هل عند عينيك على غرب — Mihyar Al Daylami

هل عند عينيك على غُرّبِ

غرامةٌ بالعارضِ الخُلَّبِ

Do your eyes owe Ghurrab

a forfeit for the deceptive raincloud?

نَعَمْ دموعٌ يكتسي تربُهُ

منها قميصُ البلدِ المعشِبِ

Yes: tears—its soil dons

from them the shirt of a grass-grown land.

ساربةٌ تَركبُ أردافَها

معلَّقاتٌ بعدُ لم تَسرُبِ

Flowing tears, upon whose heels ride

others still suspended, not yet flowing.

ترضَى بهنّ الدارُ سَقْياً وإن

قال لها نوءُ السِّماكِ اغضبي

The abode accepts them as rain, even if

al-Simak's rain-season tells it, ‘Be angry.’

علامة أنِّيَ لم أَنتكِثْ

مَرائرَ العهدِ ولم أَقضِبِ

A sign that I have neither unravelled

the cords of the covenant nor severed them.

يا سائقَ الأظعانِ لا صاغراَ

عُجْ عَوجَةً ثمّ استقم واذهبِ

O driver of the departing litters—may you not be humbled—

turn aside once, then go straight and depart.

دعِ المطايا تلتفِتْ إنها

تلوبُ من جفني على مَشربِ

Let the mounts turn back: they

circle about my eyelids, seeking a drinking-place.

لا والذي إن شاء لم أعتذرْ

في حبّه من حيث لم أُذنبِ

No, by him—if he wishes, I shall not apologize

for loving him, where I have committed no sin—

ما حدَرتْ ريحُ الصَّبا بعدَه

لثامَها عن نَفَسٍ طيّبِ

the east wind, since his departure, has not lowered

its veil to reveal a fragrant breath.

ولا حلا البذلُ ولا المنعُ لي

مذهُوَ لم يَرضَ ولم يَغضبِ

Neither giving nor withholding has pleased me

since he showed neither pleasure nor anger.

كم لي على البيضاء من دعوةٍ

لولا اصطخابُ الحَلْي لم تُحجَبِ

How many calls I have made to the fair one

that, but for her jangling jewels, would have reached her!

وحاجةٍ لولا بُقَيّاتُها

في النفس لم أطرَبْ ولم أرغَبِ

And desires whose lingering remnants

within my soul alone make me rejoice and yearn.

يا ماطلي بالدَّين ما ساءني

إليك ترديدُ المواعيدِ بي

O you who delay paying your debt to me, it has not grieved me

that repeated promises keep returning me to you.

إن كنتَ تقضي ثمّ لا نلتقي

فدم على المطلِ وعِد واكذبِ

If you would pay, and then we would not meet,

keep delaying: promise, and lie.

سال دمي يومَ الحمَى من يدٍ

لولا دمُ العشاقِ لم تُخضَبِ

My blood flowed on the day of the sanctuary, from a hand

that, without lovers' blood, would never have been dyed.

نبلُ رماةِ الحيّ مطرورةً

أَرفَقُ بي من أعينِ الربربِ

The tribe's archers' arrows, sharpened,

are gentler to me than the gazelle herd's eyes.

يا عاذلي قد جاءك الحزمُ بي

أقادُ فارطبنيَ أو فاجنُبِ

O my reprover, prudence has brought me to you

led captive: refresh me, or turn me away.

قد سدّ شيبي ثُغَرِي في الهوى

فكيف قَصِّي أثَرَ المَهْربِ

My grey hair has blocked my breaches in love;

how, then, should I track a path of escape?

أفلحَ لا قانصٌ غادةً

مدّ بحبلِ الشَّعَرِ الأشيبِ

May no hunter of a young beauty prosper

who stretches out a snare of grey hair.

ما لبناتِ العَشْرِ والعَشْرِ في

جدِدّ بني الخمسين من مَلعبِ

What playground have girls of twice ten

on the hard ground of men of fifty?

