هي ظبية الوادي وعين لداتها — Abn Alsaati

هي ظبيةُ الوادي وعينُ لداتها

فحذار ثمَّ حذارِ من لحظاتها

She is the valley's gazelle, the finest of her peers.

So beware, then beware, of her glances.

ما للفوارس من ذؤابة عامر

شنَّت بأعين سربها غارتها

What has befallen the horsemen of ʿĀmir's noblest stock?

She launched her raid with the eyes of her herd.

فحوت غصون ألبان في أنقائها

وسبت بدور التمّ في هالاتها

She gathered bān branches among her sand dunes,

and captured full moons within her halos.

لو بالقدود ظفرتُ يوم سويقةٍ

لوصلتُ بل لضممتُ من ألفاتها

Had I won those slender forms on the day of Suwayqa,

I would have joined—rather, embraced—some of her alif-like figures.

وحدائق رتعت بها أحداقنا

وجنى الغرامُ فشفَّ غيرَ جناتها

And gardens in which our eyes grazed:

love did harm, wasting all but their fruit-gatherers.

خفها وأن وهب المنى رضوانها

فلقد رأيت النار في جناَّتها

Fear them, even if their Riḍwān grants wishes;

for I have seen fire in their paradises.

غنيت فأفقرت القلوب بحسنها

مذ صاغت الخيلان من حياَّتها

She grew rich, and impoverished hearts with her beauty,

since she fashioned beauty spots from her serpents.

من كان يشكو من قساوة قلبها

فشكيتي ما رقَّ من وجناتها

Whoever complains of the hardness of her heart—

my complaint is the softness of her cheeks.

وشكت دموعي المطلقات فوقَّعت

بجفونها تجري على عادتها

My unrestrained tears complained, so she decreed

with her eyelids: ‘Let them flow as they always have.’

ما أطرقت عيناي من ملل بلى

سجدت لما تتلوهُ من آياتها

My eyes did not lower from weariness; rather,

they prostrated themselves before the verses she recites.

ما لي ألام على الغرام وسكرهِ

ولقد شربت الخمر من حاناتها

Why am I blamed for love and its intoxication,

when I have drunk wine from her taverns?

منعت أصاب ومن عجب الهوى

أني أهيم صبابة برماتها

She withheld; I am stricken—and a marvel of love is

that I am love-mad, longing for her archers.

أهممت يا ذات الوشاح بنظمه

من مقلةٍ لوَّنت من عبراتها

Have you thought, O wearer of the sash, of stringing it

from an eye, dyeing it with that eye's tears?

أصبحت من داء القلوب سليمةً

وعداكِ ما حرَّكتِ من سكناتها

You have become free of the sickness of hearts,

and the stir you caused in their stillness has spared you.

قل للغزالة لستِ من أنظارها

بل للغزالة لستِ من ضرَّاتها

Say to the gazelle: ‘You are not one of her equals.’

Rather, to the sun: ‘You are not one of her rival wives.’

ولطالب العلياء خلّ سبيلها

فالفاضل استولى على غاياتها

And to the seeker of high honor: ‘Leave its path clear,’

for al-Fāḍil has taken possession of its utmost heights.

بيراعةٍ فيها المنيَّة والمنى

هاتيك للباغي وذي لبغاتها

With a reed pen bearing death and wishes:

that for the aggressor, these for those who seek them.

وخواطر مثل البحار خطوطه

أبداً تكنُّ الدرّ في ظلماتها

And thoughts like seas—his written lines

forever conceal pearls within their darkness.

سمرٌ منصَّلةٌ أسنَّةُ نقسهِ

يجري الردى والرزق من قنواتها

Brown, blade-tipped shafts—the spearheads of his ink;

death and livelihood flow from their shafts.

قصبٌ بهِ ذلُّ الأسود وعزُّها

إنَّ الأسودَ تعزُّ في غاباتها

Reeds that bring lions both abasement and glory—

indeed, lions are mighty in their thickets.

لوجوهها عند القلوب وجاهةٌ

فرواؤها يسبي عقول رواتها

Their faces hold honor in hearts,

and their beauty captures the minds of their reciters.

عزَّت معانيها على أفهامنا

فبعولها تهدى إلى غاداتها

Their meanings are hard for our minds to reach,

so their husbands are guided to their maidens.

ولو أطَّلعت على صحيفة فكرهِ

لرأيتَ كلّ الخلق في مرآتها

Had you looked upon the page of his thought,

you would have seen all creation in its mirror.

قد هان عندي وهو ليس بهيّنٍ

ذنبُ الليالي وهو من حسناتها

It has grown slight in my eyes, though it is no slight thing:

the nights' offense—and yet it is among their blessings.

أبعدن أنصاري وجدن بقربهِ

فعددتُ ذلك من أجلّ هباتها

They banished my supporters, but lavished his nearness upon me,

so I counted that among their greatest gifts.

سبقت أوائلهُ الأواخر واحتوت

أيدي مساعيها على قصباتها

His first achievements outstripped the last, and

the hands of their endeavors seized their prize-reeds.

