Sol 6.1

  1. لا يَخدَعَنَكَ جَمال صوره

    ما لَم يَزَنها حسن سيرَهُ

    Let beauty of form never deceive you,

    unless fine conduct adorns it.

  2. لا تَرضَ بِالود الَّذي

    تَبدو إِذا اِمتَحَن الكَدوره

    Do not accept the affection that

    turns murky when put to the test.

  3. مَن كانَ يَرضى أَن تَغيب

    فَكَيفَ تَرضى أَن تَزوره

    If someone is content for you to be absent,

    how can you be content to visit him?

  4. كَم غَرَني التَرحيب حَتّى

    أَظهَر التَجريب زورَه

    How often welcome deceived me, until

    experience exposed its falseness.

  5. فَكففت لَما لَم أَجد

    مِن يَستقيم عَلى وَتيره

    So I withdrew, since I could not find

    anyone who kept to a steady course.

  6. وَمَتّى تَجهم لي خَطير

    ذدت مِن وَهمي خُطورَه

    Whenever a man of rank scowled at me,

    I drove thoughts of him from my mind.

  7. وَمُسافر عَن ذي العُبو

    س الطَرف أَو يَلقى سفوره

    And away from the frowning one travels

    the gaze, until it meets his open face.

  8. يَصفو وَيونق وَجه مَن

    تَلقى إِذا صَفت السَريرَه

    Clear and lovely is the face of whomever

    you meet, when the inner heart is pure.

  9. ما لِابن آدم كَالقَنا

    عة وَالتَوَكُل مِن ذَخيره

    For Adam's son, nothing matches contentment

    and trust in God as a store of wealth.

  10. وَيد المَطامع لا يُصا

    فحها سِوى كَف الضَروره

    And none shakes the hand of greed

    but the palm of necessity.

  11. وَالقَلب مُمتنع بِحَمد

    اللَهِ مِنها أَن تصوره

    And the heart resists—praise

    be to God—their attempts to sway it.

  12. هَذا زَمان خَيف أَن

    يَنسى الحَمام بِهِ هَديره

    This is an age in which it is feared that

    the dove may forget its cooing.

  13. قَلب الطِباع فَكادَ يُترك

    ظَبيهُ فيهِ نُفوره

    It has overturned natures, so that almost abandoned

    is its gazelle's skittishness in this age.

  14. فَلِذاكَ أَضحى الإِنفِرا

    د يَعد منقبة خَطيره

    Thus solitude has come

    to be counted a virtue of great worth.

  15. وَلِذا قَنعت بِظبية

    بِالحُب مِن مثلي جَديره

    Thus I contented myself with a gazelle,

    worthy of love from one like me.

  16. وَحشية شرك القَضا

    ء أَصارها عِندي أَسيرَه

    A wild one, whom the snare of fate

    made a captive in my keeping.

  17. فَغَدَت وَما هِي بِالمُهينة

    في يَديَّ وَلا الحَقيره

    So she remained, neither humiliated

    in my hands nor held in contempt.

  18. تَأَبى بِإِن يَستام سحر

    العَين مِنها إِن تَعيره

    She refuses, if someone bids for the enchantment

    of her eye, to lend it.

  19. دَع ذا وَخُذ ملحاً تر

    دّ طَلائع الهَم المُغيره

    Leave that aside; take some pleasant tales to repel

    the raiding vanguard of sorrow.

  20. وَاِسمَع رِثاءِ هُريرة

    كانَت تَرى عِندي أَسيرَهَ

    And hear an elegy for a little cat,

    once seen as a captive in my keeping.

  21. خلس الحَمام حَياتها

    وَاِبتَزَ مِن قَلبي سُروره

    Death stole her life

    and robbed my heart of its joy.

  22. كانَت تَروق الناظِرين

    بِحُسن أَخلاق وَصوره

    She used to delight those who looked at her

    with beauty of character and form.

  23. كانَت لِنَفسي أَن فَقَد

    ت مَسامراً أَبَداً سَميره

    For my soul, whenever I lacked

    an evening companion, she was always one.

  24. حَتّى إِذا الفَجر اِنجَلى

    أَو طائر أَبدى صَفيره

    Then, when dawn broke clear

    or a bird let out its whistle,

  25. قامَت تَجر وَارءَها

    ذَنباً يَنوس وَلا الضَفيره

    she rose, dragging behind her

    a swaying tail, not a braided tress.

  26. سَوداء رَجعت الهَرير

    كَراهب يَتلو زبوره

    Black, she trilled her purring

    like a monk reciting his psalter.

  27. تَهوى الجُلوس عَلى النَما

    رق أَو عَلى الفَرش الوَثيره

    She loved to sit on cushions

    or on soft bedding.

