حنين إلى الأوطان ليس يزول — Ibn Anin

حَنينٌ إِلى الأَوطانِ لَيسَ يَزولُ

وَقَلبٌ عَنِ الأَشواقِ لَيسَ يَحولُ

A longing for home that never fades,

And a heart that never turns away from longing.

أَبيتُ وَأَسرابُ النُجومِ كَأَنَّها

قُفولٌ تَهادى إِثرَهُنَّ قُفولُ

I spend the night while the flocks of stars seem

Returning caravans, with caravans swaying in their wake.

أُراقِبُها في اللَيلِ مِن كُلِّ مَطلَعٍ

كَأَنّي بِرَعيِ السائِراتِ كَفيلُ

I watch them at night as they rise from every quarter,

As though I were charged with tending the wanderers.

فَيا لَكَ مِن لَيلٍ نَأى عَنهُ صُبحُهُ

فَلَيسَ لَهُ فَجرٌ إِلَيهِ يَؤولُ

Oh, what a night, whose morning has gone far away!

There is no dawn for it to reach.

أَما لِعُقودِ النجمِ فيهِ تَصَرُّمٌ

أَما لِخضابِ اللَيلِ فيهِ نُصولُ

Will the necklaces of stars within it never break?

Will the dye of night never fade?

كَأَنَّ الثُرَيّا غُرَّةٌ وَهوَ أَدهَمٌ

لَهُ مِن وَميضِ الشِعريينِ حَجولُ

As though the Pleiades were a blaze, and night a black steed,

Whose white stockings are the gleam of the two Shiʿra stars.

أَلا لَيتَ شِعري هَل أَبيتَنَّ لَيلَةً

وَظِلُّكَ يا مَقرى عَلِيَّ ظَليلُ

Ah, would I knew: shall I ever spend a night

With your sheltering shade, O Maqra, over me?

وَهَل أَرَيني بَعدَما شَطَتِ النَوى

وَلي في رُبى رَوضٍ هُناكَ مَقيلُ

And shall I see myself, after separation has taken me far away,

With a noonday resting-place there on garden knolls?

دِمَشقُ فَبي شَوقٌ إِلَيها مُبَرَّحٌ

وَإِن لَجَّ واشٍ أَو أَلَحَّ عَذولُ

Damascus! I am racked with longing for her,

Even if a slanderer persists or a reprover insists.

دِيارٌ بِها الحَصباءُ دُرٌ وَتُربها

عَبيرٌ وَأَنفاسُ الشَمالِ شَمولُ

A land where the pebbles are pearls, and its soil

Is perfume, and the breaths of the north wind are wine.

تَسَلسلَ فيها ماؤُها وَهوَ مُطلقٌ

وَصَحَّ نَسيمُ الرَوضِ وَهوَ عَليلُ

Its water flows in chains there, though it is free,

And the garden breeze is hale, though ailing.

فَيا حَبَّذا الرَوضُ الَّذي دونَ عزَّتا

سُحَيراً إِذا هَبت عَلَيهِ قَبولُ

Oh, how lovely the garden this side of ʿAzzata,

Just before dawn, when an east wind blows upon it.

وَيا حَبَّذا الوادي إِذا ما تَدَفَّقَت

جَداوِلُ باناسٍ إِلَيهِ تَسيلُ

And oh, how lovely the valley, when there surge

The streams of Banas, flowing into it.

وَفي كَبِدي مِن قاسِيونَ حَزازَةٌ

تَزولُ رَواسيهِ وَلَيسَ تَزولُ

And in my liver is an ache for Qasiyun,

Its rooted heights may vanish, but the ache will not.

إِذا لاحَ بَرقٌ مِن سَنير تَدافَقَت

لِسُحبِ جُفوني في الخُدودِ سُيولُ

When lightning flashes from Sanir, there pour

Torrents down my cheeks from the clouds of my eyelids.

فَلِلَّهِ أَيّامي وَغُصنُ الصِبا بِها

وَريقٌ وَإِذ وَجهُ الزَمانِ صَقيلُ

God bless my days, when youth's bough was

Leafy, and when the face of time was polished bright.

هِيَ الغَرَضُ الأَقصى وَإِن لَم يَكُن بِها

صَديقٌ وَلَم يُصفِ الوِداد خَليلُ

She is my utmost goal, even if within her there is

No friend, and no companion offers sincere affection.

