وفت إذ لوت بالوعد يوم لوى الرمل — أبو المعالي الطالوي

وَفَت إِذ لَوَت بِالوَعدِ يَوم لِوى الرَمل

وَمِن عَهدِها لي المَواعيد بِالمَطلِ

She kept faith when she delayed her promise that day at the sand's bend;

And her way with me is promises followed by delay.

مَها مِن بُروج البَدرِ لاحَت وَدارُها

عَلى المُنحَنى مِن ذي الأَراكة فَالأَثلِ

White antelopes shone from the full moon's mansions, their dwelling

On the bend, from Dhu al-Arakah to al-Athl.

عِذابُ الثَنايا مِن كَواعبِ غادَةٍ

حِسانُ التَثَنّي قَد ثَمِلنَ مِن الدَلِّ

Sweet of front teeth, among graceful, full-breasted maidens,

Lovely in their swaying, intoxicated with coquetry.

كَواعِبُ إِلّا أَنَّهنَّ كَواكِبٌ

سَمَت في سَماء الحُسنِ عَن سِمَةِ المِثلِ

Full-breasted maidens—except that they are stars

That rose in beauty's heaven beyond all resemblance.

كَسَت حِبرَ الوَشيِ البَديعِ مَعاطِفاً

سَقاها الشَبابُ الرُوق سَجلاً عَلى سَجلِ

They clothed their curving limbs in exquisite patterned brocade,

Which fair youth watered, bucketful upon bucketful.

وَقَلَّدَت الأَجيادُ ما في ثُغورِها

تَقَلُّدَ أَجيادِ الرُبا لُؤلُؤَ الطَلِّ

Their necks were strung with what their mouths contained,

As the necks of hills wear pearls of dew.

وَباتَت عَلى الجَرعاء مِن أَيمَنِ الحِمى

حِمى القَلبِ تَرعى لا حِمى البانِ وَالرَملِ

They spent the night on al-Jar'a, on the preserve's right-hand side,

Grazing in the heart's preserve, not that of moringa trees and sand.

أَلا رَبعَت في دارِها أَربَعِيَّةً

سماكيَّة الأَنواءِ دائِمَة الهَطلِ

Ah, may a spring raincloud settle over her dwelling,

Of al-Simak's rain season, unceasing in its downpour,

مِنَ الضَحِكِ اللاتي يُضاحِكُ وَدقُها

ثُغورَ الأَقاحي في الرِياض بِمُنهَلِّ

Among the laughing clouds whose rain exchanges smiles

With the daisies' mouths in the gardens, in a streaming shower.

فَتَعطِفُ لِيتَ الرَندِ نَحوَ عُرارِهِ

وَيَرنو لَها الحَوذان عَن أَعيُنٍ شُهلِ

Then it bends the laurel's neck toward its oxeye flowers,

And the buttercup gazes toward it through hazel eyes.

تُجدِّدُ مِن تِلكَ الرُسومِ مَعاهِداً

عَهدتُ بِها حُسّانَةَ الجيدِ وَالشَكلِ

It renews familiar haunts among those traces,

Where I knew one beautiful in neck and charm,

وَأَحوَرَ وَسنانَ الجُفون إِذا رَنا

أَدارَ كُؤوس الراحِ بِالحَدَقِ النُجلِ

And a dark-eyed one, heavy-lidded, who, when he gazed,

Passed round cups of wine with his wide eyes.

خَليلي أَقِم بي في الديارِ لَعَلَّنا

نُسائِلُ مَغناها عَنِ الرَشَأ الطفلِ

My friend, stay with me among the dwellings, that perhaps we

May question her dwelling about the tender gazelle fawn.

أَقم عَلّها أَن تُرجع القَولَ أَو عَسى

أُخلِّفُ فيها بَعضَ ما بي مِنَ الخبلِ

Stay—perhaps it will answer, or perhaps

I may leave in it some of the madness within me.

فَإِن تَقِفَن مِن أَجلِ نَفسِكَ ساعَةً

فَقِفها عَلى تِلكَ المَعالِمِ مِن أَجلي

If you would stop an hour for your own sake,

Then spend it standing at those landmarks for mine.

