فرقت بين بنانها وخضابها — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

فَرَّقْتُ بين بَنانِها وخِضَابها

وجمعتُ بين سُلافِها ورُضَابِها

I separated her fingertips from their henna,

And mingled her choice wine with her sweet saliva.

واعتضْتُ بالخَّدين عن تُفَّاحِها

وغَنيتُ بالشَّفَتين عَنْ أَكْوَابِها

I took her cheeks in place of her apples,

And needed no cups, having her two lips.

وسَمِعتُ بالتقبيل صوتَ نعيمِها

وأَمِنتُ بالتَّعنيق سَوْطَ عَذَابِها

Through kissing, I heard the sound of her bliss,

And through embracing, felt safe from the whip of her torment.

ورأَيتُ منها قَدَّها مُتمايلاً

فجنيتُ مِنه زَهْرَه مُتَشَابها

I saw her figure swaying,

And plucked from it its blossoms, one like another.

ولقد أَحلَّ السُّكر حَلَّ إِزارَها

مِنْ بَعد تَحريمي لِحَلِّ نِقَابِها

Intoxication made untying her waist-wrap lawful,

After I had forbidden untying her veil.

فالحسنُ ما تُبديه فوقَ جُفونها

كُحلاً وما تُخفِيه تَحْت ثِيابِها

Beauty is what she displays above her eyelids

As kohl, and what she conceals beneath her clothes.

بيضاءُ لَيْلى بالوصالِ كثَغْرِها

كَجبينِها كَنسيمِها كَشَبابِها

My night is white with union, like her smiling mouth,

Like her brow, like her breeze, like her youth.

حَضَرِيِّةُ الأَوطانِ لا بَدويِّة ال

أَعطانِ بَائِلةٌ عَلى أَعْقابِها

City-bred, not a Bedouin of the

Camel-watering places, urinating on her heels.

خُذْ يا كثيرَ عزةٍ لك عزَّةً

ودَع المليحةَ إِنَّني أَوْلى بِها

Take Azza for yourself, O Kuthayyir of Azza,

And leave the beautiful woman: I have greater claim to her.

فَتُرابُ قَاتلتي يفُوح كمِسْكِها

طِيباً وعَزَّةُ مِسْكُها كَتُرابِها

The dust of my slayer gives off fragrance like her musk,

While Azza's musk is like her dust.

آتِي فأَعثُر في سلوكِ عُقودها

وتَظَلُّ تعثرُ أَنتَ في أَطْنَابها

I come and stumble among the threads of her necklaces,

While you keep stumbling among her tent-ropes.

وتُجيبني النغماتُ من أَوتَارِها

عند الزِّيارَة لا هَريرُ كِلاَبها

Melodies from her strings answer me

When I visit, not the growling of her dogs.

لا تكذِبنَّ فما الهَوى إِلاَّ لَها

منِّي ومِنْكَ وما الضَّنى إِلاَّ بها

Do not lie: love is for her alone,

From me and you; languor comes from her alone.

ما أَنت إِنسانٌ ولا لك قيمةٌ

إِلا إِذا أَصبحتَ مَن أَحْبَابِها

You are no human being, nor have you any worth,

Unless you become one of her lovers.

وتقول كَسْرُ القلبِ من أَجْفانِها

أَو ليسَ كسرُ الجفْن مِنْ أَهْدَابِها

You say the heart's breaking comes from her eyelids;

Or is the eyelid's droop not due to her lashes?

كانت وكنتُ وكانت الدَّارُ التي

يا ليتَ لا كَانت ولا كُنَّا بها

She existed, and I existed, and there was the house which—

Would that it had never existed, nor we been in it!

دارٌ حَصى الياقوتِ نثرُ عِرَاصها

ومَباسِمُ الأَفواهِ نَظْم رِحَابِها

A house whose courtyards were strewn with ruby pebbles,

And whose spacious courts were strung with smiling mouths.

والسحرُ من أَزهارِها والدَّلُّ من

أَشجارِها والحُسْن مِن أَعْشَابِها

Enchantment came from its blossoms, and coy grace from

Its trees, and beauty from its grasses.

ولكَمْ بها مِن جَنَّةٍ عَدَنِيَّةٍ

ولكَمْ دخلناها بغير حِسَابها

How many an Edenic garden it contained!

And how often we entered it without reckoning!

