لحاظك يا أخا البدر — Butrus Karama

لحاظك يا أخا البدرِ

هتكنَ وأنت لا تدري

Your glances, O brother of the full moon,

have torn the veil, though you are unaware.

سبيت الريم في عينٍ

سبت هاروت بالسحرِ

You captured the gazelle with an eye

that captured Hārūt through magic.

وأزرى قدُّك الميّا

س بالأغصان والسمرِ

And your swaying stature puts to shame

the boughs and the tawny spears.

فيا للّه من ظبيٍ

رمى الأساد بالأسرِ

Ah, by God, what a gazelle

that has taken the lions captive!

تضى من جفنه سيفاً

يحامي قبلة الثغر

He drew a sword from his eyelid,

to guard a kiss upon the lips.

لوى جيداً بهِ وجدي

ثنى عطفاً بهِ سكري

He turned a neck that holds my longing;

he bent a flank that holds my intoxication.

إلا يا ظبية الوعسا

أذعتِ بالهوى سرّي

O gazelle of the soft sands,

you have divulged my secret through love.

لك العينان من أسما

فرفقاً بالفتى العذري

Yours are the two eyes of Asmā,

so be gentle with the ʿUdhri youth.

مهاةٌ صيّرت قلبي

كناساً وارتعت صبري

An oryx doe has made my heart

her leafy lair, and grazed upon my patience.

لها صبح الجبين إذا

سرت في ظلمة الشعرِ

Her brow is dawn when

she moves amid the darkness of her hair.

وفي خلع العذار بها

روى مكحولها عذري

And for casting off the bridle for her,

her kohl-lined eye has told my excuse.

رعاها اللَه كم همنا

بها وجداً ولم تدري

May God guard her! How often we were love-maddened

with longing for her, while she was unaware.

تذكرنا العذيب وبا

رقاً بالمبسم الدرّي

She recalls to us al-ʿUdhayb and Bāriq

with her pearl-bright smile.

وفي فمها لقد ختمت

بمرجانٍ على خمرِ

And within her mouth she has set a seal

of coral upon wine.

أخال البرق من سامي

محيّاها السني يسري

I fancy that lightning from her lofty

and radiant face goes coursing.

ومن أنفاسها هبّت

صبا الأسحار بالعطرِ

And from her breath has blown

the predawn east wind, bearing perfume.

فلي من قربها عهدٌ

ألذُّ بهِ مدى الدهرِ

So I have a memory of her nearness

that I savor for all time.

وقد أنزلتها مني

مفيض النظم والنثرِ

And I have lodged her within me

at the wellspring of verse and prose.

ولو أنزلتها قلبي

لذابت من لظى الجمرِ

And had I lodged her in my heart,

she would have melted in the blaze of embers.

مهاجر لحظها أضحى

يواصلني بلا هجرِ

Her once-aloof glance has now come

to keep me company without abandonment.

سقى غيث الرضى عصراً

مضى في جانب النهرِ

May the rain of contentment water a time

gone by beside the river,

بروضٍ تحسد الأقما

ر فيه طلعة الزهرِ

in a garden where the moons envy

the countenance of the blossoms within it.

تبسم زهره صبحاً

يهادي أطيب النشر

Its blossoms smiled at dawn,

offering the sweetest fragrance.

لقد نثَرَ الربيعُ بهِ

عقيقاً صيغ بالتبرِ

Spring has indeed scattered there

carnelian fashioned with raw gold.

قضينا فيه أياماً

فداها طيب العمرِ

We spent days there—

may life's sweetness be their ransom!—

وأوطاراً فلم يبقى

لنا منها سوى الذكرِ

and fulfilled desires; nothing remained

for us of them but remembrance.

شممنا من حدائقه

ثنا ذي المجد والقدرِ

We inhaled from its gardens

praise of one endowed with glory and high standing:

بشير السعد ذي العليا

سليل الأنجم الزهرِ

Bashīr of good fortune, possessor of lofty honors,

a scion of the brilliant stars.

كريمٌ دأبهُ أخذ ال

ثنا الموفور بالسبرِ

A generous man whose habit is to earn

abundant praise when put to the test.

إذ جادت أياديهِ

فحدّث عن ندى القطرِ

When his hands give freely,

then speak of the bounty of rainfall.

ببدر الجود من كفيه

يجلو ظلمة الفقرِ

With the full moon of generosity from his palms,

he dispels the darkness of poverty.

همام جنبلاطيٌّ

روت كفّاه عن بحرِ

A valiant Jumblāṭī,

whose two palms tell of a sea.

لقد زانت محامدهُ

قوافي النثر والشعرِ

His praiseworthy deeds have indeed adorned

the rhymes of prose and poetry.

مجيدٌ أشرقت عدلاً

سنا أخلاقه الغر

An illustrious man: in justice shines

the light of his radiant virtues.

له الهيجاءُ قد شهدت

وكل غضنفرٍ حر

Battle itself has borne him witness,

and every noble lion.

سل الأعداء كم أبدى

لهم في حلبة الكر

Ask the enemies how much he has shown

them in the arena of the charge.

وسلهم أن نضى سيفاً

بمفني البيض والصفرِ

And ask them, if he draws a sword

with [the hand] that exhausts silver and gold:

غدا سباقهم طعناً

وحازوا السبق بالفرِ

he takes the lead in thrusting,

while they win the race in flight.

ترى أرواحهم ورداً

لأواه الظبا البترِ

You see their souls as a draught

for the mouths of the severing blades.

فيقري الناس أطعمةً

بلذات الهنا تجري

So he serves people dishes

flowing with the delights of happiness;

وللأطيار أن سغبت

بأجسام العدى يقري

and for the birds, if they hunger,

he provides a feast of his enemies' bodies.

سريٌّ حل من سامي

المعالي رتبة الصدرِ

A nobleman who holds, among exalted

honors, the foremost rank.

كساه اللَه أثواب العلى

والسؤدد الطهرِ

God has clothed him in robes of eminence

and unsullied nobility.

سنيٌّ زاده عزّاً

ورشداً صالح الأمرِ

A radiant man, increased in honor

and sound judgment by upright conduct.

ألا يا أيها المولى

البشير بطالع النصرِ

O you, my lord,

Bashīr, under victory's rising star,

لبابك قد أتت تجلى

فتاة المدح والشكرِ

to your gate has come, to be unveiled,

the maiden of praise and gratitude.

فتاةٌ من بنات العر

ب قد لاحت من الفكرِ

A maiden, one of the daughters of the Arabs,

who has indeed emerged from thought.

سمت من مدحك الباهي

بجيدٍ مشرق النحرِ

She has risen through splendid praise of you,

with her neck and upper breast aglow.

عروس بالدعا وافت

وقامت بالثنا تجري

A bride, she has arrived with prayers,

and risen, flowing with praise.

فطوقها القبول لقد

غدت تفترُّ عن درّ

So adorn her neck with acceptance; indeed,

she has come to smile, revealing pearls.

ودم بالسعد ذا مصرٍ

وذا عزٍّ مدى الدهرِ

And endure in good fortune, master of a city,

and possessed of honor for all time.