بدعة عندي كاسمها بدعه — Abn Rumi

بدعةُ عندي كاسمها بدعَهْ

لا إفك في ذاك ولا خدعَهْ

Bidʿa, to me, is a marvel, like her name.

There is no falsehood in that, nor deception.

يجتمع الظرف لجلّاسها

والحسن والإحسان في بقعه

For those who sit with her, grace comes together

with beauty and excellence in one place.

يا أيها السائل عن حظها

للناس جزء ولها تسعه

O you who ask about her share:

others have one part, and she has nine.

كأنما غنت لشمس الضحى

فألبستها حسنها خلعه

It is as though she sang to the forenoon sun,

and it clothed her in its beauty as a robe of honor.

ممن قضى الله بإحسانه

ما أحسنت قُمْرِيَّةٌ سَجْعه

She is one whose excellence God has ordained

as long as a turtledove makes its cooing sweet.

لها مسير في أغانيها

توسَّطَ الإبطاءَ والسرعه

Her songs move at a pace

midway between slowness and speed.

كأنما رقة مسموعها

رقَّةُ شكوى سبقت دمعه

The tenderness of her sound is like

the tenderness of a plaint preceding a tear.

تهدي إلى قلبك ما يشتهي

كأنها قد أُطلِعَت طِلعه

She brings your heart what it desires,

as though she had already been shown its secrets.

تحسن في البدأة لكنها

أحسن من بدأتها الرجعه

She excels in the opening, but

the reprise is finer than her opening.

لو أسندت ميتاً إلى نحرها

أو عودها ثاب من الضجعه

If she propped a dead man against her bosom

or her lute, he would rise from where he lay.

غنت فلم تحوج إلى زامرٍ

هل يحوج الصبح إلى شمعه

She sang, leaving no need for a piper;

does dawn need a candle?

وشيع الزمرُ أعاجيبَها

من ظبية أوفت على تلعه

And the piping accompanied her marvels,

those of a gazelle standing atop a knoll.

فكان تاجاً زاد في بهجة

لا كُمَّةً غطَّت على صلعه

So it was a crown that added splendor,

not a cap covering a bald patch.

ويح ابن أيوب لقد فاته

منها السماع اللَّذُ والصنعه

Alas for Ibn Ayyub! He missed

her delightful music and her artistry.

فما يبالي بعدما ناله

مما وصفنا ما دهى سمعه

So he cares not, after what befell him

of what we described, what has afflicted his hearing.

وكم شقي ملكت قلبه

فقطعته قطعةً قطعه

How many a wretch's heart she has possessed,

then torn apart, piece by piece!

عانده في أمرها نحسه

وساعدتها الأنجم السبعه

His ill luck opposed him in her affair,

while the seven stars came to her aid.

كذاك من يقرب من خطة

تكن له الخطَّة بالشفعه

Thus, whoever draws near a plot of land

has that plot by the right of pre-emption.

ظلت وقد أبدت لنا وجهها

في ضحوة الجمعة كالجمعه

She stayed, having revealed her face to us,

on Friday morning, like a clenched fist.

كأنما تجلو لأبصارنا

من شمس يوم غائم لمعه

It was as though she unveiled to our eyes

a gleam from the sun on a cloudy day.

أقسمت لو مكنت من شدوها

وكان وتراً لا أرى شَفعه

I swore: if I were allowed to hear her song,

and it stood alone, with no counterpart I could see,

لم أحفل الملك ولا ملكه

ما حنَّتِ النيبُ ولا نزعه

I would care for neither the king nor his kingdom,

as long as old she-camels moaned—nor for his dethronement.

وكان قلبي أبداً ظرفه

وكان سمعي أبداً قمعه

My heart would forever be its vessel,

and my hearing forever its funnel.

وخلتني ما دمت تلقاءها

من جنة الخلد على تُرعه

I would imagine myself, as long as I faced her,

at a gateway to the Garden of Eternity.