شِيَاتُ أفراسِ الهوى كلُّها

تُحمدُ فيهنَّ سوى الأشهب

All the coat-colours of love's horses

are praised in them, except the grey.

أمَا تَرَيْني ضاوياً عارياً

من وَرَقِ الملتحِفِ المُخصبِ

Do you not see me wasted, bare

of the foliage that clothes the flourishing?

مُحتجِزاً أندبُ مِن أمسِيَ ال

ماضي أخاً ماتَ ولم يُعقب

Girded for mourning, I lament my yesterday—the

departed one—as a brother who died without offspring.

فلم يُثَلِّمْ ظُبَتَيْ عاملي

ما حَطَمَ الساحبُ من أكعبي

Yet the two edges of my spearhead were not blunted

by what the dragger shattered of my joints.

يوعدُني الدهرُ بغَدارتهِ

قعقِعْ لغير الليثِ أو هَبهِبِ

Time threatens me with its treachery;

rattle at someone other than the lion, or howl!

قد غَمزتْ كفُّك في مَروَتي

فتحتَ أيِّ الغمزِ لم أصلُبِ

Your palm has pressed upon my flint;

under what pressure have I failed to harden?

أمُفزِعي أنتَ بفوتِ الغنَى

تلك يدُ الطالي على الأجربِ

Do you frighten me with the loss of wealth?

That is the ointment-applier's hand upon the mangy one.

دعْ ماءَ وجهي مالئاً حوضَه

وكُلْ سميناً نَشَبي واشربِ

Leave my honour filling its basin,

and eat the fat of my possessions, and drink.

إن أُغلَبِ الحظَّ فلي عَزْفةٌ

بالنفس لم تُقْمَرْ ولم تُغلَبِ

If I am beaten in fortune, I have a proud disdain

within my soul, never lost at dice nor vanquished.

ذمَّ الأحاظِي طالبٌ لم يَجِدْ

فكيف وِجداني ولم أَطلُبِ

A seeker who found nothing blamed good fortunes;

what, then, of my finding without seeking?

آه على المالِ وما يُجتَنَى

منهُ لو أنّ المالَ لم يُوهَبِ

Ah, for wealth, and what is harvested

from it, if wealth were never given away!

راخِ على الدنيا إذا عاسرتْ

وإن أتَتْ مُسمِحةً فاجذِبِ

Slacken your grip on the world when she proves difficult;

if she comes yielding, pull tight.

ولا تَعَسَّفْ كَدَّ أخلافِها

فربَّما دَّرت ولم تُعصَبِ

Do not force the milking of her teats;

sometimes she yields milk without being bound.

هذا أوانُ استقبلَتْ رشدَها

بوقفةِ المعتذِر المعتِبِ

This is the hour when she has turned toward good sense,

taking the stance of one who apologizes and makes amends.

وارتجعتْ ما ضلَّ من حلمها

من بين سَرحِ الذائدِ المغرَبِ

And she has reclaimed what strayed of her wisdom

from among the herds of the far-ranging drover.

وربّما طالَعَ وجهُ المنَى

من شرفِ اليأسِ ولم يُحسَبِ

Often the face of hope appears

from the heights of despair, unforeseen.

قل لذوِي الحاجاتِ مطرودةً

وابنِ السبيل الضيِّقِ المَذهبِ

Tell those whose needs are turned away,

and the wayfarer whose road is straitened,

وقاعدٍ يأكلُ من لحمهِ

تنزُّهاً عن خَبَثِ المَكسَبِ

and one who sits eating his own flesh,

shunning the foulness of ill-gotten gain:

قد رُفِعت في بابلٍ رايةٌ

للمجدِ من يَلْقَ بها يَغلِبِ

a banner has been raised in Babylon

for glory: whoever meets the foe beneath it prevails.

