أما إنه لولا الخليط المودع — Abu Tammam

أَما إِنَّهُ لَولا الخَليطُ المُوَدِّعُ

وَرَبعٌ عَفا مِنهُ مَصيفٌ وَمَربَعُ

Truly, were it not for the companions bidding farewell,

And a dwelling whose summer and spring grounds have faded,

لَرُدَّت عَلى أَعقابِها أَريحِيَّةٌ

مِنَ الشَوقِ واديها مِنَ الهَمِّ مُترَعُ

An ardor would surely have been turned back on its heels,

Born of longing, its valley brimming with grief.

لَحِقنا بِأُخراهُم وَقَد حَوَّمَ الهَوى

قُلوباً عَهِدنا طَيرَها وَهيَ وُقَّعُ

We caught up with their rear, when love had set circling

Hearts whose birds we had known to be perched.

فَرُدَّت عَلَينا الشَمسُ وَاللَّيلُ راغِمٌ

بِشَمسٍ لَهُم مِن جانِبِ الخِدرِ تَطلُعُ

Then the sun was restored to us, with night forced to submit,

By a sun of theirs rising from beside the curtained chamber.

نَضا ضَوءُها صِبغَ الدُجُنَّةِ فَاِنطَوى

لِبَهجَتِها ثَوبُ السَماءِ المُجَزَّعُ

Her light stripped off darkness's dye, and folded away

Before her splendor was the sky's variegated robe.

فَوَاللَهِ ما أَدري أَأَحلامُ نائِمٍ

أَلَمَّت بِنا أَم كانَ في الرَكبِ يوشَعُ

So, by God, I do not know: did a sleeper's dreams

Visit us, or was Joshua in the caravan?

وَعَهدي بِها تُحيي الهَوى وَتُميتُهُ

وَتَشعَبُ أَعشارَ الفُؤادِ وَتَصدَعُ

And I have known her to revive love and to kill it,

And join the heart's ten fragments, and cleave them apart.

وَأَقرَعُ بِالعُتبى حُمَيّا عِتابَها

وَقَد تَستَقيدُ الراحَ حينَ تُشَعشَعُ

And with appeasement I beat down the heat of her reproach,

And you may tame wine when it is diluted.

وَتَقفو إِلى الجَدوى بِجَدوى وَإِنَّما

يَروقُكَ بَيتُ الشِعرِ حينَ يُصَرَّعُ

And she follows one kindness with another; it is only

When both halves rhyme that a verse delights you.

أَلَم تَرَ آرامَ الظِباءِ كَأَنَّما

رَأَت بِيَ سيدَ الرَملِ وَالصُبحُ أَدرَعُ

Have you not seen the white gazelles, as though

They saw in me the wolf of the sands, while dawn was dark-headed?

لَئِن جَزِعَ الوَحشِيُّ مِنها لِرُؤيَتي

لَإِنسِيُّها مِن شَيبِ رَأسِيَ أَجزَعُ

If their wild gazelle takes fright at seeing me,

Their human gazelle fears my gray hair still more.

غَدا الهَمُّ مُختَطّاً بِفَوَدَيِّ خِطَّةً

طَريقُ الرَدى مِنها إِلى النفسِ مَهيَعُ

Grief has begun laying out a tract upon my two temples;

From it, death's road to the soul lies wide open.

هُوَ الزَورُ يُجفى وَالمُعاشَرُ يُجتَوى

وَذو الإِلفِ يُقلى وَالجَديدُ يُرَقَّعُ

It is the shunned guest and the loathed companion,

The hated intimate and the new garment that is patched.

لَهُ مَنظَرٌ في العَينِ أَبيَضُ ناصِعٌ

وَلَكِنَّهُ في القَلبِ أَسوَدُ أَسفَعُ

It looks a pure, dazzling white to the eye,

Yet in the heart it is black and soot-dark.

وَنَحنُ نُزَجّيهِ عَلى الكُرهِ وَالرِضا

وَأَنفُ الفَتى مِن وَجهِهِ وَهوَ أَجدَعُ

And we bear it along, unwilling or content;

And a man's nose belongs to his face, even when cropped.

لَقَد ساسَنا هَذا الزَمانُ سِياسَةً

سُدىً لَم يَسُسها قَطُّ عَبدٌ مُجَدَّعُ

This age has indeed governed us with a rule

So heedless that no mutilated slave ever ruled so.

تَروحُ عَلَينا كُلَّ يَومٍ وَتَغتَدي

خُطوبٌ كَأَنَّ الدَهرَ مِنهُنَّ يُصرَعُ

Each day, evening and morning, there come upon us

Calamities that seem to fell Time itself.

