شهرت علي صوارم العذل — Abn Alsaati

شهرت عليَّ صوارمُ العذل

والسمع مقتلُ عاشق مثلي

The sharp swords of reproach were drawn against me,

and the ear is the mortal weak spot of a lover like me.

خفَّت حلومهمُ إلى عذلي

فكأنها دمعٌ إلى ثكل

Their minds rushed to reproach me,

as though they were tears at bereavement.

وأطولَ وجدي والسهاد معاً

بقصير عمر العهدِ والوصل

How prolonged my passion and sleeplessness together,

for the brief life of our pledge and union!

وألٍ على العشَّاق سيرتهُ

بالظُّلم تنسخُ آية العدل

A ruler over lovers, whose conduct

effaces, through injustice, the verse of justice.

وأما ومعتلِّ الجفون ومن

دلهِ الضنى قسمي بمعتل

No—by the languid-eyed one, and by him

whom wasting has distraught—my oath is not infirm.

وموشَّح ظامٍ ومبتسمٍ

عذبِ اللَّمى ومخلخلٍ عبل

And by a slender, sash-clasped waist, a smiling mouth

sweet with dark lips, and a full-fleshed, ankleted ankle:

ما طال ليلي بعد كاظمةِ

بل طال بعد فراقها خبلي

my night did not grow long after Kazima;

rather, after parting from her, my madness grew long.

ونحلتُ حتى ظلَّ جسمي من

ولع السقام به بلا ظلّ

I wasted away until my body remained, from

sickness's obsession with it, without a shadow.

لا تنكروا مني ذهوليَ في

حبّ الجآذر من بني ذهل

Do not condemn my distraction in

love for the oryx calves of Banu Dhuhl.

ودعوا سبيلي لا أبا لكمُ

أن العقائل آفة العقل

Leave me to my way, may you be fatherless!

For noble women are the bane of reason.

لي في هوى لمياء لا لكمُ

حلمي وليس عليكم جهلي

Mine in love for Lamya—not yours—

is my judgment; my folly is no burden on you.

جحدت بها وجدي ودمعيَ

والسقم المضاعف شاهداً عدل

I denied my passion for her, while my tears

and redoubled sickness were two upright witnesses.

حوراء لا تدنو إلى دنفٍ

ناء ولا تحنو على إل

A dark-eyed beauty, she does not approach a lovesick man

far away, nor care for a bond of kinship.

وإذا الصَّبا خوفَ العيونِ لها

عبثت تحلُّ ذوائب الأثل

When the east wind, fearing eyes watching her,

plays, unbinding the tamarisk's tresses,

هزَّت معاطفها وجاذبها

كفلٌ يميل إليه ذو الكفل

it shakes her supple sides, while tugging her back

are haunches toward which Dhu al-Kifl would incline.

حسدت مضاجعها الحليُّ فيها

قلق الوشاح وغصَّة الحجل

Her ornaments envied her beds; upon her

the sash hangs restless and the anklet chokes.

وإذا وشى نطقُ النطاق بها

صمتت خلاخلها من الثقل

When the girdle's speech betrays her,

her anklets fall silent from heaviness.

ما شئت من حسنٍ بوجنتها

ولديَّ من حزن ومن تبل

Whatever beauty you wish is in her cheek;

while I have sorrow and love's torment.

وإذا علا نار حسن بوجنتها

ولديَّ من حزن ومن تبل

And when beauty's fire rises in her cheek,

while I have sorrow and love's torment.

أمهاةَ خبتٍ والصريم ألا

تصلين منذ صرمت من حبل

O oryx of Khubt and al-Sarim, will you not

restore any bond since you severed it?

غادرتني حرضاً بمخطفةِ الأ

عطاف تهزأ بالقنا الذبل

You left me wasted by a slender-waisted beauty

whose sides mock the supple spears.

وخذلتني من بعد علمك أني

فيكِ بعتُ العزّ بالذلّ

You forsook me after knowing that

for you I sold honor for humiliation.

