بحكم زمان يا له كيف يحكم — Ibn Hamdis

بِحُكمِ زمانٍ يا لهُ كيفَ يحكمُ

يُحرّمُ أوطاناً علينا فَتَحْرُمُ

By time's decree—ah, how it rules!

It forbids us homelands, and forbidden they become.

لقد أركبتني غربةُ البين غربةً

إلى اليوم عن رسم الحمى بيَ تَرسُمُ

Indeed, separation's exile has set me astride a mount of exile,

That to this day trots with me away from the traces of home.

إِذا كُلَّ عني من سَنَا الصبح أشْهَبٌ

تناول حَمْلي من دُجَى الليل أدهمُ

Whenever a gray steed of dawn's radiance tires of bearing me,

A black steed of night's darkness takes up my burden.

وتحسبُهُ يرتاضُ في غَرْسِ حمله

وَيُسْرَجُ فيه كلاماً للركوب ويُلجَمُ

And you would think it trained within the caul of its gestation,

And, so to speak, saddled there for riding and bridled.

لِكُلِّ زَمانٍ واعظٌ وعظه كما

يخط كلاماً بالإِشارة أَبكمُ

Every age has an admonisher whose admonition is like

A mute man's tracing words through signs.

وحادٍ رَمى بالعيسِ كلّ مُضِلّةٍ

كأنّ عليه مَجْهَلَ الفيح مَعْلَمُ

And many a camel-driver flung the pale camels into every pathless waste,

As though the trackless breadth of the plains were a familiar landmark to him.

وَقَد نَحَرَتْ في كلِّ شَرقٍ ومغربٍ

عليها نُحورَ البيد في العزم أسْهُمُ

And in every east and west they have slit

The deserts' throats—arrows of resolve borne upon those camels.

وَأَوجفَ حَولَيها الكماةُ ضوامراً

فَلا سنُنْبُكٌ إلّا يَساريه مِنْسَمُ

And around them armored warriors spurred lean steeds,

So no hoof lacked a camel's pad traveling beside it by night.

فمن راكبٍ يأتي به الخصبَ بازلٌ

وَمِن فَارسٍ يَصْلَى بِهِ الحربَ شَيظمُ

So there is a rider whom a full-grown camel brings to fertile pasture,

And a horseman whose tall steed enters war's fire with him.

فإن تُسرِ في ليلٍ وجيشٍ فإنّها

سفائنُ برٍّ بينَ بحرينِ عُوَّمُ

If you travel through night and an army, they are

Ships of land, swimming between two seas.

وصِيدٍ يصيدون الفوارسَ بالقنا

إذا نَكَلَ الأبطالُ في الرّوْعِ أقدموا

And proud lords hunt horsemen with lances;

When champions recoil in battle's terror, they advance.

ويستطعمون السّمر والبيضَ إنّها

نيوبٌ وأظفار بها الأُسْد تَطْعَمُ

And they seek food from dusky lances and bright swords, for these are

Fangs and claws with which lions feed.

دعَتهُم بُروقٌ بالأَكُفِّ مشيرةً

إِلَيهم وعينٌ عَرْفُهَا يتنَسَّمُ

Lightnings summoned them, beckoning with hands

Toward them, and wide-eyed maidens whose fragrance wafts.

عصَا شملهم شُقّتْ فشرّق مُنجدٌ

إلى طيّةٍ منهم وغَرّبَ مُتْهِمُ

Their union's staff was split: one bound for Najd went east,

Toward his destination, while one of them bound for Tihama went west.

وما قَدَّ قَدُّ السير بالطُّول سَيْرَهم

وَلكنَّما المُنقَدُّ قَلبي المتَيَّمُ

And the lengthwise cutting of straps did not cleave their journey;

What was cleft was only my love-enslaved heart.

طَوَى البعدُ عنّا فانطَوَينا عَلى الجَوى

نواعمَ تُشْقي بالنعيمِ وتنعَمُ

Distance folded away from us—and we folded ourselves around anguish—

Tender women who torment with bliss and themselves live in bliss.

