أذاكرة يوم الوداع نوار — Alarjani

أذاكرةٌ يومَ الوَداع نَوارُ

وقد لَمَعتْ منها يَدٌ وسِوارُ

Does Nawar remember the day of farewell,

As a hand and bracelet of hers flashed forth?

عَشِيّةَ ضَنّوا أن يَجودوا فعلَّلُوا

وخافوا العِدا أن يَنْطِقوا فأشاروا

That evening they begrudged giving, and offered consoling excuses,

And feared the foes if they spoke, so they gestured.

حدَوْا سُفْنَ عِيسٍ لم تزَلْ بصُدورِها

تُخاضُ من اللّيلِ البهيم غِمار

They urged on ships of pale camels, whose breasts kept

Ploughing the depths of pitch-black night.

فَحلُّوا قِفاراً مَرّتِ الظُّعْنُ فوقَها

وخَلَّوا ديارَ الحَيِّ وهْيَ قِفار

They settled wastes over which the caravans had passed,

And left the tribe's dwellings empty wastes.

غدَوا دُرَراً أصدافُهنّ هوادِجٌ

وليس لها إلاّ السّرابَ بِحار

They went as pearls whose shells were howdahs,

With no seas for them but the mirage.

وأثمانُها الأرواحُ تُبذَلُ والوغى

لَهُنّ عُكاظٌ والرِّماحُ تِجار

Their prices were lives freely offered, and battle

Was their 'Ukaz, with spears for merchants.

أعِدْ نظَراً يا رائدَ الحَيِّ قاصداً

إلى أينَ من حُزْوَى المَطِيُّ تُثار

Look once more, O scout of the tribe, seeking

Where the riding camels are urged onward from Huzwa.

أما همْ إلى قلبي من العينِ غُدْوةً

يَسيرون أن زَمُّوا الجِمالَ وساروا

Are they not, at dawn, from my eye to my heart

Journeying, now that they have haltered the camels and departed?

إلى كَبِدٍ تَشكو الغرامَ جديبةٍ

سَروْا من جفونٍ سُحْبُهنّ غِزار

To a parched liver complaining of passion,

They traveled by night from eyelids whose clouds pour abundantly.

وما رَحلوا إلاّ انتجاعاً فلو دَرَوْا

بِما بي لَحاروا في المَسيرِ وجاروا

They departed only to seek pasture; had they known

My plight, they would have lost their way and strayed on their journey.

بنَفْسي غزالٌ أَعرضَ البُعدُ دونَه

فعادَ رَبيبُ الوَصْلِ وَهْوَ نَوار

My life for a gazelle, with distance barring the way to him,

So the darling of union turned elusive—Nawar.

تُعاتَبُ عيني حين يَعلَقُ خاطري

ولَومُ المَشوقِ المُستهامِ ضِرار

My eye is reproached when my mind grows attached,

Yet blaming a yearning, love-distraught soul is cruelty.

ويَقْلَقُ قلبي حين يَطْرُقُ ناظري

فَبعْضِيَ من بَعْضي عليه يَغار

My heart grows restless when he visits my gaze,

So one part of me is jealous of another over him.

فهل نَهْلةٌ تَشْفي الغليلَ لمُدْنَفٍ

ففي الصّدْرِ من نارِ الفراقِ أُوار

Is there a draught to quench a lovesick sufferer's thirst?

For in my breast burns the heat of separation's fire.

يُواصِلُ قلبي وهْو للعين هاجِرٌ

لَصيقُ فؤادٍ شَطَّ منه مَزار

He keeps company with my heart while forsaking my eye,

A heart's intimate, whose place of visitation lies far away.

فليت ديارَ النّازحاتِ قلوبُنا

لِتسلُوَ أم ليت القلوبَ دِيار

Would that the far-away women's dwellings were our hearts,

So they might find solace—or would that hearts were dwellings.

أبى القلبُ إلاّ ذِكْرَهُنّ وقد بَدا

معَ الصّبحِ أشْباهاً لَهنَّ صُوار

My heart would have nothing but their remembrance, though there appeared

At dawn a herd of wild cattle resembling them.

وليلةَ أهْدَيْنَ الخيالَ لناظري

وبالنّومِ لولا الطّيفُ عنه نِفار

And on a night when they sent their phantom to my gaze,

While sleep, but for that phantom, would have shunned it,

تَقنَّصْتُه والأُفْقُ يجتابُ حُلّةً

من الوَشْيِ يُسدَى نَسْجُها ويُنار

I hunted it down as the horizon donned a robe

Of brocade, its warp laid and its weft woven.

