عيدٌ بِأَيَّةِ حالٍ عُدتَ يا عيدُ
بِما مَضى أَم بِأَمرٍ فيكَ تَجديدُ
The feast, in what state have you returned, O feast?
Eid, in what state have you returned, O Eid? With past sorrows, or does some new decree attend you?
Is it with what has passed, or is there in you something renewed?
As for my loved ones, the desert lies between us; would that between me and you lay deserts upon deserts.
أَمّا الأَحِبَّةُ فَالبَيداءُ دونَهُمُ
فَلَيتَ دونَكَ بيداً دونَها بيدُ
As for the loved ones, the desert lies between us,
Were it not for high ambition, no lean, swift mount would cross these wastes with me.
Would that, without you, the desert and they were deserted!
Yet once, slender maidens, radiant as my blade's gleam, were sweeter to embrace than cold steel.
لَولا العُلى لَم تَجُب بي ما أَجوبُ بِها
وَجناءُ حَرفٌ وَلا جَرداءُ قَيدودُ
Were it not for my pride, my heart would not ache with what makes it ache,
Fate has left nothing in my heart nor my liver for a beauty's eye or graceful neck to enslave.
And to be chained is but letters, not truly being chained.
O cupbearers, is this wine within your goblets, or do they brim with care and sleepless nights?
وَكانَ أَطيَبَ مِن سَيفي مُضاجَعَةً
أَشباهُ رَونَقِهِ الغيدُ الأَماليدُ
And sweeter to me than my sword was to sleep
Am I a rock? Why am I not moved by this flowing wine or these melodic songs?
On the dunes like gazelles curled up.
If I seek the dark red wine, pure and clear, I find it—but the soul's beloved is lost.
لَم يَترُكِ الدَهرُ مِن قَلبي وَلا كَبِدي
شَيْئاً تُتَيِّمُهُ عَينٌ وَلا جيدُ
Time has left in my heart and my liver
What burdens I have met from the world! Yet strangest of all: I am envied for that which makes me weep.
Nothing for an eye to orphan or a bosom to mourn.
I have become the wealthiest man in hope and hand; I am rich, yet my only funds are empty promises.
يا ساقِيَيَّ أَخَمرٌ في كُؤوسِكُما
أَم في كُؤوسِكُما هَمٌّ وَتَسهيدُ
O cupbearer, is it wine in your cups
I have lodged with liars whose guest is denied both hospitality and the freedom to depart.
Or in your cups anxiety and vigil?
True men give from their hands; these give only with their tongues—may they and their "bounty" perish!
أَصَخرَةٌ أَنا مالي لا تُحَرِّكُني
هَذي المُدامُ وَلا هَذي الأَغاريدُ
I am rocks; why can’t you move me,
Death does not seize a single soul among them without holding a stick to ward off its stench.
With this wine and these songs?
Each one, flabby of gut and bursting at the seams, is counted neither among men nor among women.
إِذا أَرَدتُ كُمَيتَ اللَونِ صافِيَةً
وَجَدتُها وَحَبيبُ النَفسِ مَفقودُ
When I wanted the wine pure,
Whenever a wicked slave murders his master or betrays him, must he find a paved path to power in Egypt?
I found it so, though the beloved was lost.
The eunuch has become the leader of fugitives there; the free man is enslaved, and the slave is worshipped.
ماذا لَقيتُ مِنَ الدُنيا وَأَعجَبُهُ
أَنّي بِما أَنا باكٍ مِنهُ مَحسودُ
What have I seen in life that pleases me most?
The guardians of Egypt have slept and left her to the foxes, who have gorged themselves, yet the grapes remain vast.
That I weep for what makes me envied.
The slave is no brother to the righteous free man, even if he were born in the robes of nobility.
أَمسَيتُ أَروَحَ مُثرٍ خازِناً وَيَداً
أَنا الغَنِيُّ وَأَموالي المَواعيدُ
I have come to spend the evening in a barren camp,
Do not purchase the slave unless the stick is with him; for slaves are indeed filth and bringers of woe.
I, the wealthy man, and my promises the riches.
I never thought I would live to see the day when a dog would abuse me and be praised for it.
