أترى خرائد في الهوادج أم ظبا — Alkadawi

أترى خرائدَ في الهوادجِ أم ظِبا

جرّدن من أَلحاظهنّ لنا طبا

Do you see secluded maidens in the howdahs, or gazelles?

They have drawn a spell upon us from their glances.

بيضٌ لنا جرّدن كلّ مهنّدٍ

أَمضى من العضبِ المهنّد مضربا

Fair women have unsheathed for us every Indian-forged sword,

Sharper in its stroke than the keen Indian blade.

اِنظر بعينك نحوهنّ فقد بدت

صورٌ أشفت بحسنهنّ تعجّبا

Look toward them with your own eyes, for there have appeared

Forms whose beauty brought wonder to its utmost.

وَرخيمة الأطرافِ طاوية الحشا

شمساً أضاءت بالشعاعِ من الخبا

And one delicate of limb and slender of waist,

A sun shining its rays out from the tent.

باتَت تديرُ عليّ كأسَ مزاجها

كدمِ الذبيحِ معتّقاً لن يقطبا

She spent the night passing me a cup whose blend

Was like a slaughtered victim's blood, aged and never to be diluted.

فَمَتى أدارت مزجها لي أحمرا

نَحوي ثَنته بأبيضا أو أشنبا

Whenever she passed me its red mixture,

She followed it toward me with a white or pearly-toothed mouth.

وكأنّما وسط الغلالةِ كوكبٌ

حسن تدير على المنادم كَوكبا

As though within her sheer gown were a star

Of beauty, passing a star to her drinking companion.

قبّلت منها عقرباً فلثمت في

للسع عقربها لنا في عقربا

I kissed a scorpion-lock of hers, then pressed my lips in...

For her scorpion's sting—for us, in a scorpion [syntax unclear].

وَلقد سقيتُ النفس مِن رشفاتها

ألذّ من ماءِ الغمامِ وأعذبا

I gave my soul to drink from her sips

Something sweeter and more refreshing than rain-cloud water.

ما إِن رَنت باللّحظِ إلّا غادَرت

قَلبي على جمر الغرامِ مقلّبا

Whenever she cast a glance, she left

My heart turned over upon passion's embers.

تفترّ عن درّ ظللت متيّماً

مِن حبّه فلق الفؤاد معذّبا

Her parted lips reveal pearls; I remained love-stricken

For love of them, heart-riven and tormented.

درٌّ تَلألأ وَهو غير مثقّب

كالدرّ لاح منظّما ومثقّبا

Pearls that glitter, though unpierced,

Shining like pearls strung in order and pierced.

وَعشيّة ودّعتها والركب قد

زمّ المَطايا للنوى وتأهّبا

At evening I bade her farewell, when the caravan had

Bridled its mounts for departure and made ready.

مالت إِلى التوديع واِنشطّت لها

كفّ يصافحني البنانُ مخضبا

She leaned to say farewell, and there came free for her

A hand clasping mine, its fingertips henna-dyed.

وَبَدت وَقد زالَ النقاب هناكَ عن

ما كانَ منها بالنقاب منقّبا

She appeared, the veil having fallen away there from

What had been veiled of her beneath it.

وتوقّدت نارُ الغرامِ وشبّ في

أَحشائِنا جمر الجوى وتلهّبا

Passion's fire flared, and within

Our innards the embers of yearning kindled and blazed.

تلك الّتي خالفت كلّ مؤنّب

في حبّها العذريّ لام وأنّبا

She is the one for whom I defied every reproacher

Who blamed and rebuked my chaste love for her.

وَلقد صحبت الدهر أغيد مُقبلاً

وَصَحبتهُ من بعد أشمط أشيبا

I kept company with Time, youthful and flourishing,

And kept its company afterward, grizzled and gray.

فَرأيتُ في أَطباعهِ وخلاقه

متلوّناً متغيّراً متقلّبا

And saw, in its dispositions and its character,

A shifting, changing, fickle thing.

