ضلالا لسائل هذي المغاني — Alsharif Alradi

ضَلالاً لِسائِلِ هَذي المَغاني

وَغَيّاً لِطالِبِ تِلكَ الغَواني

Perdition to whoever questions these abodes,

and delusion to whoever seeks those lovely women!

وَما أَرَبي بِسُؤالِ الطُلو

لِ إِلّا تَذَكُّرُ ماضي زَماني

I have no aim in questioning the ruins

but to recall my bygone days.

خَليلَيَّ إِن جُزتُما ضارِجاً

فَكُرّا المَطِيَّ وَرُدّا المَثاني

My two friends, if you pass Darij,

turn back the mounts and draw back the reins.

وَعوجا عَلَيَّ أُحَيِّ الدِيارَ

فَإِنَّ الدِيارَ لِمَن تَعلَمانِ

Turn aside for me, that I may greet the dwellings,

for you both know whose dwellings these are.

سَقاكِ وَلَو بِطَما مُهجَتي

نُجومُ السِماكِ أَوِ المِرزَمانِ

May you be watered, even with my welling lifeblood,

by the stars of al-Simak, or the two Mirzams.

وَلازالَ جَوُّكِ في ناضِرٍ

مِنَ النورِ يَحمَدُهُ الرائِدانِ

May your expanse remain in fresh growth

of blossoms praised by the two pasture-scouts.

لَيالِيَ بَينَ بُرودِ الشَبا

بِ مَنِّيَ غُصنٌ رَطيبُ المَجاني

Those nights when, within the cloaks of youth,

I was a branch with fresh fruit to gather,

وَقَد رَجَّلَ البيضُ مِن لِمَّتي

بِطِفلِ الأَنامِلِ بَضِّ البَنانِ

and fair women had combed my locks

with tender fingers and soft fingertips.

أَفَالآنَ لَمّا أَضاءَ المَشيبُ

وَأَمسى الصَبا ثانِياً مِن عَناني

Is it now, when gray hair has shone,

and youthful passion has begun to turn back my reins,

وَقَد صُقِلَ السَيفُ بَعدَ الصَدا

وَبانَ لَظى النارِ بَعدَ الدُخانِ

when the sword has been polished after rust

and the fire's blaze has appeared after smoke,

يَرُدُّ الزَمانُ عَلَيَّ الهَوى

وَيَطمَعُ في هَفوَةٍ مِن جَناني

that Time returns desire to me

and hopes for a lapse in my heart?

فَقُل لِلَّيالي أَلا فَاِقصِري

كَفانِيَ ما عِندَ قَلبي كَفاني

Then say to the nights: come now, desist!

What my heart holds is enough for me—enough!

فَإِنَّ المُوَفَّقَ لي جُنَّةٌ

أَرُدَّ بِها كُلَّ رامٍ رَماني

For al-Muwaffaq is a shield for me,

with which I repel every archer who shoots at me.

أَغَرُّ هِجانٌ وَما المَكرُماتُ

بِطَوعي لِغَيرِ الأَغَرَّ الهِجانِ

Radiant and pure-born; and noble deeds

belong, with my consent, to none but the radiant, pure-born.

أَيا عِمدَةَ المُلكِ لا اِستُهدِمَت

ذُراهُ وَأَنتَ لَها اليَومَ باني

O pillar of kingship, may there be no razing

of its heights, while today you are their builder.

وَكَيفَ يَني المُلكُ عَمّا تَرومُ

وَسَعيُكَ مِن دونِهِ غَيرُ واني

How could the realm fall short of what you seek,

when your striving in its defense never flags?

شَدَدتَ قُواهُ إِلى هَضبَةٍ

أَواخيُّها كُلُّ عَضبٍ يَماني

You bound its strength to a mountain

whose tethering-stakes are keen Yemeni blades.

مَآثِرُ ثَبَّتَّ أَطنابَها

عَلى النَجمِ وَالقَمَرِ الإِضحِيانِ

Glorious deeds whose tent-ropes you secured

to the stars and the full, radiant moon.

حَدَوتَ إِلى فارِسٍ بِالرِماحِ

بِكَرِّ الرَدى يَومَ حَربٍ عَوانِ

You drove on toward Fars with spears,

with death's charge on a day of renewed war,

وَجُرداً تُفالِتُ أَرسانَها

لِيَومِ النِزالِ وَيَومِ الرِهانِ

and sleek steeds straining free of their halters

for the day of combat and the day of racing.

وَأَقبَلتَها كَذِئابِ الفَضى

تُعاسِلُ في الفَيلَقِ الأَرجُوانِ

You brought them on like wolves of the wastes,

loping through the crimson host.

تَلَمَّظُ أَلسِنَةُ السَمهَرِي

يِ ما بَينَ آذانِها لِلطِعانِ

The tongues of the Samharian lances lick

between their ears, eager for spear-thrusts,

بِأَيدي جَرِيّينَ لا كوا الحُرو

بَ وَاِرتَضَعوها اِرتِضاعَ اللِبانِ

in the hands of daring men who chewed on wars

and suckled them as they suckled milk;

بِحَيثُ تَرى العِزَّ أُمُّ الشُجاعِ

وَتَقنَعُ بِالذُلِّ أَمُّ الجِبانِ

where the brave man's mother sees honor,

and the coward's mother settles for disgrace.

