ولم أر كالعشاق أشقوا نفوسهم — Al Tutili

ولم أرَ كالعُشّاقِ أشْقَوا نُفُوسَهُمْ

وإن كانَ منهمْ مُعْذرٌ ومُلِيمُ

I have seen none like lovers, who make their own souls wretched,

though among them are both the excusable and the blameworthy.

أَما يَشْتَفِي مني الزمانُ يَرُوعُني

وتُقْعِدني أرْزَاؤُهُ وَتُقيمُ

Will Time never sate its vengeance on me, terrifying me,

while its calamities cast me down and set me upright?

تَنَكّرَ أحبابٌ وبانتْ حبائبٌ

وَلجّتْ أعادٍ بيننا وخُصُوم

Friends have grown estranged, and beloved women have departed,

and enemies and adversaries have stubbornly come between us.

وأطْلَعت الأيامُ شيباً بِمَفْرقي

روائِعُ تَلْحى في الصِّبا وتَلُوم

The days have brought forth gray hair at my parting:

frightening signs that rebuke and reproach youthful passion.

نجومٌ تراءتْ لي فأَيْقَنْتُ أَنّني

سقيمٌ وأنَّ الودَّ منك سقيم

Stars appeared to me, and I knew for certain that I

was ailing, and that your affection was ailing too.

وقالت كفى بالشيبِ للمرءِ حكمةً

فقلتُ وَيَهْوى المرءُ وَهْوَ حكيم

She said, 'Gray hair is wisdom enough for a man.'

I replied, 'Yet a man falls in love while he is wise.'

خليليَّ لي عند ابن حمدينَ حاجةٌ

فهل لي بها إلا هواهُ زعيم

My two friends, I have a request to make of Ibn Hamdin;

have I any guarantor for it but his affection?

ألكِني إليهِ بالسلامِ فإنّهُ

رؤُوفٌ بأَبناءِ الكرامِ رحيمُ

Bear my greetings to him, for he is

compassionate and merciful to the sons of noble men.

وأَهْدِ إليهِ من ثَنَائي مَفاخراً

لهَ هِمَمٌ في صَونِها وهُموم

And offer him, from my praise, glories

that his high ambitions and cares are set on preserving.

هُوَ الغَيْثُ أو فالغيثُ منهُ سَميُّهُ

نَهَشُّ إليه الهُضْبُ وهي وُجُوم

He is life-giving rain—or rather, rain takes its name from him;

the hills brighten toward him, though silent and solemn.

من التغلبيين الأولى وَسِعوا العُلا

إذا بَعِلتْ قيسٌ بها وتميم

He is of the Taghlibites, who encompassed high glory

when Qays and Tamim stood bewildered before it.

بَنُو الحرب أو آباؤُها لم تَزلْ لَهُمْ

عليها ومنهمْ حُرْمَةٌ وَحَريم

Sons of war—or its fathers—they have ever held

a sacred claim upon it, while from them it has its sanctuary.

بهاليلُ غُلْبٌ لم تُسلَّ سُيُوفُهُمْ

فَتُغْمَدَ إلا والزمانُ لحيم

Noble, thick-necked chiefs, whose swords are never drawn

and sheathed again unless Time itself lies slain.

تَدَفَّقْت دونَ الدينِ بحر منيّةٍ

تموجُ على أعدائِهِ وَتحوم

You surged forth in defense of the faith, a sea of death,

billowing against its enemies and circling them.

جميعُ أمورِ الناسِ في كلِّ مَوْقِفٍ

به الليلُ نقْعٌ والرّماحُ نجوم

You encompass all men's affairs at every battle-stand

where the night is dust and the spears are stars.

وقمتَ بِحلِّ المسلمينَ وعَقْدِهِمْ

وَمِثْلُكَ في أمْثَال تلكَ يقوم

You undertook the Muslims' loosing and binding,

and one like you takes charge of tasks like those.

فعِثتَ بأبكارِ الخطُوبِ وعُوْنِها

كما هزَّ أعطافَ الغصونِ نسيم

You played havoc with calamities, their virgins and their matrons,

as a breeze shakes the branches' flanks.

وأطْلَعْتَ من تلكَ العزائمِ كوكباً

أنارَ وشيطانُ النِّفاق رجيم

And from those firm resolves you brought forth a star

that shone, while the devil of hypocrisy was stoned away.

وقد كانَ ليلاً طبَّقَ الأرضَ والتقتْ

سُهوبٌ على أرْجائِهِ وحُزومُ

There had been a night that blanketed the earth, and there met

plains and rugged uplands along its edges.