دَعُونا نُسايِر حادِياً قادَ نحوها

مسامعَنا منه الحداءُ المُنَغَّمُ

Let us travel beside a camel-driver; toward those women

His melodious camel-song has led our ears.

فَما هَذِهِ الأَحداجُ إِلّا قُلوبنا

حَبائِبُنا فيها سَرائِرُ تُكْتَمُ

So these camel-litters are nothing but our hearts;

Our beloveds within them are secrets kept hidden.

بِنَفسِيَ من حورِ المها غادَةٌ لَها

فمٌ عن شديدِ الخوف بالصمتِ مُلجَمُ

My life as ransom for a slender maiden among the oryx-eyed, whose

Mouth, from intense fear, is bridled with silence.

يَنِمُّ عَلَيها طيبُ رَيّا كَلامها

فَيَدري غيورٌ أَنَّها تَتَكلَّمُ

The sweet fragrance of her speech betrays her,

So a jealous man knows that she is speaking.

أُرَجِّعُ بِالشَّوقِ الحنينَ وَإنّما

يهيجُ حنيني عَوْدُها حين يُرْزِمُ

I make my plaintive cry quaver with longing; yet only

Her old camel, when it lows, rouses my yearning.

قد سَفَرَتْ في تُوضَحٍ فَتَوضّحَتْ

مسالكهُ للسفرِ واللَّيلُ مظلِمُ

She unveiled at Tudah, and clear became

Its paths for travelers, though the night was dark.

مَرَّتْ على سِقْطِ اللّوى فَتَساقَطَتْ

دموعٌ عليها دُرّها لا ينظَّمُ

She passed by Siqt al-Liwa, and down fell

Tears over her, their pearls unstrung.

وَقَد ضَرّجتْ ثَوبي لدى عينِ ضارجٍ

عليّ جفونٌ ماؤها بالأَسى دَمُ

And at the spring of Darij my garment was stained crimson

Upon me by eyelids whose water was blood from grief.

مَعاهِدُ ما زالَ امرؤ القَيسِ بينها

يُعبّرُ عن عَهْدِ الهوى ويُتَرجِمُ

Haunts where Imru' al-Qays has never ceased

To speak of love's remembered days and interpret them.

تَوَهّمْتُها حُلْماً بها فذكرتها

وقد يذكر الإِنسانُ ما يَتَوَهّمُ

I imagined her there in a dream, and so remembered her;

And a person may remember what he imagines.

وإني لآوي من زمانٍ لبستُهُ

إلى ذِكَرٍ تأسو فؤادي وَتَكْلمُ

And I indeed seek refuge from an age I have worn

In memories that heal my heart and wound it.

ليالِيَ تَسبي اللبّ مِنهُ سَبيئَةٌ

تناولها من كافِرِ القلبِ مُسلِمُ

Nights of that time when purchased wine took the mind captive,

Which a Muslim received from an unbeliever at heart.

سُلافَةُ كَرمٍ لَيسَ يَسخو بِمِثلِها

لِغَيرِ فَتى تَحْظَى لدَيه وَتُكْرَمُ

The first-run wine of a vineyard that gives no such wine freely

Except to a youth with whom it finds favor and honor.

يُطافُ بها في حُمْرَةِ الوردِ جوهراً

له عَرَضٌ وهو السرُورُ المُحرَّمُ

It is passed around, rose-red, a precious substance

Whose accidental quality is forbidden joy.

يسيغُ فمي في شِدَّةِ السكر صِرْفَها

وما فَرحةٌ في السَّمعِ إِلّا التَرنُّمُ

My mouth swallows it unmixed in the height of drunkenness,

And the ear's only joy is song.

فَلِلَّهِ عمرٌ مَرَّ بي فَكَأنّني

به في جنانِ الخُلْد قد كنت أحلُمُ

God be praised for the life I once knew! It was as though I

Had been dreaming through it in the gardens of eternity.

لياليَ روضُ العيشِ غضٌّ وماؤهُ

نميرٌ ومنقوضُ الشبيبةِ مُبْرَمُ

Nights when life's garden was fresh, and its water

Sweet and pure, and youth's now-unraveled cord was still tightly twined.