روحا ساعة متون القلاص — Alarjani

رَوِحّا ساعةً مُتونَ القِلاصِ

واخْطِفا وَقفةً بتلك العِراصِ

Give the backs of the young she-camels an hour's rest,

and snatch a halt in those open grounds.

أَوَما تُبصِرانِ أنّ خُطاها

ما تَراها العيونُ فَرْطَ ارْتِقاص

Do you two not see that their steps

escape the eyes through their furious bounding?

فأَمِيلا الرِّكابَ فالماءُ عِدٌّ

للمطايا بالجِزْعِ والعُشْبُ واص

Turn the mounts aside: the water is perennial

for the riding-beasts at the valley bend, and the grass grows thick.

فلَنا بالكثيبِ مَلْعَبُ ظَبْيٍ

مُطْمِعِ العينِ مُؤْيِسِ الاِقْتِناص

For us beside the dune lies a gazelle's playground,

tempting the eye, yet making capture hopeless.

قَنَصٌ طَرْفُه أَشدُّ سهاماً

حين تَلْقاهُ من يَدِ القَنّاص

A quarry whose glance shoots deadlier arrows,

when you meet it, than the hunter's hand.

ذاتُ ليلٍ منَ الذّوائبِ داجٍ

ضَلَّ فيه قلبي ضَلالَ العِقاص

She has a dark night of flowing locks,

where my heart was lost like the ties of her braids.

حِجْلُها حينَ نالَ للبطْنِ شِبْعاً

لم يَزُلْ عن وِشاحهِا المِخْماص

When her anklet had its belly filled,

hunger still never left her girdle.

أَقبلتْ في أَوانسٍ بعُيونِ ال

وَحْشِ أَصبحْنَ راقعاتِ الخَصاص

She approached among graceful maidens, with the eyes of

wild deer, filling every gap.

بقُدودٍ كأنّهنَّ رماحٌ

ركَزوها للحُسْنِ في أَدعاص

Their figures were like spears

planted for beauty in rounded dunes.

كيفَ يَغْدو ليَ البعيدُ مُطيعاً

وفؤادي يظَلُّ لي وهْو عاص

How should the distant one obey me,

while my own heart remains rebellious toward me?

يا خليليَّ من سَراةِ بني الأَقْ

يالِ والغُرِّ من بني الأعياص

O my two friends, from the chiefs among the sons of kings,

and the illustrious Banu al-Aʿyas,

واسِياني فللأخِلاء قِدْماً

بالتّواسي في النّائباتِ تَواص

console me: friends have, from of old,

enjoined mutual comfort in calamities.

طاوِعاني أَسكُبْ دُموعيَ سَكْباً

في رُباهُمْ فالصَّبْرُ مِمّا يُعاصي

Indulge me, that I may pour my tears freely

upon their hills, for patience refuses obedience.

إن تَرَيْني صَلِيتُ جَمرةَ خَطْبٍ

سَبَكتْني باللّيلِ سَبْكَ الخِلاص

If you see me scorched by an affliction's ember

that smelted me by night like refined gold,

فالمُلمّاتُ للرِّجالِ مَحَكٌّ

فارِقٌ بينَ تبْرِها والرَّصاص

then calamities are a touchstone for men,

distinguishing their native gold from lead.

قلتُ لمّا فشَتْ جُروح اللّيالي

في فؤادي وعَزَّ نَيلُ القِصاص

I said, when the nights' wounds spread

through my heart, and retribution was hard to obtain

من زمانٍ أَضحَى لئيمُ شِباعِ الرْ

رَهْطِ أهلهِ كريمَ الخِماص

from an age where the base among its well-fed

people had come to rank as noble among the hungry:

كُلَّ يومٍ لرَيْبِه في فوادي

وَخْزةٌ مثْلُ قَصّةِ المِقْراص

Each day its vicissitudes leave in my heart

a stab like the snip of shears.

هَوِّنِ الأمرَ واستَعنْ بمُعينِ الدْ

دينِ يَقتَصُّ منهُ أَيَّ اقْتِصاص

'Take the matter lightly, and seek help from Muʿin al-

Din, who will exact from it the fullest vengeance.'

وإذا استُنْصِرَ الهُمامُ أَبو نَصْ

رٍ أَطاعَتْ لنا اللّيالي العَواصي

When the valiant Abu Nasr is asked for aid,

the rebellious nights obey us.

كيف أَشكو خطْباً ومُختَصُ مُلْكِ ال

أَرضِ أَضحى بالقُربِ منه اختِصاصي

How can I complain of hardship, when he alone holds dominion

over the earth, and nearness to him has become my distinction?

كنتُ أَبغي الخَلاصَ من يدِ دهري

فدعا الدَّهرُ من يدي بالخَلاص

I sought deliverance from the hand of my age;

now the age cries for deliverance from my hand.

