أغمز عيون وانكسار حواجب — Al Tutili

أَغَمْزُ عُيُونٍ وَانكسارُ حَوَاجِبِ

أمِ البرقُ في جُنْحٍ من الليل دَائبِ

Is it the winking of eyes and the bending of brows,

or lightning in a stretch of unceasing night?

سرى وسرى طيفُ الخيالِ كلاهما

يَوَدُّ لو أنَّ الليلَ ضَرْبَةُ لازب

It traveled by night, and so did the phantom vision; each

wishing that night were an inescapable certainty.

وفي مضجعي أَخْفَى على العينِ منهما

وأَثْقَبُ في أَجوازِ تلكَ الغياهب

And in my bed lies something more hidden from the eye than either,

and more piercing through the depths of that darkness:

لقىً غيرَ نفسٍ حُرَّةٍ نازعت به

نجومَ الدُّجى ما بين سارٍ وسارب

a cast-off body, save for a free soul that through it contended with

the stars of darkness, between night-wanderer and day-roamer;

معودةٍ ألاَّ تطبِّقَ روعةٌ

بها مذهباً والموت شتى المذاهب

accustomed to letting no terror close off

any path before it, though death has many paths.

إليكَ ابنَ حمدينٍ وإنْ بَعُدَ المَدَى

وإن غَرَّبَت بي عَنْكَ إحدى المغارب

To you, Ibn Hamdin, though the distance be great,

and though some western land has carried me westward, away from you,

صبابةَ ودٍّ لم يكدِّر جِمَامَهُ

مُرُورُ الليالي وازدحامُ الشَّوائِبِ

I send a yearning love whose brimming waters have not been clouded

by passing nights or crowding impurities;

وذكرى عَسَاها أن تكونَ مَهَزَّةً

تردُّ على أَعقابِهِ كُلَّ شاغب

and a remembrance that may become a stirring

that drives every troublemaker back on his heels.

بآيةِ ما كان الهوى مُتَقَارباً

وخَطَوْيَ فيه ليسَ بالمتقارب

By the sign of how close our love once was,

though my strides in it were anything but short,

أُمُخْلِفَةٌ تلك الوسائلُ بعدما

شَدَدنا قُوَاها بالنُّجومِ الثَّواقب

will those ties fail us, after

we strengthened their strands with the piercing stars?

وكم غَدْوَةٍ لي في رِضَاكَ ورَوَحَةٍ

على مَنْهَجٍ من سُنَّةِ البِرِّ لازب

And how many a morning and evening journey I made to please you,

along a path steadfast in the practice of goodness,

لياليَ لم تمشِ الأخابيث بيننا

بما كادَ يستهوي حُلُومَ الأطايب

in nights when the wicked did not carry tales between us

that nearly led the sound judgment of good men astray;

ولم يُرِجفُوا في

بصمانة يَنْمُوَنَها وأشائب

nor did they spread alarming rumors about ...

with [an unclear word] they circulated, and tangled tales;

وأيامَ لم يَجْنِ الدَّلالُ على الهوى

هناتٍ جَنَت عُتْبى على غير عاتب

and days when familiar boldness did not wrong love

with little faults that demanded amends from one who had not reproached.

أفالآن لما كنتُ أحكمَ قاصدٍ

وَسَرَّك أني جئتُ أصْدَقَ تائب

Is it now, when I am the most discerning of seekers,

and it pleased you that I came as the truest penitent,

ولم يبقَ إلا نزغة ترتقي بها

شياطينُ تَخْشَى القَذفَ من كلِّ جانب

with nothing left but a malicious prompting by which ascend

devils fearing to be pelted from every side,

أَضعتَ حُقُوقي أو حقوقَ مودتي

فدونكها أعجوبةً في الأعاجب

that you have squandered my rights—or the rights of my affection?

Then take it: a marvel among marvels.

وَفَجَّعْتَ بي حيّاً نوادبَ كلمَّا

تذكرنني أسْعَدنَ غيرَ نوادب

And you made women mourn me while I am alive; whenever

they remember me, they draw even non-mourners into their lament.

وقال العدا ليلُ الخمولِ أَجَنَّهُ

على رِسْلِهِم إنِّي عِيَاضُ بنُ ناشب

And the enemies said, 'The night of obscurity has hidden him.'

Not so fast: I am Iyad ibn Nashib.

فلا تتباهى بي صدورُ مَجَالسٍ

أَسُرُّكَ فيها أو صدورُ مواكب

So the foremost seats of gatherings no longer boast of me,

where I delight you, nor the foremost ranks of processions.

وَأصبحتُ لا يَرتَاعُ من خَوفِ سَطْوَتي

عَدوُيِّ ولا يرجو غَنَائيَ صاحبي

And now the fear of my might no longer frightens

my enemy, nor does my friend hope for my help.

ولا يتلقَّاني العُفَاةُ كأنما

أَهَلُّوا بمنلٍ من الغَيْث ساكِب

Nor do petitioners greet me as though

they had hailed a [word unclear] of pouring rain.

ولا أَمتري أخلافَ كلِّ مُرِنَّة

بأيدي صَبَا من عزمتي وَجَنَائب

Nor do I milk the teats of every rumbling cloud

with the hands of an east wind from my resolve, and south winds.

