قِفا واِنظراني كي نزورَ ونسألا
مقاماً من الأحباب مربعُه خلا
Halt, you two, and look with me, that we may visit and ask—
a dwelling of the beloved, whose campsite now lies empty.
مقام تعفَّى من خليطٍ تحمَّلُوا
وكانوا به من قبل ذلك نُزَّلا
A dwelling effaced since the companions departed,
though once they had lodged there.
تحمَّل صبري واِستطارت حشاشتي
غداةَ فريق الحيِّ منه تحمَّلا
My endurance departed, and my very heart flew apart
the morning a band of the tribe left that place.
ولولا هوى أسما لما زرتُ رسمَه
ولا اِنصبَّ دمعي في مغانيهِ مسبلا
Were it not for love of Asma, I would not have visited its trace,
nor would my tears have streamed over its abodes.
فتاة لها أخلصت ودِّي ولوعتي
وأكثرت نسيبي بها والتَّغزُّلا
A maiden to whom I gave my pure devotion and passion,
and of whom I made abundant love-song and praise.
وضنَّت علينا بالسَّلامِ وحرَّمت
عَلينا بحكمِ الهجر شيئاً محلَّلا
She grudged us even a greeting, and forbade
by the law of estrangement what once had been lawful to us.
فَما لها أبدت صدوداً لنا وقد
سلبت عن محبٍّ قطّ ما سلا
Why has she shown us such aversion, after
stripping from a lover every comfort he possessed?
فما اِحتَجبت عنّي ولا غاب شخصها
من العينِ إِلّا في ضميري تمثَّلا
She never veiled herself from me, nor did her figure vanish
from my eye—except to take shape within my breast.
إِذا نفحت نشراً حكت في أريجها
ونكهتها مسكاً ذكيّاً وصندَلا
When she breathes fragrance, she rivals it in perfume,
and her breath is musk, fragrant sandalwood, and sweetness.
وإن وشّحت أو خلخلت خلن وشحها
بها واِشتكى الخلخالُ منها المخلخلا
Whether she dons a sash or an anklet, they think her sash adorned by her,
while the anklet complains of the ankleted beauty.
تَفوقُ غزالَ الريم منها مقلَّدا
ولحظاً بسحرِ الحسنِ منها مكحَّلا
She surpasses the gazelle of the sands in her necklace,
and in her glance, darkened with the magic kohl of beauty.
لَها مبسمٌ عذبُ الرّضابِ كأنَّه
يروحُ ويغدو بالعبير معلّلا
She has a mouth of sweet saliva, as though
it came and went continually perfumed with amber.
فهيهات عنها القلبُ يذهل بعدما
قد اِتّخذت منه مقاماً ومنزِلا
Far from it—the heart cannot forget her, after
she has made within it a dwelling and a home.
أرى كيف هذا الدهر أخلفَ طبعَهُ
وأدبر عنِّي بعدَ ما كانَ مُقبلا
I see how Time has broken with its former nature
and turned away from me after once approaching.
فلا تتَّثق يوماً بما أنت في الوَرى
له كنتَ من كدشِ الزَّمانِ محصّلا
Never put your trust in what you possess among humankind,
however much of Time’s hard-won gain you have amassed.
وإنّي حلبتُ الدَّهرَ ضرباً فتارةً
أمرَّ وطوراً في مذاقتِهِ حلا
I have milked Time in two different ways: at times
it was bitter, and at times its taste was sweet.
وحاسيت كأسيه جميعاً وكان لي
مزاجهما أريا لذيذاً وحنظلا
I tasted both its cups together, and for me
their mingling was honey, delicious—and colocynth.
تقدَّمني ناس فأصبحتُ آخراً
على إثرهم من بعد ما كنتُ أوّلا
Others passed ahead of me, and I became the last,
following them after I had once been first.
وكم حاسد أضحى يلجلج مضغتي
وينظرني باللَّحظِ نظرة أحولا
How many an envier chews me like a morsel
and looks at me sidelong with a squinting gaze.
ولا ذنب لي فيهِ سوى أنَّني له
سناد إذا ما الأمر أصبح معضلا
Yet I bear no fault toward him except that I was
his support whenever an affair became difficult.
