حيث التفت فكثبان وقضبان — Abn Qlaks

حيث التفتّ فكُثبانٌ وقضبانُ

شجَتْكَ يَبْرينُ واستهوتْكَ نَعمانُ

Wherever you turn, there are sand dunes and branches.

Yabrin saddened you, and Na'man captivated you.

يثني ويقْنونَ من أعطافِهم طرباً

لقد تشاكلَتِ الورقاءُ والبانُ

He bends, and they garner rapture from their curving forms.

The dove and the ban-tree have indeed grown alike.

فانظُرْ الى جُلّنارٍ في خُدودِهم

تعلَمْ بأن ثِمارَ الصدرِ رُمانُ

Look, then, at pomegranate blossoms in their cheeks;

you will know that the fruits of the breast are pomegranates.

ولا يغرّك عذبٌ في ثغورِهمُ

فإنّها دُرَرٌ فيه ومَرْجانُ

And let the sweet water in their mouths not deceive you:

for within that sweetness lie pearls and coral.

طالبتَهُم بالتفاتٍ عندما رحلوا

أما شَكَكْتَ بأن القومَ غِزْلانُ

You asked them for a glance when they departed;

did you not suspect that the company were gazelles?

وقلت قلبُك يطوي صُحْفَ سرِّهُمُ

فكيف فاتَك أنّ الدمعَ عُنوانُ

And you said your heart folds away the pages of their secret;

how, then, did you miss that tears are the heading?

رُسْلُ العيونِ وكُتْبُ العُذْرِ حاكمةٌ

إنّ الفؤادَ له بالحُسْنِ إيمانُ

The eyes' messengers and letters of excuse bear witness

that the heart has faith in beauty.

لا يدّعي الطيفُ أنّ الليلَ يُتلِفُه

أما هدَتْهُ من الأشواقِ نيرانُ

Let the apparition not claim that the night destroys it:

have the fires of longing not guided it?

بَلى هدَتْهُ ولكنْ من سجيّته

أنْ ليسَ يطرقُ طَرفاً وهو يَقظانُ

Indeed they guided it, but its nature is

not to visit an eye while it is awake.

قال العذولُ آسلُ عنهم قلتُ نُصحُك لي

ما صادفَ القلبَ إلا وهو ملآنُ

The reproacher said, 'Forget them.' I said, 'Your advice to me

has only found the heart already full.

لو استعرْتَ فؤاداً واستعنْتَ به

ما كان يُمكنُني في الحبّ سُلْوانُ

Even if you borrowed a heart and sought its help,

I could find no consolation in love.'

خُذْها وهاتِ ومن عينيكَ ثانيةً

هي الكؤوسُ ولكنْ قيلَ أجفانُ

Take it, and give me another from your eyes:

they are cups, though they have been called eyelids.

سُكْراً فلا عُذْرَ للصاحي وأنت لهُ

راحٌ وروْحٌ وراحاتٌ ورَيْحانُ

Drink to intoxication: the sober have no excuse, when you are for them

wine, solace, comforts, and fragrant basil.

نفسي فداؤك من غصن شمائلُهُ

إذا ذُكِرْنَ طوى نَيسانَ نِسيانُ

My soul be your ransom, O branch whose qualities,

when recalled, make oblivion fold away Naysan, April.

عطفْتَهُ بيدِ الصهْباءِ طوْعَ يدي

هل يُعطَفُ الغصنُ إلا وهْوَ ريّانُ

You bent him with red wine's hand, obedient to mine;

can a branch bend unless it is well watered?

إن راقَ أو راعَ قلبي صلُّ عارضِه

فقد تحقَقْتُ أنّ الخدّ بُسْتانُ

Whether the serpent of his cheek-down delights or frightens my heart,

I have learned for certain that the cheek is a garden.

عسى بلالٌ لمن يرجو لعلّته

ما قد رَجا في بلالٍ قبلُ غَيْلانُ

May there be refreshment for one who hopes, for his ailment,

for what Ghaylan once hoped to find in Bilal.

أوليتَ عوجاءَ مِرْقالاً رمَتْ كبِدي

بسهْمِ بينهُمُ عوجاءُ مِرْنانُ

You gave a swift, crooked-legged she-camel; my liver was shot

by a curved, twanging bow, with their parting's arrow.

سُمْرٌ هي السُمْرُ والأحداقُ أنصُلُها

فلا تقُلْ أردتِ الفُرسانُ خُرْصانُ

Dusky ones—they are dusky spears, their pupils the spearheads;

so do not say, 'Spearheads felled the horsemen.'

هي الدُمى والهوى سيفُ ابنُ ذي يزَنِ

والخِدْرُ محرابُها والعيسُ غَمدانُ

They are idols, and passion is Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan;

and their bower is their shrine, and the pale camels are Ghumdan.

يا هلْ لقلبكَ من ثانٍ يَحيدُ به

عن اعتقادِك فيها فهي أوثانُ

Ah, is there someone to turn your heart aside

from your belief in them? For they are idols.

ماذا الضلالُ نورُ الدينِ متّقدُ

يكادُ يُبصِرُ منه النورَ عِميانُ

What is this straying? Nur al-Din is ablaze;

even the blind almost see the light from him.

نجم هو الصبحُ إلا أنه أسد

كالغيثِ في حلم طود وهو إنسان

A star—he is the dawn, except that he is a lion,

like rain, with a mountain's forbearance, though he is human.

