قد حال عما تعهده — Almlk Alamjad

قد حالَ عمّا تَعْهَدُهْ

ربعُ اللَّوى ومعهَدُهْ

Changed indeed from what you knew of it

are the dwelling of al-Liwa and its familiar haunt.

كم شاقني غزالُهُ

وراقَ طرفي جَيَدُه

How often its gazelle has stirred my longing,

and its neck has delighted my eye!

معهدُ لهوٍ شفَّني

بعدَ المها تأبُّدُهْ

A haunt of pleasure—what has worn me away

is its desolation since the oryx left.

فلا أرى في ربعِهِ

اِلاّ الحَمامَ يُنْشِدُه

I see nothing in its dwelling

but doves chanting to it.

وقفتُ فيهِ باكياً

وقد شجاني غُرَّدُه

I stood there weeping,

its songbirds having stirred my grief.

أُسعِدُهُ بالدمعِ لو

أنَّ الدموعَ تُسعِدُه

I would comfort it with tears, if

tears could give it comfort.

دمعٌ على كثرةِ ما

يُنْزَح جَمٌّ مَدَدُه

Tears—however much of them

is drawn off, their supply is abundant.

فَوَيْحَ صَبًّ دمعُهُ

بعدَ الفراقِ مَوْرِدُه

Alas for a lovesick man whose tears

after parting are his watering-place.

أحبابَهُ طالَ الى

ربعكُمُ تردُّدُه

O his beloveds, long have lasted

his repeated visits to your dwelling.

يَنْشُدُ فيهِ قلبَهُ

وكم عساهُ يَنْشُدُه

He seeks his heart there,

and how long can he go on seeking it?

وليس إلا نُؤْيُهُ

تجيبُهُ أو وتِدُه

None but its rain-trench

answers him, or its tent peg.

يستنجدُ الطلولَ

والطلولُ كيفَ تُنْجِدُه

He begs the ruins for aid,

but how can ruins aid him?

تسربلَ السَّقامَ مذْ

بانَ الخليطُ جسدُه

His body has donned sickness since

the company departed.

أمسى خفيّاً لا تراهُ

من نحول عُوَّدُه

He has grown so faint that he is unseen

by his sickbed visitors, so emaciated is he.

ملقًى على فُرْشِ الضنى

لِقًى تداعى جَلَدُه

Cast upon the bedding of wasting sickness,

a thing discarded, his endurance crumbled.

بالِله سلْ عنِ الخليطِ

أينَ حلَّ أغيدُه

For God's sake, ask after the company:

where has its graceful youth settled?

فليتَهُ بقربِهِ

بعدَ نواهُ يَعِدُه

If only he would promise him nearness,

after his absence.

أحورُ قد هامَ هوًى

بما حَوَى مقلَّدُه

A dark-eyed youth—he is mad with love

for the beauty his neck holds.

تقطَّعتْ لبعدِهِ

لمّا تنامَى كَبِدُه

Torn apart by his distance,

as it grew, was his liver.

هل عائدٌ بهِ زمانٌ

لم يَشُبْهُ نكدُهْ

Will a time return that brings him back,

untainted by its hardships—

زمانُ قربٍ ساعفَتْهُ

بالوصالِ خُرَّدُه

a time of nearness, when he was favored

with union by his bashful maidens?

يهوى رجوعَ مثلِهِ

بنفسِهِ لو يَجِدُه

He longs for such a time to return,

at the price of his life, could he but find it.

لم يحمِ عنه ربعَهُ

عديدُهُ وعُدَدُه

His dwelling was not defended against him

by his many men and his weapons.

مهفهفُ القامةِ غُصْنيُّ

القَوامِ أملَدُه

Slender in stature, bough-like

in build, tender and supple;

نحيلُ خَصْرٍ لينُهُ

يَحُلَّهُ ويعقِدُه

thin of waist, whose suppleness

unknots it and knots it;

ذو شَنَبٍ معطَّرٍ

مُنْيَتُهُ لو يَرِدُه

with fragrant, cool-sweet teeth—

his heart's desire, could he but drink there.

