جعل العتاب إلى الصدود توصلا — Ibn Anin

جَعلَ العِتابَ إِلى الصُدودِ تَوَصُّلا

ريمٌ رَمى فَأَصابَ مِنّي المَقتَلا

He made reproach a means of turning away—

a gazelle who shot and struck me in a vital spot.

أَغراهُ بي واشٍ تَقَوَّلَ كاذِباً

فَأَطاعَهُ وَعَصيتُ فيهِ العُذَّلا

A talebearer incited him against me with invented lies;

so he obeyed him, while I defied the blamers for his sake.

وَرَأى اِصطِباري عَن هَواهُ فَظَنَّهُ

مَلَلاً وَكانَ تقيةً وَتَجَمُّلا

He saw my patient restraint from loving him and thought it

weariness, though it was caution and dignified composure.

هَيهاتَ أَن يَمحو هَواهُ الدَهرُ مِن

قَلبي وَلَو كانَت قَطيعَتُهُ قِلى

Never could time erase love for him from

my heart, even were his estrangement born of hatred.

ما عَمَّهُ بِالحُسنِ عَنبَرُ خالِهِ

إِلّا لِيُصبِحَ بِالسَوادِ مجمَّلا

The ambergris of his mole clothed him in beauty

only that its blackness might adorn him.

صافي أَديم الوَجهِ ما خَطَّت يَدا الـ

ـأَيّامِ في خَدَّيهِ سَطراً مشكلا

His face is clear-skinned; the hands of

time have traced no vowel-marked line upon his cheeks.

كُلٌّ مُقِرٌّ بِالجَمالِ لَهُ فَما

يَحتاجُ حاكِمُ حسنه أَن يُسجلا

Everyone acknowledges his beauty, so

the judge of his beauty need not record a judgment.

يَفتَرُّ عَن مِثلِ الأَقاحِ كَأَنَّما

عَلَّت مَنابِتُهُ رَحيقاً سَلسَلا

He smiles, revealing daisy-like teeth, as though

their roots had drunk smooth, pure wine anew.

تَرِفٌ تخالُ بَنانَهُ في كَفِّهِ

قُضُبَ اللُجَينِ وَلا أَقولُ الإِسحِلا

So delicate, you would take his fingers in his palm

for rods of silver—not, I say, of the isḥil tree.

ما أَرسَلَت قَوسُ الحَواجِبِ أَسهُماً

مِن لَحظِهِ إِلّا أَصابَت مَقتَلا

The bow of his eyebrows never loosed arrows

from his glance without striking a vital spot.

فَكَأَنَّ طرَّتَهُ وَضَوءَ جَبينِهِ

وَضَحُ الصَباحِ يَقِلُّ لَيلاً أَليَلا

It is as though his forelock and his brow's radiance

were morning's brightness bearing aloft a pitch-dark night.

عاطَيتُهُ صَهباءَ كَلَّلَ كَأسَها

حَبَبُ المِزاجِ بِلُؤلُؤٍ ما فُصِّلا

I shared tawny wine with him; its cup was crowned

by the blend's bubbles—pearls not set apart.

تَبدو بِكَفِّ مُديرِها أَنوارُها

فَتُعيدُ كافورَ الأَنامِلِ صَندَلا

Its gleams appear in the hand of its cupbearer,

turning the camphor of his fingertips to sandalwood,

في رَوضَةٍ بِالنَيربَينِ أَريضَةٍ

رَضَعَت أَفاويقَ السَحائِبِ حُفَّلا

in a fertile garden at al-Nayrabayn,

which suckled draught after draught from full-uddered clouds.

أَنّى اِتَّجَهتَ رَأَيتَ ماءً سائِحاً

مُتَدَفِّقاً أَو يانِعاً مُتَهَدِّلا

Wherever you turned, you saw water flowing,

gushing, or ripe fruit hanging low.

فَكَأَنَّما أَطيارُها وَغُصونُها

نَغَمُ القِيانِ عَلى عَرائِسَ تُجتَلى

Its birds and branches seemed like

singing girls' melodies over brides unveiled.

وَكَأَنَّما الجَوزاءُ أَلقَت زُهرَها

فيها وَأَرسَلَتِ المجرَّةُ جَدوَلا

And it is as though al-Jawza had cast its bright stars

into it, and the Milky Way had sent forth a stream.

وَيَمُرُّ مُعتَلُّ النَسيمِ بِرَوضِها

فَتَخالُ عَطّاراً يُحَرِّقُ مَندَلا

The languid breeze passes through its garden,

and you imagine a perfumer burning fragrant Indian wood.

