لئن صوت الرعد في أفقه — بديع الزمان الهمذاني

لئن صوَّت الرعد في أفقِهِ

وأبدَى السحاب سنا بَرْقِهِ

If thunder has indeed sounded in its horizon,

and the cloud has revealed the gleam of its lightning,

تطاير لبُّك فاستقْرِه

وأفنيتَ دمعك فاستَبْقِه

your wits have scattered—recover them;

and you have exhausted your tears—spare them.

وخِشف تحير فيه الجما

ل من قدميه إلى فَرقه

And a young gazelle in whom beauty is bewildered,

from his feet to the parting of his hair:

إذا ما التوى الصدغ في خدّه

تلوّى المحب على شِقه

when the sidelock curls upon his cheek,

the lover writhes upon his side.

ولما شكوت الهوى قال لي

سحبتَ الرّداءَ ولم تلقه

And when I complained of love, he said to me,

“You trailed the cloak, but did not cast it off.”

تعرَّض والعود في حجره

يريني المهارة في حذقه

He came forward, with the lute in his lap,

showing me the mastery of his skill.

فطوراً يميل على بطنه

وطوراً يشد على حلقه

At times he leans over its belly,

and at times he bears down on its throat.

ولما استقر على نقره

وأجرى الغناء على وفقه

And when he settled into plucking it,

and let his singing flow in harmony with it,

شققت الصّدار ولو كان لي

فؤاد لملت إلى شقه

I tore my tunic; and had I possessed

a heart, I would have turned to tearing it.

أتاني البشير برأي الأمير

وبَذْل الإجابة من حقه

The bearer of good news came to me with the emir’s decision,

and granting assent is his due.

وقَلَّ لحضرته أن أجو

ب غرب الطلاع إلى شرقه

And little enough for His Presence would it be to traverse

the horizons, from their west to their east.

حنانيك لَبَّيْك حَبْواً إليك

لك الأمر جيديَ في ربقه

Your mercy! At your service, crawling toward you!

Yours is the command; my neck is in its noose.

أنا العبد قرطك في أُذنه

مطيعاً وطَوْقك في عنقه

I am the slave, your earring in his ear,

obedient, and your collar around his neck.

لنعم المعالي لقد حازها

أبو قاسم فهي في رقه

Excellent indeed are the lofty honors won by

Abu Qasim; they are in his thrall.

كذا المجد طال ذرى فرعه

علينا وطاب ثرى عرقه

Such is glory: the heights of its bough tower

above us, and sweet is the soil of its root.

فأجرى الملوك لغاياتهم

فكان المبرز في سبقه

So he set the kings racing toward their goals,

and he was foremost, outstripping them.

جُعلت فداءك بشرتني

ولكن غسلت ولم تنقه

May I be your ransom! You gave me good news,

but you washed without making it clean.

فهلا مع الإذن لي في الرحيـ

ـل أعنت ركابي على طرقه

So why, along with leave for me to depart,

did you not help my riding camels along the journey’s roads,

ليبتسم الركب عن مقدمي

كما انفجر البحر عن فلقه

so that the caravan might smile at my arrival,

as the sea burst open to reveal its cleft?

عقدت بهامته فارعَها

وأنبتها شجراً فاسقه

You bound it upon his head—so tend it;

and made it sprout as a tree—so water it.