ولمَّا اِصطنعت الصبرَ في مستحقِّه
لنفسي وجدتُ الصبرَ للنفس أجملا
When I trained myself in patience where patience was due,
I found patience the fairest thing for the soul.
وربَّ رجاء خاب ممَّن رجوته
وقد كنتُ دونَ الناسِ منه مؤمّلا
Many a hope has failed in one from whom I hoped,
though beyond all others I had placed my hopes in him.
ومن عاشر الأيّامَ دهراً فإنَّه
على طائلِ الأيَّامِ لا بُدّ يُبتلى
Whoever keeps company with the days for a long age
must inevitably be tested by the vicissitudes of days.
وأرضٌ من الغيطانِ قفراءُ هوجلٌ
تواصل أرضاً وحشة البيدِ هوجلا
And a land among the lowlands—barren, vast, and desolate—
adjoining another land, a lonely, trackless waste.
قطعتُ فلاها واِرتكبتُ مخوفَها
بذات وصف صامت الكفِّ أفتلا
I crossed its emptiness and braved its terrors
upon a taut-sinewed mount, firm-built and silent-footed.
إذا خرجت من عسقلٍ متواصلٍ
ولجَّت بها من بعدِ ذلكِ عسقلا
Whenever she emerged from one unbroken stretch of rugged going,
she plunged with me into another after it.
تمحنتها في السَّير حتّى أنختها
بباب مليكٍ خُصَّ بالمجدِ والعُلا
I pressed her onward through the march until I made her kneel
at the door of a king uniquely endowed with glory and grandeur—
بباب فلاح كعبة الوفدِ حيثُ لا
يرى وفدُه روضَ السماحةِ ممحلا
at the door of Fallaj, the Kaaba of delegations, where
his visitors never find the meadow of generosity barren.
فتى ما أتاه سائل منه مرتجي
جزيل العطا إلّا وأعطى وأجزلا
A young lord: no petitioner seeking abundant bounty comes to him
without his giving—and giving lavishly.
همامٌ بتاجِ الفخرِ أضحى متوّجاً
ويُمسي بإِكليل المعالي مكلّلا
A great one who stands crowned with the diadem of pride
and passes the evening garlanded with the wreath of excellence.
متى تلقه تلق اِمرءاً متنبّهاً
أخا مشكلات قلّب القلب حوّلا
Whenever you meet him, you meet a man alert,
a master of difficulties, discerning and resourceful.
تناجيه آراء له عن سكينةٍ
وحلم له لو قيس وزناً بيذبلا
His counsels commune with him in tranquillity,
and his forbearance, if weighed, would outweigh Yadhbul.
سطا في البغاة المعتدين بدولةٍ
يصير لها الصعبُ الجموحُ مذلَّلا
He struck the rebellious aggressors with a power
that makes every difficult, unbridled thing submit.
وأصبح منهم كلُّ فحلٍ غشمشم
تُحسّ به من شدّةِ الخوفِ أفكلا
Every mighty, overbearing champion among them became one
whom you could feel trembling from the intensity of fear.
إليك ابن نبهان المتوَّج جاوزت
بنا في السرى فجّاً من الأرضِ مجهلا
To you, crowned Ibn Nabhan, I have journeyed,
borne through the night across an unknown mountain pass.
فما القول منك اليوم في شاعر حلا
علاك قريضاً كالجمان مفصَّلا
What, then, will you say today of a poet who has alighted before you?
My verse has risen over you like a necklace of articulated pearls,
وأولاك من سحر الكلام بضائعاً
غرائبها تُنسي الوليدَ وجرولا
bestowing upon you wares fashioned from the magic of speech,
whose marvels make al-Walid and Jarwal be forgotten.
أتى فرأى منك الغديّة طلعةً
فكبّر إجلالا لديك وهلّلا
He came and saw your countenance that morning;
he cried “God is greatest” in reverence before you, and proclaimed His oneness.
وخرّ لوجه الأرضِ في الدّست ساجداً
وصافح بالوجه البساطَ وقبَّلا
He fell prostrate, face to the ground before the dais,
and pressed his face to the carpet and kissed it.
وقال ألا ذا اليوم يوم مبارك
نراه لنا يوماً أغرَّ محجَّلا
And he said: “Behold, this is a blessed day—
we see it as ours: radiant, white-blazed, and splendid.”
