إن كنت تصدق في ادعاء وداده — Al Tohami

إِن كُنتَ تَصدُقُ في اِدِّعاء وِدادِهِ

فافكِكهُ مِن أَسرِ الهَوى أَو فادِهِ

If you are truthful in claiming love for him,

then free him from love's captivity, or ransom him.

لا تَمحِ بِالهُجران نور وَصالَه

فَصَميم حبّك في صَميم فُؤادِهِ

Do not erase through estrangement the light of his union,

for the core of your love lies in the core of his heart.

أَأَمَتَّهُ بِالهجرِ قَبلَ مَماتِهِ

فاعِده في الأَسعافِ قَبلَ مَعادِهِ

Have you killed him through abandonment before his death?

Then revive him with aid before his resurrection.

رِفقاً بِهِ فَهوَ الجموح إِذا أَبى

شَيئاً فَلا يغررك لين قِيادِهِ

Be gentle with him: he is a headstrong steed when he refuses

something; let the pliancy of his reins not deceive you.

زَوِّدهُ مِن نظرٍ فأقنَع من تَرى

مَن كانَ لحظ العين أَكبَر زادِهِ

Provision him with a glance; the most easily contented person you see

is one whose greatest provision is the eye's glance.

لا أَنتَ عِندَ اليُسرِ مِن زُوّارِهِ

يَوماً وَلا في العُسرِ مِن عُوّادِهِ

You are not among his visitors in times of ease,

not once, nor among his sickbed visitors in hardship.

أَرَأَيت سَيفاً غَيرَ لَحظِكَ صارِماً

يَفري رِقاب القَومِ في أَغمادِهِ

Have you seen a keen sword, other than your glance,

that cleaves men's necks while still within its sheaths?

أَمضى اللحاظ أَكلهُنَّ وَكُلَّما

أَكللت لحظك زدت في إِحدادِهِ

The keenest of glances is the dullest of them; and whenever

you blunt your glance, you sharpen it still more.

إِنَّ الهَوى ضِدَ العقول لأَنَّهُ

ضربت جآذِرَهُ عَلى آسادِهِ

Love is reason's opposite, for

its wild-ox calves were set upon its lions.

وَآفى إِليَّ كِتابه عَن نُبوَةٍ

كانَت بِعاداً مردفاً لِبعادِهِ

His letter reached me after a rebuff

that piled estrangement upon his estrangement.

أَفدي الكِتابَ بِناظِري فَبَياضِهِ

بِبَياضِهِ وَسَوادِهِ بِسَوادِهِ

I would ransom the letter with my eye: its white

with my eye's white, and its black with my eye's black.

يا عاذِلَ المُشتاقِ دَعهُ بَغيّهِ

إِن أَنتَ لَم تقدر عَلى إِسعادِهِ

O rebuker of the longing lover, leave him to his waywardness

if you cannot help him.

أَرواكَ فقدان الهَوى وَبِقَلبِهِ

ضَمأ إِلى عذب الرِضابِ بَرادِهِ

Freedom from love has quenched your thirst, while his heart holds

thirst for the sweet coolness of saliva.

وَأَظُن عين سعاد قَد قلبت لَهُ

هاء فَكُل سهادِهِ بِسعادِهِ

I think the letter 'ayn in Su'ad has been changed for him

to ha': all his sleeplessness stems from his Su'ad.

يَخفي ضِراماً من هَواها مِثلَما

يَخفي ضرام النار عود زِنادِهِ

He conceals a blaze of love for her, just as

the wood of his fire-sticks conceals fire's blaze.

فَتُهاجِرُ الأَجفان آخِر عَهدِهِ

يَوم الفِراق بِظَعنهم وَرِقادِهِ

So his eyelids forsake sleep; the last he knew

of their departing caravan and of sleep was on the day of parting.

تَسعى صروف الدَهر في إِصلاحِهِ

يَوماً وَطول الدَهر في إِفسادِهِ

Time's vicissitudes strive to set him right

for one day, and throughout time to ruin him.

