وأغن ساجي الطرف أغيد — Abn Alsaati

وأغنَّ ساجي الطرف أغيد

الحاظهُ ودمي تقلَّد

And a soft-voiced, languid-eyed, graceful one

Wears his glances and my blood about his neck.

سكران من تيهِ الصّبا

صاحٍ وبالأجفان عربد

Drunk on the conceit of youth,

Sober, yet he caroused with his eyelids.

لفتورها دمعٌ تصو

وب فيهِ أو نفسٌ تصَّعد

At their languor, tears flowed

Down within it, or a sigh rose.

علقتُ تركيّ المناسب

خاطري فيه تبلَّد

I became attached to one of Turkish lineage;

My mind grew dull over him.

أصداغهُ وجبينهُ

ليلٌ على صبحٍ تولَّد

His temple-locks and his brow—

Night born upon a morning.

ردّد لحاظك فيهما

فالحسن أبيضُ فيهِ أسود

Let your gaze wander between them,

For beauty there is white and black.

ويريك منهُ البدر تماً طا

لعاً والظبيَ أجيد

And in himself he shows you the moon, full and

Rising, and the gazelle, long-necked,

متأوّداً والغصنُ أحسنُ

ما يكون إذا تأوَّد

Swaying—for a branch is at its fairest

When it sways.

ما كان جسمي ذائباً

لو أنَّ لي قلباً تجلَّد

My body would not have melted away

Had I a heart that could endure.

وبمهجتي شيئان جمـ

ـعهما لهُ دمعي تبدّد

And in my heart's blood are two things, whose union

For him has scattered my tears:

وردٌ تفتَّح في رياض الـ

ـحسن أو سهمٌ تسدَّد

A rose that opened in the gardens of

Beauty, or an arrow aimed true.

هو جَّنةٌ عذريُّ وجـ

ـدي والسقامُ بها مخلّد

He is a paradise; my chaste passion

And sickness are immortal there.

وكأنما حاولت منهُ فر

قداً أو أمَّ فرقد

As though I sought in him

A Farqad star, or a wild calf's mother.

سلبَ الكرى من كلّ نا

ظرةٍ إليهِ بطرفِ مكمد

He stole sleep from every

Eye looking at him with a grief-darkened gaze.

فلأجلها أجفانهُ

وسنى وعاشقهُ مسهَّد

That is why his eyelids

Are drowsy, while his lover lies sleepless.

والجنحَ بيَّض بالتدا

ني والضُّحى بالبعد سوَّد

And he whitened night's darkness by drawing

Near, and blackened morning by staying away.

لولاه لم يك مطلقاً

دمعي ولا قلبي مقيَّد

Without him, there would be no unrestrained

Tears of mine, nor would my heart be bound.

فالليل موعد جمعهِ

والنفرُ في الصبح المجدَّد

Night is the appointed time for union with him,

And departure comes with the renewed morning.

والنجم يظهر في الدُّجى

وظهور نجم الدين سرمد

The star appears in the darkness,

And Najm al-Din's rising is everlasting.

أني لأعجب منهُ مأنو

س المغاني وهو مفرد

I truly marvel at him: well-peopled

Are his dwellings, though he is without peer.

تأوي الوزارة من جوا

نبها إلى وزر ممهَّد

The vizierate, from all its

Sides, finds a refuge firmly established.

والرمح يرقص عطفهُ

والسيف ذو خدِّ مورَّد

And the spear's flank dances,

And the sword has a rose-red cheek.

وهو الغمامُ يفيض ماءَ الـ

ـحسن عن فكرٍ توقَّد

And he is the cloud, pouring the water of

Beauty from a mind aflame.

أن سيلَ جاد وأن يقل

في موضع الإفحام جوَّد

If asked, he gives; and if he speaks

Where others fall silent, he excels.

أنفاً من المعنى المعاد

وهجنةٍ اللفظ المردَّد

Disdaining recycled meaning

And the ugliness of repeated wording.

لله أيّ سؤوس جامحةٍ

وجامعِ شمل سؤود

God, what a tamer of the headstrong,

And restorer of lordship's unity!

وكأنما لفظ السؤال بسمـ

ـعهِ نغمات معبد

As though the words of a request to his

Ear were Ma'bad's melodies.

أصلحت حال الملكِ حين

سعى به من كان افسد

You set the king's affairs right when

The man who had caused ruin plotted against him.

وفعلت بالأقلام ما

فعلَ المقنَّع والمزرَّد

And you accomplished with pens what

The helmeted and the mail-clad accomplished,

أو أحمرٌ ذهب الشـ

ـعاع على معاطفهِ تجسَّد

Or a ruddy one, the gold of radiance

Embodied along his flanks.

من كلّ ذمرٍ فوق سابقه

الهزبر على الخفيدد

Each a valiant man upon his swift steed:

A lion atop a fleet ostrich.

كالموج أن تقذف به

في جاحم الهيجاء أزبد

Like a wave: if you hurl him

Into battle's blazing furnace, he foams.

