قد خان أهل الهوى قل لي بمن أثق — Almlk Alamjad

قد خانَ أهلُ الهوى قلْ لي بمِنْ أثقُ

ليت المحبينَ لا كانوا ولا خُلِقوا

The people of love have proved false; tell me, whom can I trust?

Would that lovers had never existed or been created!

كانت يميني بأسبابٍ مؤكَّدَةٍ

بيني وبينهم في الودَّ تعتلِقُ

Once my right hand, by firmly secured bonds,

clung to the affection between me and them.

فبدَّلَ البينُ حالاً كنتُ أعهدُه

وأصبحَ الودُّ منهمْ وهو ممتذِقُ

But separation changed the state I once knew,

and their affection became diluted.

فالوجدُ بعدَهمُ حبسٌ عليَّ كما

دمعي عقيبَ النوى في الربعِ منطلقُ

Since they left, yearning is a prison for me, even as

my tears, after separation, flow free in the dwelling-place.

جنايةٌ جلبتْها يومَ كاظمةٍ

رسائلٌ حملتْها بيننا الحَدَقُ

A wrong brought about on the day at Kazimah

by messages our pupils carried between us.

يا عينُ أمسى وقد زُمَّتْ قِلاصُهمُ

وجداً أليفكِ فيهالدمعُ والأرقُ

O eye, at evening, with their young she-camels haltered,

tears and sleeplessness became your companions in longing.

ما هذه وقفةٌ في الحبَّ أوَّلَةٌ

لم يمضِ لي عُلَقٌ إلا أتتْ عُلَقُ

This is not the first such stand in love;

no bonds of love have passed for me without others coming.

صبابةٌ كنتُ أشكوها وبي رمقٌ

واليومَ يَضعُفُ عنها ذلكَ الرمقُ

I once lamented this longing while life still lingered in me,

and today that remnant of life is too weak to bear it.

فلي بنارِ زفيري بعدَهمْ حُرَقٌ

ولي بدمعي على أطلالِهم غَرَقُ

Since they left, I burn in the fire of my sighs,

and drown in my tears upon their ruined dwellings.

فهل أبيتُ ولا يُمسي يُروَعُني

برقٌ يبيتُ على الخَلْصاءِ يأتلِقُ

Will I ever pass a night without being startled at dusk

by lightning that spends the night flashing over al-Khalsa?

يُذكي باِيماضِه نارَ الغرامِ ولي

جفنٌ يسحُّ فجسمي كيفَ يحترقُ

Its flashes kindle the fire of passion, though I have

an eyelid streaming tears—how, then, does my body burn?

بادي اللهيبِ وحرُّ الشوقِ مضطرمٌ

يذكيهما المؤلمانِالذَّكْرُ والقَلَقُ

The flame is plain to see, and the heat of longing blazes;

both are kindled by the two tormentors, remembrance and anxiety.

فكيف ينسى الهوى صَبُّ يروَّعُهُ

بعدَ النوى الأخوانِالصُّبحُ والغَسَقُ

How can a lovesick man forget love, when he is frightened,

after separation, by the two brothers, dawn and dusk?

يرتاعُ مِن لِمَّةِ الظلماءِ مقبلةً

ويلتظي وهي بالاِصباحِ تَنفرِقُ

He shudders at the dark night's tresses as they approach,

and burns as it disperses at daybreak.

لم تبدُ شمسُ الضحى في الأفقِ مشرقةً

اِلاّ وكانَ له مِنْ دمعِه شَرَقُ

Never has the forenoon sun appeared shining on the horizon

without his choking on his tears.

فهل أُرى وقِلاصي غيرُ ظالعةٍ

يَحثُّها المنضيانِالنصُّ والعَنَقُ

Will I be seen with my young she-camels not limping,

urged on by the two exhausters, the full-speed run and the steady trot,

شوقاً إلى حجيرةٍ بالخَيْفِ ما حَفِظوا

عهدَ المحبَّ ولا رقُّوا ولا رَفَقُوا

longing for a little chamber at al-Khayf? They did not keep

the lover's covenant, nor were they tender or gentle.

أهكذا مثلَ ما ألقاه مِن شَجَنٍ

قد كانَ مَنْ وَلِعوا بالحبَّ أو عشقوا

Was it thus, with sorrow like the sorrow I encounter,

for those who were enthralled by love or passionately loved?

أم هذه شيمةٌ وحدي خُصِصْتُ بها

افضى الهوى بِيْ اليها والهوى طُرُقُ

Or is this a disposition reserved for me alone,

to which love has led me—and love has many paths?

ومنزلٍ وقَفَتْ هوجٌ الرَّكابِ بهِ

لمّا تضوَّعَ منه نشرُه العَبِقُ

And at many a dwelling the headstrong riding-camels halted

when its rich fragrance wafted forth.

فمِن صريعٍ على الآثارِ من سَهَفٍ

يستافُهنَّ وللأطلالِ يعتنقُ

Then among them lay one prostrate on the traces, from frenzied longing,

sniffing them and embracing the ruins.

أنكرتُه مثلَ ما أنكرتُ مَعْلَمَهُ

لولا ثرًى بذكيَّ المِسكِ يَنفتِقُ

I would not have recognized it, any more than its landmark,

but for the soil bursting open with pungent musk.

تؤمُّهنَّ عَلَنْداةُ هملَّعَةٌ

مَوَّارةٌ أُجُدٌ عَيرانَةٌ دِفَقٌ

Toward them heads a stout, fleet-footed she-camel,

swift-swaying, firmly built, strong as a wild ass, surging onward.

تَنْسِلُّ مِن هبواتِ المُورِ ناحلةً

مثلَ الهلالِ انجلى عن ضُمرِه الشفقُ

She slips, lean, from clouds of swirling dust,

like a crescent from whose slender form the twilight has lifted.

ما جاوزتْ فَدْفَداً بالقاعِ مُنخرَقاً

حتى بدا مَجْهَلٌ كاليمَّ مُنخرقُ

She had scarcely crossed a wide-open waste upon the plain

when an uncharted wilderness appeared, vast as the sea.

تجوبهُ ومناها وهي لاغبةٌ

في رِبقةِ الوخدِ أنْ تبدو لها البُرَقُ

She traverses it, and her wish, while she is exhausted

in the fetter of swift trotting, is to see the sand-and-stone tracts appear.

وعُصْبةِ مِن رجالِ الشَّعرِ كم طلبوا

لحاقَ شأوي فأعياهمْ وما لَحِقوا

And a band of men of verse—how often they sought

to catch up with my lead; it defeated them, and they never caught up.

مِن كلَّ ذي غَبَنٍ منهمْ وذي قِحَةٍ

يُلقيهما المُرديانِالجهلُ والحَنَقُ

Every man of poor judgment among them, and every insolent man—

the two destroyers, ignorance and rancor, cast them both down.

لمحتُ ما نظموه لمحَ مُعتبِرِ

فكانَ نظماً به عن دينهِ مرقوا

I glanced at what they had composed with a discerning glance;

it was verse through which they had strayed from its creed.

أبدَوا وقد غبتُ اشعاراً ملفَّقةً

حتى حضرتُ بناديهمْ فما نطقوا

They displayed patched-together poems while I was absent,

until I attended their assembly, and then they said nothing.

جاؤوا وجئتُ وقد أعيتْ جيادُهُمُ

فكانَ لي دونهمْ في الحلبةِ السَّبَقُ

They came, and I came, their fine steeds already exhausted;

so first place on the racecourse was mine, not theirs.