آليتُ ما الغيثُ بدًا

مُبرِقُهُ ومُرعِدُه

I swear: no rain, when there appear

its lightning-flashing and thunder-bearing clouds,

وحلَّ خيطَ مزنِهِ

فساحَ منه بَدَدُه

and it loosens its rainclouds' thread,

so its scattered drops pour forth,

على ثرًى أُخْلِفَ مِن

رىَّ الغمامِ موعدُه

on earth denied its promised share

of the rainclouds' watering,

وغُصَّ مِن أتيَّهِ

سَبْسَبُهُ وفَدْفَدُه

and its onrushing flood chokes

its open plains and its uplands,

أغزرَ مِن دمعي اِذا

البينُ تمادَى أمدُه

is more copious than my tears, when

parting's span drags on,

وقوّضَ الحيُّ وقدْ

حثَّ المطايا أعبُدُه

and the tribe strikes camp, while

its slaves urge on the riding camels,

في مهمهٍ هجيرُهُ

أذكاهُ جمراً مُوِقدُه

through a trackless waste whose midday heat

its kindler has fanned into glowing coals.

يحدو بها في خَرْقِهِ

جُنْدُبُهُ وجُدْجُدُهْ

Chanting the camels onward across its expanse

are its grasshopper and its cricket.

مَنْ مُنجِدٌ لي يومَ

سارَ مستقلاً مُنجِدُه

Who could bring me aid on the day

its Najd-bound traveler journeyed away,

وقعقعتْ بعدَ سكونٍ

طالَ منها عُمُدُه

and there clattered, after a stillness

that had lasted long, its tent poles?

يا راكباً تسري بهِ

نحوَ الخيامِ أُجُدُه

O rider, carried through the night

toward the tents by your sturdy she-camel,

تفلي الفلا مُعنِقةً

شِبْهَ الظَّليمِ جَلْعَدُه

as she scours the wastes at a swift pace,

like a tall, powerful male ostrich,

حيَّ العقيقَ منزلاً

اِنْ كنتَ مِمَّنْ يَقْصِدُه

salute al-Aqiq, that dwelling-place,

if you are among those bound for it.

فثمَّ كلُّ وَطَرٍ

أضحى الزمانُ يُبعِدُه

For there is all one longs for,

which time has now put far away.

أبالبِعادِ دهرُهُ

وجَوْرِهِ يُهَدَّدُه

Does his fate, with separation

and its tyranny, threaten him?

يخشاهُ مَنْ قد قَصُرَتْ

عمّا يرجَّيهِ يدُه

He fears it whose hand has fallen short

of what he hopes for.

وهكذا عاداتُهُ

مِن حيث كرَّتْ مُدَدُه

Such are its ways,

through all its recurring ages.

ملعبُ حورٍ منذُ

بانوابانَ عنه رَصَدُه

A playground of dark-eyed beauties; since

they left, its watchers too have left it.

يستوقفُ العينَ إذا

اجتزتَ عليهِ مَشْهَدُه

Its sight arrests the eye

whenever you pass by it.

فحبَّذا ثُمامُه

وأثلُهُ وغَرْقَدُه

How lovely its thumam grass,

its tamarisks and its boxthorns!

وحبَّذا حمامُهُ

هيَّمني تغرُّدُهْ

And how lovely its doves!

Their cooing has enraptured me.

أطربني غناؤه

فقلتُعاشَ مَعْبَدُه

Their singing has delighted me,

so I said, 'Long live their Ma'bad!'

بانُ العقيقِ لم يزلْ

يَشْغَفُني تأَوُّدُه

The ban-tree of al-Aqiq has never ceased

to enthrall me with its swaying.

سقاه دمعي أن مَزا

دُ المُزْنِ شدَّتْ عُقَدُه

May my tears water it, for the water-

skins of the rainclouds have had their knots drawn tight.