أَبَداً يَجيل الطَرف في أَمثالِهِ

صُوراً وَفي الأَفعال مِن أَضدادِهِ

Forever he turns his gaze upon those like him

in appearance, but in deeds his opposites.

وَإِذا جَفاكَ الدَهر وَهوَ أَبو الوَرى

طراً فَلا تَعتَب عَلى أَولادِهِ

And if time shuns you, though it is the father of mankind

entire, do not reproach its children.

فَلأَنهَضَنَّ بِجَحفَل فُرسانِهِ

مِن سمرة وَنَحافَة كَصعادِهِ

So I shall surely march with a host whose horsemen

are dark and slender as its spear-shafts.

وَلأَقضينَّ الدَهرَ غيرُ مُقَصِّرٍ

ما كانَ أَسلَفَنيه مِن أَحقادِهِ

And I shall surely repay time, without falling short,

the grudges it had advanced to me.

بَل كَيفَ تخطيني العلى وَأَنا امرؤ

أَرتادُ عاريهن مِن مِرتادِهِ

Rather, how could high honors miss me, when I am a man

who seeks the heights among them still bare of any seeker?

يا صاح إِنَّ الدَهرَ قَدَّم بِالغِنى

وَعداً فَها أنذاكَ مِن ميعادِهِ

O friend, time has held out wealth

as a promise; here I am at its appointed time.

هَذي طَرابلس وَما دونَ الغِنى

إِلّا نِداؤُكَ بِالحُسَينِ فَنادِهِ

This is Tripoli; nothing separates you from wealth

but calling upon al-Husayn—so call upon him.

شفع ابن حيدرة عَلى ثانيه في

هَذا الزَمان وَكانَ مِن أَفرادِهِ

Ibn Haydara was paired with his counterpart in

this age—though he had been among its peerless men—

بِأَبي مُحَمَدٍ الَّذي يأوي العُلى

ما بَينَ قائِم سَيفِهِ وَنَجادِهِ

by Abu Muhammad, who shelters lofty honor

between his sword's hilt and his baldric.

بِمُهَذَّبٍ صَعب الآباء حرونه

في حَقِّهِ سلس النَدى منقادِهِ

By a refined man, stern in proud refusal and stubborn

where his rights are concerned, yet pliant and yielding in generosity;

متجلِلاً ثَوب الرِئاسَة معلماً

بِبَهائِهِ وَوَفائِهِ وَسَدادِهِ

cloaked in leadership's robe, emblazoned

with his splendor, his fidelity, and his sound judgment.

سالَمَهُ ما كانَت حَياتك مغنماً

فَإِذا مللت مِنَ الحَياة فَعادِهِ

Make peace with him as long as your life is a prize;

but if you tire of life, then become his enemy.

حازَ العَلاءَ بِجَدِّهِ وَبِجِدِّهِ

فاختال بَينَ طَريفِهِ وَتِلادِهِ

He won high honor through his ancestry and his diligence,

so he strode proudly between his new-won and inherited honors.

لَم يَجعَل الآباء مُتَّكلاً وَلا

آباؤُهُ اتَّكَلوا عَلى أَجدادِهِ

He did not make his fathers his support, nor

did his fathers rely upon his grandfathers.

خرق يعد الجودَ بيت قَصيدَة

وَالمطل مِثلَ زِحافِهِ وَسِنادِهِ

An openhanded nobleman, he reckons generosity a verse of poetry,

and delay like its metrical alterations and defective rhyme.

يَثني النَوال إِذا أَتاهُ بِمِثلِهِ

إِنَّ النَوال يَلذ في تِردادِهِ

Whenever he gives a gift, he follows it with its equal;

indeed, giving is delightful when repeated.

ما العُرفُ إِلّا جَوهَرٌ فجمعته

في العقد مَعنىً لَيسَ في أَفرادِهِ

Kindness is nothing but a jewel; gathering it

into a necklace gives a meaning absent from its separate gems.

