إنعم فغالي السرور مسترخص — Alsanubri

إِنْعَمْ فغالي السرورِ مُسْتَرْخَصْ

وافترصِ العيشَ فهو مُسْتَفْرَصْ

Enjoy yourself, for even costly joy is reckoned cheap.

And seize life, for it is there to be seized.

إن أنت لم تَغْتَنِمْ مساعدتي

فأنتَ من كلِّ ناقصٍ أَنقص

If you do not make the most of my assistance,

then you are more deficient than every deficient man.

هل صادقُ الودِّ مثلُ خَارصِهِ

حتى تُساوي بالأصدقِ الأخْرَص

Is one sincere in affection like one who feigns it,

that you equate the most deceitful with the truest?

ماذا أُلاقي من شاطرٍ مَغِثٍ

نَغَّصني بالصدودِ إذ نَغَّص

What I suffer from a vexatious rogue!

He embittered me with rejection when he chose to embitter.

حَصْحَصَ حقُّ الجمالِ فيه فما

يُقالُ فيه ذا الحقُّ قد حصحص

Beauty's truth stands manifest in him; so what

is said of him? “This truth has come to light.”

مُصَيِّرٌ قِصَّتي به قِصَصاً

تَقْصيصُهُ الطرَّةَ التي قَصَّص

My tale with him becomes a multitude of tales

through his trimming of that forelock he has cropped.

مُرَدَّدٌ في المجونِ قَمَّصَهُ ال

مُجونُ قُمْصَ المجونِ إذ قَمَّص

Well practised in wantonness, he was clothed by

wantonness in its own shirts, when it clothed him.

مجرَّبٌ قد رعى وزقَّ فقد

قُفِّص في دهره وقد قَفَّص

Seasoned, he has grazed and fed others by mouth; for he

has been caged in his time, and has caged others.

يمشي بخوصيَّةٍ مَحرّدةٍ

أَحكمَ تخويصَها الذي خَوَّص

He walks wearing a tapering palm-leaf cap,

whose weaving its weaver has perfected.

ما حلبٌ مفحصُ القطاةِ إذا

أَعْرَضَ لا بل أَقَلُّ مِنْ مَفْحَص

Aleppo is not so much as a sandgrouse's nesting scrape when

he turns aside—no, it is less than a scrape.

قلتُ لهُ احرصْ على الصَّبوحِ معي

كي يعلمَ الحِرْصُ أَيَّنا أَحرص

I said to him, “Be keen on morning wine with me,

so that eagerness may know which of us is keener.”

أَما ترى الأَرضَ كيف فصَّصها

منه ببيضِ الفصوصِ إِذ فصَّص

“Do you not see the earth—how he has studded it

with white gems from it, when he set them?

ما رَقَصَتْ هذهِ الرياحُ به

وهي تُبالي فؤادَ منَ رَقَّص

These winds never danced with it

while heeding the heart of the one they set dancing.”

فقال ذا اليومُ ليس من عملي

ذا اليومُ يومٌ كما ترى أَبْرَص

He said, “This day is none of my business;

this day, as you see, is a leprous day.”

فقلتُ يا غرُّ فهو من عملي

ما لكَ يا غرُّ مِنْ يدي مخلص

I said, “Naive one, it is my business;

you have no escape from my hand, naive one.

الثلجُ ريشُ الغمامِ ينثرُهُ

لأنَّ هذا الغمامَ قد قَرْنَص

Snow is the cloud's plumage, which it scatters

because this cloud has moulted.

دونَكَ مثلَ العقيقِ خالصةً

شُعاعُها من شعاعِهِ أَخْلَص

Take wine like carnelian, unmixed;

its radiance is purer than the stone's.

وهبك طِفلاً وَهَبْ زجاجتنا

ثَدْياً فإِلاَّ تَحَسَّها فامتصّ

And suppose yourself a child, and suppose our bottle

a breast: if you will not drink it, then suck.”

فقال ما بيننا وبين سوى ال

بيرِ والبكشُ من عَوَّص

He said, “What lies between us and anything but

al-bīr and al-baksh ...?” [The remaining wording is unclear.]

لا تمزجِ الكاسَ لن أُرَخِّصَ للنّ

ديمِ في مَزجها إذا رَخَّص

“Do not dilute the cup; I will grant no leave

to a drinking companion to mix it, even if he allows it.

أخِلْتَ أني قُمِّصْتُ من نعمٍ

خَزَّاً تَنَظَّرْ تَدْرِ أيَّنا أَقْمَص

Did you think I had been clothed, through favors,

in silk? Watch, and learn which of us kicks harder.

ما الليثُ ما الفيلُ لو تأملني

الليثُ والفيل فرَّ أو بصبص

What is a lion, what an elephant? Were they to look me over,

lion and elephant would flee or wag their tails.

حميتُ تفاحَ وجنتيَّ فما

بغيرِ لحظٍ تُعَضُّ أو تُقْرَص

I have guarded the apples of my cheeks; they

are bitten or pinched only by a glance.”

فقلتُ ما لي يُقال ذا وأَنا

في الشعرِ من كلِّ شاعرٍ أعوص

I said, “Why is this said to me, when I

am more formidable in poetry than every poet?

هذا جميلٌ على صناعتِهِ

ما صاغَ ما صُغْتُهُ ولا الأحوص

Here is Jamil, for all his skill:

he never fashioned what I have fashioned, nor did al-Ahwas.

من نصَّ في شاطرٍ مدائحه

فمثلُ ما قد نَصَصْتُ لم يُنْصَص

Whoever has proclaimed his praises of a rogue

has never proclaimed the like of what I have.”

