هو الحب فاسلم بالحشا ما الهوى سهل — Bin Alfard

هو الحُبّ فاسلم بالحشا ما الهَوى سهلَ

فما اختارَهُ مُضْنى به وله عقْلُ

This is love: surrender your heart; passion is not easy.

No one wasted by it chose it while still possessing reason.

وعِشْ خالياً فالحُبّ راحتُهُ عَناً

وأَوّلُهُ سُقْمٌ وآخرُهُ قَتْلُ

Live free of attachment, for love's ease is torment,

Its beginning sickness, and its end death.

ولكنْ لديّ الموتُ فيه صَبابةً

حياةٌ لمَن أهوى عليّ بها الفضل

Yet, to me, death in love through ardent longing

Is life—a favor for which I am indebted to the one I love.

نصحْتُك عِلماً بالهَوَى والذي أرى

مخالَفَتي فاختر لنفسكَ ما يحلو

I have counseled you from knowledge of love; what I deem right

Is to defy my counsel—so choose for yourself what pleases you.

فإن شئتَ أن تحيا سعيداً فمُتْ بِهِ

شهيداً وإلاّ فالغرامُ لهُ أهْل

If you wish to live happily, then die in love

A martyr; otherwise, passion has its own devotees.

فمن لم يمُتْ في حُبّه لم يَعِشْ به

ودون اجتناءِ النّحل ما جنتِ النّحل

Whoever has not died in loving him has not lived through love;

And before gathering honey comes what the bees inflict.

تَمَسّكْ بأذْيالِ الهَوَى واخْلَعِ الحيا

وخَلّ سَبيلَ الناسكينَ وإن جَلّوا

Cling to the skirts of passion, and cast off modesty,

And leave the ascetics' path, however exalted they may be.

وقُلْ لقتيلِ الحبّ وَفّيتَ حقّه

وللمُدعي هيهاتَ ما الكَحَلُ الكُحْلُ

Say to the one slain by love, 'You have paid its due,'

And to the pretender, 'Far from it! Natural eye-darkness is not applied kohl.'

تعرّضَ قومٌ للغرامِ وأعْرَضوا

بجانبهم عن صحّتي فيه فا عتلوا

Some people ventured toward passion, yet turned away,

Turning aside from my soundness in it—and so fell ill.

رَضُوا بالأماني وابتُلوا بحظُوظهم

وخاضوا بحار الحبّ دعوى فما ابتلّو

They settled for wishes and were afflicted by their own interests;

They waded into love's seas in mere pretense, and never got wet.

فهُمْ في السُّرى لم يَبْرَحوا من مكانهم

وما ظَعَنوا في السّير عنه وقد كَلّوا

In their night journey they never left their place,

Nor traveled away from it, though they grew weary.

وعن مذهبي لمّا استَحَبّوا العمى على ال

هُدَى حَسداً من عَنْدِ أنفسهم ضَلّوا

And from my path, when they preferred blindness to

Guidance, out of envy within themselves, they strayed.

أحبّةَ قلبي والمَحَبّةُ شافعي

لدَيكم إذا شئْتُمْ بها اتّصل الحبل

O beloveds of my heart, with love as my intercessor

Before you: if you wish, through it the cord is joined.

عسى عَطْفَةٌ منكُمْ عليّ بنظرةٍ

فقد تعبَتْ بيني وبينَكُمْ الرُّسُلُ

May a tender turn from you favor me with a glance,

For the messengers between me and you have grown weary.

أحِبّايَ أَنتُم أَحسَنَ الدّهرُ أم أسا

فكونوا كما شئتمْ أنا ذلك الخِلّ

You are my beloveds, whether time treats me well or ill;

Be as you wish: I am that same intimate friend.

إذا كان حظي الهجرَ منكم ولم يكن

بِعادٌ فذاك الهجرُ عندي هو الوَصْلُ

If my portion from you is estrangement, yet there is no

Distance, then that estrangement, to me, is union.

وما الصّدّ إلاّ الوُدّ ما لم يكنْ قِلىً

وأصعبُ شيءٌ غيرَ أعراضِكم سهل

Turning away is only affection, so long as it is not hatred;

And the hardest thing, apart from your turning away, is easy.

وتعذيبُكُمْ عذبٌ لدَيّ وجَورُكم

عليّ بما يقضي الهوى لكُمُ عدل

Your torment is sweet to me, and your injustice

Toward me, by passion's decree, is justice on your part.

وصَبريَ صَبْرٌ عنكُمُ وعليكُمُ

أرى أبداً عندي مرارتَه تحْلُو

My patience apart from you is bitter aloes; in bearing with you,

I always find its bitterness growing sweet.

أَخَذتُمْ فؤادي وهوَ بَعضي فما الذي

يضُرّكُمُ لو كان عندكُمُ الكُلّ

You have taken my heart, which is part of me; what, then,

Would harm you if you had the whole?