يصيحُ داعي النصرِ من تحتها

يا خيلَ مُحيي الحسنَاتِ اركبي

The herald of victory cries from beneath it:

‘O cavalry of the reviver of good deeds, mount!’

جاء بها اللهُ على فَترةٍ

بآيةٍ من يَرَها يعْجَبِ

God brought it after a lull,

with a sign that amazes whoever sees it.

هاجمةِ الإقبالِ لم تُنْتَظرْ

بواسع الظنِّ ولم تُرقَبِ

With success suddenly arriving, never anticipated

even by the widest imagining, nor watched for.

فم تألفِ الأبصارُ من قبلها

أن تطلُعَ الشمسُ من المَغرِبِ

Eyes had not grown accustomed, before it,

to seeing the sun rise in the west.

رِدوا فقد زاركم البحرُ لم

يُخَض له الهولُ ولم يُركبِ

Come drink: the sea has visited you, with no

terrors braved for it, nor voyages undertaken.

يشفُّ للأعين عن دُرِّهِ ال

ثمينِ صافي مائه الأعذبِ

Revealing to the eyes its pearls—the

precious ones—is its clear, sweetest water.

فارتبِعوا بعدَ مِطالِ الحَيا

وروِّضوا بعدَ الثرى المُجدبِ

Find spring pasture after the rain's long delay,

and make gardens after the earth lay barren.

قد عادَ في طيءٍ ندَى حاتمٍ

وقامَ كَعْبٌ سيّد الأكعبِ

Hatim's generosity has returned among Tayyi',

and Ka'b has risen, chief of the Ka'bs.

وعاش في غالبَ عَمروُ العُلا

يَهشِمُ في عامهم المُلزِبِ

And Amr al-Ula lives again in Ghalib,

breaking bread in their year of hardship.

وارتجعتْ قَحطانُ ما بَزَّها

من ذي الكَلاعِ الدهرُ أوحَوشَبِ

And Qahtan has recovered what was stolen from her

of Dhu al-Kala' or Hawshab by Time.

ورُدَّ بيتٌ في بني دارِمٍ

زُرارةٌ من حولِهِ مُحتبِي

A house among Banu Darim has been restored,

with Zurara seated, knees clasped, about it.

كلُّ كريمٍ أو فتىً كاملٍ

وفاعلٍ أو قائلٍ مُعربِ

Every noble man, or perfect youth,

and doer or eloquent speaker—

فاليومَ شَكُّ السمعِ قد زال في

أخباره بالمنظَر الأقربِ

today, doubt born of hearing his

reports has vanished through seeing him close at hand.

إلى الوزير اعتَرقَتْ نَيَّها

كلُّ أمونٍ وَعرةِ المَجذبِ

Toward the vizier, each consumed her fat:

each trusty she-camel, difficult to rein in.

تُعطى الخِشاشاتِ لَياناً على

أنفٍ لها غضبانَ مستصعَبِ

She yields softly to the nose-pegs, despite

her angry, unruly nose.

مجنونةُ الحلم وما سُفِّهتْ

بالسَّوط خَرقاءُ ولم تُجنَبِ

Mad in her reason, yet not maddened

by the whip; wild, though untouched by flank-sickness.

ييأسُ فحلُ الشّولِ من ضربها

لعزّةِ النْفسِ ولم تُكْتَبِ

The stallion of the dry-uddered herd despairs of mounting her

because of her proud spirit, though she has not been sewn shut.

لو وَطِئتْ شَوكَ القنا نابتاً

في طُرُق العلياءِ لم تُنقَبِ

Were she to tread on spear-thorns growing

in the paths of high ambition, her soles would not be pierced.

يَخطُّ في الأرض لها مَنسِمٌ

دامٍ متى يُملِ السُّرَى يَكتُبِ

A hoof of hers traces upon the earth,

bloodied: whenever night-travel dictates, it writes.

