أما ومواضي مقلتيها الفواصل — Abn Matouk

أمَا ومَواضي مُقلتَيْها الفواصِلِ

لَتَشبيهُها بالبدرِ تَحصيلُ حاصِلِ

Lo, by the keen, severing blades of her two eyes,

to compare her to the full moon merely states what is already true.

وياقوتِ فِيها إنّ جوهرَ جِسمِها

لَكَالماءِ إلّا أنّه غيرُ سائلِ

And by the ruby of her mouth, her body's substance

is surely like water, except that it does not flow.

ووَردِ مُحيّاها النّضيرِ لقدّها

هو الرُمحُ إلّا أنّه غيرُ ذابلِ

And by the fresh rose of her face, her figure

is a spear, except that it is not withered.

من العِين إلّا أنّها في كِناسِها

تُظلّلُها أُسْدُ الشّرى بالمَناصِلِ

She is among the wide-eyed gazelles, except that in her covert

lions of al-Shara shade her with sword-blades.

كَعابٌ تمدّ الحَتفَ في أيّ ناظرٍ

منَ الغُنْجِ إذ ترنو لمُقلةِ خاذِلِ

A full-breasted maiden, she spreads death through every watching eye

with her coquetry, gazing with the eye of a doe tending her fawn.

ذكاءٌ حمَتْها الشمسُ وهْي أسنّةٌ

وقامت لديْها نَيّراتُ المَشاعِلِ

Dhuka, guarded by a sun made of spearheads,

with bright torches standing beside her.

تظنّ رُغاءَ الرّعدِ زفرَة مُدنَفٍ

فترشُقُه حُرّاسُها بالمَعاسِلِ

She thinks thunder's bellow the sigh of a lovesick man,

so her guards pelt it with spears.

وتحرُسُ عن مرِّ النّسيم توهّماً

بأنّ الصَّبا تُهدي إليها رَسائلي

She is guarded even against the breeze's passage, from suspicion

that the east wind brings her my letters.

بروحيَ منها حاجباً غُنجُ قوسِه

تسلَّمَه من طَرْفِها أيُّ نابِلِ

My soul for her eyebrow! The coquetry of its bow—

what archer has received it from her gaze?

وقُضبانَ بلّورٍ بدَتْ في خَواتِم

وأعمدةً من فضّةٍ في خَلاخِلِ

And for crystal rods appearing in rings,

and pillars of silver within anklets,

وزَنْدَينِ لو لم يُمسَكا في دَمالجٍ

لَسالا من الأكمامِ سَيلَ الجَداوِلِ

and two forearms that, were they not held in armlets,

would flow from her sleeves like streams.

فَما اِختالَ ظبيٌ قبلَها في مَدارِعٍ

ولا مالَ غُصنٌ يانعٌ في غَلائِلِ

No gazelle before her ever strutted in tunics,

nor any fresh bough swayed in thin gowns.

أحنّ لمرأى خدِّها وهْو مصرَعي

وأعشَقُ منها الطَّرْفَ والطّرفُ قاتِلي

I yearn to see her cheek, though it is where I perish,

and love her gaze, though that gaze is my killer.

فوَا عجَبا أشقى بها وهْي جنّتي

ولم أقتنِصْها والظُّبى من حَبائِلي

How strange! I suffer through her, though she is my paradise,

and have not captured her, though sword-edges are among my snares.

وليلٍ غُرابيّ الخِضابِ كفَرْعِها

طويل كحَظّي لونُه غيرُ ناصِلِ

And many a night, raven-dyed like her tresses,

long as my lot, its color never fading:

كأنّ الدّياجي منهُ سودٌ عَوابسٌ

وأنجمُه بيضُ الحِسانِ الثّواكلِ

its darkness seemed like frowning black women,

its stars like fair-skinned beauties bereaved.

قضى فجرُه نحباً فأحيَتْهُ فِكرَتي

وتَرمي الحَصى باليَعْملاتِ الذّوابلِ

Its dawn had died, but my thought revived it,

and cast pebbles at the lean, tireless she-camels.

