سيان ستر غرامي فيك والعدم — Dhafer Al Haddad

سِيّان سترُ غرامي فيكِ والعَدَمُ

أَسْكنتُه حيث لا تَرْقَى له التهَم

Concealing my passion for you is as good as not concealing it.

I lodged it where suspicions cannot rise to reach it.

ليس السماحةُ بالأسرار من شِيَمى

فالشُّحُّ بالسر في دين الهوى كرم

Sharing secrets freely is not among my ways,

for in love's faith, hoarding a secret is generosity.

وقد تحمَّل حتى هجرِكم جَلَدى

لكنْ مع البينِ لم يثبُت له قَدَم

My fortitude even bore your desertion,

but with separation it could not keep its footing.

فإن تُفُرِّس بي ظنٌّ فموجِبُه

خَليفتاك علىَّ الدمعُ والسَّقَم

If a suspicion about me is divined, its cause is

your two deputies over me: tears and sickness.

هَبْني اعتذرتُ لسُقْمى أنه مرض

ما حِيلتي في دموعٍ وَبْلُها دِيَم

Suppose I excused my wasting as mere illness:

what recourse have I against tears whose torrents are unceasing rain?

جرتْ كجرىِ المطايا يومَ بَيْنِكُم

عن مُقلتي فهْي في ألأجفانَ تزدحم

They streamed like racing mounts on the day you left,

from my eye, and they throng along the eyelids.

دمعٌ وأحسَب قلبي ذاب بعدكمُ

شوقا ففاضتْ به عيناي وهْو دم

Tears—yet I think my heart melted after you left,

from longing, and my eyes overflowed with it as blood.

إني لأَعجبُ من قلبٍ تَلهُّبُه

ما بينَ جنبيَّ باقٍ وهْو عندكمُ

I truly marvel at a heart whose blaze

endures within my breast, although the heart is with you.

لقد تَخوَّف حتى لا يخاف أسى

وقد تألمّ حتى ما به ألم

It has feared so much that it fears no sorrow,

and suffered so much that no pain remains in it.

أين العهودُ التي كانتْ بكاظمةٍ

عيناك أَوْهَمتاني أنها ذِمَم

Where are the pledges made at Kazimah,

which your eyes led me to believe were binding vows?

حيث لنسيمُ عليلٌ والكثيب نَدٍ

والروض حالٍ وعِقْدُ الطَّلِّ منتظم

Where the breeze was gentle and the dune moist,

and the meadow adorned, and dew's necklace neatly strung;

والطيرُ تشدو على الأغصان مُطرِبةً

كما تَغَّنت بألحانٍ لها العَجَم

and birds sang enchantingly upon the branches,

as non-Arabs sing melodies of their own:

شَدْوٌ يفيد مَعاني اللهوِ مُجمَلةً

لسامعيه بلفظٍ ليس يَنْفَهِم

a song conveying the sense of merriment in broad outline

to its listeners, in words they cannot understand.

والماءُ تكسوه أنفاسُ الصَّبا زَرَدا

مقدَّرا فيه مَسْرود ومنفِصم

And the east wind's breaths clothed the water in mail,

well-proportioned, with links joined and others broken,

خلالَ أخضرَ لم يَعْبَث بزاهرِه

إلا النسيمُ وطَلٌّ بارد شَبِم

amid a green meadow whose blossoms none had touched

except the breeze and cold, chill dew.

تدنو الشَّقيقةُ فيه من أَقاحَتِه

حتى كأنهما خد ومُبْتَسَم

There the anemone draws close to the meadow's daisies,

until the two seem a cheek and a smiling mouth.

كأَنه قد تَغذَّى من نوالِ أبى

عبد الإله الذي تَرْوَى به الأُمَم

It is as though it had fed on the bounty of Abu

Abd al-Ilah, through whom nations slake their thirst.

وقولُ لا ليس يبدو في عبارته

حتما وأكثرُ مسموع له نَعَم

The word 'no' never appears in his speech,

certainly; what is most often heard from him is 'yes.'

هذا على أنها شكر يفضَّله

فعلا فقول نعم من فضله نِعَم

Yet this is praise that he surpasses

in action: through his bounty, his 'yes' becomes blessings.

أَحيْا له اللهُ مَنْ أحيا الأنامَ به

عمرا يجدده التأبيد والقِدَم

May God preserve for him the one through whom He revived mankind,

for a lifetime renewed by eternity and the ages:

الأفضلَ الملك العَدْل الذي عَظُمتْ

أفعالُه ولها يُسْتَحقَرُ العِظَم

al-Afdal, the just king: so mighty are

his deeds that greatness itself seems small beside them.

يَخِرُّ ذو المُلْكِ من تذكارْه رَهَبا

من السرير ويَفْنَى خوفَه البُهَم

At the thought of him, a monarch falls in terror

from his throne, and champions perish from fear of him.

أحيا مَناقبَه طِيبُ الثناءِ بما

أوْلَى وأخبارُ أملاكِ الورى رِمَم

Sweet praise has kept his virtues alive for what

he bestowed, while tales of the world's kings are moldering bones.

