عُيونُ المَها بَينَ الرصافَةِ وَالجِسر
لِفَقدِ خَميسِ الزينِ أَدمُعُها تَجري
The oryx-eyed beauties between al-Rusafa and the bridge—
whose tears stream in mourning for Khamis al-Zayn.
وَأَسعَدَها بيضٌ نَواعٍ نَواعِمٌ
جَلَبنَ الهَوى مِن حَيثُ أَدري وَلا أَدري
Fair beauties—soft, grieving, tender—came to their aid;
they brought longing from whence I know, and know not.
أَعَدنَ لي الشَوقَ القَديمَ وَلَم أَكُن
نَبَذتُ الصبا أَو حُلتُ عَن قَهوَةٍ بِكرِ
They stirred anew my ancient yearning, though I had not
cast youth aside or turned away from virgin wine.
فَلا تَحسَبا أَنّي جَليدٌ وَأَنَّني
سَلَوتُ وَلَكِن زِدنَ جَمراً عَلىَ جَمرٍ
So do not suppose, you two, that I am stouthearted, or that I
had forgotten; they merely heaped ember upon ember.
سَلِمنَ وَأَسلَمنَ القُلوبَ كَأَنَّما
تَخَطَّفَها صَقرٌ وَطارَ إِلىَ وَكرِ
They greeted us, and we surrendered our hearts, as though
a falcon had snatched them and flown with them to its nest.
وَرُعنَ بِمَنعاهُ القُلوبَ فَكُلَمّا
يُشَك بِأَطرافِ الردَينيَّةِ السمرِ
Their gleam startled hearts; and whenever
they are pierced by the points of dusky Rudayni spears.
وَقُلنَ لَنا نَحنُ الأَهِلَّة ما لَنا
هَوى بَدرُنا بِالرَغمِ مِنّا إِلى القَبرِ
They said to us, “We are the crescent moons—what has befallen us?
Our full moon has fallen, against our will, into the grave.
وَكُنّا بِأُفقِ الأُنسِ وَاللَهوِ زينَةً
نُضيء لِمَن يَسري إِلَينا وَلا نَقري
We once adorned the horizon of companionship and delight,
shining for whoever journeyed by night to us, though no feast was spread.
وَلا نَيلَ إِلّا مِن تَزَوَّدِ ناظِر
وَسَمعٍ مِنَ الزينِ المُساجِلِ لِلقُمري
None could gain anything from us except provision for the gaze,
and the hearing of beauty that rivaled the turtledove’s song.
وَلا أَمَلٌ يُلهي المَشوقَ بِمَوعِدٍ
وَلا وَصلَ إِلّا بِالخَيالِ الَّذي يَسري
No promise could draw the yearning lover near,
and there was no union save through a phantom traveling by night.
أَحينَ أَزَلنَّ القَلبَ عَن مُستَقَرّهِ
أَعَلِّلُ نَفسي بِالسلُوّ وَبالصَبرِ
Now that they have displaced the heart from its resting place,
shall I beguile my soul with forgetfulness and patience?
رَقُمنَ لِنَعيِ الرينِ حَسرى بِمأتَمِ
وَأدمَينَ ما بَينَ الجَوانِح وَالصَدرِ
Grief-stricken, they fashioned mourning rites for al-Zayn
and made all between the ribs and breast bleed.
أَلا قَبلَ أَن يَبدو المَشيبُ بِلمَّتي
وَكُنتُ كَقَيسٍ وَامرىءِ القَيسِ ذي حجر
Ah, before gray appeared in my forelock,
I was like Qays and Imru’ al-Qays, son of Hujr.
وَلَكِنَّما أودى الشَبابُ وَإِنَّما
فَقَدتُ خَميساً بَعدَ خَمسينَ مِن عُمري
But youth has passed; the truth is simply this:
I have lost a Khamis after fifty years of my life.
وَحُرِّمتُ صَيدَ الغيدِ قَسراً لأنَّها
تُصادُ المَها بَينَ الشَبيبَةِ وَالوَفرِ
I have been forcibly barred from hunting graceful maidens, for
oryx are hunted in youth and abundance.
أَما وَبَياضٌ راعَهُنَّ لَرُبَمّا
بَكيَن كَما تَبكي الخُناسُ عَلىَ صَخرِ
As for the white hair that alarmed them—how often
they wept as al-Khansa wept for Sakhr.
