يا صاح أين مضى قلبي فأطلبه — Dhafer Al Haddad

يا صاحِ أينَ مضى قلبي فأطْلُبه

قد غاب مُذْ غاب عن عيني وأندُبه

O friend, where has my heart gone, that I might seek it?

It vanished when he vanished from my sight, and I lament it.

قد كنتُ أَندُب قلبي بعد ساكنه

فصرت أندب أحبابي وأنُدبه

I once mourned my heart after its dweller left;

now I mourn my loved ones and mourn it too.

قد كنتُ حَذَّرتُه من فِعْلِ غادرةٍ

فذاقَ ما كنتُ أخشاه وأَحسَبه

I had warned it against a faithless woman's deeds;

it tasted what I had feared and expected.

عجبتُ كيف ضلوعي منه خاليةٌ

لكنَّها ما خَلا منها تَلهُّبُه

I marvel that my ribs are empty of it,

yet its burning has never left them.

هو الذي غايةُ الأهوالِ أَهْوَنُه

صعوبةً وأَمَرُّ الصَّابِ أَعْذَبُه

It is that whose mildest trial is the height of terrors

in hardship, and whose sweetest is the bitterest sap.

بالرغمِ ما كابدَتْ بعد النَّوَى كَبِدى

وبالضرورة من قلبي تَقُّلبه

Against my will, my liver has suffered since parting,

and of necessity my heart tosses restlessly.

قد مَلَّني الليلُ مما بِتُّ أَسْهَرُه

ورَقَّ لي النجمُ مما بتّ أرقُبه

Night has wearied of me, so long have I stayed awake through it;

the star has pitied me, so long have I watched it.

قد شِبْتُ في طولِ هذا الليلِ من أَسفٍ

أَمَا يَلوح له صبحٌ يُشيِّبه

I have grown gray with sorrow through this long night;

will no dawn appear to turn it gray?

كأنما الليلُ يُغْشى الصبحَ مَغْرِبه

فكلَّما هَمَّ أَنْ ينشقّ يَشْعبُه

As though night's dusk were veiling the dawn:

whenever dawn tries to break, night seals it shut.

أو النجومُ عِطاشٌ وهْوَ مَوْرِدُهم

فكلَّما فاض نورٌ منه تَشْربه

Or the stars are thirsty, and dawn is their watering place:

whenever light pours from it, they drink it up.

تُرَى يزولُ بِعادٌ صار يُبعِده

عني ويَرجِع لي قُرْبٌ يُقرِّبه

I wonder: will the estrangement that keeps him far away end

from me, and will closeness return to bring him near?

للهِ دَرُّ لَيالٍ كُنَّ من قِصَرٍ

يأتي أَوائُلها بالصُّبْحِ يَجْنُبه

God bless those nights, which were so short

that their beginnings brought dawn along at their side.

وما تَغنَّت حَماماتُ العَشىِّ لنا

إلا وجاوَبها في الصُّبْحِ مُطْرِبهُ

No evening doves sang for us

without dawn's songster answering them.

وللصَّبا خَلَلَ الأغصانِ وَسْوَسةٌ

كالصَّبِّ للحِبِّ يشكوه ويُعْتِبه

The east wind whispers through the branches,

like a lover complaining of his beloved and reproaching him.

والروضُ يَبْعَثُ مِسْكا من نَوافِجِه

والطَّلُّ يَفْتُقه والريح تَجْلبِه

The garden sends out musk from its musk-pods;

dew releases it, and the wind carries it.

وقد تَبسَّم نَوْرٌ من كَمائِمه

فَلاحَ فِضيُّه الزاهي ومُذْهَبه

Blossoms have smiled from their calyxes,

and their radiant silver and gold shone forth.

وقد تَبدَّتْ دنانيرُ البَهار على ال

كثبانِ تُطْرِف رائيها وتُعْجِبه

And the bahar flowers' dinars appeared upon the

dunes, delighting their beholder and filling him with wonder.

صفرٌ كناظِرَتَيْ ليثٍ تَكنَّفَه

ليلٌ وقد حان من صيدٍ تَوثُّبه

Yellow as the two eyes of a lion enfolded

by night, with the moment for its pounce upon prey at hand.

