ألمت نع الظلماء يهدى سلامها — Abn Alsaati

ألمَّتْ نع الظلماء يهدى سلامها

فنمَّ عليها نشرها وابتسامها

She came with the darkness, her greeting borne along;

but her fragrance and her smile betrayed her.

يلاثُ على جنح الظلام نصيفها

ويرفع عن ضوء الصباح لثامها

Her veil is wound around the wing of darkness,

and her face-veil is lifted from the light of dawn.

مهاةٌ ثناياها كنظمي ولفظها

كدمعي لآلٍ زلَّ عنها نظامها

An oryx—her front teeth like my verse, her words

like my tears: pearls whose string has slipped away.

لها ريقةٌ لولا التقى ما حظرتها

ولولا الهوى ما حلّ عندي مدامها

She has sweet saliva; but for piety, I would not forbid it,

and but for love, its wine would not be lawful to me.

سلافٌ وسحرٌ ريقها ولحاظها

وشمسٌ ودرٌّ وجهها وكلامها

Her saliva and her glances are choice wine and magic;

her face and her words, a sun and pearls.

ولائمةٍ فيها عصيتُ وعاذلٍ

وكان مطاعاً عذلها وملامها

I disobeyed a woman who blamed me for her, and a reprover,

though her rebuke and reproach had once been heeded.

فمن لجفونٍ لا يبلُّ سقيمها

ونفس مشوقٍ لا يبلُّ أوامها

Who will help eyelids whose ailing ones never recover,

and a yearning lover's soul whose thirst is never quenched?

تمادى بها إلاّ التجلدُ في الهوى

وقصّر إلاَّ وجدها وغرامها

All within it persists in love, save fortitude;

all falls short, save its longing and passion.

ولله فلبٌ جارَ حتى نزيلهُ

عليَّ وعينٌ صدُّ حتى منامها

By God, a heart—even its lodger has wronged

me; and an eye—even its sleep is estrangement.

بليتُ بمن حتفُ اصطباري لحاظها

وآفةُ قلبي قومها وقوامها

I am afflicted by one whose glances kill my patience,

and whose people and stature are my heart's ruin.

مهفهفةُ الأعطاف وسنى جفونُها

بقلبي وجسمي سحرها وسقامها

Slender of form, her eyelids drowsy,

her magic is in my heart, her sickness in my body.

تمتلها الأفكار وهي بعيدةٌ

لقد غرَّ إلاَّ بالقلوب لمامها

Thoughts conjure her, though she is far away;

her fleeting visits have indeed deceived—save within hearts [wording unclear].

خليليَّ هل خفَّت عن الجزع دارها

وهل ضربتْ بالأبرقين خيامها

My two friends, has her dwelling departed from al-Jazʿ?

And have her tents been pitched at al-Abraqayn?

نحيلانِ جسمي والتصبُّر بعدها

ونضوانِ بعدي عهدها وذمامها

My body and my patience are both wasted after her departure,

and her pledge and covenant are both worn out in my absence.

هي الشمس صبحي بعدها جنح ليلةٍ

أبى الشوقُ إلاَّ أن يطول مقامها

She is the sun; after her, my morning is a night's dark wing,

whose stay my longing insists must be prolonged.

دعاني ففي الشكوى إلى الناس ذلةٌ

سأصبرُ إما كشفها أو دوامها

Leave me, you two: complaining to people brings abasement.

I shall endure, whether it is lifted or persists.

فما هذه الدهر أوّلَ حيرةٍ

تجلّى بمجد الدينِ عنى ظلامها

For this is not the first perplexity of time

whose darkness has lifted from me through Majd al-Din.

هو القاتلُ الأحداث أعيا خلودها

سواهُ ومحيي النفسُ حمَّ حمامها

He slays calamities whose persistence has defeated

all others, and revives the soul whose death has been decreed.