وبتُّ وصَحبي كالقِسيّ من السُّرى

تجافَى الكَرى ميلُ الطُّلى والكَواهِلِ

My comrades and I spent the night bent like bows from night travel,

the drooping of our necks and shoulders keeping sleep away.

وظِلْنا نُساقي في زُجاجاتِ ذِكرِها

حُميّا هَواها في نديِّ الرّواحِلِ

We kept passing one another, in the glasses of her remembrance,

the potent wine of her love, among our gathered mounts.

فمنْ مُدنفٍ صاح بنا مثل شارِبٍ

ومن معشرٍ منّا له زيُّ ذاهِلِ

One lovesick man cried out among us like a drinker,

while a group of us had the air of one distraught.

فلَولا هَواها ما صبَوْتُ إلى الصّبا

ولا رحِمَتْ دَمعي رُعاةُ المَنازلِ

But for her love, I would not have yearned for the east wind,

nor would the keepers of the dwellings have pitied my tears,

ولا قنَصَتْ أختُ الغَزالِ جوارِحي

ولا هيّجَتْ وُرْقُ الحَمامِ بَلابِلي

nor would the gazelle's sister have captured my faculties,

nor gray doves have stirred my anguish.

ولَولا رُقى السِحرِ المُبينِ بلَفظِها

لَما اِلتَذّ سَمْعي في أحادِيث بابِلِ

And but for the spells of manifest magic in her speech,

my hearing would not have delighted in tales of Babylon.

أيَلحَقُني في حُبِّها نقصُ سَلْوةٍ

إذاً فارَقَتْني نِسبَتي للفَضائِلِ

Could the flaw of forgetting overtake me in loving her?

Then my kinship with virtues would have forsaken me,

ولا صافَح الخطّيُّ منّي يَدَ النّدى

ولا عانَقَتْ جِيدَ المَعالي حَمائِلي

nor would the Khatt spear have clasped my generous hand,

nor my sword-belts embraced the neck of high honors,

ولا نصَبَ البيضُ الجَوازِمُ رُتْبَتي

ولا رفعَتْها هِمّتي بالعَوامِلِ

nor keen white swords established my rank,

nor my ambition raised it with spearheads.

وإنّي لظَمآنٌ إلى عذبِ منهَلٍ

حمَتْ شهدَهُ نُجْلُ الرِماحِ النّواهلِ

I am indeed thirsty for a sweet watering-place

whose honey the broad points of drinking spears protect,

بحيثُ تَحوطُ الأُسْدُ مربَضَ باغِمٍ

وتوقِظُ طرْفَ المَوتِ دعوَةُ صاهِلِ

where lions surround a bleating gazelle's resting-place,

and a neighing horse's cry awakens the eye of death.

وما مَوْرِدي عذْبٌ إذا لم أرَ الظُّبى

تَشوبُ نُضاراً في لُجَينِ المَناهِلِ

My watering-place is not sweet unless I see sword-edges

mixing gold into the silver of the watering-places.

سقى اللّه قوماً خيّموا أيمنَ الحِمى

وحيّا بشَرقيِّ الغَضا كُلَّ وابِلِ

May God water the people who camped to the right of the protected grounds,

and bless every raincloud east of al-Ghada.

وللّهِ أيّامُ السُرورِ وحبّذا

مَواسِمُ لذّاتِ الليالي الأوائِلِ

God's are the days of joy! How lovely were

the seasons of delight in the nights of old!

أمَا آنَ أن تَدنوا الديارُ فينجَلي

ظلامُ التّنائي في صباحِ التّواصُلِ

Is it not time for the dwellings to draw near, dispelling

the darkness of separation in reunion's dawn?

فحتّام تستَجْدي النّوى يمَّ مُقلَتي

فيرفِدُها دُرُّ الدُموعِ الهَوامِلِ

How long will separation beg from the sea of my eye,

supplied by the pearls of freely flowing tears?

أكانَتْ جُفوني كلّما اِعترَض النّوى

بَنانَ عليٍّ والنّوى كفَّ سائِلِ

Whenever separation intervened, were my eyelids

Ali's fingers, and separation a beggar's palm?

