من لنفس طال في الحب عناها — Ahmad Alkiwani

مَن لِنَفسٍ طالَ في الحُب عَناها

لَم يَدَع مِنها الهَوى إِلّا دِماها

Who will help a soul whose suffering in love has long endured,

of which passion has left nothing but its blood?

إِشرَب الدَمع لِيُطفي حَرَها

نَفد الدَمع وَما بَلّ صَداها

Drink tears to quench its burning;

the tears ran out, yet did not slake its thirst.

إِن تَكُن هانَت عَلى متلفها

فَلَقَد عَزَّ دَواها وَعَزاها

If it has grown cheap to its destroyer,

its cure and consolation have indeed become hard to find.

وَطُلول بِاللَوى بالية

جَدد البَلوى وَما رَثَت بَلاها

And weathered ruins at al-Liwa

are fresh in affliction; their woes have not grown old.

لَم يَزَل يَبكي عَلى آياتها

وَاكف منسرب حَتّى مَحاها

Over their traces there wept without cease

a dripping, streaming rain, until it erased them.

وَبَكَت أَجفان عَيني رَسمَها

قَبلَ أَن جَفَت فَموّهتُ ثَراها

And my eye's lids wept over their vestiges,

before they dried, and I drenched their soil.

سَحبت ريح النَعامى ذَيلَها

في رُباها فَلِذا طابَ شَذاها

The Naʿama wind trailed its hem

across their hills, and so their fragrance grew sweet.

أَنفذت عَينيَّ دَمعي وَدَمي

وَأَراقَت في البُكا حَتّى كَراها

My two eyes spent my tears and my blood,

and in weeping poured away even their sleep.

مِن مُعيري مُقلة أَبكي بِها

فَعَسى يَرتاحُ قَلبي بِبُكاها

Who will lend me an eye with which to weep,

that my heart may perhaps find relief in its weeping?

لَو رَأى المَحزون يَوماً مُقلةً

لِلبُكا تَشرى بِمال لاشتراها

If the sorrowful one day saw an eye

that money could buy for weeping, he would buy it.

لا يَجف الدَمع مِن أَجفان ذي

شَجن إِلّا إِذا الحُزن ثَناها

Tears never dry upon the eyelids of one

in sorrow, unless grief folds them shut.

لِمَن العَيس بِوادي المنحنى

كَالحَنايا شَفها جَذب بَراها

Whose are the pale camels in the valley of al-Munhana,

like bows, thinned by the pull that wore them down?

سَهماً دامية أَخفافها

أَسهُماً لَكنهُ الوَخد بَراها

Gaunt, their hoof-pads bleeding—

arrows, but swift trotting has whittled them.

لَم تَزَل تَقطَع أَحواز الفَلا

بِالسَرى حَتّى طَوَتهُ وَطَواها

They never ceased crossing the expanses of the wilderness

by night, until they folded it up and it folded them.

رَزماً كانَت إِذا سابَقَها

موشك البَرق شَأنهُ وَتَلاها

Now kneeling exhausted, they once, whenever challenged by

swift lightning, outstripped it and it followed them.

وَهِيَ اليَوم إِذا ما زَجرت

تَترامى وَقَدُ الفَتر خَطاها

And today, whenever they are urged on,

they stagger, their steps measuring a finger-span.

ضَحك البَرق عَلَيها شامِتاً

فَبَكَت مِن عَيها حَتّى بَكاها

Lightning laughed at them, gloating,

so they wept in helplessness until it wept for them.

وَكَذا الدَهر وَشيك غَدرُهُ

ما رَأى ذا عَزة إِلّا نَفاها

Such is time, swift in its treachery:

it never sees anyone honored without banishing that honor.

حَملت أَنضاءَ شوق جَعَلوا

وَرَدَها مِن دَمعِهم عِندَ ظَماها

They carried men wasted by longing, who made

their tears the camels' drink whenever the beasts thirsted.

كُلَّما أَنَّت مِن الوَخد اِشتَكى

أَلَم الوَجد إِلَيها حادياها

Whenever they groaned from trotting, complaint was made

to them of longing's pain by their two camel-drivers.

أَيُّها الرَكب قِفوا لي تَؤجزوا

بِتَلافي مُهجَة قَبل فَناها

O caravan, stop for me, and be rewarded

for rescuing a soul before it perishes.

بِالَّذي قَدرَّ أَن تُؤدي بِنا

فرقة الأَحباب لَما إِن قَضاها

By Him who decreed that we should be undone

by separation from loved ones, when He ordained it—

هَل لَكُم علم بِسُكان اللَوى

أَي أَرض نَزَلوا مِنها حِماها

have you any news of the dwellers of al-Liwa?

In which land's sheltered grounds have they settled?

كُلُ أَرض نَزَلوها صَيروا

تَريها مِسكاً وَكافوراً حَصاها

In every land where they settled, they turned

its soil to musk, and its pebbles to camphor.

رَحَلوا لَيلاً وَفي أَظعانهم

شَمس حُسن لَيسَ يَغشاها دُجاها

They departed by night, and among their camel-litters

was a sun of beauty that the night's darkness could not veil.

أَي حينَ طالَعت غرتهُ

آية اللَيل محتها بِسَناها

Whenever his radiant brow confronted

night's sign, it erased it with its brilliance.

لَو رَأَتهُ القاصِرات العَين ما

قَصرت عَن قُربِهِ يَوماً مُناها

If the women of restrained gaze saw him, never

would their desires stop short of nearness to him.

ذو عُيون كُل مَن أَبصَرَها

قالَ مِن ساعَتِهِ يا قَلب آها

He has eyes—everyone who sees them

says at once, 'O heart, alas!'

يَستَقل السحر أَن يُعزى إِلى

طَرفِها شَخصٌ رَأى شَخصاً رَآها

Magic is too slight to ascribe to

their gaze, thinks one who saw someone who saw them.

حاجة في نَفس يَعقوب الأَسى

لَو يَجود الدَهر يَوماً لَقَضاها

A wish in the soul of sorrow's Jacob—

if time were generous one day, that wish would be fulfilled.

وَهِيَ إِن كانَ رداهُ بِالهَوى

فَليَكُن قاتِلُهُ حَدَّ ظِباها

And it is this: if passion brings his death,

let the edge of their blades be his killer.

أَنفت نَفسي حَياتي بَعدَهُ

وَحشة يا وَيحَها ماذا دَهاها

My soul disdained my life after him,

in desolation—alas for it! What has befallen it?

فارَقَت لا عَن تَقالٍ أَلفها

فَرَأَت مِن بَعدِهِ عاراً بقاها

It parted from its beloved, not through mutual aversion,

and deemed its survival after him a disgrace.