كأنَّ حاذَيْها على قاردٍ

أحمشَ مسنونِ القَرَا أحقبِ

Her two thighs seem borne on a matted-haired wild ass,

thin-legged, sharp-backed, white-bellied.

طامَنَ في الرمل له قانصٌ

أعجفُ لم يُحمِض ولم يُرطِبِ

A hunter crouches low for him in the sand,

gaunt, having tasted neither sour fare nor fresh dates.

ذو وَفْضةٍ يشهدُ إخلاقُها

بأنها عاميْنِ لم تُنكَبِ

He has a quiver whose worn state testifies

that for two years it has not been overturned.

مهما تَخَلَّلْهُ بُنيَّاتُها

من وَدَدٍ أو وَرَكٍ يُعطَبِ

Whenever its little daughters penetrate him,

through a vital spot or a haunch, he would perish.

فمرَّ لم يَعطفْ على عانةٍ

ذُعْراً ولم يَرأَمْ على تَوْلِبِ

So he fled, not turning back to the herd

in terror, nor showing tenderness toward a foal.

به خُدوشٌ يتعجَّلْنهُ

قدائمٌ من لاحقِ الأكلبِ

He bears scratches that drive him onward,

old scars from the swiftest dogs.

بأيّ حِسٍّ ريعَ خِيلتْ له

رنّةُ قوسٍ أو شبا مِخلبِ

Whatever sound startles him, he imagines

a bow's twang or the points of a claw.

يَذرعُ أدراجَ الفيافي بها

كلُّ غريب الهمِّ والمطلبِ

He measures the stages of the deserts upon her—

each man of uncommon cares and aims.

يرمي بها ليلُ جُمادَى إلى

يومٍ من الجوزاءِ معصوصِبِ

A night of Jumada casts her into

a fiercely oppressive day of al-Jawza.

في عَرْضِ غبراءَ رِياحيّةٍ

عجماءَ لم تُسمَرَ ولم تُنسَبِ

Across a dusty, wind-swept expanse,

speechless, neither spoken of in night-talk nor named,

يُشِكلُ مشهورُ الركايا بها

على مصانيف القَطَا اللُّغَّبِ

even its well-known wells are hard to distinguish

for exhausted, mixed flocks of sandgrouse.

حتى أُنيختْ وصدوعُ السُّرَى

بالنومِ في الأجفانِ لم تُشعَبِ

Until she was made to kneel, with the fissures of night-travel

not yet mended by sleep within the eyelids,

وشَمْلَةُ الظلماءِ مكفورةٌ

تحت رِداء القَمرِ المُذْهَبِ

and darkness's cloak lay covered

beneath the moon's gilded mantle,

إلى ظليلِ البيت رَطْبِ الثرى

عالي الأثافِي حافلِ المَحلْبِ

at one whose house gives shade, whose soil is moist,

whose hearth-stones are high, whose milking-vessel is full,

مختضِب الجفنةِ ضخمِ القِرى

إذا يدُ الجازرِ لم تُخْضَبِ

whose bowl is dyed, whose hospitality is vast,

even when the slaughterer's hand is not bloodied.

تُرفَع بالْمَندلِ نيرانُهُ

إذا إماءُ الحيِّ لم تَحطِبِ

His fires are kindled with sandalwood

when the tribe's serving women gather no firewood.

له مجاويفُ عِماقٌ إذا

ما القِدر لم تُوسع ولم تُرحَبِ

He has deep, hollow vessels, when

the cooking-pot is neither ample nor wide.

كلّ رَبوضٍ عُنْقُها بارزٌ

مثلُ سَنام الجَملِ الأنصبِ

Each squat vessel has a protruding neck,

like the hump of a high-humped camel.

تعجِلها زحمةُ ضِيفانِه

أن تتأنَّى حطبَ المُلهِبِ

The press of his guests hurries it too much

to wait for the kindler's firewood.