جَوادٌ إذا ضنّ الغَمامُ على الوَرى

تَوالَتْ يَداهُ بالغُيوثِ الهَواطِلِ

A generous man: when clouds withhold their rain from mankind,

his hands follow one another with pouring showers.

شريفٌ مُحلّى التّاجِ في حَلْي فضلِهِ

تُزانُ صُدورُ المَكْرُماتِ العَواطِلِ

A nobleman with an adorned crown: in his virtue's jewelry

the unadorned breasts of noble deeds are decked.

له راحةٌ لو تَرضَع المُزنُ دَرَّها

سمَتْ باللآلي مُعْصِراتُ الحَوامِلِ

His is a palm: if rainclouds suckled its milk,

pregnant, rain-laden clouds would rise bearing pearls.

أحاطَتْ بأوساط الدُهورِ ووشّحَتْ

حُظوظَ الوَرى منها خُطوطُ الأنامِلِ

They have encircled the waists of ages and sashed

mankind's fortunes—the lines upon its fingers.

تلَذُّذُه بالبأسِ والعَفْو والتُقى

وبَذْلِ العَطايا لا بطِيبِ المآكِلِ

His delight is in valor, pardon, and piety,

and giving gifts, not in delicious food.

يهزّ اِفعُوانَ الرُمحِ في كفِّ ضيغَمٍ

ويُمسِكُ هزَّ السيفِ في بحرِ نائِلِ

He brandishes the serpent of the spear in a lion's paw,

and restrains the sword's swing in a sea of bounty.

يُقلِّبُ فيه الدّهْرُ أجفانَ حائِرٍ

ويرنو إليه الغيثُ في طَرْفِ آمِلِ

Time turns bewildered eyelids upon him,

and rain gazes toward him with a hopeful eye.

هُمامٌ يَصيدُ الأُسْدَ ثعلبُ رُمحِه

إذا الرُّبْدُ زُفَّتْ في بِرازِ الجحافِلِ

A hero whose spear's fox hunts lions

when dusky lions are led in procession onto the armies' dueling-ground.

فما صارَ شيءٌ من عِداهُ بأرضِه

سِوى ما سَرى من لحمِهم في الحَواصِلِ

Nothing of his foes ever reached his land

except what passed of their flesh into birds' crops.

لطاعَتِه قامَتْ على ساقِها الوَغى

ونكّسَ ذُلّاً رأسَه كلُّ باسِلِ

War stood on its feet in obedience to him,

and every champion lowered his head in abasement.

وشُدّت على الأوساطِ من خدَمِ القَنا

لدَيْهِ زنانِيرُ الكُعوبِ العَوامِلِ

Around the waists of the serving spears were fastened

before him the girdles of their working joints.

وليس اِضطِرابُ الريحِ خُلْقاً وإنّما

رمَتْها دَواعي ذُعْرِه بالأفاكِلِ

The wind's trembling is not its nature; rather,

the dread he inspires has struck it with shivers.

يرى زَورَة العافي ألَذَّ منَ الصَّبا

وأحسنَ من وَصْلِ الحبيبِ المُماطِلِ

He finds a suppliant's visit sweeter than the east wind,

and lovelier than union with a beloved who delays.

هو المِصقَعُ اللَّسْنُ الّذي لبَيانِه

بنَظْمِ القَوافي مُعجِزاتُ الفَواصِلِ

He is the eloquent, fluent orator whose speech,

in its ordering of rhymes, has miraculous cadences.

وموضوعُ علمِ الفضلِ والعَلَمُ الّذي

عليهِ وُجوباً صحّ حملُ الفَواضِلِ

The subject of the science of excellence, the proper name

of which noble qualities are necessarily predicated.

يُعدّي فِعالَ المَكرُمات بنَفسِها

إلى آملِيه لا بجَرِّ الوَسائلِ

He makes acts of generosity transitive of themselves

to those who hope in him, without dragging in intermediaries.

