طاف بإبريق طلا حين صاح — Ibrahim Tabatabai

طاف بإبريق طلاً حين صاح

حي على الأقداح ديك الصباح

He went round with a pitcher of wine when a cry rang out:

'Come to the goblets!'—from the cock of dawn.

فقمت والقرقف في راحه

أشرب من وجنته كاس راح

So I rose, while the wine was in his palm,

drinking from his cheek a cup of wine.

وأقطف التفاح من خده

راحي وتفاحي خدود الملاح

And I pluck apples from his cheek:

my wine and my apples are the cheeks of the fair.

يمزجها بالريق لي شادن

يبسم عن ثغر كمثل الأقاح

A young gazelle mixes it with saliva for me,

smiling to reveal a mouth like daisies.

نحيي لكي يطعن صلب الدجى

بكاسه والليل داجي النواح

We keep the night alive, that he may pierce darkness's spine

with his cup, while night lies dark on every side.

لي من ثناياه ومن عينه

معتلقاً مغتبق واصطباح

From his front teeth and his eye I have,

as I cling to him, an evening draught and a morning drink.

منغمرٌ بالجهل لا ارعوي

جهليَ علم وفادي صلاح

Immersed in ignorance, I do not desist;

my ignorance is knowledge, and my redeemer is righteousness.

اخفض من ذلِّ جناحي له

وهل لمقصوص الخوافي جناح

I lower my wing to him in humility;

and does one with clipped inner flight feathers have a wing?

يجيل الحاظاً مراضاً له

بأبي تلك المراض الصحاح

He turns his languishing glances about;

may my father be ransom for those ailing yet sound eyes!

أطمح بالعين إلى عينه

مآفة الإنسان إلا الطماح

I lift my eye toward his eye;

what is man's bane but overreaching?

يشوب بالسخط جميل الرضا

ويمزج الجد لنا بالمزاح

He mingles displeasure with lovely favor,

and blends earnestness with jest for us.

يحنُّ للقرب نزيع الهوى

حنين نوق بالموامي طلاح

Love's exile yearns for nearness,

with the yearning of exhausted she-camels in the wastes.

أغيد لم نعدل إلى غادة

عنه ولا غيداء رود رداح

A supple youth—we never turned toward a maiden

away from him, nor toward a gentle, full-hipped beauty.

مهفهف القد رهيف الحشا

مهز هز الأعطاف شاكي السلاح

Slender of stature, delicate of waist,

swaying, swinging his flanks, fully armed.

من لي به متشحاً أن مشى

علق قلبي بمناط الوشاح

Who will bring him to me, wearing his sash? When he walks,

my heart clings to the fastening of his sash.

طوقه الحسن هلال السما

منعطفاً لكن على الجيد لاح

Beauty made heaven's crescent his necklace,

curved in an arc, yet shining upon his neck.

وقرطت أذنيه للمشتري

كف بعنقود الثريا اجتراح

And his ears were adorned with earrings by Jupiter's

crafting hand, with a cluster of the Pleiades.

ثم انثنى يرقص قرطيه من

معقَص جعديه الصبا والمراح

Then he swayed, his earrings set dancing from

the coil of his curls by youth and merriment.

يا سعد ما أسعدها ليلة

نالت بها السعد قريض البطاح

O Sa'd, how fortunate a night it was!

Through it, the poetry of the broad valleys gained good fortune.

بالجوهري الفرد قد صحَّ ما

يرويه عنه جوهري الصحاح

The peerless al-Jawhari has borne out what

al-Jawhari of al-Sihah relates about him.

فتىً حمى الشرع بأقالامه

لا بظبي البيض وسمر الرماح

A youth who guarded sacred law with his pens,

not with the edges of bright swords and tawny spears.

سل فصحاء العصر تخبرك كم

ردهم بالقول غير الفصاح

Ask the eloquent men of the age: they will tell you how often

his speech reduced them to men without eloquence.

يصدق بالقول وكم من فتىً

أكذب في منطقه من سجاح

He speaks truth—and how many a youth

is more mendacious in his speech than Sajah!

القائل القول ولا منكر

والفاعل الفعل ولا لحي لاح

He speaks the word, with no one to object,

and does the deed, with no censurer's rebuke.

