عاد من عيد وصله ما تولى — Abn Alsaati

عادَ من عيد وصلهِ ما تولَّى

وسرى طيفُه فأهلاً وسهلاً

What had passed of the feast of union with him returned;

his phantom came by night—welcome, welcome!

وهو البدرُ حلَّ منزلَ قلبي

كيفَ اشتاقهُ وفي القلب حلاَّ

He is the full moon, dwelling in my heart:

how can I yearn for him when he has settled there?

وهمومي مثلُ الدُّجى بعدَ من

فارقتُ حتى إذا تجلَّى تجلَّى

My cares are like darkness after the one

I parted from—until he shone forth, and that darkness cleared.

يا جليدَ الفؤاد ليتكَ تحنو

ماتَ هجراً من كنتَ أحييت وصلاً

O icy-hearted one, if only you would soften!

The one you revived through union has died of estrangement.

كلَّما ضمَّنا محلُّ عتابٍ

بتُ أبكي ذلاً وتضحكُ دلاّ

Whenever a place of reproach brings us together,

I spend the night weeping in abasement, while you laugh in coquetry.

ومتى يرتجى هدىً لفؤادٍ

مستهامٍ في صبح وجهك ضَّلا

When can guidance be hoped for a heart

madly in love, gone astray in the dawn of your face?

عنفَ الشّوقُ بالمحبين والشَّو

قُ شبيهٌ بالحرب أسراً وقتلا

Longing dealt harshly with lovers; and longing

resembles war in capture and killing.

فجسومٌ تضني نحولاً وسُقماً

وقلوبٌ تبلى ولوعاً وبتَلا

Bodies waste away in thinness and sickness,

and hearts wear away in passion and consuming anguish.

والعيونُ الملاحُ حتفي وهل ينـ

ـكرُ أن يقتل الحسام المحلَّى

Beautiful eyes are my death; can it be denied

that an ornamented sword can kill?

يا مهاةَ الصَّريم ضلَّ فتى ظنـ

ـن مهاةَ الصريَّم تحفظ إلاَّ

O oryx of the thicket, astray went a youth who thought

the oryx of the thicket would honor a bond.

عذبي عاشقاً تغيَّر للبعدِ وصد

دي من مالَ عنكِ وملاَّ

Torment a lover whom distance has changed, and spurn

whoever turns away from you and tires.

كلما قلتُ هادنَ الحسنُ قلبي

راشَ بالهُدب من لحاظك نبلا

Whenever I said beauty had made peace with my heart,

it feathered arrows from your glances with eyelashes.

كلفي بالمعاطفِ السُّمر هيفاً

وغرامي بالأعين الكُحل نجلا

My infatuation is with dusky, slim-waisted figures,

and my ardor with wide, kohl-dark eyes.

ونصيحٍ أوسعتهُ فيكِ سخطاً

يهزلُ الصبرُ كلَّما جدَّ عذلا

Many a counselor I showered with anger over you:

patience weakens whenever he earnestly reproaches me.

وإذا خفَّ مدَّعي الحبِ سمعاً

لم يكن حاملاً من الحبّ ثِقلا

If a professed lover is quick to heed,

he bears no heavy burden of love.

أين منّي أهل المصلَّى ولا

أحدثُ عهداً منّي بأهل المصلّى

How far from me are the people of al-Muṣallā! No one

has a fresher bond with the people of al-Muṣallā than I.

وعسى أن يرقَّ قاسٍ فلا

أهلكُ وجداً وليتهُ ولعلاَّ

Perhaps a hard heart will soften, so I do not

perish of passion—if only, and perhaps!

يا ولاةَ القلوب رفقاً فإنَّ الظلم شي

ءٌ إن دام أعقبَ عزلا

O rulers of hearts, be gentle: oppression is a thing

that, if prolonged, leads to dismissal.

دولةُ الحبِ كنتُ فيها وجيهاً

والمُولى من الشباب مولَّى

In love's dominion I once held high rank,

and youth's favored one is now dismissed.

خلّني والزمانَ وأعلم يقيناً

أنَّ صرفَ الزمان يبلي ويبلى

Leave me to time; I know for certain

that time's vicissitudes wear things away and are themselves worn away.

وتمسكْ بالصبر حزماً فكم أقـ

ـبلَ خطبٌ حتى إذا خيف ولى

Hold fast to patience, with prudence: how many a calamity

approached, then fled just when it was feared!

فلقد آنَ أن يعزَّ جناباً

بالمليك المعزِ من كان ذلاَّ

The time has come to rise to an honored station

through King al-Muʿizz, for one who was abased.

فاعل الفعلِ ترجف الأرضُ منه

قائل الخير قائلُ الخيرِ قبلا

A doer of deeds that make the earth tremble,

a speaker of good, who spoke goodness before.

