ألا كل ليل لم تنمه طويل — Al Staley

أَلا كلُّ ليلٍ لم تنمهُ طويلُ

وكلُّ جليسٍ لا تَودّ ثقيلُ

Lo, every night you do not sleep through is long,

and every companion you do not love is burdensome.

وكلُّ وصالٍ لم يكن بين أهلِهِ

مواثيق من حبل الهوى سَيَزُولُ

And every union whose partners have no

pledges bound by love's cord will vanish.

وأحلى الهوى ماشَكَّ في الوصل رَبّه

إذا ماسَعى واشِ ولجَّ عذولُ

And sweetest is the love whose lover doubts the union,

when a tale-bearer meddles and a censor persists.

وما عدمُ الخلاّن فانقَبض امرؤ

ولكنّما أهلُ الوفاءِ قليلُ

And it is not for lack of friends that a man withdraws,

but rather because people of fidelity are few.

إذا طَرقتنا والعيُون غُفولُ

وقد حانَ للشعرى العَبورُ أفولُ

When she came to us by night, while eyes slept,

and it was time for Sirius al-ʿAbūr to set,

عُليّة زارتنا وقد حالُ دُونَها

عوائقُ من حلم الشبابُ شُكولُ

ʿUlayya visited us, though barring her way were

obstacles of sober restraint, fetters upon youth.

بسطنا لها لهوَ الحديث ولم يكن

إلى غيره بين الخلاط وُصولُ

We offered her the pleasures of conversation; there was no

access to anything beyond it in our mingling.

أما أنّه لو زرتِنا حين صبوةٍ

لأَدنتك منّا رقّةٌ وقَبُولُ

Indeed, had you visited us in days of youthful passion,

tenderness and welcome would have drawn you close to us.

وأَنتِ خلوبُ العَين فتّانةُ الصِّبا

كأنّك كحلاءُ الجُفون خَذُولُ

And you captivate the eye, enchanting in your youth,

as though you were a kohl-lidded doe apart from the herd.

قوامكِ مهتزٌ وجيدك واضحٌ

وحيث مجال الطّوق منك أسيلُ

Your figure sways, and your neck is fair,

and smooth is the place where your necklace moves.

وثغركِ برّاقٌ كانَ رُضابِه

مع الرّشف صَهباءُ اللثات شَمُولُ

And your mouth gleams; its sweet moisture was,

when sipped, tawny wine upon the gums.

وخدّ بجريال الحياءِ مُوَرَّدٌ

وطَرف بسحر البابلي كَحيلُ

And a cheek rose-tinted with modesty's crimson,

and a gaze kohled with the Babylonian's magic.

ولكنّه ولّى الشباب واقبلت

مواعظ شيبٍ لو أفاقَ جهولُ

But youth has departed, and there have come

the admonitions of gray hair—if only a fool would awaken!

فياصاح مالي والبطالة بعدما

بدا في سواد العارضين نُصولُ

So, O friend, what have I to do with idleness, now that

the blackness on both sides of my beard has begun to fade?

ومالي وادمان الإقامةِ إنّني

إذاً لَضَعيف الإعتزامِ كليلُ

And what have I to do with ceaseless staying? Indeed, I

would then be weak in resolve, blunted.

إذا مانبت نَزْوَى ففي الأرْض مذْهبٌ

وفي العيس إرقْالٌ وفيَّ رحيلُ

If Nizwa proves inhospitable, the earth offers a way to go,

and the pale camels have a swift trot, and I a will to journey.

ساترك منّي غربَ كلَّ تنوفةٍ

بها من رسيم اليعملات فُلولُ

I shall leave, through my passing, each wilderness's sharp edge

notched by the swift tread of sturdy she-camels.

واشحذُ من طبع القوافي صارماً

لها بين أعراض الِّلئام صليلُ

And I shall sharpen from the forging of rhymes a keen blade;

their clangor will resound against the reputations of the base.

ويكشفُ عنّي كَربَ كلَّ مهمّة

مَبيتٌ بأجور الفلا ومَقيلُ

And every care's anguish is lifted from me

by a night in the desert's reaches and a rest at noon,

على كلّ مفتول الذّراع كأنّه

إذا ماتمطّى في الجديل جديلُ

on each sinewy-forelegged camel, as though it were

Jadīl, when it stretches against its braided rein.

أجسّمه سيْرَ الهَواجر والسُّرى

له خَذَيانٌ تارة وذَميلُ

I make it endure journeys through midday heats and night;

it has at times a rapid trot, at times an easy gait.