وللشَّقيقِ احمرارٌ حين أَخْجَله

ضَحْكُ الأَقاحيِّ حتى كاد يُغْضِبه

The anemone reddened, put to shame

by the daisies' laughter, which almost angered it.

كَوَجْنةِ التَّرِف المعشوقِ نَقَّطها

بالنَّقْشِ فارتاع أنْ يدرِي مُؤَدِّبه

Like the cheek of a pampered beloved, who dotted it

with painted marks, then feared his tutor would find out.

والغصن يرقُص والدُّولاب زامِرهُ

وللضفادعِ إيقاعٌ تُرتِّبه

The branch dances, the waterwheel its piper,

and the frogs arrange a rhythmic beat.

والماءُ قد عَبِثتْ كفُّ النسيمِ به

كسيفِ مرتعِشٍ أَضْحَى يجرِّبه

The water, toyed with by the breeze's hand,

is like a sword a trembling man has begun to test.

والليلُ زَنجيةٌ وَلَّتْ وقد نَشَرتْ

من شعرها وافرَ الفَرْعين تَسْحَبه

Night is a Black woman retreating, having loosened

the abundant twin tresses of her hair, trailing them behind her.

والبدرُ في الأفُق الغربيِّ متسقا

والغيمُ يكسوه جلبابا ويسلبه

The full moon is round on the western horizon,

and clouds clothe it in a robe, then strip it bare.

كخدِّ محبوبةٍ تبدو لعاشِقها

فإنْ بَدا لَهما واشٍ تُنَقِّبُه

Like the cheek of a beloved revealing herself to her lover:

if an informer appears to them, she veils it.

وأقبل الصبحُ كالسلطان في بَهَج

يُدْلِي على الجوِّ أنوارا تُجَلْبِبه

Dawn approaches like a sovereign in splendor,

letting down upon the sky lights that robe it,

كأنه غُرَّة المُختارِ حين بَدا

يَحُفُّه في جيوش النصرِ مَوْكِبُه

as though it were al-Mukhtar's radiant brow when he appeared,

his retinue surrounding him amid armies of victory.

عيني التي ظَلمتْ قلبي بما جَلَبت

له وأظلمُ من عيني مُؤنِّبه

My eye is what wronged my heart through what it brought

upon it; more unjust than my eye is he who rebukes it.

يا عاذِلي أين سَمْعي منك وهْو إذا

تَبيَّن الرُّشْدَ من لومٍ يُكذِّبه

O my reproacher, how far my hearing is from you! Even when it

discerns sound guidance in reproach, it calls it false.

يَعي بقيةَ سِرٍّ كان أَوْدَعه

عندَ الغرامِ نَقىُّ الثَّغْرِ اَشْنَبُه

It retains the remnant of a secret once entrusted to it

in love, by one pure of mouth, with cool, lustrous teeth.

فعافَ كلَّ كلامٍ بعد مَنْطِقِه

وزاد عن لفظِ من يَلْحَى تَجنُّبه

So it rejected all speech after his words,

and shuns the words of reproachers ever more.

لو لاح بابُ خَلاصِى كنتُ أدخلُه

أو ذلَّ ظهرُ جوادِي كنت أركبه

If a door to my deliverance appeared, I would enter it;

or if my steed's back yielded, I would mount it.

فالدهرُ يُسْرِع في عالي أوامرِه

والسعدُ يَتْبَعُه والعزُّ يَحْجُبه

For Time hastens to fulfill his lofty commands,

Fortune follows him, and glory guards his presence.

مَلْكٌ تُطيع العَوالي أمَره أبدا

فالسيفُ والدهرُ يَخْشاه ويَرْهَبه

A king whose command the high lances always obey;

the sword and Time both fear and dread him.

فالرمحُ يهتزُّ تِيها حينَ يَرْكُزه

ويزدَهي الطِّرْفُ عُجبا حينَ يَرْكبه

The spear quivers proudly when he plants it,

and the noble steed exults in pride when he rides it.

فذا على قمم الأبطالِ يَرْكُضه

وذاك من مُهَج الأٌقرانِ يَخْضِبه

This one he gallops over the heads of champions;

that one he stains with his rivals' lifeblood.

