دعوه يبكي لفقد خلانه — Al Ahnaf Alakbari

دعوهُ يبكي لفقد خلانه

وهجر أحبابه وأخدانه

Let him weep for the loss of his friends,

and the desertion of his loved ones and companions.

جيرانهُ أوحشوا منازله

فظل يبكي لفقد جيرانه

His neighbors have left his dwellings desolate,

so he kept weeping for the loss of his neighbors.

أشجانهُ قيّضت له تلفا

فصار يدعى قتيل أشجانه

His sorrows brought destruction upon him,

so he came to be called the victim of his sorrows.

أجفانه أبكت العيون دما

وأنحل الجسم غنج أحضانه

His eyelids made eyes weep blood,

and the coy charm of his embraces wasted the body.

سحر بألحاظه ومقلته

وكل عين منه أعنانه

He bewitched with his glances and his eye,

and each eye of his serves as his reins.

صفف أصداغه على يقق

تحمل وردا عليه رمّانه

He arranged his sidelocks against dazzling white,

his pomegranates bearing roses upon it.

شقاوتي لم هويت من تلفي

خلف مواعيده وهجرانه

Wretched me! Why did I love one who ruins me

by breaking his promises and deserting me?

ألفاظه مازجت عبارتهُ

فصار إبليسُ بعض أعوانه

His words mingled with his expression,

so Iblis became one of his helpers.

مضارعٌ ماجن يهبهب من

تحت مراعيشه لمجّانه

A wanton imitator, he flutters from

beneath his fans [uncertain], for his libertines.

وزانه منه في موانسَةٍ

وخائفٌ منه ثقل أوزانه

His money-weigher is on familiar terms with him,

and fears him for the heaviness of his weights.

من شأنه هجر عاشقيه وما

بذل وصال المحبّ من شانه

It is his way to forsake his lovers, and not

his way to grant a lover union.

إذا تمشّى بحسن سمرته

وكسر أعطافه بأردانه

When he walks in the beauty of his dusky complexion,

and sways his sides within his sleeves,

قالت لباقاته لعاشقه

قول مبين بحسن تبيانه

his graces speak to his lover

clear words, beautifully expressed:

عوّذهُ بالله والقران وما

في طيّ يا سينه ورحمانه

“Invoke protection for him through God, the Qur'an, and what

is enfolded in its Ya-Sin and al-Rahman.”

إذا انثنى وانساب يجمعه

ما بين مرويّة وكتّانه

When he bends and glides, he is enclosed

between Marw cloth and his linen.

صاح العزا بالهوى فأسلمهُ

فاستكتم الدمع نفيُ كتمانه

Patience cried out to passion and surrendered him,

so the undoing of his concealment begged the tears for secrecy.

سألتهُ قبلةً فضَنّ بها

وتاه في كبرهِ وعدوانه

I asked him for a kiss, but he withheld it,

and swaggered in his arrogance and hostility.

ثمَ انثنى كالمغيظ من حنقٍ

يعضُّ إبهامه بأسنانه

Then he turned away like one vexed with fury,

biting his thumb with his teeth.

وقال لي يا ضعيف ويلك من

دسّك قل لي يا نكس إخوانه

He said to me, “You weakling, woe to you! Who

has smuggled you in? Tell me, you runt among your fellows!”

قلت له يا منيتي وجهك قد

أمرض قلبي بحسن ألوانه

I told him, “O my heart's desire, your face has

made my heart sick with the beauty of its hues.

وجهك كالبدر قد أضاء لنا

من تحت شعر زها بأفنانه

Your face, like the full moon, has shone for us

from beneath hair glorious in its branches.

وأنت سؤلي من الزمان فجد

عليّ في منّة قبح خلقانه

You are what I ask of time, so be generous

to me with a favor—how ugly are its rags!”

أتيته ثمّ قلت ذلك من

سرّ بهذا رمي بخذلانه

I came to him, then said as much: “Whoever

rejoices in this is struck by his desertion.”

ثمّ تنصّفت وانتميت إلى

عبّاس في رهطه وفتيانه

Then I sought fair treatment and attached myself to

Abbas, among his clan and his young men.

وقلت في خالد وعطبته

قولا يوافي بحسن إحسانه

I spoke of Khalid and his misfortune

words befitting the beauty of his beneficence.

خرّ كذا لي يقال في زمن

مدّ من هجري بطول هجرانه

“Fall down!”—so I am told in an age

that prolonged my estrangement through his long desertion.

أنا الفتى الأحنف الذي خضعت

له وذلّت خدود أقرانه

I am the youth al-Ahnaf, before whom bowed

and abased themselves the cheeks of his peers.

أقرّ أهل السجون عن ثقة

بفضله في جميع بلدانه

The inmates of prisons acknowledged with certainty

his superiority throughout all his lands.

نازوك قد مل من عقوبته

فيما مضى من قديم أزمانه

Nazuk has grown weary of punishing him

in the bygone days of his earlier times.

والبازعجيّ فهو يعرفهُ

وذم شيطانه لشيطانه

And al-Bazaʿji knows him,

and denounced his devil to his own devil.

مقطب الحاجبين ترعدُ من

خوف دواهيه قلب سجّانه

His brows are knitted; there trembles, from

fear of his calamities, his jailer's heart,

من ألف فلس وألف ألف عصا

لو أحصيت في أقل ديوانه

from a thousand fals and a million strokes of the rod,

if counted in the merest part of his register.

وقفاتُهُ والولاةُ تسألهُ

أثبت من خالد وسيدانه

His stances, while the governors question him,

are firmer than Khalid and his wolves.

إذا رأى السبع جاءهُ عجلا

من غير خوف لعرك آذانه

When he sees the wild beast, he hastens to it,

without fear, to rub its ears.

قد صوّر القرمُطيّ صورتهُ

من خوفه في جميع حيطانه

Al-Qarmuti has drawn his portrait,

out of fear of him, on all his walls.

منجّم شاعرٌ له هممٌ

نيطت ببهرامه وكيوانه

An astrologer and poet, he has ambitions

bound to his Bahram and his Kaywan.

تعليم ما في الكتاب فطنته

من شعره وديوانه

Teaching what is in the book is his skill,

from his poetry and his collected verse.

إن أنت واصلته وفيت إلى

سعادة لا تشوب أحزانه

If you keep company with him, you will reach

a happiness untainted by his sorrows.

فقال يا صاحبي أصله

إذا فرح قلبي يحل بيرانه

Then he said, “My friend, I keep company with him

when my heart rejoices; he settles by his wells [uncertain].

وأنفق البيض في مواضعها

صرت له من اقل غلمانه

And I spend silver coins in their proper places;

I became one of the least of his serving boys.”

أخصمني والذي أؤمّلُه

لعفوه في غد وغفرانه

He bested me in argument—by Him in whom I hope

for His pardon and forgiveness tomorrow—

لا يعطف الحبّ بعد جفوته

غير مداوير كيس وزّانه

nothing softens the beloved after his coldness

except the round coins from his money-weigher's purse.