Sol 6.1

  1. بِاللَهِ يا رَبعُ لَمّا اِزدَدتَ تِبيانا

    وَقُلتُ في الحَيِّ لَمّا بانَ لِم بانا

    By God, O dwelling, will you not make yourself clearer?

    And I asked of the tribe, when it departed, "Why did it go?"

  2. لَيلٌ بِذي الطَلحِ لَم تَثقُل أَواخِرُهُ

    أَهوى لِقَلبِيَ مِن لَيلٍ بِعُسفانا

    A night at Dhu al-Talh whose last hours did not weigh heavily

    is dearer to my heart than a night at Usfan.

  3. أَكانَ بِدعاً مِنَ الأَيّامِ لَو رَجَعَت

    عَيشي بِبُرقَةِ أَحواجٍ كَما كانا

    Would it be unprecedented for the days, if they restored

    my life at Burqat Ahwaj to what it once was?

  4. إِذ لا هَوىً كَهَوانا يُستَدامُ بِهِ

    عَهدُ السُرورِ وَلا دُنيا كَدُنيايا

    When no love was like ours, through which

    the days of joy were prolonged, and no world was like mine.

  5. أَرُدُّ دونَكَ يَقظاناً وَيَأذَنُ لي

    عَلَيكِ سُكرُ الكَرى إِن جِئتُ وَسنانا

    Awake, I am barred from you; yet I am granted

    access to you by sleep's intoxication, if I come drowsy.

  6. كَأَنَّما اِستَأثَرَت بِالوَصلِ تَملِكُهُ

    أَو سايَرَت حارِساً بِاللَيلِ يَغشانا

    As though she had claimed reunion for herself, holding it in her power,

    or walked beside a guard who visits us by night.

  7. يَذوبُ أَطوَعُنا في الحُبِّ مِن كَمَدٍ

    بَرحٍ وَيَسلَمُ مِن بَلواهُ أَعصانا

    The most obedient of us in love melts away from grief

    that is searing, while the most rebellious escapes its ordeal.

  8. أَخَّرتِ ظالِمَةً حَقَّ المَشوقِ وَما

    عايَنتِ مِن حُرَقِ الشَوقِ الَّذي عانى

    Unjustly you delayed the yearning lover's due, and never

    witnessed the burning pangs of longing that he endured.

  9. يَوَدُّ في أَهلِ وَدّانَ الدُنُوَّ وَهَل

    يُدني هَوىً وُدُّهُ في أَهلِ وَدّانا

    He longs to draw near to Waddan's people; but can

    passion draw him near, with his beloved among Waddan's people?

  10. عَجزٌ مِنَ الدَهرِ لا يَأتي بِعارِفَةٍ

    إِلّا تَلَبَّثَ دونَ الأَتيِ وَاِستانى

    Such feebleness in Time! It brings no kindness

    without lingering before its arrival and taking its time.

  11. قَد آنَ أَن يوصَلَ الحَبلُ الَّذي صَرَموا

    لَو آنَ أَن يُفعَلَ الشَيءُ الَّذي حانا

    The time has come to rejoin the cord they severed—

    if only it were time to do the thing whose time has come!

  12. شَهرانِ لِلوَعدِ كانَ القَولُ فيهِ غَدا

    وَما أَلَمَّت بِنُجحٍ أُختُ شَهرانا

    Two months have passed since the promise that said "tomorrow";

    yet Shahran's kinswoman has not come bringing fulfillment.

  13. شَعبانُ مُستَوسِقٌ قُدّامَهُ رَجَبٌ

    لَم يَتَّفِق بِاِجتِماعِ الشَملِ شَعبانا

    Sha'ban is full, with Rajab before it;

    our two bands have not come together in reunion.

  14. مَهما تَعَجَّبتَ مِن شَيءٍ فَلَستَ تَرى

    شَروى اللَيالي إِذا أَكدَت وَشَروانا

    Whatever you marvel at, you will never see

    the like of the nights when they yield nothing, nor the like of us.

  15. وَالرِزقُ لي دونَ مَن قَد باتَ وَهوَ لَهُ

    لَو أَنَّ أَزكاهُ مَقسومٌ لِأَذكانا

    And wealth would be mine, not his who goes to bed possessing it,

    if its choicest portion were allotted to the cleverest of us.

  16. وَلَيسَ أَنضَرَ ما اِستَعرَضتَهُ وَرَقاً

    بِأَصلَبِ الشَجَرِ المَعجومِ عيدانا

    Nor is the greenest in leaf of all you inspect

    the hardest in wood among trees tested by biting.

  17. وَجَدتُ أَكثَرَ مَن يُخشى السَوادُ لَهُ

    أَقَلَّهُم في رِباعِ المَجدِ بُنيانا

    I found most of those whose throngs inspire fear

    to have built the least in the dwelling-places of glory.

  18. أَكانَ خَطرَفَةً عَمداً صُدودُهُمُ

    عَنِ المَكارِمِ أَو وَهماً وَنِسيانا

    Was it deliberate madness, their turning away

    from noble deeds—or error and forgetfulness?

  19. أَبَعدَ ما أَعلَقَ الأَقوامُ مَيسَمَهُم

    بِصَفحَتي وَقَتَلتُ الأَرضَ عِرفانا

    After men have set their brands

    upon my cheek, and I have mastered the earth through experience,

  20. يَرجو البَخيلُ اِغتِراري أَو مُخادَعَتي

    حَتّى أَسوقَ إِلَيهِ المَدحَ مَجّانا

    does the miser hope to catch me unawares or deceive me,

    so that I will deliver praise to him for nothing?

