صدرنا وقد نادى السماح بنا ردوا — Abn Qlaks

صدَرْنا وقد نادى السّماحُ بنا رِدُوا

فعُدْنا الى مغناكَ والعَوْدُ أحمَدُ

We departed, but Generosity called to us, “Come to the water!”

So we returned to your abode—and returning is better.

وجاذَبَنا للأهلِ شوقٌ يُقيمُنا

وشوقٌ لمُغْنينا عن الأهلِ يُقعِدُ

A longing for our kin tugged at us, urging us to rise,

while longing for him who makes us need no kin held us seated.

وما فاحَ فينا غيرُ ذكراكَ روضةٌ

ولا ساحَ فينا غيرُ نُغماكَ مورِدُ

No garden breathed fragrance among us save remembrance of you,

nor did a spring flow among us save your melodies.

وكم خدعَتْنا من ملوك يسُرُّها

لو انّكَ ترضى أنها لك أعبُدُ

How many kings deceived us, though it would delight them

if you would consent to have them as your slaves!

حمدنا وأثنينا وملء صدورِنا

سوى ما به يُثْنى عليهم ويُحمَدُ

We praised and extolled them, while our hearts were filled

with something other than the praise and thanks we spoke of them.

وقد علمَتْ تلك القصائدُ أننا

بما نبتني فيها لعَلياكَ نقصِدُ

Those poems knew full well that we,

through what we built within them, aimed at your exalted glory.

ولما عَسا غصنُ الزمانِ عطَفْتَهُ

بكفّيْكَ فهْو الناضرُ المتأوّدُ

When the bough of time grew stiff, you bent it

with your two hands, and now it is fresh and swaying.

محَوْتَ ذُنوبَ الأمسِ من هَفواتِه

بما قام في إثباتِه اليومُ والغدُ

You erased yesterday’s sins, its lapses,

with deeds that today and tomorrow stand to record.

وقد تُنشَرُ الأرزاقُ من حيث تنطوي

وتنصلِحُ الأحوالُ من حيث تفسُدُ

Livelihoods may unfold from the very place they fold away,

and fortunes be mended where they fall into ruin.

ليَهْنِ يدَ الخَطْبِ التي طرّقَتْ لنا

إليك سبيلاً أنها عندنا يَدُ

May hardship’s hand, which opened for us

a road to you, rejoice that we count it a favor,

وأنّ نجوماً سيْرتْنا بطالعٍ

إليك منيراتُ المطالع أسْعدُ

and that the stars that sent us under their rising sign

to you are radiant in rising, most auspicious.

سقى الله عهداً منك مرتفِعَ الذُرى

إذِ العهدُ ممّنْ لا نسمّيه معهَدُ

May God water a time with you, lofty in its summits,

when the pledge of one we will not name was a former haunt.

وإذ بيتُك المشهودُ في كل ساعةٍ

لكثرة زوّارِ النّدى فيه مشهَدُ

And when your house, thronged at every hour,

was a gathering-place, so many sought its bounty.

ولما ضرَبْنا للأماني ونيلها

أوَناً شرَطْنا فيه أنك موعِدُ

When we fixed, for our wishes and their fulfillment,

a time, we made you the appointed rendezvous.

فمنّا ثناءٌ قد أتاكَ مكرّرٌ

ومنك عطاءٌ قد أتانا مردَّدُ

From us, praise has come to you again and again;

from you, gifts have come to us time after time.

فيا أيها البحرُ الذي من هِباتِه

أُعدِّدُ فيما أنتَقي وأعَدّدُ

O sea, among whose gifts

I number what I choose, and am myself numbered,

أجِرْني من البحر الذي أنا صارمٌ

أجرِّدُ من مالي به حيثُ أغمَدُ

protect me from the sea where I am a keen blade,

stripped of my wealth wherever I am sheathed.

طوانى بسُحْبِ الموجِ تحت سمائه

على أنني يا أيها الشمسُ فرقدُ

It enfolded me in clouds of waves beneath its sky,

though, O sun, I am a Farqad star.

وحاول إطفائي وإني لَجمرةٌ

تكادُ تُباري ماؤه تتوقّدُ

It tried to quench me, yet I am an ember,

blazing, all but vying with its waters.