فلم يعتكرْ إلا كلا ثم راعَهُ

صباحٌ على عِطْفَيْهِ منهُ وشوم

It darkened only as long as saying 'no'; then it was startled

by a dawn bearing that night's tattoo-marks upon its flanks.

وإن يكُ يا دارَ الخلافةِ جَنةً

فبُشْرَاكِ هاتا نَضْرَةٌ وَنَعِيم

And if it is a paradise, O abode of the caliphate,

then glad tidings to you: here are freshness and bliss!

حَمَى حَوْزَة الإسلامِ فيكِ مُحمَّدٌ

بأَحْمَدِ عيش كان وهو ذميم

Within you, Muhammad guarded the domain of Islam,

with a life now most praiseworthy, once wretched.

من القومِ معسولُ الشَّمائِلِ واضحٌ

وفي الحرب شَشْنُ الساعدينِ شَتِيم

A man of that people, honey-sweet in character and radiant,

yet in war, rough of forearm and grim-faced.

ونعمَ فَتى الهيجا ابنُهُ لا مُواكِلٌ

أَلَفُّ ولا رثُّ السّلاحِ سَؤوم

His son is a splendid youth of battle—not a shirker,

nor inept, nor shabbily armed and easily wearied.

يَصُولُ بهِ الخطيُّ أرْوَعَ باسلاً

له الشُّهبُ رهطٌ والصَّباحُ أرومُ

The Khatti spear charges with him, awe-inspiring and valiant;

the bright stars are his kin, and dawn his ancestral stock.

تَسامى إلى العلياءِ من كلّ جانبٍ

على كلّ حالٍ والعظيمُ عظيم

He rose toward lofty glory from every side,

in every circumstance—and the great man is great.

يداهُ بها مَرْجُوةٌ أو مَخافَةٌ

ورِيحَاه فيها لاقحٌ وعقِيم

His hands there are hoped for or feared,

and his two winds there are fertilizing and barren.

أيُنكِرَ أهْلُ العلم أنّكَ رَوْضَةٌ

يُسِيمونَ فيها والبلادُ هشيِيم

Can men of learning deny that you are a meadow

where they pasture, while the lands are withered stubble,

وأنك روحٌ للأنامِ وَرَحْمَةٌ

وأنّكَ كَهْفٌ للعُلا وَرَقيم

and that you are a life-giving spirit and a mercy to humankind,

and that you are a cave for glory, and its inscribed tablet?

أتُوبُ إليكَ اليومَ لستُ بشاعرٍ

وإن كنتُ في وادي الكلامِ أهِيم

I repent before you today: I am no poet,

though I wander in the valley of speech.

ولكنها جَلَّتْ وفي النفسِ حاجَةٌ

عليَّ ديونٌ والوفاء غريم

Yet it is momentous, and in my soul there is a need:

debts weigh on me, and repayment is a pressing creditor.

وإلا يكنْ عندي كلام أُجِيدهُ

وأنت خبِيرٌ بالكَلامِ عليم

And if I have no words I can fashion well,

while you are versed in speech and deeply discerning,

فإنَّ وِدَادي وانقطاعي وغُربتي

وأجري وبعضُ القائلينَ أَثيم

then there are my affection, my devotion, and my exile,

and my reward—while some who speak are sinful.

هنيئاً لك العيدُ الذي قد جَلَوْتَهُ

أغرَّ وإنْ وافاكَ وهو بهيم

Joy to you on the feast that you have unveiled

bright-faced, though it came to you pitch-dark.

طَوَى الأرضَ والأيامَ نحوكَ يَرْتمي

به عَنَقٌ لا ينقضِي وَرَسيم

It folded up the earth and the days, hurtling toward you,

with an unending swift gait and a rapid trot.

نَحَرْتَ بهِ الكفَّارَ في كلِّ مَنْحَرٍ

إذا نُحِرَتْ بُزْلٌ هناكَ وكُومُ

On it you slaughtered the unbelievers at every slaughtering-ground,

as full-grown and high-humped camels were slaughtered there.

إليكَ قوافي الشّعْرِ أَما ذمامها

فَنَثرٌ وأَما حُسنُها فنظيم

To you these rhymes of poetry: as for their due,

it is scattered largesse; as for their beauty, it is finely strung.

من الكِلمِ اللائي صَدَعْتُ بها الدجى

فأَصبحَ منها الدهرُ وهْوَ كليم

From words with which I cleft the darkness,

so Time awoke wounded by them.