حلوُ السماحةِ مُرُّ البأسِ مجتمعٌ

مفرقٌ فهو شهدٌ وهو خُطْبانُ

Sweet in generosity, bitter in might, united

yet divided: he is honey, and he is colocynth.

تلك الشمائلُ لو خُصّ الشَمولُ بها

يوماً لما قيلَ للنُدْمانِ نُدْمانُ

If wine were given those qualities

one day, its boon-companions would not be named for regret.

أغربتُ في نيل حظّي غيرَ مُغْرِبٍ

فاستجمعَتْ لي أوطارٌ وأوطانُ

I won my portion in wondrous fashion, without going west;

so wishes and homelands gathered together for me.

لا تطلُبِ المالَ صُلْحاً من خزائِنه

فإنما بلفظةِ شعرٍ منه غسّانُ

Do not seek wealth from his treasuries by peaceful terms,

for only a word of verse draws Ghassan's bounty from him.

ولو أتاهُ عُبيدٌ في العبيد لما

أودى به أن ثَنى نُعْماهُ نُعمانُ

Had Ubayd come to him among the slaves,

Nu'man's turning back his favor would not have destroyed him.

ولو كسا حيَّ عدوانِ بشاشَته

ما صالَ بينَهم للدهر عُدوانُ

Had he clothed Adwan's tribe in his cheerful welcome,

time's aggression would not have raged among them.

لو تحمّلَ منهُ باقلٌ سَبَبا

ما كان سحّبَ ذيلَ النُطْقِ سَحْبانُ

Had Baqil taken from him a means of support,

Sahban would not have trailed the train of eloquence.

ولو حوى البدرُ جُزْءاً من محاسنِه

لم يعترضْ لكمالِ البدرِ نُقصانُ

Had the full moon possessed a portion of his beauties,

no waning would have disturbed the full moon's perfection.

حلّى به الله أجيادَ الزمانِ فلا

تقُلْ لُجَيْنٌ بلَيْتَيْهِ وعُقبانُ

God adorned the necks of time with him; so do not

say, 'Silver at its two neck-sides, and eagles.'

من معشرٍ كلّما خفّوا لمعترَكٍ

فقلْ أسودٌ أو الأرماحُ خُفّانُ

From a people who, whenever they hasten to battle,

say, 'Lions!'—or, 'The spears are Khuffan.'

الحالبونَ من اللّباتِ ما بخِلَتْ

به الضُروعُ وحامتْ عنه ألبانُ

Those who milk from throats what is withheld

by the udders, and shunned by milk;

والمطعمون الجفانَ البيضَ ساطعةً

تُردُّ عنهنّ أحداقٌ وأجفانُ

and those who fill the gleaming white bowls,

from which eyes and eyelids turn away.

ومَنْ كمثل بليٍّ في ندىً وردىً

إن عُدّ في القومِ مِطعامٌ ومِطعانُ

And who is like Bali in bounty and destruction,

when a lavish feeder and a mighty spear-thruster are counted among the people?

قلْ في زهيرٍ وعدِّدْ من مواقفِه

تَقُلْ مَعَدُّ شهدناها وعنانُ

Speak of Zuhayr, and enumerate his stands:

Ma'add and Anan will say, 'We witnessed them.'

هو الذي ضعضَعَ ابنَيْ وائلٍ وسَما

فيها بموجِ الوغى مذْ يوم ثَهْلانُ

He it was who shook the two sons of Wa'il, and rose high

in those deeds with battle's surging wave, since the day of Thahlan.

وكان من شأنِه في آلِ أبرهَةٍ

ما لم يكُنْ لسواهُ مثلَهُ شانُ

And his deeds concerning the house of Abraha

were such as no one else could equal.

وهل حوى اليُمْنَ إلا الصيدُ من يَمَنٍ

بذاكَ قد جاءَ إسلامٌ وإيمانُ

And who attained good fortune but the proud lords of Yemen?

Islam and faith have come with that.

هم بالقَطاقِطِ منّوا في تَميمِهُمُ

من بعدِ حول وما منّوا ولا ماتوا

They showed favor at al-Qataqit toward their Tamim,

after a year—and neither boasted of it nor died.

بيضُ المَفارِقِ تستَعْلي عمائمُهُم

كأنّما هي والتيجانُ تَيجانُ

White at their hair-partings, their turbans rise high,

as though they and crowns alike were crowns.

وسائلٌ قلتُ ابراهيمُ فرّعَهُم

وللفُروعِ على الأعراقِ بُرْهانُ

To a questioner I said, 'Ibrahim made them branches,'

and the branches bear proof of their roots.

لا تغْتَرِرْ نارُ ابراهيم مُحرِقةً

هذا وراحتُهُ بالجودِ طوفانُ

Do not be deceived: Ibrahim's fire is scorching;

such is he, yet his palm is a flood of generosity.

كم لابنِ شاذيِّ من شادٍ بمُدحتِه

في حيثُ يُسعدُهُ حسنٌ وإحسانُ

How many a singer sings the praise of Ibn Shadhi,

where beauty and beneficence support him!

تقولُ فيه فكلّ الناسِ ألسنةٌ

وإن أردْتَ فكلّ الناسِ آذانُ

You speak of him, and all people are tongues;

and if you wish, all people are ears.