فعداكِ ما جمَّعتُ من حرقي

وفداك ما بدَّدت من شملي

May all the burning anguish I gathered pass you by,

and may what you scattered of my wholeness ransom you.

أقتلتني وغضبت عامدةً

فهبي رضاكِ وأنتِ في حلّ

Have you killed me and taken offense deliberately?

Then grant your favor; you are absolved.

ما بال قومكِ ينذرون دمي

والهجرُ لو علموا من القتل

Why do your people vow to shed my blood,

when estrangement, if they knew, is a form of killing?

كفّي جفونكِ أو سهامهمُ

ما لي يدٌ بالهدب والنَّبل

Restrain your eyelids, or their arrows;

I have no power against eyelashes and shafts.

ما بال قومكِ ينذرون دمي

والهجرُ لو علموا من القتل

Why do your people vow to shed my blood,

when estrangement, if they knew, is a form of killing?

كفَّي جفونك أو سهامهمُ

ما لي يدٌ بالهدب والنَّبل

Restrain your eyelids, or their arrows;

I have no power against eyelashes and shafts.

لو شمتِ لحظك والعدى أممٌ

لعلمتِ أن النصرَ في النَّصل

Had you unsheathed your glance, with the enemies near,

you would have known that victory lies in the blade.

أبكتني الأيامُ م ضحكت

لي عن نيوب نوائبٍ عصل

The days made me weep when they smiled

at me, baring calamities' crooked fangs.

أفسدن خلاَّني فما لي في

السرَّاء والضرَّاء من خلّ

They corrupted my friends, so I have, in

prosperity and adversity, no friend.

هيهاتِ يمنحني فواضلهُ

من بات يحسني على فضلي

How far from granting me his bounty is

one who spends the night envying my excellence.

يبدي طلاقته لزائرهِ

وفؤاده بالغلّ على غلِ

He shows a cheerful face to his visitor,

while his heart is bound in rancor's shackle.

أدعوهُ مولى الفضل وهو بحكـ

ـم النقص عبد النَّوك والجهل

I call him master of excellence, though by the judgment

of deficiency he is folly's and ignorance's slave.

أبعد بسؤدده الفتى ولو

بلغ السماء ووعده الكهل

Away with his youthful lordliness, even if

it reached heaven—and with his aging promise!

متنقلٌ إمَّا وثقتَ بهِ

في الحادثات تنقُّلَ الظلِّ

He shifts whenever you place trust in him,

amid calamities, as a shadow shifts.

متلوّن الخلاق يلطم وجههَ

الجدِّ منهُ براحة الهزل

Fickle in character, he slaps the face

of his own earnestness with the palm of jest.

يا كم رفعتُ إليه غانية

لو أنها زفت إلى بعل

How many a fair maiden I presented to him—

if only she had been led as bride to a husband!

ورحلت من حرف فشوَّهَ حسن

الاسم منهُ قباحةُ الفعل

And how many a lean she-camel I saddled! The beauty

of his name was marred by the ugliness of his deeds.

قد كان يطمع العلياء لا اعتقلت

من بعدُ راحة مثله مثلي

He once aspired to the heights; may never again

the hand of his like hold captive one like me!

ولأنهضنَّ إلى أشمَّ طويل

الباع ينقذني من الأزل

I shall surely rise toward a proud lord of long

reach, who will rescue me from hardship.

حتاَّمَ أحيا بالمطامع

والملك المظفَّرُ قاتلُ المحل

How long shall I live on hopes,

when al-Malik al-Muzaffar is the slayer of drought?

كالقطر في الأقطار يعرفهُ

بالفضل أهلُ الحزن والسهل

Like rain across the regions, he is known

for bounty by the people of rugged land and plain.

يمحو سماتِ الممحلات إذا

كتبَ الوفودُ صحائف السُّؤل

He erases the marks of barren seasons when

delegations write the pages of their petitions.

لاذوا بعاديّ السيادة لا

كعداتهِ نبتوا مع البقل

They found refuge in one of ancient lordship, not

like his enemies, who sprouted with the grass.

