Sol 6.1

  1. كذا من شام بارقة العذاب

    ومنته المنى رشف الرضاب

    Thus fares whoever sights the lightning flash of torment,

    And whom hopes promise a sip of sweet saliva:

  2. يلاقي الدهر مصفر الحواشي

    ويرعى العيش مغبر الجناب

    He meets time with yellowed fringes,

    And tends his life with dust upon his sides.

  3. أأن قدح الصبا في الأفق ناراً

    تركت الجفن مخضلَّ السحاب

    Is it because the east wind struck a fire on the horizon

    That you left your eyelid's clouds drenched?

  4. أأن سجع الحمام طربت وجداً

    وعادتك العوائد من رَباب

    Is it because the doves cooed that you thrilled with longing,

    And old pangs from Rabab came back to you?

  5. أوجداً سرْع هذا واكتئابا

    حلفت لتوكلَن بغير نابِ

    Is this longing and dejection—so soon?

    I swear you will surely be devoured without a fang.

  6. ألم أنذرك عن طلب الصبايا

    ألم أخبرك عن نكدِ التصابي

    Did I not warn you against pursuing young women?

    Did I not tell you of the misery of feigning youth?

  7. حياءك يا حمام وبعضَ هذا

    لعل جميع ما بك بعض ما بي

    Have some shame, dove, and less of this!

    Perhaps all you suffer is only part of what I suffer.

  8. فقدت حمامة وفقدتُ ليلى

    وأسود مثل خافية الغُرابِ

    You lost a dove, and I lost Layla,

    And black hair like a raven's covert feather.

  9. أليس الشيب أغزاني جيوشاً

    فآبت بالسبايا من شبابي

    Has gray hair not sent armies against me,

    Which returned with captives from my youth?

  10. أليس الدهر غير في عذاري

    بوفديه وذلك من مُصابي

    Has time not altered my cheek-locks

    Through its two envoys—and that is part of my affliction?

  11. فعللني بأعذب من شرابِ

    وأخلفني بأكذب من سرابِ

    So it soothed me with something sweeter than drink,

    And failed me with something falser than a mirage.

  12. وقاريّ القميص له ذماء

    تقطع دونه مهج الضَّبابِ

    And a pitch-black-shirted night with a lingering breath of life,

    Before which the hearts of the mists are torn apart,

  13. حذاريّ الجناح أرقت فيه

    لغير حزازة ولغير عابِ

    Wary-winged—I lay awake within it,

    For neither heartache nor any shame.

  14. ولما أسمع القاضي نداء

    وأعجلني المثول عن الجوابِ

    And when the judge sounded a summons,

    And appearing before him left me no time to reply,

  15. حباني من قريضك عقد در

    وأسمعني به فصل الخطابِ

    He gave me a necklace of pearls from your poetry,

    And let me hear in it decisive speech:

  16. نسيباً لو تجسم مجتناه

    لضمن حلية صدر الكعاب

    Love verse whose fruit, if it took bodily form,

    Would surely furnish an ornament for a full-breasted maiden's chest;

  17. ومدحاً لو يصيب على المساوي

    لعدن مساعياً وشك انقلاب

    And praise that, if it fell upon faults,

    They would swiftly turn into worthy deeds;

  18. ولفظاً كنت أحسبه شروداً

    تحاوَلُ دونه عصم الهضاب

    And wording I had thought elusive,

    Below which the hills' white-footed ibex are pursued;

  19. ومعنى كنت أعهده نفوراً

    عن الألباب أحذر من غُرابِ

    And meaning I had known to be shy

    Of minds—more wary than a raven;

  20. قواف تُستطاب إذا أعيدت

    وحسبك من معاد مُستطابِ

    Rhymes that delight when repeated,

    And a pleasing repetition is enough for you.

  21. وليت نشيدها وجلوت منها

    على الأسماعِ أبكار النقابِ

    I undertook their recitation and unveiled from them

    To listening ears, virgins never yet unveiled.

  22. وظلت أذوب في يدها اهتزازاً

    وكدت أشق من طرب ثيابي

    And I kept melting in their grasp, trembling,

    And nearly tore my clothes in rapture.

  23. وصرت إذا سردت البيت منها

    لفرطِ العجب أخرج من إهابي

    And whenever I recited one of their verses,

    For sheer amazement, I would burst out of my skin.

  24. فظنك في سواي وتلك حالي

    ووهمك في الجميعِ وذاك دابي

    So imagine others, when that is my state,

    And picture everyone, when that is my wont.

  25. وكُلفت الجواب فقلت غُنم

    لعمر أبيك لم يك في حسابي

    And I was tasked with replying, so I said: a windfall,

    By your father's life, that I had not reckoned on!

  26. ولولا ما أؤكد من ذمامِ

    يقل له نشاطي وانتدابي

    And were it not for the bond of duty I reaffirm,

    For which my zeal and readiness fall short—

  27. أخا العشرين أنت من المعالي

    بمنزلةِ الْحُسامِ من القرابِ

    O man of twenty, you are to lofty achievements

    As the keen sword is to its sheath.

  28. تراضعنا معاً ثدي الليالي

    وذلك بيننا رحم انتسابِ

    We suckled together at the breast of the nights,

    And that is a bond of shared lineage between us.

  29. فرأيك في مطالبتي إذا ما

    نشطت فإنه عين الصوابِ

    So use your judgment in calling upon me whenever

    You feel inclined, for it is the very essence of right judgment.