تخطو وتخطر بين الحلي والحلل — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

تخطو وتخطِرُ بين الحلْي والحِلَلِ

وتنثُر لسحرَ بين الكُحل والكَحَل

She steps and sways amid jewelry and robes,

And scatters enchantment between kohl and her eyes’ natural darkness.

كحلاءُ ما اكتحلتْ بالمِيل عابثةً

إِلا لتُنْهض جَفْنيها من الكسل

Naturally dark-eyed, she never playfully applies kohl with its wand

Except to rouse her eyelids from their languor.

حَلْيُها من حُلاَها وهي عَاطِلَةٌ

وأَحسنُ الحَلْي حليٌ صيغَ من عَطل

Her adornment comes from her own beauty, though she wears no jewels,

And the finest jewelry is fashioned from being unadorned.

وإِن تحلَّتْ فَوسْواسُ الحُلِيِّ لها

خِصَامُ ما بين ذاك الخَصْرِ والكَفل

If she puts on jewels, their whispering upon her

Is a quarrel between that waist and those hips.

أَلْبَسْتُها بعد أَن جرّدْتُ قامتها

بُرْداً من الضَّمِّ أَو ثوباً من القُبَل

After stripping her form, I clothed her

In a mantle of embraces or a garment of kisses.

بيضاءُ كالصعدِ السَّمراءِ ما عَلمت

ولا علمتُ بأَنَّ البيضَ كالأَسَل

Fair, like tawny spear-shafts—she did not know,

Nor did I, that fair women were like spears.

لم أَدر من قبل رشْفِي من مقبَّلها

لريقها أَنّ طعمَ الخمرِ كالعَسَلِ

I did not know, before sipping from her lips

Her saliva, that wine tasted like honey.

تمشي فيتشِبُ في الحِجْلينِ واردُها

كأَنَّهَا الظَّبْي في أَشْراك مُحْتَبِل

She walks, and her trailing hair catches in her two anklets,

As though she were a gazelle in a trapper’s snares.

وطالما سَفِرَتْ عن ورْدتَيْ قِحَةٍ

للحسنِ بالفتكِ لا عن وَرْدَتَي خَجَل

Often she unveiled two roses of audacity

For beauty’s deadly assault, not two roses of bashfulness.

مظلومةُ الفمِ من خمرٍ ومن بَرَدِ

مخلوقةُ الخُلْقِ من غدرٍ ومن مَلَل

Her mouth is wronged by wine and hail,

Her character fashioned from treachery and boredom.

مِلِّي وميلي إِذا ما شِئْت واشْتَغِلي

عنِّي بغيري فإِني عنك في شُغْل

Grow bored and turn away whenever you wish, and busy yourself

With another instead of me, for I am occupied away from you.

سلوتُها فأَرحْتُ القلبَ من ولهي

والجسمَ من سَقمِي والعقلَ من عذلي

I forgot her, freeing my heart from my lovesick longing,

My body from my sickness, and my mind from my reproaches.

ورُحتُ للبحرِ كَيْ أَرْوي صداي به

مَنْ ريُّه البحرُ لا يَرْوَى من الوَشَل

I went to the sea to quench my thirst with it;

One whose drink is the sea cannot be quenched by a trickle.

وسرتُ والمشتَري في الأُفق يحسُدُني

على مَسيرِي ويُخفِي الغيظَ من زُحَل

I traveled while Jupiter on the horizon envied me

For my journey, hiding its anger from Saturn.

وقمت أُسْفِر وجه السَّعدِ من سَفري

وأَنقل الذُّلَّ عن عطفيَّ بالنُّقَل

I set about unveiling fortune’s face through my journey,

And removing humiliation from my shoulders by traveling.

وأَكسبُ الفخرَ من طَرفي ورَاحِلتي

وأَربَحُ العِزَّ من حِلِّي ومُرْتَحَلي

I earned glory through my steed and my riding-camel,

And gained honor through my stopping and my traveling.

وأَرْتَقِي صَاعِداً والخلقُ تَنْظُرُني

حتى علوتُ على الأَفلاكِ بابن علي

I rose ever upward while all creation watched me,

Until, through Ibn Ali, I soared above the celestial spheres.