  28. إِني لانعت مُقلة

    كانَت بِها عَيني قَريره

    I am indeed describing an eye

    in which my own eye found delight.

  29. صَفراء تَحسب أَنَّها

    تَخضرّ في وَقت الظَهيره

    Yellow, you would think it

    turned green at midday.

  30. إِنسانَها مِن حبة

    الشونيز في شَكل الشَعيره

    Its pupil was like a seed

    of black cumin, shaped like a barley grain.

  31. طَوراً تَطول وتارة

    تَبدو لِعَينك مُستَديره

    At times it lengthened, and at others

    it appeared round to your eye.

  32. ستر التَوَدد شَرَها

    وَطِباعَها تَبقي ظُهوره

    Affection concealed her malice,

    but her nature kept it visible.

  33. وَتَملق النور

    مَعروف وَحدتهُ شَهيره

    And the cat's ingratiating ways

    are well known, and its sharp temper famous.

  34. وَلَها إِذا أغضبتها

    أَو هَجتها نَفسٌ مَريرة

    And hers, when you angered her

    or provoked her, was a fierce spirit.

  35. تَحكي الهَزبر إِذا أَزبأرّت

    صورة إِلّا زَئيرَه

    She resembled a lion when her fur bristled,

    in form, though without his roar.

  36. كانَت كَجَمر مَضرم

    إِن عانق أَلواني فُتوره

    She was like kindled embers

    when the weary one was gripped by languor.

  37. كانَت لِجَيش الفَأر صا

    عقة مَسوَّمة مبيره

    Against the army of mice she was a thunderbolt,

    marked out and annihilating.

  38. كَم مِن كِتاب قَد قَرضنَ

    مِن القَريض بِهِ سُطوره

    In how many a book had they gnawed

    the lines of poetry it held!

  39. فَغَدَت مسلطة عَلى

    أَتلافهنَّ بِهِ خَبيره

    So she was set upon

    destroying them, adept at it.

  40. أَغرى بِهنَّ مِن اللُصو

    ص بِمال مَقعدة ضَريره

    More intent on them than thieves

    on the wealth of a crippled, blind woman.

  41. فَإِذا اِختَفينَ وَفي الرَحيل

    لَهُنَّ لَو يَعلَمنَ خَيره

    And when they hid—though departure

    would be better for them, had they known—

  42. كَمنت لَهُنَّ كَمون صلٍّ

    وَاِستَماتَت عَن بَصيره

    she lay in ambush for them like a viper,

    and knowingly played dead.

  43. فَاعجب لِمَوتة مَيت

    وَأعجب لِعاقرة عَقيره

    So marvel at the death of one already dead,

    and marvel at a slayer herself slain.

  44. كَم فارة هَمزت وَقَد

    كَشَفَ القَضا عَنها سُتوره

    How many a mouse she struck, once

    fate had lifted its veils from it.

  45. كَم حَجَر فار حاصَرَت

    فَرَأَتهُ لا يُبدي ضَميره

    How many a mouse-hole she besieged,

    and found it would not reveal its secret.

  46. كادَت تَصيد الفَرقدي

    ن بِوَثبة مِنها يَسيرَه

    She nearly caught the two Farqad stars

    with an easy leap of hers.

  47. فَتَعلمت حَركاتها

    شعل البُروق المُستَطيرَه

    Her movements were thus learned

    by the flames of spreading lightning.

  48. نالَ الرَدى مِنها وَكا

    نَت مِنهُ قَد أَخَذَت طُفورَه

    Death seized her, though

    she had already borrowed its power to spring.

  49. أَعزز عَليَّ بِأَن تُصا

    ب وَإِن أَضمتها الحَفيره

    How grievous to me that she was stricken,

    even though the grave has enfolded her.

  50. لَو سامَها مني الرَدى

    ما بِعتَها بِحَراج كوره

    If Death had sought to buy her from me,

    I would not have sold her for a district's revenues.

  51. قَد غالَها ما غالَ ذو ال

    أَوتاد وَاِستَقصى نَفيره

    She was slain by what slew the Lord of the

    Stakes and wiped out his entire host.

  52. وَأَراحَ مِنها الطَير في

    وَكنانها حَتّى الصُقورَه

    And it gave the birds respite from her in

    their nests—even the falcons.

  53. فَليَعتَبر مَن كانَ ذا

    بَغي وَلا يَركَب غُرورَه

    So let anyone given to

    oppression take heed, and not ride his conceit.

  54. سَتَطول حَسرَتَهُ غَداً

    مَع إِنَّ مُدَتهُ يَسيرَه

    Tomorrow his regret will be long,

    though his span is brief.