أجدر وأخلق أن ترن عوائدي — Albohtry

أَجدِر وَأَخلِق أَن تُرِنَّ عَوائِدي

وَيُساءَ خُلصاني وَيَشمَتَ حاسِدي

How fitting, how proper that my women visitors should wail,

and my close friends be grieved, and my envier gloat.

وَرَدَ الفِراقُ عَلَيَّ يُتلِفُ مُهجَتي

يا بَرحَ قَلبي بِالفِراقِ الوارِدِ

Separation came upon me, destroying my lifeblood.

Oh, the anguish of my heart at the separation that has come!

ضاقَت عَلَيَّ لَهُ البِلادُ بِأَسرِها

حَتّى لَخِلتُ الأَرضَ كِفَّةَ صائِدِ

All the lands have closed in on me because of it,

until I thought the earth a hunter's net.

أَيَشُطُّ مَن أَهوى سَليماً وادِعاً

وَأَروحُ في ثَوبِ السَليبِ الفاقِدِ

Does the one I love depart, safe and at ease,

while I go about in the garb of one despoiled and bereft?

تَاللَهِ أَبقى وَالأَسى بِجَوانِحي

لِلبَينِ يَسقيني بِسِمِّ أَساوِدِ

By God, I live on, while sorrow within my breast

from parting makes me drink the venom of black serpents.

يا ظِبيَةَ الخَيماتِ مِن ذاتِ الغَضا

صَدَقَ الوَعيدُ فَأَينَ صِدقُ مَواعِدِ

O gazelle of the tents, from Dhat al-Ghada,

The threat proved true; where, then, is the fulfillment of promises?

ماذا يَضُرُّكِ لَو بَرَدتِ حَرارَةً

بَينَ الحَشا بِرُضابِ ثَغرٍ بارِدِ

What harm would it do you if you cooled the burning heat

within my breast with the moisture of a cool mouth?

لَو بِتِّ تَخلِجُكِ الهُمومُ أَوَيتِ لي

وَلَكانَ لَيلي مِنكِ لَيلَ الراقِدِ

If you spent the night with worries tugging at you, you would pity me,

and through you my night would be a sleeper's night.

يا حادِيَيها لَبِّثا لا تَعجَلا

عَنّي بِظَبيِكُما النَوارِ الشارِدِ

O her two camel-drivers, linger; do not hurry

away from me with your shy, fleeing gazelle.

قولا لَهُ يَردُد فُؤادَ مُتَيَّمٍ

إِن كانَ لَيسَ إِلى الوِصالِ بِعائِدِ

Tell him to return a lovesick man's heart,

if he is not to return to union.

واها لِعَينَيهِ اللَتَينِ تَصَدَّتا

فَاِنصاعَ إِذ رُعناهُ غَيرَ مُعانِدِ

Ah, for his two eyes, which showed themselves;

then he fled when we startled him, offering no resistance.

يا دَهرُ هَل تُدني إِلَيَّ دِيارَها

مِن بَعدِ تَعذيبي بِطولِ تَباعُدِ

O Time, will you bring her dwellings near to me,

after tormenting me with long estrangement?

يا دَهرُ كَم قَد سُؤتَني فَوَجَدتَني

لا أَشتَكي السوأى وَلَستُ بِجاحِدِ

O Time, how often you have hurt me, yet found me

not complaining of the wrong, nor denying it.

حَتّامَ لا أَنفَكُّ مِنكَ تَسومُني

خَسفاً وَتَعسِفُني بِسَطوَةِ حاقِدِ

How long must I endure you, as you inflict on me

humiliation, and oppress me with a grudge-bearer's might?

وَإِذا اِضطَرَبتُ فَعَنَّ لي وَجهُ الغِنى

أَسرَعتَ في مَنعي اِنسِراعَ مُحارِدِ

And whenever I strove and a prospect of wealth appeared to me,

you hastened to deny me, with a grudging man's haste.

كَم قَد سَمَوتَ بِجاهِلٍ وَبِخامِلٍ

لَمّا حَطَطتَ أَخا حِجاً وَمَحاتِدِ

How often you have raised an ignorant man and an obscure one,

while bringing low a man of intellect and noble lineage!

أَسعَدتَ في كُلِّ الأُمورِ جُدودَهُم

إِذ كُنتَ لِلأَحرارِ غَيرَ مُساعِدِ

You favored their fortunes in every affair,

while you were no helper to the noble.

عَجَباً لِأَقوامٍ وَصَلتُ حِبالَهُم

وَرَعيتُ غَيبَتَهُم بِكُلِّ مَشاهِدِ

How strange those people whose bonds I maintained,

and whom I defended in their absence at every gathering.

وَسَتَرتُ عَيبَهُمُ وَكُنتُ مُجاهِداً

مَن رامَ نَقصَهُمُ بِكُلِّ تَجاهُدِ

And I concealed their faults, and fought

whoever sought to disparage them, with every effort.