حَلَت نُطَفٌ مِنها لِنِكسٍ وَذو النُهى

يُدافُ لَهُ سُمٌّ مِنَ العَيشِ مُنقَعُ

Drops of them taste sweet to a base wretch, while the man of reason

Has potent poison mixed for him from life.

فَإِن نَكُ أُهمِلنا فَأَضعِف بِسَعيِنا

وَإِن نَكُ أُجبِرنا فَفيمَ نُتَعتِعُ

If we have been left untended, how feeble our striving!

And if we have been compelled, why do we falter?

لَقَد آسَفَ الأَعداءَ مَجدُ اِبنِ يوسُفٍ

وَذو النَقصِ في الدُنيا بِذي الفَضلِ مولَعُ

Ibn Yusuf's glory has indeed enraged his enemies;

And in this world, the deficient man is obsessed with the excellent.

أَخَذتُ بِحَبلٍ مِنهُ لَمّا لَوَيتُهُ

عَلى مِرَرِ الأَيّامِ ظَلَّت تَقَطَّعُ

I seized a rope of his; when I wound it

Around the twisted strands of days, they kept snapping.

هُوَ السَيلُ إِن واجَهتَهُ اِنقَدتَ طَوعَهُ

وَتَقتادُهُ مِن جانِبَيهِ فَيَتبَعُ

He is the torrent: face him, and you submit to his will;

Lead him from either flank, and he follows.

وَلَم أَرَ نَفعاً عِندَ مَن لَيسَ ضائِراً

وَلَم أَرَ ضَرّاً عِندَ مَن لَيسَ يَنفَعُ

And I have seen no benefit in one who cannot harm,

And no harm in one who cannot benefit.

يَقولُ فَيُسمِعُ وَيَمشي فَيُسرِعُ

وَيَضرِبُ في ذاتِ الإِلَهِ فَيوجِعُ

He speaks and makes himself heard; he walks and hastens;

And he strikes in God's cause, inflicting pain.

مُمَرٌّ لَهُ مِن نَفسِهِ بَعضُ نَفسِهِ

وَسائِرُها لِلحَمدِ وَالأَجرِ أَجمَعُ

A portion of his own self is bound fast for himself,

And all the rest is wholly for praise and reward.

رَأى البُخلَ مِن كُلٍّ فَظيعاً فَعافَهُ

عَلى أَنَّهُ مِنهُ أَمَرُّ وَأَفظَعُ

He found miserliness hideous in anyone and shunned it,

Though in him it would be bitterer and more hideous.

وَكُلُّ كُسوفٍ في الدَرارِيِّ شُنعَةٌ

وَلَكِنَّهُ في الشَمسِ وَالبَدرُ أَشنَعُ

Every eclipse among the brilliant stars is a blemish,

But in the sun and full moon it is uglier still.

مَعادُ الوَرى بَعدَ المَماتِ وَسَيبُهُ

مَعادٌ لَنا قَبلَ المَماتِ وَمَرجِعُ

Humankind's return is after death; his bounty

Is our resort and place of return before death.

لَهُ تالِدٌ قَد وَقَّرَ الجودُ هامَهُ

فَقَرَّت وَكانَت لا تَزالُ تَفَزَّعُ

He has ancestral wealth whose heads generosity has steadied,

So they rest, though once they were forever taking fright.

إِذا كانَتِ النُعمى سَلوباً مِن اِمرِىءٍ

غَدَت مِن خَليجَي كَفِّهِ وَهيَ مُتبَعُ

If bounty is bereft of offspring in another man,

It comes from his palm's twin channels with young following.

وَإِن عَثَرَت سودُ اللَيالي وَبيضُها

بِوَحدَتِهِ أَلفَيتَها وَهيَ مَجمَعُ

And if the black nights and the white ones stumble

Against him alone, you find his lone self a whole assembly.

وَإِن خَفَرَت أَموالَ قَومٍ أَكُفُّهُم

مِنَ النَيلِ وَالجَدوى فَكَفّاهُ مَقطَعُ

And if men's hands guard their wealth

Against gifts and bounty, his two palms are where wealth is cut apart.

