أبا حسن دعاء أو خنينا — Al Tutili

أبا حَسن دُعاءً أو خنيناً

ولا آلوكَ إنْ كانَتْ خَبالا

O Abu Hasan—a call, or a plaintive moan!

Nor will I spare you, even if it is madness.

أُنادي في التَّظلُّمِ منْ زَمَانٍ

عدا تلك الزِّيارَةَ والوِصالا

I cry out, complaining against an age

that has thwarted that visit and reunion.

ولوْ أنَّ الخيالَ ينوبُ عني

لأبلغكَ الكَرَى قِصَصاً طوالا

And if a phantom could stand in for me,

sleep would bring you long tales.

ولولا أنْ أُدلّسَ في التلاقي

لَزُرْتُكَ حيثُ تَعْتَرِفُ الخيالا

And were it not that I would dissemble in our meeting,

I would visit you where you recognize the phantom.

فلم تَرَ بيننا وأبيكَ فَرْقاً

سوى أني أَحُقُّ إذا أحَالا

Then, by your father, you would see no difference between us,

except that I am real when it proves false.

ذكرتُكَ ذكرةً جَذَبَتْكَ نحوي

فهل أحْسَنْتُ نَقْلاً أو نِقَالا

I remembered you with a remembrance that drew you toward me;

did I excel in conveyance—or transport?

وأعلمُ أَنَّها كهواكِ سِحْراً

ولكن كيفَ تَسْتهْوِي الجبالا

And I know its magic is like that of loving you;

but how can it enchant mountains?

بلى إنْ يدنُ طَيْفُكَ منْ وِسادي

فقد سَمَّيْتُها السّحَرَ الحلالا

Indeed, if your apparition draws near my pillow,

then I have named it lawful magic.

وكيفَ يُحِسُّ طيفَكَ أو يراه

ولو نَصبَ الحبائلَ والحبالا

And how can he sense your apparition or see it,

even if he sets snares and ropes—

مُعَنّىً لا يزالُ سميرَ شوقٍ

عَهِدْتَ لِبَرْحِهِ ألا يَزَالا

a tormented man, forever yearning's night-companion,

whose anguish you have vowed shall never cease?

يؤرِّقُهُ بعادُكَ كلَّ ليلٍ

تَوَهَّمَ طُوْلَ زَفْرَتِهِ فَطَالا

Your distance keeps him sleepless every night

that imagined the length of his sigh, and grew long.

كأنَّ نجومَهُ أقداحُ شَرْبٍ

إذا زِيدتْ هُدىً زادتْ ضلالا

As though its stars were drinkers' cups:

given more guidance, they only stray further.

أبا حسنٍ وإن الحسنَ ممَّا

تشيرُ به مَقَالاً أو فَعَالا

Abu Hasan, goodness is indeed among the things

you reveal in speech or deed.

لك الفضلُ الذي هُوَ فيكَ طَبْعٌ

إذا احتقبوهُ غَصباً وانتحالا

Yours is excellence, innate in you,

when others assume it by usurpation and false claim.

فنلتَ حقائقَ الأشياء علماً

كفاكَ البحثَ عنها والسؤالا

Thus you grasped the realities of things with a knowledge

that spared you investigation and questioning.

نَمَتْكَ إلى المكارمِ والمعالي

إذا نَجمٌ تَكَارم أو تعالى

You were raised to noble deeds and lofty rank—

whenever a star vies in nobility or rises high—

صُقورٌ أو بدورٌ أو بحورٌ

وإنْ لم تلقَ مثلَهُمُ رجالا

by falcons, or full moons, or seas,

though you have never met their like among men.

إذا شَهِدُوا القتالَ فسوف تدري

لأَيَّةِ علةٍ شهدوا القتالا

When they enter battle, you will know

for what reason they entered battle.

بنو الهيجاء طاروا في وَغضاها

وإنْ كانتْ حُلثوْمُهُمُ ثِقَالا

Sons of warfare, they flew into its tumult,

though their judgment was weighty [reading uncertain].

إذا رتَّبْتَهُمْ شَنُّوا عليها

جِياداً ضُمَّراً وَقَنَاً طِوَالا

When you array them, they unleash against it

lean steeds and long spears.

ونعم النازلونَ على الرَّوابي

إذا ما الشَّمْسُ أحْرَقَتِ الظّلالا

How fine are those who alight upon the hills,

when the sun has scorched the shadows!

إذا التقتِ الرِّياحُ بحيثُ تدعو

بِصَوْبِ المُزْنِ حَالَفَها ابْتهِالا

When the winds meet where they call

for the clouds' downpour, he joins them in supplication.