وَوردت منه حوضَ عذب فاِنثنى

لي صفوهُ متأجّناً متصلّبا

I came to a sweet pool of its, yet it turned

Its clear water stagnant and congealed for me.

ما إِن صَفا لي مطعماً أو مشربا

إلّا تكدّر مطعماً أو مشربا

It never made food or drink pure for me

Without making that food or drink turbid.

ما بشّ لي بالودّ منه تودّداً

إلّا وعبّس بعد ذاك وقطّبا

It never smiled at me with affectionate friendship

Without scowling and frowning afterward.

كم أنب من رجواه ألف مهجة

من حامل خفّي حنين واحببا

How many thousands of souls it chided for hoping in it,

Among those bearing Hunayn's two slippers [last word unclear].

سَلبتني الدنيا غراباً أسوداً

حتّى قَضتني بعد زارات أشهبا

The world robbed me of a black raven,

Until it repaid me, after [unclear], with a gray one.

بكَ كيف ينجو من حوادث صرفها

مَن لَم يَجد في الأرض عنها مهربا

By you, how can one escape the blows of its vicissitudes,

Having found no refuge from them on earth?

قرب البعيدُ فكان أَدنى منزلاً

مِن قابِ قوسٍ في القياس وأقربا

The distant drew near, nearer in its abode

Than a bow's span by measure, closer still.

سَلني وَخُذ رَأيي تجدني صادقاً

في الرأيِ أقصد ما وجدت وأصوبا

Ask me and take my counsel: you will find me truthful,

With counsel more judicious and correct than any you have found.

وَإِذا اِمتحنت وجدت منّي مذوداً

ذلفاً أذودُ به وقلباً قلّبا

When you test me, you will find in me a defensive weapon,

Snub-nosed [wording unclear], with which I fend off, and a discerning heart.

إنّي اِمرؤ قد جرّب الدنيا وما

من لم يجرّب مثل من قد جرّبا

I am a man who has tested the world; and never is

One who has not tested it like one who has.

لا رام للطمع المذلّ ولم يكن

برق إِذا ما لاح برقٌ خلّبا

No seeker of degrading greed; nor was

Lightning, whenever it flashed, a deceptive, rainless flash.

وَالمرء إِن لم يسع لم يسمو ولو

جمعت مناسبه العتيك ويشجبا

A man who does not strive will not rise, even if

His lineage joins al-ʿAtik and Yashjub.

كم قد أتيت بمعجزاتٍ دونها

ما يعجز الفطنَ المفوّه قطرُبا

How often I have achieved wonders, beneath which stand

Things that defeat discerning, eloquent Qutrub.

ولئِن رأت شمس العلوم منيرة

وَكشفت من ليل الجهالةِ غَيهبا

And though she saw the sun of learning radiant,

And I dispelled the deep dark of ignorance's night,

وَركبت عيس المشكلات فكان من

دون المراكب ظهرها لي مركبا

And rode the pale camels of difficult questions, so that,

Rather than other mounts, their backs became my mount,

وَغدوت في طلبِ العلا أختال في

ظهرِ البسيطة مشرقاً أَو مغربا

And went out seeking eminence, striding proudly over

The earth's broad back, eastward or westward—

والحرّ يشري وَجهه إن ضاء في

طلبِ العلا والمجد أسفع أكهبا

A freeborn man barters his face, though radiant, in

Seeking eminence and glory, for one dark and dusky.

وَلَقد جعلت له التأدّب سنّة

والصبر فرض والتواضع مذهبا

I have made cultivated manners his practice,

Patience an obligation, and humility his path.

وَكذا الثناء أخاً شفيقاً والعلا

أُمّاً كذاك المجد يدعا لي أبا

Likewise praise a compassionate brother, and eminence

A mother; likewise glory is called my father.

