واحر غلة قلبي الوقاد — Ahmad Alkiwani

وَاحرَّ غلة قَلبيَ الوَقّادِ

وَواطول ما يَلقى الفُؤاد الصادي

Ah, the burning thirst of my blazing heart!

And oh, how prolonged the thirsty heart's suffering!

قَد مَزّقتهُ بِشدوها قَمريةٌ

مِن فَوق غُصن أَراكة مَيّاد

A turtledove has torn it apart with her song,

from atop a swaying branch of an arak tree.

فَتَراقَصَت أَفلاذُهُ حَبباً عَلى

كاس الدُموع لِصَوت هَذا الشادي

So its fragments danced like bubbles upon

the cup of tears at the sound of this singer.

أَهون بِقَلب في الصَبابة لَم يَذُب

وَبِمُقلة مَكحولة بِسُهاد

How worthless a heart unmelted by longing,

and an eye kohled with sleeplessness.

أَينام مُشتاق تَسيل جِراحُهُ

نَائي المَزار حَليف وَجد بادي

Can a yearning lover sleep, his wounds streaming,

far from the meeting-place, companion to undisguised anguish?

وَنَواحل تَحكي السِهام سِواهِمٌ

يَرمينَ أَغراضاً مِن الأَنجاد

And lean, gaunt camels, like arrows,

shoot toward targets in the uplands.

يَرقمنَ أَدراج الفَلا بِمناسم

راحَت تَمُجُّ بِهِ دَم الفرصاد

They embroider the desert paths with footpads

that have begun to spill mulberry blood upon it.

يَحملنَ أَشباحاً تَميل رُؤسهم

سَكرى ناس كَالقَنا المنآد

They carry figures whose heads sway,

drunken men, like bending spears.

أَنضاء أَشواق لَما قَد شَفهم

وَصَلوا عُرى الآساد بِالآساد

Worn thin by longing, once it had wasted them,

they joined the lions' bonds to lions.

يَحدونَ للهيم النَوافخ في البَرى

فَيعللون صَوادياً بِصَوادي

They chant to thirst-maddened camels, snorting through nose-rings,

so they soothe thirsty beasts with thirsty voices.

وَقَفوا عَلى دَمن هَوامد بِاللَوى

يَتَعلَلونَ بِنَظرة المُرتاد

They halted at lifeless traces of dwellings at al-Liwa,

consoling themselves with a seeker's glance.

جَعَلوا هُنالِكَ دَمعَهُم وَمَقالَهُم

وَقفاً عَلى النَشدان وَالإِنشاد

There they devoted their tears and words

exclusively to seeking and reciting verse.

فَإِذا تَرَنَم طائر في أَيكَةٍ

طارَت قُلوبُهُم عَن الأَجساد

Then, whenever a bird sang in a thicket,

their hearts flew from their bodies.

يا أَيُّها الرَكب أَربعوا عَن مربع

فيهِ الرَدى لِلوَفد بِالمِرصاد

O caravan, keep clear of a campsite

where death lies in wait for visitors.

أَياكُم وَمَسارح الآرام مِن

ذي الأَسَل فَهِيَ مصارع الآساد

Beware the gazelles' pastures in

Dhi al-Asal: they are places where lions fall.

كَم دونَ زُرق نِطاقُهُ مِن بيض أَس

ياف تَحرمهُ وَسُمر صعاد

How many gleaming swords stand before its blue girdle,

guarding it, and dark, upright spears!

أَو لَم تَروا لِلعاشِقينَ بِجوهِ

كَالطَير أَفئِدَةً تَلوب صَوادي

Or have you not seen, within it, the lovers'

hearts circling like thirsty birds?

كَيفَ السَبيل إِلى الوُرود وَقَد حَكا

لَون الشَقائق مِن دَم الورّاد

How can one reach the water, when it has taken on

the anemones' hue from the blood of those who came to drink?