نَأَيْتُمُ فغيرَ الدَّمعِ لم أرَ وافياً

سوى زَفْرَةٍ من حرّ نار الجوى تغلو

You went far away; apart from tears, I found nothing faithful

Except a sigh boiling from the heat of longing's fire.

فَسُهْدِيَ حيٌّ في جُفُوني مخَلَّدٌ

ونَومي بها مَيْتٌ ودمعي له غُسْل

My sleeplessness lives, immortal in my eyelids,

And sleep lies dead there, with my tears its funeral washing.

هوىً طَلّ ما بين الطّلولِ دمي فمن

جفوني جرى بالسفح من سَفْحِهِ وبَل

Love shed my blood unavenged among the ruins; and from

My eyelids, through its shedding, a downpour flowed down the slope.

تَبَالَهَ قَومي إذ رأوني مُتَيّماً

وقالوا بمن هذا الفتى مسّه الخَبْل

My people feigned ignorance when they saw me enslaved by love,

And said, 'For whom is this youth stricken with madness?'

وماذا عسى عنّي يُقالُ سِوى غَدا

بنُعمٍ له شُغْلٌ نعَم لي بها شُغل

What else might be said of me but, 'He has become

Engrossed in Nu'm'? Yes, I am engrossed in her.

وقال نساءُ الحيّ عنّا بِذِكْرِ مَنْ

جَفانا وبعدَ العِزّ لَذّ له الذّلّ

The women of the quarter said of us, 'At the mention of one

Who shunned us, abasement has grown sweet to him after honor.'

إذا انعَمَتْ نُعْمٌ عليّ بنظرةٍ

فلا أسعدتْ سعْدَى ولا أجملتْ جُمل

If Nu'm favors me with a glance,

Then may Sa'da bring no joy, nor Juml show grace.

وقد صَدِئَتْ عيني برُؤية غيرها

ولَثمُ جفوني تُرْبَها للصَّدا يجلو

My eye has rusted from seeing anyone but her;

My eyelids' kissing her soil polishes away the rust.

وقد عَلِمُوا انّي قتيلُ لِحاظِها

فإنّ لها في كلّ جارحةٍ نصْل

They know that I am slain by her glances,

For she has a blade in every limb.

حَديثي قَديمٌ في هواها وما لَهُ

كما علِمتْ بَعْدٌ وليس لها قبل

My tale is ancient in my love for her, and it has no

After, as she knows; nor does she have a before.

وما ليَ مِثلٌ في غرامي بها كما

غَدَتْ فتْنةً في حُسْنِها ما لها مِثل

I have no equal in my passion for her, just as

She has become a bewitchment in her beauty, without equal.

حرامٌ شِفا سُقْمِي لديها رضيتُ ما

به قسمَتْ لي في الهوى ودمي حِلّ

The cure of my sickness is forbidden with her; I accept what

She has allotted me in love, and my blood is lawful to shed.

فحالي وإن ساءتْ فقد حَسُنَتْ به

وما حطّ قدري في هواها به أعْلو

Though my state has worsened, through it it has become fair;

And by what lowers my worth in loving her, I rise.

وعُنوانُ ما فيها لقيتُ وما بهِ

شَقَيْتُ وفي قولي اختَصَرْتُ ولم أغل

Here is the sum of what I encountered in her, and what

Made me suffer; in speaking I am brief, without exaggeration:

خَفيتُ ضنىً حتى لقد ضلّ عائدي

وكيف تَرَى العُوّادُ من لا له ظِلّ

I vanished from wasting sickness, until my visitor lost his way;

How can visitors to the sick see someone who casts no shadow?

وما عَثَرَتْ عَيْنٌ على أَثَري ولم

تَدَعْ لي رسماً في الهوى الأعينُ النُّجل

No eye has come upon my trace, nor have

Those wide eyes left any vestige of me in love.

ولي همّةٌ تعلو إذا ما ذكَرْتُها

وروحٌ بِذِكْراها إذا رَخُصَتْ تغلو

I have an aspiration that soars whenever I mention her,

And a spirit that grows precious through her memory whenever it is cheapened.

جَرَى حُبّها مجرَى دمي في مفاصِلي

فأصبَحَ لي عن كلّ شُغْلٍ بها شغل

Her love courses like my blood through my joints,

And absorption in her diverts me from every other concern.

فنافِس ببَذْلِ النّفسِ فيها أخا الهوى

فإن قَبِلَتْهَا منكَ يا حبّذا البذل

So rival a brother of passion by offering your soul for her;

If she accepts it from you, how excellent the offering!

فمَنْ لم يجُدْ في حُبّ نُعمٍ بنفسِهِ

ولو جاد بالدّنيا إليه انتهى البُخل

Whoever does not give his soul generously in love for Nu'm,

Even if he gives the world, miserliness finds its utmost in him.