ولو أني أشاءُ لأبْلَغَتْني

ذُرَاكَ وإن أساءَ بها فعالا

And if I wished, there would carry me

to your heights, however badly they were treated—

قلائصُ ما رَحَلْنَاهُنَّ إلا

رأيتَ بهنَّ عُصْماً أو رِئالا

young she-camels: never have we saddled them but

you saw in them white-footed ibex or ostrich chicks.

كأنصافِ البُرَى وَتدِقُّ عنها

شَواها دِقَّةً تَسَعُ الخلالا

Like half nose-rings; yet finer than these

are their limbs, so slender as to admit a pin.

إذا انبَعَثتْ رأيتَ قِسِيَّ نَبْعٍ

وَتحْسَبُها إذا بَلَغَتْ مُحَالا

When they spring forth, you see bows of nabʿ wood;

and when they arrive, you think them an impossibility.

تُناسبُ شَدْقماً أو أنْكَرتْهُ

وصارَ لها السّرى عمّاً وخالا

They claim kinship with Shadqam, or disown him,

and night travel has become their paternal and maternal uncle.

تُراعُ من السّقابِ إذا رأتها

وتشتاقُ الأزمةَ والرِّحالا

They start at male camel-calves when they see them,

and long for reins and saddles.

وقد ألِفَتْ بناتِ القَفْرِ حتّى

حسبتَ الغولَ يُحْذيها النّعالا

They have grown so familiar with the daughters of the wilderness

that you would think the ghoul shod them with sandals.

إذا لَمَع السَّرَابُ تَبَادرتْهُ

فأحْسَبُهَا تريدُ به اشْتِمَالا

When the mirage flashes, they race toward it;

I fancy they wish to wrap themselves in it.

وبينَ جُفُونِها مِنْها نِطافٌ

إذا سَمِعَ الغليلُ بهنَّ حالا

And between their eyelids are drops of their own;

were burning thirst to hear of them, it would subside.

لعلَّكَ يا عليُّ لها مَعَادٌ

فَيَسْقيها غِمارَاً أو سِجَالا

Perhaps you, Ali, are their place of return,

to water them with deep waters or brimming buckets,

وتبسطَ أو تمدَّ لها يميناً

غدا نوءُ السّماك لها شِمالا

and spread or extend to them a right hand

beside which the rain of al-Simak becomes a left hand.

عَدَاني أنْ أزورَكَ صَرْفُ دَهْرٍ

ألحَّ فما أطيقُ له احْتِيالاَ

A turn of time has kept me from visiting you,

pressing so hard that I can find no stratagem against it;

وَهَمٌّ من همومٍ لو تَوَخَّى

طريقَ الرِّيح كان لها عِقَالا

and a sorrow among sorrows which, if it followed

the wind's path, would be a fetter to it.

أبيعُكَ يا ابن بَيَّاعٍ فُؤَادي

وَغَيْرِي مَنْ إذا نَدِمَ اسْتَقَالا

I sell you my heart, O Ibn Bayyaʿ;

another, not I, would ask to cancel if he regretted it.

وَأصْفِيكَ الودادَ وَغيْرُ وُدِّي

إذا حالتْ صروفُ الدَّهرِ حالا

I give you pure affection; it is love other than mine

that changes when time's vicissitudes change.

إليك هوايَ تكرمةً وَبِرّاً

إذا كانَ الهوَى قِيْلاً وَقَالا

My love is yours, in honor and devotion,

when love is only idle talk and chatter.

ومعذرةً بسيرِ بناتِ صَدْري

إليكَ بها اخْتِصَاراً واحتفالا

And an apology, sent with my breast's daughters

to you, in brief yet carefully fashioned form.

ودونكها وأنت أجلُّ قَدْراً

ولكنْ عادةٌ حُذِيتْ مِثَالا

Take them, though your worth is far greater;

it is but a custom followed as a model.

فإنْ حَظِيتْ وأرُجو أنْ سَتحظى

فإنَّ الشمسَ نَوَّرتِ الهلالا

If they find favor—and I hope they will—

then the sun has illuminated the crescent.

وإن ضاعتْ لديك فأنتَ شمسٌ

يشبُّ تَعَسُّفي فيها الذُّيالا

And if they are lost in your presence, you are a sun:

my presumption lights wicks within it [reading uncertain].

على خَطرٍ لو أنّ الليل مِنْهُ

لعادَ شبابُ راكبه اكتهالا

Amid peril such that, if the night shared in it,

its rider's youth would turn to middle age;

وغبّ تَعَقبٍ لو كان منه

فِرِنْدُ السيْفِ ما قَبِلَ الصّقالا

and after such scrutiny that, if made from it,

a sword's watered steel would accept no polish.