سرى خوفهُ في الأرض والأمنُ ردفهُ

فلم تخشَ إلاّ من ظباهُ سوامها

Fear of him spread through the earth, with safety following behind,

so its grazing herds feared nothing but his blades.

وحلّت غوادي جودهِ كلَّ عاطلٍ

إلى أن تساوى وهدها وإكامها

The morning showers of his generosity adorned every bare place,

until its lowlands and hills became equal.

لهُ مشرقُ العلياءِ من بعد غربها

وغاربها دونَ الورى وسنامها

His is the rising of glory after its setting,

and its withers and hump, his alone among mankind.

حبتني بأمثال الرياض بنانهُ

وما الروض إلاّ ما يحوك غمامها

His fingers bestowed on me things like meadows,

and meadows are nothing but what their clouds weave.

فوافيتُ ربعَ المجدُ حوّاً تلاعهُ

أجل وحياض الجود زرقاً جمامها

So I reached the abode of glory, its slopes dark green,

yes, and the pools of generosity, their full waters blue.

فليس الغنى عني بناءٍ محلّهُ

ولا غاية العلياءِ صعباً مرامها

The abode of wealth is not far from me,

nor is the goal of glory hard to attain.

لقد تخذت منهُ الخلافةُ جنّةً

فأضحى منيعاً خلفها وأمامها

The caliphate has taken him as a shield,

so its rear and front have become impregnable.

بهِ وطّدت أركانها بعد وهيها

فقامت ولولاهُ لعزَّ قيامها

Through him its pillars were made firm after weakening,

and it stood; without him, standing would have been hard.

فما هو إلاّ طرفها ورقادها

وما هو إلاّ زندها وحسامها

He is none other than its watching eye and its sleep,

none other than its forearm and its keen sword.

وإن يسمَ خلقاً غيرهُ قبلُ صاحباً

فقد عدَّ من سحب السماءِ جهامها

If another before him was conventionally called a minister [reading uncertain],

then rainless clouds have been counted among heaven's clouds.

ولا شك في أن السيوف كثيرةٌ

وما يتساوى عضبها وكهامها

There is no doubt that swords are many,

but their sharp and blunt kinds are not equal.

ظهيرُ إمامٍ طبَّق الأرضَ حكمهُ

وصاحبُ دنيا في يديه زمامها

He supports an imam whose rule has spread over the earth,

and masters a world whose reins are in his hands.

وليس بخافٍ ذمرها وجبانها

وغير سواءٍ نبعها وثمامها

Its brave men and cowards are no secret,

nor are its sturdy bow-wood and frail grass alike.

سحائبهُ عند الأعادي رعودها

وفي معتفيه سحّها وانسجامها

To his enemies, his clouds are thunder;

to those seeking his bounty, downpours and streaming rain.

تسامى بهِ قدر الزمان وأهلهُ

وما كانت الأنواءُ لولا رهامها

Through him the worth of the age and its people has risen;

the rain-bringing stars would mean nothing without their gentle showers.

فلو وجدت زُهرُ النجوم ترقّياً

إليهِ لغضَّ السائلين ازدحامها

If the bright stars could find a way to rise

to him, their throng would humble the petitioners.

إذا ركعت أسيافهُ في عداتهِ

هوت ساجداتٍ في الوقيعة هامها

When his swords bow among his foes,

their heads fall prostrate in the battle.

لهُ أسرةٌ سمرُ العوالي نحافها

ولكنها بيضُ الأيادي جسامها

He has a family, tawny-lanced and slender,

yet white-handed and mighty.

بحار ندّى غزر العطايا وساعها

شموس ضحىً غرُّ الوجوه وسامها

Seas of bounty, abundant and ample in gifts;

suns of morning, bright-faced and handsome.

يرَّجى ويُخشى وعدها ووعيدها

ويحيي ويردي عفوها وانتقامها

Their promises are hoped for, their threats feared;

their pardon gives life, their vengeance brings death.