فرُبَّ فَتاةٍ مِن مَهاةٍ بُدورُها

تَجَلَّت بِداجي لَيلِ فَرعٍ لَها جَثلِ

For many a maiden, a white antelope, whose full moons

Shone within the dark night of her luxuriant hair,

وَأَجلَت لَنا عَن أُقحُوان مُفلّجٍ

يَرودُ بَعلِّ المسك في واضح رَتلِ

Bared for us daisy-white, well-spaced teeth,

With renewed draughts of musk wafting through a bright, even row.

مِنَ الغيدِ بَيضاءُ التَرائِبِ طفلَة

وَقالَت قَتيلي في الغَرامِ بِلا ذَحلِ

One of the supple beauties, white of upper breast and tender,

Said, 'My victim in passion, though I bear no blood-feud:

وِصالي بِبَذلِ النَفسِ إِن كُنتَ طامِعاً

وَإِلّا الثُّريّا مِنكَ أَقرَبُ مِن وَصلي

Union with me costs your soul, if you desire it;

Otherwise the Pleiades are nearer to you than union with me.'

فَقُلتُ لَها وَالعَينُ شكرى بِمائِها

وَفي القَلبِ نارٌ حَرّا بَردُها يَغلي

I told her, as my eye brimmed with its tears,

And in my heart a burning fire, its very coolness boiling:

فَدَيتُكِ يا نَفسي بِملكي وَإِنَّما

تَمَلَّكَها سَعدُ البَريّة مِن قَبلي

'I would ransom you, O my soul, with what I own; yet

Sa'd of humankind possessed it before me.'

إِمامُ الهُدى بَحرُ النَدى قامِعُ العِدا

حَليفُ النَدى لا يَفترُ الدَهرَ عَن بَذلِ

Imam of guidance, sea of generosity, subduer of foes,

An ally of generosity, never slackening in giving through all time.

هُوَ العالِمُ الطُهرُ الَّذي بِيَمينهِ

تَقَسَّم ما في العالمين مِن الفَضلِ

He is the pure scholar who, with his right hand,

Has apportioned all excellence in the worlds.

هُوَ المُجتَلي سِرّ الخَليقَة وَالَّذي

رَوِيَّتُه رَمزَ الحَقيقَةِ تَستَجلي

He uncovers creation's secret, and it is he whose

Deliberation reveals the cipher of truth.

هُوَ المُظهِرُ النورَ الَّذي ظَهَرت بِهِ

حَقائِقُ ما يَلقى مِنَ الجنسِ وَالفَصلِ

He reveals the light through which have become manifest

The true natures of the genus and differentia he encounters.

هُوَ المُصدر الأَحكامَ وَالحِكمَةَ الَّتي

تُرينا طَريقَ الحَقِّ وَاضِحَة السُبلِ

He issues rulings and the wisdom that

Shows us the path of truth, its ways clear.

هُوَ الفائِض الأَنوار وَالعَلَمُ الَّذي

بِذكرِ اسمهِ يُستَنزل الغَيثُ في مَحلِ

He pours forth radiance, the beacon whose

Name, when invoked, brings down rain in drought.

مُلَقِّن ظِلِّ اللَهِ أَسرارَ غَيبِهِ

كَما هِيَ في أُمّ الكِتابِ مِن الأَصلِ

Teacher to God's shadow of the secrets of His unseen,

As they stand, from the beginning, in the Mother of the Book.

مُرادٌ مريدُ الحَقِّ لا زالَ مُلكُهُ

يُرى بِقِران السَعدِ مُجتَمعَ الشَملِ

Murad, seeker of the Truth—may his dominion always

Be seen united in a fortunate conjunction.

فَوجدانُ سَعدِ الدينِ في مِثلِ عَصرِهِ

شَهيدٌ بِوحدانيّةِ اللَهِ وَالعَدلِ

For the presence of Sa'd al-Din in an age like his

Is witness to God's oneness and justice.

تَبارَكَ مَن أَولاهُ رَأياً مُسَدَّداً

يَلوحُ عَلَيهِ كَالفِرند مِنَ النَصلِ

Blessed is He who granted him well-directed judgment,

Shining upon him like the watered pattern of a blade.

وَلَولاكَ يا سَعدَ البَرايا لَما غَدا

مَعاقِدُ هَذا المُلك مُستَصحدُ الفَتلِ

Without you, O Sa'd of all creation, never would

This kingdom's bonds have become so firmly twisted.

