تظلم الورد من خديه إذ ظلما — Alwawaa Aldmshk

تَظَلَّمَ الوَرْدُ مِنْ خَدَّيهِ إِذْ ظَلَما

وَعَلَّمَ السُّقْمُ مِنْ أَجْفَانِهِ السَّقَما

The rose complained of his cheeks, for they had wronged it.

And sickness taught languor from his eyelids.

وَلَمْ أرِدْ بِلِحاظِي ماءَ ناظِرِهِ

إِلا سَقى ناظِرِي مِنْ رِيِّهِ بِظَما

Never did I approach his eye's water with my glance

but from its fullness it watered my eye with thirst.

أَسْكَنْتُ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ صَبْري ثَرى جَلَدِي

فَماتَ فِيهِ وَلَمْ أَعْلَمْ بِما عَلِما

After his departure, I lodged my patience in the soil of my endurance;

it died there, and I never knew what it had known.

مَا سَوَّدَ الحُزْنُ مُبْيَضَّ السُّرُورِ بِهِ

إِلا وَدَيَّمَ دَمْعي فَوْقَهُ دِيمَا

Never did sorrow for him blacken the whiteness of joy

without my tears raining steady showers upon it.

أَمَا وَأَحْمَر دَمْعي فَوْقَ أَبْيَضِهِ

وَمَا بَنى الشَّوْقُ مِنْ صَبْري وَما هَدَما

Indeed, by my tears' red upon their white,

and by what longing built of my patience and what it destroyed,

لا رُعْتُ بِالبَيْنِ مِنْهُ مَا يُرَوِّعُنِي

وَلا حَكَمْتُ عَلَيْهِ بِالَّذي حَكَما

I never frightened him with parting as he frightens me,

nor judged him by the judgment he pronounced.

يَا رُبَّ يَوْمٍ حَجَرْنا في مَحاجِرِنا

مَاءَ العُيُونِ وَأَمْطَرْنا الخُدودَ دَمَا

Ah, many a day we held within our eye sockets

the water of our eyes, and rained blood upon our cheeks,

في مَوْقِفٍ يَسْتَعِيذُ البَيْنُ مِنْهُ بِهِ

فَما يُقَبِّلُ قِرْطَاسٌ بِهِ قَلَما

at a scene from which parting seeks refuge in itself,

so that no paper there kisses a pen.

كَتَبْتُهُ بِيَدِ الشَّكْوى إِلَيْكَ وَقَدْ

أَقْسَمْتُ فِيهِ عَلَى ما قُلْتُهُ قَسَما

I wrote it to you with the hand of complaint, and I have

sworn in it an oath upon what I said.

هَذانِ طَرْفانِ لا واللَهِ ما عَزَمَا

إِلا عَلَى سَقَمِي أَوْ لا فَلِمْ سَقِما

These are two eyes—no, by God, they have intended nothing

but my sickness; if not, why have they fallen sick?

وَيَوْمِ دَجْنٍ أَرَاقَ الغَيْمُ رَائِقَهُ

كَأنَّما شَمْسُهُ مَكْحُولَةٌ بِعَمَى

And by a day of gloom when clouds poured their clear water,

as though its sun wore blindness as its kohl.

تَمَلْمَلَتْ سُحْبُهُ مِنْ طُولِ مَا سَحَبَتْ

وَهَمْهَمَ الرَّعْدُ مِنْها فِيهِ حِينَ هَمَى

Its clouds grew restless from trailing so long,

and thunder murmured from them within it as rain poured.

بَكى عَلَيْهِ النَّدى لَيلاً فَعَبَّسَ لِي

مَا كَانَ لِي فِي نَهارٍ مِنْهُ مُبْتَسِما

Dew wept over it by night, and it frowned upon me,

though in its daylight it had smiled upon me.

لا زَالَ مُنْقَطِعاً ما كانَ مُتَّصِلاً

مِنْهُ وَمُنْتَثِراً مَا كانَ مُنْتَظِما

May what was continuous remain forever severed

within it, and what was ordered remain scattered.