وما زلت أعطي البرق والرّعد مثله

فأُبرق غيظاً بالزفير وأرعدُ

I kept matching it with lightning and thunder,

flashing with rage through my sighs, and thundering,

الى أن أذابَتْني حرارةُ قرّةٍ

بأيسرَ منها ذائبُ النارِ يجمُدُ

until the burning heat of bitter cold dissolved me—

though less than that would freeze what fire had melted.

وصرتُ كحِرباءِ الظهيرةِ كلّما

تراءَتْ لعيني غرّةُ الشمس أسجُدُ

I became like a chameleon at noon: whenever

the sun’s bright brow appeared to my eye, I bowed down.

وقُيّدْتُ في أرضٍ كأن رسومَها

يمشّي عليها الدهرُ وهْو مقيّدُ

I was fettered in a land whose traces seemed

to have Time walking over them, itself in fetters.

أقمتُ بها في الضيقِ ستّةَ أشهر

وذاك أقلّ الحمْل واليومَ مولِدُ

I spent six months there in distress—

the shortest term of pregnancy; today is my birth.

فيا ياسراً نلنا به الفضل ياسراً

لنا ووجدنا منه ما ليس يوجَدُ

O Yasir, through whom we gained bounty, made easy

for us, and found from him what cannot elsewhere be found!

دعوتَ بصوت الجودِ حيَّ على النّدى

لأنك تروي عن بلالٍ وتُسنِدُ

You called in generosity’s voice, “Hasten to bounty!”

for you transmit from Bilal and give the chain of transmission.

سيُنشئني ضرْعٌ لفضلك حافلٌ

ويكنفُني منه المكانُ الممهّدُ

An udder brimming with your bounty will rear me,

and a haven made ready by it will shelter me.

ويمطِرُني نُعمى لساني ومَعطِفي

بها نبتُه لدنُ المهزّةِ أغيَدُ

It will rain bounty upon me; my tongue and my frame

will grow through it, supple in motion and graceful.

وإن كانتِ الحسّادُ فيك كثيرةً

فلا قلّ عندي ما به فيك أحسَدُ

Though many envy me on your account,

may what makes me envied through you never dwindle.

لقد طوّقَتْني في رياضِكَ أنعُمٌ

هتفْتُ بها مثلَ الحمام أغرِّدُ

Favors have ringed my neck within your gardens;

I sang out for them, warbling like a dove.

وأسكرَني بالمَطْلِ غيرُك مدةً

وما يُعرفُ السكرانُ حتى يعربدُ

Another kept me drunk a while on delayed payment,

and a drunk is not known until he turns rowdy.

وإني وعندي نشوةٌ منك بالغِنى

لأرفَعُ صوتي بالغناءِ وأُنشِدُ

And I, with the rapture of wealth bestowed by you,

raise my voice in song and recite.

وأتلو حروفَ الحمدِ لله كلَّها

وأُسْقِطُ حرفاً قبل إياكَ نعبُدُ

I recite every letter of “Praise be to God,”

and leave out a letter before “You alone we worship.”

وأنت امرؤٌ ما زالَ عن دارِ مُلكِه

وسيرتُه عندي تَغورُ وتُنجِدُ

You are a man who has not left his royal abode,

yet whose fame, to me, ranges through lowlands and highlands.

مَهيبٌ إذا ابيضّتْ أساريرُ وجههِ

رأيتَ وجوهَ الخَطْبِ كيف تسوَّدُ

Awe-inspiring: when the lines of his face grow white,

you see the faces of adversity turn black.

مصمّمُ جيشٍ والصّوارمُ تنثَني

ورابِطُ جأشٍ والفرائصُ تُرعَدُ

He cuts straight through an army while keen swords bend,

firm of heart while flanks tremble.

وبادِهُ صارفِ الدهر بالعَزمةِ التي

خواطرُه عن حلِّها تتبلّدُ

He confronts Time’s reversals with a resolve

that leaves Time’s own thoughts too dull to undo it.

وباعثُها خضراءَ كالبحرِ موجُها

دِلاصٌ وعسّالٌ وعضبٌ وأجرَدُ

He sends the host forth, green as the sea, its waves

gleaming mail, swaying spears, keen blades, and sleek horses.