يا مستجيدَ الحليِّ حلِّ أبا

يعقوبَ منه بالأخلصِ الأخلص

O seeker of the finest jewelry, adorn Abu

Ya'qub with its purest, its very purest:

تارك بابِ القريضِ مُفْتَتَحاً

إِن بابُ أَمرٍ على امرئٍ أعوص

he leaves the gate of poetry open

when the gate of an undertaking proves difficult for a man;

المنتمي في صناعةً سَلِمَتْ

من غامصٍ دَهْرَهَا فما تُغْمَص

he belongs to a craft that has remained safe

from detractors all its days, and is not disparaged;

والأَنْجَلُ الطرفِ في الكتابةِ إِذ

أنْجَلُ كتّابِ عَصْرِهِ أَخوَص

and is the widest-eyed in writing, when

the widest-eyed scribe of his age is narrow-eyed.

فَذُّ اقتناصِ الأقلامِ أوْحَدُهُ

أَقلامُهُ من رماحِنا أَقْنص

Peerless in the hunt of pens, its sole master,

his pens take prey more surely than our spears.

كأنما الخيلُ يَوْمَ حَلْبَتِهَا

في عَرَصاتِ الطُّروس إِذ تَعْرَص

As though horses, on the day of their race,

were prancing in the open fields of pages.

لم يَخْتَصِصْ ناظري يشبه أبي

يعقوبَ في حيثُ عمَّ أو خَصَّص

My eye has never singled out a peer of Abu

Ya'qub, in general matters or in particulars.

حاملُ شِقْصٍ من الإِباءِ فما

يفتأ يخْشَاهُ حاملُ المِشْقَص

He bears a share of proud resolve; never

does the bearer of an arrowhead cease to fear him.

تَشْخَصُ عَيْنُ الذي يُعاينُ ما

يصُوغُ منه وكيف لا تَشْخَص

Transfixed is the eye of one who beholds what he

fashions from it—and how could it not be transfixed?

مُسْتَخْلِصٌ فكرُهُ معانيَ ما اس

تخلصَ خلْقٌ منه كما اسْتَخْلَص

His thought draws out meanings that no

mortal has drawn from it as he has.

ونظمُ لفظٍ ما صافحَتْ أُذُني

أَرْصَنَ من لقظِهِ ولا أَفْرَص

And an ordering of words—my ear has never shaken hands with

anything firmer than his diction, or more incisive.

ذو رُتْبَةٍ في الحسابِ لو فُحِصَتْ

لضَلَّ في فَحْصِها الذي يَفْحَص

His rank in accounting is such that, were it examined,

the examiner would lose his way in examining it.

يُعِلُّ ما فَحَّصَتْ غطارفةُ ال

كُتَّابِ إذ لا تُعِلُّ ما فحَّص

He finds fault with what the lordliest of

scribes have probed, while they cannot fault what he has probed.

فكلُّهُمْ يحتذيه رأبَ ثأىً

يُرْأبُ أو رَمْصَ عِلَّةٍ تُرْمَص

All of them follow his lead in mending a breach

that needs mending, or curing an ailment needing cure.

ساحبُ ذيلِ القميصِ إِن زَمَنٌ

شمَّر ذيلَ القميصِ أو قَلَّص

He trails his shirt's hem when the times

tuck up their shirt's hem or shorten it.

ليس زبينا نعلاً لأخمصِهِ

بل هو نَعْلٌ للنَّعْلِ لا الأخْمَص

Zabina is no sandal for the arch of his foot;

rather, he is a sandal for his sandal, not for his arch.

عذبُ مذاقِ الأخلاقِ شائغُهُ

لو بَلَعْتْهُ العيونُ لم تَغْمَص

Sweet is the taste of his character, easy to swallow;

if eyes swallowed him, they would not grow bleary.

تنكصُ عن خِلِّهِ الهمومُ على

أَعقابها وهي غيرُ ما نُكَّص

Troubles retreat from his friend upon

their heels, without having been driven back.

فَيُمْكِنُ القبضُ مِنْ نداهُ وما

يُقْبِضُ فهو الحريُّ أَن يُقْبض

One can take from his bounty, and what

he hands over is truly worthy to be taken.

بع عيونُ الصُّروفِ قد بُخِصَتْ

وهي أحقُّ العيونِ أنْ تُبْخَص

[Opening word unclear] The eyes of misfortunes have been gouged out,

and theirs are the eyes most deserving to be gouged out.

يا مُتْلِعاً في النوالِ يُحْتَسَبُ ال

أتلعُ في النّيل عنده أَوقص

O you who stretch your neck in giving, beside whom

the long-necked in bounty is reckoned short-necked!

نعمَ الثوابُ الجوابُ أو فأمِط

أَغلى الثوابَيْنِ عنك بالأرْخَص

A reply is a fine reward; or else spare yourself

the costlier of the two rewards by giving the cheaper.

واحظ بها من أخص ذي ثقة

بمثل ما خص قبل لم تخصص

And enjoy it, from your closest trusted friend;

never before have you been singled out with such a distinction:

صحيحُ غَيْبِ الضميرِ ليس كَمَنْ

على فسادٍ جداره جَصَّص

sound in his hidden conscience, not like one

who has plastered his wall over decay;

مسترجَحُ الوزنِ في الوفاءِ إِذا

كانت موازينُ غيرِهِ نُقَّص

weightier in the balance of loyalty, when

the scales of others fall short.