ثم انْطَوَتْ بيدِ البِلَى وأَذاعت ال

أَيَّامُ للأَبْصارِ سرَّ خَرَابِها

Then decay's hand folded it away, and the

Days disclosed to all eyes the secret of its ruin.

فإِذا نظرتَ إِلى الرِّياض رَأَيْتها

وكأَنَّها في العَين من أَسْلاَبِها

When you look toward the gardens, you see them

As though, to the eye, they were its plundered spoils.

فلو أنَّ جودَ أَبي عليِّ ربْعُها

ما جَاز تغييرُ الزَّمانِ بِبَابِها

Had Abu Ali's bounty been its homestead,

Time's changes would never have passed through its door.

جودٌ بسيطٌ والبسيطُ طبيعةٌ

أمنت تغيرها على أحقابها

A bounty simple in essence—and the simple is a nature

Whose alteration I need not fear through all its ages.

عبد الرحمن على البرية رحمة

أَمِنت بصُحبتها حلولَ عِقابها

Abd al-Rahman is a mercy upon creation;

In that mercy's company, I am safe from punishment's descent.

يا سائلاً عنه وعَنْ أَسْبابِه

نالَ السَّماءَ فسلْه عَنْ أَسْبابها

O you who ask about him and his means,

He has reached the sky: ask him about its pathways.

كذَب الَّذي قد قال إِنَّ جبينَه

كهِلالِها ويمينَه كَسَحابها

He lied who claimed that his brow

Was like its crescent, and his right hand like its clouds.

فجبينُه أَبْهَى بثاقِب نُورِه

ويمينُه أَنْدى بفيضِ رِغَابِها

His brow is more radiant with its piercing light,

And his right hand more bountiful with its overflowing gifts.

لكن رأَيتُ الشهبَ ساعةَ خَطْفِها

فرأَيتُ فيها من ذَكاةُ مُشابِها

Yet I saw the meteors at the moment of their darting,

And in them saw a likeness of keen brilliance.

متوقِّدُ الفِكَرِ الَّتي من أُفْقِها

يُردِي شياطينَ العِدا بِشِهَابِها

He is ablaze with thoughts, from whose horizon

He slays the devils among his foes with their meteor.

ما زالَت الأَعداءُ يوم نِزَالها

تَطوى كَتَائِبَهَا بنشرِ كِتَابِها

The enemies have always, on the day of battle,

Seen their battalions folded by the unfolding of his writing.

والدَّهْرُ يعلمُ أَن فيصل خَطْبهِ

بخطا يَراعَتهِ وفَصْلِ خِطَابِها

Time knows that the resolution of its crises

Lies in his reed-pen's steps and its decisive discourse.

حِكَمٌ يُرى الإِسهابُ في إِيجازِها

ولقد يُرى الإِيجازُ في إِسْهابِها

Maxims in whose brevity elaboration can be seen,

And in whose elaboration brevity can indeed be seen.

ويدٌ لها في كُلِّ جيدٍ كاسْمِها

مننٌ يُقَلدُها بلا اسْتِيجابِها

And a hand that, like its name, has on every neck

Favors he hangs as necklaces, though none has earned them.

يُولي صنائعهَا العظامَ لِذَاتِها

لا رغبةً في الشكر مِنْ أَصْحَابِها

He grants its great benefactions for their own sake,

Not craving thanks from their recipients.

ما قالَ هاتِ له عَلى عِلاَّته

مُسترفدٌ فأَجابَه إِلاَّ بِها

Never was 'Give!' said to him, despite his troubles,

By a seeker of bounty, without his answering with those gifts.

ولقد عَلَتْ رُتَبُ الأَجَلِّ على الوَرى

بِسُمُوِّ منصِبِهَا وطيبِ نِصَابِها

The most illustrious one's ranks have risen above all people,

Through the loftiness of their station and the purity of their stock.

وأَتته خاطبةً إِليه وَزارةٌ

ولَطالَما أَعْيَت عَلَى خُطَّابِها

A vizierate came to him, seeking his hand,

Though it had long exhausted its suitors.

ما لَقَّبُوه بها لأَنْ يَعْلو بِها

أَسماؤه أَغْنَتْه عن أَلْقابِها

They did not give him its title to raise him by it:

His names left him no need for its titles.