أبلج في كلّ دجى شُبهةٍ

لو سار فيها النجمُ لم تُثقَب

Bright-browed amid every darkness of doubt,

which even a passing star could not pierce;

مُوَقَّر النادي ضحوك الندَى

يلقاك بالمُرغِب والمُرهِب

grave in assembly, smiling in generosity,

he meets you with encouragement and awe.

تَلحظهُ الأبصارُ شَزْراً وإن

أكثرَ من أهلٍ ومن مَرحَبِ

Eyes glance sidelong at him, even though

he multiplies his welcomes and greetings.

مُرٌّ وإن أجدَتْك أخلاقُهُ

شمائلَ الصهباءِ لم تَقطِبِ

Bitter, though his manners bestow on you

the cheer of tawny wine, without a frown.

ينحطُّ عنه الناسُ من فضلهم

منحدَرَ الرِّدفِ عن المنكِبِ

Men fall below him, for all their merit,

as a rump lies lower than a shoulder.

أتعبَهُ تغليسهُ في العلا

مَن طَلبَ الراحةَ فليتعَبِ

His setting out before dawn toward greatness exhausted him:

whoever seeks rest must toil.

من معشرٍ لم يُهتَبَلْ عزُّهم

بغلَطِ الحظِّ ولم يُجلَبِ

From a people whose glory was not snatched

through fortune's error, nor brought from elsewhere.

ولا علا ابنٌ منهُمُ طالعاً

من شَرَفٍ إلا وراءَ الأبِ

No son among them rose

to eminence except behind his father.

تسلَّقوا المجدَ وداسوا العلا

وطُرْقُها يهماءُ لم تُلحَبِ

They scaled glory and trod the heights,

while their paths were trackless and unblazed.

ووافَقوا الأيّام فاستنزلَوا

أبطالَها في مِقنَبٍ مِقنبِ

They confronted the days, and brought down

their champions, troop after troop.

قومٌ إذا أَخلفَ عامُ الحيا

لم تختزِلهم حَيْرة المَسْغبِ

A people who, when the rainy year fails,

are not diminished by famine's bewilderment;

أو بَسطَ اللهُ ربيعاً لهم

لم يَبطَروا في سَعةِ المَخْضَبِ

or, when God spreads springtime before them,

do not grow insolent amid overflowing bowls.

سَمَوْا وأصبحتَ سماءً لهم

يطلُعُ منها شَرَف المَنْسَبِ

They rose high, and you became a sky for them,

from which the glory of lineage rises.

زدتَ وما انحطُّوا ولكنَّها

إضاءةُ البدرِ على الكوكبِ

You increased, and they did not decline; rather, it is

the full moon shining upon a star.

خُلِقتَ في الدنيا بلا مُشبهٍ

أغربَ من عَنقائها المُغْرِبِ

You were created in this world without a likeness,

stranger than its elusive Anqa.

لا يَجلسُ الحلمُ ولا يركَبُ ال

خوفُ ولم تجلِس ولم تَركَبِ

Forbearance does not sit, nor does

fear mount, unless you have sat or mounted.

إن جَنَحَ الأعداء للسَّلم أو

تلاوذوا منك إلى مَهربِ

If the enemies incline toward peace, or

seek refuge from you in a place of escape,

كتبتَ لو قلتَ فقال العدا

أعزلُ لم يَطعَنْ ولم يضرِبِ

you would write; were you to speak, the foe would say:

‘Unarmed—he has neither thrust nor struck.’

أو ركبوا البغيَ إلى غارةٍ

طعنتَ حتى قيل لم يَكتُبِ

Or, if they ride forth in aggression to raid,

you thrust until it is said, ‘He has never written.’

فأنت ملءُ العين والقلب ما

تشاءُ في الدَّستِ وفي الموكِبِ

Thus you fill the eye and heart, however

you wish, at the council seat and in the procession.

