Sol 6.1

  1. للصب بعدك حالة لا تعجب

    وتتيه من صلف عليه وتعجب

    In your absence the lover has a plight that gives no delight,

    And you lord it over him in arrogance and self-admiration.

  2. أبكيته ذهبا صبيبا أحمرا

    من عينه ويقول هذا المطلب

    You made him weep molten, crimson gold

    From his eye, while he says: This is what I seek.

  3. وقتلته بنواظر أجفانها

    بسيوفها الأمثال فيها تضرب

    And you slew him with eyes whose eyelids

    Are proverbial for their swords.

  4. رفقا بمن أجريت مقلته دما

    ووقفت من جريانها تتعجب

    Be gentle with him whose eye you made stream blood,

    And stood marveling at its flowing.

  5. نيران بعدك أحرقته فهل إلى

    نحو الجنان ببعد يتقرب

    The fires of your absence burned him; can he

    Draw nearer toward Paradise through separation?

  6. كم جيش العذال فيك وإنما

    سلطان حسنك جيشه لا يغلب

    How many armies of reproachers there are over you! Yet

    The sovereign of your beauty has an army never defeated.

  7. من لي بشمسي المحاسن لم يزل

    عقلي به في كل وقت يذهب

    Who can bring me him of sunlike charms? Always

    My reason is carried away by him at every moment.

  8. أحببته متعمما ومعنفي

    أبدا علي بظلمه يتعصب

    I loved him wearing a turban, and my rebuker

    Forever sides against me in his injustice.

  9. ويعيب من طرق التفقه وجهه

    والعشق يفتي أن ذاك المذهب

    He finds fault with his face on juristic grounds,

    While love rules that this is the proper school.

  10. ولقد تعبت بعاذل ومراقب

    هذا يزير والرقيب ينقب

    I have grown weary of a reproacher and a watcher:

    This one growls, while the watcher pries.

  11. ومؤذنا سلوانه وغرامه

    هذا يرجع حيث ذاك يثوب

    And the two muezzins of forgetting him and yearning for him—

    This one repeats his chant, while that one renews the call.

  12. وأقول للقلب الذي لا ينتهي

    عن حبه أبدا ولا يتجنب

    I say to the heart that never desists

    From loving him, nor ever keeps away:

  13. قد كدت أنك لا تسميك الورى

    قلبا لكونك عنه لا تتقلب

    You have almost reached the point where people will not call you

    A heart, because you never turn away from him.

  14. ولو استطعت فركته وأدرته

    عنه ولكن ما لقلبي لولب

    If I could, I would have twisted it and turned it

    Away from him; but my heart has no screw.

  15. بأبي غني ملاحة أشكو له

    فقري فيصبح بالغنى يتطرب

    My father be the ransom for one rich in beauty! I lament to him

    My poverty, and he begins to delight in his riches.

  16. قمر على غصن وغصن فوقه

    قمر على طول المدى لا يغرب

    A moon atop a bough, and a bough crowned by

    A moon that never sets through all of time.

  17. قل للغزال وللغزالة إن رنا

    أو لاح يهرب ذا وتلك تغيب

    Tell the gazelle and the sun: if he gazes

    Or shines forth, this one flees and that one disappears.

  18. ما زلت أرفع قصة الشكوى له

    وأجر أسباب الخداع وأنصب

    I kept presenting him my petition of complaint,

    And drawing the cords of deception and setting snares,

  19. حيث العواذل والرقيب بمعزل

    عنا وحيث الوقت وقت طيب

    Where the reproachers and the watcher were far

    From us, and where the hour was a pleasant hour.

  20. وطلبت رشف الثغر منه فقال لي

    ما في الوجود سوى المدامة يطلب

    I asked him for a sip from his lips, and he told me:

    Nothing in existence but wine is sought.

  21. وغدا ينادمني وكأس حديثه

    أشهى إلي من العتيق وأطيب

    He became my drinking companion, and the cup of his conversation

    Was more delectable and sweeter to me than aged wine.

  22. وأقول حين رشفت صافي ثغره

    من بعد ثغرك ما صفا لي مشرب

    I said, when I sipped the clear draught of his lips:

    After your lips, no drink has tasted pure to me.

  23. قال احسب القبل التي قبلتني

    فأجبت إنا أمة لا نحسب

    He said: Count the kisses with which you kissed me.

    I replied: We are a people who do not count.

  24. لله ليل كالنهار قطعته

    بالوصل لا أخشى به ما يرهب

    How wondrous a night, like day, I spent

    In union, fearing nothing dreadful in it!

  25. وركبت منه إلى التصابي أدهما

    من قبل أن يبدو لصبح أشهب

    I rode its black steed into youthful frolic,

    Before dawn's gray steed came into view.

  26. أيام لا ماء الخدود يشوبه

    كدر العذار ولا عذاري أشيب

    In days when the water of cheeks was unclouded by

    The murk of cheek-down, and my own whiskers were not gray.

