خل دمعي وطريقه — Alsharif Alradi

خَلِّ دَمعي وَطَريقَه

أَحَرامٌ أَن أُريقَه

Let my tears take their course.

Is it forbidden that I shed them?

كَم خَليطٍ بانَ عَنّي

ما قَضى الدَمعُ حُقوقَه

How many a companion has left me,

whose due my tears have not paid!

يا شَقيقي وَالقَنا يُغ

ضِبُ في العَدلِ شَقيقَه

O my brother—though lances anger

a brother even in a just cause—

عاصِيٍ ناصِحَهُ الأَق

رَبَ وُدّاً وَرَفيقَه

you who defy your closest counselor

in affection, and your companion:

مَن لِبَرقٍ هَبَّ وَهناً

مِن أَبانَينِ وَسوقَه

Who will heed a flash that stirred by night

from Abanayn and Suqah,

مِن شُرَيقيِّ الحِمى يَن

شُدُ نَجداً وَعَقيقَه

from the sanctuary's eastern edge, seeking

Najd and its Aqiq,

مِن غَمامٍ كَالمَتالي

يَنقُلُ اللَيلَ وَسوقَه

from clouds like she-camels followed by their young,

carrying their burdens through the night?

لاحَ فَاِقتادَ فُؤاداً

عازِبَ اللُبِّ مَشوقَه

It flashed and led away a heart

bereft of reason, yearning for it.

طالَ ذِكرُ النَفسِ أَروا

حَ زَرودٍ وَبُروقَه

The soul has long recalled the breezes

of Zarud, and its lightning,

وَعَقابيلَ غَرامٍ

يُذكِرُ القَلبَ حُقوقَه

and the lingering pains of a passion

that reminds the heart of its claims.

وَخَيالٌ دَلَّسَ القَل

بَ عَلى العَينِ طُروقَه

And a phantom: the heart passed off

its nightly visit upon the eye—

كَذِبٌ يَحسَبُهُ الصَب

بُ مِنَ الشَوقِ حَقيقَه

a lie the lovesick lover takes,

from longing, to be truth.

أَنعِمي يا سَرحَةَ الحَ

يِ وَإِن كُنتِ سَحيقَه

Flourish, O tree of the encampment,

though you are far away.

أَتَمَنّى لَكِ أَن تَب

قَي عَلى النَأيِ وَريقَه

My wish for you is that you

remain leafy despite the distance.

ثَمَرٌ حَرَّمَ واشي

كِ عَلَينا أَن نَذوقَه

A fruit your slanderer has forbidden

us to taste.

يا قِوامَ الدينِ وَالفا

رِجَ لِلدينِ مَضيقَه

O pillar of the faith, who opens

a way out of its straits,

أَنتَ راعيهِ وَهادي

هِ إِذا ضَلَّ طَريقَه

you are its shepherd and guide

when it loses its way.

مِن رِجالٍ رَكِبوا المَج

دَ فَما ذَمّوا عَنيقَه

From men who rode upon glory

and never blamed its pace;

مَعشَرٍ كانوا قُبَيلَ ال

عِزِّ قِدماً وَفَريقَه

a people who were the clan

of might of old, and its company;

وَمُلوكٍ في ثَراهُم

ضَرَبَ المَجدُ عُروقَه

and kings in whose soil

glory struck its roots;

وَمَغاويرِ الحَفيظا

تِ وَفُرسانِ الحَقيقَه

and champions in defense of honor,

and knights guarding what is sacred.

حَسَبٌ يُحسَبُ مَن في

هِ وَأَعراقٌ عَريقَه

A noble lineage whose members count,

and roots deeply rooted.

مَن تُرى يَدفَعُ رَوقَي

هِ وَمَن يَطلُعُ نيقَه

Who, I wonder, can repel its two horns,

and who can scale its peak?

لَهُمُ الأَيدي الطِوالُ ال

طَولِ وَالبيضُ الذَليقَه

Theirs are long-reaching hands of

bounty, and keen white blades,

وَمَواريثُ مَقاري ال

لَيلِ وَالنارِ العَتيقَه

and ancestral hearths of hospitality

by night, and the age-old fire.

بِوُجوهٍ واضِحاتٍ

في دُجى الأَزلِ طَليقَه

With radiant faces,

cheerful in hardship's gloom,

وَأَكُفٍّ مُنفِقاتٍ

في النَدى الغَمرِ عَريقَه

and hands that freely spend,

deep-rooted in abundant generosity,

وَبِأَخلاقٍ رِقاقٍ

دونَ أَعراضٍ صَفيقَه

and with gentle manners

guarding impenetrable honor.

تَخِذوا المَجدَ أَباً ما اِس

تَحسَنوا قَطُّ عُقوقَه

They took glory as their father, and never

once thought it good to defy him.

إِنَّ فيهِم مَولِدَ المُل

كِ وَمِن قَبلٍ عُلوقَه

Among them kingship had its birth,

and, earlier still, its conception:

ناشِئاً تُسلِمُهُ الأُم

مُ إِلى الظِئرِ الشَفيقَه

a growing child whose mother hands it

to a compassionate wet nurse.

هُم رَمَوا عَنّي جَليلَ ال

خَطبِ يَدمى وَدَقيقَه

They cast away from me great calamity,

bloodied, and its lesser forms.

طَرَدوا الأَيّامَ عَن وِر

دِ دُمىً طَردَ الوَسيقَه

They drove the days from the watering place

of image-fair beauties, as a captured herd is driven.

