أروَّض الوادي أم ابيضَّ الغسقْ

أم طيف ظمياءَ على النأي طرقْ

I tame the valley or whiten dusk,

Or a phantom of darkness on remote exile knocks.

جاء على غربته لم يحتفل

ما نكدُ الأرض وما تيهُ الطرقْ

He came in his estrangement, did not celebrate,

Neither did the land frown nor did the roads go astray.

تحملهُ راحلةٌ كاذبةٌ

من الكرى تُشكر شكرَ من صدَقْ

A treacherous she-camel carries him

From the towns thanking a thank you from one truthful.

فقمت أمشي نائماً ينفضني

إكبارُ ما خاض إليّ وخرَقْ

So I walk sleeping shaken

By the arrogance of what waded to me and ripped.

مرتشفاً ترابَه أعرفه

من غيره بما استفاد من عَبَقْ

Sipping his dust I know him

Without it from what he gained of fragrance.

والركبُ قد ألهاهُمُ عن شأننا

يوم النخيل سامني ما لم أُطِقْ

And the caravan was distracted from our affair

The day palms intoxicated me that I could not endure.

وناظر رقادُه من غدرِهِ

لولا فراقُ الطيف ما ذمّ الأرقْ

And the watcher of his betrayal from his betrayal

Had not the phantom of the specter blamed wakefulness.

ناشدْ غصوناً باللوى موائلاً

طوعَ النسيم تلتوي وتفترقْ

He called upon branches in wadis abodes

The breeze obeyed twisting and parting.

أهنّ أحلى أم قدودٌ تلتوي

شكوى على جمرِ النوى وتعتنقْ

Are those sweeter or writhing bundles

A complaint on the embers of passion and embrace?

وعن قناةٍ لحظُها عاملُها

وحُبِّبَ الرمحُ إن اسْمَرَّ ودقّْ

And of a canal whose glance worked it

And the spear was loved if it darkened and knocked.

لمياء يُلفَى الظبيُ من أوصافه

صِفراً إذا ردّ الذي منها سرَقْ

Water the deer drinks of its attributes

Yellow if the one who stole from it returned.

تمَّ البدورُ وهلالُ وجهها

ما بلغ التمّ بها ولا امَّحقْ

The full moons and her crescent face completed

What was not complete with it nor blurred.

فارقتُ حولاً أهلَ نجدٍ والهوى

ذاك الهوى وحُرَقي تلكَ الحُرَقْ

I left a folk of Najd's environs and passion

That passion and my burning those burnings.

فقلْ لمن ظنّ البعادَ سلوةً

لا تتنحّلْ طعمَ شيءٍ لم تذُقْ

So say to whoever thought distance is solace

No taste of a thing not tasted mellows.

آه لقلبٍ شقَّ عنه أضلعي

من الحمى تخالُجُ البرقِ الشفَقْ

Oh for a heart my ribs split from

From the fever wresting the twilight glow.

ثار به الشوقُ فهبّ فهفا

تطلُّعاً ثم نزا ثم مرَقْ

Yearning in it flared so it shook and leapt

Looking then descended then sped.

أنشُده وليس في أهل مِنىً

والقوم حَجٌّ مَن تعرَّفَ الشَّرَقْ

I solicit it but no kindred in sanctuaries

While the throngs are pilgrims recognizing daybreak.

للّه عيشٌ بالحمى تعلَّقتْ

حبالُهُ بيد قطَّاع العُلَقْ

By God a life clinging to the fever

Its ropes in the hands of the life-severing calamity.

صحبتُ منه رُفقةً سائرةً

لو أمهل الحادي العنيفُ أو رَفَقْ

I accompanied it a traveling company

Had the insistent guide given respite or mercy.

أيّامَ لي من الشباب دوحةٌ

ملتفَّةُ الأغصان خضراءُ الورَقْ

Days I have of youth an oasis

Its branches entwined verdant of foliage.

ولِمَّتي تقطُر من ماء الصِّبا

شرطَ المفدِّي ما فلا وما فرقْ

And for my distracted self dripping from waters of youth

The savior's condition neither debauchery nor difference.

إذا الظباء نفرتْ من قانصٍ

تزاحمتْ على حبالي ورِبَقْ

When the deer bolted from an archer

Crowding my ropes and milling.

فاليومَ لا أرجع إلا مخفقاً

محصَّنَ المدية مثنيّ الورقْ

So today I will only return defeated

The sanctuary's fold doubled in foliage.

قالوا المشيبُ لِبسةٌ جديدةٌ

خذوا الجديدَ واسترِدّوا لي الخَلَقْ

They said the gray hair is a new garment

Take the new and return my nature to me.

أسلفتُ دهري غَبَناً فارتجعتْ

أحداثُهُ مني الذي كان استحقّْ

I paid my lifetime usury so its events

Took from me what I deserved.

