هيجت أشجان صب للربوع هفا — Omar Onsi

هيّجت أَشجان صَبٍّ لِلرُبوع هَفا

يا ساجِعاً فَوقَ أَغصان الربى هتفا

You stirred the sorrows of a lover who yearned for the old abodes,

O warbler who cried above the hillside boughs.

فاِصدح هياماً وَطب نَفساً وَصح طَرَباً

وَاِصدع غَراماً وَهم وَجداً وَزِد كلفا

So sing out in rapture, be glad of heart, and cry in joy;

proclaim your passion, wander in longing, and grow more lovesick.

ما بي إِلَيك سِوى ذكر الحِمى فَلَقَد

أَقضي أَسىً بِكَ أَو أَقضي بِهِ أَسَفا

Nothing draws me to you but memory of the beloved grounds; indeed,

I perish in grief because of you, or in sorrow because of it.

سَقى العهاد عُهوداً مِن مَعاهدنا

وَجاده صيّب الأَنواء ما وَكَفا

May returning showers water bygone times at our familiar haunts,

and may the rain-stars' downpour drench them whenever it pours.

أَوقات أنسٍ إِذا ما بتّ أَذكُرُها

ألفَيت مِنها خَيالاً لُبّيَ اِختَطَفا

Times of companionship: whenever I spend the night recalling them,

I find a vision of them that carries off my reason.

أَيّام كانَت غُصون اللَهو دانيةً

ظِلالها وَأَفاويق الوفاق صفا

Days when the boughs of pleasure hung low,

their shade close, and the fresh draughts of concord ran clear.

كُنّا إِذا ما سَأَلنا اللَه يَمنحنا

عَفواً عَكَفنا عَلى لذّاتنا تَرَفا

Whenever we asked God to grant us

pardon, we devoted ourselves to our pleasures in luxury.

فَيا رعى اللَه أَوقاتاً لَنا سَلفت

وَيا رعى اللَه عَهداً بِالحِمى سَلَفا

Ah, may God preserve the times that have passed for us,

and may God preserve an era gone by in the beloved grounds.

هِيَ المَنازل عَن عَينيّ ما غربت

إِلّا تَلفَّت قَلبي نَحوَها لَهفا

Those are the dwellings: never did they vanish from my eyes

without my heart turning toward them in longing.

أَفدي كَواعب غيد في مَرابعها

أَلفتها وَهَواها مُهجَتي أَلِفا

I would ransom the graceful, budding-breasted maidens in their springtime haunts;

I grew fond of them, and their love grew familiar to my soul.

حَتّى لَوِ القمران النيّران هما

هَمّا بعذل لما كذبت أَن كسفا

Even if the sun and moon, the two bright lights themselves,

undertook to chide me, I would not doubt they had been eclipsed.

مِن كُلّ هَيفاءَ وَطفاء الجُفون إِذا

رنت جَعلت فُؤادي نَحوَها هَدَفا

Each slender-waisted beauty with long-lashed eyelids, when

she gazes, makes my heart a target for her.

ما كُنت أَعلَم أَن الغُصن قامتها

حَتّى تناوَلت مِن رمّانه تُحفا

I did not know that the bough was her stature

until I took gifts from its pomegranates.

وَلا شَهدت بِأَنَّ الشَهد ريقتها

حَتّى تَحقّقت فيهِ للأَنام شفا

Nor did I declare her saliva to be honey

until I found in it healing for humankind.

هَواي ما زالَ بِالآرام مؤتلفاً

وَالجسم ما زالَ بِالآلام مُختَلِفا

My love has ever kept company with the gazelles,

while my body has ever been at odds with its pains.

ما زادَ سَمعي ملاماً عاذِليَّ بِها

إِلّا وَزادَ فُؤادي حُبّها شغفا

My reproachers never added blame about her to my hearing

without my heart growing more passionately in love with her.

عَواذِلي لَيتَهُم ذاقوا الهَوى فَغَدا

مِنهُم على عذله المَعذول منتصفا

My reproachers—if only they had tasted love, so that

the reproached lover might claim redress from them for their censure.

كَأَنَّهُم حين َوافوا مَنزِلي نَفرٌ

إِليَّ مِن زاجِلات الجنّ قَد صُرِفا

They seemed, when they came to my dwelling, a band

sent to me from among the clamorous jinn.

أَعوذ بِالحُبّ مِمَّن لَم يذُب كَلفاً

بِالغانيات وَلم يَعذر بِها دنفا

I seek refuge in love from whoever has not melted in passion

for beautiful women, nor excused someone sick with love for them.

