مضى معهم قلبي فلله درره — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

مضَى معهم قلبي فلِلَّه دَرُّرهُ

لقد سرَّني إِذْ سَار مَعْ مَنْ يسرُّهُ

My heart went with them—God bless it!

It delighted me when it went with one who delights it.

وما لاحَ لمَّا عنِّيَ غدرُه

ولكِنَّه قد لاَح إِذْ راح عُذْرُه

Its betrayal did not show when it left me;

but it became plain when its excuse was gone.

تجلَّد حتَّى قِيل قد بَان صبرُه

ولكِنَّه نَعَمْ واللهِ قَدْ بَان صَبْرُه

It steeled itself until they said, “Its patience has shown.”

Yet yes, by God, its patience has gone.

ومَرَّ فلا وَعْدُ السُّلوِّ يغشُّه

ضَلالاً ولا الصَّبرُ الجميلُ يَغُرُّه

It went on: no promise of forgetting deceives it

into error, nor does noble patience beguile it.

رأَته عيونُ الحيِّ يتبَعُ بَدْرَهم

فنجَّاه مِنْهم أَنَّه مُستَقَرُّه

The tribe's eyes saw it following their full moon;

what saved it from them was that their moon was its dwelling.

فإِن أَعْلَموه أَنَّه بعضُ عَاشِقٍ

فعزُّوا بِه المُلْكَ الَّذِي هُو قَصْرُه

If they tell him that it is part of a lover,

then console the kingdom whose palace it is for its loss.

وأَهْيَفُ أَمَّا خَصْره فهو طَرْفُه

سَقاماً وأَمَّا طَرْفُه فَهْو خَصْرُه

And a slender one: his waist is his gaze

in languor, and his gaze is his waist.

له كاتِبٌ في الخَدِّ والخطُّ خَطهُ

إِلى شاعرٍ في فيه والشِّعرُ شِعْرهُ

He has a scribe upon his cheek—the script is his—

writing to a poet in his mouth—the verse is his.

تُرى أَيُّ دار بات يُقرأُ خَطُّه

بها بعدَنا أَو بَات يُنشَد شِعْرهُ

I wonder in which house his script was read last night,

there after us, or his verse recited last night.

رأَطولُ من هجر الحبيب وحُسْنه

ويومِ النَّوى لَيْلي وهَمِّي وشَعْرُه

Longer than the beloved's estrangement and his beauty

and the day of parting are my night, my grief, and his hair.

ولَيْسَ دماً دمع الجفونِ وَإِنَّما

فُؤادِي بماءِ الدَّمعِ قَدْ ذَاب جَمْرُه

The eyelids' tears are not blood; rather,

my heart's embers have melted in the water of tears.

وفي الصَّدِّ تصديعٌ وفي القُربِ جَبْرُه

وفي الخدِّ دِينارٌ وفي الجَفْن كَسْره

In rejection is a fracture, and in nearness its mending;

on the cheek is a dinar, and in the eyelid its fragment.

وبستانُ حسنٍ ما أُحِيط بِثُمره

ولكِن أَحَاطَت بالضَّمَائِر ثُمرُه

And a garden of beauty whose fruit has never been encompassed,

yet its fruit has encompassed hearts.

تنزَّهتُ فيه ثُمَّ عَنْه ومَا وَفى

بِحُلْو جَنَاه في فَم القلبٍ مُرُّه

I strolled in it, then shunned it; nor did

its bitterness match its sweet harvest in the heart's mouth.

أَيرجُو الْهَوى أَنِّي أُطِيلُ مُقامَه

لَعَمْرُ الْهَوى لاَ طَالَ عِنْدِيَ عُمْرُه

Does love hope that I will prolong its stay?

By the life of love, may its life with me not be long!

وتوسيعُ صدر المرْءِ بالْعِشْق والْهوَى

تركتُ الهوَى عَنِّي لِمن ضَاقَ صَدْرُه

And a man's breast is broadened by passion and love;

I have set love aside for whoever's breast is narrow.

ولا كنتُ إِلاَّ مَنْ يُقارِعِ دَهْرَه

قِراعاً إِلى أَنْ يَسْأَلَ الصُّلحَ دَهرُه

I have been nothing but one who battles his fate,

fighting until his fate asks for peace.

