لقاءُ الأمانِي في ضمان القَواضِبِ
ونيلُ المعالي في ادِّراعِ السَّبَاسِبِ
The attainment of hopes lies in the surety of keen swords.
And the attainment of high things in wearing the deserts as armor.
إِذا ما ارتمى بالمرء مَنْسِمُ ذِلّةٍ
فليس له إِلّا اقتعادُ الغَواربِ
If humiliation’s hoof should strike a man,
He has no recourse but to mount the camels’ humps.
وما قَذَفاتُ المجدِ إِلّا لفاتكٍ
إِذا هَمَّ لم يستَقْرِ سُبْلَ العواقبِ
None storms the far heights of glory but the daring man
Whom consequences cannot check once he resolves.
إِذا استاف ضيماً عاده خُنْزُوانةٌ
وشَمَّمَ عِرنينَ الألَدّ المحاربِ
If oppression drives him on, his fierce pride brings him back,
And the lofty nose of the stubborn warrior rises.
وصَحبٍ كجُمَّاعِ الثُّرَيَّا تأَلُّفَاً
مغاويرَ نُجْلِ الطعنِ هُدْلِ الضرائبِ
Your companions are a gathered host, bound close together—
Bold raiders, sons of spear-thrusting, with low-hung blades.
إِذا نزلوا البطحاءَ سدَّوا طِلاعَها
بسُمْرِ القَنَا والمقرباتِ السَّلاهِبِ
When they descend upon the gravel plain, they block its passes
With dusky lances and close-bred, lean-flanked steeds.
مطاعينُ حيثُ الرمحُ يزحَمُ مثلَهُ
على حَلَقِ الدِّرع ازدحامَ الغرائبِ
They thrust where spear crowds hard upon spear,
Over rings of mail packed like throngs of strangers.
يَمُدّونَ أطرافَ القَنَا بخوادِرٍ
كأنّ القَنَا فيها خُطوطُ الرَّواجبِ
They reach out the points of their lances with hidden force,
As though the shafts among them were lines traced on knuckles.
إِذا أوردوا السمر اللِّدانَ تحاجزوا
بها عن دماءِ الأُسْدِ حُمْرَ الثعالبِ
When they bring the supple brown lances to their watering, they draw apart,
Keeping red foxes from the blood of lions.
بهم أقتضي دينَ الليالي إِذا لوت
وأبلُغُ آمالي وأقضي مآربي
With them I exact my debt from nights that twist against me,
Attain my hopes, and satisfy my needs.
وانتهبُ الحَيَّ اللَّقاحَ وأكتفِي
بريعانِ عزمي عن طِرادِ التجاربِ
I seize the tribe’s milk-rich herds and am content
With the first vigor of resolve, without chasing after trials.
وهاجرةٍ سجراءَ تأكلُ ظِلَّها
ملوَّحَةِ المِعْزاء رمضَى الجَنادبِ
Through a noon whose mirage devours its very shade,
Across a salt-white, stony waste where grasshoppers scorch,
ترى الشمسَ فيها وهي تُرسِلُ خيطَها
لتمتاحَ رِيَّاً من نِطافِ المذانبِ
You see the sun letting down its slender thread
To draw a drink from droplets gathered in the gullies.
سَفَعْنا بها وجهَ النهار فراعَنَا
بنُقْبَةِ مُسْوَدِّ الخياشيم شاحبِ
We crossed it over the face of day, until we were startled
By a pale scout with blackened nostrils.
وبات على الأكوار أشلاءُ جُنَّحٍ
خوافقُ فوق العِيس ميلُ العصائبِ
Upon the camel-saddles the brands of pitch-black night remained,
Fluttering above the white camels like headbands.
فلما اعتسفنا ظِلَّ أخضرَ غاسقٍ
على قِمَع الآكامِ جُونِ المناكبِ
When we blindly traversed its green, dark shade,
Upon the hilltops, black across the shoulders,
وردنا سُحيراً بين يومٍ وليلةٍ
وقد عَلِقَتْ بالغَرب أيدي الكواكبِ
We reached our destination at dawn, between night and day,
While the hands of the stars still clung to the West—
على حينَ عرَّى منكِبُ الشرقِ جذبةً
من الصبح واسترخَى عِنانَ الغياهبِ
Just as a pull of dawn bared the East’s shoulder
And the rein of the darkness slackened.
غديراً كمرآة الغريبةِ تلتقي
بصَوْحَيْه أنفاسُ الرياحِ اللَّواغبِ
A pool like the mirror of a woman far from home,
Upon whose open face the breaths of weary winds converge.
