ما فتكات البيض والسمر الأسل — Alshaghouri

ما فَتَكاتُ البيضِ وَالسُّمرِ الأَسَل

يَسطو بِها يَومَ الوَغى كُلُّ بَطَل

No lethal strokes of white swords and slender brown lances,

with which every champion strikes on battle's day,

أَفتَكُ مِن لَواحِظٍ غازَلنَنا

بِهِنَّ غُزلانٌ تَهادى في الكِلَل

are deadlier than glances cast in flirtation at us

by gazelles swaying behind their curtains.

مَرَّت بِنا يَومَ النَّقا جَآذِرٌ

بيضُ الطُلى حُمرُ الحُلى سودُ الحُلَل

Young oryx passed us on the day at the sand dune,

white-necked, red-adorned, black-robed.

كُلُّ فَتاةٍ كَالقَناةِ لَدنَةٌ

يقعدُها ناهِضَةً ثِقلُ الكَفَل

Every maiden is supple as a spear-shaft;

the weight of her buttocks seats her as she rises.

قُلوبُنا تُخزَمُ لا أُنوفُنا

وَكُلُّ خَطبٍ أَخطَأَ الأَنفَ جَلَل

Our hearts are pierced, not our noses;

and every calamity that spares the nose is slight.

عَن حَبَبٍ وَحُبِّ مُزنٍ وَلآ

لٍ وَأَقاحٍ يَبتَسِمنَ في الجَذَل

Revealing bubbles, hailstones of clouds, and pearls

and daisies, they smile in delight.

تِلكَ ثُغورٌ لَيسَ فيها كَسَسٌ

وَلا بِها مِن رَوَقٍ وَلا يَلَل

Those mouths have no stunted teeth,

nor protruding teeth, nor teeth turned inward.

سارَت بِهِم حداتُهُم لَكِنَّني

أَوسَعتُهُم سَبّاً وَراحوا بِالإِبِل

Their singing camel-drivers led them away, but I

heaped curses upon them, and they departed with the camels.

مَهلاً بِقَلبي في الهَوى يا عاذِلي

مَه لا تَلُمني سَبقَ السَيفُ العَذَل

Be gentle with my heart in love, my reproacher;

stop! Do not blame me—the sword has forestalled reproach.

أَوقَعني طَرفِيَ في حَتفي فَلا

تَلُم فَمُكرَهٌ أَخوكَ لا بَطَل

My gaze has cast me into my death, so do not

blame me: your brother is under duress, no hero.

لا ذُقتَ مِن ذاكَ اللَّمى يا عاذِلي

فَإِنَّ لِلَهِ لَجُنداً مِن عَسَل

May you never taste those dusky lips, my reproacher,

for God indeed has an army made of honey.

ما كانَ لي في الصَبرِ مُذ بانوا وَلا ال

سُلُوِّ عَنهُم ناقَةٌ وَلا جَمَل

Since they left, I have, in patience or in

forgetting them, neither she-camel nor he-camel.

آلَيتُ لا أَسمَعُ فيهِم واشِياً

يُزَخرِفُ القَولَ وَمَن يَسمَع يَخَل

I swore never to heed a slanderer against them,

who gilds his words; whoever listens believes.

إِنّي لَمَيتٌ بَعدَ تَوديعِهِمُ

لَبِّث قَليلاً يَلحَقِ الهَيجا حَمَل

I am surely dead after bidding them farewell;

wait a little: Hamal will join the fray.

سُحّي جُفوني لا تَشِحّي وَاِهتِفي

بِأَدمُعي حَيّ عَلى خَيرِ العَمَل

Pour forth, my eyelids; do not stint, and cry

with my tears: 'Come to the best of deeds!'

بِحُبِّ مَن أَراهُ لا مثلَ لَهُ

في الحُسنِ يَوماً أَنا في الحُزنِ مَثَل

For love of one I deem without a peer

in beauty at any time, I am a byword for grief.

أَلحاظُهُ أَرمى إِذا غازَلَنا

بِهِنَّ في الأَحشاءِ مِن بَني ثُعَل

His glances shoot straighter—when he woos us

with them—into our entrails than Banu Thuʿal.

بَل لَفظُ مُحيي الدينِ أَمضى أَسهُماً

في صَدرِ مَن ناضَلَهُ إِذا استَدَل

Yet Muhyi al-Din's words send more piercing arrows

into his opponent's breast when he adduces proofs.

حَبرٌ لَدَيهِ مَن وَراء النَّهرِ في ال

جِدالِ يَلقى البَحرَ بِالماءِ الوَشَل

A scholar: before him, one from beyond the river, in

debate, confronts the ocean with a trickle of water.

خُصومُهُ مِثلُ البُغاثِ ذِلَّةً

وَهوَ يُرى الأَجدَلَ في عِلمِ الجَدَل

His opponents are like feeble birds in their abasement,

while he is seen as the falcon in the science of debate.

يَضرِبُ في كُلِّ العُلومِ بِاليَدِ ال

بَيضاءِ لا سوءَ بِها وَلا شَلَل

In every science he strikes with the hand

that is white, free of blemish and paralysis.

وَكُتبُهُ الكَتائِبُ الشُّهبُ إِذا

أَنشَأَها مُبتَدِهاً أَو مُحتَفِل

And his writings are gleaming battalions, whether

he composes them impromptu or with painstaking care.

عِبارَةُ الفاضِلِ في كِتابِهِ

تَرمي سُطورَ اِبنِ هِلالٍ بِالخَجَل

Al-Fadil's phrasing in his writing

casts shame upon Ibn Hilal's lines.

أَبى المَعالِيَ اِمرُؤٌ لَم يَمتَدِح

أَبا المَعالي وَلَبِئسَ ما فَعَل

A man has shunned eminence if he has not praised

Abu al-Maʿali—how ill he has acted!

