لِمَن الظّعائِنُ طُلَّعَ الأحْداج
وقَفَتْ لشأنٍ وانثَنَت لَمِعاجِ
For whom have the gazelles raised their longing eyes?
Standing for a cause, and bending with desire,
غَنَّت بأطْراب النفوس وعارَضت
بفنونِ شَجوٍ لْلمَتيم شاجِ
They sang the songs that delight the soul, and presented
In the arts of yearning, to the lovelorn, consolation.
فأصّم سَمْعَك رنَّةُ الحادي بها
سَحَراً وصَوتُ غُرابها الشَّحاجُ
Deafen then your hearing to the guide calling them
A magic charm, and the voice of his raven giving answer.
فبعثث أنفاساً فُرادى تمتَري
دُرَر الجُفون بأدْمُعٍ أَزْواجِ
Then she breathed, alone, sighs that caused
Tears to flow from the eyes in pairs.
رفَعوا هوادِجَ كالسّفين وكلّةً
محْفوفةً بالوّشْي والدّيباجِ
They raised the curtains, like ships, all together,
Enveloped in fine linen and brocade.
فيهنَّ مُعيدَةٍ عُلقَ الهوى
بجَمالها ودلالها الخَلاّجِ
Among them is she who has ensnared my passion
With her beauty and her languid grace.
وهلال مبيضّ الأسرة باسمٌ
وفتور مكْحول المحاجر ساجِ
A crescent moon lighting up the dark night,
And half-asleep eyes with kohl outlined.
وفمٌ كأَن على مُجاجة ريقه
من ريقة العنقود صَفوَ مزاجِ
A mouth as though its mingled saliva
Were the pure extract of sweet wine.
وتُريكَ حين تَرى تَرائبها علىَ
لون السجنجَل مثلُ حُقّي عاجِ
When you look upon her braids upon
The reddish tree, they are like bunches of unripe dates.
وأُناةَ مائِسةِ التّهادي كلّما
قامّت تنوء بِردْفها الرَّجراجِ
And the gait of her trailing dress, whenever
She rises, stoops under its weight.
قَد آن حلْمي بالمَشيب وطالما
أَكثرتُ في طُرقِ الشَباب لجاجيِ
My patience with youth has gone, for long
Have I frequented the ways of passion.
وشَربتُ من صِرف المُدام أُعلُّه
في الكأس من أَرْي المُنى بمزاجِ
And I have drunk from the cup of wine, the best of it,
In a glass, from the hand of the cupbearer, tempered.
وكأنّما جُمعت يُدَ السَّاقي لنا
ضوءَ الغزالةِ في إناء زُجاجِ
As though the cupbearer had brought together for us
The doe’s brightness in a glass vessel .
وتَخال إبريقَ المُدامةِ بيننا
ظَبياً ذَبيحاً سائِلَ الأدواجِ
And the wine flask between us was imagined
To be a slaughtered gazelle, seasoned with herbs.
ومُباشرٍ بالطَّعن قارعَ صخْرتي
بجَبينه فوجأتهُ بشِجاجِ
One attacking my rock with his forehead I surprised
With glass.
ومبارزٍ لي بالشِّبابِ يسلُّ لي
منه لسانَ مْزَوِّر سَدَّاجِ
And one who rivaled me in youth pulled out
For me his lying tongue.
لم أرضْهُ كفواً وصُنتُ مُروَتي
عن شَتم كلِّ مقارعٍ ومُهاجي
I did not consider him my equal, so I protected my honor
From insulting every adversary and attacker.
وإذا امرؤ صادفتُ علّة بغضِهِ
حَسَداً فلَستُ مزيلَها بِعلاجِ
And when I meet a man the cause of whose hatred
Is jealousy, I do not attempt to cure it with treatment.
كيفَ الإِقامةُ بيْنَ كيدِ مباينٍ
ونفاقِ آخر كالصدّيق مداجيِ
How can I stay among the scheming of the hostile
And the hypocrisy of another who pretends to be a friend?