  21. لَأَكسُوَنَّ بَني الفَيّاضِ مِن مِدَحي

    ما باتَ مِنهُ لَئيمُ الناسِ عُريانا

    I shall surely clothe the sons of al-Fayyad in my praises,

    which base men spend their nights without, naked.

  22. تَسمو إِلى حِلَلِ العَلياءِ أَنفُسُهُم

    كَأَنَّ أَنفُسَهُم يَطلُبنَ أَوطانا

    Their souls ascend to the dwellings of eminence,

    as though their souls were seeking homelands.

  23. لَم يَنكِلوا عَن فِعالِ الخَيرِ أَجمَعُهُ

    إِن لَم يُصيبوا عَلى الخَيراتِ أَعوانا

    They never shrank from doing good in all its forms,

    even if they found no helpers in good deeds.

  24. إِن أُربِحَت في اِبتِغاءِ المَجدِ صَفقَتُهُم

    لَم يَحسِبوا غَبَناتِ المَجدِ خُسرانا

    If their bargain yielded profit in the quest for glory,

    they did not count costly bargains for glory as losses.

  25. مُشَيَّعونَ عَلى الأَعداءِ لَم يَهِنوا

    عَن حَلبَةِ الشَرِّ أَن يَلقَوهُ وُحدانا

    Bold against their enemies, they never shrank

    from facing strife in its arena, each man alone.

  26. ما يَبرَحُ الشِعرُ يَلقى مِن أَبي حَسَنٍ

    خَلائِقاً شَغَلَت قُطرَيهِ إِحسانا

    Poetry never ceases to find in Abu Hasan

    qualities that fill him, from side to side, with goodness.

  27. تَتَبَّعَ الشَمسَ يَستَقري تَصَوُّبَها

    حَتّى قَضى الغَربَ تَوهيناً وَإِثخانا

    He followed the sun, tracing its descent,

    until he laid the West low, weakening and grievously wounding it.

  28. لَولا تَأَتّيهِ لِلدُنيا وَنَبوَتِها

    ما لانَ مِن جانِبِ العَيشِ الَّذي لانا

    Were it not for his skill with the world and its recalcitrance,

    nothing of life's edge would have softened as it has.

  29. قَد كاثَرَت نُوَبَ الأَيّامِ أَنعُمُهُ

    حَتّى أَبَذَّت صُروفَ الدَهرِ أَقرانا

    His favors have rivaled the days' calamities in number,

    until they outstripped Time's reversals in rivalry.

  30. واقِع بِهِ الغَمرَةَ المَغرورَ خائِضُها

    وَلا تُكَلِّفهُ فيها حينَ مَن حانا

    Plunge with him into the engulfing peril whose wader is deluded;

    but do not charge him there with the doom of one whose hour has come.

  31. قارِضهُ ما شِئتَ يُثمِنكَ الوَفاءَ بِهِ

    وَاِحذَرهُ يَنشُدُ أَوتاراً وَأَضغانا

    Deal with him as you will; he will repay you in full;

    and beware of him when he pursues vendettas and grudges.

  32. فَظُّ الخِلالِ عَسيرُ الأَخذِ أَشأَمُهُ

    إِذا تَنَمَّرَ دونَ العَفوِ غَضبانا

    Harsh of temper, hard to handle—I find him ominous

    when he turns tiger-like in anger, refusing pardon.

  33. رَعى الأَمانَةَ لِلسُلطانِ يوضِحُها

    حَتّى تَبَيَّنَ عَنها خَونُ مَن خانا

    He safeguarded the sovereign's trust, making it manifest,

    until, by contrast with it, every traitor's treachery stood clear.

  34. وَما يَزالُ غَريبٌ مِن كِفايَتِهِ

    فَذٌّ يَعودُ عَلى العُمّالِ ميزانا

    And ever some marvel of his competence,

    unmatched, becomes a balance for weighing officials.

  35. لِلشَيءِ وَقتٌ وَإِبّانٌ وَلَستَ تَني

    تَلقى لِمَعروفِهِ وَقتاً وَإِبّانا

    Everything has a time and season, yet you never cease

    to find a time and season for his kindness.

  36. إِذا جَعَلنا سَنا إِشراقِهِ عَلَماً

    إِلى مَصابٍ نَدى كَفَّيهِ أَدّانا

    When we make the radiance of his shining a beacon,

    it leads us to where the dew of his palms pours.

  37. إِذا أَتَيناهُ وَالأَنبارُ عُمدَتُنا

    جِئناهُ رَجلاً وَأُبنا عَنهُ رُكبانا

    When we come to him, al-Anbar our destination,

    we arrive on foot and return from him mounted.

  38. ما أَقشَعَت سَمَواتٌ مِن نَوافِلِهِ

    إِلّا وَأَسخَطُنا لِلدَهرِ أَرضانا

    No skies of his gifts have ever cleared

    without the bitterest of us toward Time becoming the most content.

  39. عَوائِدٌ وَبَوادٍ مِن مَواهِبِهِ

    يَروحُ أَبعَدُنا مِنها كَأَدنانا

    Gifts renewed and gifts newly begun, from his bounty:

    the farthest of us departs with as much of them as the nearest.