طفِّل على من حَصُلت عنده

فبعض تطفيل الفتى رفعه

Go uninvited to whoever has her;

some gatecrashing brings a young man honor.

واستفتح الباب الذي دونها

تفتح لدى فتحكه قلعه

Ask to open the door that bars access to her:

when you open it, a fortress opens.

تلك ربيع فانتجع روضه

فلن يعاب الحر بالنجعه

She is a springtime: seek pasture in its meadow;

a freeborn man will not be blamed for seeking pasture.

حافظ على مجلسها جاهداً

فإنه ناهيك من متعه

Hold fast to her gathering with all your effort,

for it is an ample delight.

وحدث الناس به فاخراً

فإنه ما شئت من سُمْعه

Tell people of it proudly,

for it brings all the renown you could wish.

أسمعنيها سيدٌ ماجدٌ

يفوز بالمجد لدى القرعه

An illustrious, noble lord let me hear her,

one who wins glory when lots are drawn.

لكنه عودني ظالماً

أن يتبع الفرحة بالفجعه

Yet he has unjustly accustomed me

to joy being followed by calamity.

بيناه قد ألبسني نخوة

بالعطف إذ ألبسني خشعه

Just as he had clothed me in pride

through kindness, suddenly he clothed me in abasement.

وبينما وجهي به مسفر

إذ برقعت وجهي به سُفعه

And while my face was radiant because of him,

suddenly, because of him, a dark stain veiled my face.

يفيق لي من سكر لذاته

إفاقة تتبعها هجعه

For me he rouses from his pleasures' intoxication,

a rousing followed by slumber.

أُدعَى فأَسعى فأرى حاجباً

جهماً لديه المنع والمنعه

I am summoned, so I hurry, only to see a doorkeeper,

grim-faced, with refusal and power to bar at his command.

فشافعٌ يحفزه شافعٌ

ورقعة تحفزها رقعه

Then one intercessor is urged on by another,

and one petition is pressed forward by another.

والنفس في لبس وفي حيرة

والجسم نضوُ يشتكي ظَلعه

My soul is in confusion and bewilderment,

and my body, worn out, complains of its limp,

من دفعةٍ تتبعها جذبةٌ

وجذبةٍ تتبعها دفعه

from a shove followed by a tug,

and a tug followed by a shove.

يجذبني للدفع ذو قوة

يدفعني للجذب في سرعه

A strong man pulls me in order to push me,

and swiftly pushes me in order to pull me.

ويحيَ كم تعذب لي جرعة

منه وكم تملُحُ لي جرعه

Alas for me! How many a draught tastes sweet to me

from him, and how many a draught tastes salty!

كأنه في فعله نحلة

تتبع منها مجَّةً لسعه

In his conduct he is like a bee:

a sting follows a mouthful it disgorges.

خير حديثٍ من أخٍ صدقُهُ

يا من أبت أعراقه وضعه

The best speech from a brother is his truthfulness,

O you whose lineage refuses baseness!

عبدك إن أنصفت من بانة

فإن تعديت فمن نَبعه

Your servant, if you are fair, is of bān wood;

but if you transgress, he is of nabʿ wood.

ها هو مبدٍ لك مكنونَهُ

فقد أضاقت حاله ذرعه

Here he is, revealing his hidden thoughts to you,

for his plight has exhausted his endurance.

ولو رجا ودك دون الجدا

ما كظ ما قد سُمتَه وُسعه

If he hoped for your affection without your bounty,

what you imposed on him would not overtax his strength.

لكنه يلحظُ منك القلى

عن ظنة قد زلزلت ربعه

But he perceives aversion from you,

arising from a suspicion that has shaken his dwelling.

وما بكت عيناه من حسرة

ولا شكا بين الحشا لذعه

His eyes have not wept from grief,

nor has he complained of burning within his breast,

ولا رآه الله مستعطفاً

أصل الرضا منك ولا فرعه

nor has God seen him pleading

for the root of your favor or its branch.

