لا وأرض القلوب ذات الصدع — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

لاَ وأَرضِ القلوبِ ذَاتِ الصَّدعِ

وسماءِ الجفونِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْع

No—by the earth of hearts, riven with cracks,

and by the sky of eyelids, with its returning rain,

لا أَرى الْقلبَ بالمسرّة والرا

حةِ جَمْعاً من بَعْدِ سُكَّانِ جَمْع

I see no union of the heart with joy and

repose, since the dwellers of Jamʿ have gone.

أَنْجُمٌ قَدْ قَطَعْن حَبْلي ولا أَعـ

ـجَب للنَّجْم حينَ يَأتِي بِقَطْع

Stars have severed my bond, and I am not

surprised when a star brings severance.

حدَّثَ العينَ ربعُهم وأَراني

أَواجهَ القومِ في أَحادِيثِ رَبْع

Their dwelling spoke to the eye and showed me

the people's faces in a dwelling's tales.

فسمعتُ الأَخبارَ منها بِعيْني

ورأَيت الوُجُوهَ مِنْها بِسَمْعي

So I heard tidings from those tales with my eye,

and saw faces in them with my hearing.

ومَع الرَّكْبِ أَمْرَدٌ ينفضُ المر

دَ بديعٌ ما الموتُ فيه بِبِدْع

With the caravan is a beardless youth who scatters

the beardless youths—a marvel; dying for him is nothing novel.

عَطِشُ القلبِ ظَمْءُ عشرٍ وعشرٍ

لم يَردْها في بَدْرِ سَبْعٍ وسبْع

A thirsty heart, with a thirst of ten and ten,

has found no water in a full moon of seven and seven.

عربيُّ الأَنسابِ لا يعرف اللحـ

ـن لإِعْرابه بِضَمِّي ورَفْعي

Arab in lineage, he knows no

solecism: his inflection lies in embracing and raising me.

فرعُه الجعدُ أَصلُ عشقي ولم أَسـ

ـمع بأَصلٍ من قبلُ يُعزى لِفَرْع

His curly locks are the root of my love, and never have I

heard of a root before ascribed to a branch.

ربَّ ليلٍ أَقمتُ فيه مُقامي

شَعْرُه لَيْلَتي وخدَّاه شَمْعِي

Many a night I made my dwelling there:

his hair my night, his cheeks my candles.

والرُّضَابُ الشَّهِيُّ راحي ولثم الـ

ـفم نُقْلي والمَبْسَم الحُلْوُ طَلْعي

His delectable saliva my wine, and kissing the

mouth my wine's relish, his sweet smile my palm-blossoms.

ذاكَ دهرٌ مَضى وعصرٌ تَقَضَّى

وزمانٌ ولَّى جميلَ الصُّنْع

That was an age gone by, an era spent,

a time departed, beautiful in what it wrought.

فعفى معْهدي وخَفَّ قطيني

وذَوَتْ أَثْلَتي وصَوَّحَ زَرْعي

So my familiar dwelling faded, and my household dwindled;

my tamarisk withered, and my crops dried up.

كَان رَدْعي في الثوب مني سُروراً

ثم أَضحى للسُّقْم في الوجْه رَدْعي

My stain upon my garment once came from gladness;

then, through sickness, my stain appeared upon my face.

وتولَّى هَمِّي عليَّ إِلى أَن

ضاق ذرعي واللهِ بلْ ضاقَ دِرْعي

My sorrow took mastery over me, until

my endurance failed—by God, rather, my coat of mail grew tight.

وكيف قَد زِيد في دَم العين عَيْنٌ

أَنا أُجري دَمي فَلِمْ قيل دَمْعي

And how was the letter ʿayn added to the eye's blood?

I let my blood flow—why, then, is it called my tears?

عاد كالْعِهن بالنوائبِ طَوْدي

مثل مَا كالثِّمام أَصبح نَبْعي

Calamities turned my mountain to dyed wool,

just as my bow-wood tree became like thumam grass.

أَنا بالدَّهر قد صُدِعْتُ ولكن

بابن عبد الرحيم يجبرُ صَدْعي

Time has split me apart, but

through Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm my fracture is mended.

أَيّ خلقٍ أَولى بخدمَتِه منِّي

وأَولَى مِنه برَفْعي ونَفْعي

What creature is worthier of serving him than I,

and who worthier than he of raising and helping me?

أَنا مِن أُفْقه ظهرتُ فأَخفى

لمعَ بدرِ السماءِ باللَّمِحِ لَمْعي

I rose from his horizon; my radiance then eclipsed

the heavenly full moon's gleam in a flash.

أَنا مِن عُشِّه درجتُ فأَضحى

طائرُ النَّسر هَمَّ مِني بَوقْع

I took my first steps from his nest; then

the Flying Eagle nearly fell before me.

أَنا من تُربِه نبتُّ فقد سا

خ وقد طال منه أَصْلي وفرعي

I sprang from his soil; my root has sunk

deep, and through him my branch has grown tall.

بأَبيه عَلاَ مَكَانِي فأَضْحى

شاسِعاً والهلالُ أَصْبَحَ شِسْعي

Through his father my station rose, becoming

far above; the crescent became my sandal-strap.