وَكَم قائِلٍ في الأَرضِ لِلحُرِّ مَذهَبٌ

إِذا جارَ دَهرٌ وَاِستَحالَ مَلولُ

And many a speaker says: the free man has somewhere on earth to go,

When fate is unjust and a fickle man turns away.

وَما نافِعي أَنَّ المِياهَ سَوائِحٌ

عِذابٌ وَلَم يُنقع بِهنَّ غَليلُ

Yet what use is it to me that the waters flow,

Sweet, when they have not quenched my burning thirst?

فَقَدتُ الصِبا وَالأَهلَ وَالدارَ وَالهَوى

فَلِلَّهِ صَبري إِنَّهُ لَجَميلُ

I have lost youth, family, home, and love;

God bless my patience: truly, it is beautiful.

وَوَاللَهِ ما فارَقتُها عِن مَلالَةٍ

سِوايَ عَنِ العَهدِ القَديمِ يَحولُ

And by God, I did not leave her out of weariness;

Someone other than I turns from the old pledge.

وَلَكِن أَبَت أَن تَحمِلَ الضَيمَ هِمَّتي

وَنَفسٌ لَها فَوقَ السِماكِ حُلولُ

But my high resolve refused to bear humiliation,

And so did my soul, whose dwelling is above al-Simak.

فَإِنَّ الفَتى يَلقى المَنايا مُكَرَّماً

وَيَكرَهُ طولَ العُمرِ وَهوَ ذَليلُ

For a young man will meet death with honor,

And loathe a long life lived in abasement.

تعافُ الوُرودَ الحائِماتُ مَع القَذى

وَلِلقَيظِ في أَكبادِهِنَّ صَليلُ

Those circling the water shun drinking when it is fouled,

Though summer's heat rings within their livers.

كَذلِكَ أَلقى اِبنُ الأَشَجِّ بِنَفسِهِ

وَلَم يَرضَ عمراً في الإِسارِ يَطولُ

Thus Ibn al-Ashajj cast himself to his death,

And would not accept a life prolonged in captivity.

سَأَلثُمُ إِن وافيتُها ذلِكَ الثَرى

وَهَيهاتَ حالَت دونَ ذاكَ حُؤولُ

If I reach her, I shall kiss that soil—

Yet how far away! Obstacles have barred the way to that,

وَمُلتَطِمُ الأَمواجِ جَونٌ كَأَنَّهُ

دُجى اللَيلِ نائي الشاطِئَينِ مَهولُ

And a dark sea of clashing waves, as though it were

Night's gloom, its shores far apart, fearsome.

يُعانِدُني صَرفُ الزَمانِ كَأَنَّما

عَلَيَّ لِأَحداثِ الزَمانِ ذُحولُ

Time's vicissitudes oppose me, as though

Time's calamities had blood-feuds against me.

عَلى أَنَّني وَالحَمدُ لِلَّهِ لَم أَزَل

أَصولُ عَلى أَحداثِهِ وَأَطولُ

Yet I—praise be to God—have never ceased

To assail its calamities and prevail.

أَيَعثُرُ بي دَهري عَلى ما يَسوءُني

وَلي في ذَرا المُلكِ العَزيزِ مَقيلُ

Will my fate trip me into what would grieve me,

When I have a noonday refuge on the heights of mighty dominion?

وَكَيفَ أَخافُ الفَقرَ أَو أُحرمُ الغِنى

وَرَأيُ ظَهيرِ الدينِ فِيَّ جَميلُ

And how should I fear poverty, or be denied wealth,

When Zahir al-Din holds me in good regard?

مِنَ القَومِ أَمّا أَحنَفٌ فَمُسفَّهٌ

لَدَيهِم وَأَمّا حاتِمٌ فَبَخيلُ

He is of a people—as for Ahnaf, he is deemed a fool

Among them; and as for Hatim, a miser.

فَتى المَجدِ أَما جارُهُ فَمُمَنَّعٌ

عَزيزٌ وَأَمّا ضدُّهُ فَذَليلُ

A man of glory: his neighbor is well protected,

Honored; but his opponent is abased.

وَأَمّا عَطايا كَفِّهِ فَسَوابِغٌ

عِذابٌ وَأَمّا ظِلُّهُ فَظَليلُ

And as for the gifts of his hand, they are abundant,

Sweet; and as for his shade, it is ample.