تلك الطلول طلول سلمى
فافضض بها للدمع ختما
Those ruins—those are Salma’s ruins.
So there, let the seal upon your tears be broken.
دمن غرست بها الهوى
فجنيته كمداً وسقما
Campsites where you planted love,
then reaped from it grief and sickness.
وانشد هنالك مهجة
بصريعة الأحداق تسمى
And seek there a soul
known as “the one slain by glances.”
خلفتها يوم النوى
لسهامها غرضاً ومرمي
On the day of parting I left it
a target and a mark for her arrows.
وأظنها لم يبق من
ها حب ذاك الظبي رسما
And I think no trace remains in it
of love for that gazelle.
صنم كأن اللَه صو
ره من الأرواح جسما
An idol—as though God had poured
him from spirits into a body.
وكأنما مزج الصبا
حتى تكون منه بالما
As though the east wind had been blended
until from it came “bālmā” [the transmitted wording is unclear].
وجناته رقت فكا
دت من خيال الوهم تدمى
His cheeks grew so delicate that they nearly
bled at the mere phantom of a thought.
وصفت معاطفه فكا
د بها الغلائل أن تنما
His body’s curves grew so fine that
his under-robes nearly betrayed them.
نفس عليه يا نطا
ق فقد كددت الخصر ضما
Give him room, O girdle—
you have nearly crushed his waist in your embrace.
واخفف مرورك يا نسي
م فقد خدشت الخد لثما
Pass gently, O breeze—
your kiss has scratched his cheek.
إني غضضت الطرف خو
فاً أن يؤثر فيه وهما
I lowered my gaze, fearing
it might affect him even in imagination.
نشوان من خمر الدلا
ل معشق الحركات المي
Drunk on the wine of coyness,
enamored of languorous movements,
عوضت فيه عن هدا
ي وصحتي غيا وسقما
for him I took, in place of guidance
and health, error and sickness.
إن الذي قسم الهوى
جعل العنا لي منه قسما
He who apportioned love
made torment my portion of it.
لا سامح اللَه الظبا
بدمي فقد هدرته ظلما
May God not forgive the gazelles—
they made my blood forfeit unjustly.
فإلام يا ثمل الجفو
ن وفيم تجفوني ومما
How long, O drunken-eyed one—
why do you shun me, and for what?
قد تاه سلطان العيو
ن علي القلوب وجار حكما
The sovereignty of eyes has grown haughty
over hearts and ruled them unjustly.
تلك الصفاح البيض ل
كن للمنايا السود تنمي
Those are white blades, yet
black deaths are attributed to them.
فكأنما راشت لها
عزمات نجم الدين سهما
As though, for them,
Najm al-Din’s resolve had feathered an arrow.
ذاك الذي يخشى وير
جى في الورى بطشا وحلما
He is the one feared and the one
hoped in among humankind—for might and clemency.
ذاك الذي سار الحدا
ة بفضله عرباً وعجما
He whose bounty journeyed
by his grace among Arabs and non-Arabs.
نجم غدا للحائري
ن هدى وللأعداء رجما
A guiding star for the bewildered,
and a missile against his enemies.
وله الأيادي الغر تر
جع أوجه الحساد دهما
His radiant benefactions turn
the faces of the envious black.
لو حاربته الشهب لان
قضت إليه تروم سلما
Were the shooting stars to wage war against him, they would
plunge toward him seeking peace.
وله المعاني اللائي قد
فضحت ثمين الدر نظما
His are the meanings that have
put precious pearls strung in verse to shame.
مجداً حوى كرما حوي
بأساً حوى رأياً وحزما
Glory he possesses, generosity he possesses;
valor he possesses, judgment and resolve.
من معشر كانت مآ
ثرهم لداء الدهر حسما
From a people whose
deeds decisively cured the sickness of Time.
قوم أقاموا الفضل وات
تسموا به ورضوه وسما
A people who established virtue and were
marked by it, accepting it as their badge.
يا حامي المجد الذي
بمواكب الاقبال يحمي
O guardian of glory, who
protects it with the processions of prosperity.
لم يبق مجدك والندى
لأولي الندى والمجد سهما
Your glory and munificence have left
no share for the lords of munificence and glory.
لو شاطرتك الناس فض
لك ما رأوا للجهل رسما
Had people shared your virtue,
they would have seen no trace of ignorance.
أو خاصموك على العلى
حسدا لقامت عنك خصما
Or if, from envy, they disputed your loftiness,
loftiness itself would rise as your champion.
ما رام شيك مبصرٌ
إلا رآه بعين أعمي
No sighted man ever sought to wrong you
unless he saw through a blind man’s eye.
أو رام ذمك مسمعٌ
إلا وخال الناس صما
Nor did any hearing man seek to disparage you
unless he imagined everyone deaf.
خذها إليك أبا القوا
في لا أراها اللَه يتما
Take it, O father of
rhymes—may God never show it orphaned.
قد اطلعت من كل معنى
في سماء علاك نجما
It has brought forth, from every meaning,
a star in the sky of your loftiness.
أوهمتها مدح السوى
فتميزت بالغيظ وهما
I made it imagine that it praised another,
and in its fancy it nearly burst apart with rage.
