ذكرت بلجاء بالإصباح منبلجا — Ibn Alabar

ذَكَرْتُ بَلْجاءَ بالإصباحِ مُنبلِجا

وَقَدْ تنفّس عنْ أنفاسِهَا أرَجا

I remembered a bright-faced maiden as morning broke,

and it breathed forth fragrance from her breath.

وَما نَسِيتُ بإهزاجِ الحمامِ ضُحىً

جرْس الحُليّ وَلا وسواسَهُ الهَزِجا

Nor, amid the doves' lilting coos in the forenoon, did I forget

the chime of her jewelry or its lilting whisper,

غَداةَ زارَتْ وَللخَلْخالِ من خَرَسٍ

ما للوشاحِ من الإفْصاحِ مُعْتَلِجا

the morning she visited, when her anklet was as mute

as her sash was eloquent, its speech surging forth.

نَجْديّة أتْهَمت تَقْضي مَناسِكَها

فَلم تدَعْ يَوْمَ طافَتْ للحَجيجِ حِجَى

A woman of Najd, she entered Tihama to perform her rites;

so, the day she made her circuit, she left the pilgrims witless.

وَضّاحَةٌ بَلَجاً نَفّاحةٌ أرجا

حَسّانةٌ فَلَجاً فتّانَةٌ دَعَجا

Radiant in brightness, wafting rich fragrance,

lovely in her spaced teeth, bewitching in her dark eyes.

تَفوتُ كُلّ فَتَاةٍ في محَاسِنِها

بِما تفُتُّ بهِ الأرْوَاح والمُهجَا

She surpasses every maiden in her charms,

with which she crushes souls and hearts.

فالخصْرُ يُنْهضُها ظَمآنَ مُندمِجاً

والرِّدف يُنْبِضُها رَيَّانَ مُنْتَفجا

So her waist lifts her, thirsty and drawn tight,

and her rump sets her swaying, well-watered and swelling.

ضِدٌّ لِغُرّتِها بادٍ بطُرّتِها

للّهِ رَأْدُ الضُّحى يَغْشاهُ جُنحُ دُجى

A contrast to her bright forehead appears in her fringe:

how wondrous the risen morning, veiled by a wing of darkness!

كَلفْتُ لِلْحُسنِ فيها بِالغرامِ فَما

قَرّ المَلام عَلى سَمعِي ولا وَلَجا

I was consumed with passion for her beauty, so no

reproach settled upon my hearing or entered it.

قَد عَلّمَتني الغَواني أن أدينَ لَها

ولَيسَ يجْهدُ عوُدٌ يحملُ الغُنُجا

The beauties have taught me to submit to her,

and a bough bearing coy grace does not weary one.

حُبّي صُرَاحٌ فلا أبْلَلْتُ منْ دَنَفٍ

إنْ شِيبَ يوماً بِسُلْوان وَإن مُزِجا

My love is undiluted; may I never recover from lovesickness

if ever it is diluted with forgetfulness or blended with it.

هَذي التّباريحُ لَم تَبرَح محرّمَةً

عِلاج ما شَفّني مِنها وَما لَعَجا

These agonies have never ceased forbidding

a cure for what in them has wasted and scorched me.

لاَ أرْتَضي غَدْر ساجِي الطَرْف غَادَرَني

أَرْعَى النجومَ إذَا الليْلُ البَهيم سَجَا

I do not accept the treachery of the languid-eyed one, who left me

watching the stars when the pitch-black night grew still.

حَمَى القَرارَ فُؤادِي وَالكَرَى بَصرِي

وأزعَجَتْه دَواعي البَيْنِ فانزَعَجا

He denied my heart repose and my eyes sleep;

and separation's summons drove him away, so he departed.

طَفِقْتُ ألهج فيه بالنسيبِ وإن

عَهِدْته باجتِنابي مُولَعاً لَهِجا

I began to speak ceaselessly of him in love poetry, though

I knew him obsessed with shunning me, ever intent upon it.

كأنّه الزّمنُ العَادِي عَلى أدَبي

يَسومُني الصّبرَ فيما شَجّني وَشَجا

As though he were Time, assailing my literary art,

demanding patience of me for what wounded and grieved me.

إذَا اسْتَرحتُ إليهِ زادَني وَصَبا

كأنّ ذاك على مِنوالِ ذَا نُسِجا

Whenever I seek rest with him, he increases my pain,

as though that one had been woven on this one's loom.

يا شِدّةُ اليأسِ إن يُئِّست فيك فَقَد

أضحَى رَجاءَ وَلِيِّ العهد لي فرَجا

O crushing despair, if I am made hopeless in you, indeed

hope in the crown prince has become my deliverance.

سَلِيلُ يَحيى بنُ عبدِ الواحِدِ بنِ أبي

حَفص بن يَحيى فَيا للسؤْدَدِ اتشَجا

The scion of Yahya ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi

Hafs ibn Yahya—how nobility is entwined!

مَلْكٌ تَبَحْبَحَ في العَلياءِ مُقْتَفِياً

مَا سَنَّ آباؤه فيها ومُنْتَهجا

A king dwelling at ease in lofty glory, following

what his fathers established there, and treading their path.

