أعذلك هذا أن رأيتهم شطوا — Al Khatib Al Hasakfi

أَعَذْلُك هذا أنْ رَأَيْتَهمُ شَطُّوا

وفي الآلِ إذْ غَطَّوْا هَوادِجَهُمْ غَطُّوا

Is this your reproach because you saw them go far away?

And into the mirage, as they covered their howdahs, they vanished.

لئن قُوِّضَتْ فاراتهم وتحَمَّلوا

لقد نُصِبَتْ في خاطِري وبه حَطُّوا

Though their tents were struck and they departed,

They were surely pitched within my mind, and there they settled.

فلا تَحْسَبنَّ الشَّحْطَ يُذْهِل عنهمُ

فأقربُ ما كانوا إذا اعترضَ الشَّحْطُ

Do not suppose that distance makes me forget them;

They are closest whenever distance intervenes.

رَضِيتُ بمن أهوى فدامَ لي الرِّضا

وَتَسْخطُه منّي فَدام لك السُّخْطُ

I am content with the one I love; may contentment remain mine.

You resent this in me; may resentment remain yours.

رأيتُ الأُلى كلَّفْتني الصبرَ عنهمُ

بهم قَسَمي ما إنْ تَناسَيْتُهم قَطُّ

I saw those you charged me to endure being without;

By them I swear: never have I put them out of mind.

همُ سَوَّموا لَيْلِي وصُبْحي كتائباً

من الروم تَغْزُوني و تَخْلُفها الزُّطُّ

They unleashed upon my night and morning battalions

Of Romans raiding me, succeeded by the Zutt.

فَأَعْجَبُ منّي كيف أغترُّ بالهوى

وأسألُه قِسْطاً وما شأنه القِسطُ

I marvel at myself: how can I let love deceive me,

And ask it for justice, when justice is not its way?

وعن رغبةٍ حكَّمتُ في القلب جائراً

فَشَكْوايَ منه القَسْطَ في حكمه قِسْطُ

Willingly I appointed a tyrant judge over my heart;

So my complaint of injustice in his judgment is just.

نصحتُكمُ لا تركبوا لُجَجَ الهوى

ألا إنّ بحر الحبّ ليس له شطُّ

I warned you: do not venture upon love's deep waters.

Take heed: the sea of love has no shore.

بسِقْط اللِّوى أَبْكَى امرأَ القيسِ مَنْزِلٌ

وليس اللِّوى داءَ ابنِ حُجْرٍ ولا السِّقْطُ

At Siqt al-Liwa, a dwelling made Imru' al-Qays weep;

Yet neither al-Liwa nor Siqt was Ibn Hujr's ailment.

لَقِيتُ برَهْطي كلَّ خَطْبٍ تدافَعوا

فحينَ لَقيتُ الحُبَّ أسلمَني الرَّهْطُ

With my clan I faced every calamity, and they rallied;

But when I faced love, my clan abandoned me.

وأَرْبُطُ جَأْشِي عند كلِّ عظيمةٍ

تُلِمُّ ويومَ البَيْن يَنْتَكِثُ الرَّبْطُ

I steady my heart before every great calamity

That befalls me, yet on parting's day the bond unravels.

ولمّا أذاعوا ما أسَرُّوا من النَّوى

وظَلَّتْ على العُشّاقِ أحداثها تَسْطُو

When they announced the separation they had concealed,

And its calamities kept assaulting lovers,

كَتَبْنا على صُحْفِ الخُدودِ بمُذْهَبٍ

وكان من الأجفانِ بالحُمْرةِ النَّقْطُ

We wrote in golden ink upon the pages of our cheeks,

And from our eyelids came the dots in red.

ومُقْتَبِسٍ سِقْطاً أَشَرْتُ إلى الحَشا

وجاحِمِها لمّا تعَذَّرَتِ السقْطُ

To one seeking a spark, I pointed to my breast

And its blaze, when sparks were hard to find.