ولَولا مراعاةُ الصّيانة غَيْرَةً

ولَو كَثُروا أهلُ الصّبابة أو قلّوا

Were it not for jealous care to keep her guarded—

Whether the people of ardent love be many or few—

لقُلْتُ لعُشّاقِ الملاحةِ أقبِلوا

إليها على رأيي وعن غيرها ولّوا

I would say to lovers of loveliness, 'Turn

To her, by my counsel, and turn away from all others.'

وإن ذُكرَتْ يوماً فخُرّوا لذِكرها

سجوداً وإن لاحت الى وجهها صَلّوا

If she is mentioned one day, fall down at her mention

In prostration; if she appears, pray toward her face.

وفي حُبّها بِعْتُ السعادةَ بالشّقا

ضلالاً وعقلي عن هُدايَ به عقل

In loving her I sold happiness for misery,

In error; through love my reason is a fetter keeping me from guidance.

وقُلْتُ لرُشْدِي والتنَسّكِ والتُّقى

تَخَلُّوا وما بيني وبين الهوى خَلّوا

I said to my good sense, ascetic devotion, and piety,

'Withdraw, and leave what lies between me and passion alone.'

وفرّغتُ قلبي عن وجوديَ مُخلِصاً

لَعَلّيَ في شُغلي بها مَعها أخلو

I emptied my heart of my own existence, with pure devotion,

Hoping that, absorbed in her, I might be alone with her.

ومِنْ أجلِها أسعى لمَنْ بينَنَا سعى

وأعدو ولا أعدو لمَنْ دَأْبُهُ العَذْل

For her sake I hasten to whoever carried slander between us,

And run toward, not against, one whose habit is reproach.

فأرتاحُ للواشينَ بَيني وبينَها

لتَعلَمَ ما ألقَى وما عندها جَهل

I welcome those who slander between me and her,

So she may know what I endure—though she has no ignorance.

وأصبوا إلى العُذّال حُبّاً لذِكْرِهَا

كأنهمُ مابيننا في الهوي رُسل

I am drawn to the reproachers for love of hearing her mentioned,

As though, between us in love, they were messengers.

فان حدثواعنها فكلي مسامع

وكُلّي إن حدّثتُهم ألسُنٌ تَتلو

If they speak of her, I am all ears;

And if I speak to them, I am all reciting tongues.

تخالفَتِ الأقوالُ فينا تبايُناً

برَحْمِ ظنونٍ بيننا ما لها أصل

Accounts about us have differed widely,

Born in a womb of conjectures about us that have no root.

فشَنّعَ قومٌ بالوِصال ولم تصِلْ

وارْجَفَ بالسّلوَانِ قومٌ ولم أسل

Some spread scandal of union, though she never joined me;

Others spread rumors of forgetting, though I never forgot.

فما صدَقَ التشنيعُ عنها لِشقوتي

وقد كذبت عنّي الأراجيف والنقل

The scandal about her proved untrue, to my sorrow,

And the rumors and reports about me were lies.

وكيفَ أُرَجّي وصْلَ مَنْ لو تصوّرَتْ

حِماها المُنى وهْماً لضاقت بها السُّبل

How can I hope for union with one, when, were wishes to imagine

Her sanctuary even in fancy, the paths would close upon them?

وإن وعدَتْ لم يلحَقِ الفعلُ قولَها

وإن أوْعدَتْ بالقولِ يسبقُهُ الفعل

If she promises, the deed never catches up with her word;

If she threatens in words, the deed precedes them.

عِديني بوَصْلٍ وامْطُلِي بنَجَازِهِ

فعِندي إذا صح الهوى حَسُنَ المطل

Promise me union, and delay its fulfillment;

For, to me, when love is true, delay is sweet.

وحُرْمَةِ عهدٍ بينَنا عنه لم أحُلْ

وعَقْدٍ بأيْدٍ بينَنا ما له حَلُّ

By the sanctity of a covenant between us, from which I have not turned,

And a firmly tied bond between us that cannot be undone:

لأنتِ على غيظِ النّوى ورِضى الهوى

لدَيّ وقلبي ساعةً منكِ ما يخلو

You are indeed—despite separation's spite, with passion's consent—

With me; my heart is not empty of you for a single hour.

تُرَى مُقْلَتي يوماً تَرَى مَن أُحِبّهمْ

ويَعْتِبُنِي دهري ويجتمع الشّمل

Will my eye one day see those I love,

And will time make amends to me, and our scattered company reunite?

وما برِحوا معنىً أراهُمْ معي فإن

نأوا صورةً في الذّهْنِ قام لهُمْ شكل

In essence they have never left: I see them with me; if

They are distant in form, their likeness rises in my mind.

فهم نَصْبُ عيني ظاهراً حيثُما سرَوا

وهُم في فؤادي باطناً أينما حلّوا

Outwardly they are before my eyes wherever they journey by night,

And inwardly they are in my heart wherever they alight.

لهُمْ أبداً مني حُنُوٌّ وإن جَفَوا

ولي أبداً مَيْلٌ إلَيْهِمْ وإن مَلّوا

From me they always have tenderness, though they shun me;

And I am always drawn to them, though they grow weary.