فؤادٌ على جمر الغرام يقلّبُ
وَجسمٌ بأنواع السقام معذّبُ
My heart keeps tossing on the embers of passion,
And my body is tortured by all kinds of sickness.
وَقفت على دارِ الحبيبِ وقد عفت
عراصٌ وأطلالٌ ونؤيٌ وملعبُ
I stood at the abode of the beloved, now desolate -
A courtyard, ruins, a well, and a playground.
أُخاطب منه البان والبان فوقه
خطيبٌ على الأفنان يشدو ويخطبُ
I address the builder, and the builder is above it -
A preacher over the tents, chanting and sermonizing.
ديارٌ عفت آياتها وتنكّرت
وَحال بها خطبٌ وسربٌ وربربُ
It became desolate, its signs effaced and altered -
Speeches, a throng, and murmurs moved about it.
وَعهدي بها كانت على كلّ غادةٍ
تجرّ ذيولَ التيهِ فيها وتسحبُ
My pact with it was that, on every meadow,
It would drag the trains of wandering about it and pull them along.
فَكم أنست في ربعها وتكنّست
سعاد وأَسما بل حذام وزينبُ
How many times did I become happy in its expanse and roll about!
As well as Sama and Saud - even Hudham and Zainab!
وَمن لي بريّا الساعدين وقد غدت
هَوادِجها في الآل تطفو وترسبُ
And who can help me to shake its chamber-curtains,
Which now in the familyfloat about and sink down?
فَيا عجباً منها تغيب وشخصها
يسلّ بقلبي مستقرّ مطنبُ
How strange that it is absent when its phantom
Stings my heart, settled down and ensconced!
تَناهت صفات الحسن فيها فحسنها
يسلّ عقول الناظرين ويسلبُ
The attributes of beauty reached their farthest limits in it, so its beauty
Enchants the minds of beholders and captures them.
يَشوقك منها أن تجلّت مقلّدا
وكشر جمانيّ وكفّ مخضّبُ
Its charms when it adorned itself made you desire
To see it wearing necklaces and rouge on its wrists.
فَيا حسنها يومَ الوداع وقد بدت
خدود وأعطاف وصدغ وعقربُ
Oh, its beauty on the day of farewell when there appeared
Cheeks, neck, temples, and slender waist!
أشيّعها يوماً وبين أضالعي
مِنَ الوجدِ نارٌ حرّها يتلهّبُ
I escorted it one day while, between my ribs,
Was a fire whose heat flamed up.
أَرى الناسَ في طبع النفوسِ وشأنهم
فما شأنهم في الطبعِ إلّا التقلّبُ
I see people in their innate nature and situation -
Their situation in character is only fickleness.
إِذا قلّ مالي قلّ قدري لديهم
وَإِن شاقهم منّي الذكا والتأدّبُ
If I have little money, my worth is little to them,
And if I oppose them in intelligence and etiquette.
وَإِن زادَ مالي واِنتقلت إِلى الغنى
فَلي منهم أهلٌ وسهلٌ ومرحبُ
And if my money increases and I move to wealth,
Then I have family, ease, and a welcome to them.
أَلا ليتَ سعدى والليالي ووعدها
أتصدُق لي في الوعدِ أم هي تكذبُ
Oh, would that Sa'da and the nights and their promises
Would prove true to me in the promise or were lying!
عَجبتُ لها فيما قَضته وإنّما
على كثرِ هذا الصبر منّي لأعجبُ
I am amazed at what they have done, but after all,
This great patience from me is more amazing.
إِذا جاد منها بالمسرّةِ صيّبٌ
أَتاني وشيكاً بالمساءةِ صيّبُ
When a shower of joy comes from it,
Soon after comes a downpour of affliction.
فَما يستجيب الدهر عندَ مسرّتي
كأنّيَ من دون الورى فيه مذنبُ
So fate does not respond favorably in my joy,
As if, among all people, I alone were guilty toward it.
وَداوية كم ظلت فيها معَ السرى
أشبّب في ذات الوشاح وأنسبُ
How many gatherings did I attend with the caravan,
Flirting with the leader and making genealogical claims!