لا يرعوي عن بذل معرفةٍ

أن أكثر اللاحي المجدُّ اللحاح

He never holds back from freely giving knowledge,

even if the earnest censurer redoubles his insistence.

جاءت به أمُّ العلى مفرداً

عقيمها وهو ابن حي اللقاح

The mother of glory bore him as an only child,

her one and only, though a son of a fertile clan.

فجاء مجبولاً على فطرة

صيانة العرض ومال مباح

Thus he came, formed with an innate disposition:

to guard his honor and make his wealth free to all.

لم تعلق الآثام أبراده

ولا اعتراه نشوان المراح

Sins never clung to his cloaks,

nor did drunken merriment overtake him.

يوماه في الدهر إذا عددا

يوم ندىً كافٍ ويوم كفاح

His two days in life, when counted,

are a day of ample bounty and a day of battle.

غضت له الأعداء أصواتها

أن أجهر الصوت غداة التلاح

His enemies lowered their voices before him,

when he raised his voice on the morning of contention.

والليث إن زمجر في غابه

غضت كلاب الحي منه النباح

And if the lion roars in his thicket,

the camp's dogs hush their barking before him.

يوسع جرحاً بحشا خصمه

لسانه العضب ويوسي الجراح

A wound is opened wide in his adversary's breast by

his keen-edged tongue, which also heals wounds.

ليس له إلا العلى ديدن

سجية والكرم المستماح

He has no constant habit except greatness,

his natural disposition, and bounty sought by supplicants.

إن لم يفز قدح لأهل الجدا

علَّم أهل الجود ضرب القداح

If no lot-arrow wins for the men of bounty,

he teaches the generous how to cast the lot-arrows.

يا ابن النواصي البيض من يعرب

ذوي المجالي والوجوه الصباح

O son of Ya'rub's white-forelocked men,

possessors of splendid bearing and radiant faces,

أبيض أن أسفر عن واضح

غبَّر بالبيض الوجوه الوضاح

radiant himself: when he unveils his bright countenance,

he casts dust upon fair, radiant faces.

يبدو بوجهٍ شرق بالحيا

فدىً له تلك الوجوه الوقاح

He appears with a face radiant with modesty;

may those shameless faces be his ransom!

وأريحي راح في طبعه

أرقّ من طبع نسيم الرياح

And a generous soul, whose disposition has grown

gentler than the nature of the winds' breeze.

قام إلى المجد فتى حازه

وكم فتى دون مدى المجد طاح

A youth rose toward glory and attained it,

while many a youth fell short of glory's reach.

إذا جرى لغاية جامحاً

لم يثن عنها ثنيه عن جماح

When he races headstrong toward a goal,

curbing his headlong rush does not turn him from it.

ذو خلق عبقٍ زهر الربى

تدعو إلا حيهلا للنجاح

He has a fragrant character; the hills' blossoms

call only, 'Come, come to success!'

قد هتف الجود بناديهم

حي على جودهم والفلاح

Generosity has cried out in their assembly:

'Come to their bounty and to prosperity!'

أكفهم محياً لعافي الورى

وللأولاة الخصم حتفٌ متاح

Their palms are life to mankind's supplicant,

and death at hand for the enemy's leaders.

المانعون الضيم عن جارهم

إذا دعا الداعي وضجَّ الصياح

Those who ward off injustice from their neighbor,

when the caller calls and the shouting swells,

والمصدرون الخيل شعث الطلى

حيث أغام الأفق واليوم صاح

and bring the horses back with disheveled necks,

where the horizon clouds over though the day is clear.

قوم إذا ما قدروا أعرضوا

صفحا وردوا للجفون الصفاح

A people who, whenever they gain power, turn aside

in pardon, and return the sword-blades to their sheaths.

إذا اقشعرَّ الأفق من شتوة

ما برحت غبراء إذ لا براح

When the horizon shudders from a winter spell

that remains dust-gray, when there is no escape,

أرضعت السحب باخلافها

ان بخلت منه الضروب الشحاح

their palms suckle the clouds with their udders,

if the miserly kinds begrudge any of it.