خدمْتُه فرأَيت السَّعد يَخْدُمني

والفخرَ يفخرُ بي والدهرَ يخضعُ لي

I served him and saw good fortune serve me,

Glory take pride in me, and time bow down to me.

ونلتُ منه ولا كفراً لأَنعمه

فوقَ الَّذِي كانَ في ظَنِّي وفي أَمَلِي

I received from him—with no ingratitude for his favors—

More than I had imagined or hoped for.

ما زال يُنْجِزُ قبل الوعد مِنَّته

عِنْدِي ويسبقُ قَبلَ القولِ بالْعَمِل

He has always fulfilled his bounty before promising it

To me, and anticipated words with action.

لبستُ كلَّ جديدٍ من مَوَاهبه

مِنْ بَعْد ما كنتُ أَلقى البردَ في سملِ

I wore all that was new among his gifts,

After I had faced the cold in rags.

وعمَّني منه ما عمَّ الورى كرماً

وهل يخص انسكابُ العارضِ الهَطِلِ

His generosity embraced me as it embraced all mankind;

Can the outpouring of a rain-laden cloud single anyone out?

دعُوا تفاصيلَ ما أَوْلَته راحتُه

تلكَ التفاصيلُ عندي منه كالجَمَلِ

Leave aside the particulars of what his palm bestowed:

Those particulars from him are, to me, like whole sums.

يجودُ بالمالِ جُوداً غيرَ منقطعٍ

وذلك الجودُ طبعٌ غير مُنْتَقِل

He gives wealth with unceasing generosity,

And that generosity is a nature that never changes.

الواهبُ الأَلْفِ بعد الأَلفِ سالمةً

من المِطال مُبرَّاةً من الْعِلل

He grants thousand after thousand, free

Of delays, and untainted by excuses.

سخا بما ليس يسخو الأَسخياءُ به

بالمالِ والجاه والأَيام والدول

He gives what even the generous do not give:

Wealth, prestige, days, and turns of fortune.

على الشَّهادَةِ بالفضلِ المبينِ له

أَهلُ المذاهبِ والآراءِ والمللِ

In testifying to his manifest excellence,

The adherents of schools, opinions, and faiths agree.

مشيّدُ الملكِ بالتَّدبير منتصِرٌ

على عِداه بعزمٍ غيرِ منخذِل

He strengthens the kingdom through governance, victorious

Over his enemies with resolve that never falters.

تعنُو لهيبتِه الأَملاكُ خاضِعةٌ

فالعُجْم في المدْن والأَعرابُ في الحِلل

Kings bow submissively before his majesty,

As do the non-Arabs in cities and the nomad Arabs in encampments.

يكافحُ الخطبَ صَعباً غير مكتَرثٍ

ويركبُ الأَمرَ هولاً غيرَ محتفِل

He confronts hardship, however harsh, untroubled,

And undertakes terrifying affairs without concern.

تعوّدَتْ قَدَماه في مَسيرهِمَا

وطْئاً على الهامِ أَو مَشْياً على المُقَل

His feet have grown accustomed, in their passage,

To treading on heads or walking upon eyes.

موفَّقُ الرأْي منصورٌ بيقْظَتِه

في الحادث اللِّينِ أَو في الكارِث الجَلَل

Sound in judgment, victorious through his vigilance,

Whether the event is mild or the calamity grave.

لولا وَزارتُه وهْيَ التي كَفَلتْ

سياسةَ الخلقِ كان الخَلْقُ كالمَهَل

Were it not for his ministry, which has undertaken

The governance of mankind, mankind would be like molten metal.

سادَ البرِيَّةَ فانقادت لطاعتِه

بالأَمْنِ طوراً وطوراً منه بالوَجَل

He ruled mankind, and they submitted to obey him,

At times through security, at times through fear of him.

إِذا سَطَا بأَعاديه فليس لهم

مع التَّحيُّل من حَوْلٍ ولا حِيَلِ

When he strikes his enemies, they have no

Power or stratagems, despite their scheming.