إِذا ما نِبالُ الفَقْرِ تاحتْ له اتَّقَى
بموضُونةٍ حَصْداءَ من كل جانبِ
When the arrows of the rain descend beneath it, it takes shelter
Under close-woven, impenetrable mail on every side.
بمنعَرجٍ من رَيْدِ عيطاءَ لم تزلْ
وقائعُه يرشفنَ ظَلْمَ السحائبِ
At the turning of a lofty rain-cloud that has never ceased,
Whose downpours exude the dark burden of the clouds.
يقبِّلُ أفلاذَ الحَيا ويُكِنُّها
بطاميةِ الأرجاء خُضر النَّصائبِ
Broad-bellied flats embrace and shelter it
Within swelling reaches green along their banks.
بعيسٍ كأطرافِ المَدارَى نواحلٍ
فَرَقْنا بها الظلماءَ وُحْفَ الذوائبِ
Its slender branches droop like diviners’ rods;
With them we cleaved the darkness and shook loose our forelocks.
نشطنَ به عذباً نِقاخا كأنّما
مشافرُها يُغمِدْن بيضَ القواضبِ
There we drank sweet, pure, brimming water,
Its lips seeming to bite upon white swords.
رأينَ جِمامَ الماء زُرقاً ومثلَها
سنا الصبحِ فارتابتْ عيونُ الركائبِ
The camels saw the water’s deep-blue abundance
And took it for dawn’s radiance; their eyes mistrusted it.
فكم قامحٍ عن لُجَّةِ الماء طامحٍ
إِلى الفجرِ ظنَّ الفجرَ بعضَ المشاربِ
How many a neck stretched high above the watery depth,
Reaching toward dawn and thinking dawn another drinking-place,
إِلى أن بدا قَرْنُ الغزالةِ ماتِعاً
كوجهِ نظام الملك بينَ المواكبِ
Until the horn of the gazelle—the sun—rose high,
Like the face of Niẓām al-Mulk amid the processions.
فما روضةٌ بالحَزْنِ شعشَعَ نَوْرَها
طليقُ العزالى مستهلُّ الهواضبِ
No garden in the uplands, its blossoms radiant,
Its reaches open and its hillocks streaming with rain—
جرتْ في عنانِ المُرزَمِينَ وأوطِئَتْ
مضاميرَها خيلُ الصَّبَا والجَنائبِ
Where the two rain-stars race across the sky
And the east wind’s horses and led mounts tread their courses;
كأن البروقَ استودعتها مشاعلاً
تباهي مصابيحَ النجومِ الثواقبِ
As though lightning had entrusted torches to it
To vie with the piercing lamps of the stars;
كأن القَطارَ استخزنتها لآلِئاً
فمن جامدٍ في صفحتيها وذائبِ
As though the rain-cloud had stored pearls within it,
Some fixed upon its surface and some dissolved;
يُريكَ مُجاجَ القَطْرِ في جَنَباتِها
دموعَ التشاكِي في خُدودِ الكواعبِ
While the rain’s outpouring traced along its sides
The tears of complaint upon maidens’ cheeks—
بأعبقَ من أخلاقهِ الغُرِّ إنها
لطائِمُ فضَّتْها أكفُّ النواهبِ
Could be more wondrous than his radiant virtues: they are
Spice-laden caravans whose perfume fills the plunderers’ hands.
إِذا عُدَّ من صُيَّابةِ الفُرْسِ رهطُه
أقرَّتْ لعلياهُ لُؤَيُّ بنُ غالبِ
If his kinsmen are numbered among the pure stock of Persia,
Luʾayy ibn Ghālib concedes the height of his glory.
وأبيضَ لولا الماءُ في جَنَباتِه
تَلَسَّنُ في خدَّيه نار الحَباحِبِ
And a white blade—were it not for the water along its flanks,
Firefly flames would speak in tongues upon its cheeks.
أضرَّ به حُبُّ الجَماجمِ والطُّلَى
فغادَرهُ نِضواً نحيلَ المضاربِ
The domes of skulls and the edges of swords have worn it down,
Leaving it emaciated, slender at its striking edges.
يَوَدُّ سِباعُ الوحش والطيرِ أنّه
يُفَدَّى بأنيابٍ لها ومخالبِ
Beasts of prey and birds alike wish
They could ransom it with their fangs and claws.
ينافسُ في يُمنَى يديه يراعةً
مُرَوَّضةَ الآثار ريَّا المساحبِ
The reed pen in his right hand vies with it,
Trained in its traces, rain-filled in its flowing strokes.
إِذا التفعتْ بالليل غرَّةُ صُبْحِه
جرى سنُّهُ مجراهُما بالعجائبِ
When night wraps itself around the brightness of his dawn,
Its point follows their two courses, working wonders.