ما إِن حسبت الخيل تألف ضَيغماً

حَتّى تبدى فَوقَ ظَهرِ جَوادِهِ

I never thought horses would befriend a lion

until he appeared upon the back of his steed.

يَكسو المُدَجَّجُ مجسداً بِدمائِهِ

فَيَعودَ بَعدَ النقع لون حِدادِهِ

He clothes the armored warrior in a crimson robe of his blood,

so after the battle-dust he takes the color of his mourning garb.

وَالبيض مِن تَحتِ الغُبارِ كَأَنَّها

جَمرٌ تَأَلَّق في خِلالِ رَمادِهِ

And the bright swords beneath the dust seem like

embers glittering amidst their ash.

وَالمَجدِ تَحتَ ظَبي السُيوف يَجوزه

مَن كانَ وقع جِلادِهِ كَجِلادِهِ

Glory beneath the edges of swords is won

by one whose blows in combat are like his.

كَم جَحفَل غادَرَت فيهِ وَدائِعاً

قَضباً مِن الخَطيِّ في أَجسادِهِ

How many a host you left holding deposits:

shafts of Khatti spears within its bodies.

صدرت صدور قناك تَشكُر رِيّها

مِنهُ وَكانَ الوَرد في إِيرادِهِ

The breasts of your lances returned, grateful for their full draught

from it; their watering lay in being driven into it.

أَمّا الإِمام فَشاكِر لَكَ أَنعُماً

عَمَّت جَميعَ عِبادِهِ وَبِلادِهِ

As for the Imam, he thanks you for favors

that encompassed all his subjects and his lands.

وَأَنَرتَ ما سدت أَكفَّ جِيادِهِ

وَهتكت ما نسجَت يَدا زِرادِهِ

And you illuminated what his steeds' hooves had screened,

and tore apart what his mail-maker's two hands had woven.

كَم طرزت أَرض العَدوِّ دَماً إِذا

طرزَت طرسك نَحوَهُم بِمدادِهِ

How often you embroidered the enemy's earth with blood, when

you embroidered your page addressed to them with its ink.

خَفَّقَت بِالأَقلامِ عَن أَرماحِهِ

وَبمحكم الآراءِ عَن أَجنادِهِ

You struck with pens in place of his spears,

and with firm counsels in place of his troops.

يا ذا الَّذي يُعدي اليَراعَ بِفعلِهِ

وَبِفَضلِهِ وَبِبأسِهِ وَبآدِهِ

O you who infect the reed-pen with your deeds,

and with your bounty, your valor, and your might.

كذب المَبخَل لِلزَّمانِ وَأَنتَ مِن

جَدوى أَنامِلُهُ وَمِن أَرفادِهِ

He lies who calls time miserly, for you are among

the benefactions of its fingertips and its generous gifts.

أَبداك فَرداً وابتَغى لَكَ في الوَرى

مَثلاً فَلَم يَقدِر عَلى إِيجادِهِ

It brought you forth unique, then sought for you among mankind

an equal, but could not bring him into being.

لَمّا علوت الناس جدت عَلَيهم

وَالطود يَقذِف ماءه لوهادِهِ

When you rose above people, you gave generously to them,

and the mountain pours its water into its hollows.

تَبغي صِيانة ما حويت بِبَذلِهِ

في خُفيَةٍ وَبَقاؤُهُ بِنَفادِهِ

You seek to preserve what you possess by giving it

in secret; it endures through being exhausted.

تَخفي نَداكَ وَلَيسَ يَخفى وَالنَدى

كَالمِسكِ يَهتِفُ ريحُهُ بِزِيادِهِ

You conceal your bounty, but it cannot be hidden; bounty

is like musk, whose scent proclaims its abundance.

حَيّاك مِن ذي سؤدد وَرَعاكَ مَن

أَحياكَ وَاستَرعاكَ أَمر عِبادِهِ

May he bless you, man of nobility, and guard you—he who

gave you life and entrusted you with his servants' affairs.