خضاب على فودي للدهر ما نضا — Alabywrdy

خِضابٌ على فَوْدَيَّ للدّهْرِ ما نَضا

ومُقْتَبَلٌ مِنْ رَيِّقِ العُمْرِ ما مَضَى

A dye of time upon my two temples has not faded,

and a youthful prime, from life's first sweetness, has not passed.

ونَفْسٌ على الأيّامِ غَضْبى وقد أبَتْ

تَصاريفُها أن تُبْدِلَ السُّخْطَ بالرِّضى

And a soul angry with the days; unwilling

are their vicissitudes to exchange resentment for contentment.

إذا أنا عاتَبْتُ اللّياليَ لمْ تُبَلْ

عِتاباً كتَرنيقِ النُّعاسِ مُمَرَّضا

When I reproach the nights, they pay no heed

to a languid reproach, like the drooping of drowsiness.

وفي الكَفِّ عَضْبٌ كلّما فاضَ من دَمٍ

عَبيطٍ غِراراً فاحَ بالمِسْكِ مَقْبِضا

And in my hand a keen blade: whenever it overflows with blood,

fresh along its edge, it breathes musk from its hilt.

وإنّ دُيوناً ما طَلَتْها صُروفُها

بِبيضِ الظُّبا في هَبوَةِ النّقْعِ تُقْتَضى

And debts that the nights' vicissitudes have not annulled

are exacted with bright blade-edges in the cloud of battle-dust.

إذا ما ذَوى غُصْنُ الشّبابِ ولم تَسُدْ

وشِبْتَ فلا تَطْلُبْ إِلى العِزِّ مَنهَضا

When youth's bough withers, and you have not gained lordship,

and you turn gray, seek no ascent to glory.

سأَفْري أديمَ الأرضِ بالعيسِ نُقَّباً

حَبا بالذي أبغيهِ أو بَخِلَ القَضا

I shall cleave the earth's hide with pale, footsore camels,

whether fate grants what I seek or withholds it.

وإن ضِقْتُ ذَرْعاً بالمُنى فرَحيبَةٌ

بِها خُطُواتُ الأرحَبيّةِ والفَضا

And if my hopes leave me feeling hemmed in, spacious

for them are the Arhabi camels' strides and the open country.

ومِنْ شِيَمي أن أهْجُرَ الماءَ صادِياً

إذا كانَ طَرْقاً سُؤْرُهُ مُتَبَرَّضا

And it is my nature to abandon water, though thirsty,

if it is fouled, its residue eked out in sips.

وأطْوي على الهَمِّ النّزيعِ جَوانِحي

وإنْ أقلَقَ الخَطْبُ المُلِمُّ وأرْمَضا

And I fold my ribs around wrenching sorrow,

though the calamity that descends unsettles and scorches me.

وأصْبِرُ والرُّمْحُ الرُّدَيْنيُّ شاجِرٌ

وأجْزَعُ إنْ بانَ الخَليطُ وأعْرَضا

And I endure while the Rudayni spear is thrust forward,

yet I am distraught if my companions depart and turn away.

وريمٍ رَمى قلبي بأسْهُمِ لَحظِهِ

فأصْمَى وفي قَوْسِ الحَواجِبِ أنْبَضا

And a white gazelle shot my heart with the arrows of his glance,

then struck it dead and twanged the bow of his brows.

طَرَقْتُ الغَضى والليلُ جَثْلٌ فُروعُهُ

فأَوْمى بعَيْنَيْهِ إليّ وأوْمَضا

I visited the ghada trees by night, when night's branches were thick;

then he signaled to me with both eyes and flashed a glance.

وقال لِتِرْبَيْهِ ارْفَعا السِّجْفَ إنني

أحِسُّ بزَوْرٍ للْمَنايا تَعرّضا

And said to his two peers, 'Raise the curtain, for I

sense a visitor who has exposed himself to death.

