وقف عليها الحب — Khalifa Al Tilisi

وقف عليها الحب شدت قيدنا

ام اطلقت للكون فينا مشاعرا

Love is hers alone—whether she tightens our fetters

or unleashes in us feelings for the universe.

وقف عليها الحب ساقط نخلها

رطب جنيا ام حشيفا ضامرا

Love is hers alone—whether her palms shed

fresh, ripe dates or withered, shriveled ones.

وقف عليها الحب أمطر غيمها

أم شح او نسيت حبيبا ذاكرا

Love is hers alone—whether her clouds pour rain

or withhold it, or she forgets a lover who remembers.

وقف عليها الحب كرمى عينها

تحلو منازلة الخطوب حواسرا

Love is hers alone; for her eyes' sake,

it is sweet to confront calamities bareheaded.

وقف عليها الحب تنظم عقدنا

ركبا توحد خطوة وخواطرا

Love is hers alone; she strings us into a necklace,

a caravan whose steps and thoughts she unites.

أنا لا أقول الشعر أبغي رتبة

تعلو بها رتبي وتكسب وافرا

I do not compose verse in pursuit of a rank

that would raise my standing and win abundant gain.

ماذا وراء العمر من أمنية

ترجى وقد رحل الشباب مغادرا

What wish remains beyond this span of life,

still to be hoped for, now that youth has gone away?

إيه أمين القوم كل كريمة

لابد أن تلقى كريما شاكرا

Ah, trustee of the people, every noble deed

must find a noble, grateful soul.

حسبي من التكريم ركن دافئ

من قلبها أصفو لديه سرائرا

A warm corner is honor enough for me,

within her heart, where my inmost self grows pure.

لكنها الأوطان فرحة قلبها

فرحي وحزني أن تصيب عواثرا

Yet there are homelands: the joy of her heart

is my joy; my grief is when she meets setbacks.

لكنه الإنسان هم دائم

للعاشقين رسالة ومصائرا

Yet humankind is an abiding concern

for lovers—a mission and destinies.

لكنها الأجيال طوق أمانة

في العنق تحلم بالدروب أزاهرا

Yet there are generations—a collar of trust

around the neck—dreaming of blossoms along the roads.

لكنها الآمال هزت خافقي

هزا وأضرمت العروق مجامرا

Yet there are hopes that shook my beating heart

fiercely, and kindled my veins into braziers.

فنظمت منها مشاعري وخواطري

ورفعتها طوقا تأرج عاطرا

So from them I strung my feelings and my thoughts

and lifted them as a garland, wafting fragrance,

للهادمين قيودها والرافعين

بنودها والناشرين بشائرا

for those who shatter her chains and raise

her banners, and those who spread glad tidings;

للزارعين حقولها ومروجها

والناسجين لها رداء فاخرا

for those who sow her fields and meadows,

and weave for her a splendid robe;

للغارسين علومهم وفنونهم

الصادقين بواطنا وظواهرا

for those who plant their sciences and their arts,

truthful inwardly and outwardly;

للعاشقين لكل دوح راسخ

في كل أرض الحافظين ذخائرا

for those who love every firmly rooted tree

in every land, the keepers of treasures;

لشيوخها ركبوا الأمور جليلة

وصلوا بهن أوائلا وأواخرا

for her elders, who undertook momentous affairs,

linking beginnings and endings through them.

ولتلك سنتنا نضيف لما بنوا

صرحا ونترك للبنين عمائرا

Such is our tradition: we add to what they built

an edifice, and leave buildings to our sons;

لسواعد الفتيان ترفع في الذرى

علما وتعمر سائبا او دامرا

for the young men's arms, raising on the heights

a banner, restoring what is neglected or ruined;

لرجالها في البحر فوق جبينهم

يمشي الخضم زوابعا وهواجرا

for her men at sea, above whose brows

the deep strides in whirlwinds and scorching noons;

لهم مع الأتياح صحبة ماجد

خبر الحياة مواردا ومصادرا

their friendship with fate's turns is that of a noble man

versed in life, its comings and its goings.