وَبي غَزالاً بِجفنيه يُغازلني

حَتّى إِذا اِلتاعَ قَلبي صدَّ وَاِنحَرَفا

I pine for a gazelle who flirts with me through his eyelids,

until, when my heart burns, he turns away and withdraws.

واصلته فَجَفا أَخلفتهُ فَوفَى

أَوجَبتهُ فَنَفى أَحببتهُ صَلفا

I sought his company; he shunned me. I broke faith with him; he kept faith.

I affirmed him; he denied. I loved him, haughty as he was.

عَذب اللَمى جَوهَريّ الثَغر تَحسبه

كأس الطلا فَوقَهُ درّ الحَباب طَفا

Sweet of dusky lip, jewel-mouthed—you would think him

a cup of wine, with pearls of foam floating above it.

مُهفهف القَدّ لَو أَنَّ الصبا عَبثت

بِقَدّه لَثنته نَحوَنا هَيفا

Slender of figure—if the east wind toyed

with his form, it would bend him toward us, so slender is he.

أَجني جَنى خَدّه بِاللَحظ ثُمَّ إِذا

ما نمّ نَشر شَذاه جئت مُعتَرفا

I pluck the fruit of his cheek with a glance; then, when

his wafting fragrance betrays me, I come confessing.

فَيا أَخا العَذل دَع ما تَدّعيهِ عَلى

متيّم ما جَنى ذَنباً وَلا اِقتَرَفا

So, brother of reproach, abandon what you allege against

a love-captive who has committed no sin or offense.

ماذا عليَّ وَعِندي لِلهَوى شيم

مِن العَفاف تفيد الأَنفُس الشرفا

What blame is mine, when I possess, in love, qualities

of chastity that confer honor on souls?

هِيَ الجَواهر أَخلاقاً يَفوز بِها

مَن جازَ بَحر أَمين اللَه وَاِغتَرَفا

They are jewels of character, won by

whoever crosses the sea of God's trusted one and draws from it.

مَولىً تَقول إِذا شاهَدت طَلعتهُ

تَبارَك اللَه هَذا أَوحَد الخلفا

A lord whose face, when you behold it, makes you say:

'Blessed be God! This is the peerless one among successors!'

ماتَ السَخاء وَأَهلوه فَلَست تَرى

إِلّا علاه وَإِلّا جوده خَلفا

Generosity and its people have died; you see

only his eminence and his bounty as their successors.

مَناقب فيهِ قَد عزّت مَراتبها

دَعا صَريف بَني الدُنيا بِها خَزَفا

He has virtues of such exalted rank

that he deems worldly men's pure silver mere earthenware beside them.

مَكارم عَمَّ من قد أمَّ ساحته

نَوالها فاز مَن في بابِهِ وَقَفا

Noble gifts: all who seek his court are encompassed by

their bounty; whoever stands at his door prospers.

لَو كانَ ذا حاجة فَوق السُها لَقَضى

أَو سائِلاً لَكَفى أَو مذنباً لَعَفا

Were someone in need above Suha, he would meet his need;

if a petitioner, he would provide; if a sinner, he would pardon.

يعطي الأُلوف وَآلاف الأُلوف ندىً

وَلَيسَ يُنفق تَقتيراً وَلا سَرَفا

He gives thousands, and thousands of thousands, in bounty,

spending neither stingily nor wastefully.

ذاكَ الأَمير بِأَمر اللَه قامَ عَلى

أَقدام إِقدام حَزم بِالنُهى اِتَّصَفا

That emir, by God's command, stood upon

the feet of courageous resolve, endowed with wisdom.

لَو جاءَنا بَعد خَير الخَلق ذو نبأٍ

لَأَنزَل اللَهُ في تِمداحه صحفا

Had a bearer of tidings come to us after the best of creation,

God would have sent down scriptures in his praise.

لَيث الوَغى سَطوَةً غَيث السَما كَرَماً

بَدر الدُجى طَلعةً شَمس الضُحى شَرَفا

A lion of battle in might, heaven's rain in generosity,

the full moon of darkness in countenance, the morning sun in nobility.

مَهابة قَد تَراءى لِلعداة بِها

فَكادَ يُرهب في أَصلابها النُطفا

With such awe has he appeared before his enemies

that he all but terrifies the very seed in their loins.

سَل المَواكب وَالبيض القَواضب وَال

جُردَ السَلاهب وَالجَيش الَّذي زَحَفا

Ask the cavalcades, the bright, cutting swords, and the

sleek, long-limbed steeds, and the army that advanced:

تنبيكَ أَخبار فَضل عَن وَقائعه ال

لاتي بِها الدَهر صدقاً طالَما حَلَفا

they tell you tales of excellence concerning his battles,

by which Time has so often sworn in truth.