كَمْ لي بِمَحْواهُ رَسْمٌ قَدْ مَحَوْتُ بِهِ

بِغَيْرِ كَفِّ البِلى رَسْماً وَما رَسَمَا

How many a trace is mine within its bounds! There I erased,

without decay's hand, a trace and what it had traced.

أَجْرَيْتُ مُذْهَبَ دَمْعِي فَوْقَ مَذْهَبِهِ

حَتَّى تَرَكْتُ بِهِ مَوْجُودَهُ عَدَمَا

I made my gilded tears flow over its path,

until through them I turned its existence into nothingness.

لا أَجَّلَ اللَهُ آجالَ الدُّمُوعِ إِذا

مَا لَمْ يَكنَّ لأَبْنَاءِ الهَوى خَدَمَا

May God not prolong the lives of tears if

they are not servants to the children of love.

يا هذِهِ هَذِهِ رُوحي مَتَى أَلِمَتْ

مِنَ المَلامِ بِكُمْ قَطَّعْتُها أَلَمَا

O you, this is my soul: whenever it aches

from reproach over you, I tear it apart in pain.

كَمْ قَدْ تَدَيَّرَ قَلْبي مِنْ دِيارِكُمُ

دَاراً فَما سَئِمَتْ مِنْهُ وَلا سَئِمَا

How often my heart has taken, among your dwellings,

a home that never tired of it, nor it of that home.

ثَنَيْتُهُ وَعِنَانُ الشَّوْقِ يَجْمَحُ بِي

إِلَى الَّذي رَاحَتَاهُ تُنْبِتُ النِّعَمَا

I turned it, while longing's rein bolted with me,

toward him whose two palms make blessings grow.

إِلى ابْنِ مَنْ فُتِحَتْ أُمُّ الكِتَابِ بِهِ

وَبِالصَّلاةِ عَلَى آبائِهِ خُتِما

Toward the son of him through whom the Mother of the Book was opened,

and sealed with blessings upon his forefathers.

إِلى الَّذي افْتَخَرَتْ أَرْضُ العَقِيقِ بِهِ

وَمَنْ بِهِ أَصْبَحت بَطْحاؤُها حَرَمَا

Toward him in whom the land of al-Aqiq took pride,

and through whom its pebbled plain became a sanctuary.

إِلى فَتَىً تَضْحَكُ الدُّنْيا بِغُرَّتِهِ

فَما تَرى باكِياً فيها إِذا ابْتَسَما

Toward a youth at whose radiant brow the world laughs,

so you see no one weeping in it when he smiles.

سَمَا بِهِ الشَّرَفُ السَّامِي فَصَارَ بِهِ

مُخَيِّمَاً فَوْقَ أَطْبَاقِ العُلى خِيَما

Lofty honor rose through him, until through him it was

pitching tents above the tiers of glory.

لَوْ أَنَّ لِلْبُخْلِ أَغْصاناً وَقابَلَها

بِوَجْهِهِ أَنْبَتَتْ مِنْ وَقْتِها كَرَمَا

If miserliness had branches, and he faced them

with his face, they would at once sprout generosity.

أَزْرَى عَلى الغَيْثِ غَيْثٌ مِنْ أَنَامِلِهِ

فِي رَوْضَةِ الشُّكْرِ لمَا بَخَّلَ الدِّيمَا

Rain from his fingertips put the rain to shame

in gratitude's garden, when it made the steady rains seem miserly.

مَا إِنْ دَجَا لَيْلُ نَقْعٍ في نهارِ وَغىً

إِلا وَأَمْطَرَهُ مِنْ سَيْبِهِ نِقَما

Never did a night of dust grow dark in a day of battle

but he showered it with vengeance from his bounty.

تَأتِي المَنَايا إِلَى أَسْيافِهِ فِرَقاً

كَأَنَّمَا تَجْتَدِي مِنْ خَوْفِهِ سَلَمَا

Deaths come in bands to his swords,

as though, afraid of him, they begged for peace.

