أما وحبيك هذا منتهى حلفي — Alabywrdy

أما وُحبِيّكِ هذا مُنْتَهى حَلَفي

ليَظْهَرَنَّ الذي أُخْفيهِ منْ شَغَفي

Indeed, by love of you—this is my utmost oath—

what I conceal of my passion shall surely appear.

فبَيْنَ جَنْبَيَّ سِرٌّ لا يَبوحُ بهِ

سوى دُموعٍ متى ما تُذْكَري تَكِفِ

For between my sides lies a secret divulged by none

but tears that flow whenever you are mentioned.

أسْتَكْتِمُ القَلْبَ أسْراراً تَنُمُّ بِها

إِلى الوُشاةِ شُؤونُ الأدْمُعِ الذُّرُفِ

I ask the heart to conceal secrets that are betrayed

to tale-bearers by the channels of streaming tears.

وعاذِلٍ مَجَّ سَمْعي ما يَفوهُ بهِ

وقد جعَلْتُ أحاديثَ النّوى شَنَفي

And my hearing spat out many a censurer's words,

and I had made all talk of parting an object of loathing.

وفي الجوانِحِ حُبٌّ لا يُغيّرُهُ

صَدُّ المُلوكِ وبُعْدُ النّيَّةِ القَذَفِ

And within my ribs is a love that cannot be changed

by kings' rejection or the remoteness of a far-flung destination.

وما الحَبيبُ وما أعْني سِواكِ بهِ

ممّنْ يَقِلُّ عليهِ في النّوى أسَفي

Nor is the beloved—and I mean none but you—

one for whom my grief in separation would be slight.

ولا أخافُ الرّدى إنْ كُنتِ راضيَةً

بهِ فكَمْ كَلَفٍ أفْضى إِلى تَلَفِ

Nor do I fear death, if you are content

with it: how many a passion has led to destruction!

وإنْ أبَيْتُ فما بالرِّفْقِ يمْلِكُني

مَنْ لا يُلائِمُ أخْلاقي ولا العُنُفِ

And if I refuse, no gentleness can win me

for one unsuited to my character, nor can force.

ولا الهوى يعطِفُ الإكراهُ شارِدَهُ

ليسَ الفؤادُ إذا ولّى بمُنعَطِفِ

Nor can coercion bring back love once it has fled;

once the heart turns away, it will not turn back.

ووَقْفَةٍ لمْ أقُلْ فيها على وَجَلٍ

للدّمْعِ منْ حَذَري عينَ الرّقيبِ قِفِ

And many a halt when I did not say in fear

to my tears, wary of the watcher's eye, “Stop!”

بمنزِلٍ يَسْتَعيرُ الظَّبْيُ منْ غَيَدٍ

في حافَتَيْهِ وغُصْنُ البانِ منْ هَيَفِ

at a dwelling where the gazelle borrows languid grace

from within its bounds, and the ban-tree bough its slenderness.

والعامريّةُ تَسْقي الوَرْدَ مُجْهِشَةً

بنَرْجِسٍ من سِجالِ الدّمْعِ مُغْتَرِفِ

And the 'Amiri woman, sobbing, waters the roses

with narcissus eyes drawing from brimming buckets of tears.

تَقولُ حتّامَ لا تَلْوي على وَطَنٍ

وكمْ تُعذِّبُ جِسْماً باديَ التَّرَفِ

She says, “How long will you refuse to settle in a homeland,

and how long torment a body plainly accustomed to ease?

وكم تَشيمُ بُروقاً غيرَ صادِقةٍ

والآلُ ليسَ بما يُرْوي صَداكَ يَفي

How often will you watch for flashes of false lightning,

when a mirage cannot provide what would quench your thirst?

وأنتَ منْ مَعْشَرٍ لولا تأخُّرُهُمْ

جاءَتْ بذكْرِهِمُ الأولى منَ الصّحُفِ

You come from a people who, had they not come so late,

would have been named in the earliest scriptures:

شُمُّ العَرانينِ لا تَدْمى أنوفُهُمُ

عندَ اللّقاءِ ولا تَعْرى منَ الأنَفِ

high-nosed men, whose noses are never bloodied

in battle, nor ever stripped of proud disdain.

ولا تَخُبُّ هَوادي الخَيْلِ إنْ رَكِبوا

إِلى الوَغى بمعازيلٍ ولا كُشُفِ

Nor, when they ride, do the horses' forequarters trot

to battle bearing unarmed or shieldless men.

فاسْتَبْقِ نَفْسَكَ لا يُودِ السِّفارُ بِها

فهْيَ الحُشاشَةُ منْ مَجْدٍ ومنْ شَرَفِ

So preserve your life: let not journeys destroy it,

for it is the surviving spark of glory and nobility.

وعِرْضُ مِثلِكَ لا تَغْتالُهُ نُوَبٌ

تَفْتَرُّ عيشَتُهُ فيها عنِ الشّظَفِ

The honor of one like you is not destroyed by misfortunes

in which his life smiles, revealing privation.

وليسَ يرضى وفي أحشائِهِ غُلَلٌ

رِيّاً بِما يَصِمُ الظّمْآنَ منْ نُطَفِ

Nor, with thirst burning in his entrails, would he accept

satisfaction from scant drops that would shame a thirsty man.”

يا أُخْتَ سَعْدٍ وسَعْدٌ خَيْرُ مَنْ جَذَبَتْ

إِلى العُلا ضَبْعَهُ الأشياخُ منْ حَذَفِ

O sister of Sa'd—and Sa'd is the best of those

whose arm the elders of Hadhaf have drawn toward greatness—

كُفّي وغاكِ فَما عودي بمُهْتَصَرٍ

وإنْ أرابَكِ ما تَلقَيْنَ منْ عَجَفي

cease your clamor: my stem cannot be bent,

though the leanness you find in me makes you doubt.