عزائمهُ في الخَطْبِ عُقْلُ شواردٍ
وآراؤه في الحرب خُطمُ مصاعبِ
In crises his resolves are reason itself, driving all before it;
In war his foresight bridles the hardest trials.
إِذا صالَ روَّى السُّمْرَ غيرَ مراقبٍ
وإنْ قال أمضَى الحُكْمَ غيرَ مُواربِ
When he charges, he waters the brown lances without heed;
When he speaks, he executes judgment without evasion.
ملقّي صدور الخيلِ كلَّ مرشَّةٍ
مهوَّرةِ الجُرْفينِ شَهْقَى الحوالبِ
He hurls the breasts of his horses into every seething danger,
Into deep-banked chasms where the pale steeds cry aloud.
وقائدها جُرداً عناجيجَ طوَّحتْ
أعنَّتَها مستهلكاتِ الحَقائبِ
Its vanguard is a bare, gaunt mare that flings away
Her reins, while the saddlebags are consumed behind her.
إِذا ضاقَ ما بين الحسامينِ لم يزلْ
يجولُ مجالَ العِقْدِ فوقَ الترائبِ
When the space between two swords grows narrow, he never ceases
To range like a high-flying hawk above men’s breasts.
يشُنُّ عليها الركضُ وبلَ حميمها
إذا غيَّمتْ بالعِثْيَرِ المتراكبِ
He showers the foe with the charge, its feverish downpour falling
Whenever the piled dust-cloud darkens overhead.
يقرِّطُها مثنَى الأعنَّة حازمٌ
ألَدُّ جميعُ الرأي شتَّى المذاهبِ
Resolutely he adorns it with doubled reins,
Relishing every counsel, however diverse its paths.
يقدِّمُها والجدُّ يَضمنُ أنه
متى ما التقَى الزحفانِ أوّلُ غالبِ
He drives it onward while Fortune guarantees
That whenever two armies meet, he will be first to conquer.
رمى بنواصِيها الفراتَ فأقبلتْ
مُغَيَّبَةَ الأعطافِ تُلعَ المناكِبِ
He cast its forelocks into the Euphrates, and it advanced,
Proud in its carriage, towering at the shoulders.
وخاضَ بها جيحانَ يلطم مَوْجَهُ
ملاطمةَ الخصم الألدِّ المشاغبِ
He drove it through Jayḥān, whose waves struck at it
Like a stubborn and contentious adversary.
خميسٌ أقاصي الشرقِ تُرزم تحته
وترتَجُّ منه أُخرياتُ المغاربِ
An army beneath which the farthest East resounds,
And from which the distant regions of the West tremble.
إِذا خاضَ بحراً لم يُبقِّ صدورُهُ
لإعجازهِ في البحر نُغْبَةَ شاربِ
If it wades into a sea, its foremost ranks leave nothing
For those behind except a drinker’s mouthful.
وإن رامَ بَرَّاً لم يدعْ سَرَعانُه
لساقتهِ في البَّرِ موقفَ راكبِ
If it takes to land, its racing vanguard leaves
For its rearguard only the space where a rider stood.
أرادتْ وفودُ الريحِ والقَطْرِ حصرَهُ
فمن ذارعٍ لا يستطيعُ وحاسبِ
The delegations of wind and rain sought to encompass it,
But neither measurer nor reckoner could contain it.
فما حسبته القَطرُ غيرَ غوالبٍ
ولا ذرعتهُ الهُوجُ غيرَ لواغبِ
The rain could count it only among things beyond its reckoning,
And the raging winds could measure it only by growing weary.
يروعُ به الأعداءَ أروعُ سيفُهُ
يُراوحُ ما بينَ الطُّلَى والعَراقبِ
With it he terrifies the enemy—the splendid man whose sword
Moves back and forth between necks and heels.
يفُلُّهُمُ بالرَّوْعِ قبلَ طِرادِهمْ
ويَهزِمهُمْ بالكُتْبِ قبلَ الكتائبِ
He burdens them with terror before the pursuit begins,
And defeats them with written commands before the battalions.
رآنِيَ والأيامُ تَحرِقُ نابَها
فأنقذَ شِلْوِي من نُيُوبِ النوائبِ
He saw me while the days were baring their burning fang,
And rescued one grown frail beneath the downpour of calamities.
وأعلقَنِي الحبلَ المتينَ وطالما
تقطَّعَ حَبْلي في أكُفِّ الجواذِبِ
He fastened me to the strong, unbreakable rope, though long
Had all my cords been severed in the hands of adversity.
وأبصر ما فَوَّتْنَ نفسي وأُسرتِي
فغرَّمَها حتى دهور الشبائبِ
He perceived what I had lost—myself and my family—
And made amends for it, even for long ages of affliction.