يُعطي إذا بخلوا يَدْرِي إذا جَهِلوا

يأْوِى إذا رَفَضوا يبني إذا هدموا

He gives when they are miserly, knows when they are ignorant;

he shelters when they reject, builds when they demolish.

فاختاره اللهُ واختارتْك همتُه ال

عُليا التي عجزت عن بعِضها الهِمم

So God chose him, and his resolve chose you—

the lofty resolve that other ambitions cannot match even in part.

يا من إذا خاف فَوْتا غيرُ آمِله

من مطلبٍ فله من قصده كَرَم

O you, when those not hoping in you fear failure

in a quest, whoever seeks you finds generosity.

إليك أشكو زمانا ظَلَّ حادِثُه

يَعْدو على حَطِّيَ الواهِي وينتقِم

To you I complain of an age whose calamity keeps

assailing my frail lot and taking vengeance.

وقد تَمادَى على ظُلْمِي وأنت له

مَوْلىً وجودُك فيما بيننا حَكم

It has persisted in wronging me, though you are its

master, and your generosity is judge between us.

وحقِّ ما فيك من جودٍ ومن كرمٍ

فما يُشاب بحِنْثٍ ذلك القَسَم

By the right of the bounty and generosity within you—

that oath is never tainted by perjury—

القائد السيد النَّدْب الذي خُلِقت

لراحتيه اللُّهَى والسيف والقلم

the commander, the lord, the gallant man, for whose

two palms were created gifts, the sword, and the pen.

أقلُّ ما فيه من فضل ومن كرم

تَحارُ في وصفه الأشعارُ والحِكم

Even the least of his excellence and generosity

leaves poems and wise sayings at a loss to describe it.

إذا أُولُوا الفضلِ غالُوا في مدائحِه

منها فقد جَهِلُوا أضعافَ ماعلموا

When men of excellence go to extremes in praising him,

they remain ignorant of many times what they know of his virtues.

في جرأةِ السيفِ من إقدامه شَبَهٌ

وفي ندى الغيثِ من إعطائه شِيَمُ

The sword's daring bears a likeness to his bold advance,

and the rain's bounty has traits of his giving.

يكاد خاطِرهُ لولا نَدى يدِه

إذا تكرر فيه الفكرُ يَضْطرِم

His mind, but for the dew of his hand, would almost

burst into flame when thought recurs within it.

تبدو شموسُ المَعاني من بَديهتِه

إذا دَجَتْ في رَوِياّتِ النُّهَى الظُّلَم

Suns of meaning rise from his spontaneous wit

when darkness gathers over reason's deliberations.

له من العزمِ ما اشتدتْ مَريرتُه

فليس يَعْقُبه في فعله ندم

His resolve has a cord so tightly twisted

that no regret follows his deeds.

يرىفي اليومِ ما يأتِي به غَدُه

والشهرُ والعامُ حتى ليسَ يَنْخرِم

He sees today what his tomorrow will bring,

and the month and year, with nothing missed.

سعادةُ الدهرِ أنْ يأتي ببُغْيَتِه

تجرِي وأيامُه في قَصدِه خَدم

Time's good fortune is to bring him what he desires;

it races on, its days servants to his purpose.

تَناسبَ الناسُ طُرّا في مَحبَّتِه

كأنما جُبِلت من ذلك النَّسَم

All people are kin in their love for him,

as though souls were fashioned from that love.

قَضى به اللهُ حاجاتِ النفوسِ فلا

كِبْرٌ يُؤَخِّره عنها ولا سأم

Through him God has fulfilled the needs of souls; neither

pride keeps him from them, nor weariness.

وكلُّ فضلٍ ففي كفَّيْهِ مَوْرِدُه

جَمْعا ومن راحتَيْه يُقْسَم القِسَم

Every excellence has its source in his two hands,

all gathered there; from his palms the shares are divided.

لا خاب وافدُ مالٍ قد أتاكَ به

حادِى الرجاءِ بحبلٍ منك يَعتصِم

May no seeker of wealth fail, brought to you

by hope's camel-driver, clinging to a rope from you.

فاهتْ بحمدِك حتى الطير صادحةً

فشَكْرُها ذلك الترجيعُ والنَّغَم

Even the birds have voiced your praise in song;

their thanks are those trills and melodies.

من أكرمَ الناسَ إكراما مَنَتْ به

فشكرُه مثلُ شكرٍ نِلْتَه لَزِم

Whoever honors people with the favor you bestowed

is owed thanks like the thanks you have received.

ومن بنى في المعالي ما بنيتَ بها

فإنه بين ساداتِ الورى عَلَم

Whoever builds in glory's heights what you have built there

is a landmark among the lords of mankind.

فاسعَدْ بوافدِ عيدِ النحرِ مُقتبِلا

أَمثالَه في سرورٍ ليس يَنصرِم

So rejoice in the coming Feast of Sacrifice, welcoming

its like again in joy that never ends,

في ظلِّ نعمةِ شاهِنْشاهَ مشتملا

بفضلِه حيث لا ضعفٌ ولا هَرَم

under the shade of Shahanshah's favor, enfolded

in his bounty, where there is no weakness or old age.