  27. كم في مجال اللهو لي من جولة

    أضحت ترقص بالسماع وتطرب

    How many a round was mine in pleasure's arena,

    That came to dance and thrill to music!

  28. ولكم أتيت الحي أطلب غرة

    بعد الرحيل فلم يلح لي مضرب

    How often I came to the encampment seeking an unguarded moment,

    After the departure, but not a tent appeared to me.

  29. ووقفت في رسم الديار وللبكا

    رسم علي مقرر ومرتب

    I stood amid the traces of the dwellings; and weeping

    Had a levy prescribed and assessed against me.

  30. وأقمت للندماء سوق خلاعة

    يجبى المجون إلي فيه ويجلب

    I set up a market of dissipation for my drinking companions,

    Where wantonness was collected and brought to me.

  31. ثم انتبهت وصبح شيبي قد محا

    ليل الشباب وزال ذاك الغيهب

    Then I awoke, and the dawn of my gray hair had erased

    Youth's night, and that deep darkness had vanished.

  32. ورجعت عن طرق الغواية مقلعا

    وسفين رشدي للسلامة مركب

    I turned away from the paths of waywardness, abandoning them,

    And the fleet of my sound judgment was a conveyance to safety.

  33. وذكرت في عليا دمشق معشرا

    أم الزمان بمثلهم لا تنجب

    I remembered a company in the heights of Damascus,

    Whose like the mother of Time never bears.

  34. قوم بحسن فعالهم وصفاتهم

    قد جاء يعتذر الزمان المذنب

    A people whose fine deeds and qualities

    Have brought guilty Time to offer an apology.

  35. قوم مديحهم المصدق في الورى

    ومديح أهل زمانهم فمكذب

    A people whose praises are believed among mankind,

    Whereas the praises of their contemporaries are disbelieved.

  36. لا تسأل القصاد عن ناديهم

    لكن يدلهم الثناء الطيب

    The petitioners do not ask about their assembly;

    Their fine repute guides them.

  37. يا من لحران الفؤاد لطرفه

    لما تدمشق أدمع تتحلب

    O who will help one burning at heart, whose eyes,

    Since he became Damascene, have streamed with tears?

  38. أشتاق في وادي دمشق معهدا

    كل الجمال إلى حماه ينسب

    I yearn for a haunt in the valley of Damascus,

    To whose precincts all beauty is ascribed.

  39. ما فيه إلا روضة أو جوسق

    أو جدول أو بلبل أو ربرب

    There is nothing there but a garden or a pavilion,

    A stream, a nightingale, or a herd of gazelles.

  40. وكأن ذاك النهر فيه معصم

    بيد النسيم منقش ومكتب

    That river there is like a wrist,

    Patterned and inscribed by the hand of the breeze.

  41. وإذا تكسر ماؤه أبصرته

    في الحال بين رياضه يتشعب

    When its water breaks into ripples, you see it

    At once branching out among its gardens.

  42. وشدت على العيدان ورق أطربت

    بغنائها من غاب عنه المطرب

    Gray doves sang upon the branches, delighting

    With their song anyone whose singer was absent.

  43. فالورق تشدو والنسيم مشبب

    والنهر يسقي والحدائق تشرب

    The doves sing, and the breeze plays the flute;

    The river pours drink, and the gardens drink.

  44. وضياعها ضاع النسيم بها فكم

    أضحى له من بيننا متطلب

    In its estates the breeze spread fragrance; how many

    Seekers for it came forth from among us!

  45. وحلت بقلبي من عسال جنة

    فيها لأرباب الخلاعة ملعب

    From Assal a paradise took lodging in my heart,

    In which the masters of revelry have a playground.

  46. ولكم طربت على السماع لجنكها

    وغدا بربوتها اللسان يشبب

    How often I thrilled to the sound of its harp,

    And upon its hill my tongue took to singing of love.

  47. فمتى أزور معالما أبوابها

    بسماحه كتب الكرام تبوب

    When shall I visit landmarks at whose gates

    The books of the generous are arranged in chapters by his bounty?

  48. وأرى حمى قاضي القضاة فإنه

    حصن إليه من الزمان المهرب

    And see the precincts of the chief justice, for he is

    A fortress to which one flees from Time.

  49. ما زال للعلماء فيه تعلم

    منه وللأدباء فيه تأدب

    In his presence scholars have always learned

    From him, and men of letters have acquired refinement.

  50. كم طالب للعلم فيه وطالب

    للمال تم لذا وذا ما يطلب

    How many a seeker of knowledge there, and a seeker

    Of wealth: both attained what they sought.

  51. علماء أهل الأرض حين تعدهم

    في الفضل دون مقامه تتذبذب

    When you count the scholars of all the earth,

    In merit they waver below his station.

  52. وله مذاهب في المكارم حاتم

    لو عاش كان بمثلها يتمذهب

    He has ways in noble generosity which Hatim,

    Had he lived, would have taken as his school.