وَصَباً أَتَت تَسري إِلى فَقرّفت

مني جِراح فُؤاديَ المُعتاد

And an east breeze stole toward me and reopened

the wounds of my oft-afflicted heart.

فَعلمت لَما إِن شممت عَبيرَها

إِن الصِبا مَرَّت بِذاكَ النادي

So I knew, when I breathed its fragrance,

that the east wind had passed through that gathering-place.

وَبِمُهجَتي مِن راج يُوقد ذكرُهُ

في أَضلُعي جَمراً بِغَير زِناد

And in my heart is one held dear, whose memory kindles

embers among my ribs without fire-strikers.

لا يَستَريح مُتَيم في حُبِهِ

مِنهُ بِقُرب لا وَلا بِبُعاد

No one enslaved by love for him finds rest

from him in nearness—no—nor in distance.

القُرب مِنهُ بِالصُدود منغص

وَالبُعدُ عَنهُ مُفتت الأَكباد

Nearness to him is embittered by rejection,

and distance from him shatters livers.

أَمزوُ دي يَوم الرَحيل بِنَظرة

كانَت بِرَغمي مِنهُ آخر زادي

O you who provisioned me with a glance on departure day,

it was, against my will, my last provision from him.

كَم لَيلة بَعد الفُراق طَويلة

أَفنيتُها بِتململ وَسُهادِ

How many a long night after separation

have I spent in restlessness and sleeplessness!

قَد نامَ فيها البَرق عَن أَرَقي كَما

نامَت حَمام الأَيك عَن إِسعادي

The lightning slept through my wakefulness that night, just as

the doves of the thicket slept, neglecting to console me.

رَقأت جُفون دجونها وَمَدامِعي

مُنهلة تَهمي بِغَير نَفادِ

The lids of its dark clouds dried, while my eyes

streamed and poured without end.

وَالنجم أَحير مِن شَجيّ قَد رَأى

هَول النَوى وَشماتة الحُسّادِ

And the star was more bewildered than a grieving man who had seen

the horror of separation and the gloating of the envious.

فَقَطعتها فَرداً بِطَرف دامع

دامِ وَأَنفاس عَلَيكَ مِداد

So I passed it alone, with a weeping eye,

bleeding, and sighs for you drawn long.

قَلَقاً سَحابتها كَأَنَّ مَدامِعي

حشيت بجمر أَو بِشَوك قِتاد

Restless through all of it, as though my eyes

were stuffed with embers or the thorns of qatad.

وَبَدا الصَباح فَخِلتُهُ مِن وَحشَتي

ثَكلاءَ تَرفل في ثِياب حِداد

And morning appeared; in my desolation I imagined it

a bereaved mother trailing garments of mourning.

فَكَأَنَّما لَطَّخوا بِحَظي وَجهَهُ

وَجَبينهُ الوَضّاح أَو بِمداد

So it was as though they had smeared its face with my fortune,

and its radiant brow—or with ink.

وَشَوارد مثل الزُلال سلاسةً

تَأبى بِأَن تَنقاد لِلنُقادِ

And wandering verses, smooth as limpid water,

refuse to submit to critics.

صاغَ البَيان عُقودَها وَأَجادَها

فَغَدَت تَغير قَلائد الأَجياد

Eloquence fashioned their necklaces and perfected them,

so they came to make the necklaces on necks envious.

يَضطَر سامِعُها إِلى تَقريظِها

فَضلاً عَن الأَصغاءِ للإِيراد

Their hearer is compelled to praise them,

besides listening attentively to their recitation.

ضَمنتها شَكوى الصَبابة وَالهَوى

وَعِتاب دَهر مولَع بِعِنادي

I filled them with complaints of yearning and love,

and reproaches to an age bent on opposing me.

جارَ الزَمان مَع الهَوى حَتّى لَقَد

يَئِسَ الطَبيب وَمَلَني عَوادي

Time oppressed me alongside passion, until indeed

the physician despaired, and my visitors grew weary of me.

