عَرِّجا في رُبوعها وَسَلاها
كَيفَ تَسلو مُتَيَّماً ما سَلاها
You two, pause awhile among her dwellings, and ask after her.
How can she forget an enthralled lover who has never forgotten her?
وَأَعطفاها بِوَصف سَقْمِي وَما بي
مِن شُجونِ الهَوى وَلا تَعتَباها
Move her to tenderness by describing my sickness and all I suffer
from love’s sorrows—and do not reproach her.
وَإِذكرا وُدِّيَ القَديمَ وَما لَم
تَنسَهُ مِن حَنينها وَجَواها
Remind her of my former love, and of what she has not
forgotten—her yearning and secret passion.
رُبَّ دَمعٍ أَسلَتْهُ بَعد هَجرٍ
مَزجَتْهُ بِمثلِهِ عَيناها
Many a tear I sent forth after estrangement,
her eyes mingling it with another just like it.
وَلَيالٍ تَضاحَكَ الأُنسُ فيها
أَشفَقَت مِن زَوالِها فَشَجاها
And nights when intimacy smiled,
then feared their passing and turned to grief.
يَعلمُ اللَهُ ما بِقَلبي وَما تَج
هَلُ ما فيهِ أنَّهُ في حِماها
God knows what lies within my heart, and what she
fails to know: that it dwells inside her sanctuary.
وَسقامي بِها وَإِن أَنكَرتَهُ
شاهِدٌ بِالَّذي جَنَت مُقلَتاها
My sickness for her—even if she denies it—
bears witness to what her eyes have wrought.
عَذَلَتها فيَّ الظنونُ وَلَم تَسْ
معْ لِلاحٍ قَبلَ الظُنونِ لَحاها
Suspicion reproached her on my account; yet she had not heard
a censurer rebuke her before suspicion did.
وَإِذا كانَ في السُلوِّ شِفاءٌ
فَقَليل سلوُّنا في شِفاها
If forgetting holds a cure,
then scant indeed is the forgetting that cures us of her.
وَأَنا الصَبُّ لا أَزالُ كَما تَعْ
هَدُ مِني مُتيَّماً في هَواها
I remain the impassioned one, as you know me:
a lover enthralled by her love.
أَحملُ الصَدَّ فَوقَ محملِ دَهري
حابسَ النَفسِ كَاتِماً شَكواها
I bear rejection atop the burden of my years,
imprisoning my soul and concealing its complaint.
نازلَتْ صَبريَ الخطوبُ فَوَلّت
عاثِراتٍ بِاليَأسِ بَعد مُناها
Calamities battled my patience, then fled,
stumbling in despair after all they had hoped for.
تَرَكتُ في شباته ثلماتٍ
مِثل ما في رُؤوسَها وَشواها
They left notches in its blade,
like those upon its points and edges.
وَاللَيالي عدوُّها كُلُّ حُرٍّ
ناصَبتهُ الطَعامَ تَحتَ لِواها
The nights are the enemy of every free man;
food set itself against him beneath their banner.
وَالعداواتُ كَالمَودات في النا
س تُساوي الأَقدار مِن مُقتَضاها
Enmities, like affections among people,
are apportioned as destiny requires.
وَخدوش الظَراء آلَم مَضّاً
مِن جِراحِ السُيوفِ رَقّت ظُباها
A beast’s scratches are more searing in pain
than sword wounds when their edges have grown blunt.
مَن عَذيري مِن عُصبَةٍ أَنا مِمَّن
لامَني في تَطأمُني لَولاها
Who will excuse me before a company to which I belong,
when they blamed my abasement before her?
وَعَظتني بِجَهلِها فَأَفادت
نِيَ رُشداً وَفاتَ رُشدي هُداها
She admonished me with her dark eyes, and thereby gave me
counsel, though my own sound judgment fell short of her guidance.
وَإِذا الرفق لَم يَفد كانَ في الشِّدْ
دَةِ رفقٌ بِالنَفسِ يَشفي أَذاها
When gentleness does no good, severity may hold
a kindness to the soul that heals its hurt.