أُعاتِبُ إدلالاً وأعْتِبُ طاعةً

وحسْبُكَ بي من مُعتْب وَمُعَاتب

I reproach you in trusting familiarity, and make amends in obedience;

and I suffice you as both appeaser and reproacher.

أبوءُ بذنبي ليس شعري بمقتضٍ

عُلاكَ ولو فَقَيْتُهُ بالكواكب

I acknowledge my fault; my verse cannot do justice to

your eminence, even if I pierced it with stars.

ولكنَّهُ ما أَستطيعُ وَعُوذَةٌ

لِفَضْلِكَ إلا نَمْحُ ذنبي تُقارب

Yet it is what I can offer, and a charm

to draw your generosity toward erasing my fault [text uncertain].

ويجحدُكَ الحسَّادُ أَنّك سُدْتَهُمْ

على شاهدٍ مما انتحيت وغائب

And the envious deny that you have surpassed them

in your undertakings, witnessed and unwitnessed.

وقد وقفوا دون الذي عزَّ شأوه

بأنفسهم أو بالظنون الكواذب

Yet they have halted short of one whose reach is unattainable,

whether through their own efforts or through false conjectures;

غضاباً على مَنْ ناكرَ الدهرَ بينهم

وقد عَرَفوه بينَ راضٍ وغاضب

angry at one who defied Time among them,

though they knew him, whether pleased or angry;

سراعاً إلى الدنيا وحيثُ بدا لهم

ولو أنَّه بينَ الظبا والضرائب

rushing toward worldly gain wherever it appeared to them,

even if it lay among sword-edges and blows.

إذا المرءُ لم يَكْسِب سوى المالِ وحده

فألأمُ مَكْسُوبٍ لألأمِ كاسب

If a man gains nothing but money alone,

it is the basest gain for the basest earner.

عجبتُ لمن لم يَقْدُرِ التربَ قَدْرَهُ

وقد تاهَ في نَقْدِ النجومِ الثواقب

I marvel at one who does not value dust as it deserves,

yet goes astray in appraising the piercing stars;

ومن لم يوطِّن للنوائبِ نَفْسَهُ

وقد لجَّ في تعريضها للنوائب

and at one who does not steel himself for calamities,

yet persists in exposing himself to calamities.

أعِد نظراً فيهم وفي حرماتهم

وإن لم يُعيدوا نظرةً في العواقب

Reconsider them and their inviolable claims,

even if they do not reconsider the consequences.

وكُن بهمُ أَدنى إلى الرشد منهمُ

تكْن هذه إحدى عُلاك العجائب

And in dealing with them, be nearer to sound judgment than they are;

this will be one of your wondrous noble deeds.

لعلهمُ والدهرُ شتَّى صُرُوفُهُ

وَمَجْدُكَ أولى بارتقاءِ المراتب

Perhaps they—for Time's turns are many,

and your glory more entitled to rise through the ranks—

قد انصرفت تلك الهمومُ لواغباً

إلى المقصدِ الأدنى وغيرَ لواغب

have had those ambitions turn back, weary,

toward a humbler goal, and others unwearied;

وثابت حلومٌ ربمَّا زال يَذْبُلٌ

وزالَ سُهَيْلٌ وهي غير ثوائب

and sound minds have returned—Yadhbul might have shifted,

and Suhayl shifted, while they still had not returned;

وَأَيقَنَ قومٌ أنها هيَ ترتمي

بهم بين مجنوب إليك وجانب

and some have realized that these very minds hurl

them—some led toward you, others leading;

وألقَوا بأيدٍ صاغرينَ وأخْلَصُوا

ضمائرَ مكذوبِ المُنَى والتجارب

and they have yielded, humbled, and purified

hearts betrayed by hopes and experience.

وأهونُ مغلوبٍ على أمرِ نفسِهِ

من النَّاسِ مَنْ لا يَتَّقي بأسَ غالب

And the most contemptible man overpowered in his own affairs

among people is he who does not guard against a victor's might.

إليك ابنَ حمدينٍ نصيحةَ مُشْفِقٍ

تَنَحَّلَها أثناءَ تلك النوائب

To you, Ibn Hamdin, I offer a well-wisher's counsel,

which he made his own amid those calamities.

برغمي ورغمِ المكرمات تَقَضَّبَتْ

حِبَالٌ بأيدي الحادثاتِ القواضب

Against my will, and that of noble deeds, were severed

bonds by the hands of cutting calamities;

ورغمِ رجالٍ علَّمَتْهُمْ ذنوبُهُمْ

حِذَارَ الأعادي واحتقارَ المصائب

and against the will of men whose faults had taught them

to beware enemies and scorn calamities.

قَضَوْا نحبهم إلا أسىً غَيْرَ نافعٍ

على ذاهبٍ من أمءرِهِمْ غيرِ ذاهب

They have met their doom, with only fruitless grief remaining

over what has gone from their affairs, yet never goes away.

يلوذون منه بالخضوع مُرَدَّداً

إذا عزَّهم فيضُ الدموع السواكب

They seek refuge from it in repeated submission,

when a flood of streaming tears overwhelms them.

فإن تَنْتَصِف منهمْ فأَعْذَرُ آخذٍ

وإن تتداركْهُمْ فأَكرمُ صاحب

If you exact your due from them, none is more justified in taking it;

and if you rescue them, none is a nobler friend.