بيْنَ السماحِ وبَينَ البأسِ مُنقَسمٌ

فالعَالَمونَ عَلى خَوْفٍ لَهُ وَرَجا

He is divided between generosity and martial might,

so all the world looks to him with fear and hope.

سِرُّ المَكَارِم يَبْدو في أسِرّتِه

وعادَة الشمسِ ألا تَعدُو الوَهَجا

The secret of noble virtues appears in the lines of his brow,

and the sun's way is never to forsake its glow.

يَأبى وأسْعدهُ عَنْهُ مُقَاتِلَةٌ

أن يخلعَ الدِّرعَ حتَّى يلْبسَ الرَّهَجا

He refuses, though warriors aid him in his stead,

to cast off his armor until he wears the dust of battle.

لا يَحْسبُ الحرْبَ إلا رَوْضَةً أُنُفا

ماجَتْ دِماءُ الأَعادِي وسطَها خُلُجا

He considers war nothing but a pristine meadow,

where enemies' blood surged in streams.

كالمُشتَري أسعُداً لكِن مَكانَتُهُ

فَاتَتْ مَدى زُحَل يا شَدّ ما عَرَجا

Like Jupiter in good fortune, yet his station

has surpassed Saturn's reach—oh, how high he has ascended!

مُدّتْ عَن البَحرِ من يُمناهُ قاذِفَةٌ

بِكُلِّ عارِفَةٍ جُسْمَى وَلا حرَجا

From his right hand stretches an outpouring drawn from the sea,

casting every mighty kindness without restraint.

حَسبُ الخِلافَةِ تَفْويضٌ لذِي حَسب

مُؤَثّلٍ سَبقَ الأحْقَابَ والحِجَجَا

It suffices the caliphate to be entrusted to one of noble lineage,

deep-rooted, preceding the ages and the years,

مُخاصِماً عَنه بِالبيضِ الحِدادِ وَمَنْ

يَخصِمْ بِألسُنِها في لُجة فَلَجا

championing it with keen white swords; and whoever

contends with their tongues in the deep tumult prevails.

عَليهِ أن يُثلجَ الدّينُ الحَنيفُ بهِ

قَلبا وَلولا صليُّ الحربِ ما ثَلِجا

It is his charge that, through him, the upright faith find coolness

of heart; without war's blaze, it would not be cooled.

هادٍ لِقَصْدِ أبيهِ المُرْتَضى عَلَماً

لِجَبر ما انهاضَ أو إِصْلاح ما مَرِجا

A beacon guiding toward his worthy father's purpose,

to mend what was broken anew, or repair what fell into disorder.

للّهِ مَشْرُوعُ آثارٍ تَقَبّلَهَا

هُداهُ فاعْتدها أهلُ الهُدى حُجَجا

How wondrous the prescribed traditions embraced

by his guidance, and counted as proofs by the rightly guided.

مُطَهّراً من بينِهِ كُلَّ مَن طَهُرتْ

أعْرَاقُه وَتَرقّتْ في العُلى دَرَجا

Purifying each one among his own whose pure

ancestral roots climbed, step by step, to the heights.

يَمْشي لإعْذارِهِ ثَبْتاً وخاتِنُهُ

يَظَلُّ مُرْتَعِشاً بالذُّعرِ مرْتَعِجا

He walks steadfastly to his circumcision, while his circumciser

remains trembling with dread, shaking all over.

كأنَّما اعتادَ صَبْراً لِلكُلوم فَلَمْ

يَجْزَع لأحْلامِ آسِيهِ وَلا نَشَجا

As though accustomed to bearing wounds patiently, he did not

panic at his healer's dreams, nor sob.

يَحْلُو بأفْواهِهم إيلامُهُم كَرَماً

وَقَد يَمُرُّ لِسِرّ فيهمُ انبَلَجا

Their suffering tastes sweet in their mouths, through nobility,

yet it may turn bitter, for a secret revealed within them.

مُفَهّمونَ مِن الحُسنى عَواقِبهَا

فَما يَزيغونَ عَن مِنهاجِها عِوجا

They have been taught the outcomes of goodness,

so they never stray crookedly from its path.

وَكَمْ تَمامٍ يَكُونُ النقْصُ أَوَّله

قَطُّ الذُّبالِ يُوَفّي ضَوْؤُهُ السرُجا

And how often completeness begins with loss:

trimming the wicks makes their light fill the lamps.

خِفْ من نَداهُم إذا قَبّلت أنمُلَهُم

فَربَّما زَخَرَتْ أيْمانُهُم لُجَجَا

Beware of their bounty when you kiss their fingertips,

for their right hands may swell into deep seas.

وَلا يُؤَمِّنكَ من إقدامِهِم صِغَرٌ

فالسقطُ مِن شَأنِهِ أن يُحرِقَ الحَرَجا

Nor let their small size make you feel safe from their daring:

for a spark can burn the woodland.

هُمُ المُلوكُ وَأَبناءُ المُلوكِ فَلا

زالَ الزّمانُ بهِم يزدانُ مُبْتَهِجا

They are kings and sons of kings; may

Time never cease to be adorned by them, rejoicing.