رحلوا وهم بين الضلوع حلول — Abn Qlaks

رحلوا وهم بين الضلوعِ حلولُ

فالقلبُ عقدٌ سِلْوُهُ محلولُ

They departed, yet still dwell between my ribs.

So the heart is a knot, its solace undone.

وتبرّجوا للبينِ وهو تبرُّجٌ

ستْرُ التحفُّرِ فوقَهُ مسْدولُ

They displayed their beauty for parting—a display

over which the veil of modesty is drawn.

طلعتْ بدورُهُمُ لتغرُبَ دوننا

فكأنّما ذاك الطلوعُ أفولُ

Their full moons rose to set beyond our reach,

as though that rising were a setting.

ما أطلقوا الأجمالَ تحت جمالهم

إلا وقد علِقَتْ بهنّ عُقولُ

They never loosed the camels beneath their beauty

without minds already clinging to them.

فاحبِسْ غرامَك بالطُلولِ صبابةً

فدمُ التصبُّر بينها مطلول

So tether your passion to the ruins in longing,

for the blood of forced patience lies there unavenged.

أجرِ الرسومَ على الرسومِ فإنها

آثارُ مَنْ آثارُه التقْبيلُ

Render the dues to the ruins, for they are

the traces of one whose traces are to be kissed.

دِمَنٌ صحبتَ مع الصِّبا فيها الصَبا

فأنا عليلٌ والنسيمُ عليلُ

Ruined camps where, in youth, you befriended the east wind;

so I am ailing, and the breeze is gentle.

عبثَ الهواءُ بها وعاثَ بي الهَوى

فمشى مُحول بيننا ونُحولُ

The air played havoc with them, and love ravaged me,

so barrenness and wasting walked between us.

ولطالما لعبتْ بعطفٍ متيّمٍ

في جانبيها شمألٌ وشُمول

And how often a lovesick flank was played upon,

on either side of them, by the north wind and wine,

إذ جوّها يَنْدى وروضُ عِراصِها

يزهو وظلُّ الطيباتِ طليلُ

when their air was dewy, and their courtyards' garden

flourished, and the shade of pleasant things was dewy.

والريحُ تلعبُ فوقَها بقوادمٍ

تهفو وريشُ جَناحِها مبلولُ

And the wind played above them with flight feathers

that fluttered, the plumage of its wing wet.

ولعابرٍ ولعاثرٍ بفَنائها

أبداً مقيلٌ طيبٌ ومُقيل

For a traveler, and one who stumbled in their court,

there was always pleasant noon-rest and a pardoner.

حتى تعرّضَ بين أنهارِ الرِضى

كدَرٌ وفي روضِ الصفاء ذُبولُ

Until, amid the rivers of contentment, there intruded

murk, and in serenity's garden, withering.

وعلى الركائب غادةٌ يدعونَها

شمساً يقومُ بما ادّعوهُ دليلُ

And on the riding camels is a graceful maiden they call

a sun; proof upholds their claim.

ولأجلِ ذلك حيثُ حلّتْ عيسُها

فالليل فجرٌ والنسيمُ بَليلُ

And for that reason, wherever her pale camels alight,

night is dawn, and the breeze cool and moist.

إني وإن صلُبَتْ قناةُ عزائمي

لتُميلُني ريحُ الهوى فأميلُ

Indeed, though the shaft of my resolves is stiff,

love's wind surely bends me, and I bend.

وكذا الكريمُ على جِماحِ عِنانِه

ينقادُ طوعَ هَواهُ وهو ذَلول

So too the noble man, despite his unruly rein,

willingly follows his passion, docile.

وإذا الفتى خلعَ العِذارَ ولِبسُه

بُرْدُ الشبابِ فعُذرُه مقبولُ

And when a young man casts off his bridle, while his garb

is youth's mantle, his excuse is accepted.

من يمنَحِ العشرينَ والعشرَ الصِبا

ففؤادُه المعْذورُ لا المعذولُ

Whoever grants his twenty years and ten to youthful passion,

his heart deserves pardon, not reproach.

ولقد صحبتَ الصِيْدَ يسمعُ فيهُمُ الت

فضيلَ مما قلت والتفصيلُ

You have kept company with proud lords; among them is heard

praise of their distinction in your words, and its detailed account.

وملأتَ أسماعَ الملوكِ غرائباً

سارت بها الأمثالُ وهْي مُثولُ

And you filled the ears of kings with marvels,

which proverbs carried afar while they stood still.

وأنا امرؤ لو قيلَ في تصعيدِه

قوْلي لقيلَ كأنّه التنزيلُ

And I am a man: if, in his exaltation,

my verse were recited, it would be called revelation.

يتطفّلُ الكرماءُ في أحرازِه

وعليهِ يحسُنُ منهمُ التطْفيلُ

The generous come unbidden into his guarded domains,

and their coming unbidden is fitting in his case.

غيري يقالُ له ازدهاهُ منزلٌ

وزَها له المشروبُ والمأكولُ

Of another it may be said: a lodging dazzled him,

and drink and food glittered before him.

لو كان ذلك سكّنَتْ من نهضتي

مصرٌ وبُلِّلَ من صداي النيلُ

Had that been so, my urge to rise would have been stilled

by Egypt, and my thirst slaked by the Nile.

