أمروح لي أم مباكر — Ibrahim Tabatabai

أمروّح لي أم مباكر

بسوانح العفر النوافر

Will you come to me at evening or at dawn,

with skittish, tawny gazelles crossing to the right?

فعساك تقتل سلوتي

بمحاجر من عين حاجر

So perhaps you will kill my respite from love,

with eyes from Hajir's wide-eyed gazelles.

مرضى اللحاظ فواتر

وصحاحها المرضى الفواتر

Ailing in their glances, languid,

even their sound ones are ailing and languid.

وكواسر أجفانها

أمثال عقبانٍ كواسر

And, lowering their eyelids,

they are like predatory eagles.

هنَّ الضعاف وإن تشأ

فيهنَّ قل هنَّ القوادر

They are weak; yet if you wish,

say of them: they are the powerful ones.

سحرت بها البابنا

وكذاك لحظ الريم ساحر

With them you have bewitched our minds;

likewise, the white gazelle's glance enchants.

يا موردي كاس الردى

بين الموارد والمصادر

O you who lead me to death's cup,

between arrivals at the water and departures,

جرعاً شربت ذعافها

دُفعاً تغصُّ بها الحناجر

in gulps I drank its deadly poison—

in draughts on which throats choke.

للطوق أذهب لا التي

ذهباً تصاغ لها الأساور

More destructive of strength—not the one

for whom bracelets are fashioned of gold.

ومرقص قرطين بي

ن معقص العشر الضفائر

And one who sets two earrings dancing

between the bindings of ten braids,

يجلو أبيلج سال سي

ل الصبح تحت دجى الغدائر

unveils a radiant little face; there flowed

a torrent of dawn beneath the darkness of his locks.

ستر الضحى بمرجل

بفتيت نشر المسك عاطر

He veiled the morning light with combed hair,

fragrant with the scent of powdered musk.

توريه جمرة خده

فيفوح منه شذا المجامر

His cheek's ember kindles it,

so from it wafts the fragrance of censers.

فكأن فارة تاجر

سقطت به من كف تاجر

As though a merchant's musk pod

had fallen upon him from a merchant's hand.

وأما وباهر وج

هك الشرق الذي للبدر باهر

And now, by the dazzling radiance

of your radiant face, which outshines the full moon,

وبضوء صبح جبي

نك الصلت الذي بالصبح سافر

and by the light of the dawn

of your smooth, bright brow, unveiled with morning,

فلأركب الليل البهيم

رديف أنجمهِ الزواهر

then I shall surely ride the pitch-black night,

a rider behind its shining stars,

واجدُّ فيه لبغيتي

متطلِّبا والجد عاثر

and strive through it for my desire,

seeking it, though fortune stumbles.

أسري ونسري واقعٌ

فيه ونسر الليل طائر

I journey by night, my eagle grounded

within it, while the night's eagle flies.

كوري الظلام وربما

أصل الغياهب بالهواجر

My saddle is darkness, and at times

I join deep night-darkness to the midday heat.

وممنَّع صعب القياد اع

تادني والليل عاكر

And an inaccessible one, hard to lead,

would visit me while the night was murky.

فإذا انثنى فضح القنا

وإذا رنا فضح الجآذر

When he swayed, he put spears to shame;

and when he gazed, he shamed the wild-ox calves.

طارحته حتى إذا

أغفى وطرف النجم ساهر

I conversed with him until

he dozed, while the star's eye stayed wakeful.

نبهت نرجس عينه ال

كسلى وقد هدأ المسامر

I awakened the narcissus of his eye,

languid, while the night companion had grown quiet.

وأطرتُ حلو كراه عنه

فهبَّ مثل المهر ضامر

And I drove his sweet slumber away from him,

so he sprang up like a lean colt.

فجلي كؤوس عقاره

سحراً وطاف بها معاقر

Then he unveiled the cups of his wine

before dawn, and a wine-drinker went round with them:

من خمرة عاديَّة

تبري أذى الداء المخامر

of wine from the age of ‘Ad,

that cures the pain of the lurking illness.

ذهبية لكنها

سكبت على أيدي الأكاسر

Golden, yet it

was poured by the hands of the Khosraus.

سرٌّ لها من جرهم

يفضي بمكتمن السرائر

It has a secret from Jurhum,

which reveals the hidden secrets.

مثنىً شربت كبيرها

وصغيرها أحدى الكبائر

Two at a time, I drank its large cups,

and its small cup is one of the major sins.