جنبيه الفراق قبل الفراق — Alsanubri

جنّبيه الفراقَ قبلَ الفراقِ

فالتلاقي في الهجر غيرُ تلاقِ

Spare him separation before separation;

for meeting in estrangement is no meeting.

أمنَ العدل ماءُ نفسٍ مُراقٌ

كلَّ يومٍ في ماءِ عينٍ مراق

Is it just that a soul's water be spilled

each day in the water spilled from an eye?

يا بكاءً أفنى مآقيَّ حتى

إِن عيني تبكي بغير مآقي

O weeping that has consumed the corners of my eyes, until

my eye weeps without eye-corners!

وحشاً حَشْوُها عقابيلُ وَجدٍ

يرتقي حرُّ ناره في التَّراقي

And O a breast filled with passion's lingering pangs,

whose fire's heat rises into the collarbones!

طلعتْ والصباحُ يطلُعُ منها

فترينا الإِشراقَ في الإشراق

She appeared, with dawn rising from her,

so she shows us radiance within radiance.

وَمَضتْ والغصونُ تحسدُ ما بي

ن وشاحاتها إلى الأطواق

She passed, while the branches envied what lay

between her sashes and her necklaces.

جنَّةٌ أيُّ جنةٍ تعشقُ الخل

دَ لديها نواظرُ العشَّاق

A paradise—what a paradise! Eternal life is cherished

in her presence by lovers' eyes.

ما لها كيف حَمَّلت ثِقلَ إِثمي

عُنُقاً لا يطيقُ ثِقلَ العناق

What ails her? How could she lay the weight of my sin

on a neck unable to bear the weight of an embrace?

ألأنّ الشبابَ لم يبقَ عندي

ما شبابٌ ولا مشيبٌ بباق

Is it because youth no longer remains with me?

Neither youth nor grey hair endures.

أم لأن الإِملاقَ أزمع حربي

إِنَّ لي ناصراً على الإملاق

Or because poverty has resolved to wage war on me?

Indeed, I have a champion against poverty,

والسحابُ الذي متى يَسقِ لا ير

ضى بسَقي الدِّماثِ دون البُراق

and a cloud that, whenever it waters, is not

content to water soft ground without the stony tracts.

ذو المحلِّ الذي نأى المحلُ عنه

والطريقِ المعمورِ بالطرّاق

He of a station from which drought stays far,

and of a road thronged with callers.

يا أبا القاسم الذي أحرز السب

قَ إلى المكرمات عند السباق

O Abu al-Qasim, who has won the lead

toward noble deeds in the race,

يا سناءَ الملوك مَن كان بالشا

م ومن كان منهمُ بالعراق

O splendor of kings, those in al-Sham

and those among them in Iraq,

ومقيمَ الآراءِ فيما يعاني

ه مَقامَ المهنَّدات الرقاق

and you who set judgments, in whatever you undertake,

in the place of slender Indian swords,

ومثيراً من غامضِ العلمِ والحل

مِ كنوزاً تَنْمي على الإنفاق

and you who unearth from hidden knowledge and forbearance

treasures that grow as they are spent.

ماءُ لفظ تَنَزَّهَ السمعُ منه

في نواحي ضَحْضَاحِهِ الرقراق

The water of speech, in which the ear has taken pleasure

among the reaches of its shimmering shallows.

وعقودٌ من البلاغةِ لو تُدْ

ركُ لمساً عُقِدْنَ في الأعناق

And necklaces of eloquence that, if perceived

by touch, would be fastened around necks.

عاهدَ المجدُ منك إذ عاهدَ المج

دُ وفياً بالعهدِ والميثاق

Glory, when it made its covenant, pledged itself to you,

one faithful to both pledge and compact.

خُلُقٌ من زيادةِ الله والأغ

لبِ ما زال حِلْيةَ الأخلاق

A character from Ziyadat Allah and al-Aghlab,

that has ever been the ornament of moral qualities.

فاتحٌ مُغْلَقَ الخطوبِ إِذا ع

يّ سواهُ بالفتحِ والإِغلاق

He opens the locked gates of adversity when

others fail at opening and closing.

في رداءٍ من النباهة يحكي

مجتليه بالرفق والإرفاق

In a mantle of distinction that reflects

its beholder through gentleness and beneficence.

متوافي الآراءِ لم تتفاوتْ

قطُّ آراؤه بقدرِ فُواق

Consistent in judgment: never have

his judgments differed by so much as an instant.

مستقلٌّ شأو العتاقِ فأدنى

شأوِهِ في السماح شأوُ العتاق

He counts the reach of thoroughbreds as little; the least

of his reach in generosity is the reach of thoroughbreds.

بين لينٍ وشدةٍ فتراه

وهو حُلُو المذاقِ مُرَّ المذق

Between gentleness and severity, you see him

sweet to the taste, yet bitter in the blend.