كم قد ركبت ظهره ولُجُمي

تُبدِلُه عن العليق بالعَلَقْ

How much did I mount its back and my spurs

Change it from steed to mule.

أجريتُه ركضاً إلى مآربي

وخَبَباً حتى أفوزَ بالسبَقْ

I raced it galloping toward my goals

And deceitfully so I would win the race.

فلم تزل خُطاه بي قصيرةً

وجَلَدي حتى رضيت بالعَنَقْ

Yet its steps with me remained short

And my skin until I accepted the yoke.

قالت يئسْتَ فجلستَ حَجْرةً

والرزقُ في أخرى يصوبُ ويَدِقْ

It said you despaired so you sat idly

While sustenance in another aims and knocks.

مزمَّلاً بعيشةٍ ذبذابةٍ

لم يَكِسِ الدهرُ بها ولا حَمُقْ

Sheltering in a measly livelihood

Which fate did not ripen nor cook.

تألفُ داراً بالعراقِ جدبُها

قد عدِمَ اللحمَ وعاد يَعترِقْ

You befriend a house in barren Iraq

Missing meat and the cooking pot boiling.

أضَرَبتْ أسدادُ جوٍّ غيرَها

على المطيّ أم على الأرض طَبقْ

Other houses than it sealed off the air

Upon the mount or upon the ground spread.

يُحبُّ كِسرَ البيت إما عاطلٌ

من العلا أو طائش القلبِ فرِقْ

A vacant house is loved to be demolished

Either from the heights or a frivolous heart separated.

مَجثَمتانِ أين أنت منهما

هما الثرى وأنتَ بيضاءُ الأُفقْ

Two eye sockets where are you from them

They are the soil and you the horizon's whiteness.

عنّي فما أعدلها قضيّةً

لو أنّ من يُحرَم بالفضل رُزِقْ

Regard me what equitable case

If one deprived were granted bounty.

أما رأيتِ الفضلَ واجتماعَه

في وطن والحظَّ قلّما اتفقْ

Have you not seen bounty and its gathering

In a homeland and fortune rarely conjoins.

العربيُّ راقعٌ شَملتَهُ

والقرويّ بالنُّضار ينتطِقْ

The Bedouin is a blanket covering it

And the peasant articulate and brilliant.

من لي بسوقِ المائقين يُشترَى

حلميَ فيها برفَاغةِ النَّزقْ

Who do I have in the market of the excellent to be bought

My dream in it with the splendor of scattering.

وقد حرصتُ مطلِقاً أعنَّتي

لو أنّ معقولَ القضاء ينطلقْ

And I have focused my capacity

If only the reasonable fate would unleash.

والشعرُ قد أبضعتُه فكاسدٌ

أو نافقٌ وليت شعري ما نَفَقْ

And poetry I made barren so it is fruitless

Or hypocritical would that my poetry spent.

عبَّدتُه حرّاً لقومٍ عنُفُوا

بملكه فما نجا حتى أبِقْ

I disciplined it free for a people who were unjust

With its possession so it did not remain until I perished.

فصرتُ إن أردته لمثلها

أبَى عليَّ خيفةً منها وشقّْ

So if I wanted it for its like

It refused me fearing them and was obstinate.

وقد عصاني في المولك زمناً

فهل تُرى يُسمِحُ في مدح السُّوَقْ

And it disobeyed me politically for a time

Will it then be seen forgiving in praising the markets?

لو كان كالأمير كلُّ سامع

لم يُحتبَسْ عن شأوه ولم يُعَقْ

If each listener were like the prince

Its glory would not be detained nor tied.

ولو بسعد الدولة اشتغاله

مذ سار ما سار بمدحٍ مختلَقْ

And if Sa'd al-Dawla busied it

Since he walked whatever he walked in disjointed praise.

حارن ما حارن وارتاض له

لقد أرمَّ ولأمر ما نطقْ

They were confused what confused them and pleased him

He certainly stumbled and the matter did not speak.

أصاب كفئاً ورأى ضريبةً

ففالتَ الغِمدَ إليها واندلقْ

He met a peer and saw a tax

So the sword slipped to it and slid.

ومرّ مشتاقاً مع الأوصاف لا

تُملَك منه صهوةٌ ولا عُنُقْ

And he passed craving the attributes not

Controllable an onrush or neck.

طابت له الأنباءُ فاستروحها

شَمّاً وللجود رياحٌ تُنتَشَقْ

Good tidings came to him so he smelled them

A scent and for generosity winds blow and sniff.

يا راكباً تنقُله سابحةٌ

ورهاءُ لا من جِنّةٍ ولا خُرُقْ

O rider a floating raft carries you

A mirage not of a garden nor tear.

سوداء من لباسها وجلدها

وجسمُها أبيضُ عريان يَقَقْ

Black of its clothes and skin

And its body white bare gleaming.