عَلى كُلِّ مُعطٍ عَلَيَّ السِيا

طَ لا يَستَرِدُّ بِغَيرِ العِنانِ

On every steed that answers my whips,

and can be checked by nothing but the rein.

يَكُرُّ إِلى الطِعنِ سامي اللِبانِ

وَيَثني عَنِ الطَعنِ دامي البَنانِ

He charges into spear-thrusts with his breast held high,

and wheels away from thrusting with bloodied fingertips.

سَرى يَعجِزُ النَجمُ عَن طُرقِهِ

طَويلٌ إِذا نامَ لَيلُ الهِدانِ

A night march whose paths the stars cannot follow,

long when the sluggard's night lies asleep;

وَعَزمٍ يُشاوِرُ حَدَّ الحُسامِ

وَيَدنو وَقائِمُهُ غَيرُ داني

and a resolve that consults the sword's edge,

and draws near while its hilt remains far away.

مَواقِفُ يَذهَلُ فيها الشُجاعُ

فَما الظَنُّ بِالعاجِزِ الهَيَّبانِ

Encounters where the brave man loses his wits—

what then of the helpless, timorous man?

نَثَرتَ العِدا بِدَداً بَعدَما

نَظَمتَ المَمالِكِ نَظمَ الجُمانِ

You scattered the foes far and wide, after

stringing the kingdoms together like pearls.

وَكَم عُصبَةٍ أَوضَعَت في الضَلالِ

تُنَقِّبُ عَن يَومِها الأَروَنانِ

How many a band hastened into error,

searching for its day of dire turmoil!

جَذَبتَ عَنِ الغَيِّ أَرسانَها

وَقَد شا فَهَتها المَنايا الدَواني

You pulled its halters back from error,

when approaching deaths had confronted it face to face.

وَأَرسَلتَها بِغِرارِ الحُسامِ

وَخاطَبتَها بِلِسانِ السِنانِ

You sent it forth with the sword's edge,

and addressed it with the spearhead's tongue.

فَأَعطَتكَ آبِيَ أَعناقِها

تُطيعُ المَقاوِدَ بَعدَ الحِرانِ

So it yielded you its defiant necks,

obeying the leading-reins after stubborn balking.

تَشَكّى مَوارِنُها في يَدَي

كَ مَسَّ الخِشاشِ وَجَذبَ العِرانِ

Its tender nostrils complain in your hands

of the nose-ring's touch and the nose-peg's tug.

فَضائِلُ أَلَّفتَ أَشتاتَها

وَلَم تَكُ مَوجودَةً بِالعِيانِ

Virtues whose scattered parts you united,

though they had never been seen before.

فَما القَلَمُ اللَدنُ في راحَتَيكَ

بِأَولى مِنَ الأَسَلاتِ اللِدانِ

The supple pen in your two palms

is no more fitting than supple spear-points.

لِتَهنِكَ نَعماءُ سُربِلتَها

تَقَطَّعُ عَنها العُيونُ الرَواني

May the blessing in which you are robed bring you joy,

beyond the reach of gazing eyes,

عَلى لَقَبٍ بَيَّنَت صِدقَهُ

مَناقِبُكَ الغُرُّ كُلَّ البَيانِ

for a title whose truth has been made clear

by your radiant virtues, with perfect clarity.

وَأَلقابُ قَومٍ إِذا بُرتَها

تَبايَنُ أَلفاظُها وَالمَعاني

But the titles of some people, when you test them,

show a gulf between their words and their meanings.

فَلا اِرتَجَعَ العِزَّ مُعطيكَهُ

وَلا زِلتَ مِن عَشرَةٍ في أَمانِ

May the giver of your glory never take it back,

and may you ever be safe from stumbling [text uncertain].

وَلازَمَ ثَوبَيكَ صِبغُ العُلى

كَما لَزِمَت صِبغَةُ الزِبرِقانِ

May the dye of high honor cling to your two robes,

as al-Zibriqan's dye clung fast.

فَما دُمتَ فَالمُلكُ واري الزِنا

دِ صافي المَوارِدِ عالي المَباني

For as long as you endure, the realm's flints strike fire,

its water-sources are clear, its buildings lofty.

لَقَد نالَ مِن عِزِّكَ الأَبعَدونَ

وَقَرَّبَ مِن شَأنِهِ غَيرُ شاني

Even the most distant have shared in your glory,

and others' standing, not mine, has approached its height.

فَرِشني أَكُن لَكَ سَهمَ النِضالِ

وَاِغصِب عَلَيَّ يَدَي مَن بَراني

So feather me, and I shall be your arrow in the contest,

and overpower for me the hands of him who whittled me.

وَحُك لِيَ بُردَ العُلى ضافِياً

أَحُك لَكَ أَمثالَهُ مِن لِساني

And weave me an ample cloak of high honor;

I shall weave you others like it from my tongue.

إِذا كُنتَ عَوني فَمَن ذا الَّذي

يُثَبِّطُني عَن بُلوغِ الأَماني

If you are my support, then who is there

to hold me back from attaining my hopes?

وَأَنتَ الزَمانُ وَأَنّى يَخي

بُ مَن كانَ مُستَشفِعاً بِالزَمانِ

And you are Time—how could he fail

who has sought intercession through Time?