في لأذني عن كل لاح صمم — Abn Alsaati

في لأذني عن كل لاحٍ صممُ

لولا الدمّى ما فاض من جفني الدَّمُ

My ear is deaf to every reproacher.

But for those doll-like beauties, blood would not flow from my eyelids.

جنانُ حسنٍ عاشقٌ يدخلها

بطرفهِ معذبٌ منَعَّم

Gardens of beauty—a lover enters them

with his gaze, tormented yet blessed.

رضوانها وهو لقلبي مالك

والقلب من إعراضه جهنَّم

Their Ridwan, yet Malik to my heart;

from his aversion, my heart becomes Hell.

يا صاحبي وأين منّي صاحب

هل لك علمٌ كيف أقوى العلمِ

O my companion—but where have I a companion?

Do you know how the landmark became desolate?

ميدانُ لهوٍ صار ميدانَ وغّى

فيه تلاقي ادمعي والدَيم

A field of play became a field of battle,

where my tears and steady rains meet.

كأنًّما عاش لبيدٌ نادباً

وقام يبكي مالكاً متتِم

As though Labid had returned to life, lamenting,

and Mutammim had risen to weep for Malik.

بي بدويُّ الزيّ عند مثلهِ

تُنسى العهودُ وتضاع الذّمِم

I pine for one in Bedouin dress, before whose like

pledges are forgotten and obligations squandered.

معتقلٌ خطيةً من قدهِ

وبالحياءِ وجههُ مُلتثم

Bearing a Khattian spear fashioned from his stature,

his face is veiled in modesty.

يميتنا يأساً ويُحيي طمعاً

من مقلتهِ صحةٌ وسقم

He kills us with despair and revives us with hope;

from his eye come health and sickness.

له من الورد وغضِ لبانِ وال

ياقوتِ خدٌ وقوامٌ وفم

He has, from roses, tender bān, and the

ruby, a cheek, a figure, and a mouth.

يمنعنا وهو ربيعٌ خدَّه

فهو على الحاظنا مُحرَّم

Though he is spring itself, he withholds his cheek from us;

it is forbidden to our gazes.

وافي خيالاً منهُ صبحٌ أشهبٌ

لهُ من الليل جوادٌ أدهم

A pale-gray dawn came as his dream-image,

with a jet-black steed made of night.

فبات كالدينار في كفَّي وبدرُ الت

تم في كفّ السماءِ درهم

He spent the night like a dinar in my palms; the full

moon was a dirham in heaven's palm.

يعلني بكأسهِ فمن رأى

بدراً تنال من يديهِ الأنجم

He gives me repeated draughts from his cup—who has seen

a full moon from whose hands the stars are received?

له نسيبي ولمدحي كلهِ

مظفَّرُ الدين الجواد المنُعم

My love-poetry is his; the subject of all my praise is

Muzaffar al-Din, the generous benefactor.

والملكُ الظاَّفرُ بحرُ كفّهِ

يرسو به الخوفُ وتطفو النِعَم

And King al-Zafir—in the sea of his palm,

fear sinks to rest, and blessings float.

وعزمهُ في كلِ خطب جذوةٌ

يشبها ماءُ الندى والكرم

His resolve in every crisis is an ember,

kindled by the water of bounty and generosity.

وأعجبا منُه ومن طوفانه

به إذا خيف الرَّدى يعتصم

How wondrous he is, and how wondrous his flood!

In him one takes refuge when death is feared.

هو النجاةُ وأخوه الملحُ لا

يسلمُ من أخطاره المستلم

He is salvation; his salty brother—no

one surrendering to it is safe from its dangers.

يهدي له الدرِّ ولولا وصفهُ

لم تفقّهِ الأفكارُ كيفَ ينظم

It offers him pearls; without the description of him,

minds would not understand how they are strung.

وصلتُ منه سببي بماجدٍ

يمتثلُ الدهرُ له ما يرسم

Through him I joined my bond to a noble man,

for whom Time obeys whatever he decrees.

قام فصرفُ الحادثاتِ قاعدٌ

وهبِّ دوني فالخطوبُ نوَّم

He rose, and the vicissitudes of calamity sat still;

he sprang to my defense, and calamities fell asleep.

كم وقعةٍ أقدمَ فيها مصلتا

حيثُ السهامُ خيفةً لا تقدم

In how many battles he advanced with sword drawn,

where even arrows, in fear, would not advance!

تبكي السيوفُ والعوالي شجوها

ويضحك الذئبُ بها والقشعم

Swords and tall lances weep out their anguish,

while the wolf and the vulture laugh amid them.

موتٌ عدوٍ وحياةُ وافدٍ

في السّلمِ شهدٌ والحروبِ علقم

Death to an enemy, life to a visiting petitioner;

honey in peace, bitter colocynth in war.