في كفِّه قلمٌ يُجْري أوامِرَه

بالبأس والجود أَو بالعيشِ والأَجَلِ

In his palm is a pen that carries out his commands

With might and bounty, or with life and appointed death.

قد قَدَّ في الطِّرسِ أَعناقَ العُدَاةِ به

كأَنه السَّيفُ لكن في يَدَيْ بَطَلِ

With it he has severed his enemies’ necks upon the page,

As though it were a sword—but in a hero’s hands.

غَلِطْتُ من أَيْنَ للأَسيافِ فتكتهُ

قد اختفى السيفُ غيظاً منه في الحُلَل

I was mistaken: how could swords possess its deadly force?

The sword has hidden in robes, furious at it.

قد انْتَشَى بالَّذي يُنشيه فَهْو به

يمشي على الطِّرْسِ مَشْي الشَّارِب الثَّمِلِ

It has become drunk on what intoxicates it, and under its influence

It walks across the page like a drunken drinker.

يأَيُّها الصَّاحِبُ المصحوبُ زَائِرُه

باليمنِ والسَّعدِ والإِقْبَالِ والجذَلِ

O minister, whose visitor is accompanied

By blessing, good fortune, prosperity, and joy!

اكفُفْ سحابَ نوال مُذْ هطلْتَ به

غَرَّقتني منه قبل الوَبْل بالبَللِ

Restrain the cloud of bounty: since you poured it down,

You have drowned me in its wetness before the downpour.

لا طاقةً لي بما أَوْلَيْتَ مِنْ كَرَم

يُثرى ومَا لِي بما أَوليتَ مِن قِبَلِ

I have no capacity for the generosity you have bestowed,

Ever increasing; I lack the strength to bear what you have granted.

حَمَلتني فوق مركوبٍ قَوائِمهُ

كالسَّيلِ معْ أَنَّها قُدَّت من الجبل

You mounted me upon a beast whose legs

Are like a torrent, though hewn from a mountain.

تمثالُ حُسنٍ بلا مِثْلٍ يماثِله

في الحسنِ لكنَّه في السَّير كالْمَثل

An image of beauty, without a peer to equal it

In beauty, yet proverbial in its pace.

علوتُ مِنهُ على الأَفْلاك أُورده

نهرَ المجرَّةِ بينَ القَوْس والحَمَلِ

Upon it I rose above the celestial spheres, leading it to drink

At the Milky Way’s river, between the Bow and the Ram.

يَمُرُّ كالريحِ في رفْقٍ وفي دَعةِ

ويسبقُ البرقَ مَشْكُولاً على مَهل

It passes like the wind, gently and at ease,

And outruns lightning, even hobbled and moving slowly.

وياؤُه حُذِفَتْ من اسمه غَلَطاً

فهو الجميلُ وإِنْ سمَّوهُ بالْجَمل

Its letter yāʾ was mistakenly dropped from its name,

For it is al-jamīl, ‘the beautiful,’ though they call it al-jamal, ‘the camel.’

لا زَال منكَ بروقُ الأُفق راكضةً

مع الكواكبِ من خَيْل ومن خَوَل

May the horizon’s lightning flashes ever gallop forth from you,

Alongside the stars, as horses and attendants.

شُكْري لنُعماك دَيْنٌ لي أَدينُ به

كما أَدِينُ بكتْبِ الله والرُّسْل

My gratitude for your favors is a debt that binds me,

Just as I profess faith in God’s books and messengers.

قد جاءَني المالُ من كفَّيكَ مبتذَلاً

وجاءَكَ المدحُ منِّي غيرَ مُبتَذَل

Wealth came to me from your hands freely bestowed,

And praise came to you from me, far from commonplace.

وليس تَحسنُ إِلا باسْمه مِدَحي

وليسَ ينقَعُ إِلا جودُه غُلَلِي

My praises are beautiful only with his name,

And only his generosity quenches my burning thirst.

مدحتُه فمدحتُ الأَرضَ قاطبةً

لأَنَّني منه أَلقى الخلقَ في رَجُل

I praised him, and so praised the whole earth,

For in him I encounter all mankind in one man.