لم أَدَعْ بِغْيةً من الدَّهرِ إلاّ

نالها في ظلالِه استِخْلاصي

There was no desire I sought from time

that I did not secure beneath his shade.

مَلِكٌ أَوجُه الوفودِ إليه

من أَداني بلادِها والأقاصي

A king toward whom the faces of delegations turn

from the nearest reaches of their lands and the farthest.

ذو ندىً يَستهِلُّ كالدِيمةِ السّكْ

بِ وبِشْرٍ كالكَوكبِ الوبّاص

His bounty pours like a steady, streaming rain,

and his welcome shines like a sparkling star.

وبَنانٌ تُريكَ للقلَمِ النّا

حل فَضْلاً على القَنا العَرّاص

And his fingers show you how the slender pen

surpasses the quivering spear.

في اللُّبابِ اللُّبابِ من كرمِ الأح

سابِ يُلْفَي وفي المُصاصِ المُصاص

In the cream of the cream of noble lineage

he is found, and in the purest of the pure.

خَيلُ أَيّامهِ غدَتْ تَعقِدُ الإق

بالَ منها كفُّ العُلا في النَّواصي

The steeds of his days have come to bear good fortune,

knotted in their forelocks by the hand of glory.

مَلَكَ المَجدَ كُلّه ولَعَهْدي

بالمعالي مَقْسومةَ الأشْقاص

He has won all glory, though I remember

high honors once divided into shares.

جُودُه جُودُ من يُميِّز فَهْماً

بينَ أهلِ الكمالِ والنُّقّاص

His generosity is that of one who knowingly distinguishes

between the accomplished and the deficient.

يَشمَلُ الخَلْقَ بالنّوالِ ويُبْدِي

لذوي الفَضْلِ مَوضعَ الاِخْتصاص

He embraces all people with gifts, yet shows

those of merit their place of special favor.

فهْو كالبحرِ الحَيا لعُمومِ النْ

نَاسِ منه والدُّرُّ للغَوّاص

He is like the sea: its rain is for all

people, but its pearls are for the diver.

لكَ أَزكَى الأخلاقِ يا أَشرفَ الأَم

جادِ طُرّاً وأكرَمَ الأعياص

Yours is the purest character, O noblest of the

glorious, all of them, and most generous of noble stocks.

أنت مثْلُ النِّصابِ تَمَّ لِراجٍ

ومُلوكُ الزّمانِ كالأوقاص

You are like the full zakat threshold for one who hopes,

while the age's kings are like untaxed increments.

فعلَيْكَ الزَّكاةُ ليسَتْ عليهمْ

أَيُّ فَضْلٍ يَجيءُ من ذي انْتِقاص

Thus almsgiving is due from you, not them;

what bounty can come from one who falls short?

ففَداكَ امْرؤٌ له بَطْنُ كَفٌ

يُخْرَجُ الرَفدُ منه بالمِنْماص

May you be ransomed by one whose palm's hollow

must have gifts plucked from it with tweezers.

تَسهَرُ اللّيلَ للمعالي وتُمْسي

عنده قَينةٌ وأَسْوَدُ شاص

You stay awake through the night for high deeds, while at evening

he has a singing-girl and a bulging black wineskin.

يا مُبِرّاً على بني الدَّهْرِ فَضْلاً

مِثْلَ شَخْصٍ عالٍ على أَشْخاص

O you who surpass the sons of time in merit,

like one figure towering over other figures,

وغَماماً يَسيلُ بالدَّمِ وادي

هِ إذا ما عَلاهُ بَرْقُ الدِّلاص

and a cloud whose valley flows with blood

when the lightning of polished armor rises above it,

مُغْلِيَ الحَمْدِ بالنَّدى مُرْخِصَ الآ

جالِ في البأْسِ أَيّما إرْخاص

raising praise's price through bounty, cheapening lives

in battle beyond all measure!

وإذا ما امتطَى له الكَفَّ سَيفٌ

قالَ للقِرْنِ لاتَ حين مَناص

When a sword mounts his palm,

it tells his opponent, 'This is no time for escape.'

لا يَخيطُ الكَرى جُفونَ أعادي

هِ على الأمْنِ بالمَحَلِّ القاصي

Sleep does not stitch shut the eyelids of his enemies

in safety, even in the farthest dwelling.

كم رَماهُم بكُلِّ أَبيضَ قَضّا

بٍ صَقيلٍ وأَسْمَرٍ رَقّاص

How often he assailed them with gleaming, keen-cutting swords,

polished bright, and swaying brown spears.

أعجلتْهم جِيادُه أن يَلُوذوا

بحِيادٍ عن نَهْجِها أو حِياص

His steeds gave them no time to seek refuge

by veering from their course or swerving aside.