  53. كثرت عطاياه فخلنا أنه

    معن وحاشاه بذلك يلعب

    His gifts grew so abundant that we thought him

    Ma'n—far be it from him! Such giving is mere play to him.

  54. لله منه مكارم تاجية

    سبكية تبدو ولا تتحجب

    How wondrous his Taji noble deeds,

    Subki deeds that shine forth and never veil themselves!

  55. قاض مقر العدل في أبوابه

    فالجور من أرجائها لا يقرب

    A judge at whose gates justice has its seat,

    So injustice never approaches their precincts.

  56. راض الأمور فأقبلت منقادة

    وزمامها بيديه لا يستصعب

    He tamed affairs, and they came obediently,

    Their reins in his hands offering no resistance.

  57. ما قدموا يوما علاه لمنصب

    إلا علا قدرا وقل المنصب

    Never did they put his eminence forward for an office

    But he rose in rank, and the office diminished.

  58. يجري الندى للواقفين ببابه

    ويصوبهم منه السحاب الصيب

    Generosity flows to those standing at his gate,

    And from him a rain-laden cloud showers them.

  59. قاضي القضاة كليم بعدك لم يزل

    للقرب من ناديكم يترقب

    Chief Justice, one wounded by your absence has never ceased

    Watching for nearness to your assembly.

  60. لولا تلهب قلبه بلظى النوى

    ما بات وهو على اللقاء يلهب

    Were his heart not ablaze with separation's fire,

    He would not spend the night burning for a meeting.

  61. ولقد ذكرتك والوفود بمكة

    كل إلى الله المهيمن يرغب

    I remembered you while the delegations were in Mecca,

    Each yearning toward God, the Guardian.

  62. حطم الحطيم ذنوبهم وبزمزم

    لهم مناهل وردها مستعذب

    Al-Hatim shattered their sins; at Zamzam

    They had watering places whose draught was sweet.

  63. والكعبة الغراء أسبل سترها

    ودعاؤنا من تحته لا يحجب

    The radiant Kaaba's veil was let down,

    Yet our prayers beneath it were not barred.

  64. ولرحمة الرحمن من ميزابها

    للطائفين سحاب عفو يسكب

    From its waterspout, the All-Merciful's mercy

    Pours a cloud of pardon upon those circling it.

  65. فطفقت أخلص في الدعاء وظننا

    أن الكريم لذاك ليس يخيب

    I set about praying sincerely, and we believed

    That the Generous One would not disappoint us in this.

  66. ولفرط شوقي قد نظمت مدامعي

    عقدا يؤلف دره ويرتب

    So great was my longing that I strung my tears

    Into a necklace, its pearls joined and arranged.

  67. ولماء جفني في الخدود تدفق

    ولنار قلبي في الضلوع تلهب

    The water of my eyelids streamed over my cheeks,

    And the fire of my heart flared within my ribs.

  68. يا ذا الأصول الصاحبية جودكم

    للأصل في شرع الندى يستصحب

    O you of Sahibi roots, your generosity

    Keeps the original rule in force within generosity's law.

  69. ولكم إذا تعب الكرام من العطا

    يوم المكارم راحة لا تتعب

    When the generous tire of giving, yours is,

    On the day of noble deeds, a palm that never tires.

  70. ها قد بعثت بها عروسا لفظها

    بالسحر يأخذ بالقلوب ويخلب

    Behold, I have sent her as a bride, whose wording

    Seizes hearts with magic and enchants.

  71. ولسيد الأكفاء قد جهزتها

    بكرا يقرظها الحسود ويطنب

    For the master of peers I have furnished her,

    A virgin whom the envious praises and extols at length.

  72. إن حاول الأدباء يوما شأوها

    قولوا لهم بالله لا تتعذبوا

    If men of letters ever attempt to match her reach,

    Tell them: By God, do not torment yourselves!

  73. لم يدن من أسبابها إلا فتى

    في هتكه بين الورى يتسبب

    None has drawn near the means of reaching her except a youth

    Who thereby brings about his own disgrace among mankind.

  74. أنا إن نطقت بمدحكم في مكة

    فكأن قسا في عكاظ يخطب

    If I utter your praise in Mecca,

    It is as though Quss were preaching in Ukaz.

  75. وإذا أتيت بدرة في وصفكم

    فابن المقفع في اليتيمة يسهب

    When I bring a pearl to describe you,

    It is Ibn al-Muqaffa discoursing at length in al-Yatima.

  76. عش يا أبا نصر لتخذل بالندى

    والجود جيش الفقر حين يطلب

    Live, Abu Nasr, to defeat with generosity

    And bounty the army of poverty whenever it pursues.

  77. وبقيت يا شمس الوجود وبدره

    ما لاح نجم أو تبدى كوكب

    May you endure, O sun of existence and its full moon,

    As long as a star shines or a planet appears.