لا عَيْبَ بالسّيفِ إنْ رَقّتْ مضارِبُهُ

منَ النّحولِ ولا بالرُّمْحِ منْ قَضَفِ

No flaw mars a sword if its striking edges are fine

through slenderness, nor a lance for being slim.

وإنْ تغرَّبْتُ لمْ أفْزَعْ إِلى وَكَلٍ

ولمْ يكُنْ منْ صَرَى الأمْواءِ مُرْتَشَفي

Though I wandered abroad, I sought no refuge with a weakling,

nor was my draught from stagnant waters.

وقد فَلَيْتُ الوَرى حتى قَلَيْتُهُمُ

إلا بَقايا كِرامٍ منْ بَني خَلَفِ

I have sifted humankind until I came to loathe them,

save a few surviving noble men of Banu Khalaf.

جادَ الزّمانُ بهِمْ والبُخْلُ شيمَتُهُ

فالفَضْلُ في خَلَفٍ منهُمْ وفي سَلَفِ

Time bestowed them generously, though miserliness is its nature;

excellence dwells in their descendants and their forebears.

وهُمْ وإنْ حُسِبوا في أهْلِهِ ولَهُمْ

عُلاً رَعَوْا تالِداً منها بمُطَّرَفِ

Though counted among the people of their age, and possessed of

high honor, sustaining inherited glories with newly earned ones,

كالماءِ والنارِ موجودَيْنِ في حَجَرٍ

والبَدْرِ في سُدَفٍ والدُّرِّ في صَدَفِ

they are like water and fire found within a stone,

the full moon in darkness, and pearls in shells.

فآلُ صَفوانَ إنْ تُذْكَرْ مَناقِبُهُمْ

يَلْوِ الحَسودُ إليها جِيدَ مُعْتَرِفِ

For the house of Safwan—when their virtues are recounted,

even the envious bends his neck toward them in acknowledgment.

وقد أظَلَّ أبا أرْوى ذُرا نَسَبٍ

بسُؤْدَدٍ كَجَبينِ الصُّبْحِ مُلتَحِفِ

The heights of a lineage have cast their shade over Abu Arwa,

a lineage cloaked in nobility like the brow of dawn.

ذو همّةٍ لنْ تَنالَ الشُّهْبُ غايَتَها

عَلَتْ وما احْتَفَلَتْ مِنها بمُرْتَدِفِ

His aspiration has a summit the stars will never reach;

it has soared, heedless of any of them following behind.

جَمُّ التّواضُعِ والأقْدارُ تَخدُمُهُ

ولا يُصعِّرُ خدّيْهِ منَ الصّلَفِ

Rich in humility, though the fates serve him,

he does not turn his cheeks aside in arrogance.

كالبَحْرِ لوْ أَمِنَ التّيّارَ راكِبُهُ

والبَدْرِ لوْ لمْ يَشِنْهُ عارِضُ الكَلَفِ

Like the sea, if its voyager were safe from its current,

and the full moon, if no dark markings marred it.

طَلْقٌ مُحيّاهُ للعافي وراحَتُهُ

في الجودِ تُزْري على الهطّالَةِ الوُطُفِ

His face is cheerful to the supplicant, and his palm

in bounty shames the pouring, heavy-fringed clouds.

رقّتْ وراقَتْ سَجاياهُ فنَفْحَتُها

تَشي إليكَ بِرَيّا الرّوضَةِ الأُنُفِ

His qualities are tender and lovely, and their breath

reveals to you the fragrance of an untouched meadow.

ويَنْتَضي الحِلْمُ منهُ عَفْوَ مُقْتَدِرٍ

عنْ كلِّ مُعْتَرِفٍ بالذّنْبِ مُقْتَرِفِ

Forbearance unsheathes from him a powerful man's pardon

for every offender who acknowledges his sin.

بَثَّ المَواهِبَ حتى ضمَّ نائِلُهُ

منَ المَحامِدِ شَمْلاً غيرَ مُؤْتَلِفِ

He scattered gifts until his bounty gathered

a company of virtues not previously united.

ولم يَذَرْ في الندى إسْرافُهُ كَرَماً

وإنّما شَرَفُ الأجْوادِ في السّرَفِ

His extravagant bounty left no generosity for others;

the honor of the generous lies only in extravagance.

لبّيْكَ يا جُمَحيَّ المَكْرُماتِ فقدْ

نادَيْتَ شِعْري وعِزُّ الياسِ مُكْتَنِفي

At your service, O Jumahi of noble deeds, for you have

called upon my verse, while the glory of Ilyas enfolds me.

فازْوَرَّ عنْ كُلِّ نِكْسٍ لا يُهابُ بهِ

إِلى الثّناءِ عنِ العَلْياءِ مُنْحَرِفِ

So it shunned every base man, unmoved by any summons

to praise one who turns away from lofty honor.

إذا تجاذَبْتُما أهْدابَ مَكْرُمَةٍ

حَلَلْتَ في الصّدْرِ منها وهْوَ في الطّرَفِ

When you both pull at the fringes of a noble deed,

you take its foremost place, while he remains at the edge.

لَئِنْ جَحَدْتُكَ نُعْمى مدَّ رَيّقُها

إِلى النّوائِبِ مني باعَ مُنْتَصِفِ

If ever I deny your bounty, whose fresh flow has stretched

my arm against misfortunes with power to claim redress,

فلا تلَقّيْتُ خِلّي حينَ تُزْعِجُهُ

فَظاظَةُ الدّهْرِ بالمَعْروفِ منْ لَطَفي

then may I never welcome my friend, when he is shaken

by time's harshness, with my accustomed gentleness.