واهبُ السائل الذي جاءَ فرداً

جُملاً كم حوت سُعاداً وجملاً

He gives the supplicant who came alone

whole lots—how many contained Suʿād and Juml,

ودلاصاً سرداً وأسمرَ خطيَّاً

وسيفاً عضباً وخيلاً وإبلا

and smooth, linked armor, and a brown Khaṭṭī spear,

and a keen sword, and horses and camels!

يحفظ الصاحبَ الخؤونَ وفاء

ثمَّ ينسى أفعالهُ بعدُ قبلا

He loyally keeps faith with a treacherous companion,

then afterward forgets his earlier deeds.

حاتميُّ السَّماحُ يخلي بيوتَ الـ

ـمال جوداً ويملأُ الدَّهر فضلا

Ḥātim-like in generosity, he empties the houses of

wealth through bounty, and fills the ages with excellence.

وجههُ لا عدمتهُ ونداهُ

هلَّ هذا سعداً وذلك استهلاَّ

His face—may I never lose it—and his bounty:

the one rises auspiciously, the other pours forth.

ذو سيوفٍ هجيرها للأعادي

وبنودٍ تضفو على الخلق ظِلاَّ

He has swords whose noonday heat is for enemies,

and banners spreading shade over humankind.

وهو يحيي العفاة إن شيمَ رفداً

ويميتُ العداةَ إن شام نصلا

He revives petitioners when looked to for aid,

and kills enemies when he draws a blade.

خفْ نداهُ والبأسَ سلماً وحرباً

فهما البحرُ سال والسيفُ سُلاَّ

Fear his generosity and might, in peace and war:

they are a flowing sea and an unsheathed sword.

أشرف العالمين خلقاً وخلقاً

وقديماً وهمةً ومحلاَّ

The noblest of all beings in form and character,

and in ancestry, aspiration, and standing.

طال مجداً وطار صيتاً فما يد

رك شأواً وطاب فرعاً وأصلاً

He towers in glory and soars in renown, and cannot

be matched in reach; noble are his branch and root.

كم هدى حائراً وضمَّ شتاتاً

وحمى شاغراً وأغنى مُقلاَّ

How often he guided the bewildered and gathered the scattered,

guarded the undefended and enriched the poor!

ملكٌ يعشق السماح فلا ملـ

ـل وما عذرُ عاشقٍ أن يملاَّ

A king enamored of generosity, without

weariness—and what excuse has a lover for growing weary?

أمَّ منهُ حمدي فآنسهُ الله

غريبَ الأوصاف للحمد أهْلا

My praise sought in him—may God comfort him—

one rare in qualities, worthy of praise,

وجزيلَ الصلات لا يعجب الحـ

ـسادُ منهُ إن أصبح القول جزلا

and lavish in gifts; let not the envious

marvel if words about him become grand.

يكسبُ الأرضُ حلةً منهُ زيناً

وكذا الغيث حيث ما حلَّ حلَّى

From him the earth gains a robe of beauty;

so too the rain adorns wherever it alights.

كفل الخلق بالنوال فقد أصـ

ـبح كلٌّ على أياديه كلاَّ

He sustains humankind with gifts, so that

everyone has become dependent on his favors.

لم يفت سعيهُ محلٌ من المجـ

ـدِ ولم يبق فيضُ كفَّيه محلا

No station of glory has eluded his striving;

and the flood from his palms has left no barrenness.

سيفهُ في الحروب يهمي وبالاً

ويداهُ في السلم تسفح وبْلا

His sword in war rains calamity,

and his hands in peace pour down abundant rain.

من تحور الكواكب الزهر في الـ

ـآفاق لو نصلت عواليه نبلا

He before whom the bright stars would recoil in the

heavens, were his tall spears fitted out as arrows.

ويودُّ الهلاكُ يومَ مثارِ النقـ

ـع لو كان من مذاكيه نعلا

Death wishes, on the day the dust is raised,

that it were a shoe on one of his seasoned chargers.

والمجّلي في حلبة الحرب إن جا

لَ وما كلُّ فراسٍ جالَ جلَّى

He is the front-runner in war's arena when he charges;

not every fierce rider who charges comes in first.

طعنهُ فيصلٌ إذا أشكلَ الخطـ

ـب وإن قال خاطباً قال فصلا

His thrust decides when the affair is tangled;

and when he addresses others, his speech is decisive.

يا إمامَ الفرسان لولاك لم يفـ

ـرض سجودُ الطلى إذا السيفَ صلَّى

O leader of horsemen, without you it would not be prescribed

that necks prostrate themselves when the sword prays.

هوَ شرع يأبى حسامك إلاَّ

كونهُ فيهِ محرماً أو محلاَّ

It is a law in which your blade insists

on being the one who forbids or permits.

