سفحت عيون الغيث أدمع قطره — Abn Qlaks

سفَحَتْ عيونُ الغيثِ أدمعَ قطرِه

فالروضُ يضحكُ عن مباسمِ زهرِه

The rain's eyes shed its teardrops,

so the garden laughs, revealing its flowers' smiling mouths.

وسرى النسيمُ بقهوةٍ حيّى بها

دوحاً لوَتْ عِطفَيْهِ راحةُ سُكْرِه

And the breeze bore wine by night, greeting with it

great trees whose flanks the hand of their drunkenness had bent.

وجرى بمؤتَنِقِ الحدائق فائضاً

فأثارَ طامسَ عَرفِها عن ذكرِه

And it flowed abundantly through the gardens' lovely reaches,

reviving their fragrance, faded from remembrance.

وانشقّ جيبُ الأفْقِ عن متألقٍ

ينجابُ تقطيبُ الظلامِ ببِشْرِه

And the horizon's collar split open to reveal a radiant one,

whose smile dispels the frown of darkness.

وكأنه ظن النجومَ كواعباً

فرمى لها بملاءةٍ من فجرِه

As though he thought the stars were budding-breasted maidens,

he cast them a coverlet of his dawn.

وكأنّ ذا الرعَثات يندُبُ إثْرَها

شجواً أثارَ البينَ سالفُ ذكرِه

And the wattled one seemed to lament in their wake,

in sorrow, an old remembrance stirring the pain of parting.

ودعا بحيّ على الصَبوحِ مؤمّر

حتمٌ على الظُرَفاءِ طاعةُ أمرِه

And a commander cried, 'Come to the morning wine!'

Obedience to his command is binding on the refined.

تزهى فضولُ التاج مفرِقَ رأسه

ويهزُّ رقمَ الوجهِ مرهَفُ خصرِه

The points of his crown adorn the top of his head,

and his slender waist sets his patterned face swaying.

غنى فهزّ قَوامَ قسيسِ الدُجى

طرباً فشق صدارها عن صدرِه

He sang and swayed the stature of darkness's priest

with rapture, till he tore night's bodice from his breast.

وارتاعَ من ماءِ الصباح فشمّرَتْ

أذيالُ حُلّتِه لفائضِ بحْرِه

He took fright at morning's waters, so up were gathered

the hems of his robe before its overflowing sea.

فاقذفْ شياطينَ الهمومِ بأنجُمٍ

تثْني الخليعَ الى السرورِ بأسرِه

So pelt the devils of care with stars

that turn the libertine toward joy in all its fullness,

بزجاجةٍ حيّاك منها قيصَرٌ

وكأنما هو في جوانبِ قَصرِه

with a flask from which Caesar greets you,

as though he were within the walls of his palace.

ما ألبستْهُ الراحُ ثوباً مُذْهَباً

إلا وقلّدهُ الحَبابُ بدُرِّه

Wine never clothed him in a gilded robe

without the bubbles stringing their pearls about his neck.

يسقيكَها رشأ كأنّ مذاقَها

من ريقِه وحبَبَها من ثغرِه

A gazelle-fawn serves it to you, as though its flavor

came from his saliva, and its bubbles from his teeth.

وسنانُ ضاع اللُبُّ في لحَظاتِه

ضيعانُ طبُّ وصالِه في هجرِه

Drowsy-eyed—reason is lost in his glances;

the cure of union with him is wasted in his shunning.

أرسلتُ لحظي رائداً فأضلّهُ

ليلٌ يمدُّ بغدرِه وبعُذْرِه

I sent my gaze scouting, but it was led astray

by a night that lengthens with its treachery and its excuse.

أعشى الدليلَ دجى الدلالِ فسائلوا

فلك الأزِرّةِ عن مطالعِ بدرِه

The darkness of coquetry blinded the guide, so ask

the sphere of his buttons where his full moon rises.

يا فارسَ الإسلامِ حين ترحّلَتْ

فرسانُه وتخاذلَتْ عن نصرِه

O knight of Islam, when there departed

its knights, shrinking from coming to its aid,

والصارمُ الذَكَرُ الذي أفضَتْ به

من خلفِ ستر النقْعِ عُذرةُ بِكره

and keen, virile blade, through which was laid bare

from behind battle-dust's veil, its maiden's virginity—

تختالُ في بُردَى كمال طُرِّزا

في حالتَيْه بنفْعِه وبضُرِّه

you walk proudly in two cloaks of perfection, embroidered

in its two states, with its benefit and its harm:

بأسٌ يؤجج حُمرَهُ من مائه

وندًى يُعجَّجُ ماؤه من جَمرِه

valor that kindles its red flames from its water,

and bounty whose water is made to seethe by its embers.

أنشرْتَ من آبائكَ الصيدِ

ذكَراً لسانَ الدهرِ ناشرَ نَشْرِه

You revived from your lordly forefathers

a remembrance whose fragrance the tongue of time spreads.

كَرموا وزدتَ عليهُمُ فكأنهمْ

شهرُ الصيامِ وأنتَ ليلةُ قدْرِه

They were noble, and you surpassed them, as though they

were the month of fasting, and you its Night of Decree.

فليَهْنِكَ الشهرُ الأصمُّ وإنه

لسميعُ ما نظّمتُه في شكرِه

So may the deaf month bring you joy; indeed,

it surely hears what I have composed in its praise.