فلا يَحسَبِ الجوزاءَ طَرْفُك أنّها

هَدِيٌّ لها شُهْبُ الظّلامِ نِثار

Let your eye not suppose al-Jawza

A bride, with the dark's shooting stars strewn for her,

وأنّ الثُريّا باتَ فِضّيُّ كأسِها

بأيدي نَدامَى الزَّنْجِ وهْو يُدار

Nor that the Pleiades' silver cup spent the night

In the hands of Zanj drinking companions, being passed around.

فليس الدُّجَى إلاّ لنارِ تَنَفُّسي

دُخانٌ تَراقَى والنُّجومُ شَرار

For darkness is nothing but, from the fire of my breathing,

Smoke rising high, and the stars are sparks.

رُوَيْداً لقَلْبي بالهوَى يا ابنَ حامدٍ

وإلاّ فلَيْلِي ما بَقيِت نَهار

Gently with my heart in love, O Ibn Hamid,

Else my night is day as long as you live.

إذا طَلَعتْ في بلدةٍ لكَ رايةٌ

فللظُّلْمِ منها والظّلامِ فِرار

When a banner of yours rises in a town,

Injustice and darkness flee from it.

فِدىً لعزيزِ الدّينِ في الدّهرِ عُصبةٌ

أجارَ من الخَطْبِ الجسيمِ وجاروا

May a band be ransom for 'Aziz al-Din throughout time:

He sheltered others from grievous calamity, while they oppressed—

منَ البِيضِ أمّا بَحرُه لعُفاتِه

فَطامٍ وأمّا دُرُّه فكِبار

A band of white blades. As for his sea, for his petitioners,

It overflows, and its pearls are great.

فتَى الدّهرِ ما ثار امْرؤٌ لِيَؤمَّه

فَيْبقَى له عند المطالِبِ ثار

The man of the age: no man rose to seek him

Only to retain a grievance against him in his requests.

يُلِمُّ بمَغْشِيِّ الرِّواقَيْنِ للِنّدَى

وللبأسِ يوماً إن أظَلَّ حِذار

He calls at thronged twin porticoes for bounty,

And for martial strength when fear one day casts its shadow.

عِراصٌ تَرى رُسْلَ الملوكِ تَحُلُّها

كما انتثَرتْ فوق الرِّياضِ قِطار

Courtyards where you see kings' envoys alighting,

Like drops of rain scattered over gardens.

إذا سار وَفْدٌ زائرون فَودَّعوا

تَناهَى إليها آخَرونَ فَزاروا

Whenever a visiting delegation departs and bids farewell,

Others arrive there and pay their visit.

هُمامٌ إذا ما شاء صَبَّحَ مارِقاً

بأرْعَنَ عينُ الشّمسِ منه تَحار

A resolute lord who, when he wishes, attacks a rebel at dawn

With a vast army that bewilders the eye of the sun.

وكُلُّ فتىً للعينِ والسّيفِ إنْ غَزا

يَعِزُّ بجَفْنٍ أنْ يُلِمَّ غِرار

And every warrior, when campaigning, for eye and sword,

Finds sleep beneath a lid, or a blade within a sheath, intolerable.

مشيحٌ إذا الجَبّار صَعّرَ خَدّه

أعاد دَمَ الجَبّار وهْو جُبار

Resolute, when a tyrant turns his cheek in pride,

He spills the tyrant's blood with no redress owed.

ورَدَّ طِوالَ السّمهريّ قصيرةً

غداةَ لجَيْن المَشْرفيَ نُضار

And makes the long Samhari spears short,

On the morning when the Mashrafi sword's silver turns to gold.

بحيثُ دنانير الوجوهِ مَشوفة

بنَقْرِ بنانِ المرهَفاتِ تُطار

Where the gold coins of faces are polished,

And sent flying by the tapping fingertips of keen blades.

وحيث وَقور الطَّودِ من هَوْلِ يَومِه

يَرَى وهْو نَفْع في السّماء مُثار

And where the mountain's solemn bulk, from the terror of his day,

Is seen as dust stirred up into the sky.

وإن شاء نابَتْ عن رماحٍ بكَفّهِ

أنابيبُ حتّى لا يُشَنّ غِرار

And if he wishes, in his hand, instead of spears,

Reed shafts serve, so that no blade is drawn.

حديداتُ خَرْقِ السَمْعِ إنْ صَمّتِ القنا

تَغلغلَ فيه للقَضاء سِرار

Keen at piercing the ear; when the spears fall silent,

The whispered decree penetrates its depths.

إذا غرسَتْها كَفّه في صحيفةٍ

غدَتْ ولها غُرّ الفتوح ثِمار

When his hand plants them in a page,

They come to bear glorious victories as fruit.