وَاستلت الأَيّام سَيفاً مُرهَفاً

ماضٍ عَلى الأَحرار وَالأَمجاد

And the days drew a keen-edged sword,

unrelenting against the freeborn and the noble.

فَالبس لِذاكَ مِن التَصَبُر لامة

فَالصَبر درع الحَر يَوم جلاد

So don, against it, armor made of fortitude,

for patience is the free man's armor on the day of combat.

ما في بَني حَواءَ أَتعَب مِن فَتى

يَبغي مِن الآداب نيل مُرادِ

Among Eve's children none is more wearied than a young man

who seeks to attain his desire through literature.

إِن الرضاءَ بِما لَدَيك هُوَ الغَني

وَالمُلك كُل المُلك للزُهّاد

Indeed, contentment with what you have is wealth,

and sovereignty—all sovereignty—belongs to ascetics.

وَالشان إِن تَغني بِنَفسك عَن نَدى ال

أَمجاد فَضلاً عن جَدي الأَوغاد

And true distinction is self-reliance, without the largesse of the

noble, let alone the bounty of scoundrels.

ما زالَت الأَيام تَضمُر كَيدَها

لِأَولي النُهى كَالجَمر تَحتَ رَمادِ

The days have never ceased concealing their plots

against the wise, like embers beneath ash.

ضَربَ الزَمان عَليَّ دونَ مَطالِبي

لَما أَبيت الذُلَّ بِالأَسداد

Time hemmed me in, cutting me off from my aims,

with barriers, when I refused humiliation.

حَسبي وَحَسبُكَ يا زَمان ظَلَمتَني

وَأَخَذتُني بِجَرائر الأَجداد

Enough for me and enough for you, O Time: you have wronged me,

and held me accountable for my forefathers' sins.

أَوقَدت في الأَحشاءِ نيران الأَسى

وَرَمَيتُ زِند الحَظ بِالأَصلاد

You kindled the fires of sorrow in my entrails,

and hurled fortune's fire-stick against hard stones.

وَأَذَقتَني غصص التَغرب بَعدَما

أَفرَدَت عَن سَكني وَأَهل وِدادي

And you made me taste exile's choking pangs after

you had isolated me from my home and those dear to me.

كلَّت مَناكب حِيلَتي وَتَجَلُدي

مِما تَزاحَم قُسوة الأَضدادِ

The shoulders of my resourcefulness and endurance have grown weary

under the piled-up cruelty of my adversaries.

أَسكَنَت غَر مَعاشِري دَور البَلا

فَرَددت أَسيافاً إِلى أَغمادِ

You housed the finest of my companions in the abodes of decay,

thus returning swords to their sheaths,

مِن كُلِ أَروع لا يَكادا باؤهٌ

يَعطي يَد الأَيام فَضل قِياد

each a dauntless man whose pride would scarcely

give the hand of days the least slack in his reins.

طاروا إِلى داعي الرَدى فَكَأَنَّهُم

رَكِبوا الجِياد إَلى صَريخ مُنادي

They flew to death's summoner, as though

they had ridden steeds toward a caller's cry for help.

أَفوَت مَنازلَهُم وَكانَت مُدة

مَأوى العفاة وَمَوطن الوَفّاد

Their dwellings became deserted, though for a time they had been

a refuge for supplicants and a home for visitors.

فَأَنا الغَريب وَلَيسَ لي مِن مُؤنس

وَأَنا الأَسير وَلَيسَ لي مِن فادي

So I am the stranger, with no companion,

and I am the captive, with no one to ransom me.

ما لي سِوى حُبي لِآل مُحَمَدٍ

أَمَلٌ بِهِ أَرجو فَكاكَ صَفادي

I have no hope save my love for Muhammad's family,

a hope through which I seek release from my fetters.

وَمَدائِحي لَهُم عَلى علّاتِها

عَمل أَقدمهُ لِيَوم مَعادي

And my praises of them, for all their flaws,

are a deed I offer for the day of my return.