ولي أَمَلٌ ما كادَ يُظْلِمُ لَيلُه

ولكنًّه قَدْ كَادَ يَطْلعُ فَجْرُه

I have a hope whose night has scarcely darkened,

yet its dawn is already almost rising.

يُرى أَبداً طَاغِي الْغَرامَ مُسافِر ال

مَرامِ قليلاً في الْمَوانعِ فِكْرَه

It is always seen, unbounded in passion, journeying toward

its goal, giving little thought to obstacles.

يحدِّثُ أَنًّ البَدْرَ مِمَّا يَسُوقُه

إِلَيْه وأَنَّ النَّجْم مِمَّا يَجُرُّه

It says the full moon is among the things it drives

toward itself, and the star among the things it drags along.

أَقولُ لَه هَذَا العَدوُّ وَكَيْدُه

يَقُولُ نَعَمْ هَذَا العَدُوُّ وَقَبْرُه

I tell it, “Here is the enemy and his guile.”

It says, “Yes, here is the enemy and his grave.”

وفي الصَّدرِ كبْرٌ غَيْرَ أَنِّي بَلغْتُه

سيُجلَى عليكم في مَديحيَ دُرُّه

There is pride in my breast, yet I have attained it;

its pearls will be unveiled to you in my panegyric.

حُسامٌ ولكن بالفَصَاحةِ حدُّه

وفي عُنق الْقَول المعقَّد إِثْرُه

A sword, with eloquence for its edge,

and on the neck of tangled speech is its mark.

لأَكثرِ هذا الناسِ منِّيَ ذمُّه

وللفاضِلِ المشكورِ في النَّاسِ شُكْرُه

Most of these people receive its censure from me;

and the worthy man praised among people receives its thanks.

ومِنْه وفِيه بالمدائِح نَظْمُه

وَفيه ومِنْه بالمحامِد نَثْرُه

From it and about him come its verses of praise;

and about him and from it comes its prose of commendation.

وأَعظمُ فَخْرِه أَنَّ جدِّيَ عبدُه

فصارَ إِلى ابن الابْنِ بالرِّق فَخْرهُ

And its greatest pride is that my grandfather was his servant;

so through servitude its pride passed to the grandson.

ومنه غِنَاهُ إِذْ إِليْه افتِقَارُه

وإِنَّ غِناه قَبْل ذلك فَقْرُه

Its wealth comes from him, since it depends on him;

and its wealth before that was poverty.

وذُخُرِيَ منْ كَفَّيه في الدَّهْر جُودُه

كما أَن تقوى خالق الدهر ذخره

My treasure through time is the bounty of his two hands,

just as reverence for the Creator of time is his treasure.

رأَى أَنَّ تَقْوى الله اَنْفع زَادهِ

فأَكثَرَ حتَّى أَثْقَل الظَّهرَ كُثرُه

He saw that reverence for God was his most useful provision,

so he amassed it until its abundance weighed down his back.

وجاءَتْ له الدُّنْيا فمرَّ مُولِّياً

وكانَ على تَقْوى الإِلَه مَمَرُّه

The world came to him, but he passed by, turning away;

his path lay in reverence for God.

يكبِّر عن دُنياهُ ديناً وإِنَّما

تواضُعه في طاعَةِ اللهِ كِبْرُه

He rises above his world through faith; indeed,

his humility in obedience to God is his greatness.

لقد عاشَ منه الدِّينُ لا عاشَ ضِدُّه

كما مَاتَ منْه الفَقْرُ لاَ مَات ذِكْرُه

Religion has lived through him—may its opposite not live!

As poverty has died through him—may his renown not die!

وقد ذكَرُوا البحرَ المحيطَ وَإِنَّما

نَدَاهُ هو البحْرُ الذي البَحرُ نَهرُه

They have spoken of the encompassing ocean; yet

his bounty is the sea of which the ocean is merely a river.

فكم مالَ لكن للمَدائِح مَالهُ

ووفَّر ولكِن للمنَائِح وَفْرُه

How often he amassed wealth, yet his wealth was for praises;

and accumulated plenty, yet his plenty was for gifts.

وكم من أَسير كان بالجودِ فكُّه

عَلى أَنَّه قد صَار بالجودِ أَسْرُه

How many a captive was freed through generosity,

only to be held captive through that generosity.