نَجابَةٌ من نَجيب الدولة اجتمعَتْ

فليس يَعْدم تَصْديقا مُلَقِّبه

All nobility is gathered in Najib al-Dawla,

so whoever gave him his title never lacks its proof.

ذو راحةٍ عُرِفت بالعُرْف لو لَمَسَتْ

صخرا لأَثْمَر عند اللمسِ أَصْلَبه

His is a palm famed for kindness: if it touched

a rock, its hardest part would bear fruit at that touch.

عَجِبتُ منها وما الإمساك عادتها

فكيف تَحْوى عِنانا حين تَجْذبه

I marvel at it, for holding back is not its habit:

how does it hold a rein when it draws it?

فالنيلُ والبحر من جَدْواه في خَجَل

والسُّحْب تَحْقِر ما تَهْمِي وتَسْكُبه

The Nile and sea feel shame before his bounty,

and the clouds scorn what they rain and pour down.

ولو رأى حاتمُ الطائيُّ أَيْسَرَ ما

يُعْطِي لأيقنَ أنَّ الشُّحَّ مَذْهبُه

If Hatim al-Ta'i saw the least of what

he gives, he would know miserliness was his own way.

ول وُصفتَ لقُسٍّ كنتَ تُفْحِمه

ولو ذُكرتَ لعَمرٍ وكنتَ تُرْعِبه

Were you described to Quss, you would leave him speechless;

and were you mentioned to Amr, you would terrify him.

أَضَحَتْ بعَدْلِك أرضُ الشرق مُشْرِقةً

ثم انْجلى عن ظلامِ الليل غَيْهَبُه

Through your justice the land of the East has grown radiant;

then the black gloom lifted from the darkness of night.

فكلُّ طالبِ بَغْىٍ منك في حَرَجٍ

أجَلُّ عفوِك عنه حين تَصْلُبه

Every seeker of wrongdoing is in straits because of you;

your greatest pardon for him is to crucify him.

فللمُؤِالفِ إنعامٌ يقابلُه

وللمُخالفِ سَيَّافٌ يُعَصبِّه

For the ally, there is favor to greet him;

for the opponent, an executioner to bind him.

وسار خوفُك في بَدْوٍ وفي حَضَرٍ

فلم تَدَعْ منهما من لا تُهذِّبه

Fear of you has spread among nomads and townsfolk;

you have left none in either whom you have not disciplined,

حتى انتهى عن ضعيفِ الوحش أَغْلَبُها

ونام في أُجُمِ الآسادِ رَبْرَبه

until the fiercest beasts desist from preying on the weak,

and the gazelles sleep in the lions' thickets.

بمن نُشبِّه في الدنيا فَضائَلك ال

عُليا فنُدْنِيه منها أو فنَنْسُبه

To whom in this world can we liken your virtues—

so lofty—and bring him close to them or claim his kinship?

وما تركتُ بلادي معْ رَغيبتها

إلا وجودُك بالإحسانِ يوجِبُه

I did not leave my homeland, for all its attractions,

except because your generous kindness required it.

هذا على أنّ شعري غيرُ مبتَذَلٍ

فيمن سواك ولو أَضْحى يُرغِّبه

And this though my verse is not cheaply spent

on anyone but you, however much he might desire it.

لي همّةٌ تهجر المرعى الدَّنىَّ على خِصْبٍ

وتأتي العُلَى لو لاح أَجْدَبه

Mine is an ambition that shuns lowly pasture, though lush,

and seeks the heights, though their barrenness be plain.

وقد قَصدتُك والدنيا ومَن جَمَعتْ

كلٌّ يُسدِّد رأيي بل يُصوِّبه

I have come seeking you, while the world and all it holds

all guide my judgment aright—indeed, affirm it.

فاخطُب وصَلِّ وعَيِّدْ راقيا رُتَبا

يُضْنِي حَسودَك مَرآها ويُكْرِبه

So preach, pray, and celebrate the feast, ascending ranks

whose sight wastes your envier and fills him with grief.

لا زلتَ تبقَى جمالاً للوَرَى أبدا

ما أصبح الدهرُ يُدْنِيه ويُقْربِه

May you ever remain an adornment to all creation,

as long as Time keeps bringing it nearer and closer.