جاءت مولعة الكواهل — Al Sari Al Raffa — Saqi

She came with dappled shoulders,
strutting, her rain-signs true.
Kohl-eyed and adorned, she wept
until she returned, sore-eyed and unadorned.
Dark-hued: her lightning makes the night-
traveler fancy her baldrics silvered.
It greets the leafy groves with its radiance,
like the blossoms of those leafy groves.
The south wind's hand enfolds her,
as armies are folded into armies.
And thunder lashes her with tongues
like the tongues of reproving women.
And urges her on as camel-drivers urge
straying, choice she-camels with high humps.
And lightning flashes within her
with the flash of a woman's jeweled fingers.
Until, when, wrapped in her,
the horizons smiled in their aspect,
her lightning bolts flew along
the tracks of her streaming tears.
So the air is ablaze from her,
and earth is filled by her with watering places.
And the blossoms wear two ornaments,
alike, of dew and pouring rain.
It greets you with varied necklaces
amid harmonizing gauzy robes:
marvels like the ends of armlets,
and bracelets and anklets,
between the melodies of doves
and the melodies of streams.
I visit it at the bidding of the noblest
friends, not at the bidding of wives.
Tipsy, he bends like a branch
among swaying branches,
slender-fingered, anointing
with musk curls like chains,
he hastens to me with the wine of
Babylon, skilled in Babylon's magic.
Golden-yellow, you would think it
was cleft from the sun of late afternoon.
It, the daughter of its vine, was mingled
with the daughter of white, rain-pouring clouds.
So it is like molten gold,
mingled with melted silver.
And the fragrance of its cups is like
my thanks to Ahmad in assemblies.
A king whose virtues lead to
his bounty by the most direct means.
He reddens the days of battle,
and whitens the days of noble deeds.
By the excellence of his deeds he revives
the deeds of his father, the mighty chief.
Like a rose that is gone, while its water
stays sweetly fragrant, never fading.
He sent generosity through east and west,
inquiring after every petitioner.
And made renowned in standing
a stranger famed for virtues.
Like the full moon nearing its fullness,
then shining in the heights of its stations.
He struts in the shade of eminence
and roams in the shade of watering places.
Traits that, of his eminence
among the Azd, give clear proof.
And later deeds have testified for him
to the merits of the earliest forebears.
And a hand like rain pouring from clouds:
its bucket overwhelms a rival's bucket.
And an Indian blade: all its targets
are joints when it is brandished.
As though your nearness were its quenching water,
when it flashes at the body's vital spots.
O best of those in whom hope is placed,
at whose two courts a seeker's camels are made to kneel:
you have completed the month of fasting,
your obligatory and voluntary devotions accepted.
So welcome your fast-breaking as it brings forth
good fortune that delights you and never sets.
And poetry is recreation for one who stays,
having set down his saddles, and provision for one who travels.
So drink amid its sweet basil,
as it comes fresh and unwithered.
And know that its wondrous artistry
is the essence of the wise and virtuous.