لي عن ملازَمة العدى منْدوحةٌ
في العيس والفَلواتِ والإدلاجِ
I have open country as an escape
From entanglements with the enemy and getting lost.
خُلقْتِ لتسليةِ الهموم أَيانقٌ
خوصٌ كأمثال القِسي نواجِ
You were created to console worries, gazelles
Fleeing, like the oryx, from distress.
يَطْفونَ الرُكبان في لجج الضحى
يَنصعن بين مهامهٍ وفجاجِ
They carry travelers over the floods of dawn,
Shining among the sand dunes and emptiness.
لا بالقناعةِ قد رضيتُ ولم أَجُب
عرضَ البسيطة خشيةَ الإلعاجِ
I have not been satisfied with contentment, nor have I answered
The call of the impoverished, fearing discomfort.
لكن بنو عُمَرٍ كفاني برُّهم
لولاهمُ لم انتَفع بلماجِ
But the people of Umar were enough for me in their nobility
Without them I would not have enjoyed comfort.
ضمن الغنى ليَ أنني بمحمدٍ
وسحاح نبهان وأحمد راجي
Among the wealthy they guaranteed me that I am with Muhammad
And Suhah Nabhan and Ahmad the aspirer.
وهمُ القرونُ الغالبون بعزّهم
للنّاس بينهُم انتشار رجَاجِ
They are the victorious generations in their glory
Among the people - their eminence has spread.
سنَّ الأَوائلُ في المكارم سنّةً
أَخذوا بها ومَضوا على المِنهاجِ
The ancients established in generosity a tradition
Which they took and went straight upon the path.
من كلِّ وَضّاحٍ كأنَ جبينهُ
قَمرٌ يلوحُ سَناهُ تحْتَ التّاجِ
You would think every bright-faced one among them
Has a moon beaming from beneath his crown.
مُتَجَشّمِ لصعابِ أَسبابِ العُلى
في ضِيق كلّ كَريهةٍ ولاَّجِ
Enduring the difficulties of the means to ascend,
In the constriction of every hated and feared thing.
غُلبٌ رِقابُهُم كأن ثيابهم
منهم لُبسن على متون حِراجِ
Their necks have overcome, as though their clothes
Were worn over coats of mail.
لا يفزعون إذا دُعوا لكريهةٍ
إلاّ إلى الإلْجام والإسراجِ
They are not disturbed if called to horror
Except to firmness and saddling.
صُبُرٌ إذا اعتنق الكماة وراهجت
صمُّ السّنابك ايّما إرْهاجِ
Patience, when embracing thinness, and the ribs
Deaf to whatever anguish.
والخيل تحت النّقع في زجل الوغى
يغدون بين أَسنّة وزجاجِ
And the horses beneath armor in the clamor of war
They attack with bared swords and glass.
والبِيض فوق البَيْض يَلْمع بينها
شُهبٌ تألَّقُ في سَماء عُجاجِ
And the eggs above eggs flashing among them
Meteors glittering in a gloomy sky.
وترى الوفودَ على حياض نوالهم
يَردون أَفواجاً لدى أَفواجِ
And you see the delegations at the basins of their hospitality
Coming in groups to groups.
يَردون عَنْ ظَمإ الخَصاصة شاطئاً
بحْراً من المَعْروفِ غَيْر أُجاجِ
They come, regarding the thirst of privation, to a coast
A sea of bounty, not brackish.
ونَدَىً يَصُوبُ على العُفاةِ نوالُه
عفْواً كصَوب العارِضِ الثّجَّاجِ
And the voluntary favor of their hospitality rains upon the barefoot
Pardon, like the raining of clouds bursting.
عِشْتُم بنِي عُمَرٍ لعِصْمَة خائِفٍ
وإجابَةِ المُسْتَصرخ اللَّجَّاجِ
You have lived, O people of Umar, for the protection of the fearful
And the answer to the fervent supplicant.
إنًّ البَريّةَ حصنها وغياثَها
بكمُ وضوءَ سراجها الوهَّاجِ
The wasteland, indeed its refuge and its rescue
Are through you, the flowing water of its burning torch.