شموس معالٍ لا عراها كسوفها

بدور تمامٍ لا عداها تمامها

Suns of noble deeds whom no eclipse has touched;

full moons whose fullness has never left them.

مطاعينُ إن خافت وخفّت كُماتها

مطاعيمُ إن أكدى وأجدب عامها

Mighty spear-thrusters when champions take fright and flee;

lavish feeders when the year yields nothing and grows barren.

مصابيحها أقمارها علماؤها

مصاليتها فرسانها وكرامها

Its lamps and moons are its scholars;

its fierce warriors are its horsemen and its noble men.

فما منهم في المحل إلاّ جوادها

وما منهم في الحرب إلاّ همامها

Every one of them is generous in drought,

and every one of them a hero in war.

تُريك الأفاعي في الوغى وسلوخها

إذا استلأمتْ يوماً قناها ولامها

It shows you vipers and their shed skins in battle,

when it dons armor one day: its spears and its coats of mail.

وإن لمعت ومضاً بروق سيوفها

فما الوابل السحّاح إلاّ سهامها

If the lightning of its swords flashes,

its arrows are the pouring torrent.

ولا صبحُ تلك الأرض إلاّ وجوهها

ولا ليل ذاك الجوّ إلاّ قتامها

The dawn of that land is nothing but their faces,

and the night of that air nothing but their battle-dust.

أكابر جلّت في الحياة نفوسها

وأمست عظاماً في الصعيد عظامها

Great ones, whose souls were noble in life,

and whose bones became great within the earth.

إذا وهبوا فالغيث تهمي مياههُ

وإن غضبوا فالنار تذكو ضرامها

When they give, they are rain whose waters pour;

when they grow angry, they are fire whose flames blaze.

وإن هبةُ الله استهلّت يمينهُ

فما الديمة الوطفاء إلاّ ركامها

When Hibat Allah's right hand pours forth,

the thick, steady rain-cloud is only its cloud-bank.

إذا حلَّ صدرَ الدست فهو وحيدها

وإن حلَّ قلب الجيش فهو لهامها

When he occupies the head of the council, he is its peerless one;

when he takes the heart of the army, he is its mighty host.

بنعماهُ أضحت جلّقٌ لي جنّةً

فلم تسمها بغدادُ لولا إمامها

By his favors Jilliq has become a paradise for me,

and Baghdad would not surpass it but for its imam.

بهِ أصبحت في وجنة الأرض شامةً

وقصّر عنها مصرُها وشآمها

Through him it has become a beauty-mark on the earth's cheek,

and Egypt and Syria fall short of it.

لهُ كعبة الله الحرام وركنها

ومشعرها في حجرها ومقامها

His are God's sacred Kaaba and its Corner,

its sacred site within its enclosure, and its Station.

هو العروة الوثقى الذي كلُّ حادثٍ

يخاف من الأيام لولا انفصامها

He is the firmest handhold: every calamity

of time would be feared, were it not for its breaking [wording unclear].

ومصباح دين الله بين عبادهِ

ولولاهُ أعيا حلّها وحرامها

And he is the lamp of God's religion among His servants;

without him, its lawful and forbidden matters would defy understanding.

سأكسوهما وشي الثناءِ يزينهُ

عقودُ قوافٍ كالعقود انتظامها

I shall clothe them both in praise's brocade, adorned

with necklaces of rhymes, ordered like necklaces.

هيَ المطلقاتُ الموثقات بجودهم

فلو أرسلتْ أفنى الصّعيدَ التثامها

They are unbound, yet bound by their generosity;

if released, their kisses would wear the earth away.

رياضُ معانيها ودائعُ لفظها

حدائق نورٍ أودعتها كمامها

The gardens of their meanings are entrusted to their words:

gardens of blossoms that I have lodged within their calyxes.

فما رُفعت إلاّ لديهم ستورها

ولا فُضَّ إلاّ في ذراهم ختامها

Their curtains are lifted only in their presence,

and their seal is broken only within their shelter.