يا حادي الظعن رفقا إنك الجاني — Al Tughrai

يا حاديَ الظعنِ رفقَاً إنَّك الجانِي

قتلي إِذا زِلْتَ عن جَيٍّ بأظعانِ

O caravan-driver, gently! You are the culprit

In my death, if you leave Jayy with the caravans.

يا أريحيَّةَ شوقٍ هيَّجتْ طربي

واسترقصتني وأصحابي وكيراني

O exhilaration of yearning, you stirred my rapture

And made me, my companions, and my camel-saddles dance.

مالت برأسي فلم آمنْ يديِّ لها

على جُيوبي وأذيالي وأرداني

It swayed my head; in its grip I could not trust my hands

With my collars, my hems, or my sleeves.

كتمْتُها الركب حتى نَمَّ بي طربي

تأثيرُه شاعَ في أثناءِ كتماني

I hid it from the caravan until my rapture betrayed me;

Its effect spread even as I kept it hidden.

أنشوةُ الخمرِ أم ذِكرى تُهَيِّجني

من أهل ودِّي وإخواني وأوطاني

Is it wine's intoxication, or a memory that stirs me—

Of those I love, my brothers, and my homelands?

باللّهِ رِفقاً بقلبي لا يَطِرْ فرحاً

وبالهوى لا يَبُح ما بين جيراني

For God's sake, gently with my heart, lest it fly for joy;

And let it not speak of love among my neighbors.

ولي ديونٌ على الأيامِ يضمَنُ لي

قضاءَها عن قريب بعد لَيَّانِ

And the days owe me debts; they pledge to me

Their repayment soon, after procrastination.

ويا نسيمَ الصَّبا في الطِيب منغمِسَاً

أنفاسُه ونسيمُ المِسْكِ والبانِ

And O east breeze, in perfume are steeped

Your breaths and the scent of musk and bān.

أُمْرُرْ على الروضةِ الغنَّاءِ مرتكِضَاً

منها على الطِيب من رَوْحٍ وريحانِ

Sweep over the lush garden, rushing onward

From it through the fragrance of refreshment and sweet basil.

وغازلِ الوردَ قد بلَّتْ معاطفَهُ

مدامعُ الغيمِ تهمي ذاتَ تهنانِ

And court the rose, whose folds have been wetted

By the cloud's tears, pouring down with a patter.

حتى إِذا حزتَ من طِيبٍ ومن أرَجٍ

لطيمةً ذاتَ أنواعٍ وألوانٍ

Until, when you have gathered from perfume and fragrance

A perfumer's cargo of many kinds and colors,

فالثمْ ثرى جَيَّ إنْ وافيتَها سَحَراً

واقْرَأْ سلامي على أهلي وجيراني

Kiss the dust of Jayy, if you reach it before dawn,

And convey my greetings to my family and neighbors.

وقلْ لهم إنَّ طِيبَ العيشِ بعدَكُمُ

بُدِّلت منهُ جَوى همٍّ وأحزانِ

And tell them that life's sweetness, after you,

Has been exchanged for the burning ache of worry and sorrows.

وقد جفَا مقلتِي نومي جفاءَكم

فما يذوقُ حثاثَ النوم أجفاني

My sleep has forsaken my eye, just as you forsook me,

So my eyelids taste not even the least of sleep.

أبيتُ مستنجداً عوناً على زمني

وليس إلّا دموعَ العينِ أعواني

I pass the night seeking aid against my time,

With no allies but the tears of my eye.

أشتاقُ من شِعبِ بوَّانٍ إِلى وطنٍ

وأينَ من شِعبِ جَيٍّ شِعبُ بَوَّانِ

From the valley of Bawwan I yearn for a homeland;

But what is Bawwan's valley beside the valley of Jayy?

وكم بجَيٍّ شريدُ النوم مقلتُه

يراقبُ البرقَ من أطرافِ كرمانِ

How many in Jayy, their eyes bereft of sleep,

Watch the lightning from the borders of Kirman!

إِذا تغنَّى حمامُ الأيكتينِ هفا

بلُبِّه سجعُ بادي الشجوِ مِرنَانِ

When the doves of the two thickets sing, he is stirred

At heart by a ringing coo, its sorrow plain.

وآنساتٍ إِذا لاح الوميضُ لها

نصَّتْ إِلى لمعِها أجيادَ غِزلانِ

And lovely women, when the gleam appears to them,

Stretch gazelles' necks toward its flashing,

يرقُبْنَ أوبةَ عصَّاءٍ عواذِلَهُ

في طاعةِ المجدِ محلالٍ ومظعانِ

Awaiting the return of one who defies his reproachers,

In glory's service, ever encamping and departing;

حانٍ على الوجدِ أضلاعاً تُثَقِّفُها

أنفاسُهُ إنْ علتْ تثقيفَ مُرَّانِ

Folding his ribs around yearning—ribs straightened

By his rising sighs, as ash-wood spear shafts are straightened.

يطاردُ النومَ طولَ الليلِ عن مُقَلٍ

إنسانهُنَّ غريقٌ بين طُوفانِ

Driving sleep away all night from eyes

Whose pupils are drowned amid a deluge.