وَإِذا الحِلمُ جَرَّ حَربَ سَفاهٍ
فَمِنَ الرَأي أَن يَصيرَ سَفاها
When forbearance draws down a war of folly,
wisdom itself may counsel answering folly with folly.
وَإِذا الجَهلُ أَورَث السكر نَفساً
فَسَوِيُّ الجَهلِ لا يَكونُ دَواها
And when ignorance bequeaths intoxication to a soul,
then nothing but ignorance can be its cure.
رُبَّ سِلمٍ جَنَت مِن الشَر ما لَم
تَجنهِ الحَربُ حينَ دارَت رَحاها
Many a peace has bred an evil that war did not,
even when war’s millstone turned.
وَعَشير جَرّت مَصافاته العا
رُ وَأَمسى عَداوةً مُنتَهاها
Many a companion’s friendship has dragged one into shame
until enmity became its final end.
وَخِصالُ الفَتى تَنمُّ عَلَيهِ
مِثل ريح عَرَفتَها مِن شَذاها
A young man’s qualities betray themselves upon him,
as scent makes known the breeze you recognize.
جِلدةُ اللُؤمِ لا تَحولُ وَلَو أُبْ
رزَ مِن بزّةِ العُلى مِعصَماها
The skin of baseness never changes, even if
its wrist is brought forth in the raiment of glory.
وَأَخو الغَدرِ لا يُصافي وَما للْ
لُؤْمِ من ذمةٍ تَشدُّ عُراها
The brother of treachery offers no true devotion; baseness
owns no covenant whose knots can bind it.
وَالتَجاريبُ مُوبِقاتٌ وَلَكن
يَستَفيدُ الحَكيمُ مِن عُقباها
Trials are deadly things, and yet
the wise man profits from their aftermath.
وَبِنَفسي وَإِن غلت نَفسُ حرٍّ
لَستُ بِالنَفسِ خاسِراً في فِداها
By my life—though the soul of a free man is dear—
I do not count that soul lost when ransomed for her.
ذي وِدادٍ كَأَنَّهُ الفَضةُ البَيْ
ضاءُ زادَت يَدُ الزَمانِ جَلاها
For one whose affection is like silver,
made brighter by the hand of time;
وَذِمامٌ كَأَنَّهُ الصَخرَةُ الصَّم
ماءُ لاقَت مِن الخُطوبِ مياها
and whose pledge is like a solid rock
met by the floodwaters of calamity.
كاملُ الفَضلِ في اِقتِبالِ شَبابٍ
هانَ فيهِ عَلى الشُيوخِ نُهاها
Perfect in merit at the threshold of youth,
when even elders’ wisdom bowed before him.
اَكسَبتُهُ الأَيّام حلماً لَو اِرتَدْ
دَ إِلَيها لَم نَشكِ جَهلَ قَضاها
The days endowed him with such forbearance that, were it returned
to them, we would no longer lament the ignorance of their decrees.
وَحَباهُ الزَمانُ أَخلاقَ لَطفٍ
لَم تَحِل عِندَ سُخطِهِ عَن رِضاها
Time bestowed upon him gracious manners
that do not turn, even in anger, away from their kindness.
مَن لشمسِ الضُحى بِنورِ هِلالٍ
مِن سَماءِ الشَهباءِ قَدْ حَياها
Who can give the noonday sun the light of a crescent
from the sky of al-Shahbāʾ, to greet it?
تِلكَ شَرقٌ في الشَرقِ قَد كاثَرتْهُ
أَنجُماً غالبَ النُجومَ سَناها
That city is an orient within the Orient, thickly sown with
stars that outshine the stars in splendor.
بَلدةٌ مَجدُها تَواصل في الإِع
صارِ مِثلَ الإِعصارِ في مَجراها
A city whose glory has endured through the ages,
like a whirlwind coursing on its way.
كُلَما استَدبَرَتَ مِن الدَهر يَوماً
زادَ سَطراً عَلى حَديثٍ عَلاها
Whenever it leaves behind a day of time,
it adds a line to the chronicle of its loftiness.