بالخضر من أظلالها والحمر من

أموالها والغرّ من جفناتها

With the green of their shade, and the red of

their wealth, and the gleaming white of their bowls.

ما فرقت بدرُ النُّضار على العلى

إلاَّ لما جمعتهُ من أشتاتها

The bags of gold were not scattered for glory

save for the scattered honors they gathered.

بيضُ الأيادي والظنونُ بهيمةٌ

ويزين دهمَ الخيل بيضُ شياتها

White are their hands, while suspicions are dark;

and white markings adorn black horses.

وإذا كلابُ الحيّ أهدت طارقاً

جزعت عشار النوق من أصواتها

When the camp's dogs lead a night visitor in,

the pregnant she-camels panic at their cries.

يتهلَّلون إلى العفاة كمزنةٍ

ضحكت ثغور البرق في جنباتها

They beam at petitioners like a rain cloud

whose lightning's mouths smile along its flanks.

من كلّ ماضٍ كالقناة لعطفهِ

في السلم ما للحرب من هزّاتها

Among them, each resolute man is like a spear whose gentle sway

in peace matches its quivering in war.

ركبوا الأهلَّة في البروق وأشرقت

منهم بدور التمّ في صهواتها

They rode crescents amid lightning, and there shone

from among them full moons upon their saddlebacks.

وإذا الرياح تناوحت من بعد ما

سابتْ متونُ الأرض ثوب نباتها

And when the winds wailed to one another, after

the earth's surfaces had shed their garment of growth,

سكنوا الهضاب وأوقدوا نيرانهم

فوق الرّعانِ الشَّمّ من شعفاتها

they dwelt on highlands and kindled their fires

above the lofty crags, upon their summits.

داسوا الممالك فاغتدت أقدامهم

مسطورة الآثار في جنباتها

They trampled kingdoms, until their footsteps were

inscribed as traces across their flanks.

وتمطّقوا ثدي الليالي صبيةً

فلأجلهم صحَّت على علاتها

As children they smacked their lips at the nights' breast,

so for their sake the nights were sound despite their ills.

قومٌ إذا سهرت جفون صريخهم

فجعوا جفونَ سيوفهم بسناتها

A people who, when their supplicant's eyelids lie awake,

rob their swords' sheaths of their slumber.

مثلُ الجداول في الكماة إذ أنبرت

وردت ورد الهيم في هاماتها

Like streams among armored warriors, when they spring forth,

they drink at their heads as thirst-maddened camels drink.

غربت بدورهم التمام وأطلعت

شمس الضُّحى في السعد من درجاتها

Their perfect moons set, and brought forth

the forenoon sun from its auspicious stations.

قتلوا بمالهم العدى وباوتهم

فقتلت مالك آخذاً بتراتها

They slew their foes with their wealth, and you vied with them,

so you slew your wealth, taking vengeance for those foes.

وكأنما القبائل ضيَّعت أحسابها

أحرزت ذمَّة عهدها ولغاتها

As though the tribes had lost their noble lineages,

you preserved their covenant's bond and their tongues.

خفَّفت من أسف الصدور وأصبحت

نعماك مثقلة ظهور عفاتها

You lightened the sorrow in hearts, and

your bounty now burdens the backs of those who seek it.

فإذا عيون الحاسديك على العلى

وسرت سحائبها إلى سرواتها

And when your enviers' eyes were fixed on glory,

and its clouds traveled toward its highest peaks,

أنَّ القوافي زلزلت أقدامها

ورمت إليك حاومها بحصاتها

the rhymes groaned, their feet shaken,

and their circling forms cast their pebbles toward you.

ورأتك في شرفِ فإمَّا ميتة

فتراحُ أو أحييتَ من مهجاتها

They saw you in high honor: either they would die

and find rest, or you would revive their souls.

ملكت منها غير خائف شفعةٍ

ما قدّس الإحسان من أبياتها

You possessed among them, without fear of preemption,

what beneficence had consecrated of their verses.

كالخمر بالأفواهِ دائرةٌ على الأسما

ع تغنى عن أكفّ سقاتها

Like wine in mouths, they circulate through the ears,

dispensing with their cupbearers' hands.

لعلاكمُ ما ساغ من ألفاظها

ووهمتُ بل ما صيغ من كاساتها

Whatever goes down sweetly of their words is for your high glory;

I misspoke—rather, whatever is fashioned of their cups.

فأعن عليه بقوَّةٍ واستبقني

إن نبوةٌ عرضت لدفع أذاتها

So help me in this with strength, and preserve me,

if a lapse occurs, to ward off its harm.

فأرى سيوف الهند تخدم صفحها

الأيدي كما ترجوهُ من شفراتها

For I see Indian swords whose flats are served

by hands, as hands hope for service from their edges.

والجود يحكم والسماح بأنهُ

لا بدَّ للأعياد من عاداتها

And bounty and generosity decree that

festivals cannot do without their customs.