يروعُ بها شوسَ الأسنّةِ أروعٌ

ويصطادُ عِقبان الأعنّة أصيَدُ

A fearsome warrior with it terrifies the scowling lances;

a proud-necked man hunts the eagles of the reins.

وناثرُ هاماتِ الكُماةِ بصارمٍ

على صفحِه دُرُّ الفِرنْدِ المنضّدِ

He scatters the heads of armored champions with a blade

on whose flat lie ranked pearls of watered steel,

وناظمُها في مَتْنِ لدن كأنّه

بها شطَنٌ فوقَ الذِّراعِ معقّدُ

and strings them on a supple shaft, as though it,

with them, were a long rope knotted above the forearm.

مصوِّرُ وجهٍ في قَذالِ عدوّه

له ناظرٌ من سائِلِ النّدمِ أرمَدُ

He fashions a face in the nape of his enemy,

with an eye bleared by the flowing tears of remorse,

وفاتحُ ثغرٍ منه في غير وجهِه

ولكنّ ذاك الثغرَ أهتَمُ أدرَدُ

and opens a mouth in him, but not upon his face—

a mouth broken-toothed and toothless.

ومُعلي دُعاة الدين في رأسِ هضبةٍ

يُجيبُهمُ أدنى عليها وأبعَدُ

He raises faith’s heralds on the crest of a hill,

where those near and far answer them.

وما المُلْكُ إلا ما تناولَهُ أبو الس

عودِ بيُمنى ياسرٍ ومحمّدُ

Kingship is only what Abu al-Suʿud has won,

with Yasir’s right hand—and Muhammad too.

أميرانِ كلٌّ منهما ينهض اسمُهُ

بأضعافِ ما في مُلكِه يتقلّدُ

Two emirs: each one’s name can shoulder

many times the charge he bears within his realm.

وبدرانِ كلٌّ منهما في كماله

وإنْ ظهَرا في الدعوة اثنَيْنِ أوحَدُ

Two full moons: each, in his perfection,

though proclaimed as two, is peerless.

سليلا كريمٍ لو حوى الغيثَ كفُّه

لسالَ لُجَينٌ منه وانهلّ عسْجَدُ

Two scions of a generous man: had his palm contained the rain,

silver would have streamed from it, and gold poured down.

وما مات مَنْ أخبارُه مستفيضةٌ

تسطَّرُ عن أبنائه وتُخلّدُ

He has not died whose stories are widespread,

recorded through his sons and made immortal.

ألا إنما كسْبُ المكارمِ عادةٌ

وكلُّ امرئٍ يجري على ما يُعوّدُ

Indeed, acquiring noble virtues is a habit,

and every man runs the course he is trained to follow.

وكل حديثٍ كان أو هو كائنٌ

شمائلُه تُنبيكَ عنه وتشهدُ

Every story, past or yet to come—

his qualities tell you of it and bear witness.

وقد تنطِقُ الأفعالُ والفمُ صامتٌ

ويأتيك بالأخبارِ من لا تُزوّدُ

Deeds may speak while the mouth stays silent,

and one you have not provisioned brings you news.

وأصدَقُ مدحٍ ما تردِّدُه العِدى

وتشهدُ فيه أنه ليس يُجْحَدُ

The truest praise is what enemies repeat,

testifying that it cannot be denied.

وما الشعْرُ إلا سلكُ منتِثرِ العُلا

ينظَّمُ فيه دُرُّها المُتبدّدُ

Poetry is but a thread for scattered glory,

on which its dispersed pearls are strung.

ولو لم يكن قيدَ المآثِر أوشكَتْ

تُنفَّرُ عن أسماعِنا وتُشرَّدُ

Had it not been a tether for glorious deeds, they would soon

be driven from our ears and scattered afar.

ولولا ضياءُ اللبّ ما كان والجاً

مضايقَ منها مستنيرُ وأربَدُ

Without the light of intellect, none could enter

those narrow passes, whether radiant or dark.

فولّدَ منه الجاهليّ بذهنِه

معانيَ عُقْماً فيها الموَلَّدُ

Thus the pre-Islamic poet, through his mind, begot from it

meanings in which the postclassical poet proves barren.