أرضعها البحرُ وربَّاها وما

تخشَى على ذاك ردىً من الغرَقْ

The sea suckled and raised it and it does not

Fear for that any harm from drowning.

إذا المطايا ألِمَتْ من الصدى

خِمساً وعِشراً ألِمت من الشَّرَقْ

If the mounts hurt from an echo

Five and ten hurt from daybreak.

تُحدَى برَجزٍ ليس من أشجانها

ونَغمٍ لم يُصبِها ولم يَشُقْ

It is challenged with firmness not of its passions

And a melody did not inspire it nor split it.

تركب من هُوج الرياح غَرَراً

وما لها إلا بهنّ مرتفقْ

It rides the winds' madness as if deceived

And it has none but plunge in its intentions.

بلِّغ بميسان إذا بلغتها

عاقلةَ الثاوي وزادَ المنطلِقْ

Communicate when you reach it

The setters of the encampment and the supplies of the launched.

وقمراً يطلع في سمائها

ونورُه في الخافقيْن يأتلِقْ

And a moon rising in its heavens

And its light in the horizons kindling.

وقل كما شاء الندى لخالدٍ

قولةَ لا تخلُّبٍ ولا مَلَقْ

And say however the dew desired for Khalid

Words no guile and no patches.

يا خير من حلّت على أبوابه

رحائل البُدْن وحاجات الرُّفقْ

O best of those who pitched at his gates

The she-camel litters and needs of mercy.

ومَن أتته كالحبال عَجَفاً

ورَجعتْ كالوَسْقِ من تحت الوَسَقْ

And those who came to him like ropes ceaselessly

And returned like banners beneath banners.

لولا السماحُ وغرامٌ بالندى

لما قَرعتَ تطلبُ المالَ الحَلَقْ

Had it not been for generosity and passion for dew

You would not have knocked seeking scattered money.

ولا شهدتَ اليومَ تغلي قِدرُه

لو لم يَصُبْ ماءُ الطُّلَى فيه احترقْ

And you would not have witnessed today his pot boiling

Had not the water of requital ignited in it and burned.

عمّت على أشعارها صبائغٌ

تولّدت بين النجيعِ والعرَقْ

Inks have spread over its lines

Born between stars and the Pleiades.

يحملن كلَّ خائضٍ بحرَ الندى

حتى يرى الموجَ عليه ينطبِقْ

They carry whoever talks big in the sea of dew

Until he sees the wave fold over him.

كأنه بالموت يقضي لذّةً

أو بفراقِ نفسهِ يشفي حَنَقْ

As if he concludes pleasure through death

Or cures anguish by leaving his soul.

كتيبة خرساء إلا قونَسٌ

يطِنُّ أو خرَّ غلامٌ فصَعِقْ

A silent battalion but for battle cries

Or a youth shrieked so collapsed.

لم تر من قبلك خِرْقاً قادها

أُسْدَ شَرىً تهفو عليهنّ الخُرُقْ

You have not before you seen a tear led by

A lion of evil upon them the shreds swarmed.

إذا طغى على الصليق زأرُها

فأضلُعُ البصرةِ منها تَصطفِقْ

When its roar covered the smooth terrain

The ribs of Basra from it would pound.

لواؤك المرفوعُ من أمامها

لم ينخفض ولا هوى منذ بسَقْ

Your raised banner ahead of them

Did not lower nor did it fall since erected.

كأنه أبصر أكباد العدا

تنزو فأعداه الخفوقُ فخفقْ

As if it saw the livers of enemies

So the fluttering hearts fluttered and beat.

قد جرّبوا كيدك أمسِ والذي

عند غدٍ أشقى عليهم وأشقّْ

They have tried your plot yesterday and that

Of tomorrow is more miserable for them and tears.

يا فارس القرطاس والسيفِ لقد

جمعتَ من ذي طرَفَين مفترَقْ

O horseman of the paper and sword indeed

You gathered one of two disparate halves.

حتى لقالوا طاعنٌ بقلمٍ

أو كاتبٌ بالرمح في الطِّرس مشقْ

Until some said a critic with a pen

Or writer with a spear on parchment tearing.

عرفتَ من نفسك ما لم يعرفوا

فطِرتَ حتى صرتَ حيث تستحِقّْ

You knew yourself what they did not know

So you nimbly rose where you deserve.

كم عجبوا منك وأنت تَرتقي

وانتظروا فيك الزليلَ والزلَقْ

How they were amazed by you while you climbed

And expected slipping and sliding from you.

وخاوصوك حَسداً بأعينٍ

لم تحفِل الشّهلةَ منها والزَّرَقْ

And they whispered to you enviously with eyes

The squint and blue did not heed.