وما هُوَ إلا اللّيْثُ يَرْتادُ مَطْمَعاً

على غِرّةٍ أو لا فمَنْ نَفَضَ الغَضى

He is none but the lion seeking prey,

by surprise—or, if not, who shook the ghada trees?

أخافُ علَيهِ غِلمَةَ الحَيِّ إنّهُمْ

لَوَوْا منْ هَوادِيهِمْ إِلى الفَجْرِ هَلْ أضا

I fear the camp's young men for him, for they

have turned their necks toward dawn: has it shone?'

وحيثُ الْتَقى الجَفْنانِ دَمْعٌ يُفيضُهُ

إذا أمِنَ الواشي وإنْ رِيعَ غَيَّضا

And where the two eyelids meet, a tear he lets flow

when safe from the slanderer; if startled, he checks it.

فِدًى لكَ يا ظَبْيَ الصّريمَةِ مُهْجَةٌ

أعدَّتْ ليَومِ الرّوْعِ جَأشاً مُخَفّضا

May a soul be your ransom, O gazelle of the thicket,

one that has readied a calm heart for the day of terror.

فلا تَرْهَبِ الأعْداءَ ما عَصَفَتْ يَدي

وبأسمَرَ أو ناطَتْ نِجادي بأبْيَضا

So fear no enemies as long as my hand strikes

with a tawny spear, or fastens my baldric to a bright blade.

سأضْرِبُ أكْبادَ المَطِيِّ على الوجى

إِلى خَيْرِ مَنْ يُرْجى إذا الخَطْبُ نَضْنَضا

I shall beat the mounts' flanks despite their sore feet,

toward the best of those one hopes in when calamity writhes.

إِلى عَضُدِ الدّينِ الذي ساغَ مَشْرَبي

بهِ بعدَما أشْجى الزّمانُ وأجْرَضا

To Adud al-Din, through whom my draught went down smoothly,

after time had made me choke and gag.

أغَرُّ إذا استَنْجَدْتَ هَبَّ إباؤُهُ

بهِ وإنِ اسْتَعْطَفْتَ أغْضى وغمّضا

A radiant noble: when you seek aid, his proud spirit rises

within him; when you plead for mercy, he lowers his eyes and closes them.

وكمْ غَمْرَةٍ دونَ الخِلافَةِ خاضَها

بآرائهِ وهْيَ الصّوارِمُ تُنْتَضى

And how many a deep peril he has waded through in defense of the caliphate,

with his counsels, which are keen swords drawn bare.

تكَشَّرُ عن يَومٍ يُرَشّحُ صُبْحُهُ

أجِنّةَ لَيْلٍ بالمَنايا تَمَخّضا

It bares its teeth to reveal a day whose dawn nurtures

the embryos of a night that travailed with death.

على ساعَةٍ يُضحي الفِرارُ مُحَبّباً

ويُمْسي الحِفاظُ المُرُّ فيها مُبَغّضا

At an hour when flight becomes welcome,

and bitter defense of honor grows hateful then.

وقد أرْهَفَ العَزْمَ الذي بِشَباتِهِ

نُهوضُ جَناحٍ همَّ أن يتَهَيّضا

And he has honed the resolve by whose sharp edges

a wing rises that was about to break again.

أبِينوا مَنِ المَدعُوُّ والرُّمْحُ تَلْتَوي

بهِ حَلَقاتُ الدِّرْعِ كالأيْمِ في الأضَى

Declare who is summoned, while around the spear coil

the rings of mail, like a snake in the pools.

ومَنْ قالَ حتّى ردَّ ذا النُّطْقِ مُفْحَماً

ومَنْ صالَ حتى غادرَ القِرْنَ مُحْرَضا

And who spoke until he left the eloquent man speechless,

and who charged until he left his adversary near death?

فهَلْ هو مَجْزيٌّ بأكْرَمِ سَعْيهِ

فقَدْ أسْلَفَ الصُّنْعَ الجَميلَ وأقْرَضا

Will he, then, be rewarded for his noblest effort?

For he has advanced noble service and given it on loan.

