ألا ما لي وللأشواق ما لي — Alkadawi

أَلا ما لي وللأشواقِ ما لي

أدينُ بدينها في زيِّ سالِ

Ah, what have I to do with longings—what have I?

I follow their creed in the guise of one free of love.

وَأكتمُ ما لقيتُ وما رمتني

بهِ ألحاظُ سعدى من نبالِ

And conceal what I have suffered, and what was shot at me

By Sa'da's glances—arrows.

فَكتمانُ الهوى لا شكّ منّي

هو الخطأ النزول إلى الضلالِ

For concealing love, on my part, is surely

An error, a descent into misguidance.

أَأَجحدُ حبّ سعدى وهو سرٌّ

حقيقٌ أن يصرّح في المقالِ

Shall I deny my love for Sa'da, when it is a secret

Deserving to be openly declared in speech?

مخدّرةٌ خيرنجةٌ رداحٌ

مُنعّمةٌ ممنَّعةُ الوصالِ

A secluded maiden, delicate and full-hipped,

Pampered, yet unapproachable in love.

كَساها اللّهُ بُرداً من حياءٍ

وَسِربالاً تهلهل من جمالِ

God clothed her in a mantle of modesty,

And a gauzy robe of beauty.

وَمُذ لَبِست تمامَ البدرِ حسناً

لبستُ نحافةً نقص الهلالِ

And since she wore the full moon's perfect beauty,

I have worn the slenderness of the diminished crescent.

وصيّرني دقيق الخصر منها

وتُطمعني بأنواع الدلالِ

And her slender waist has made me so,

And she entices me with every kind of coyness.

فما لي في هواها من نصيبٍ

لَدَيها من حرامٍ أو حلالِ

So I have no share in her love,

From her, whether forbidden or lawful.

تثنّت كالقضيبِ ولاحَظتني

بناظرةٍ كناظرة الغزالِ

She swayed like a branch and glanced at me

With an eye like the gazelle's.

كأنّ الريقَ منها سلسبيلٌ

يشابُ بماءِ غاديةٍ زلالِ

As though her saliva were a sweet-flowing spring,

Blended with the limpid water of a morning raincloud.

أَفِق يا عاذِلي قد حلت لوما

وما لك في المسامع من محالِ

Come to your senses, my reproacher: you have turned to blame,

And you have no place in my hearing.

أتعذِلُني وروحي غير روحي

لمذهبها وحالي غير حالي

Do you reproach me, when my soul is no longer my soul,

Since it has departed, and my state is no longer my state?

وداءُ الحبِّ داءٌ أيُّ داءٍ

يحطُّ الصبَّ من فوق الرحالِ

And love's sickness is a sickness—what a sickness!—

Bringing the lovesick down from atop their saddles.

بنفسي مُذ كلفت بها غراماً

وَإِن حرمت بهجرتها حبالي

My life for her, since I became passionately enamored of her,

Though her estrangement has left my snares empty.

أأمِّل راحة في حبّ سعدى

وَذلكمُ محالٌ في محالِ

Do I hope for rest in loving Sa'da?

And that is impossibility within impossibility.

وَكيفَ يكونُ راحة مستهامٍ

لنيرانِ الهوى والوجد صالِ

And how can there be rest for one maddened by love,

Burning in the fires of passion and yearning?

قِفا يا صاحبيّ قفا وسحّا

دموعَكما على الدمن الخوالِ

Stop, my two companions, stop, and pour

Your tears upon the deserted dwelling-traces.

رسومٌ لم تبن للعينِ فيها

سماة غير مشجوج القذالِ

Ruins where the eye can discern no

Mark but a remnant with its nape split.

تحمّل قاطِنوها واِشمعلّت

بِقاطنها أسيل من الجمالِ

Their inhabitants departed, and off sped

The sleek camels, bearing those who dwelt there.

كأنّ حدوجَهم سفنٌ بلجٍّ

إِذا ما خضنَ إلّا بعد آلِ

Their camel-litters seemed like ships on the deep,

When they waded through nothing but a far-reaching mirage.

وفي الأحداجِ قد كنست شموساً

مدار بروجها فلك الحجالِ

And within the litters suns had taken shelter,

Their constellations' orbit was the sphere of bridal canopies.

وَقَد أثقلنَ أَصلابَ المطايا

بِأكفالٍ كأحقافِ الرمالِ

And they weighed down the backs of the riding beasts

With haunches like curving dunes of sand.

مَضى عصرُ الشبابِ وكلُّ شيءٍ

إِذا ما تمّ صارَ إِلى زوالِ

The age of youth has passed, and everything,

Once complete, turns toward decay.

وَأَلبسني بياضُ الشيبِ نوراً

عناصرهُ منَ الداء العضالِ

And the whiteness of gray hair has clothed me in a light

Whose elements come from incurable disease.

