ألا قل لعبدة إن جئتها — Bashar Ibn Burd

أَلا قُل لِعَبدَةَ إِن جِئتَها

وَقَد يُبلِغُ الأَقرَبُ الباعِدا

Listen: tell ʿAbda, if you visit her—

the nearer one may convey word to the distant—

أَجَدَّكِ لا أَنتِ تَشفينَني

وَلا الصَيدُ مُتَّبِعٌ صائِدا

Are you in earnest? You do not heal me,

nor does the quarry follow the hunter.

كَأَنَّكِ لَم تَعلَمي أَنَّني

مَلَلتُ الوِسادَةَ وَالعائِدا

It is as though you did not know that I

have tired of the pillow and the sickbed visitor,

لِطارِفِ حُبٍّ أَصابَ الفُؤاد

وَقَد يَمنَعُ الطارِفُ التالِدا

through a new love that has struck the heart;

and the new may drive out the old.

إِذا نَقَضَ النَأيُ حُبَّ اِمرِئٍ

وَجَدتُ تَباريحَهُ زائِدا

When distance undoes a man's love,

I find its torments increasing.

فَأَصبَحَ في بَعضِ أَيّامِهِ

طَؤوعاً وَفي بَعضِها فاسِدا

So on some of his days he becomes

compliant, and on others undone.

بِلا سَقَمٍ داخِلٍ شَفَّني

سِوى الحُبِّ إِنَّ لَهُ جاهِدا

No inward sickness has wasted me

save love, with its exhausting force.

كَذاكَ المُحِبُّ تَعَيَّرتِهِ

فَأَنتِ تَرَي شَخصَهُ واحِدا

Such is the lover you reproach:

you see his person as one,

يَجورُ إِذا هِيَ جارَت بِهِ

وَيُصبِحُ إِن قَصَدَت قاصِدا

yet he strays when she leads him astray,

and keeps a straight course if she does.

أَحاديثُ يَعجَبُ مِنها الفَتى

خَلا أَن يَكونَ لَها رائِدا

These are tales that make a young man marvel,

unless he has explored them himself.

وَأَعجَبُ مِنها وَإِن أَصبَحَت

أَعاجيبَ تَستَنتِجُ الهاجِدا

And stranger than these, though they have become

marvels that make even a sleeper give birth,

تَجَنّيكِ زَيناً عَلى عاشِقٍ

وَلَم يَأتِ ما ساءَكُم عامِدا

is your false blame, fair one, against a lover

who did not deliberately do what offended you.

أَعَبّادَ أَغفَلتِ وَجدي بِكُم

فَلَيتَكِ لَم تُغفِلي الواجِدا

O ʿAbbād, you have ignored my passion for you;

would that you had not ignored the yearning man.

أَسِيّانَ مَن لَم يَنَم لَيلَةً

لَدَيكِ وَمَن باتَها راقِدا

Are they equal: one who spends a night sleepless

beside you, and one who sleeps it through?

إِذا أَنتِ لَم تَرفِدي عاشِقاً

فَمَن ذا يَكونُ لَهُ رافِدا

If you do not support a lover,

who, then, will be his support?

قَطَعتِ اللَيالِيَ في هَجرِهِ

رُقاداً وَمَن باتَها ساهِدا

You passed the nights in estrangement from him

asleep, while another spent them wakeful.

يَراني الَّذي لَم يُحِط عِلمُهُ

رِدائي فَيَحسَبُني عابِدا

One who sees me, his knowledge not reaching beyond

my cloak, takes me for a worshipper,

بِما أَقصَرَ الطَرفُ عَن مَنظَرٍ

يَكونُ إِلى شَخصِكُم نائِدا

because my gaze refrains from a glance

that would turn toward your form.

وَذَلِكَ مِن حُبِّكُم هَيبَةٌ

كَما يُكرِمُ الوَلَدُ الوالِدا

That is awe born of love for you,

as a child honors a father.

فَإِن شِئتِ أَحرَمتُ وَصلَ النِساء

وَإِن شِئتِ لَم أَطعَمِ البارِدا

If you wish, I will forbid myself union with women;

and if you wish, I will taste no cool water.

وَشَربٍ بَهاليلَ في لَيلَةٍ

مِنَ الشَهرِ حَلّوا بِها صاعِدا

And many a band of noble drinking companions, on a night

of the month, alighted there with Ṣāʿid,

رِزانٍ إِذا رَعَدَت مُزنَةٌ

عَلَيهِم فَإِن يَسمَعوا الراعِدا

unshaken when a rain cloud thundered

above them; and if they heard the thunderer,

تَخالُ جَنا الوَردِ وَالرازِقي

يِ بَينَهُمُ رَوضَةً فارِدا

you would think the gathered roses and jasmine

among them a garden all its own.

دَعاني إِلَيهِم أَبو عامِرٍ

وَكُنتُ إِلى مِثلِهِم وارِدا

Abū ʿĀmir invited me to join them,

and I was accustomed to visiting men like them.