أَحِلُّ رِياضَ الحَزْنِ مُكْتَئِبَ الحَشا

وَقَلْبي بحيثُ الأَثْلُ والسِّدْرُ والخَمْطُ

I dwell in upland meadows, sorrowful at heart,

While my heart is where tamarisk, lote, and bitter arak grow.

تعَلَّق بالقُرْطِ المُعلَّقِ قائلاً

سُكوني مُحالٌ كلّما اضطرب القُرْطُ

It clung to the dangling earring, saying,

'Stillness is impossible for me whenever the earring sways.'

وفي المِرْطِ ماءُ المُزن لَوْنَاً ورِقّةً

عَجِبْتُ له لم يُنْدِ عالِيَهُ المِرْطُ

Inside the mantle is cloud-water in color and delicacy;

I marvel that it has not moistened the mantle lying above it.

وفوقَ كَثيبِ الرملِ غُصنُ أراكَةٍ

بسالِفَتَيْ رِيمِ الأراكةِ إذْ يعطو

Above a dune of sand rises an arak bough,

With the neck of an arak-grove gazelle reaching up to browse.

يخافُ لضَعفِ الوَسْط يَسْقُطُ رِدْفُهُ

ويخشى لثِقْلِ الرِّدْفِ ينتشر الوَسْطُ

He fears his hips will fall because his waist is weak,

And fears his waist will come apart beneath his hips' weight.

وَتَسْعى على اللِّيتَيْن سُودٌ إذا الْتوتْ

أقَرَّت لها الأصْلالُ والصِّمَمُ الرُّقْطُ

Black locks creep along both sides of his neck; when they coil,

Cobras and deaf, mottled vipers acknowledge their supremacy.

وفوقَ بَياضِ الخَدِّ خطٌّ مُنَمْنمٌ

تَذِلُّ لذاك الخطِّ ما تُنبِتُ الخَطُّ

Across the whiteness of his cheek runs a finely patterned line;

The spears al-Khatt grows bow humbly before that line.

وذي شَنَبٍ عَذْبُ المَجاجةِ رِيقُه

كما قُطِّبَتْ بالمِسْكِ صَهْبَاءُ إسْفِنْطُ

And one with cool, gleaming teeth, whose saliva is sweet to sip,

Like tawny isfint wine blended with musk.

رَشَفْتُ وقد غابَ الرَّقيبان مُوقِدٌ

بغارٍ ووَقّادٌ يَغور وَيَنْحَطُّ

I sipped when both watchers were gone: one kindling fire

With jealousy, the other blazing, sinking and setting.

فيا راكباً تَمْطُو به أَرْحَبيّةٌ

كِنازٌ تبُذُّ البرقَ والريح إذْ تَمْطُو

O rider borne along by a striding Arhabi she-camel,

Stoutly built, outstripping lightning and wind as she strides,

وإنْ هي مَطَّتْ للنَّجاءِ وأرْقَلَتْ

عَزاها إلى فتح المَلا ذلك المَطُّ

When she stretches out for speed and breaks into a swift trot,

That long stride traces her to Fath al-Mala.

فلو رامَتِ الكُومُ المَراسيل شَأْوَها

لقُلنا لها كُفّي لك العَقْرُ والشَّحْطُ

If high-humped, fleet camels tried to match her course,

We would tell them, 'Stop! May you be hamstrung and cast far away!'

وما يَدَّعي إسآدَها السيِّدُ عاسِلاً

بقَفْرَته لو أنّه الأطْلَسُ المِلْطُ

No loping wolf could claim her nightlong pace

Across his wilderness, even were he dusky and bare-coated.

كأنَّ الفَلا طَيُّ الضمير وَخَطْوَها

مع الخَطْر خَطْرُ الوهمِ لا الوهمِ إذ يَخْطُو

As though the wastes lay folded within the mind, and her stride,

For all its swaying, were thought's flash—not thought moving step by step.