وَأنشد ما يصغي له من غرائبي
جريرٌ وميمونٌ وقيسٌ وقطربُ
And I would recite poetry that appealed to them -
Poetry by Jarir, Mimun, Qais, and Qutrub.
وَنجب أتاني ضخمة المتنِ جسرة
تخبّ بِرحلي تارةً وتقرّبُ
She-camels, huge of body, robust, would come to me,
Sometimes slipping off with my gear and sometimes drawing near.
وَقد قال صحبي في المسيرِ وقوله
صف الروضَ حيث الروض أخضرُ مخصبُ
My friends said about the journey - and their words:
"Describe the garden where the garden is green and fertile."
فَقلتُ دعوا وصفَ الرياضِ وَذكرها
وجدّوا فإنّ الجدّ أَولى وأوجبُ
But I said, "Leave off describing gardens and mentioning them,
And be earnest, for earnestness is best and most incumbent."
وَلا تَذكروا روضَ العرار وطيبه
وَإن راقَ لونٌ منه بالحسن معجبُ
"Do not mention the Garden of Trellises and its fragrance,
Even if one of its colors pleases, enchanting the onlooker.
فَإن طابَ لي نشرُ الغرار فيمّما
خلاقَ عرار منه أزكى وأطيبُ
For if the spreading of the Greens pleases me in any way,
The rest of the Greens are purer and more fragrant.
مليكٌ سَجاياه لطاف شهيّةٌ
أَبلُّ مِنَ الروض البهيج وأرطبُ
A sovereign whose nature is gentle, an ardent desire -
More righteous than the lovely garden and more moist."
ضياء إِذا ما الدهرُ أظلمَ وقته
وَكدّر وجه الدهر للخطب غيهبُ
A light that, when the times of fate darken
And disturb the face of fate with grave events -
وَشمسٌ على الدنيا تضيء بنورها
منَ البيدِ والأمصار شرقٌ ومغربُ
A sun over the world that illuminates it with its light
From east to west, from country to country -
وَسيفٌ مِنَ الرحمن في الأرض مصلتٌ
به يقطع الخطب الجسيم ويضربُ
A sword from the Merciful, drawn in the land,
With which He severs formidable affairs and strikes them down!
وَطودٌ منيفٌ يستلاذُ بركبهِ
إِذا ما سطى في موكبِ الحيّ موكبُ
A lofty, smoothly flowing camel that the riders enjoy
When it glides forth in the living tribe's procession!
وَبحرٌ غزيرُ اللجّ يقذف جوهراً
وَطوراً بِأَمواج الوبال معبعبُ
A copious sea whose surging casts forth pearls
And at times with the billows of tribulation, froths!
وَغيث ندىً للوفد إِن نزلوا له
يسحّ عليهم باللجين ويسكبُ
A rain whose drink revives the delegation if they alight with him -
It lavishes the two rivers upon them and pours them out!
يورّثه المجدَ الأثيل مظفّرٌ
وَغوث وهود والخلود ويشجبُ
He hands down enduring glory, victorious,
As well as help - and he is Hud, eternal!
أبا الطيب كم لي في القفارِ تلوّحت
إِليك أمون السير وجناء غلّبُ
Father of Tayyib, how often in the wastelands have
The she-camels of travel beckoned to you and importuned you!
وَلولاك ما جاوزت أرضاً ولا اِنطوت
بِدرع الهجانِ العيس فجٌّ وسبسبُ
Were it not for you I would not have crossed a land
Or been draped in the coat of mail, Polished and Flexible!
فَحَمداً وشكراً للمهيمِن لا الرجا
مخيبٌ ولا روض السماحةِ مجدبُ
So thanks and praise to the Guardian if hope is not
Disappointed, nor is the meadow of generosity barren!
وَدم واِبق ما غنّت حمائم بالضحى
وَما جنّ ديجورٌ وما لاح كوكبُ
Let remain what the ringdoves cooed at dawn,
What a cock crowed, and what stars appeared!