وَهَذا يَراعٌ في يَمينك دُونَهُ

يَقومُ مَقامَ البيض وَالأَسَلِ الذبلِ

And this reed pen in your right hand, defending it,

Takes the place of bright swords and slender spears.

وَما المُلكُ إِلّا غادَةٌ بِكَ شَكلُها

وَإِلّا فَما فَضلُ الغَواني بِلا شَكلِ

Kingship is but a graceful maiden whose charm lies in you;

Otherwise, what merit have beauties without charm?

أَلا أَيُّها السَعدُ الِّذي سارَ ذِكرُهُ

مَسير الصبا في الخافقينِ بِما يُولي

O Sa'd, whose fame has traveled

Like the east wind through east and west, through his gifts,

وَمَن دارَتِ الأَفلاك طَوعَ مُرادِهِ

وَمَن كادَتِ الأَفلاكُ تَكتُبُ ما يُملي

And you whose will the heavenly spheres obey as they turn,

And you whose dictation the spheres are almost ready to record:

لِبابِكَ جاءَت بِالمَديح كَأَنَّما

رَمتها عيونُ الوَحشِ حَدَق قُبلِ

To your door she came bearing praise, as though

Wild antelopes' eyes had cast their inward-turned pupils upon her.

إِلى الشِعر لا تُعزى بِوَصفِكَ بَل غَدَت

على فلك الشِعرى بِمَدحِكَ تَستَعلي

She is not classed as poetry when she describes you; rather, she has come

To rise high upon Sirius's sphere in praising you.

تَحامى فحولُ الشِعرِ وزن عروضِها

كَما تَتحامي مُهجَةٌ نَظرَةَ الصِلِّ

The master poets have shunned weighing her meter,

As a soul avoids an asp's gaze.

لَها نِسبَة في طَيِّئٍ غَيرَ أَنَّها

نَشَت بَينَ رَوضِ الشام في ذارِف الطَلِّ

She has a lineage in Tayy, though

She grew amid al-Sham's gardens, in streaming dew.

رَقيقَة صَفو الطَبعِ إِن هِيَ لُويِنَت

وَإِن خوشِنَت فَالحَدّ مِن نابِها يُفلي

Gentle and pure in nature if she is treated gently;

But treated harshly, the edge of her fang cleaves.

وَكَم مِثلها بِالرومِ لي خِلتُ أَنَّها

وَحاشاكَ مِثلَ القَطرِ في البَلَد المَحلِ

How many like her I have in Rum, which I deemed

—With you excepted—rain in a barren land.

دَعاها إِلَيكَ العِلمُ وَالحلمُ وَالحِجى

وَما تَرتَجي مِن صَوب نائِلك الجَزلِ

Learning, forbearance, and reason called her to you,

And her hope for the downpour of your abundant bounty.

أَتَت تَمتَري مِن جودِ راحَتِكَ الغنى

وَتستَنزلُ النعمى لَدَيكَ بِلا مَهلِ

She came to draw wealth from your palm's generosity,

And to draw down your favor without delay.

وَلَم يُبقِ مِنها صَبرُها غَيرَ مُهجَةٍ

مُعَلَّقة بَينَ المَواعيدِ وَالمَطلِ

Her patience has left nothing of her but a soul

Suspended between promises and postponement.

فَمالَكَ لا تَختَصُّها بِشَفاعَةٍ

وَأَمرُكَ كَالمِقدار يَنفذُ في الكُلِّ

Why, then, do you not favor her with intercession,

When your command, like fate, takes effect in all?

فَوَاللَّهِ لَيسَت دونَ ما حاكَ وَشيهُ

صَريعُ الغَواني مُسلم مِن حلى الفَضلِ

By God, she is no less than the brocade woven by

Muslim, 'the Slain of Fair Women,' in the adornments of excellence.

وَأَنتَ اِمرُؤٌ مِن فَضلِكَ الفَضلُ وَالَّذي

يَشُكُّ كَمَن قَد شَكّ في اللَّهِ وَالرُسلِ

And you are a man from whose excellence all excellence comes; whoever

Doubts is like one who has doubted God and the messengers.