وَالمكرُمات الغرّ تنسبني كما

نسبت إليها القعهنية قعصبا

Radiant noble deeds claim me as theirs, as

Al-Qaʿhaniyyah claimed Qaʿsab as hers.

وَمطرّز بالدهر قد أهدت له

ريح الجنوب الرايح المتحلّبا

And a place embroidered by Time, to which

The south wind brought a passing, rain-dripping cloud.

هرق الغمامُ عليه أدمعه فلم

ينفكّ إِلّا أن يسحّ ويسكبا

The cloud poured its tears upon it, and would not

Cease, but kept streaming and pouring.

فَسقاه علّاً بعد نهلٍ مردفا

وَكساه بالأزهار لوناً معجبا

It watered it again after the first draught, one following another,

And clothed it in flowers of a delightful hue,

حتّى تضاحك نوره من بعد ما

صحبت لياليه الربيع المخصبا

Until its blossoms laughed, after

Its nights had kept company with fertile spring.

تحكي خلاق عرار نشر عراره

بل إِنّها وجدت ألذّ وأطيبا

Its ʿarar-blossom fragrance mirrors ʿArar's virtues;

Rather, those virtues prove sweeter and more fragrant.

العادلُ الملك الّذي أخلاقه

لِلمُعتَفينَ ألذّ من نفس الصبا

The just king, whose character

Is sweeter to favor-seekers than the east wind's breath.

صعدت به رتبٌ علَت حتّى اِنتهت

ليثاً وقوساً في السماء وعقربا

Ranks rose with him, ascending until they reached

The Lion, the Bow, and the Scorpion in the sky.

أَذكا بديهته وأشحذ عزمه

صرف النوائب حين حكّ وهذّبا

His ready wit was quickened, his resolve sharpened,

By adversity's turns, which honed and refined him.

ما غالب الأيّام في أحداثِها

وَخطوبِها إلّا وكانَ الأغلبا

He never contended with the days in their events

And calamities without emerging the victor.

بحرٌ خضمّ إِن تفضّل أو عطا

طودٌ أشمّ إِذا اِنتدى وإذا اِحتبا

A vast sea when he grants favors or gives,

A lofty mountain when he sits in council or clasps his knees,

ومهنّد عضب المضاربِ حدّه

ما كلّ عَن قطعِ الخطوب ولا نبا

An Indian-forged sword, keen-edged, whose blade

Never dulled in cutting through calamities or glanced aside,

وَغضنفر في الغابِ يحمي شبله

طوراً وينشب في القنيصة مخلبا

And a lion in the thicket, protecting his cub

At times, and sinking a claw into his quarry.

ما هزّ ثعلب رمحهِ في معركٍ

إلّا وأورد في الكماةِ الثعلبا

He never shook his spear's 'fox' in battle

Without driving that 'fox' among armored champions.

أَنسته أبكارُ المكارمِ والعلا

أسما وفرتن والرباب وزينبا

The virgins of noble deeds and eminence made him forget

Asma, Fartan, al-Rabab, and Zaynab.

لو قيس راجح حلمه ووقاره

وَزناً لوازنَ يَذبُلاً أَو كَبكبا

If his weighty forbearance and dignity were measured

By weight, they would balance Yadhbul or Kabkab.

يا كَوكب العليا وبهجتها ومن

لِجليسه خفض الجناح ورحّبا

O star of eminence and its splendor, you who

Lower your wing to your companion and welcome him!

لَم أنسَ منك خلائقاً قد أشبهت

روض الغضيض في دمث الربربا

I have not forgotten virtues in you that resembled

A meadow of tender growth on the gazelle herd's soft ground.

فَسما ثم قد كان أخرج حكمه

في سابق الأقدار جدّك من سبا

And so he rose; then his decree had already brought forth,

In fate's prior ordering, your ancestor from Saba.

إنّي جعلتك مستلاذاً لى ذما

سيل في طوفانه بلغ الربا

I have made you my refuge against reproach—

A torrent whose flood has reached the hilltops.