بعِيسِك عُجْ بابنِ الكُمَيْت وقل له

أبا طالبٍ ما كان ذا بيننا الشَّرطُ

Turn your pale camels toward Ibn al-Kumayt and tell him:

Abu Talib, this was not the agreement between us.

بَسَطْتَ بِساطَ الأُنسِ ثم طَوَيْتَه

ولم يتَّصِل كالطَّيِّ ما بيننا البَسْطُ

You spread the carpet of companionship, then folded it away;

Its spreading between us did not last as its folding has.

وَعَدْتَ بإيناسي وعُدْتَ تَلُطُّه

وغيرُك يَعْرُوه إذا وعد اللَّطُّ

You promised to cheer me, then took to withholding it;

Yet evasion when making promises belongs to others, not you.

وما كنت أدري قبل سِمطٍ نَظَمْتَه

بأنك بحرُ الدُّرِّ حتى أتى السِّمطُ

Before the necklace you strung, I did not know

That you were a sea of pearls, until the necklace came.

كتابٌ بدا فيه لعَيْني وخاطري

ربيعان مَجْمُوعان لَفْظُك والخطُّ

A letter in which, for my eye and mind, appeared

Two springs joined together: your wording and your script.

تدارَكْتَ وَخْطَ الشيْب فارتَدَّ فاحِماً

فمن لي بأُخرى قبل أن يَشْمَلَ الوَخْطُ

You checked the first streaks of gray, and they turned coal-black again;

Who will bring me another before the gray spreads everywhere?

عَذَرْتُ جِعاداً يقتفونَ سِباطَهم

ولا عُذْر أن يَقْتَاف جَعْدَهمُ السَّبْطُ

I excused the tight-fisted who followed their openhanded fellows;

But the openhanded have no excuse for following the tight-fisted.

أَأَحْوَجْتَني حتى اقْتضيْتُك جَأْبَةً

بجَحْمَرِشٍ شَوْهَاءَ في جِيدها لَطُّ

Have you driven me to demand a wild she-ass of a poem from you,

With a hideous old hag, thick about the neck?

ومِن قَبْلِها قد سار نحوك رائداً

فَأَبْرمَ ذاك الحَيْدَرُ اليَفَنُ الثَّطُّ

Before her, one had already gone toward you as a scout,

And that aged, scant-bearded lion proved tiresome.

على أنها لو نَفْطَوَيْه انبرى لها

بطَعنٍ وإزْراءٍ لحرَّقه النِّفْطُ

Yet if Naftawayh were to rise against it

With attack and disparagement, naphtha would burn him.

ولو أُخِّرَ الشيخُ المعريُّ ما ابْتنى

لمن جِيرَةٌ سِيموا النَّوالَ فلم يُنْطوا

Had the elder al-Ma'arri lived later, he would not have composed:

'Whose neighbors were asked for bounty, yet gave none?'

ولا نَظَمَ الشاميُّ بعد سَماعها

لأيَّةِ حالٍ حُكِّموا فيك فاشْتَطوا

Nor, after hearing it, would the Syrian have composed:

'Why were they made judges over you, only to rule unjustly?'

تَساوى المَعاني والمَباني تَناسُباً

كما يستوي في نَفْعِ أسنانِه المُشْطُ

Meanings and structures are evenly matched in proportion,

As a comb's teeth are equal in their usefulness.

وما كَنَبيط القوم مَنْبَطُ عِلمِهم

ولا يستوي قُطبُ الفَصاحة والقِبْطُ

The fountainhead of their learning is not like the people's Nabateans,

Nor are eloquence's lodestar and the Copts alike.

وكم صُنتُ نفسي عن حِوار مُجالِسٍ

مَلاغِمُهُ الوَجْعاء والكَلِمُ الضَّرْطُ

How often I have kept myself from conversing with a companion

Whose lips are an arse, whose words are farts.