قال الزَّمانُ لغيرهِ إِذْ رامَها

تَرِبَت يمينُك لَسْت مِنْ أَتْرَابِها

Time said to another when he sought it:

'Dust cover your right hand! You are no match for it.

اذهَبْ طريقَك لستَ من أَرْبَابها

وارْجع وراءَك لسْتَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِها

Go your way: you are not among its masters.

Turn back: you are not among its holders.'

وبِعزِّ سيِّدنا وسيِّد عِزِّنا

ذَلَّت مِن الأَيَّام شُمْسُ صِعَابها

Through the might of our master, the master of our might,

The days' skittish, untamed steeds grew meek.

وأَتَت سعادتُه إِلى أَبْوابه

لا كَالَّذِي يَسْعى إِلَى أَبْوابها

His good fortune came to his doors,

Unlike one who strives toward its doors.

تعنُو الملوكُ لوجههِ بوجُوهِهَا

لا بل تُساق لِبَابِه بِرِقَابِها

Kings bow their faces before his face;

No—rather, they are driven by their necks to his door.

شَغَل الملوكَ بما يقولُ ونفسُه

مشغولةٌ بالذِّكْرِ فِي مِحْرَابِها

He occupies kings with what he says, while his soul

Is occupied with remembrance in its prayer-niche.

فِي الصَّومِ والصَّلواتِ أَتْعب نَفْسه

وضمانُ رَاحَته عَلى أَتعابِها

Through fasting and prayers he wearied his soul,

And the guarantee of his repose rests upon its labors.

وتعجَّل الإقلاعَ عن آثامِها

ثِقَةً بحُسنِ مآلِها وَمآبِها

He hastened to abandon its sins,

Trusting in the goodness of its outcome and return.

فَسِواهُ تَسبيه المِلاَحُ بِحُبها

وسِواهُ تُصبيه الطِّلاَ بِحبَابها

Others are captivated by beauties through love for them,

And others are beguiled by wine with its bubbles.

فلتَفْخر الدُّنيا بسائِس مُلِكها

منه ودَارِسِ عِلْمِها وكِتَابِها

Let the world boast of the governor of its realm

Found in him, and the student of its learning and its book:

صوَّامِها قَوَّامِها علاَّمِها

عمَّالِهَا بذَّالِها وهَّابِها

Its tireless faster, its night-prayer devotee, its great scholar,

Its tireless worker, its lavish giver, its generous bestower.

فتهنَّ بالنِّعَمِ الَّتي هُنِّئْتَهَا

برَبَابِها دانَتْ عَلَى أَرْبابِها

Enjoy the blessings on which you were congratulated,

With their clouds bowed low over their masters,

محروسةً من ذُلِّها ومِطالِها

وسليمةً من ذَمِّها أَوْ عَابها

Protected from humiliation and delay,

And free of blame or fault.

وتهَنًّ عيداً أَقبَلت أَيَّامُه

تَعْدو إِليكَ بأَجرْها وثَوابِها

And enjoy a festival whose days have come,

Racing toward you with their reward and recompense.

ولْتُهننيِ منكَ الكرامةُ إِنَّني

أَخْطُو وأَخْطُر مِنْك في جِلْبابها

May the honor from you gladden me, for I

Step and strut in its robe, bestowed by you.

أَكْرمْتَني وعَمَمتني بفوائد

كَادت تُغَرِّق ساحتي بِعُبابِها

You honored me and showered me with benefits

That almost flooded my courtyard with their surging tide.

وكسوتَني خِلعاً عَذَرتُ مَعاطِفي

لما ازْدَهاها التِّيهُ مِنْ إِعْجَابِها

You clothed me in robes of honor; I excused my sides

When pride, born of self-admiration, elated them.

ورأَيتَ قَدْري في البريَّة خاملاً

فجعلتَ قَدْرِي في البَرِيَّة نَابِها

You saw my standing among creation obscure,

And made my standing among creation eminent.

فلَيْشكُرنَّك مِقْولي عن مُهْجةٍ

نَادت فكان نَداك رَجْعَ جَوابها

My tongue shall surely thank you on behalf of a heart

That cried out, and your generosity was its answering echo.

شَكَرتْكَ نفسٌ أَنتَ أَصْلُ حياتها

وبَقائِها وطَعامِها وشَرابِها

A soul has thanked you—you are the source of its life,

Its survival, its food, and its drink.