من عمقه أعماقهم وبصفوه

صاغوا سرائرهم صفاء نادرا

Their depths come from its depth; through its clarity

they fashioned their inmost selves into rare purity;

للمنجبات ليوثها والعامرات

بيوتها والمبدعات عناصرا

for the women who bear her lions and enliven

her homes, and bring forth new lives;

للخاطفات قلوبنا والسالبات

عقولنا والناشرات غدائرا

for those who snatch our hearts and steal

our minds, and let their tresses fall;

عند المعاطن فتنة ولدى الوغى

سند يمد ويستثير قساورا

at the camel watering places, an enchantment; in battle,

a support that sustains and rouses lions;

للصبح ينشر في المروج طلاقة

لليل يطوي في رداه مسامرا

for dawn, spreading gladness through the meadows;

for night, enfolding a late-night companion in its cloak;

لأصيلها ونخيلها ولواحها

عند الغروب وقد جلون سواحرا

for her evening light, her palms, and her distant silhouettes,

at sunset, when they emerge as enchantresses;

لحجارة الوادي وشم صخوره

لا تنثني للسيل يزحف هادرا

for the valley's stones and its lofty rocks,

unyielding to the torrent advancing with a roar,

تبقى على الأيام طودا شامخا

يحمي مساربه ويدفع غائرا

remaining through the days a towering mountain

that guards its pathways and repels an intruder.

فاستنطق التاريخ عن أيامها

ولرب صامتة تقص نوادرا

So make history speak of her days:

many a silent stone recounts rare tales

عن أمسها عن يومها عن مقبل

في افقها آت يرن مزاهرا

of her yesterday, of her today, of a future

coming on her horizon, resounding with lutes.

من أجل عينيها المعارك كلها

ولها نعد مع السروج منابرا

For her eyes' sake are all the battles;

and for her we ready pulpits alongside saddles.

هذي لخطبتها وتلك لغارة

شعواء نشعلها لهيبا كافرا

These for courting her, and those for a raid,

a savage raid we kindle into a godless blaze.

لثمت بنا خد الفخار وكللت

بالغار جبهتنا شموخا قاهرا

Through us she kissed glory's cheek and crowned

our brow with laurel, in triumphant pride.

قسما بنور جبينها وبفاحم

من شعرها قد أرسلته ضفائرا

I swear by the light of her brow, and the jet-black locks

of her hair, which she has let fall in braids;

وبباسم من ثغرها وبأحور

من طرفها والوجه يسطع نائرا

and by her smiling lips, and the dark-eyed beauty

of her gaze, her face shining with light;

وبعزة قد أعرقت في أهلها

زادت بها زهوا وذكرا سائرا

and by a dignity deeply rooted in her people,

through which she has grown in pride and far-spreading renown:

سنظل نمنحها الوفاء ونبتغي

مهرا لها ما ترتضيه أوامرا

we shall keep giving her loyalty, and seek

as her bridal gift whatever commands she approves.

هذي الديار على رحابة ساحها

هي أسرة صغرى تشد أواصرا

These lands, for all the breadth of their expanse,

are a small family, strengthening its bonds.

هل أنبتت غير الرجال بطولة

هل شيدت غير الجهاد منائرا

Has she brought forth any but men of valor?

Has she raised beacons to anything but struggle?

هل عانقت غير الذرى في مجدها

هل صافحت غير الرماح بواترا

Has she embraced anything but summits in her glory?

Has she clasped anything but keen-edged spears?

هل جلجلت غير الصريخ لغارة

هل عاندت غير الخطوب جوائرا

Has she resounded with anything but the alarm of a raid?

Has she defied anything but oppressive calamities?

اليأس لم يسكن ثراها على الطوى

أتراه يسكنها خصيبا عامرا

Despair never dwelt in her soil amid hunger;

do you think it will dwell there when her soil is fertile and thriving?

ستظل مأوى الأكرمين وموطنا

للنبل تنسج من سناه مآزرا

She will remain a refuge for the noblest, and a homeland

for nobility, weaving sashes from its radiance.

تلك المعارك ما تزال شهادة

من أمسها والأمس يخلق حاضرا

Those battles are still a testimony

from her yesterday, and yesterday creates the present.

لا أفق بعد اليوم غير جبينها

رسمت به الأقدار نصرا باهرا

No horizon after today but her brow,

on which the fates have traced a dazzling victory.

ومواعدي شتى ولكن موعد

خلف الهضاب يلوح فجرا نائرا

And my trysts are many, but one tryst

beyond the hills appears as a radiant dawn.

سيدكها تلك الحدود وتنتهي

راياتها خرقا وخيشا بائرا

It will crush them—those borders—and

their banners will end as rags and worthless sackcloth.