فكيف أستعطف مستنفري

لا لطماح يبتغي قذعه

How, then, can I seek kindness from one who drives me away,

not for insolence calling for rebuke,

ولا لذنب جئتُهُ موجبٍ

ردِّي إذا جئت ولم أُدْعه

nor for a sin I committed that warrants

turning me back when I come uninvited?

والحر ما استنفرتَه نافرٌ

ولو تلقّى أنفه جدعه

A freeborn man, once driven away, keeps away,

even if his nose suffers severing.

في بُلَغِ الإخوان لي عصمةٌ

وفي رجاء الله لي شبعه

In my brothers' provisions I have protection,

and in hope of God I have my fill.

متى توددتُ إلى مبغضٍ

أو يممت بي قدمي صقعه

Whenever I court the affection of one who hates me,

or my foot carries me toward some region,

فلا أقال الله لي عثرة

ولا أقل الله لي صرعه

may God not forgive my stumble,

nor may God lift me from my fall.

أما درى من جار في حكمه

من ملك أني أرى خلعه

Does one who is unjust in his judgment not know,

being a king, that I favor his deposition?

شرطي من الأملاك من لا أرى

لي كل يوم معه وقعه

My condition for kings: one with whom I do not face

a battle every day.

لا يتبع الصفوة لي بالقذى

ولا الطمأنينة بالفزعه

Who does not follow my pure enjoyment with grit,

nor tranquillity with panic;

ممن يؤاخي سيفُهُ غمدَهَ

ولا يؤاخي سيفه نِطعه

among those whose sword is brother to its sheath,

and whose sword is not brother to his execution mat.

ولا يرى أني إذا زرته

قصدت للهرسة والمقعه

And who does not think that, when I visit him,

I have come to be pounded and beaten.

دع ذا وجاوزه إلى غيره

وارضَ لمن أغضبتَه طبعه

Leave this, and pass beyond it to something else;

accept the temper of the man you angered.

وَأْمَنْ شواظاً فار من غيظه

يكفِكَ حلمٌ راجح قمعه

Fear no flame surging from his wrath:

his weighty forbearance will suffice to quell it.

حاشاه أن تتبعه عزة

من عزة تتبعها خضعه

Far be it from him to be attended by pride

of the kind that is followed by abasement.

ولو رأيت اليأس من عفوه

لم ير مني هذه الخنعه

Had I lost hope of his pardon,

he would not have seen this submission from me.

وما على عبد أخي طاعة

ضيعه مولى ولم يرعه

What blame falls on an obedient servant

whom a master neglected and did not tend,

أغضبه حتى طغا جهله

فلم يقل في لومه قذعه

angering him until his rashness ran wild,

yet who uttered no slur in reproaching him?

يا أيها المأمول في دهره

زع من عُرامي بالندى وزعه

O you who are looked to with hope in your age,

give my unruliness a check through generosity.

بادر بمعروفك آفاته

فَبِنيةُ الدنيا على القُلعه

Forestall time's calamities with your kindness,

for the fabric of the world rests on impermanence.

وازرع زروعاً ترتضي ريعها

يوماً فكلٌّ حاصدٌ زرعه

Sow crops whose yield you will welcome

one day, for everyone reaps his own crop.

قد كنت عن عرفك ذا سلوةٍ

لو لم تكن ذوقتني طَلْعه

I would have felt no longing for your bounty,

had you not made me taste its palm blossom.

لكن تشوَّفْتُ إلى ينعه

بطلعه فامنح يدي يَنْعه

But I have yearned for its ripe fruit

because of its blossom; so place its ripe fruit in my hand.

هل يمنع الحرُّ جنى حظِّهِ

من هزَّ هزّاً ليِّناً جِذْعه

Does a freeborn man withhold the fruit of his fortune

from one who has gently shaken his trunk?