scolding women's speechlessness!

وما كلف الأقمار إلاَّ لأنهُ

حثا الترب في وجه البدور الكوامل

The moons' dark blemishes exist only because

he threw dust into the faces of perfect full moons.

ولو كان للظلماء صبغ جفونه

لكان خضاب الليل ليس بناصل

If darkness had the tint of his eyelids,

night's dye would never fade.

غزالٌ فؤادي في حبائل هذبهِ

متى كان للغزلان نصبُ الحبائل

A gazelle—my heart is caught in the snares of his lashes;

when have gazelles ever set snares?

ولو لم يمت نومي لحيّ صدورهِ

لما خصّ من دمعي الهتون بغاسل

Had my sleep not died from the serpents of his shunning,

it would not have had my streaming tears appointed as its washer.

تعلقتهُ نشوانَ من خمرة الصّبا

يهزُّ التجني منهُ أعطاف ذابل

I loved him, drunk on the wine of youth,

his feigned affronts swaying the flanks of a slender spear.

ولولا ابتغاء الحرب لم يك خدُّهُ

بدامٍ ولا ذاك الوشاح بجائل

Were he not seeking battle, his cheek would not be

bloodstained, nor would that sash be swinging.

أهيم إليهِ شائقاً وهو قاتلٌ

ولولا الهوى ما همت شوقاً بقاتل

I yearn madly toward him, though he is a killer;

without love, I would never yearn for a killer.

عدمتُ ضريباً في هوى وصبابةٍ

سوى ابن عليٍ بالعلى والفضائل

I lack a peer in love and ardent longing,

save Ibn Ali, in eminence and virtues.

أبا الكلمات الشاردات إذا انبرت

فما عقلها إلاَّ عقول المائل

O father of roving words: when they emerge,

nothing tethers them but the minds drawn to them.

تسير مسير النجم في كل بلدةٍ

وما هي عن آفاتها بأوافل

They travel like a star through every land,

and its afflictions never make them set.

إذا سار في مغنى عدوٍّ كتابه

فهمت بهِ معنى الضُّحى والقساطل

When his letter travels into an enemy's abode,

you understand through it the meaning of morning light and battle-dust.

يغبر بالأتراب في أوجه النُّهى

ويدفع في صدر القرون الأوائل

It leaves its peers in the dust before discerning minds,

and thrusts against the breast of the earliest generations.

كليلِ مشوقٍ حلَّهُ طارق المنى

بما ردَّ كيد الطارقات النوازل

Like a yearning lover's night, visited by the night-comer of wishes,

bringing what repelled the malice of night-visiting calamities.

حروف حجى لو كنَّ قبلُ لقومهِ

لقد نصّلت منها رؤوس العوامل

Letters of wisdom—had his people possessed them earlier,

their spear-shafts would surely have been tipped with them.

جرائد تثني حدَّ كلّ مجرّدٍ

ومعسولةٌ تردي كماة العواسل

Sheets that turn back the edge of every unsheathed blade,

and honey-sweet words that fell champions of swaying spears.

تودُّ العيون النجل صبغة نقسهِ

وتحسدها حتى قلوب الأصائل

Wide eyes desire the tint of his ink,

and even the hearts of late afternoons envy it.

كأنَّ السويداوات ذابت لعشقها

معانيه حتى نالها بالأنامل

As though the black cores of hearts had melted from their love for

his meanings, until he took them up with his fingertips.

مفصّلة الآيات تنزيل عشره

ولا عجب إعجازها كلّ قائل

Distinct in their verses, a revelation from his ten fingers,

and no wonder they render every speaker powerless.

إذا جليت سوداً عقائل خطّهِ

فهون ببيض الغانيات العقائل

When the noble ladies of his script are unveiled in black,

then think little of fair, noble beauties.

وما نقّطت إلاَّ وهنَّ عرائسٌ

تزفُّ إلى الأفهام زفَّ الحلائل

They are dotted only when they are brides,

led to minds as wives are led in bridal procession.

وذو القلم العذب اللغى العضب في الوغى

إذا قيل هل من قائلٍ أو منزل

And the pen's master, sweet in speech, keen-edged in battle,

when the cry is, 'Is there a speaker or a combatant?'

إذا خاف منهُ نبوةً سنّ بالمدى

ولم تتعاقبه أكفُّ الصياقل

if he fears a failure to strike from it, he sharpens it with knives,

and no polishers' hands have taken turns upon it.

ومن عجبٍ يهوى وينحل جسمهُ

وما كلُّ من يهوى سواه بناحل

Wondrously, it falls in love and its body wastes away,

yet not everyone who loves besides it grows thin.

فهل صدرت عنهُ إلى كل مارقٍ

سطورُ كتابٍ أم صفوف جحافل

Have there issued from him against every renegade

lines of a letter, or ranks of armies?

جيادُ نزال كفَّهنَّ بشكلهِ

فأيُّ جيادٍ كفَّها أيُّ شاكل

Battle-steeds he has restrained with his vowel-marks:

what steeds has any fetterer ever so restrained?

سواكنً إلا في وغى فهي شرَّبٌ

عوادٍ على أعدائهِ بالطوائل

Motionless except in battle, where they drink deep,

raiding his enemies in vengeance.

