أمكوك الخسار سأنتحيكا — Abn Rumi

أمكُّوكَ الخسار سأنتحيكا

بإحدى الفاقرات ولا أقيكا

O measuring cup of ruin, I shall assail you

with one of the spine-breaking blows, and I shall not shield you.

أتأمُرُ بالتقزُّزِ من كلامي

وذكرك يُصْدِئ الذهبَ السبيكا

Do you demand disgust at my words,

when mention of you makes cast gold rust?

زعَمْتَ بأنني نَحْسٌ وإني

مُجيبُك مُعْلِناً لا أتقيكا

You claimed that I am ill-omened; and I

answer you openly, without fearing you.

توهَّم زَحْفَ موسى نحو حُسْنٍ

على مَنْقوصتيه لكي ينيكا

Imagine Musa crawling toward Husn

on his two crippled legs, to fuck her.

وقد دانتْ لطاعته فكانت

دجاجتَه وكان هناك ديكا

She submitted in obedience to him and became

his hen, while he was a cock there.

فأنشقَ أنفها من نَتْن فيه

كما أنشقْتَنا من نَتْن فيكا

He made her nose inhale the stench of his mouth,

just as you made us inhale the stench of yours.

وماطلَ فوقها نَزْواً مريضاً

كنزوِ مُسَخَّرٍ لا يَشْتَهيكا

He dawdled atop her, mounting feebly,

like the mounting of one forced into service who does not desire you.

فإنك واجدٌ ثم احتمالاً

وصبراً مثل صبرِ مُسَخّريكا

For there you will find forbearance

and patience like that of those forced to serve you.

لقد صبرتْ على قذرٍ وقُبْح

ولم تَسْعَدْ ولم تُرْضِ المليكا

She surely endured filth and ugliness,

yet was not happy and did not please the Sovereign.

فما هذا التقزُّز من كلامي

وأُمّكَ لم تُقَزَّزْ من أبيكا

So what is this disgust at my words,

when your mother felt no disgust at your father,

ولا مِنْ حَمْلها إياك منْه

وقد حمل الخنا بطنٌ يعيكا

nor at conceiving you by him,

though the belly that held you carried depravity?

حلفْتُ على التي بُلِيتْ بمُوسى

لقدْ جعلَتْ له فيكُم شريكا

I swore concerning the woman afflicted with Musa:

she surely gave him a partner in fathering you all.

أقِرْدٌ مُقعَدٌ وتَعِفُّ أنثى

له كلا وإفكِ مُعَلّليكا

A crippled ape—and would a female stay chaste

for him? Never, by the lies of those who console you!

أحاذِرُ أن تكون سليلَ شتَّى

وأحذَرُ مثلَ ذاك على بنيكا

I fear you are the offspring of sundry men,

and fear the same for your sons.

عجِبْتُ ولا تعجُّبَ من ضلالٍ

بدا للناسِ منك ومن ذَويكا

I marveled—though nothing is strange in the depravity

people have seen in you and your kin,

وكثرةِ ناسليكَ لقد أرانا

سُقوطَك قِلةُ المُتنازِعيكا

or in your many begetters. We have been shown

your baseness by how few compete to claim you.

رأيْتُك من بني حواءَ طُرا

وما في دهمهم مَنْ يدّعيكا

I see you sprung from all the sons of Eve,

yet none in their multitude claims you.

وما أنْفيك عن موسى لأني

أرى موسى يُكثّر غائظيكا

I do not deny your descent from Musa, for I

see Musa multiplying those who enrage you.

ولكنْ جَمَّ فيك مُشاركُوهُ

وإن أصبحْتَ بينهُمُ تَريكا

But his partners in your begetting are many,

though you have become an abandoned thing among them.

رمْوا بك عن حِرٍ عَمِقٍ وآلُوا

عليك أليَّةَ المُتناكريكا

They cast you from a deep cunt, and swore

over you the oath of those disowning you.

فلا تعرضْ لدعوى غيرِ مُوسى

فلَيْسَ الأكرمُونَ بقابليكا

So do not seek to claim anyone but Musa as father;

the nobler men will not accept you.