وَسَقى اللَهُ أَرضَ حمصَ وَحيَّت
نَفَحاتُ الرِّضَى خَصيبَ ثَراها
May God water the land of Homs, and may it be greeted
by the garden’s breaths over its fertile soil.
هِي فَردوسيَ القَديمَ وَمِنها
ثَمراتُ الحَياةِ كانَ جَناها
It is my ancient paradise, and from it
came the fruits of life I gathered.
نَفحتني مِن سرها نَسمة حِي
نَ سَرَت هَزَّ غصنُ وَجدي سُراها
From its secret a breeze breathed upon me;
as it passed, the branch of my longing swayed through the night.
مِن حَبيب تَروي الصّبا عَن مَعانِي
هِ فَتُحيي نُفوسَنا رياها
It came from a beloved, recounting youth and his meanings,
and its fragrance revives our souls.
أَدَبٌ أَخجَل الأَزاهِرَ فَاِحمَر
رَت حَياءٍ وَكلَلَت بِنداها
A refinement that put the flowers to shame, until they
blushed modestly and crowned themselves with dew.
وَمَعانٍ هِي السُلاف تَلافَت
ما جنته السُلافُ في صَرعاها
And meanings like pure wine, surpassing
what wine itself yields when poured unmixed.
قَد أَطاعَتهُ شارِداتُ القَوافي
راشِداتٍ فَأَنطَقَت مَن عَصاها
The elusive rhymes obeyed him,
guided, until he made even their staff speak.
طالَ عَهدي بِها إِلى أَن جَفَتها
همة قَصَّرت بِها في مَداها
Long had I known them, until they were estranged by
an ambition that fell short of their utmost reach.
إِنَّما الشعرُ مِن صَبابات هَذا ال
قَلبِ يُغني مَعينهُ بِغِناها
Poetry is only the outpouring of this
heart; its spring sings through its abundance.
وَمَشيبُ الرُؤوس ينبئُ عَمَّا
هَلَّ مِن مِثلِ فعلهِ في سِواها
The whitening of heads tells of what
has descended, like it, upon their dark locks.
وَرَواح زارَت وَفيها دَلالٌ
زادَ ليناً بِلينهِ عِطفاها
A visiting spirit came, full of coquettish grace,
adding tenderness to his own yielding tenderness.
فَتَنَت قَلبَ هائمٍ تَرَكتَهُ
حائِراً بَينَ أُنسِها وَجَفاها
She captivated a wanderer’s heart and left it
bewildered between her intimacy and her estrangement.
عاتَبتَني عَلى صُروفِ زَمانٍ
قَد رَماني بِشُؤمِهِ لا رَماها
She reproached me for the turns of an age
that struck me with its ill omen—may it never strike her.
وَعِتابُ الأَحبابِ حُلوٌ وَأَحلا
هُ مَذاقاً ما جاءَ مِن أَحلاها
A beloved’s reproach is sweet, and sweetest
in taste is what comes from the sweetest of them.
وَالهَوى مَورِدُ الظُنون وَبَعض الظ
ظنِّ إِثمٌ غَلِطتُ بَل حاشاها
Love is the watering place of suspicions, and some suspicion
is sin. I was mistaken—no, far be it from her.
هِيَ أَوفى عَهداً وأَرشَدُ مِن أَن
تَشمت الحادِثات في مَضناها
She is truer to her covenant, and wiser than to let
events gloat over her lovesick sufferer.
وَأَنا الصادقُ الوَفاء وَإِن لَم
يَصدق العَزمُ تارةً في وَفاها
And I am faithful and true, though
resolve may sometimes fail in keeping faith.
يا غُصونَ المُنى سَقَتكِ الغَوادي
فَأَفادتك نَشأَةٌ سُقياها
O branches of desire, may the morning rains water you
and grant you growth through their watering.
وَالتَداني حَسبي وَلِلدَهرِ فينا
بدواتٍ نَقول رَبِّ عَساها
Nearness is enough for me; and Time has, concerning us,
sudden turns—to which we say: Lord, may it be so.