أَرى الدنيا ونحنُ لها عيالٌ

مولّعة بِتفريق العيالِ

I see the world—and we are its dependents—

Obsessed with scattering its dependents.

نراقبها بأطماعٍ سمانٍ

فَترضينا بأخلاقٍ هزالِ

We watch it with fattened hopes,

And it placates us with meager, worn-out scraps.

أَلا ما لليالي لا أراها

تميلُ عن الممال إِلى اِعتدالِ

Ah, what ails the nights? I never see them

Turn from crookedness toward balance.

تنازِلُنا بأحداثٍ عظامٍ

تُصدّع وقعها صمّ الجبالِ

They assail us with mighty calamities,

Whose impact splits the solid mountains.

يسومُ النذلُ في روض الأماني

خليع القيدِ محلول العقالِ

The base man grazes in the garden of desires,

His fetters cast off, his tether undone.

وَيَسعى الحرُّ والأرزاق عنه

ممنّعةٌ بهامات القلالِ

While the freeborn man strives, and sustenance is

Kept beyond his reach atop the mountain peaks.

فَمَن لي باِمرئٍ ندبٍ إذا ما

وَفيت له بما يرجو وفا لي

Who, then, can find me a gallant man who, when

I fulfill his hopes, keeps faith with me?

وَجرف مِن بنات العير ليست

تشكّى في المسيرِ من الكلالِ

And a sturdy daughter of the wild ass, who does not

Complain of weariness upon the road.

شَققتُ بِوجدها قلب الدياجي

وَشهب الجوّ بلغت كالذبالِ

With her ardor I cleft the heart of the dark nights,

While the sky's bright stars had come to resemble lamp-wicks.

تشيمُ بروق جودٍ صادقات

منَ الملك الهمام أبي المعالي

She watches for true lightning-flashes of generosity

From the resolute king, Abu al-Ma'ali.

ثمال الممحلِ الصادي إذا ما

يكن في يومِ جدبٍ من ثمالِ

A refuge for the drought-stricken and thirsty, if

Any refuge can be found on a day of drought.

يُحيطُ بِوجهه الزاكي جلالٌ

أَحاطَ بهِ جلال في جلالِ

Majesty surrounds his radiant face,

Majesty enfolding him within majesty.

كأنّ بنانه وطفاء شجّت

وَسَحّت باِنسِكابٍ واِنهطالِ

His fingertips seem a heavy raincloud, split open,

Pouring out in torrents and downpours.

سَماحةُ حاتمٍ في يوم جودٍ

لَهُ ونزال عمرو في النزالِ

Hatim's liberality on a day of giving

Is his, and Amr's combat prowess in battle.

أبيُّ النفسِ ذو عرضٍ مصانٍ

سخيُّ الكفِّ ذو مالٍ مذالِ

Proud of soul, with honor kept inviolate,

Open-handed, with wealth freely spent.

لَقد كَمُلت محامدهُ وهمّت

لتسلكَ مُرتقاً فوق الكمالِ

His praiseworthy qualities have reached perfection, and aspire

To climb a height beyond perfection.

حسامٌ ما له غير المعالي

وَتشييد المكارم من صقالِ

A keen sword whose only polish is lofty deeds

And the building up of noble virtues.

وَليثُ وغىً وليسَ له عرين

سوى الأسياف والسمر المعالي

A lion of battle, whose only lair

Is swords and raised, dusky spears.

زعيمُ الحربِ إن طحنت رحاها

وَدارت واِرجحنّت في الثفالِ

A leader in war when its millstone grinds,

Turns and settles heavily upon the mill-mat,

إِذا كرّت فوارسُها وصارت

رعالُ الخيلِ تصدم بالرعالِ

When its horsemen charge and

Squadrons of horses clash with squadrons.

أَكهلان بن حافظ ليتَ شِعري

أَوائله لمدحك والتوالي

O Kahlan son of Hafiz, would that my verse,

First and last, were devoted to your praise!

فَوا ندمي على مَدحي وشكري

سواكَ منَ الأسافل والمعالي

Ah, my regret for praising and thanking

Others than you, both the lowly and the high,

وَبَذلي ماءَ وجهي في سؤالي

لشيءٍ لا يقدّر للسؤالِ

And for spilling the water of my face in begging

For something not worth the asking.

نوالُ يديكِ صرت به غنيّاً

فلستُ أتوقُ بعد إِلى نوالِ

Through the bounty of your hands I have become rich,

And no longer yearn for any bounty.

فظلّت بِجودك الأملاك طرّاً

كَما فضل اليمين على الشمالِ

So, through your generosity, all kings are left behind,

As the right hand surpasses the left.

وَما مَدحي وما وصفي وقولي

جلالك جلَّ عن قيلٍ وقالِ

And what are my praise, my description, and my words?

Your majesty transcends all saying and speaking.

وقال أيضاً:

الوافر

And he also said:

Wafir meter.