يَهتَزُّ لِلجَدوى اِهتِزازَ صارِمٍ

يَهتَزُّ يَومَ الرَوعِ في كَفِّ البَطَل

He quivers with eagerness to give, like a keen sword

quivering on the day of terror in a champion's hand.

شاوِرهُ أَو حاوِرهُ أَو جاوِر تَجِد

قَيساً وَقُساً وَالسَمَوأَلَ الأَجَل

Consult him, converse with him, or be his neighbor: you will find

Qays, Quss, and the illustrious al-Samawʾal.

استَغفِر اللَهَ وَأَينَ مِنهُ في ال

سُؤدَدِ أَربابُ المَكارِمِ الأُوَل

Seek God's forgiveness! Where beside him, in

eminence, are the masters of noble deeds of old?

يا اِبنَ عَلِيِّ القُرَشِيِّ يا مُحَم

مَدُ اِستَمِع ما قُلتُ غَيرَ مُنتَحَل

O son of ʿAli al-Qurashi, O Muhammad,

hear what I have said, borrowed from no one.

جاءَ كَرَوضِ الحَزنِ مَمطوراً بِصَو

بِ المُزنِ إِذ جادَ عَلَيهِ وَوَبَل

It came like an upland meadow, drenched by the downpour

of clouds that rained freely and heavily upon it.

قَدمتَ خَيرَ مَقدَمٍ فَكُنتَ كَال

غَيثِ أَتى مِن بَعدِ جَدبٍ فَهَطَل

Most welcome was your coming; you were like the

rain that came after drought and poured down.

وَعايَنَ الظاهِرُ مِنكَ عالماً

في عالمٍ أدركَ بِالعِلمِ الأَمَل

And al-Zahir beheld in you a whole world

within a scholar who attained his hopes through knowledge.

أَغزَرُ مِن بَحرٍ خِضَمٍّ عِلمُهُ

وَحِلمُهُ أَرزَنُ مِن كُلِّ جَبَل

More abundant than a vast sea is his knowledge,

and his forbearance is weightier than any mountain.

فَعِرضُهُ في حَرَمٍ وَمالُهُ

في حَرَبٍ مِمَّن عَراهُ فَسَأَل

Thus his honor is in sanctuary, while his wealth

is plundered by whoever comes to him and asks.

يَفعَلُ خَيراً وَيَقولُ مِثلَهُ

وَكَم رَأَينا قائِلاً وَما فَعَل

He does good and speaks likewise;

how many have we seen who spoke but never acted!

قُدومُهُ سَرَّ دِمَشقَ بَعدَما

ساءَ وُجوه أَهلِها حينَ رَحَل

His arrival gladdened Damascus after

he had saddened its people's faces when he left.

لَم يُرَ مِنهُم غَيرُ ما مُستَوحِشٍ

أَو مُنطَوٍ فُؤادُهُ عَلى وَجَل

None among them was seen but someone forlorn,

or someone whose heart was wrapped in fear.

فَالخَيرُ ساعٍ مَعهُ حَيثُ سَعى

مُصاحِباً وَنازِلٌ أَينَ نَزَل

For goodness journeys with him wherever he journeys,

keeping him company, and alights wherever he alights.

يا حَلَبَ البَيضاءَ قَد وافاكِ مِن

مُحَمّدٍ في دَهرِنا خَيرُ الرُسُل

O white Aleppo, there has come to you from

Muhammad the best of messengers in our age.

ذاكَ هُوَ القاضي الَّذي أَقلامُهُ

بِها الأَقاليمُ تُساسُ وَالدُوَل

That is the judge whose pens

govern provinces and states.

كَم مُشكِلاتٍ حَلَّها بِبابِهِ

فَكانَ مِفتاحاً لما مِنها اِنقَفَل

How many difficult problems he has solved at his door!

Thus he was a key to whatever among them was locked.

ذو مُحتدٍ زاكٍ وَمَجدٍ بازِخٍ

وَمَنصِبٍ يَعلو كَما تَعلو القُلَل

He has pure lineage and towering glory,

and a station rising as mountain peaks rise.

نادَت أَياديهِ بِطُلّابِ النَدى

هَلُمَّ تَلقَوا عَلَلاً بَعدَ نَهَل

His bounties called to seekers of generosity:

'Come, and receive a second draught after the first!'

لِعَزمِهِ أَصحَبَ كُلُّ شامِسٍ

وَكُلُّ ما عَزَّ بِغَيرِ اللَهِ ذَل

To his resolve every unruly thing has yielded,

and all that gains might through anything but God is humbled.

يا مُحيي الدينِ اِبقَ في سَعادَةٍ

ما سارَ في البِلادِ رَكبٌ وَقَفَل

O Muhyi al-Din, remain in happiness

as long as caravans travel the lands and return.

وَلا تَزَل في عاجِلِ النَصرِ مَدى ال

دَهرِ وَفي مُستَأخِرٍ مِنَ الأَجَل

And may you always enjoy swift victory through the

ages, with your life's appointed end far deferred.

في اِبنِكَ نِلتَ كُلَّ ما أَمَّلَهُ

أَبوكَ فيكَ مِن رَجاءٍ وَأَمَل

May you attain in your son all that

your father hoped for in you, in expectation and hope.

فَأَنتَ بَينَ العُلَماءِ كُلِّهِم

كَمِلَّةِ الإِسلامِ حسناً في المِلَل

For among all the scholars you are

as Islam is, in beauty, among the faiths.

كَأَنَّ أَهلَ الشامِ فيهِ مُقلٌ

ناظِرَةٌ وَأَنتَ نورٌ في المُقَل

As though al-Sham's people were eyes within it,

gazing, and you the light within those eyes.