عليك عليك موسى فانتحلْهُ

فإن الناسَ غيرُ مُدافعيكا

Cling, cling to Musa, and claim him,

for people will not contest your claim.

هو الزمنُ الذي أضحى وأمسى

أقلَّ اللَّه فيه مُنافسيكا

He is the cripple, at morning and evening—

may God leave you few rivals for him!

أبوكَ المُقعَدُ المعتوهُ أدنى

إليك اللُّؤمَ والعقلَ الركيكا

Your crippled, witless father brought

baseness and a feeble intellect to you.

رأيتُ أخاك يطلب منك قوتاً

وقد كثَّرْت فيه مؤنّبيكا

I saw your brother asking you for sustenance,

though your treatment of him had drawn you many reprovers.

فلم تسمحْ له بكَفافِ وجْهٍ

ولا شفَّعْتَ فيه أقْربيكا

Yet you would not grant him bare sustenance to preserve his dignity,

nor accept your nearest kin's intercession for him.

وعرّضتَ الخبيثة لي سفاهاً

فعِفْتُ خبيثها حَولاً دكيكا

You foolishly exposed the vile woman to me,

so I shunned her filth for a whole year.

فلمَّا استُكْره الكلِمُ المُقفَّى

تجشَّمها تجشمَ نائكيكا

But when rhymed speech was pressed into service,

it took her on as those who fuck you take you on.

فقُبحاً يوم تُبعثُ يا ابن موسى

لوِجهِكَ مُرْدِفاً قُبحاً وشيكا

May ugliness, when you are resurrected, son of Musa,

befall your face, following an ugliness soon to come.

أتَسْمَح باستِ أمِّك للقوافي

وتبخَلُ بالكفاف على أخيكا

Do you freely offer your mother's ass to rhymes,

but begrudge your brother a bare living?

غدوْتَ مُحالفاً مالاً بديناً

جعلتَ فداءَهُ حسباً نهيكا

You became an ally of corpulent wealth,

making robust honor its ransom.

أتاحكَ لي شقاؤُك يا ابن موسى

لتكسِبَ بي شماتَةَ حاسديكا

Your misery delivered you to me, son of Musa,

so you might earn through me the gloating of your enviers.

ولم أعلَمْك تطلُبُني بذَحْلٍ

ولكني إخالُك مستنيكا

I never knew you to pursue me for a vendetta,

but I suspect you are seeking to be fucked.

ولو أنّي نزوْت بألفِ أيْرٍ

ومِتَّ لما وجدْتَ لديَّ تيكا

Even if I mounted with a thousand cocks,

and you died, you would not find that with me.

وما بي في احتمائك من سقامٍ

ولكنّ المُصحِّح يحتميكا

There is no illness in me that makes me avoid you,

but a healthy man abstains from you.

وهل مِن قائلٍ لك لا يراه

سراةُ الناس مغْبوناً هتيكا

Is there anyone who speaks to you whom

the leading men do not consider cheated and disgraced?

أتنتحِلُ التقزُّزَ يا ابن حُسْنٍ

وحَجَّامُ القبيلةِ يمْتَطيكا

Do you affect disgust, son of Husn,

while the tribe's bloodletter rides you?

وما تنفكُّ مُرتضعاً مَنِيّاً

لعبدٍ تشتريه فيَشْتريكا

You never cease suckling semen

from a slave you buy, who then buys you.

وكان الحُرُّ عندك عبدَ سَوْءٍ

وعبدُ السُّوءِ ربّاً يَسْتَنيكا

The free man was a vile slave in your eyes,

and the vile slave a lord demanding a fuck.

تشامخُ إنْ لقيتَ ذوي المعالي

وتَسْفُلُ للعبيد فتعتليكا

You act haughtily when you meet men of eminence,

but stoop to slaves, so they mount you.

أعِرْ شَتَراً بعيْنك منك فِكْراً

وطالبْ بالجنايةِ واتريكا

Spare a thought of your own for your torn eyelid,

and demand redress for the injury from those who wronged you.