فما كل مسلوكٍ من الأَرض ضيقٌ

ولا كلّ ذي مالٍ عليَّ بخيلُ

For not every traveled path on earth is narrow,

nor is every wealthy man stingy toward me.

لعلّي ملمّ بالعتيك فواجدٌ

جَواداً عليه للعُفاة نزولُ

Perhaps I shall call on al-ʿAtīk and find

a generous man with whom seekers of bounty lodge.

فجودُ بني نبهان عندي وفَضلُهم

على فضل أبناء العتيك دَليلُ

For, to me, the bounty and excellence of the sons of Nabhān

are evidence of the excellence of al-ʿAtīk's sons:

بني عمرَ الصيّد الّذين كأنّهُم

أَسود لها من بطن بيشةَ غيلُ

the proud sons of ʿUmar, who are like

lions whose thickets lie in Bīsha's valley.

محمد الذاكي ونبهان ذي النّدى

وأحمد ذي الإحسان حين ينبلُ

Muḥammad the brilliant, and Nabhān, master of bounty,

and Aḥmad, master of kindness, when he acts nobly.

ثلاثة سادات أَجلاء كلّهم

قؤول فعول للجَميل بَذولُ

Three illustrious lords, each of them

eloquent, strong in action, lavish in noble deeds,

أغرّ كَريم النّبعتين سَميدَع

أَشمُّ رحيبُ السّاعدين طويلُ

radiant, noble in both ancestral roots, a magnanimous lord,

aquiline-nosed, broad of forearm and tall.

إذا سئل اهتزَّ ارتياحاً إلىالنّدى

كمَا اهتز مشحوذُ الغِرار صَقيلُ

When asked, he quivers with delight at giving,

as a polished sword with a whetted edge quivers.

فلا مُرتجيهمْ للهباتِ مخيَّبٌ

ولا جارهم في النائبات ذليلُ

So none who hopes for their gifts is disappointed,

nor is their protected neighbor abased in calamities.

إذا آل نبهانٍ سمَوا بأَبيهمِ

ففي كل قوم دقةٌ وخمولُ

When Nabhān's house rises through its forefather,

all other peoples are slight and obscure.

بني عمرٍ صادفتُمُ بيت مَجدكم

له حسب في الأكرمين أَثيلُ

O sons of ʿUmar, you found your house of glory;

it has deep-rooted ancestral honor among the noblest.

فجدتم وذدتم عن علاكم بما لكم

إذا ماأصابت شدة وقحولُ

Thus you gave generously and defended your eminence with what you had,

whenever hardship and drought befell.

وذو الجود محمودٌ فمهما يجُدْ بِهِ

على قلة الموجود فهوجزيلُ

And a generous man is praised; whatever he gives,

despite his scant possessions, is abundant.

وغيركم حاز الغنى فاكتفى بهِ

وليس له في المكرمات سبيلُ

And one other than you has acquired wealth and settled for it,

yet he has no path to noble deeds.

ومنلم يجد إلاّ الغنى شَرفاً لهُ

حماه بنجل فهومنه جليلُ

And whoever finds no honor for himself but wealth,

guards it with stinginess, and derives his grandeur from it:

جليل إذا عُدَّ اليسارُ مفخمٌ

ولكنه يوم الفخار ضئيلُ

grand and magnified when wealth is reckoned,

but small on the day of boasting.

وأنتُم بنو نبهان أَمّا نِجاركم

فزاكٍ وأمّا سعيكم فجميلُ

And you, sons of Nabhān—as for your stock,

it is pure; and as for your striving, it is beautiful.

أَضاءَت لكم في كل شرق ومغربٍ

مصابيح فضل مالهنَّ أَفولُ

For you, in every east and west, have shone

lamps of excellence that never set.

وجدت لشعري مذهباً في مديحكم

وأمكنَني بالصّدقِ كيف أقولُ

I found an avenue for my poetry in praising you,

and truth enabled me to speak however I wished.

فعاش بنو نبهان أَرباب نعمةٍ

وغالت عداهم بالحوادث غولُ

So may the sons of Nabhān live, lords of plenty,

and may a ghoul destroy their foes with calamities.

ولا زالَ يوماً في يَمين محمّدٍ

ونبهان ذي الحسنى وأحمد طولُ

And may there never cease, on any day, in Muḥammad's right hand,

or in the hands of Nabhān the beneficent and Aḥmad, abundant bounty.