حتى تركت النجم في خضرائه

يخطِرُ زهواً أن سبَقتَ ولحِقْ

Until you left the star in its greenery

Boasting that you preceded and caught up.

فالمال إن لم تلتحف بريشه

ولم تنُطْه بيدٍ ولم تُلِقْ

For money if you do not wrap in its feathers

And do not groom in hand nor throw.

أنفقته في الجود فهو بدَدٌ

في الأرض حتى ما له منك نفَقْ

You spent it in charity so it is scattered

In the land until none of it you spent.

والحوضُ يُفنيه اعتوارُ شَفَةٍ

فشفةٍ وإن علا وإن عمُقْ

And the pool exhausts the edge of a lip

Then a lip though it rose and deepened.

وفْرُ الفتى ما شاء من حديثه

والمجدُ في غير النُّضارِ والورِقْ

A young man's abundance what he willed of his discourse

And glory not in bloom or foliage.

هل لك في ودٍّ على شحط النوى

صفَا على غِشِّ المودّات ورَقّْ

Do you have affection on the benevolence of passion

Pure over the cheating of affection and thin?

وصاحبٍ كما اشترطتَ صاحباً

أخلصَ ما كان إذا قلتَ مَذَقْ

And a companion as you stipulated a companion

Most loyal however you stated taste?

يكيلك البِرَّ بصاعٍ أَصوُعاً

وإن عققتَ غيرَ عذرٍ لم يعُقّْ

Who measures your righteousness in bushels

Even if you break without excuse he does not blame.

مطهَّرِ الشيمةِ غُنمٌ قربُهُ

محبَّبِ الإكثار محفوظِ النُّطُقْ

Clean of bearing close to him a flock

Endearing of multiplying guarded of speech.

لا يشرب الراحَ لأن تُسكِره

لكن لأن يجذُبها حسنَ الخُلُقْ

He does not drink wine lest it intoxicates him

But to pull it for fine manners’ sake.

سيف إذا أنت عرفتَ قدرَه

فَرَى بأعناق عِداك وفَلَقْ

A sword when you knew its worth

It saw with the necks of your enemies and split.

أتاه عنك من أحاديث الندى

والمجدِ ما صبا إليه وأرِقْ

There reached him from you talk of dew

And glory pouring to him and dripping.

فساقها عذراءَ ما خطبتَها

وكم غلا خِطبٌ بها فلم تُسَقْ

So it drew them virgins you did not ask for

And how many proposals boiled for them and were not drawn.

ثمينةَ البُضعِ حصيناً سرّها

على الرجال حرّةً لا تُسترَقّْ

Precious of womb safeguarded its secret

From men noble not to be robbed.

إن آنستْ خيراً أقامت أو رأت

ضيماً أجاز حكمها أن تنطلِقْ

If she sensed good she remained or saw

Injustice she allowed her ruling to escape.

العَقدُ والتطليقُ للبعل وفي

قبضتها أقرَّ بعلٌ أم طَلِقْ

The contract and divorce are the husband’s but in

Her hands a husband confirmed or divorced.

إنسيّة تحسَب نفثَ سِحرها

كلامَ جِنِّيٍّ حكى ما يسترِقْ

Feminine she counts the breath of her witchery

Talk of a crafty jinn who steals.

حاضرة تحسبها باديةً

تديَّرتْ داراتِ خبتٍ فالبُرَقْ

Present you think her unsettled

The cycles of occultation wandered so lightning cracked.

أخَّرها الميلادُ وهي رتبةً

في الشعر بالتقديم أولى وأحقّْ

Birth delayed her but in rank

In poetry precedence is more rightful for her.

إذا قرنتَ بالفحول شأوَها

حكمتَ أن السابقَ الذي سُبِقْ

If you matched her glory with the stalwarts

You would judge the early arrived was arrived at.

فاجتلِها من فم راوٍ قد فَرَى

بالسعي فيها لك دهراً وخَلَقْ

So draw her from the mouth of a narrator who saw

In striving her for you an age and people.

أَشفقَ أن يَعْطُلَ وهي مفخرٌ

عرضُك منها والمحبُّ ذو شَفَقْ

Who pitied disabling while she prides

Your prominence from her and the lover has pity.

فاشكر له ما حملَتْ يمينُه

منها وما فتَّقَ فيها ورتَقْ

So thank him for what her right hand carried

Of it and how he picked and climbed in it.

واعرف لمهديها لك افتتاحَه

في المدح باباً عن سواك منغلقْ

And know for her birthplace its inauguration

In praise a door to you shut off others.

وجازِهِ وابقَ على وداده

مسلَّماً ما طرد الليلَ الفلقْ

And reward him remaining in his affection

Surrendered whatever the dawn separated.

ولا تَعَلَّلْ باستماع غيرِها

فإنما تلك بُنيَّاتُ الطُّرُقْ

And do not justify listening to another

Those are merely false trails.