فَكَأَنَّها اِستَسقَت عَلى ظَمَأٍ نَدى

موسى فَأَرسَلَ عارِضاً مُتَهَلِّلا

As though, in thirst, it had sought rain from the bounty of

Musa, and he sent a smiling raincloud.

وَلَرُبَّ لائِمَةٍ عَلَيَّ حَريصَةٍ

باتَت وَقَد جَمَعَت عَلَيَّ العُذَّلا

And many a reproachful woman, anxious for me,

has spent the night, having gathered the blamers against me.

قالَت أَما تَخشى الزَمانَ وَصَرفَهُ

وَتُقِلُّ مِن إِتلافِ مالِك قُلتُ لا

She said: Do you not fear time and its vicissitudes,

and curb the squandering of your wealth? I said: No.

أَأَخافُ مِن فَقرٍ وَجودِ الأَشرَفِ الـ

ـسُلطانِ في الآفاقِ قَد مَلا المُلا

Should I fear poverty, when the bounty of al-Ashraf, the

sultan, has filled the world in every quarter?

الواهِبِ الأَمصارَ مُحتَقراً لَها

إِن غَيرَهُ وَهب الهِجانَ البُزَّلا

He gives away cities, thinking little of them,

when another gives full-grown, purebred camels.

ما زارَ مغناهُ فَقيرٌ سائِلٌ

فَيَعودُ حَتّى يُستَماحَ وَيُسأَلا

No poor petitioner visits his abode

and returns before he himself is asked for gifts and aid.

مَلكٌ غَدا جيدُ الزَمانِ بِجودِهِ

حالٍ وَلَولاهُ لكانَ مُعَطَّلا

A king whose bounty has made the neck of time

bejeweled; without him it would be bare.

يا أَيُّها المَلِكُ الَّذي إِنعامُهُ

لَم يُبقِ في الدُنيا فَقيراً مُرمِلا

O king, whose beneficence

has left no destitute pauper in the world,

لَقَد اِتَّقَيتَ اللَهَ حَقَّ تُقاتِهِ

وَنَهَجتَ لِلنّاسِ الطَريقَ الأَمثَلا

you have indeed feared God as He should truly be feared,

and laid out for people the best of paths.

وَعَدَلتَ حَتّى لَم تَجِد مُتَظَلِّماً

وَأَخَفتَ حَتّى صاحَبَ الذِئبَ الطَلا

You ruled so justly that you found no complainant,

and inspired such fear that the fawn befriended the wolf.

وَرَفَعتَ لِلدينِ الحَنيفِ مَنارَهُ

فَعَلا وَكُنتَ بِنَصرِهِ مُتَكَفِّلا

You raised the beacon of the upright faith,

so it rose high; you pledged yourself to champion it.

لَولاكَ لانفَصَمَت عَرى الإِسلامِ في

مِصرٍ وَأُخمِل ذِكرهُ وَتَبَدَّلا

But for you, Islam's bonds would have snapped in

Egypt, its name obscured, and itself transformed.

وَتَحَكَّمَت فيها الفرنجُ وَغادَرَت

أَعلاجُها مِحرابَ عَمروٍ هَيكَلا

The Franks would have ruled there, and

their barbarians left Amr's prayer niche a church.

حاشا لِدينٍ أَنتَ فيهِ مُظَفَّرٌ

أَن يُستَباحَ حِماهُ أَو أَن يُخذَلا

Far be it for a faith in which you are victorious

to have its sanctuary violated, or to be forsaken.

أَنتَ الَّذي أَجليتَ عَن حَلبَ العدى

وَحَميتَ بِالسُمرِ اللِدانِ الموصِلا

You are the one who drove the foes from Aleppo

and defended Mosul with supple, dusky spears.

كَم مَوقِفٍ ضَنكٍ فَرَجتَ مَضيقَهُ

وَطَريقُهُ لِخَفائِهِ قَد أَشكَلا

How many a dire crisis have you opened a way through,

though its path, being hidden, was hard to discern!

كَم يَومِ هَولٍ قَد وَرَدتَ وَطَعمُهُ

مُرُّ المَذاقِ كَريه نارِ المُصطَلى

How many a day of terror have you entered, whose taste

was bitter, whose furnace-fire was dreadful!

وَنَثَرتَ بِالبيضِ المُهَنَّدَةِ الطُلى

وَنَظَمتَ بِالسُمرِ المُثَقَّفَةِ الكُلى

And with bright Indian-steel blades you scattered necks,

and strung kidneys together on straightened, dusky spears.

فَاللَهُ يَخرقُ في بَقائِكَ عادَةَ الد

نيا وَيُعطيكَ البَقاءَ الأَطوَلا

May God, in preserving you, break the custom of the

world, and grant you the longest life.