لَهُم زَجَلٌ بَعدَ نَومِ العُيون

وَصَفراءُ تَستَألِفُ الفَاقِدا

They raise a clamor after eyes have fallen asleep,

with a golden-skinned woman who wins over the bereft.

إِذا ما ثَنَت جيدَها نَظرَةٌ

حَسِبتَ الغَزالَ بِها عاقِدا

When a glance makes her turn her neck,

you would think her a gazelle with its neck arched.

فَلَمّا رَأَيتُ مَدينِيَّةً

يَظَلُّ الحَليمُ بِها مائِدا

Then, when I saw a woman from Medina,

who leaves even the sober-minded reeling,

وَقامَ السُقاةُ بِسَلسالَةٍ

فَحَيّا بِهِ ماجِداً ماجِدا

and the cupbearers rose with smooth-flowing wine,

and nobleman after nobleman was toasted with it,

وَكَرشاءُ مُلتَئِمٌ في الحَرير

كَأَنَّ بِلَبّاتِها جاسِدا

and a paunchy figure, closely wrapped in silk,

as though dried blood lay upon her upper breast,

رَكوبٌ إِذا الكَأسُ كَرَّت لَهُ

أَكَبَّ فَخَرَّ لَها ساجِدا

an avid rider: when the cup came round to him,

he bent low and fell before it in prostration—

ذَكَرتُ الجِنانَ فَلَم أَنسَكُم

فَهَيَّجتِ لي طَرَباً قائِدا

I remembered the gardens and did not forget you;

and you stirred in me an impelling rapture.

يَقولُ أَبو ثَقِفٍ إِذ رَأى

مِنَ المَينِ إِنسانَها بائِدا

Abū Thaqif said, when he saw

her man perishing from deceit:

أَفي القَلبِ حُبُّ الَّتي لَم تَزَل

تُناجي الهُمومَ بِها قاعِدا

‘Is there love in your heart for her over whom you keep

sitting, communing with your sorrows?’

فَقُلتُ أَلَم يَكفِ فَيضُ الدُموعِ

سُؤالاً وَأَن لا يُرى جامِدا

I said, ‘Is the flood of tears not enough,

in place of questions, since it is never seen to cease?

فَلا تَسأَلِ القَلبَ عَن حُبِّها

كَفى بِالدُموعِ لَها شاهِدا

Do not ask the heart about its love for her:

the tears suffice as witness to it.’

وَكَم كائِدٍ لِيَ مِن أَجلِكُم

وَما كانَ لي قَبلَكُم كائِدا

How many have plotted against me because of you,

who never plotted against me before you!

هَمَمتُ بِهِ عِندَ عَوراتِهِ

مُشَهَّرَةً تُرمِضُ الحاقِدا

I thought of attacking him at his weak points,

laid bare to scorch the spiteful man;

فَوَهَّنَني عَنهُ حُبِّيكُمُ

وَفي الحُبِّ ما يوهِنُ الجالِدا

but my love for you weakened my resolve against him.

Love has that which weakens even the steadfast.

سَأَلتُ عُبَيدَةَ إِذ لَم تَجُد

مُحِبّاً لِيَومي هَوىً جامِدا

I asked ʿUbayda, when she showed no generosity,

as a lover, frozen through two days of passion:

الاِثنَينِ هَل فيهِما رَحمَةٌ

لِذي شَجَنٍ يَنظُرُ الواعِدا

‘Those two days—do they hold any mercy

for a sorrowing man awaiting the one who promised?’

فَقالَت لَنا مِنهُمُ راشِدٌ

وَلَستُ أَرى مِنهُمُ راشِدا

She told us, ‘One of them has good sense.’

Yet I see none among them with good sense.

أَيا لَيتَ شِعري عَلى هَجرِها

أَتَعتَلُّ أَنَّ لَها ذائِدا

Ah, would I knew, amid her shunning:

does she plead that she has a guardian?

فَقَد يُنجِزُ الوَعدَ في خُفيَةٍ

مُحِبٌّ إِذا خَشِيَ الراصِدا

For a promise may be fulfilled in secret

by a lover who fears the watcher.

إِذا قُلتُ وافَقتُها خالَفَت

كَما خالَفَ الصادِرُ الوارِدا

Whenever I say, ‘I have come to terms with her,’ she disagrees,

as one leaving the water goes against one approaching it.

فَإِن تَكُ عَبدَةُ قَد أَقصَرَت

فَأَصبَحَ ثَوبُ الصِبا هامِدا

If ʿAbda has indeed desisted,

and youth's robe has become lifeless,

فَذاكَ بِما يَصطَفي وِدُّها

وَتَزعُمُ ذا الغَيرَةِ الحاسِدا

that comes of what her affection chooses;

and she calls the jealous man an envier.

وَذَلِكَ دَهرٌ مَضى صَفوُهُ

وَعَيشُ اِمرِئٍ لَم يَكُن خالِدا

That is a time whose sweetness has passed,

and no man's life was ever everlasting.