أيورٌ طاعنتْك وأنت ماء

وطالتْ عنك غفلةُ مُدَّعيكا

Cocks jousted with you while you were water,

and those who claim you have long neglected you.

أيا شتراً على بخرٍ أليمٍ

إلى قذرٍ توقَّ مُهاتريكا

O torn eyelid joined to agonizing bad breath,

and filth besides—beware those who trade abuse with you.

أكلْتَ السمَّ يوم أكلتَ لحمي

فلا يغررْك قولُ مهنِّئيكا

You ate poison the day you ate my flesh,

so do not be deceived by your congratulators' words.

ستأكلُ من فريك الشَّتْم صدراً

كما أكلت مشايخُك الفريكا

You will eat a first helping of abuse's roasted green wheat,

as your elders ate roasted green wheat.

وأُعقبك المدُوس على فراغ

وأعقب مثلَ ذاك مُؤازريكا

And afterward, at leisure, I shall serve you threshed grain,

and serve the same to your supporters.

فصبراً للهجاء ستَجتَويه

على أنَّ الهجاءَ سَيَجْتَوِيكا

Patience with satire, then: you will loathe it,

though satire will loathe you too.

بل الإعراضُ عنك عليَّ فرضٌ

وإن قدمْتُ بعض الهُجر فيكا

Rather, ignoring you is a duty upon me,

though I have first offered some obscenity about you.

ظلمتُكَ إذ هَجَوْتُكَ يا ابن موسى

وحقُّك أن أكثّر مادحيكا

I wronged you when I satirized you, son of Musa;

your due is that I multiply your praisers.

لأنك نِلْت مني فاجتباني

بذاك جميعُ من لا يجتبيكا

For you maligned me, and I won the favor

thereby of everyone who does not favor you.

ومَن لا يجتبيك الناسُ طرّاً

وضِعفا ذاك من لا يَرتضيكا

And those who do not favor you are all mankind,

and twice that number do not approve of you.

ولكنْ لا بحمدِك ذاك لكن

بحمدِ مُكثّر المتنقّصيكا

Yet that calls for no praise of you; rather,

for praise of the one who multiplies your detractors.

قِلاك براءةٌ وهَواك عُرٌّ

ودينُ الناس حمدُ مُذمّميكا

Hating you is innocence; loving you is mange,

and people's creed is praise of those who revile you.

فصِلْني بابتراكك في انتقاصي

فشُكري فوق شكرِ الشاكريكا

Reward me, then, with your persistent disparagement of me,

for my gratitude exceeds that of those who thank you.

وأنت أخي أعِدُّك للَّيالي

إذا عرتِ الخطُوب وأرتَجيكا

You are my brother; I keep you in reserve for the nights

when calamities assail, and I pin my hopes on you,

وتُعرم غُلْمتي ويقوم أيري

إذا عز السّفاح فأعتريكا

and my lust runs wild and my cock rises,

when fornication grows scarce, so I visit you.

فتمنحني عيالك منحَ سَمْحٍ

إذا نيكتْ حليلتُه ونيكا

You grant me your household with a generous man's largesse,

when his wife is fucked and he is fucked.

تألَّفني بذاك وتبتغيني

وإنْ كنتُ امرأً لا أبتغيكا

You court my friendship with that and seek me out,

though I am a man who does not seek you,

سوى أني أُمِصُّك رأس أيري

وودُّك أنَّني من ناكحيكا

except that I make you suck the head of my cock,

while your wish is that I be among those who fuck you.

وكم قد قلت حين يُريب رَيْبٌ

مقالة آمِلٍ من آمليكا

How often I have said, when suspicion troubles me,

the words of a hopeful man among those who hope in you:

أقرْنَ صديقنا الحسن بن موسى

علوْتَ فليس خطْبٌ يرتقيكا

O rival of our friend al-Hasan ibn Musa,

you tower high; no calamity can climb to you.

رأيتُك حِصْن من يرتادُ حِصناً

فطوبى نائليك ونازليكا

I see you as a fortress for whoever seeks a fortress,

so blessed are those who reach you and lodge with you!