هلا قنصت غزالة الصياد — Aloshari

هَلا قنصت غَزالة الصَياد

وَضَمَمت غُصن قوامها المياد

Why did you not hunt the hunter's gazelle,

and embrace the swaying bough of her stature,

وَرَشفت جُرعة كَوثر في جَوهر

وَلَثَمت دارة خدها الوَقاد

and sip a draught of Kawthar within a jewel,

and kiss the orb of her glowing cheek,

وَشَمَمت وَردة جنة في وَجنة

قَد ضرجتها مِن دَم الأَكباد

and smell a rose of paradise upon a cheek,

which she had crimsoned with the blood of livers?

وَتَحدرت تِلكَ الغَدائر بكرة

فَبدت عَقاربها عَلى الأَوراد

And those braids tumbled down at dawn,

so their scorpions appeared upon the roses.

وَتَحدقت مِنها الجُفون وَلاحظت

فنضت مراهفها مِن الأَغماد

And her eyelids stared intently and cast a glance,

then drew their keen blades from the sheaths.

ترتج مِن تَحت الإِزار لأَنَّها

غُصن عَلى طود مِن الأطواد

She quivers beneath the wrap, for she is

a bough upon one of the towering mountains.

عَذراء ناهدة التَرائب بضة

وَضاحة قَد خمرت بِسَواد

A virgin, with a swelling breast, tender-fleshed,

radiantly fair, already veiled in black.

نطقت مَناطقها وَصوت عقدها

وَجنت نَواظرها عَلى الآساد

Her girdles spoke, and her necklace rang,

and her eyes wrought harm upon lions.

ريم لَها جيد الغَزال وَلَحظه

وَنفوره عَن ساحة القصاد

A white gazelle, with a gazelle's neck and glance,

and its flight from the suitors' courtyard.

ما ضَر لَو وصل الجُفون بِنَظرة

وَوصلته بِحشاشَتي وَفُؤادي

What harm if he favored my eyelids with a glance,

and I repaid him with my life's last breath and my heart?

يا أَيُّها الرَشأ الَّذي قَد زارَنا

كَيفَ السَبيل لَنا إِلى الميعاد

O young gazelle who has visited us,

how are we to find the way to the tryst?

أَمن المُروءة أَن تَنام وَمُقلَتي

ملئَت حَواشيها بكف رَماد

Is it chivalrous that you sleep while my eye

has its rims filled with a handful of ash?

وَتبيت ريان الجُفون مِن الكَرى

وَأَبيت ظَمآن الجَوانح صادي

And you spend the night, your eyelids quenched with sleep,

while I spend the night, thirsty in my ribs, parched.

وَتَنام من فَوق الأسرة آمِناً

وَبِكُل عُضو في قدح زِناد

And you sleep upon beds, secure,

while in every limb of mine a firesteel is struck.

هب أَنَّني أُدعى الحسين بِداركم

أَفَأَنت يا مَولاي نَجل زِياد

Suppose I am called al-Husayn in your house:

are you then, my lord, the son of Ziyad?

فَاستوص خَيراً بِالفُؤاد فَإِنَّهُ

كَالطَير أَضحى في يَد الصَياد

So treat the heart kindly, for it

is like a bird that has come into the hunter's hand.

وَارحم جفوناً لَيسَ تَعرف ما الكَرى

فَكَأَنَّها قَد كحلت بِسهاد

And pity eyelids that do not know what sleep is,

as though they had been kohled with sleeplessness.

قرنت بغرتك المَحاسن مثل ما

قرن الكَمال بِصَفوة الأَمجاد

Beauties were joined to your radiant brow, just as

perfection was joined to the choicest of the illustrious:

الفاخر ابن الفاخر ابن المُرتَضى

السَيد ابن السادة الأَسياد

the illustrious, son of the illustrious, son of al-Murtada,

the lord, son of lords and masters,

أَصل الفَخار وَفرعه وَعَموده

وَضِياؤه الباقي إِلى الآباد

the root of glory, its branch, and its pillar,

and its light, enduring forever.

مِن طينة عَربية قُرشية

علوية نَبوية الأَجداد

From Arab clay of Quraysh,

ʿAlid, prophetic in its ancestry,

عجنت بِماء الفَضل حَتّى طهرَت

وَتخمرت بالعلم وَالإِرشاد

kneaded with the water of virtue until it became pure,

and leavened with knowledge and guidance,

فَتَشَكلَت فينا نُجوماً لِلهُدى

ما فيهم إِلا إمام هادي

it took shape among us as stars of guidance,

not one among them but a guiding imam.

مَلأت أَشعتها الوجود وَلَم تَزَل

إِذ ضَمها الآباء لِلأَولاد

Their rays filled existence and have never ceased,

as fathers passed them on to their children.

وَبِآل فَخر قَد تَجمع نورها

حَتّى استقلَ النور في بَغداد

And in the house of Fakhr their light was gathered,

until the light rose aloft in Baghdad.