ايا مَن تَفوقُ النّجمَ غُرّةُ طِرْفِه

إذا انشَقَّ عنه للعيونِ غُبار

O you whose steed's blaze surpasses the star,

When dust parts from it before the eyes,

تَخيَّركَ السّلطانُ للنُّصحِ صاحياً

فشابهَ سِرّاً من هَواكَ جِهار

With clear judgment the sultan chose you for sincere counsel,

And his open love for you matched his hidden love.

غدا كاشتقاقِ اسمَيْكُما مَعْنَياكُما

صفاءً فحَبْلُ الائتِلافِ مُغار

Your two natures became, like your two names' derivations,

Pure; and the cord of concord is firmly plied.

وهل يَتّقي رَيْبَ الزّمانِ ابنُ حُرّةٍ

وأنت له مِمّا يُحاذِرُ جار

Would a freeborn man fear the vicissitudes of time,

When you protect him from what he dreads?

وما كان يَغشَى البدْرَ لو كنتَ جارَهُ

خُسوفٌ يُغَطّي وَجهَهُ وسِرار

Nor would the full moon, were you its protector, be visited

By an eclipse veiling its face, or moonless darkness.

ولكنّه من نورِ غَيرِك قابسٌ

فلا غَرو إن لَوَّى خُطاهُ عِثار

But it borrows its light from someone other than you,

So no wonder if a stumble twists its steps.

حَسودُك تُمسي طارقاتُ همومِه

وهنّ له دون الشِّعارِ شِعار

Your envier's cares, arriving at night, become

His undergarment beneath the garment next his skin.

كتطْبيقِ سَيْفٍ فيه إطباقُ جَفْنِه

فأشفارُ عينَيْهِ عليه شِفار

His eyelid shuts on him like a sword striking a joint,

And his eyes' lashes are blades against him.

إذا ضافَهُ هَمٌّ يصافِحُ قَلّبَه

ورَتْ منه ما بين الأضالعِ نار

When a care visits him and clasps his heart,

From it a fire kindles between his ribs.

وجاءتْ لأدْنَى مِسحةٍ فكأنّما

له الصَدْر مَرْخٌ والبَنانُ عَفار

It comes at the lightest touch, as though

His chest were markh wood and his fingers 'afar.

طلعْتَ ثَنِيّاتِ المناقبِ كُلَّها

فما في العُلا إلاّ إليكَ يُشار

You have climbed all the passes of virtue,

And in exalted rank none but you is pointed to.

وما الدّهْرُ لولا أنّه لك خادِمٌ

وما الأرضُ لولا أنّها لكَ دار

What would Time be, were it not your servant?

And what the earth, were it not your dwelling?

تَواضَعُ عن عُظْمٍ وتُزْهَي بنَظرةٍ

بمُؤْخَرِ عَينٍ منك حينَ تُعار

It bows despite its vastness, yet exults in a glance

From the corner of your eye, whenever it is granted.

فعندك إن جَفّ الغمائمُ نُجعةٌ

وفيك إذا خَفَّ الجبالُ وَقار

With you is pasture even when the clouds run dry,

And in you is gravity even when mountains lose their weight.

دُعيتَ عزيزَ الدّينِ أْيمَنَ دَعوةٍ

فباسْمِك من رَيْبِ الزّمانِ يُجار

You were named 'Aziz al-Din—the most auspicious naming—

And by your name one finds shelter from time's vicissitudes.

بمَحْكيَ عَيْنٍ منه إذ يَسِمُ الثَّرَى

لك الخيلُ يَضحِي للبلادِ قَرار

With a likeness of its letter 'ayn, when the earth is stamped

By your horses, the lands acquire stability.

وفي الأُفْقِ يَحكيه الهلالُ فَيزدَهِي

به الدّهرَ إذ يَعلوهُ منك شِعار

On the horizon the crescent copies it and boasts

Of it before Time, since your emblem rises above it.

مَلكْتَ إذَنْ أرضَ الورى وسماءهمْ

فهل فوق هذا للفَخور فَخار

Thus you have possessed mankind's earth and sky:

Beyond this, what pride remains for the boastful?

حَلفْتُ بعاديِّ البِناء مُحجَّنٍ

يُجابُ له عَرْضُ الفلا ويُزار

I swore by the age-old, curved edifice,

For which the breadth of the wastes is crossed, and which is visited,

وتأميل عفْوِ الله تحت ظِلالِه

إذا ضَمَّه والزّائرينَ جِوار

And by hope of God's pardon beneath its shade,

When shelter gathers it and its visitors together,

وأبيضَ من ماء العيونِ لأجلِه

وأحمرَ من ماء النَّحورِ يُمار

And by the white water of eyes shed for its sake,

And the red water of throats brought as offerings,

وتَرجع أصواتِ المُهِلّينَ كلّما

دَمِينَ جِمالٌ أو رُمِينَ جِمار

And by the echoing voices of those chanting the pilgrimage call,

Whenever camels bleed or pebbles are cast:

لمَا أنت إلاّ بيتُ مجدٍ وسُؤددٍ

للُقيْاهُ يُسْرَي دائماً ويُسار

Truly, you are a house of glory and lordship,

To visit which men always travel by night and journey onward.