وربَّ طاوٍ غُلَّةً بائتٍ

من جانب الشرّ على مَرقَبِ

Many a man, nursing burning rancour through the night,

keeps watch on the side of evil,

ينظرُ من أيامهِ دولةً

بقلم الأقدارِ لم تُكتَبِ

awaiting from his days a turn of power

never written by the pen of destiny.

راعته من كيدك تحت الدجى

دبَّابةٌ أدهَى من العقربِ

He was startled beneath the darkness by your stratagem—

a creeping engine more cunning than a scorpion.

فقام عنها باذلاً بُسْلَةَ ال

رَّاقي ولم يُرْقَ ولم يُلْسَبِ

He rose from it, offering the

charmer's fee, though neither charmed nor stung.

بك اشتفى الفضلُ وأبناؤه

بعد عُموم السَّقَم المُنصِبِ

Through you, excellence and its sons were healed

after exhausting sickness had spread everywhere.

والتقم الملكُ هُدَى نهجهِ

وكان يمشي مِشية الأنكب

The kingdom swallowed guidance for its course,

having walked with a crooked gait.

وِزارةٌ قَلَّبَها شوقُها

منك إلى حُوَّلِها القُلَّبِ

A vizierate, its longing having turned it

toward you, its resourceful, versatile master,

جاءتك لم تُوسِع لها مُرغِباً

وليَّها المَهرَ ولم تَخطُبِ

came to you; you had not lavished a tempting

dowry upon its guardian, nor sought its hand.

كم أجهضتْ قبلَك مِن عَدّهم

لها شهورَ الحاملِ المُقرِبِ

How often, before you, it miscarried amid their counting

its months as those of a mother near delivery.

وولدتْ وهي كأنْ لم تلدِ

أمٌّ إذا ما هي لم تُنجِبِ

It bore, yet was as though it had not borne:

a mother, if she has borne no noble child.

قُمتَ بمعناها وكم جالسٍ

تكفيه منها سِمةُ المَنصِبِ

You upheld its true meaning; how many a seated man

is content with merely its title of office!

وهي التي إن لم يُقَدْ رأسُها

بمحصِداتِ الصبر لم تُصحِبِ

It is she whose head, unless led

by tightly twisted cords of patience, will not submit.

مَزلَقةٌ راكبُ سِيسائِها

راكبُ ظهرِ الأسَدِ الأغلبِ

A slippery mount: whoever rides her spine

rides the back of a mighty lion.

راحتْ على عِطفِك أثوابُها

طاهرةَ المرَفَع والمَسحَبِ

Her garments now lie upon your shoulder,

pure where raised and where they trail.

فَتحتَ في مُبهَمِ تدبيرها

طاهرةَ المَرفَع والمَسحَبِ

You opened what was closed in her governance,

pure where raised and where they trail.

وارتجعتْ منك رِجالاتها

كلَّ مِطيلٍ في الندَى مُرغِبِ

Through you she recovered her great men,

each lavish, enticing giver in generosity.

رُدَّ بنو يحيى وسهلٍ لها

والطاهريُّون بنو مُصعبِ

The sons of Yahya and Sahl were restored to her,

and the Tahirids, the sons of Mus'ab.

فاضرب عليها بيتَ ثاوٍ بها

قبلك لم يُعمَدْ ولم يُطْنَبِ

Pitch over her the tent of one settled there,

before you, never raised on poles or staked with ropes.

واستخدم الأقدارَ في ضبطها

واستشِر الإقبالَ واستصحِبِ

Employ the destinies in keeping her secure,

consult good fortune, and keep it company.

وامدُدْ على الدنيا وجَهْلاتِها

ظِلالَ حلمٍ لك لم يَعزُبِ

Spread over the world and its follies

the shades of a forbearance of yours that never departs.

واطلُع على النَّيروزِ شمساً إذا

ساقَ الغروبُ الشمسَ لم تغرُبِ

Rise over Nowruz as a sun that, when

sunset drives away the sun, does not set.