فَداكَ بَهاءَ الدّولةِ النّاسُ إنّهُمْ

سَراحينُ يَستَوْطِئْنَ في الغَدْرِ بَضا

May the people be your ransom, Baha al-Dawla, for they

are wolves that find tender flesh easy to tread upon in treachery.

إذا لَقِحَ الوُدُّ القَديمُ تَطَلّعَتْ

ضَغائِنُهُمْ قبلَ النِّتاجِ فأجْهَضا

When old affection conceives, there emerge

their grudges before the birth, and it miscarries.

لهُمْ أنْفُسٌ لا يُرْحَضُ الدّهْرَ عارُها

وإنْ ألْبَسوهُنّ الرِّداءَ المُرَحّضا

They have souls whose shame can never be washed away,

even if they dress them in a washed-clean cloak.

أرى كلَّ مَنْ جَرّبْتُ منهُمْ مُداجِياً

إذا لمْ يُصرِّحْ بالإساءَةِ عَرّضا

I find everyone among them whom I have tried dissembling;

if he does not openly voice an insult, he insinuates it.

يَغُرُّك ما لمْ تَخْتَبِرْهُ رُواؤُهُ

كما غَرَّ عَنْ أديانِها طَيِّئاً رُضا

His fine appearance deceives you until you have tested him,

just as Ruda beguiled Tayy away from its faiths.

وجائِلَةِ الأنْساعِ مائِلَةِ الطُّلى

ببَيْداءَ لا تُلْفي بِها الرّيحُ مَرْكَضا

And camels with shifting girth-straps and drooping necks,

in a desert where the wind finds no course to run.

فَشُبَّتْ لها تَحْتَ الأحِجّةِ أعْيُنٌ

لمَرْعىً على أطْرافِهِ العِزُّ حَوّضا

So eyes were kindled beneath their brow-bones

for a pasture along whose edges glory has made watering-pools.

بِوادٍ على الرُّوادِ يندىً مَذانِباً

إذا زارَهُ العافي أخَلَّ وأحْمَضا

In a valley whose watercourses are moist for pasture-seekers,

when a petitioner visits it, it offers sweet herbage and salty herbage.

إليكَ زَجَرْناها وعِنْدَكَ بَرَّكَتْ

بمَغْنى تَقَرّاهُ الرّبيعُ ورَوّضا

To you we drove them, and beside you they knelt,

at a dwelling spring had sought out and made a meadow.

فلا العَهْدُ مما يَسْتَشِنُّ أديمُهُ

ولا المَجْدُ يَرضى أن يُخانَ ويُنْقَضا

For the covenant is not one whose hide grows worn,

nor does glory consent to be betrayed and undone.

ولا هِمّتي تَرْضى بتَقْبيلِ أنْمُلٍ

نَشَأْنَ على فَقْرٍ وإنْ كُنَّ فُيَّضا

Nor will my ambition consent to kiss fingers

that grew up in poverty, even if they pour forth gifts.

فإنّ بني البَيتِ الرّفيعِ عِمادُهُ

إذا افْتَرَشوا فيهِ الهُوَيْنى تَقَوّضا

For the sons of the lofty house are its pillars;

if they make indolence their bed within it, it collapses.

ولولاكَ لم أنْطِقْ وإنْ كُنْتُ مُحْسِناً

بِشِعْرٍ ولمْ أسألْ وإنْ كُنتُ مُنْفِضا

Were it not for you, I would not utter, though skilled,

poetry, nor would I ask, though penniless.

إليكَ هَفَتْ طَوْعَ الأزِمّةِ هِمّتي

وكانتْ على غَيِّ الأمانِيِّ رَيِّضا

To you my ambition sped, obedient to the reins;

and it had been untamed amid the waywardness of wishes.

فقَدْ صارَ أمري والأمورُ لها مَدًى

إليكَ على رَغْمِ الأعادي مُفَوّضا

Thus my cause—and all affairs have their end—has been

entrusted to you, despite the enemies.