على أنَّ حَجَّ البَيتِ في العامِ مَرّةً

وحَجُّكَ في اليومِ القَصيرِ مِرار

Yet pilgrimage to the House is once a year,

While pilgrimage to you is many times in a single short day.

لك البَدَراتُ الكُومُ يُنْحرْنَ للقِرَى

إذا نُحِرَتْ للآخَرينَ عِشار

Your high-humped moneybags are slaughtered for hospitality,

While others slaughter ten-month-pregnant she-camels.

فمنك نُضارٌ صُرَّ مِلءَ جُلودِها

إذا كان منهم جِلّةٌ وبِكار

From you comes gold packed into their hides,

While from them come old she-camels and young ones.

مَواهبَ سَبّاقِ السُّؤالِ برِفْدِه

على حينَ جُلُّ الأُعطِياتِ ضِمار

Gifts from one whose bounty outruns requests,

At a time when most gifts are uncertain and out of reach.

فتىً فيه آمالُ الوفودِ إذا اعتفَوا

طِوالٌ وأعمارُ الوُعودِ قِصار

A man in whom delegations' hopes, when they seek bounty,

Are long, while promises' lifespans are short.

أفاضَ اللُّها حتّى قضَوا أنّ مالَهُ

لراجِي نَداهُ في يدَيْهِ مُعار

He poured out gifts until they judged his wealth

To be lent into his hands for those who hope for his bounty.

لكُلِّ سوى الدّينارِ عند فِنائهِ

ذِمامٌ إذا ما حَلّه وذِمار

For everyone but the dinar, at his courtyard,

There is a pledge and protection whenever he alights there.

وما كان لَونُ التبْر ذاك وإنّما

عَلاهُ لخَوفِ الجودِ منك صُفار

Gold was not that color; rather,

Fear of your generosity spread yellow pallor over it.

فَعيِّدْ كذا ما طافَ بالبيتِ زائرٌ

وخَبّتْ مَهارٍ شَطْرَه ومِهار

Keep festival thus, as long as a visitor circles the House,

And Mahri camels and foals trot toward it.

ولمّا تَجنّبتَ الحرامَ وشُربَه

أتَتْكَ حلالاً من يَديَّ عُقار

And since you shunned forbidden wine and its drinking,

A lawful wine has come to you from my two hands.

فخُذْها كؤوساً ليس في نَشوةٍ بها

لِذي الفضلِ عابٌ يَتّقيهِ وعار

Take it, then, as cups whose intoxication brings

No fault for a worthy man to fear, and no disgrace.

ولي خاطِرٌ أضحَى وأَدنَى بَيانِه

لأبناء آدابِ الزَّمانِ مَنار

I have a mind whose slightest eloquence has become

A beacon for the practitioners of the age's literary arts.

وصَدْرٌ كبَيْتِ النَّحْلِ فيه لَواسِعٌ

على أنّ أَرْيَ الشِعّرِ منه يُشار

And a breast like a beehive, with stingers within,

Yet from it the honey of poetry is gathered.

حَدَتْنيَ من دَهْري إليك حوادثٌ

وقد قيلَ في بعضِ الشُّرور خِيار

The events of my time drove me toward you,

And it is said: in some evils there is good.

وكم قَعد الأقوامُ عنك فأظلَمُوا

وجاؤوكَ يَرجون الغِنى فأناروا

How many people held back from you and fell into darkness,

Then came to you hoping for wealth, and entered the light.

وإنّي لفي قَيْدَيْ أياديكَ راسِفٌ

فما لي إلى وَشْكِ الرّحيلِ بِدار

I am fettered in the twin shackles of your favors,

And have no haste toward a speedy departure.

وكيف أَجوبُ الأرضَ والشُكْرُ مُوثِقي

ألا إنّ طولَ المُنْعِمينَ إسار

How can I traverse the earth when gratitude binds me?

Indeed, the bounty of benefactors is bondage.

فلا زلتَ أُفْقاً فيه للمجدِ مَطلعٌ

وقُطباً عليه للعلاء مَدار

May you ever remain a horizon where glory rises,

And a pole around which exalted rank revolves.