يرفع عافيه كما يخفضُ من

باراهُ أو ناصبُه ويجزِم

He raises his petitioner, just as he lowers whoever

rivals or opposes him, and cuts him down.

إذا انبرى فى مأزقٍ وحلَّقت

طيورُ جوٍ للقرى تزدحم

When he charges into a strait, and soaring

birds of the sky crowd together for their feast,

شككتَ هل تلك الطيورُ خيلهُ

أم تلكمُ الخيلُ طيورٌ هوَّم

you wonder whether those birds are his horses,

or those horses are birds wheeling overhead.

خضن المياهَ وهي صرفٌ وانثنت

مغذَّةً وهي مياهٌ ودم

They plunged through waters while they were pure, and turned back

at speed, when they were water and blood.

فالوعر سهلٌ والجبالُ كثبٌ

والصعبُ هينٌ والبعيدُ أمَم

Rough ground is smooth, and mountains are dunes;

the difficult is easy, and the distant is near.

أدنى الخطايا منه حين ينتدي

جوادهُ والذابلُ المقوَّم

His closest favorites when he holds council are

his steed and the straightened, slender lance,

وسابغٌ كالماءِ حاكت نسجهُ

كفُّ الصَّبا تُسدي ضحىّ وتلحم

and a full coat of mail like water, whose fabric

the east wind's hand wove at midmorning, warp and weft.

ينفذُ قلباً والحديد قاصرٌ

ومقلةً والنقعُ ليلٌ مُظلم

His heart pierces through where iron falls short,

and his eye, when battle-dust is a dark night.

لا تسألنَّ عن أعاديهِ وسلْ

ما فعلتْ عادٌ وأين جُرهم

Do not ask about his enemies; ask instead

what became of ʿAd, and where Jurhum has gone.

ينثر هاماتهم بسيفهِ

وللقلوب بقناهِ ينظم

With his sword he scatters their heads,

and with his spears he strings their hearts.

لرأيهِ وجودهِ إذا انتدى

وبأسهِ وعدلهِ إذ يحكم

Beside his judgment and generosity when he holds court,

his valor and his justice when he rules,

قيسٌ سيفهٌ وبخيلٌ حاتمٌ

وجازعٌ عمروٌ وكسرى يظلم

Qays is foolish, and Hatim miserly;

ʿAmr is fearful, and Kisra unjust.

مضى بي قدماً إباءٌ وأبٌ

وقدمٌ من العلى وقدم

Pride and a father have driven me ever onward,

and ancient standing in honor, and bold advance.

يحتلُّ منه دستهُ وطرفهُ

طودٌ وبحرٌ زاجرٌ وضيغم

His throne and his steed are occupied by

a mountain, a roaring sea, and a mighty lion.

له الظبُّي مخالبٌ والسابغا

تٌ لبدٌ والذابلاتُ أجم

For him, sword-blades are claws, and coats of

mail are a mane, and slender lances thickets.

من معشرٍ تبكي أعاديهم دماً

سيوفهم في النقع أو تبتسم

From a clan whose foes are made to weep blood

by their swords amid battle-dust—or the swords smile.

يجلو دجى الليل البهيم منهم

غرُّ الوجوه حين تخفى البهم

From among them, the gloom of pitch-black night is dispelled

by radiant faces, when dark forms vanish from sight.

أسدٌ إذا هموا غيوثٌ إن هموا

بنو العلى بنوا ولما يهدموا

Lions when they resolve, rainclouds when they pour;

sons of high honor, they have built and never torn down.

مصاقعٌ أن قوولوا فوارسٌ إن

قوتلوا يوم وغي أو عزموا

Eloquent orators when challenged in words; horsemen when

engaged on battle-day, or when they resolve.

ففي الوجوه بهجٌ وفي الأكف

ف كرمٌ وفي الأنوف شممَ

In their faces is radiance, and in their palms

generosity, and in their noses proud loftiness.

فما يليق المُلك إلاّ بهمِ

زولا يلذُّ المدحُ إلاّ لهم

Kingship befits none but them,

and praise is sweet for none but them.

إليك جاب البيدَ كلُّ ضامرٍ

بمثلهِ عما قليلٍ يضخم

To you every lean mount has crossed the deserts;

through one like him, it will soon grow stout.

أنحلها وركبها طولُ السُّرى

فهي قسيٌ والرجال أسهمُ

Long night-travel has wasted them and their riders;

they are bows, and the men are arrows.

نلتَ المعالي والأنامُ نوَّمٌ

كأنهم جمعاً عن المجد عموا

You reached the heights while mankind slept,

as though all together they were blind to glory.

بذذتهم طفلاً وسُدت يافعاً

ونصفاً وما أتاك الحُلم

You outstripped them as a child and were a master as a youth,

and a mature man, though puberty had not yet come to you.