أَطلَقوني مِن إِسارِ ال

دَهرِ إِطلاقَ الرَبيقَه

They freed me from the bondage

of time, like a tethered beast set free.

هَل نَهى الأَعداءَ ساقي

عَلَقٍ ذَمَّوا رَحيقَه

Were the enemies checked by the cupbearer

of blood, whose pure wine they reviled?

فَيلَقٌ جَرَّ عَلى أَر

بُقَ أَذيالَ الفَليقَه

An army that dragged across Arbuq

the skirts of calamity,

مِثلُ أَعدادِ نُجومِ ال

لَيلِ أَو رَملِ الشَقيقَه

as numerous as the stars

of night, or the sands of al-Shaqiqah.

اِحذَرِ الشَمسَ بِجَونٍ

يُعجِلُ اللَيلُ غُسوقَه

Shield yourself from the sun beneath a black cloud,

whose darkening night hastens.

جَلَبَ الخَيلَ لِيَومٍ

قَد أَقامَ الضَربُ سوقَه

He brought the horses for a day

when striking had set up its market.

مَطَلَت بِالوَعدِ حَتّى

نَسِيَ القَودُ عَليقَه

They deferred their promise until

the led steeds forgot their fodder.

في هَجيرٍ مِن أُوارِ ال

طَعنِ فَوّارِ الوَديقَه

In noonday heat from the blaze

of spear-thrusts, seething with fierce heat,

كُلُّ صَدرٍ بِالعَوالي

يُسمِعُ الطَعنُ شَهيقَه

every breast beneath the tall spears—

the thrust makes its gasping heard.

فيهِ نَجلاءُ رَموحٌ

بِالأَسابيِّ عَميقَه

Within it, a gaping wound flings out

entrails from its depths.

مَجَّةُ الناهِلِ في المَح

ضِ أَرابَ مُستَذيقَه

A drinker's mouthful, spat into pure milk,

has made its taster suspicious.

قَد أَفاقوا وَالظُبى مِن

هامِهِم غَيرُ مُفيقَه

They sobered; the sword-edges,

drunk on their skulls, have not.

رَجَعوا مِن عِزَّةِ الفَح

لِ إِلى ذُلِّ الطَروقَه

They returned from the stud's proud might

to the submission of the female he mounts.

قُلتُ لِلمُختَبِطِ الطا

لِبِ قَد أَوضَعَ نوقَه

I told the petitioner seeking gifts,

who had urged his she-camels to haste:

فاتَكَ البَرقُ فَمَن يَر

جو وَقَد فاتَ لُحوقَه

The lightning has eluded you; who hopes

to catch it once it has gone?

سَبَقَ السَيلُ فَأَعيا

كُلَّ باغٍ أَن يَعوقَه

The torrent raced ahead and thwarted

every seeker who would hold it back.

لا تَعاطَ اليَومَ عِبئاً

أَبَداً لَستَ مُطيقَه

Do not take up today a burden

you can never bear,

وَهِضاباً تُزلِقُ الطَر

فَ وَأَطواداً زَليقَه

or uplands that make the gaze slip,

and towering, slippery mountains.

حَسِبَ الأَوشالَ جَهلاً

كَالعَياليمِ العَميقَه

In ignorance he took shallow pools

for deep, abundant wells,

وَمِدى الجازِرِ تَدمى

كَالمَباتيرِ الرَقيقَه

and the butcher's bloodied knives

for thin, keen-cutting swords.

ضِلَّةُ الزائِدِ قَد خا

طَرَ بِالبَكرِ فَنيقَه

The overbidder's folly: he has wagered

his prized stallion for a young camel.

عِشتَ تَستَدرِكُ فينا

خَطَلَ الدَهرِ وَموقَه

May you live, setting right among us

time's absurdity and folly,

لابِساً دُرّاعَةَ البُخ

لِ وَرَقّاعاً خُروقَه

wearing the tunic of miserliness

and patching up its rents,

في مَعالٍ باقِياتٍ

لِلعِدى غَيرِ مَذيقَه

amid lasting heights of glory

that give the enemies no taste;

واثِقاً بِالدَهرِ تُعطى

مِن رَزاياهُ وَثيقَه

trusting in time, granted

a pledge against its calamities.

كُلَّما عِفتَ صَبوحَ ال

عُمرِ عوطيتَ غَبوقَه

Whenever you spurn life's morning draught,

you are offered its evening cup.

مَطلَعَ الشارِقِ إِن غا

بَ رَجا الناسُ شُروقَه

A rising-place for the sun—if it sets,

people hope for its rising.

آمِنَ المَرتَعِ تَرعى

رَوضَةَ العِزِّ أَنيقَه

Safe in your pasture, may you graze

on honor's lovely meadow.

إِن يَكُن عيداً فَأَيّا

مُكَ أَعيادُ الخَليقَه

If this is a feast, then your days

are feasts for all creation.

إِنَّها أَنوارُ أَحدا

قٍ وَنُوّارُ حَديقَه

They are lights for the eyes

and blossoms of a garden.

إِنَّ نَعّاقَ الأَعادي

أَسكَتَ الذُلُّ نَعيقَه

The enemies' loud crier—

abasement has silenced his cawing.

لَفَظَ المُلكُ شَجاهُ

وَأَساغَ اليَومَ ريقَه

Kingship has spat out its choking bone

and today swallowed its saliva with ease.