من الركب يا بن العامري أمامي — Alabywrdy

مَنِ الرَّكْبُ يا بْنَ العامِريِّ أمامي

أهُمْ سِرُّ صُبْحٍ في ضَميرِ ظَلامِ

Who are the riders before me, O son of al-ʿĀmirī?

Are they dawn's secret in the heart of darkness?

يُشَيّعُهُمْ قَلْبُ المَشوقِ وربّما

يُقادُ إِلى ما ساءَهُ بزِمامِ

The yearning lover's heart escorts them, and sometimes

it is led by a halter toward what brings it grief.

وقدْ بَخِلَتْ سُعْدى فلا الطّيْفُ طارِقٌ

وليسَ بمَرْدودٍ إليّ سَلامي

And Suʿdā has been miserly: no dream-vision visits by night,

nor is my greeting returned to me.

منَ الهِيفِ تَستَعدي على لَحْظِها المَها

وتَسلُبُ خُوطَ البانِ حُسْنَ قَوامِ

A slender maiden against whose gaze the oryxes seek redress,

and who robs the bān's supple branch of its graceful stature.

وكمْ ظَمَأٍ تحتَ الضّلوعِ أُجِنُّهُ

إِلى رَشَفاتٍ من وَراءِ لِثامِ

And how much thirst I conceal beneath my ribs,

for sips from behind a veil.

وما ذُقْتُ فاهَا غَيرَ أنّي مُكَرِّرٌ

أحاديثَ يَرْويها فُروعُ بَشامِ

And I have never tasted her mouth, yet I keep repeating

tales recounted by balsam branches.

هَوىً حالَ صَرْفُ الدّهْرِ بيني وبَيْنَهُ

أقُدُّ لهُ الأنْفاسَ وهْيَ دَوامِ

A love: time's vicissitudes have come between me and it;

I rend my breaths for it, and they bleed.

وغادَرَني نِضْوَ الهُمومِ يُثيرُها

غِناءُ حَمامٍ أو بُكاءُ غَمامِ

And it has left me sorrows' wasted mount; they are stirred

by doves' song or clouds' weeping.

وأشْتاقُ أيّامَ العَقيقِ وأنْثَني

بأربَعَةٍ مِنْ ذِكْرِهِنّ سِجامِ

And I long for the days of al-ʿAqīq, and turn back

with four eyelids streaming at their remembrance.

وهلْ أتناسى العَيْشَ غَضّاً كأنّهُ

أُعيرَ اخضِراراً في عِذارِ غُلامِ

And can I make myself forget life so fresh, as though it

had been lent the greenness of a youth's cheek-down?

بأرْضٍ كأنّ الرّوْضَ في جَنَباتِها

يجُرُّ ذُيولَ العَصْبِ فوقَ أَكامِ

In a land where the meadow along its flanks seems

to trail the hems of striped cloth over the hillocks.

إذا صَفَحَتْ غُدْرانَهُ الرّيحُ خِلْتَها

تُدَرِّجُ أثْراً في غِرارِ حُسامِ

When the wind brushes its pools, you imagine it

tracing a pattern along a sword's edge.

ونامَ حَوالَيْها العَرارُ كأنّها

تُديرُ على النُّوارِ كأْسَ مُدامِ

And ʿarār flowers sleep around them, as though the pools

were passing a cup of wine among the blossoms.

سَبَقْنا بِها رَيْبَ الزّمانِ إِلى المُنى

وقَدْ لَقِحَتْ أسْماعُنا بمَلامِ

There we outran time's hazards toward our desires,

though our ears were pregnant with reproach.

ومنْ أرْيَحيّاتي إذا اقْتادَني الهَوى

أفُضُّ وإنْ ساءَ العَذولُ لِجامي

And among my free-hearted impulses, when passion leads me,

I snap my bridle, though the reprover takes offense.

وما زالَتِ الأيّامُ تُغْري بِنا النّوى

وتَسْحَبُ ذَيْلَيْ شِرَّةٍ وعُرامِ

And the days have never ceased to incite separation against us,

trailing the twin hems of malice and ferocity.

أراها على سُعْدى غَيارى كأنّما

بِها مابِنا من صَبْوَةٍ وغَرامِ

I see them jealous over Suʿdā, as though

they shared our longing and consuming love.

فَيا لَيْتَها إذا جاذَبَتْني وِصالَها

تَرَكْنَ هَواها أو حَمَلْنَ سَقامي

Oh, would that, when they vie with me for union with her,

they would forsake love for her, or bear my sickness.

لَعَمْرُ المَعالي حَلفَةً أُمَوِيّةً

لَسَدَّ علَيَّ الدّهْرُ كُلَّ مَرامِ

By the life of lofty honors—an Umayyad oath—

time has surely barred every goal to me.

أما في لئامِ النّاسِ مَندوحَةٌ لهُ

فحَتّامَ لا يَحْتاجُ غَيْرَ كِرامِ

Has it no scope among the basest of people?

Then how long will it need none but the noble?

لأَدَّرِعَنَّ اللّيلَ يَلْمَعُ صُبْحُهُ

تَحَدُّرَ راحٍ منْ خِلالِ فِدامِ

I shall surely don the night, its dawn gleaming

like wine trickling through a straining-cloth,

على أرْحَبيّاتٍ مَرَقْنَ منَ الدُّجى

وقد لَغِبَ الحادي مُروقَ سِهامِ

on Arḥabī she-camels that shoot from the darkness

(though the driver has wearied) like arrows in flight.