لا يَخْطُرُ الفَرُّ فِي كَرٍّ بِخاطِرِهِ

وَلا يُؤَخِّرُ عَنْ إِقدَامِهِ قَدَمَا

Flight never crosses his mind when he charges,

nor does he hold a foot back from his advance.

كَمْ قَالَ خَطْبُ الرَّدى فِيمَا يُنَازِلُهُ

هَذا الَّذِي لَوْ رُمِي بِالدَّهْرِ مَا انْهَزَمَا

How often has death's peril said, while meeting him in combat:

“This is he who, were Time hurled against him, would not be routed.”

صَبٌّ إِلى شُرْبِ مَاءِ الطَّعْنِ فِيهِ فَمَا

نَراهُ إِلا بِصَيْدِ الصِّيْدِ مُلْتَزِمَا

He longs to drink the water of spear-thrusts there; never

do we see him but intent on hunting the proud.

هَذا ابْنُ خَيْرِ الوَرى مِنْ بَعْدِ خَيْرِهِمُ

هَذا الَّذي كَتَبَتْ لا كَفُّهُ نَعَما

This is the son of the best of mankind after their very best;

this is he whose palm wrote “no” as “yes.”

هَذا الَّذي لا يُرى في جِيدِ مَكْرُمَةٍ

عِقدٌ مِنَ المَجْدِ إِلا بِاسْمِهِ نُظِما

This is he: on a noble deed's neck is never seen

a necklace of glory unless it is strung in his name.

يا مُلْزِمي غُرْمَ صَبْري بَعْدَ فُرْقَتِهِ

مَا إِن عَلى مُجْرِمٍ جُرْمٌ إِذا اجْتَرَمَا

O you who demand compensation for my patience after his departure,

no guilt rests on a sinner when he sins.

ذَرِ الصَّوارِمَ فِي أَغْمادِهَا فَلَقَدْ

أَمْسَتْ نُفُوسُ المَنَايا في حِمَاهُ حِمىَ

Leave the keen swords in their scabbards, for indeed

the souls of Death have become inviolate within his sanctuary.

قُلْ لِلَّتي وَدَّعَتْ بِالْجِزْعِ مِنْ جَزَعٍ

مَا إِنْ ظَلَمْتِ بَلِ البَيْنُ الَّذي ظَلَمَا

Tell her who bade farewell at the valley bend in anguish:

“You did no wrong; it was parting that did wrong.”

لا وَالهَوى وَحَياةِ الشَّوقِ مَا تَرَكَتْ

لِيَ النَّوى مِنْ فُؤَادي غَيْرَ مَا ثَلِمَا

No, by love and the life of longing, separation has not left

me any of my heart except what it has broken.

مَتَى تَحَكَّمَ هَجْرِي في مُواصَلَتِي

جَعَلْتُ أَحْمَدَ فِيما بَيْنَنَا حَكَما

Whenever my estrangement rules over my reunion,

I make Ahmad arbiter in what lies between us.

يَا مُعْلِماً بِطِرازِ الحُسْنِ نِسْبَتَهُ

وَمَنْ غَدا بَيْنَ أَبْنَاءِ العُلى عَلَمَا

O you who mark your lineage with beauty's embroidery,

and who have become a banner among the sons of glory,

وَمَنْ هُوَ الشَّمْسُ فِي أُفْقٍ بِلا فَلَكٍ

وَمَنْ هُوَ البَدْرُ في أَرْضٍ بِغَيْرِ سَمَا

and who are the sun on a horizon without a celestial sphere,

and who are the full moon on an earth without a sky:

هذِي يَمِينُكَ في الآجالِ صائِلَةٌ

فَاقْتُلْ بِسَيْفِ رَدَاها الخَوْفَ وَالعَدَمَا

here is your right hand, charging among the fated deaths;

so slay fear and poverty with its sword of doom.