حوت ألفاتٍ كالعوالي مضافةً

إلى كلّ لامٍ أشبهت لام نابل

They contain alifs like tall spears, joined

to every lam resembling an archer's bow.

وليست حواشي طرسه غير ساحلٍ

لبحر بنانٍ كلُّ بحرٍ بساحل

The margins of his page are nothing but a shore

for an ocean of fingertips—every sea has a shore.

تراهُ لما يحتله من عجائب

كعطف أخيه البحر جمَّ الأفاكل

You see it, because of the wonders inhabiting it,

like the flank of its brother, the sea, full of shudders.

فلو أمَّ ذاك اليمَّ سحبان وائل

لما كان من ذاك الأتي بوائل

If Sahban Wa'il approached that ocean,

he would not escape that oncoming torrent.

هو الفاضل المرجوُّ فضلاً ونائلاً

إذا لم يجد قوم بفضل ونائل

He is the excellent one, hoped for in grace and bounty,

when a people gives neither grace nor bounty.

فدع ذكر قسٍّ في عكاظ وأختها

وما سار عنهُ بين تلك المحافل

So leave aside mention of Quss at Ukaz and its sister,

and the reports of him that circulated among those assemblies.

فإنك ما أسهبت في وصف غيره

من الأرض غيثت بالغيوث الهواطل

For whenever you dwell at length on another's description,

you are showered from the earth with pouring rains.

فلله ما ألقت من الخير أمهُ

وما حملت منهُ أكفُّ القوابل

God be praised for the goodness his mother brought forth,

and for what the midwives' hands carried of him!

وما قومهُ إلاَّ صدور مجالس

فإن فوخروا كانوا رؤوس قبائل

His people are none but the foremost in councils;

when challenged to boast, they are the chiefs of tribes.

ملائك نعمى في بطون محاربٍ

وآساد بؤسى في ظهور أجادل

Angels of blessing within the hollows of sanctuaries,

and lions of battle on the backs of falcons.

همُ نصروا أحكام كلّ مسجّلٍ

وهم سفَّهوا أحلام كلّ مساجل

They upheld the rulings of every writer of records,

and made foolish the minds of every rival disputant.

لو أنّ وليداً منهم كتم تسمهُ

لدلَّ على أنسابه بالمخايل

If a newborn among them concealed his name,

he would reveal his lineage through his distinctive traits.

همُ الواهبون المال من ملّ مصعب

يجرجرُ في أعقاب عوذِ مطافل

They give wealth in the form of every unruly camel,

bellowing behind newly calved she-camels with young,

كما أقبلت حمرُ الهضاب حواملاً

يدَ الغيث في شهب السنين المواحل

as red hills advance, bearing

rain's hand in the ashen, drought-stricken years.

أتى رافع العلياء منتصب الندى

يعمُّ بخفضٍ كلَّ حافٍ وناعل

He came, raising eminence, his generosity upright,

embracing in ease everyone barefoot or shod.

ألذَّ من التهويم في جفن ساهرٍ

وأحلى دنواَّ من حبيبٍ مواصل

More delightful than drowsing in a sleepless eyelid,

and sweeter in nearness than a beloved granting union.

لو أنَّ جماداً مفهمٌ بحديثهِ

فهمتَ بلقياهُ حديثَ المنازل

If a lifeless thing could convey meaning through its speech,

on meeting him you would understand the speech of dwellings.

قريبُ الندى نائي المدى موضح الهدى

مريرُ مذاق البأس حلوُ الثمائل

Near in generosity, far in reach, making guidance plain,

bitter in the taste of battle, sweet in his water-pools.

حنانيك يا عبد الرحيم شكاية

تهزُّ بعطفِ الألمعيّ الحلاحل

Mercy, O Abd al-Rahim! A plea

that stirs the kindly heart of the discerning, mighty chief.

لك لله من كافٍ مرجيك كافلٍ

وعذب حياً هامٍ على الوفد هامل

By God, what a provider and guardian you are to those who hope in you,

and sweet rain, streaming and pouring upon the delegation!

أاظما وأنتَ البحرُ والعام مخصبٌ

وأخشى وأنتَ السيفُ حتفُ الغوائل

Shall I thirst while you are the sea and the year is fertile?

And fear while you are the sword, the death of calamities?

وأحرم من جدواك حتى شفاعةً

تعود بطلٍّ لا تصوبُ بوابل

And be denied even an intercession from your bounty,

bringing dew rather than pouring down a torrent?

وقد أخذت مني السنون وحاجتي

مردَّدةٌ ما بين ماضٍ وقابل

The years have already taken their toll on me, while my need

is passed back and forth between the past and what is to come.

وذو الحزم من يمسي كثير اصطناعهِ

نتيجةَ أيام الحياة القلائل

Prudent is he whose abundant kindness becomes

the harvest of life's few days.

تثَّبت ولا تسمع مقالة كاشحٍ

فأني خليق بالعلى والفواضل

Consider carefully, and do not heed a spiteful enemy's words,

for I am worthy of eminence and generous favors,

وحمر اللُّهى والبيض مرهفة الظُّبى

وسمر القنا والمقربات الصواهل

and red gold-gifts and white swords with finely honed edges,

and tawny spear-shafts and choice, neighing steeds.