وقيَّده عند الفرنج حديده

وقيَّدَه في دارِ نُعماه تِبْرُه

His iron fetters bound him among the Franks,

and his gold bound him in the house of his bounty.

وأَدْخَلَه دارَ المقامَةِ بعد أن

مَضى جبْرُه في النَّائباتِ وسَبْره

He brought him into the abode of abiding, after

his mending and probing amid calamities had passed.

إِذا ما كَتَبْنا مَدْحَه أَشْرَقَتْ بِه ال

صَّحائِفُ لاَ بَلْ كَادَ يَبْيَضُّ حِبْره

Whenever we write his praise, it illuminates the

pages—no, its ink almost turns white.

فلا تنعتُوه بالوزيرِ جَهالةً

فَقَد جَلَّ عَن قدرِ الوزَارَة قَدْرُه

Do not call him “vizier” out of ignorance,

for his rank has risen above the rank of the vizierate.

له الملكُ بعد الله حقّاً لأَنَّه

به طالَ باعُ الملْكِ واشْتَدَّ أَزْرُه

The kingdom is rightfully his, after God, for

through him the kingdom's reach has lengthened and its strength increased.

تفرَّد بالتَّدبير فالقولُ قولُه

على رغم من يَشناه والأَمْر أَمْرهُ

He alone directs affairs: the word is his,

despite whoever hates him, and the command is his.

مُعانده في الخلْق قد خَاب قصدُه

وقاصدهُ بالكَيْد قد غَابَ نَصْرُه

His opponent among humankind has failed in his purpose;

and whoever targets him with guile has lost his victory.

يُجالدُ والآراءُ في الحرْب بيضُه

ويطعَن والأَقلامُ في السِّلم سُمْرُه

He battles, his counsels in war his white swords;

and thrusts, his pens in peace his brown spears.

وما مَعْركُ الهيجاءِ إِلا كِتابُهُ

فوارسه الأَلفاظُ والصَّفُّ سطْرُه

His battlefield is nothing but his writing;

its horsemen are words, and its battle-rank his written line.

إِذا فتَّن الأَعْداءَ حُسْنُ كَلامِه

أَقولُ لهم هذا البيانُ وسِحْرهُ

When the beauty of his speech enchants his enemies,

I tell them, “This is eloquence and its magic.”

أَلاَ هذه العلياءُ لاَ انْحطَّ أُفْقُها

وذَا المَجْدُ لا غَابتْ عن النَّاسِ زُهْرُه

Behold this loftiness—may its horizon never sink!

And this glory—may its bright stars never vanish from people's sight!

وقالُوا به فلْيفتَخِر أَهْلُ عَصْره

فقلْتُ على رغم الدهور وَعَصْرُه

They said, “Let the people of his age take pride in him.”

I said, “Despite the ages, his age too!”

وفَخْراً لِقُطرٍ حَلَّ فيه فإِنَّه

يليه على السَّبع الأَقاليم قُطْرُه

And glory to a land where he dwells, for

his land ranks next to him, above the seven climes.

ويا سعدَ أَرضِ الشامِ إِذ كان طالعاً

به سعدُه أَو مُمْطراً فيه قُطْرُه

O happy land of al-Sham, when there rises

through him its good fortune, or his rain falls upon it!

لقد سَعدت بالقرب منه دِمَشْقُه

كما شَقيت في بُعدِها مِنْه مِصْرُه

His Damascus was blessed by nearness to him,

as his Egypt suffered through its distance from him.

بكت مصرُ حتَّى زادَ بالدَّمع نيلُها

وقد مدَّ في الوقتِ الذي فيه جَزْرُه

Egypt wept until tears increased its Nile,

and it swelled at the very time of its ebb.

وأَصبحَ فيها أَهْلُها بنهارهم

كسارٍ بليل غابَ في الغَرْب بَدْرُه

There its people found themselves by day

like a night-traveler whose full moon had set in the west.

وكلُّهمُ في الحالَتَين عبيدُه

وكلُّ بلادٍ حلَّها فهْيَ مِصْرُه

In both conditions they are all his servants,

and every land he settles in is his Egypt.

متى لاحَ فيها صبحها فهو وجهه

وإِن فَاح مِنْها روضُها فهوُ ذِكْرُه

Whenever its dawn appears there, it is his face;

and if its garden's fragrance wafts forth, it is his renown.