تعرَّقتْهُ الليالِي غيرَ عَزْمتِه

ولوَّحتْه الفيافي غيرَ عُنوانِ

The nights have gnawed at him, sparing only his resolve,

And the deserts have scorched him, save for an outward trace.

كأنه في رداء الليل منصلتاً

عن طيِّه بِسُراه رجمُ شيطانِ

As though, in night's cloak, darting forth

From its folds on his night journey, he were a missile against a devil.

لم يُنْسِه الحبُّ قطعَ البِيدِ عن عُرُضٍ

ولا رمَى الخوفُ ذِكراهُ بنسيانِ

Love has not made him forget to traverse the wastes from side to side,

Nor has fear cast his remembrance into oblivion.

كأن طيبَ هواكمْ في حماطتِهِ

ترنيقَةُ النومِ في أجفانِ وسنانِ

As though the sweetness of loving you, in his heart's core,

Were a light doze on a sleepy man's eyelids.

يا صاحبيَّ أجيزا الكأسَ عن ثَمِلٍ

معاقِرٍ لكؤوسِ الهمِّ نشوانِ

O my two companions, pass the cup away from one already drunk,

A habitual drinker of sorrow's cups, intoxicated.

وأيقِنِا أنَّ قلبي ضَلَّ بينَكُما

فساعِداني ولو قولاً بنشدانِ

And be certain that my heart is lost between you two;

So help me seek it, if only with words.

وأقرضانيَ دمعاً أستريحُ به

إنْ لم تجودَا بإسعافٍ وإحسانِ

And lend me tears through which I may find relief,

If you do not grant me succor and kindness.

وبلِّغا ظبيةً في جَيَّ مسكنُها

ظِلُّ النعيمِ وتأبَى ظِلَّ أفنانِ

And carry my message to a gazelle in Jayy, whose dwelling

Is the shade of bliss, though she rejects the shade of boughs.

تأبَى مراتعُ روضِ القاعِ معرضةً

إلّا جوانِحَ آسادٍ وفُرسانِ

She spurns the pastures of the lowland garden, turning away,

Accepting only the bosoms of lions and horsemen.

لمّا توهَّمْتُ أني صِدتُها شردتْ

فقطَّعتْ عقدَ أشراكِي وأرساني

When I imagined I had caught her, she fled,

And severed the knots of my snares and halters.

واستصحبتْ من فؤادي قطعةً نفرتْ

وحشيّةً بين آجالٍ وصِيرانِ

She carried off a piece of my heart, fleeing

Wild amid herds and droves of wild cattle.

ألا بعثتِ لنا طيفاً يُلِمُّ على

شُعْثٍ نشاوَى من الإدلاجِ خُمصانِ

Would you not send us a phantom to visit

Disheveled, hollow-bellied men, drunk with night travel?

أَخِفْتِ أنْ تلجِي غُدْرانَ أدمُعِنا

فما جشمتِ وُلوجاً بين غُدرانِ

Did you fear to enter the pools of our tears,

And so not brave a passage among the pools?

أم عاق مسراكِ بيدٌ بات أرحُلُنا

يخفقنَ منهنَّ فيما بينَ أحضانِ

Or did deserts hinder your night journey, while our camel-saddles spent the night

Tossing through them, within their embrace?

وليلةٍ باللوى باتتْ تُضاجعُني

ما بينَ بُردَيْ عَفافٍ بات يَنْهانِي

And one night at al-Liwa, she lay beside me

Between chastity's two mantles, as it kept restraining me.

تمحو خِضابَ يديها مقلتي وأرى

أن ليسَ لثمُ لآلي الثغرِ من شاني

My eye washes the dye from her hands, while I think

That kissing the pearls of her mouth is no affair of mine.

وكم وراءَ لآلِي الثغرِ من كُرَعٍ

عذبِ المشارعِ فيه ريُّ ظمآنِ

And how much pooled water lies behind the pearls of her mouth,

Sweet at its drinking places, quenching a thirsty man!

بِتنا وباتَ نسيمُ الحيِّ يجذِبُنَا

إِذا التزمنا عناقاً جَذبَ غيرانِ

We passed the night, while the camp's breeze kept tugging us,

Whenever we clasped in an embrace, with a jealous man's tug.

فلم نزلْ تحتَ جُنْحِ الليلِ في عُلَقٍ

من العِناقِ ولم نَهْمُمْ بعدوانِ

We remained beneath the wing of night, bound

In embraces, with no thought of transgression,

حتى وشى الصبحُ والطيبُ النَّمُومُ بنا

وصدَّقَ الحَلْيُ ما قالا بتِبيانِ

Until dawn and the telltale perfume betrayed us,

And the jewelry plainly confirmed what the two had said.

البس عزاءً على العزَّاء إنَّ بها

تبَدُّلَ الصعبِ إذعانا بعصيانِ

Clothe yourself in fortitude against adversity, for through it

The unruly turns from defiance to submission.

ولا تبالِ بصرفِ الدهر كيفَ جرى

فإنما الدهرُ غُولٌ ذاتُ ألوانِ

And do not mind the turns of time, however they run;

For time is only a ghoul of many colors.

يومٌ سرورٌ ويومٌ بعدَهُ تُرَحٌ

كلاهُما مضمحلٌّ ظِلُّهُ فاني

One day is joy, and the day after it sorrow;

Both dwindle; their shadow passes away.