ولمَا دفعتُ الى صحابةِ معشَرٍ

سيانِ فضلٌ عندَهُم وفُضلوُ

Nor would I have been driven into the company of a people

to whom merit and mere excess are the same,

وتركتُ بالفسطاط ملكاً وجهُه

متلألئٌ والقولُ فيه جميلُ

or left in Fustat a king whose face

was radiant, and of whom fair words are spoken.

سبقَ المنائحَ بالقرائحِ كفُّهُ

فغَدا يُطيبُ صلاتَهُ ويُطيلُ

His hand outstripped gifts through native genius,

and he went on sweetening his grants and prolonging them.

لكنْ سمعتُ عن السّديدِ وفعلِه

فأتيتُه لأريهِ كيفَ أقولُ

But I heard of al-Sadid and his deeds,

so I came to show him how I speak.

وعلمتُ أني إن سقيتُ سحابَهُ

نبتَ الرجاءُ وأثمرَ التأميلُ

And I knew that if I watered his cloud,

hope would sprout and expectation bear fruit.

كفٌّ أناملهُ الملاذُ بظِلّها

منها سُيوبٌ جمةٌ وسُيولُ

A hand whose fingers give refuge in its shade—

from it flow abundant bounties and torrents.

أعدى بشيمتِه الزمانُ فكلُّه

سِحْرٌ تأرّجَ زهرُه وأصيلُ

He infected time with his character, so all of it

is fragrant-blossomed dawn and evening.

فكأنّما الأيامُ طرفٌ أدهمٌ

وكأنّها غُررٌ له وحُجولُ

It is as though the days were a jet-black steed,

and his nature its white blazes and stockings.

وجرى الى شأوِ السماحةِ وحدَهُ

ويقولُ قومٌ والغمامُ رَسيلُ

He raced alone to generosity's farthest reach,

and some say the rain cloud is his fellow racer.

قد قلتُ للساعينَ في إدراكِه

مهلاً فما لكُمُ إليه سَبيلُ

I have told those striving to catch him:

Take it slowly: you have no path to reach him.

لا تطْمَعوا فيه ففي مسْعاكُمُ

قِصَرٌ وفي طُرْقِ الرئاسة طولُ

Do not hope to match him, for your striving is

short, while the roads to leadership are long.

جارى الرياحَ الى السَماحِ فأخبرَتْ

عنهُ وأين من الكريم بخيلُ

He raced the winds toward generosity, and they told

of him—where stands a miser beside the generous?

ومُصرِّفُ الرُقْشِ المتونِ كأنّها

قبٌ بميدان الطُروسِ تَجولُ

He wields mottled-shafted pens, as though they were

lean steeds coursing through the arena of written pages.

تبكي فتضحَكُ عن أزاهرِ حكمةٍ

بنى الفصاحةِ روضُها مَطلولُ

They weep, then smile to reveal flowers of wisdom,

edifices of eloquence, their garden dew-drenched.

وصحائفٌ كصفائحٍ ليراعِها

في الحالتينِ من الصَريرِ صَليلُ

And pages like sword-blades: their reed pen

in either guise turns its squeaking into a clang.

من كل ماضي الحدّ كفُّ غِرارِه

بالعَفْو فهو القاطعُ المَغلولُ

Each is keen-edged, its cutting edge restrained

by pardon: a cutter bound in fetters.

وبلاغةٌ تدعُ المبرِّدَ بارداً

وتقولُ جهْراً ما الخليلُ خليلُ

And an eloquence that leaves al-Mubarrid cold,

and declares aloud that al-Khalil is no friend.

أمروّضَ الآمالِ وهي مواحلٌ

ومشيّدَ العلياءِ وهي طُلولُ

O cultivator of hopes, though they are quagmires,

and builder of high glory, though it is ruins,

قد تيّمَتْك المكرُماتُ وهذه

آثارها بك دقةٌ ونحولُ

noble deeds have enslaved you, and these

are their marks upon you: thinness and wasting.

فكأنّ بثّك للنّوالِ بثينةٌ

وكأنّ رأيكَ في الجميلِ جميلُ

It is as though your outpouring of bounty were Buthayna,

and your resolve toward goodness were Jamil.

وفّيْتَ شهرَ الصومِ حقّ صيامِه

وقيامِه وكذاك ليس يزولُ

You fulfilled for the month of fasting its due of fasting

and nightly vigil; thus it does not pass away.

وكسوْتَ عيدَ الفِطْر حَلْيَ نباهةٍ

لعُقودِها في جيدِه تفصيلُ

And you clothed the fast-breaking feast in ornaments of distinction,

its necklaces finely arranged about the feast's neck.

أضحى بها القرآنُ ناشرَ غُرّةٍ

شهدتْ بها التوراةُ والإنجيلُ

Through it, the Qur'an came to display a radiant brow,

to which the Torah and the Gospel bore witness.

واسْلَمْ فقد كثر الكرامُ وإنهم

لولاكَ يا ابنَ الأكرمينَ قَليلُ

And stay safe! The generous are many, yet they

would be few without you, O son of the noblest.