بينما الخَيلُ في العيون طُيوفاً

إذْ رَماها البَياتُ بالأشْخاص

While the horses were mere phantoms to their eyes,

the night raid suddenly cast their bodily forms upon them.

فثَنْتهم صَرْعَى بكُلِّ مَكَرٍّ

أُقِعصوا فيه أيَّما إقْعاص

Then they laid them low at every charge,

striking them dead outright, utterly dead.

مارَسُوا طَعْنَ كُلِّ ذِمْرٍ لعَيْنِ الش

شَمسِ عِزّاً برمْحِه بَخّاص

They faced the thrust of every fierce warrior who

in his might gouges the sun's eye with his spear.

وكأنّ النُّسورَ عندَ اشْتباكِ السْ

سُمْر طَعْناً يَلُحْنَ في أقفاص

And the vultures, when the brown spears interlace

in thrusting, appear as though within cages.

أيُّهذا المَولَى وَجُودُك قِدماً

من سُروحِ الرّجاء يَحمي القَواصي

O my lord, your bounty has long

protected even the strays of hope's grazing herds.

قد قَدِمْنا وتَرحلونَ وهذا

أسَفٌ جاعِلٌ بِريقي اغْتِصاصي

We have arrived, and you are leaving; this

is grief that makes me choke on my own saliva.

فانْظُروا نظْرةَ اعتناءٍ إلينا

فِعْلَ قومٍ على المَعالي حِراص

Then turn toward us a glance of care,

as those eager for high deeds should do.

أنا مُستَبضِعٌ لأعلاقِ مَدْحٍ

من قرافٍ غُرٍّ غَوالٍ رِخاص

I bear for trade precious treasures of praise,

from radiant vessels, costly yet cheaply offered.

أرتَجِي منكَ ما يُرجَّى منَ الغَيْ

ث إذا سَحَّ وهْو داني النَّشاص

I hope from you for what is hoped from rain

when it pours, its cloudbank close above.

كنتَ بحرَ الندى فلَم يُعيِني في

كَ على لُؤلُؤِ المديح مَغاصي

You were the sea of bounty; diving into

you for pearls of praise did not weary me.

بَلِّغوا السّائلينَ عنّي على النَّأ

ي من القاطِنينَ والشُّخّاص

Tell those who ask about me from afar,

both those at home and those journeying,

أنّني اليومَ من ذُرا أحمدَ بنِ ال

فضلِ أصبحتُ للسّماكِ أُناصي

that today, from the heights of Ahmad ibn al-

Fadl, I have risen to rival al-Simak.

نازِلٌ منه عند مَولىً كريمٍ

عن مَعاني عَبيدِه فَحّاص

I lodge with him, a generous lord,

who keenly searches out his servants' qualities.

أَرِدُ الغَمْرَ من بحارِ نَداهُ

بعدَ ما طالَ للثَّمادِ امْتِصاصي

I drink from the depths of his seas of bounty,

after long sucking at scant pools,

ناشِراً بُردةَ القَريضِ لدى مَن

يَشْتري غالياً بلا اسْتِرْخاص

unfolding poetry's mantle before one

who buys dear, without bargaining down the price.

كعبةٌ للعلاء طُفْتُ عليها

صادِقاً في الهَوى بغَيرِ اختِراص

A Kaaba of high glory, around which I have circled,

sincere in love, without fabrication.

حامداً مُخلصاً صَرفْتُ إليها

وجْهَ لا آفِكٍ ولا خَرّاص

Praising sincerely, I have turned toward it

my face—not a liar's or a fabricator's.

وصلاةُ الرّجاء أكثَرُ ما تُشْ

رَعُ أيضاً بالحَمْدِ والإخْلاص

The prayer of hope is most often begun

likewise with praise and sincerity.

فاصطنعْني فَفِيّ مَوضعُ صُنْعٍ

واخْتَصِصْنا فنَحْنُ أهلُ اخْتِصاص

Take me under your patronage: in me is scope for kindness,

and single us out, for we are worthy of distinction.

والبَسِ الدَّهرَ طالعاً كُلَّ يومٍ

في قَشيبٍ مِن بُرْدِه بَصّاص

Wear the age, appearing every day

in a fresh, gleaming mantle from its raiment,

مُعقِياً فيه للجَميلِ حديثاً

تَتَهاداه ألسُنُ القُصّاص

leaving within it a tale of noble deeds

passed as a gift among storytellers' tongues.

عشْ عزيزاً في ظلِّ مُلْكٍ مُقيمٍ

آمنٍ أهلُه من الإشْخاص

Live in honor beneath an enduring kingdom's shade,

whose people are safe from being driven away,

في ازديادٍ وفي اطّرادٍ وأعدا

ؤك في الاْنتِقاصِ والانتِكاص

ever increasing and advancing, while your enemies

dwindle and fall back.