أطلالهم بلوى العقيق فحاجر — Alablah Albaghdadi

أطلالَهم بلوى العقيقِ فحاجرِ

لا عقّ نؤي حماك نوء محاجري

O their ruins at the bend of al-ʿAqīq, then Ḥājir!

May the rain of my eyes never harm your sanctuary's trench.

وحبتك من سحب الجفون بأدمع

تغنيك عن مسح الكبي الباكرِ

And may you receive tears from the clouds of eyelids,

Enough to replace the caress of early-morning rain.

فلئن غدَوتِ من الأنيس خواليا

وحواليا من كلِّ ظبي نافرِ

Though you have become empty of human company,

And adorned with every skittish gazelle,

فبما قصرت اللهو فيك بخرد

بيض كبيضات الظليم قواصرِ

Often I confined my revels within you to shy maidens,

Fair as ostrich eggs, their glances restrained.

ينظرنَ من خَلَلِ السجوف جآذرا

ويمسن في ورق الشباب الناضرِ

They gaze like oryx calves through gaps in the curtains,

And sway amid the foliage of flourishing youth.

لما مررن على الغويرِ ونَثبِهِ

أزرت به منهن كثب مآزرِ

When they passed al-Ghuwayr and its dunes,

The dunes beneath their waist-wraps put it to shame.

هنَّ الدمى لولا احمرار أنامل

ومنها الفلا لولا اسوداد غدائرِ

They are statues, but for their reddened fingertips,

And oryxes of the wilderness, but for their black tresses.

من كل ناضرة القوام غريرةٍ

هيفاء ناظرة بطرف فاترِ

Each fresh of figure, an innocent maiden,

Slender-waisted, gazing with languid eyes.

ومعذر حلو الشمائل واللمى

كم لي على حبي له من عاذر

And a downy-cheeked youth, sweet in manners and his lips' dark hue—

How many excuse my love for him!

لم أنسه إذ زارني مثلثما

تحت الظلام على صباح سافرِ

I have not forgotten him, visiting me veiled,

Beneath darkness draped over an unveiled dawn,

بمناطق نطق وحجل صامت

وموزر عبل وكشح ضامرِ

With speaking girdles and a silent anklet,

Full, girded hips and a slender waist.

يرنو بطرف ندى سقام ساحر

في رغده عن طرف صب ساهر

He gazes with eyes dewy with bewitching languor,

At ease, heedless of a sleepless lover's gaze.

ويهز أعدل قامة فيها إذا

لعبت بها الخيلاء سيرة جائرِ

He sways the straightest figure; yet whenever

Pride plays upon it, its bearing is a tyrant's.

عاطيته صفراء ما خلت حشا

فرات لجيش همومه من صافرِ

I shared golden wine with him; it never left a breast

With a single survivor from the army of its cares.

برزت بروز الشمس بين شمامس

سجدوا لها إذ أخرجت من كافرش

It emerged like the sun among deacons,

They bowed to it when it was drawn from its concealing vessel.

بكر إذا مزجت رايت جبابها

متصاعدا كاللؤلؤ المتخادر

Virgin wine: when mixed, you see its bubbles

Rising like cascading pearls.

فكأنها من لطفها مخلوقة

في الكأس من خلق البهاء الاهرِ

So delicate, it seems to have been created

Within the cup from the very stuff of radiant beauty.

بدريبادر جوده سؤاله

صدر نداه لوارد ولصادر

A full moon whose bounty anticipates his petitioners,

His bounty's breast open to those coming and going.

غيث يغيث المعتفين بسيبه

ليث له فتكات ليث خادر

A raincloud succoring supplicants with his gifts,

A lion whose assaults are a lair-dwelling lion's.

قمن لراجيه بسد مفاقر

ولمن يداجيه بسود فواقر

Certain to remedy the needs of those who hope in him,

And bring black calamities upon those who deceive him.

سهل الخلائق والحجاب ممدح

رحب الجناب مرحب بالزائرِ

Gentle in character, easy of access, much praised,

Spacious of court, welcoming to the visitor.

يبدو ندى يده ويحضر رفده

أبدا لباد يستحيح وحاضرِ

His hand's bounty is manifest, his aid at hand,

Always for countryman and townsman seeking gifts.

يلقى العِدا وترا وطلاَّب النّدى

بالشفع من إحسانه المتواترِ

He meets his foes single-handed, and seekers of bounty

With double measures of his unceasing kindness.

حتم عليه بذل جود راتب

ما كن قط لحانم في النادرِ

Unfailing generosity is a binding duty upon him,

Such as even Ḥātim never possessed, even rarely.

بطل إذا غشي الحروب فبيضه

حمر تُمار من النجيع المائر

A hero: when he enters battle, his white blades

Turn red, fed with surging blood.

شيحان تحسبه عقابا نازلا

في متن أجرد كالعقاب الكاسرِ

A towering warrior you would think a descending eagle,

On a sleek steed's back, like an eagle folding its wings to swoop.

ذو المكرمات السابقات وعودها

والعود لدن لا يلين لكاسر

A man whose noble deeds precede their promises,

And a supple bough that yields to no breaker.

جذلان يهزم جيش عسر عفاته

بميامن من جوده ومياسرِ

Joyfully he routs the army of his supplicants' hardship

With right and left wings of his generosity.

مازال يعمر بيت مدح واحد

فيه طوال السهر بيت الشاعرِ

A single verse in his praise has always sustained

The poet's household throughout long sleepless nights.

فاعلق به تعلق بطود مانع

وانزل به تنزل ببحر زاخرِ

So cling to him: you cling to a protecting mountain;

And lodge with him: you lodge beside a surging sea.

من رام حصر صفاته فقصاره

حصَر يغرّ بناظم وبنائرِ

Whoever seeks to encompass his qualities can only reach

Speechlessness, betraying poet and prose writer alike.

من معشر وهبوا البدور وأصبحوا

حقا بدور أسرة ومنابرِ

Of a people who gave away full moons, and became

Truly the full moons of thrones and pulpits.

أثروا من المجد التليد وآثروا

بطريفهم وحَووا كريم مآثرش

They grew rich in ancestral glory, yet gave away

Their new gains, and gathered noble achievements.

لك يا عبيد الله يا ابن محمد

فخر تقاعس عنه كل مفاخر

Yours, O ʿUbayd Allāh, O son of Muḥammad,

Is glory before which every rival falls short.

وتحلم عن قدرة وأجل ماء

وصف الرجال به تحلم قادر

You forbear from a position of power; the noblest thing

Men are described by is a powerful man's forbearance.

يا من له أفلاك سعد لم تزل

أبدا تدور على العدا بدوائرِ

O you whose spheres of good fortune have never ceased

To revolve forever, bringing calamities upon your foes,

لا زلت تبهض آمليكَ بحمل ما

تسدى وتنهض كل جد عاثرِ

May you ever burden those who hope in you with the weight of what

You bestow, and lift every stumbling fortune.

أسعد بعيد عائد لك بالمنى

في دولتي ملك وعز قاهرِ

Rejoice in a festival returning with wishes fulfilled,

Under the twin reigns of kingship and conquering might.

وانحر عداك فإنهم أولى عدا

بالذَبحِ من بدنِ تَحل لناحرِ

And slaughter your enemies: as foes, they are more deserving

Of slaughter than sacrificial camels lawful to the sacrificer.