يقظانُ يجمع في صفات بني الآ

مال بين الفرض والنفل

Vigilant, he joins, in the qualities of the sons of

hope, the obligatory with the voluntary.

وإذا تلثمتِ السَّماء بأزر الغيم

أسفرَ صائبَ الوبل

When the sky veils itself in cloths of cloud,

he shines forth, an unerring downpour.

وتلوح في أعطاف منطقهِ

شيمُ النَّدى ومخايل الفضل

And in the folds of his speech appear

the traits of generosity and the signs of excellence.

وعنُ الخليقة في النزال وفي الـ

ـلأواء ربُّ النائلِ السهل

Rugged in nature in combat, and in

hardship, master of freely bestowed gifts.

يثني على ناريه لا خمدا

طيرُ الفلا وحقائب القفل

His two fires—may they never die!—are praised

by desert birds and returning caravans' baggage.

كالشمس في ظلم الورى وكبـ

ـدر التمّ بين أهلَّة الأهل

Like the sun in mankind's darkness, and like

the full moon among his family's crescents;

قيدُ النواظر والقلوب إذا

دارت عليهِ هالةُ الحفل

he holds eyes and hearts captive when

the gathering's halo circles him.

أحيا ناهاً أباهُ ويا

لك من أبٍ زاكٍ ومن نجل

He revived his father [word unclear]—and oh,

what a noble father, and what a son!

كالليثِ لم يقفر معرَّسهُ

ما دام مأهولاً من الشبل

Like a lion whose lair is not deserted

so long as a cub inhabits it.

يسمو البناء على الأساس

وطيبُ الفرع محمولٌ على الأصل

The building rises upon its foundation,

and the branch's goodness rests upon the root.

وإذا نزلت بهِ وقد شملت

شهباء حتف الحرث والنسل

When you alight with him, though all are engulfed

by a gray drought, death to crops and offspring,

لم تلق غير مناهل خصرت

لعفاتهِ ومراجل تغلي

you find only watering places cooled

for his petitioners, and cauldrons boiling.

ذا السيف قد جرت الدماء على

صفحاتهِ كمدارج النمل

This sword has had blood run over

its flat sides like the trails of ants;

ماض إذا ما مسَّ أنملهُ

خلعَ الحلى ومشى بلا نعل

keen, when it touches his fingertips,

it sheds its ornaments and walks unshod.

والضربُ أمثالُ الحواجبِ فو

ق الطعن مثل الأعين النجل

Sword-blows are like eyebrows above

spear-thrusts like wide, dark eyes.

لولا بسالتهُ لما ظمئت

أسلُ الفرنجِ إلى دمٍ بسل

But for his valor, there would be no thirst

in Frankish spearheads for inviolable blood.

سل عنه إذ لفَّ القناة غدا

ة السعد منهُ بساعدٍ عبل

Ask about him when he gripped the lance, on the morning

of good fortune, with his mighty forearm;

وأخلَّ محكمة الخصائل مح

كوماً لها بالسبق والخصل

and undid tightly woven strands, once judged

assured of precedence and victory.

وأعاد يومهم كأمسِ وليثُ الـ

ـغاب لا يغضي على ذحل

He made their day like yesterday; the lion of the

forest does not overlook a blood-feud.

أبقى لقى أسدَ اللقاء فما

أبقى وفلَّ حدَّة الفلِ

He left the lions of battle as corpses; he spared

none, and blunted the edge of the routed remnants.

طرقوا مع الوكنات واختفوا

بمكامن النينان والوعل

They came by night among the roosts and hid

in the hiding places of fish and ibex.

وبغوا مع الوحش الهوامل في البيـ

ـداء واحترشوا مع الحسلِ

They sought refuge with wandering beasts in the

desert, and were hunted down with young lizards,

حتى كأنَّ ديارهم خلقت

مذ كنَّ أطلالا بل أهل

until their dwellings seemed to have been created,

from their beginning, as ruins without inhabitants.