حَوامِلَ للحاجاتِ تُلقى رِحالُها

إِلى ماجِدٍ رَحْبِ الفِناءِ هُمامِ

Bearers of needs, their saddles are laid down

before a noble, magnanimous man with a spacious courtyard.

أغَرُّ كِلابي عَلَيْهِ مَهابَةٌ

تُغَضُّ له الأبْصارُ وهْيَ سَوامي

An illustrious Kilābī, surrounded by such awe

that eyes, though raised high, are lowered before him.

منَ القَوْمِ لمْ يَسْتَقْدِحِ المَجْدُ زَنْدَهُ

لدى الفَخْرِ إلاّ أوْقَدوا بِضِرامِ

Of a people: glory has never sought sparks from their fire-stick

in boasting without their kindling a blaze.

وأعلاهُمُ في قُلّةِ المَجْدِ مَرْقَباً

أخو نِعَمٍ في المُعْتَفينَ جِسامِ

And highest among them, with his watchpost on glory's summit,

is a man of immense favors to those seeking bounty.

مُحَجَّبُ أطرافِ الرِّواقَيْنِ بالقَنا

إذا ادّرَعَ الخَيْلانِ ظِلَّ قَتامِ

His two pavilions' edges are screened with lances

when the two cavalry hosts don the shadow of battle-dust,

ولمْ تَعثُرا إلا بأشْلاءِ غِلْمَةٍ

تُرَوّي غَليلَ المَشْرَفيِّ وهامِ

and they stumble only over young men's torn limbs

and heads that slake the Mashrafī sword's thirst.

نُطالِعُ منْ أقْلامِهِ وحُسامِهِ

مَقَرَّ حَياةٍ في مَدَبِّ حِمامِ

From his pens and his sword we behold

an abode of life in death's creeping path.

ويَخْبُرُ أهواءَ النّفوسِ بنَظْرَةٍ

تَفُضُّ لها الأسرارُ كلَّ خِتامِ

And he reads the desires of souls with a glance

before which secrets break every seal.

وتَنْضَحُ كفّاهُ نَجيعاً ونائِلاً

تدَفُّقَ نائي الحَجْرَتَيْنِ رُكامِ

And his two palms spurt fresh blood and bounty,

like the downpour of a heaped cloud with far-flung sides.

بحِلْمٍ إذا الخَطْبُ استُطيرَتْ لهُ الحُبا

رَماهُ برُكْنَيْ يَذْبُلٍ وشَمامِ

With a forbearance that, when disaster sends knee-wraps flying,

strikes it with the twin bulwarks of Yadhbul and Shamām;

وخُلْقٍ كما هَبّتْ شَمالٌ مَريضَةٌ

على زَهَراتِ الرّوْضِ غِبَّ رِهامِ

and a nature like an ailing north wind blowing

over the meadow's blossoms after fine rains;

وعِرْضٍ كمَتْنِ الهِنْدُوانيِّ ناصِعٌ

تَذُبُّ المَعالي دونَهُ وتُحامي

and honor spotless as the flat of an Indian sword,

which lofty deeds guard and defend.

صَقيلُ الحَواشي مَسْرَحُ الحَمْدِ عندَهُ

رَحيبٌ وما فيهِ مُعَرَّسُ ذامِ

Its edges polished; in his presence praise's pasture

is spacious, with no resting-place for a fault-finder.

فللهِ مَجْدٌ أعْجَزَ النّجْمَ شأوُهُ

أحَلَّكَ أعْلى ذِرْوَةٍ وسَنامِ

God be praised for a glory whose reach outstrips the stars,

that has set you on the loftiest peak and crest.

وهبّتْ بكَ الآمالُ بعدَ ضَياعِها

لَدى مَعْشَرٍ عنْ رَعْيِهِنَّ نِيامِ

And hopes have awakened through you after being lost

among people who slept instead of tending them.

فَدونَكَ مما يَنظِمُ الفِكْرُ شُرَّداً

سَلَبْنَ حَصى المَرْجانِ كُلَّ نِظامِ

So take these roaming verses that thought strings together,

that have robbed coral beads of every ordered string.

تَسيرُ بشُكْرٍ غائِرِ الذِّكْرِ مُنْجِدٍ

يُناجي لِسانَيْ مُعْرِقٍ وشَآمي

They travel with gratitude whose fame reaches lowlands and uplands,

speaking softly to the tongues of an Iraq-bound traveler and a Syrian.

ويَهْوى مُلوكُ الأرضِ أن يُمْدَحوا بِها

وما كُلُّ سَمْعٍ يرتَضيهِ كَلامي

And earth's kings long to be praised in them,

but my words do not deem every ear worthy.

ألَمْ يَعلَموا أني تبوّأْتُ مَنزِلاً

يُطَنِّبُ فوقَ النَّيِّرَيْنِ خِيامي

Do they not know that I have taken a dwelling

that pitches my tents above the two luminaries?

وقد كُنتُ لا أرضى وبي لاعِجُ الصّدى

سِوى مَنْهَلٍ عَذْبِ الشريعَةِ طامِ

I would not be content, though burning thirst was in me,

except with a brimming watering-place, sweet at its approach.

ولَمَّا اسْتَقرّتْ في ذراكَ بِنا النّوى

وقد كَرُمَ المَثْوى نَقَعْتُ أُوامي

And when wandering brought us to rest in your shelter,

the lodging being gracious, I quenched my burning thirst.