غبث النسيم بما علاهُ

من الغدير فقد تجعَّد

The breeze stirred what covered him

Of the pool's water, so it has rippled.

غادرته وكأنما الموتُ

الزؤام لهُ بمرصد

You left him as though death,

Deadly and swift, lay in ambush for him.

فرنت مقاضته إلى شمـ

ـس من عين أرمد

Then his blades gazed toward a

Sun through an inflamed eye.

وكنفت جدولَ سيفهِ

لا بالأصمّ ولا المهنَّد

And you hemmed in the rivulet of his sword,

Not with a solid spear or an Indian-forged blade.

أشرعتَ راياً كاملاً

أغنى عن القصب المقصَّد

You leveled a faultless plan

That dispensed with shattered spear-shafts.

هو محضرٌ فيه لك الد

دعوى وعدل السيف يشهد

It is a court record in which yours is the

Claim, and the sword's justice bears witness.

وهي اليدُ البيضاء أتهمَ

ذكر معجزها وأنجد

And it is the white hand; to Tihama has gone

The fame of its miracle, and to Najd.

ولك الأيادي كالغوادي

والصنائع لا تعدَّد

And your favors are like morning showers,

And your benefactions cannot be counted.

سجدت لك الأسماع ديـ

ـنَ كرامةٍ في كل مشهد

Ears have bowed before you in

A rite of homage at every gathering.

ونعدُّها ذخراً ونعمَ

الذخرَ للملك المشيَّد

We count them a treasure, and what a fine

Treasure for the exalted king!

نسخت دياجي الهمّ عنـ

ـهُ زدهمةَ العيش المنكد

You drove the dark nights of grief away from

Him, and the gloom of a troubled life.

ملكت عداهُ وغايةُ ال

أطراف منهم أن تحدَّد

You mastered his foes; the most their

Points can do is to be sharpened.

فاليومَ لا أحشاؤه تنـ

ـزو ولا غمضٌ مشرّد

Today his entrails do not

Leap, nor is his sleep chased away.

وسمت إلى الدهر الخؤو

ن فلان منهُ ما تشدَّد

And you advanced against treacherous

Time, and its hardness softened.

حتى رددت الأرض أجـ

ـمع وهيَ واحدةٌ لأوحد

Until you returned the whole

Earth, united, to one without peer.

تسري وتغدو من وفا

ئك فيَّ في نهجٍ معبَّد

They travel by night and set forth at dawn, from your faithfulness

Toward me, along a well-trodden path.

ولقد عهدتك في المعالي

عاصياً من كان فنَّد

I have indeed known you, in pursuit of high honors,

To defy whoever reproached you.

عوَّدتني تركَ المنى

ولكل خلقٍ ما تعوَّد

You have accustomed me to leave wishing behind,

And each person has what he is used to.

ومتي أتاك أخٌ فعد

فالعود فيما قيل أحمد

And when a brother comes to you, give again;

For repetition, as they say, is more praiseworthy.

شمّر لها ذيل العناية

سالكاً في كلّ مقصد

For it, gird up the hem of your care,

Making your way toward every aim.

فنتيجة الدنيا ثنا

ءٌ بعد قائله مؤبد

For the fruit of worldly life is praise

That endures forever after its speaker,

يصف الغزالة وهي خا

ذلةٌ وخوط البان أملدّ

Describing the gazelle as she

Strays from the herd, and the ban-tree's smooth, supple shoot.

إذ كلُّ بيت في علاك

منظَّمٌ عقدٌ منضَّد

For every verse in praise of your eminence,

Well composed, is a necklace neatly strung.

فإذا ابتدأ راوٍ فأنشدَ

قالت الأفهام غرَّد

And when a reciter begins and declaims,

Minds say, 'Sing on!'

ولو أنها في صدر ها

جرة سرت أو قلب جلمد

Even if they traveled through the breast of

Noonday heat, or the heart of solid rock.

والخير يبقى ثم لا يبـ

ـقى المسودُ ولا المسوَّد

And goodness remains; then neither

The subject nor the lord remains.

كم ثمَّ نت بئرٍ معطـ

ـلةٍ ومن قصر مشيدّ

How many a deserted well lies there,

And how many a lofty palace!

فبقيت في ظلً تسا

ير عمرً عزٍ ليس ينفد

So may you remain in shade, keeping pace with

A lifetime of glory that never runs out.

فرداءُ مجدكَ معلمُ الـ

ـطرفينِ مطّرفاً ومتلد

So the mantle of your glory is adorned at

Both hems, with honor newly won and inherited.

لو كان فضلك أولاً

سخنت به عين المبرَّد

Had your excellence appeared in earlier days,

Al-Mubarrad's eye would have grown hot at it.

ولئن حسدت فلا عجيـ

ـب صاحب العلياء يحسد

And if you are envied, there is no

Wonder: the possessor of high rank is envied.

والعمر مرحلةٌ فما

تسطيع من حسنٍ تزوّضد

And life is a journey's stage; whatever

Good you can, take it as provision.