تُملي عَلَيك أَحاديثاً مُسلسلَةً

بِالدرّ تَملأُ مِن آذانك الصدفا

They recite to you tales linked in chains

of pearls, filling the shells of your ears.

وَيَوم بادر لِلهَيجاء مُقتَحِماً

يغشى الهِياج وَلا يَخشى الرَدى تلفا

And on a day when he rushed headlong into battle,

he braved the fray, fearing neither death nor destruction,

في عُصبة جارهم ما إِن يُضام وَلَو

سَما العجاج عَلَيهم أَسقَطَت كسَفا

amid a band whose protected neighbor is never wronged, even if

the sky of battle-dust rains fragments down upon them.

مِن كُلّ أَروع شَهم لا يَهاب رَدى

وَلَو تَناول كَأس الحَتف ما أَنفا

Each a splendid, gallant man who fears no death;

even taking the cup of doom, he would not disdain it.

كَأَنَّ لَمع المَواضي مِن صَوارمهم

وَميض بَرق لِأَبصار العِدا خَطَفا

As though the gleam of their keen, cutting swords

were lightning's flash, stealing their enemies' sight.

جازوا القرى بَعدَما حازوا النُفوس قرىً

كَأَنَّهُم ريح عاد عِندَما عَصَفا

They crossed the villages after taking souls as their feast,

as though they were the wind of ʿAd when it raged.

هُوَ الأَمين عَلَيهم وَالأَمير عَلى

بَني العُلى وَلَهُ ساداتهم حلَفا

He is their trusted guardian, and emir over

the sons of eminence, whose chiefs are his allies.

يُؤمّهم باذل المَعروفِ يقدُمهم

غَضَنفراً غَير زَجر الخَيل ما عَرَفا

He leads them, a bestower of kindness, going before them

as a lion who knows only the urging of horses.

مَولىً مَحا اللَه آثار البغاة بِهِ

لِيَقطَع اللَه مِن أَسبابهم طَرفا

A lord through whom God erased the traces of rebels,

so that God might sever a portion of their means.

شادَ العلى وَلَقَد سادَ المَلا شَرَفا

وَفَوق قَصر الثُريّا قَد بَنى غرفا

He built up eminence and ruled the people in honor,

and built chambers above the palace of the Pleiades.

يا حاتم الجودِ يا قسَّ الفَصاحة يا

قَيس النَباهة بَل يا أَحنَف الحنَفا

O Hatim in generosity, O Quss in eloquence, O

Qays in distinction—nay, O Ahnaf of the upright!

إِليكها غادَةً عَذراء ما جليت

عَلى سِواك وَلا عَن وَجهِها كشفا

Here she is for you, a graceful virgin, never unveiled

before anyone else, nor has her face been uncovered.

لَولا مَديحك يَكسوها الجَمال حلىً

ما رقَّ لُطف مَعانيها وَلا ظَرفا

Were it not that praise of you clothes her in beauty's ornaments,

her meanings' grace would not be so delicate or charming.

وافَت تهنّيك بِالعيد السَعيد كَما

قامَت تهنّي بِكَ المَجد الَّذي شَرفا

She came to congratulate you on the happy feast, just as

she rose to congratulate glory on you, by whom it was ennobled.

لَكَ الهَنا إِن شَهر الصَوم حينَ مَضى

أَهدى التَهاني إِلى علياك وَاِنصَرَفا

Joy be yours! Indeed, the month of fasting, when it passed,

offered congratulations to your high station and departed.

لَو لَم يرح شاهداً لِلفَضل مِنكَ أَبى

أَن لا يجوب مَفاز الأَرض معتسفا

Had it not gone bearing witness to your excellence, it would refuse

not to cross the earth's deserts, wandering without a guide.

فَاِهنأ فديت بعيد الفطر لا بَرحت

أَمثاله بِكَ تهدينا هَناً وَصفا

So rejoice—may I be your ransom—in Eid al-Fitr; may there never cease

feasts like it, bringing us through you joy and serenity.

وَاِرشف كُؤوس سُرورٍ راق منهلهُ

فَيا لَهُ منهلاً عَذباً وَمرتشفا

And sip cups of joy whose spring runs clear;

ah, what a sweet spring and draught it is!

وَدُم عَلى العِزّ وَاِزدد رفعة وَعُلىً

وَحَسبك اللَه فيما نِلتهُ وَكَفى

Remain in honor, and grow in dignity and eminence;

and God is enough for you in what you have attained—He suffices.