بيض الخِصال نَقية أَحسابهم

شم المَعاطس زُبدة الأَجواد

White of character, pure in their inherited honor,

lofty-nosed, the cream of the generous.

ما شَأنهم إِلا مُحاوَلة النَدى

وَجَوائز القصاد وَالوراد

Their only concern is the pursuit of bounty,

and gifts for petitioners and visitors,

وَدِراسة العلم الشَريف فَوقتهم

وَقتان وَقت تُقى وَوَقت سَداد

and the study of sacred learning; so their time is

twofold: a time for piety and a time for right conduct.

غَيث النَدى سم العِدى أَيامهم

يَومان يَوم نَدى وَيَوم طراد

A shower of bounty, poison to foes—their days are

two days: a day of bounty and a day of combat.

مِن كُل وقاد القوى متيقظ

نيرانهُ تَعلو بِغَير زِناد

Each one is fiery in his powers, ever vigilant,

his flames rising without firesteels.

لَولا بُرودة حلمه وَوَقاره

لأذيب مِن لُقياه كُل جَماد

But for the coolness of his forbearance and dignity,

every lifeless thing would melt upon meeting him.

بنيت لعبد اللَه فيهم رُتبة

سمت الوَرى مِن حاضر أَو بادي

A rank was built for ʿAbd Allah among them,

rising above all people, townsman or desert-dweller.

قَد شادها بِمَعارف وَلَطائف

وَأَقام ذروتها بِغَير عَماد

He has raised it with knowledge and subtle insights,

and erected its summit without a pillar.

حبر لَهُ في كُل علم منهل

مستعذب وَبكل فَن نادي

A scholar, with a spring in every science,

sweet to drink, and a forum in every discipline.

كتبت فَضائله بِكُل صَحيفة

وَجَرَت مَناقبه بِكُل مِداد

His virtues are written on every page,

and his noble deeds have flowed in every kind of ink.

يَحنو عَلى الضعفاء في أَبوابه

كَحنو ذي وَلَد عَلى الأَولاد

He shows tenderness to the weak at his doors,

like a parent's tenderness toward children.

وَيُصافح العلم الشَريف بشيبة

نسقى بِها في ساعة الأَنكاد

And he clasps hands with sacred learning, bearing gray hair

through which we are watered in the hour of distress.

وَيَروح في كُتب الحَديث وَدَمعه

فَوقَ العَوارض كَالغَمام الغادي

And he goes through books of hadith, while his tears

over his beard are like clouds traveling at dawn.

ذا شَأن آل مُحمد وَبَني الرِضا

بَحر النَوال وَكَعبة القصاد

Such is the way of Muhammad's house and the sons of al-Rida,

an ocean of bounty and the Kaaba of petitioners.

عُذراً إِلَيك أَبا الكِرام لمدحة

مِن ألفكم لَم تَأت بِالآحاد

Forgive me, father of the noble, for a praise-poem

that has not brought even units out of your thousand.

عثرت بِثَوب قُصورها فأقِم لَها

رَأساً عَلى الأَقران وَالنُقاد

It tripped over its robe of inadequacy; so lift its

head above its peers and the critics.

وَانشر هديت لِواءها وَاكسر بِهِ

جَيشاً مِن الأَعداء وَالحُساد

And unfurl its banner—may you be guided—and rout with it

an army of enemies and the envious.

هِيَ قينة لَكنها مُذ أَصبَحَت

في بَيتكم صارَت مِن الأَسياد

She is a singing slave-girl, but since she has been

in your house, she has become one of the masters.

فَاهنأ بِعيدك إنَّهُ بِكَ سَيدي

يَسمو عَلى الماضي مِن الأَعياد

So rejoice in your Eid; through you, my lord, it

rises above all past Eids.

لَمَحت لَهُ مِن نور وَجهك لمحة

فَغدت لِشوال هِلالاً بادي

I caught for it a gleam of your face's light,

and it became Shawwal's visible crescent.

لَولاك غم عَلى الخَليقة عيدهم

يا مَن لأَرباب الضَلالة هادي

But for you, their Eid would be veiled from humankind,

O you who guide the people of error.

متعت يا رَمضان منه بِعَودة

مَوصولة تَبقى إِلى الميعاد

May you, O Ramadan, be blessed with his return,

unbroken and enduring until the appointed time,

وَسَلامة مَغمورة بِكَرامة

مَوصولة الاسناد بِالاسناد

and with well-being immersed in honor,

with one chain of transmission joined to another.

وَاجعل إِلَهي السعد مِنكَ بِأَسعَد

وَاجعل كَذاكَ بَقية الأَولاد

And bestow Your good fortune, my God, upon Asʿad,

and grant the same to the rest of the children.

وَاجعل عَدوهم أَسير سُيوفهم

ما انهل غَيث أَو ترنم حادي

And make their foe a captive of their swords,

as long as rain pours or a camel-driver sings.