فَرَأَيتُ غِشَّ صُدورِهِم بِعُيونِهِم

وَالعَينُ في الحالاتِ أَعدَلُ شاهِدِ

Then I saw the deceit in their breasts through their eyes,

and the eye, in every circumstance, is the fairest witness.

فَعَرَفتُ ذاكَ وَلَم أَدَع إِدناءَهُم

وَالحِلمُ بَينَ أَقارِبٍ وَأَباعِدِ

I knew this, yet did not cease to draw them near—

for forbearance is for kin and strangers alike—

حَتّى سَمِعتُ عَنِ الضَغائِنِ قَولَهُم

وَفِعالَهُم فِعلَ الظَلومِ الحاسِدِ

until I heard what they said out of rancor,

and their deeds were those of an oppressive, envious man.

فَلَزِمتُ نَفسي لا أُكَشِّفُ غَيبَهُم

وَكَفَفتُ عَنهُم ناصِحي وَمُعاضِدي

So I kept to myself, not laying bare their secrets,

and held my adviser and my supporter back from them.

فَرَأَوا جَميلَ العَفوِ ضَعفاً بَعدَ ما

كَفَروا جَميلَ الطَولِ كُفرَ الجاحِدِ

So they deemed gracious pardon weakness, after

they had shown an ingrate's ingratitude for generous bounty.

فَهُناكَ أَمضَيتُ الهَوانَ مُشَمِّراً

فيهِم وَلَم أَكذِب بِقَولٍ زائِدِ

Then, sleeves rolled up, I inflicted humiliation

upon them, without lying in exaggerated words.

فَوَسَمتُ أَوجُهَهُم سِماتٍ ذَلَّلَت

أَعناقَهُم لِلخَلقِ بَعدَ قَلائِدِ

So I branded their faces with marks that humbled

their necks before mankind, after necklaces had adorned them.

وَأَبَنتُ نوكَهُمُ بِقَولٍ صادِقٍ

في نَثرِ مَنثورٍ وَنَظمِ قَصائِدِ

And I exposed their folly in truthful speech,

in the setting forth of prose and the composing of odes.

وَجَعَلتُهُم ضُحَكَ المَجالِسِ دَهرَهُم

وَتَنَزُّهاً لِمُفَجَّعٍ وَلِسامِدِ

And I made them the laughingstocks of gatherings for all their days,

and a diversion for the grief-stricken and the carefree.

فَإِذا رَأَوني مُقبِلاً أَبصَرتُهُم

سُفعَ الوُجوهِ بَليغُهُم كَالجامِدِ

Whenever they saw me approaching, I saw them

with darkened faces, their eloquent speaker like one frozen.

وَإِذا تَقَلَّبتُ اِدَّرَوا بِشَناعَةٍ

مَرذولَةٍ عِندَ اللَبيبِ الناقِدِ

And whenever I turned away, they shielded themselves with vile abuse,

despised by the discerning critic.

كُلٌّ يَوَدُّ لِيَ الرَدى لَو نالَهُ

بِالأُمِّ يَفقِدُ شَخصَها وَالوالِدِ

Each longs for my death, if he could secure it

at the cost of losing his mother herself, and his father.

وَاللَهُ أَنصَرُ لِلمُسالِمِ ذي الحِجى

وَاللَهُ أَخذَلُ لِلمُسيءِ العانِدِ

And God is readier to aid the peaceable man of reason,

and God is readier to forsake the stubborn wrongdoer.

قَد قُلتَ لَو قُبِلَ المَقالُ أَلا اِحذَروا

لَيثاً يُقَضقِضُكُم بِأَعبَلِ ساعِدِ

You have said—if words were heeded—'Take heed! Beware

a lion that crushes you with a massive forearm!'

فَمَضَوا عَلى غِلِّ الصُدورِ فَغودِروا

مِثلَ الهَشيمِ لِخابِطٍ وَلِصائِدِ

But they persisted in the rancor of their breasts, and were left

like dry brushwood for a beater and a hunter.

إِن كُنتَ تُنكِرُ ما أَقولُ فَجارِهِم

تَعرِف خَزايَتَهُم بِيَومِ واحِدِ

If you deny what I say, be their neighbor;

you will know their shamefulness in a single day.

إِنَّ الكَريمَ إِذا رَأى ذا خِسَّةٍ

صَدَفَ المَوَدَّةَ عَنهُ صَدفَ الطارِدِ

Indeed, when a noble man sees one who is base,

he turns affection away from him, like one driving him out.

لا تَعدُوَن أَهلَ المَوَدَّةِ وَالتُقى

تَظفَر بِخَيرِ مُؤازِرٍ وَمُعاقِدِ

Never pass over people of affection and piety;

you will gain the best supporter and pledged ally.