هبني طويلَ الباع محبوك القرا

سامي العنان بالضَّمير يفهم

Give me one long in reach, tight-knit in the back,

lofty of rein, understanding an unspoken wish;

عبلَ الشَّوى تزينهُ قوائمٌ

ثابتةُ الأسِ وصدرٌ عمَم

thick of limb, adorned with legs

firmly grounded, and a broad chest;

حديدَ إذنٍ وجنانٍ ويدٍ

ما نادمَ المُوفى عليهِ ندَم

keen of ear, heart, and foreleg.

No regret ever befriends the rider mounted upon him.

شديد حسّ السمع إن حملتهُ

يوماً على الهول ففيه صَمم

His hearing is acutely sensitive; yet if you urge him

one day into terror, he is deaf to it.

نونٌ إذا خاض البحار إن سما

إلى الشعاف الشُمِ فهو قشعم

A great fish when he plunges into seas; if he rises

to the lofty summits, he is a vulture.

إن شَدَّ فهو اجدلٌ أو قام

فهو جبلٌ يروق منه الشَّمم

If he charges, he is a falcon; if he stands,

he is a mountain whose proud height delights.

يلقى الصَّفا بمثلهِ حافرهُ

وجلدهُ من الحرير أنعم

His hoof meets flint with its equal,

yet his hide is softer than silk.

لبانهُ من السهام جنةٌ

وظهرهُ من الرماح حرم

His chest is a shield against arrows,

and his back a sanctuary from lances.

كالليل لوناً بهلال منعلٌ

جلالةً وبالثريا ملجم

Night-black in color, shod with a crescent

in majesty, and bridled with the Pleiades.

يا مانح الخير وحلس الخيل وال

بيض المواضي في الطلى تثلم

O giver of good, steadfast companion of horses and

keen white swords that grow notched on throats,

رغبتُ وحسبي غيبتي عنك أسلى

ينجدُ في جوانحي ويتهم

I longed; my absence from you is enough sorrow for me,

ranging high and low within my breast.

تقدمتني عصبةٌ لو أنني

أطعتُ فيك الشوق ما تقدموا

A band preceded me; had I

obeyed my longing for you, they would not have preceded me.

ينمقون القول ما غبتُ فإن

حضرتهم يومَ مقال وجموا

They embellish their words while I am absent; but if

I attend them on a day of speaking, they fall silent.

قالوا وما كل المقال نافذٌ

صدقٌ ولا كل السيوف مخدم

They spoke—but not every utterance that passes muster is

true, nor is every sword a keen cutter.

فإن نطقتُ صمتوا وإن بدا

ظلي خفوا وإن أضأت اظلموا

If I speak, they fall silent; if

my shadow appears, they fade; if I shine, they darken.

وإن ذكرتُ وهمُ في محضرٍ

أو مجلسٍ حاكمهُ من يعلم

And if I am mentioned while they are at a gathering,

or an assembly whose judge knows,

يقال عني قال لا منازعاً

وعنهمُ قد ذكروا وزعموا

of me it is said, 'He spoke,' without dispute,

and of them, 'They have related and claimed.'

فحظي التسليمُ ممَّا قلتهُ

وحظهم من المقال التُهم

My share is acceptance of what I have said;

their share, from their words, is suspicion.

فاطووا أحاديثَ القريض يا بني

الدعوى فما كل طويِ زمزم

So put away talk of poetry, O sons of

pretension: not every well is Zamzam.

نحن الصقورُ حيث هامٌ أنتمُ

وهامةٌ نحن وأنتم قدّم

We are falcons where you are owls;

we are the head, and you the feet.

لا ترمقوا جوّ على ليس له

غير البزاةِ والبدوا يا رخم

Do not gaze at a lofty sky belonging

to hawks alone; crouch low, O vultures.

فان غضبتم لمقالي فاغتصبوا

إذ الوهاجُ قد سمتها القممِ

If my words anger you, then seize by force;

for the peaks have towered above the hollows.

بلغتُ ما الأفكار عنهُ نكصٌ

ونلتُ ما تعجزُ عنهُ الهِممِ

I have reached what thoughts recoil from,

and attained what ambitions cannot reach.

كأنما قام زهيرٌ منشداً

في هرمٍ ما لم ينله الهرم

As though Zuhayr had risen to recite

in praise of Harim, whom old age had not overtaken.

لكَ الفعال والمقالُ الجزل لي

وعبدك السيفُ وعبدي القلم

Yours are the deeds, and mine the mighty words;

the sword is your servant, and the pen mine.

فان فعلت فالسماحُ والنَّدى

وان نطقتُ فالنُّهى والحكم

When you act, there are liberality and bounty;

when I speak, there are reason and wisdom.