بأَبيه نُبِّهت بَعْد خُمولٍ

وبه قَدْ رُفِعْتُ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَضْعِي

Through his father I gained renown after obscurity;

and through him I was raised after my abasement.

وتَعلَّمتُ منه ما قلتُ فيه

من مديحي له بِنَظْمي وسَجْعي

I learned from him what I said about him

in my praise of him, in my verse and rhymed prose.

كان رَسْمِي عليه جبراً لكسري

إِن رماني دهري وجَذْباً لِضَيْعي

My allowance from him was a mending of my fracture,

if fate struck me, and a rescue from my ruin.

ثم لمَّا مَضَى تعلَّقْت من

أَحمدَ المرتجى لِنَفْعٍ ودَفْعِ

Then, when he departed, I sought support from

Aḥmad, looked to for help and protection,

الأَجلُّ الذي له السؤدد الأَعـ

ـظم قد حازَه بكسب وطَبْع

the most exalted, whose nobility is supreme,

won through effort and inborn nature.

واهب الأَلْف بعدها أَلف عُذر

لفقيرٍ غِناه في نِصْف رُبْعِ

Giver of a thousand, then a thousand apologies,

to a pauper whom half a quarter would enrich.

كُلُّ صُقْع دعه وسَافِر لِناديـ

ـه فَمَثوى النَّدى بذاك الصُّقْع

Leave every region; travel to his assembly,

for generosity dwells in that region.

قد أَتانا منه الزَّمانُ بوَتْر

وهو يأتي من النَّوال بِشَفْع

Time has brought us, in him, one peerless man,

while he brings bounty in pairs.

كم له في النَّدى وفي الجود والسؤ

دُد من مُعْجِزٍ وكم مِن شَرْع

How many, in generosity, bounty, and

lordship, are his miracles; how many his precepts!

مَنْحُه قطُّ لم يكدَّر بمنٍّ

ربَّ منحٍ بالمنِّ عادَ كَمَنْع

His giving was never marred by reminders of favors;

many a gift, through such reminders, has become like refusal.

خُلُقٌ طاهر وخَلْق شريف

وذكاءٌ يكوي الحسودَ بِلَذْعِ

A pure character, a noble form,

and intelligence that sears the envious with a sting.

جَمَع النُّسْك والشَّبابَ ولولا

ه لما أَذِنَّا ِلشَمْلٍ بَجَمْع

He united devotion and youth; were it not for

him, we would not have sanctioned their union.

نالَ قبل العشرينَ ما لم ينلْه

من تعدَّى التسعين عاماً بتسع

Before twenty he attained what was never attained

by one who exceeded ninety years by nine.

أَعلم النَّاسِ بالأَنامِ وأَدرى الـ

ـخلق في حربِ ذا الزَّمان بِخَدْع

Most knowing of men about mankind, and most versed

of all people in stratagems for war with this age.

وأَرى الخاطِرَ الَّذي هو نارٌ

مهلكا لِلْعِدَى بلَفْحٍ وسَفْح

And I see his mind, which is fire,

destroying foes by scorching and bloodshed.

كل قولٍ يقوله نظم درٍّ

والذي قيل بعدَه نَظمُ وَدْع

Every saying he utters is a string of pearls;

what is said after him is a string of cowries.

وعجيبٌ إِذ خطَّ بالنقشِ لَفْظاً

هو من جَوهرٍ وفي لونِ جَزْع

And wondrous, when he writes a phrase in ornate script:

it is of jewels, and in the hue of onyx.

إِنَّ عبد الحميد يُحْسب إِن قيـ

ـس إِليه من الإِماءِ الوُكْعِ

ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd would be reckoned, if compared

with him, among the crooked-footed slave-girls.

لا تَلُم من رأَى جديدَ معانيه

إِذا قابلَ الخليعَ بِخَلْعِ

Do not blame one who has seen the freshness of his meanings

if he answers al-Khalīʿ with dismissal.

أَيها السِّيد الذي كل من جاء

راه يَعْيا وكل من قام يُقْعِي

O wolf, all who race

against you grow weary; all who stand must crouch.

أَنا أَرجو وأَنت صبحيَ أَن ينـ

ـجاب ليلٌ خفيتُ منه بقَطعْ

I hope—and you are my dawn—that

a night whose dark stretch hid me will lift,

ويَرى منك حَاسِدي وعَدُوِّي

جانبي مُكْرَماً وحقِّيَ مَرْعى

and that, through you, my envier and my enemy may see

my standing honored and my right upheld.

كم أَمُصُّ الثماد وحْدي وغيري

كادَ يُفْنِي البحرَ المحيطَ بجرْع

How often I suck scant pools alone, while another

nearly drains the encircling ocean with his gulps!

ولئن كنتُ قد عطشتُ وقد جعـ

ـتُ فمن راحتيك ريِّي وشبْعي

And though I have thirsted, and have

hungered, my quenching and my fill come from your palms.

وإِذا ما بقيتَ لي فسأَلْقى

مِن زماني تبديل ضيقٍ بوسْع

And if you remain for me, I shall find

my days replacing hardship with ease.