تفضُلُ ما كرَّ سِني عُمرِهِ

بملء كفِّ الحاسبِ المطنِبِ

You surpass it as its years of life recur,

by the full hand-count of the painstaking reckoner.

يومٌ من الفُرسِ أتى وافداً

فقالت العُرْبُ له قرِّبِ

A day from the Persians arrived as a guest,

and the Arabs said to it, ‘Come near.’

بات من الإحسان في دارِكم

وهو غريبٌ غيرَ مستغرَبِ

Through kindness it spent the night in your house,

a stranger, yet not treated as strange.

لو شاء من ينسب لم يَعزُهُ

لغيركم عيداً ولم يَنسِبِ

If a genealogist wished, he would not ascribe it

as a feast to any but you, nor trace it elsewhere.

واسمع لمغلوب على حظِّه

لو أنك الناصرُ لم يُغلَبِ

And listen to one defeated in his fortune:

had you been his champion, he would not have been defeated.

مُوَجَّدٍ لم يشكُ من دهره

وأهلِهِ إلا إلى مُذنِبِ

Grief-stricken, he complained of his time

and its people only to someone culpable.

أقصاه عند الناس إدلاؤه

من فضله بالنسب الأقربِ

His pleading drove him far from other men,

claiming closest kinship through his excellence.

لو قِيض إنصافُك قِدماً له

عَزَّ فلم يُقْصَ ولم يُقْصَبِ

Had your fairness been appointed for him long ago,

he would have prospered, neither excluded nor reviled.

عندك من برقيَ لمَّاعةٌ

سابقةٌ تَشهدُ للغُيَّبِ

You have a gleam of my lightning,

an earlier flash, bearing witness for those unseen.

منثورُها ذاك ومنظومُها

هذا كلا الدرّين لم يُثقَبِ

That is its prose; its verse is

this: neither of the two pearls has been pierced.

ما زلتُ أرجوك ومِن آيتي

أنَّ رجائي فيك لم يَكذِبِ

I have always placed my hope in you; among my proofs

is that my hope in you has never proved false.

لم يبقَ لي بعدَك عتبٌ على

حظٍّ ولا فقرٌ إلى مَطلَبِ

After you, I have no reproach left against

fortune, nor any need for something to seek.

فاغرسْ ونوّهْ منعماً واصطنع

ترضَ مضاءَ الصارمِ المُقضِبِ

So plant, proclaim my name, show favour, and take me as your own;

you will approve the cutting force of the keen, severing sword.

وغِر على رِقيَ من خاملٍ

لِملكِ مثلي غيرِ مستوجبِ

Guard my servitude jealously against a man of no renown,

unworthy of owning one like me.

كم أحمدتْ قَبلكَ عُنْقي يدٌ

لكنّها سامتْ ولم تَضرِبِ

How many hands before yours made my neck praise them,

but they bid, and never struck a bargain.

ولَدنةِ الأعطافِ لم تُعتَسفْ

بالكَلِمِ المرِّ ولم تُتْعَبِ

And a supple-limbed poem, never forced

with bitter words, nor wearied,

من الحلالِ العفوِ لم تُستَلَبْ

بغارةِ الشعرِ ولم تُنْهَبِ

from rightful, freely yielded material, never seized

by poetry's raiding, nor plundered:

دمُ الكرى المهراقِ فيها على

سامِعها إن هو لم يطرَبِ

the blood of sleep spilled in it is upon

its hearer, if he is not moved to delight.

جاءك معناها وألفاظُها

في الحسنِ بالأسهلِ والأصعبِ

Its meaning and its words have come to you,

bearing beauty in both the easy and the difficult:

أفصحُ ماقيلَ ولكنَّها

فصاحةٌ تُهدَى إلى يَعْرُبِ

the most eloquent speech, yet it is

eloquence presented to Ya'rub.