كم طعنةٍ لك فيصلٍ حمدت

آثارها ومقالةٍ فصل

How many a decisive thrust of yours has won praise

for its effects, and how many a conclusive word!

يثني رباط الجيش منك ربيـ

ـط الجأش ماضي العقدِ والحلّ

You guide the army's cavalry, steadfast

of heart, resolute in binding and loosing.

يلقى أعاديهِ مجاهرةً

ويعيد سطوتهُ منَ الحتل

He meets his enemies openly

and repeats his onslaught through guile.

يخشى ويرجى سطوةً وندى

ويهابُ في جدٍّ وفي هزل

He is feared and hoped in, for might and bounty,

and held in awe in earnest and in jest.

منصور ألويةِ النَّوال إذا

هزم السماح طلائعَ البخلِ

His banners of giving are victorious when

generosity routs the vanguard of stinginess.

مخضرُّ أندية الوفود وخلفُ

الغيث أمحقُ غير مخضلّ

His delegations' halls are green; the failure

of rain is blighting, not refreshing.

حلَّت عزاليه عشيةَ خيط

المزن فيها غير منحلّ

His waterskins' spouts were opened one evening when the thread

of the rainclouds remained unloosed.

وأباحَ في السلم القوافي ما

بين الجزيل هناك والجزل

In peace he bestowed upon rhymes all

between the copious there and the substantial.

فالمجدُ ما أحياهُ منصلهُ

والمالُ ما أفناهُ بالبذل

Glory is what his blade brings to life,

and wealth is what he spends away in giving.

محمودةٌ خلقاه في غضبٍ

ورضى وفي كثرٍ وفي قلّ

Both his dispositions are praiseworthy, in anger

and contentment, in plenty and in want.

تحكي خزائنه أعاديه

كلاً يذيق مرارة الثكل

His treasuries resemble his enemies:

he makes each taste the bitterness of bereavement.

حلَّى ترائبها وقد عطلت

بنداهُ واسمُ جيدها الغفل

He adorned her breast, once stripped of ornaments,

with his bounty; her neck had been called 'unadorned.'

فغدت أحاديث السماحةِ في الآفاقِ

عنهُ صحيحة النقل

So tales of generosity throughout the horizons

became truly transmitted about him.

وإليك جاوزت الأنام إلى

عمريِّ سمتِ الهدي والعدل

To you I passed beyond mankind, to one

Umar-like in the bearing of guidance and justice.

وهجرت كل العالمين إلى

ملكٍ ظفرتُ لديهِ بالكلِّ

I forsook all the worlds for

a king with whom I gained everything.

في حيث أيامُ الفضائل لا

تخشى ودولتها من العزل

There, the days of virtue need not

fear dismissal, nor need their reign.

فاحفظ لهجرتي التي خلصت

حقَّ الذّمام ووصلة الحبل

So preserve, for my sincere migration,

the right of protection and the cord's connection.

وأسغ لناقع غلَّةٍ كلمي

هذا الزلال ونازع الغلّ

Make my words drinkable for one quenching thirst—

this limpid water, and a remover of rancor.

فاستبقني أبثك في

نادٍ قلائدهُ وفي حفل

So keep me; I shall share with you, in

gathering and assembly, its necklaces.

ودع العداة لوصف نقصهم

كل على فضلي أولو كل

Leave enemies to describing their own defects;

all are helpless beside my excellence.

مهلاً بني الشعر الجليب فليس

الشهدُ في اللهواتِ كالمهل

Easy, sons of borrowed verse, for

honey in the throat is not like molten metal.

ذلَّت لي الشعراء قاطبةً

ذلَّ الحقاق لصولة الفحل

All poets have submitted to me,

as young camels submit to the stallion's charge.

ما شأنني قربُ الولاد فقد

جاوزت في الإحسان من قبلي

My recent birth has not diminished me; for

in excellence I have surpassed those before me.

هذا أخير الأنبياء غدا

وهو الشفيع وسيدّ الرُّسل

This is the last of the prophets, who came to be

the intercessor and master of the messengers.