مضى فعلُه المُشتَقُّ من مصدَر العُلا

فصحّ له منهُ اِشتِقاقُ اِسمُ فاعِلِ

His deed, derived from loftiness's verbal noun, has come to pass;

thus from it the name of doer is rightly derived for him.

تكادُ القَنا قَسراً بغيرِ تثقّفٍ

يقوّمُ منها عدلُه كلَّ مائِلِ

The spears are almost, by force and without straightening,

set straight, every crooked one, by his justice.

وإنْ تنحَني حَنيَ الأساوِر قُضبُه

لِما أثقلَتْها من دُخولِ القَبائِلِ

And if his blades bend like bracelets,

it is from the burden of plunging into skull-bones.

فلا تطلبوا يا حاسِدِيه اِغتيالَه

فتخطفكُم غُولُ الخُطوبِ الغَوائِلِ

Do not seek his assassination, you who envy him,

lest the ghoul of deadly calamities snatch you away.

ولا تنزِلوا أرضاً بها حلّ سُخطُه

فتنزِلَ فيكم صاعِقاتُ النّوازِلِ

Nor settle in a land on which his wrath has fallen,

lest the thunderbolts of disasters descend upon you.

تولّى بلادَ الحَوْزِ فلْيَخْلُ بالُها

وتفْرَغَ من بعدِ الهُمومِ الشّواغِلِ

He has assumed rule over al-Hawz: let its mind be at ease

and henceforth free of preoccupying cares.

لقد قرّ طُورُ المَجدِ فيها مكانَهُ

وقد كان دكّاً قبلَهُ بالمَنازِلِ

Glory's Mount has settled firmly there in its place,

though before him it lay leveled among the dwellings.

وفكّ عن المُلْكِ الوِثاقَ فأصبحَتْ

شَياطينُه من قَهرِه في سَلاسِلِ

He freed the kingdom from its bonds, and now

its demons lie chained by his subjugation.

وزال ظلامُ الغَيّ عن نيّر الهُدى

وحُكّمَ سيفُ الحقِّ في كلّ باطِلِ

The darkness of error has cleared from guidance's luminary,

and truth's sword is made judge over every falsehood.

فحسبُك يا بِكْرَ العُلا مَفخراً فقدْ

تزوّجْتَ منه بالكِرامِ الحلائِلِ

Enough pride for you, O firstborn of loftiness, for

through him you have wedded noble consorts.

فَيا اِبْنَ حُسام المَجد والعامِلِ الّذي

به اِنصرفَتْ قَسْراً جميعُ القَبائِلِ

O son of glory's sword and of the governor through whom

all tribes were forcibly turned back,

لقد فُقْتَ آباءَ الكِرامِ بوالِدٍ

به خُتِمَتْ غُرُّ الكِرامِ الأفاضِلِ

through a father you have surpassed the fathers of noble men,

in whom the illustrious noble worthies found their seal.

محلُّ سِماكِ الفَضْلِ مركزُ شمسِهِ

مقرُّ دَراري غامِضاتِ المَسائِلِ

The station of excellence's Simak, the center of its sun,

the seat of the brilliant stars of abstruse questions:

صَفوحٌ صَدوقٌ حاكمٌ متشرّعٌ

عَفيفٌ شريفٌ ما له من مُماثِلِ

forgiving, truthful, a ruler observant of sacred law,

chaste and noble, with none to equal him.

فقيهٌ حكيمٌ عالمٌ متكلّمٌ

ينصُّ على أحكامِه بالدّلائِلِ

A jurist, sage, scholar, theologian,

he sets forth his rulings with proofs.

مَناقِبُ فخرٍ حُزْتَها يا اِبنَهُ

وحسبُكَ فخراً ما به من شَمائِلِ

Glorious virtues you have won, O son of his,

and his qualities are pride enough for you.

فلا زِلْتَ قُطباً ثابتاً في العلا ولا

برِحْتَ هِلالاً كاملاً غيرَ آفِلِ

May you remain a pole star, firm in loftiness, and never

cease to be a perfect crescent that never sets.