وكذاك الدرياقُ ما زال لل

سمِّ شفاءٌ والسمُّ في الدرياق

And so too theriac has always served against

poison as a cure, though poison is within theriac.

والغيوثُ الرواءُ أكثرُ ما تر

ويك وبين الإرعادِ والإبراق

And the copious rains most often

quench your thirst amid thunder and lightning.

ثابتُ الفرعِ ثابتُ الأصل في المج

د شبيهُ الغصون بالأعراق

Firm in branch, firm in root, in glory,

his boughs resemble his roots.

نحن طوراً في روضة أُنُفٍ من

ه وطوراً في وابلٍ غيْداق

At times we are in a fresh, ungrazed meadow

of his, and at times in a copious downpour.

فَهُوَ الدهرَ للعلى بدرُ تِمٍّ

ليس يجري عليه حُكْمُ المحاق

For all time, he is a full moon for high renown,

never subject to the law of the moon's dark phase.

لوعةٌ مثلُ لوعةِ العُشاقِ

واشتياقٌ يفوقُ كلَّ اشتياقِ

A burning anguish like the anguish of lovers,

and a longing surpassing every longing.

لم أجدْ قطُّ للفراق مَذاقاً

كان عندي أمرَّ من ذا الفراق

Never have I found a taste in parting

more bitter to me than this parting.

كيف يسلو مَن جسمه بقرى الرق

ة رَهنٌ وقلبُه بالعراق

How can one find solace whose body, in al-Raqqa's villages,

is held captive, while his heart is in Iraq?

لم تُسَق للنوى مطاياهمُ إِلاّ

ونفسي من بينهم في السِّياق

Their mounts were never driven toward separation without

my soul among them in the throes of death.

عَمَرَت مهجتي بذكرِ أبي عم

ران أيدٍ له ذواتُ اندفاق

My heart is filled with remembrance of Abu Imran

by his hands, with their abundant outpouring.

لم يكن حُسنُ ذلك الخلق يُنبي

عنه إلا بأحسن الأخلاق

The beauty of that form gave promise

of nothing in him but the finest character.

واتفاق الأقدار فيه حدا العا

لَم في مدحه على الإتّفاق

And the concord of destinies in him has brought

the world to concord in his praise.

مولعٌ بالحياءِ والناسُ من هي

بته مولعون بالإطراق

He is devoted to modesty; people, in awe

of him, are devoted to casting down their eyes.

وإذا ما انتضت أناملُهُ المر

هفَ أودى بالمرهفاتِ الرقاق

And when his fingers unsheathe the sharpened pen,

it lays low the slender, sharpened swords.

والورى بين ضاحكٍ منه أو با

كٍ إذا ما بكى بغيرِ مآقي

And people either laugh because of it or

weep, whenever it weeps without eye-corners.

قُسمَ الدرُ فيه شطرين هذا

للمنايا وذاك للأرزاق

The pearls within it are divided in two: this half

for death, and that for sustenance.

يا جواداً أفعالُه غُرَرٌ لا

حت على أوجُه السجايا العتاق

O generous one, whose deeds are white forehead-blazes that

have shone on the faces of noble traits!

ما شككنا في أن وجهَكَ بدرٌ

لم يجزْ فيه قطُّ حُكُم المحاق

We have never doubted that your face is a full moon,

never subject to the law of the moon's dark phase.

وكأني لمّا صرفتُ إليك ال

مدح أطلقتُ منطقي من وَثاق

And it is as though, when I directed toward you

my praise, I released my speech from its bonds.

فمضى في البلاد شرقاً وغرباً

وَرَوتْهُ الرُّواةُ في الآفاق

So it sped through the lands, east and west,

and reciters recited it across the horizons.

ولقد قلتُ آنفاً لأبي الفت

ح مقالاً بالنُّصح والإشفاق

And indeed, I recently said to Abu al-Fath

these words in counsel and concern:

ردْ حياضَ الهمام موسى بن عيسى

تَغنَ منه بالرفق والأرفاق

Approach the pools of the magnanimous Musa ibn Isa;

you will grow rich from his kindness and benefactions.

ملكٌ ما هريقتِ المُزنُ إِلا

من ندى جودِ كفهِ المُهَراق

A king: the rainclouds have been poured out only

from the outpoured dew of his hand's generosity.

أيها السيدُ الذي ما لمن لم

يتمسَّك بحبلِهِ منْ خَلاق

O lord, whoever does not

hold fast to his rope has no share of good fortune.

إِنه ما علمتَ بُغيةُ أمثا

لكَ في الظرف والمعاني الرقاق

He is, as you know, the one sought by people

like you in refinement and delicate meanings.

هاكها كالعروس في الحُسن إلا

أنها زوِّجَتْ بغير صَداق

Take her, like a bride in beauty, except

that she has been married without a bridal dower.