سمحَ الدهر لي بقربك والد

دهر قديمُ الحالين جوداً وبخلاَ

Time has granted me your nearness, and time

has long known both states: generosity and stinginess.

عدلَ البين جامعاً ومشتاً

أسمعتم للبين من قبلُ عدْلا

Separation acted justly, both gathering and scattering:

have you ever heard of justice from separation before?

رُحتَ من دولة النفاق مُديلاً

ولفرسانه مذيلاً مذلاَّ

You emerged victorious over the reign of hypocrisy,

humbling and abasing its horsemen.

قمتَ دونَ الهدى ففرجتُ ضيقاً

ونصرتَ الندى فروضتَ أزلا

You stood in defense of guidance, and I dispelled distress;

you upheld generosity and tamed hardship.

لا عراك الذي أراني من الشو

قِ ولا دقتُ للصبابةِ خبلا

May what longing has shown me never assail you;

and I have not tasted passion's madness.

نال مني الجوى فأحسنتُ صبراً

وبراني الأسى فما قلتَ مَهلا

Anguish assailed me, and I bore it patiently;

sorrow wore me away, yet you never said, 'Enough!'

وإذا جلَّ ما تروم من الأمـ

ـر فأهونْ بحادثٍ أن يجلاَّ

If what you seek in an affair is lofty,

how little it matters that a calamity should grow great!

هاك مني تفصيلَ أمرك يا منْ

كفَّ عني أيدي الخطوب وشلاّ

Take from me an account of your deeds, you who

held off and paralyzed the hands of calamity against me.

ليس للمعتفين إلاَّ أياديـ

ـك ولولا اليقين ما قلتُ إلاَّ

Petitioners have nothing but your benefactions;

and without certainty I would never have said 'only.'

فالمطايا إلى صلاتكَ هيمٌ

قاطعاتُ البلاد حزوناً وسهلا

The mounts thirst for your gifts,

crossing the land, rough ground and smooth.

تردُ الرفهَ بين عشبٍ وشعبٍ

لو بغاهُ نجمُ السماءِ لزلاَّ

They reach comfort amid grassland and mountain pass,

which even a star of heaven would slip trying to reach.

فقدتك الجيادُ قباً وسمرُ الـ

ـخطَ صماَّ والشدقميةُ نزلا

The lean steeds have missed you, and the brown spears of

al-Khaṭṭ, solid-shafted, and the wide-mouthed camels at their halts.

يا مليك العلياءِ إرثاً وكسباً

وأميرَ الكرام قولاً وفعلاً

O king of loftiness, inherited and earned,

and prince of the noble in word and deed!

لا عدتَ ساحتيك غادات فكري

فهي أعلى ممَّن سواك وأغلى

May the maidens of my thought never leave your two courtyards:

they are loftier and dearer than anyone but you.

حيث قدحي الواري بهمُ متوارٍ

ثمَّ لا قدحيَ المعلَّى معلَّى

Among others my fire-kindling rod remains concealed,

and my highest gaming arrow is not held high.

أيُّ نظمٍ وهبتهُ لذة الغمـ

ـضِ فوافى من لذة الغمض أحلى

What verse I gave the delight of slumber—

it came sweeter than slumber's delight!

سائرُ المعجزات في البرِّ والـ

ـبحر وآياتهُ بناديك تتُلى

A traveler among marvels, over land and

sea; its signs are recited in your assembly.

كلُّ معنى كالسحر لطفاً ولفظٍ

في عيون القلوب يحلو ويحلا

Every meaning is subtle as magic, and every word

grows sweet and is adorned in the eyes of hearts.

وكأنّ الأمثال فيه تجوبُ الـ

ـأرض حتى ترى بها لك مثلا

It is as though its sayings roam the

earth until they see there someone like you.

نافراتٌ مثل الجآذر تهوى

آنساتٌ مثلَ العرائس تجلَّى

Shy as gazelle-fawns, they are beloved;

familiar as brides, they are unveiled.

كائناتٌ لمن تأملَ حسناً

ولمن أحسن التفهم عقلا

They are beauty for whoever contemplates,

and wisdom for whoever understands well.

لم يسقها إلاَّ هواك وقدماً

لم يشقها إلاَّ جلالُك بعَلا

Nothing but love for you led them forth; and long ago

none but your majesty deflowered them as husband.

أي صادٍ ما بلًّ منها غليلاً

وسقيمٍ بلطفها ما أبلاَّ

What thirsty soul has not quenched its burning thirst with them,

and what ailing one has not recovered through their subtlety?

تشمل العامَ غبطةً بك لا بد

ددنَ أيامهُ لجمعك شَملا

May joy in you embrace the year; let not

its days scatter the company you have gathered.

وإذا كنت نازلاً سلَّم اللـ

ـه على منزلٍ حللتَ وصلَّى

Whenever you sojourn, may God send peace

upon the dwelling where you settle, and bless it.