وَحُلنَ عَنِ العَهدِ الوَثيقِ وَطالَما
عَبَرنَ بِنا ما بَينَ سَحرٍ إِلى نَحِرِ
They slipped free of the binding covenant, though for so long
they had borne us across the space between breast and throat.
وَبِتنا عَلى رَغمِ الحَسودِ كَأَنَّنا
حَلَلنا مَكانَ السِرِّ مِن كاتِمِ السِرِّ
We spent the night, despite the envier, as though
we lodged in the secret place of one who guards his secret.
تَمازَجَتِ الأَرواحُ مِنّا فَخِلتُها
خَليطَين مِن ماءِ الغَمامَةِ وَالخَمرِ
Our spirits mingled, until I imagined them
two blended streams: rain-cloud water and wine.
وَإِن حُلنَ أَو أَنكَرنَ عَهداً عَهِدنَهُ
وَدَهراً مَضى وَهوَ النَفيسُ مِنَ العُمرِ
Should they turn away, or disavow a covenant once made,
and an age now vanished—the choicest portion of life—
وَحاوَلنَ غَدراً بَعدَ بُعدِكَ في الثَرى
فَغَيرُ بَعيدٍ لِلغَواني وَلا نُكرِ
and should they, after you lie far away in the earth, attempt betrayal,
then betrayal by beauties is neither unlikely nor strange.
كَفى بِالهَوى شُغلاً وَبِالشَيبِ رادِعاً
وَبالمَوتِ تَهديداً وَباللَّحدِ في القَبرِ
Love is burden enough, and gray hair deterrent enough;
death is threat enough, and the grave’s niche restraint enough.
أَلَم يَكُ في مَعناهُ يا صاحِ زاجِراً
لَو أَنَّ الهَوى مِمّا يُنَهنَهُ بِالزَجرِ
Does its very meaning not hold warning enough, my friend—
if love were something that rebuke could ever restrain?
خَليليّ ما أَحلى الهَوى وَأَمَرهُ
وَما هُوَ إِلّا الشُهدُ قَد شيبَ بِالصَبرِ
My two friends, how sweet love is—and how bitter!
It is but honey mingled with bitter aloe.
تَرَوحَنَ حَتّى بَثَّ لي سِرَّ كُنهِهِ
وَأَعلَمَني بِالحُلوِ مِنهُ وَبالمُرِّ
It grew spirit-like until it disclosed to me the secret of its essence,
and taught me the sweetness within it and the bitterness.
بِما بَينَنا مِن رَحمَةٍ هَل رَأَيتُما
حَكيماً دَرى قَبلي بِما فيهِ مِن سِرِّ
By your bond, you two, have you ever seen
a sage before me who knew the secret hidden in it?
وَهَل شِمتُما في خالَتَيهِ شَمائِلاً
أَرَقَّ مِنَ الشَكوى وَأَقسى مِنَ الهَجرِ
Have you discerned, in its two aspects, qualities
subtler than complaint and harsher than abandonment;
وَأَفضَحَ مِن عَينِ المُحَبِّ لِسِرِّهِ
غَداةَ نَعوا مَن يَملأُ السَمعَ بِالدُرِّ
more revealing of its secret than a lover’s eye
on the morning when one who fills the ear with pearls brings news of death?
تَبوحُ بِما يُخفي الشَجيُّ مِنَ الهَوى
وَلا سِيَّما إِن أَطلَقَت عَبرَةً تَجري
It divulges all the heartsick lover conceals of passion,
especially when he lets a tear run free.
تَنُمّ عَلى أَيّامِ أُنسٍ بِهِ مَضَت
سَقى عَهدَها المُنهَلُّ مِن وابِلِ القَطرِ
It discloses bygone days of companionship with him;
may streaming cloudbursts water their memory with pelting rain.
سَلامٌ عَلى اللَذاتِ بَعدَكَ كالصبا
وَباللَهِ يا رَيحَ الصبا عِندَما تَسري
Farewell to pleasures after you, as farewell to youth;
by God, O east wind, whenever you journey,
تُبَلِّغ خَميسَ الزينَ عَنّي تَحيَّةً
تَسيرُ عَلى الأَيّامِ طَيِّبَةَ النَشرِ
carry to Khamis al-Zayn a greeting from me—
a greeting traveling through the days, sweet with fragrance.