وما كان عندي أنّه العَوْد مَسَّهُ

خُباطٌ وأنّ اللَّفظ من فَمِه الثَّلْطُ

I had not known he was an old camel struck

By madness, nor that the speech from his mouth was liquid dung.

فقد نَفِدَ الطِّيبُ الذي كنتُ أتَّقي

به فاه حتى صار من طِيبيَ القُسْطُ

Exhausted is the perfume with which I used to guard myself

Against his mouth, until even costus counted among my scents.

له دَفَرٌ في كلِّ جُزءٍ بجِسمه

إذا فاح قُلنا ذا الفتى كل إبطُ

Every part of his body has a rank odor;

When it wafts, we say, 'This lad is all armpit!'

به زَبَبٌ قد عَمَّ أكثرَ جِلدِه

ولكن فشافي نَبْتِ عارِضه المَرْطُ

Thick hair has covered most of his skin,

Yet baldness has spread through the growth on his cheeks.

إذا ما أَفَضْنا في الكلام رَأَيْتَه

يُخَلِّط حتى قلت ثار به خِلْطُ

Whenever we plunge into conversation, you see him

Muddling things until I say, 'A humor has flared up in him.'

ويَنشَط للتأويل في الجَهل غارقاً

له الوَيلُ ما يدريه ما الغَرْقُ والنَّشْطُ

He eagerly offers interpretation, drowning in ignorance;

Woe to him! What does he know of 'forceful drawing' and 'gentle drawing'?

وَيَعْزو إلى النُّعمان كلَّ عَضيهةٍ

فيرتفعُ النعمان عنها وَيَنْحَطُّ

He attributes every calumny to al-Nu'man,

But al-Nu'man rises above it, while he sinks lower.

ليَ النخل أجني خَيْرَها من فروعها

ولكن له من شِيصِها تحتها اللَّقْطُ

Mine are the palms; I gather their finest fruit from their branches,

While his are the shriveled dates gleaned beneath them.

فَيَخْبِطُ في عَشْوَاءَ لا دَرَّ دَرُّهُ

وَمَنْ كان مَمْسُوساً تعَهَّده الخَبْطُ

He blunders blindly—may his milk never flow!

Whoever is possessed is revisited by madness.

وكم قد أمرناه بضَبطِ لسانه

ومُذ شَذَّ عنه العقل أعجزَه الضَّبْطُ

How often we have told him to restrain his tongue,

But since reason deserted him, restraint has defeated him.

يَخُطُّ بكَفٍّ حَقُّها البَتْكُ أَحْرُفاً

كما كتبتْ يوماً بأرجُلِها البَطُّ

He traces letters with a hand that deserves severing,

As ducks once wrote with their feet.

قويٌّ على نَقْلِ الملام للُؤْمِهِ

ضَعيفٌ به عن كلِّ صالحةٍ وَهْطُ

Strong at carrying reproaches, owing to his baseness;

Weak before every worthy deed, crippled by debility.

موَدَّتُه إثمٌ ومنظرُه أذىً

ومنزِله جَدْبٌ وراحَتُه قَحْطُ

His friendship is sin; his appearance, harm;

His home is barrenness, and his palm is drought.

فلو قد رَأَتْهُ أمُّه وَبَدَتْ لها

مَساويه وَدَّتْ أنّ مَن وَلَدَت سقْطُ

If his mother could see him, and there appeared to her

His faults, she would wish the one she bore had been a miscarriage.

فقلْ للحُسينِ قد أطلتُ وإنّما

لساني على الأعداء مُحتكِمٌ سَلْطُ

Tell al-Husayn: I have gone on at length; it is only that

My tongue is masterful against enemies, sharp and unrestrained.

فقُطَّ شَوى هَمّي بُرقْشٍ تَقُطُّها

فهُنَّ كبِيضٍ دِينُها في الوغى القَطُّ

So sever the limbs of my sorrow with the speckled lines you pen;

For they are like white blades whose way in battle is to cleave.