وَيَومٍ يَظَلُّ العِزُّ يُحفَظُ وَسطَهُ

بِسُمرِ العَوالي وَالنُفوسُ تُضَيَّعُ

And many a day when honor is preserved in its midst

By tawny spear-shafts, while lives are squandered—

مَصيفٍ مِنَ الهَيجا وَمِن جاحِمِ الوَغى

وَلَكِنَّهُ مِن وابِلِ الدَمِ مَربَعُ

A summering-ground of battle and war's blazing heat,

Yet a springtime ground from the downpour of blood;

عَبوسٍ كَسا أَبطالَهُ كُلَّ قَونَسٍ

يُرى المَرءُ مِنهُ وَهوَ أَفرَعُ أَنزَعُ

A scowling day that clothed its champions, each in a helmet,

Through which a full-haired man appears bald at the temples;

وَأَسمَرَ مُحمَرِّ العَوالي يَؤُمُّهُ

سِنانٌ بِحَبّاتِ القُلوبِ مُمَتَّعُ

And a tawny spear, red at the tip, headed

By a point regaled with the hearts' very cores,

مِنَ اللاءِ يَشرَبنَ النَجيعَ مِنَ الكُلى

غَريضاً وَيَروى غَيرُهُنَّ فَيَنقَعُ

One of those that drink dark blood from the kidneys,

Fresh—while others drink their fill and slake their thirst—

شَقَقتَ إِلى جَبّارِهِ حَومَةَ الوَغى

وَقَنَّعتَهُ بِالسَيفِ وَهُوَ مُقَنَّعُ

You cleft the thick of battle to reach its tyrant,

And crowned him with the sword, though he was helmeted.

لَدى سَندِبايا وَالهِضابِ وَأَرشَقٍ

وَموقانَ وَالسُمرُ اللَدانُ تَزَعزَعُ

At Sandibaya, the uplands, and Arshaq,

And Muqan, while the supple tawny spears quivered;

وَأَبرَشَتَويمٍ وَالكَذاجِ وَمُلتَقى

سَنابِكِها وَالخَيلُ تَردي وَتَمزَعُ

And Abrashtawim, al-Kadhaj, and the meeting-place

Of their hooves, as the horses galloped and dashed.

غَدَت ظُلَّعاً حَسرى وَغادَرَ جَدُّها

جُدودَ أُناسٍ وَهيَ حَسرى وَظُلَّعُ

They became lame and spent, and their striving left

The fortunes of men spent and lame.

هُوَ الصُنعُ إِن يَعجَل فَنَفعٌ وَإِن يَرِث

فَلَلرَيثُ في بَعضِ المَواطِنِ أَسرَعُ

Such is kindness: if it hastens, it helps; if it lingers,

Delay itself is swifter in certain situations.

أَظَلَّتكَ آمالي وَفي البَطشِ قُوَّةٌ

وَفي السَهمِ تَسديدٌ وَفي القَوسِ مَنزَعُ

My hopes have cast their shade upon you; there is strength in the grasp,

True aim in the arrow, and drawing power in the bow.

وَإِنَّ الغِنى لي إِن لَحَظتُ مَطالِبي

مِنَ الشِعرِ إِلّا في مَديحِكَ أَطوَعُ

And wealth, for me—if I survey my aims

Through poetry—is more at my command, except in praising you.

وَإِنَّكَ إِن أَهزَلتَ في المَحلِ لَم تُضِع

وَلَم تَرعَ إِن أَهزَلتَ وَالرَوضُ مُمرَعُ

And if you let stock grow lean in drought, you have not neglected it;

But you have not pastured it if you let it grow lean while the meadow is lush.

رَأَيتُ رَجائي فيكَ وَحدَكَ هِمَّةً

وَلَكِنَّهُ في سائِرِ الناسِ مَطمَعُ

I regard my hope in you alone as lofty aspiration,

But in all other people it is covetous desire.

وَكَم عاثِرٍ مِنّا أَخَذتَ بِضَبعِهِ

فَأَضحى لَهُ في قُلَّةِ المَجدِ مَطلَعُ

And how many a stumbler among us have you grasped by the upper arm,

So he gained a path up to glory's summit!

فَصارَ اِسمُهُ في النائِباتِ مُدافِعاً

وَكانَ اِسمُهُ مِن قَبلُ وَهوَ مُدَفَّعُ

His name became a defender amid calamities,

Whereas before, his name was that of a man thrust aside.

وَما السَيفُ إِلّا زُبرَةٌ لَو تَرَكتَهُ

عَلى الخِلقَةِ الأولى لَما كانَ يَقطَعُ

And a sword is only a lump of iron: if you left it

In its original form, it would not cut.

فَدونَكَها لَولا لَيانُ نَسيبِها

لَظَلَّت صِلابُ الصَخرِ مِنها تَصَدَّعُ

So take this poem; were it not for its tender love-prelude,

The hardest rocks would keep splitting under its force.

لَها أَخَواتٌ قَبلَها قَد سَمِعتَها

وَإِن لَم تَزِع بي مُدَّةً فَسَتسَمَعُ

It has sisters before it which you have already heard;

And if you do not hold me back for a while, you will hear more.