إِنّي نَزَلتُ بِكَذّابينَ ضَيفُهُمُ
عَنِ القِرى وَعَنِ التَرحالِ مَحدودُ
I descended among liars whose hospitality
Nor did I imagine that true men had vanished, and that one like Abu al-Bayda' could still exist.
Is limited, neither traveling nor women.
And that this black man with the pierced lip would be obeyed by these trembling hirelings.
جودُ الرِجالِ مِنَ الأَيدي وَجودُهُمُ
مِنَ اللِسانِ فَلا كانوا وَلا الجودُ
Men’s generosity is in their hands, their generosity
A starving creature who eats from my provisions and holds me captive, only so it may be said, "He is great and sought after."
Is in their tongues; they are neither generous nor is generosity theirs.
Truly, a man whose affairs are managed by a pregnant maidservant is oppressed, tearful, and faint of heart.
ما يَقبِضُ المَوتُ نَفساً مِن نُفوسِهِمُ
إِلّا وَفي يَدِهِ مِن نَتنِها عودُ
Death seizes not any soul among their souls
Woe to this plight, and woe to him who accepts it! It is for escaping such things that swift camels were created.
Without his hand stinking because of its rottenness.
And at that point, the taste of death becomes sweet; truly, when faced with humiliation, death is like honey.
مِن كُلِّ رِخوِ وِكاءِ البَطنِ مُنفَتِقٍ
لا في الرِحالِ وَلا النِسوانِ مَعدودُ
From every soft, flabby belly
Who taught the eunuch nobility? Was it his white kinsmen, or his royal ancestors?
There pours forth one who is neither horseman nor courted woman.
Or his bleeding ear in the slave-trader's grip? Or his value—rejected even for two coppers?
أَكُلَّما اِغتالَ عَبدُ السوءِ سَيِّدَهُ
أَو خانَهُ فَلَهُ في مِصرَ تَمهيدُ
Every time an evil slave assassinates his master
Of all base men, the petty Kafur is most excused for his baseness—though some excuses are merely insults in disguise.
Or betrays him, he is established in Egypt.
For if white stallions are incapable of noble deeds, what then can be expected of black eunuchs?
صارَ الخَصِيُّ إِمامَ الآبِقينَ بِها
فَالحُرُّ مُستَعبَدٌ وَالعَبدُ مَعبودُ
The eunuch has become leader of the villains there,
So the free man is enslaved and the slave worshiped.
نامَت نَواطيرُ مِصرٍ عَن ثَعالِبِها
فَقَد بَشِمنَ وَما تَفنى العَناقيدُ
The vultures of Egypt have neglected its foxes,
For the starlings have perished and the bunches decayed.
العَبدُ لَيسَ لِحُرٍّ صالِحٍ بِأَخٍ
لَو أَنَّهُ في ثِيابِ الحُرِّ مَولودُ
A slave is not a free man’s brother, however righteous,
Even if he is born in the clothes of the free.
لا تَشتَرِ العَبدَ إِلّا وَالعَصا مَعَهُ
إِنَّ العَبيدَ لَأَنجاسٌ مَناكيدُ
Only purchase a slave with his rod along with him,
For slaves are filthy creatures, treacherous.
ما كُنتُ أَحسَبُني أَحيا إِلى زَمَنٍ
يُسيءُ بي فيهِ كَلبٌ وَهوَ مَحمودُ
I did not expect to live to a time
When a dog insults me and is praised.
وَلا تَوَهَّمتُ أَنَّ الناسَ قَد فُقِدوا
وَأَنَّ مِثلَ أَبي البَيضاءِ مَوجودُ
Nor did I imagine people to be gone
And the like of my father to exist.
وَأَنَّ ذا الأَسوَدَ المَثقوبَ مِشفَرُهُ
تُطيعُهُ ذي العَضاريطُ الرَعاديدُ
And that the black gap-toothed one
Is obeyed by the honking simpletons.
جَوعانُ يَأكُلُ مِن زادي وَيُمسِكُني
لِكَي يُقالَ عَظيمُ القَدرِ مَقصودُ
A hungry man eats my provisions and stops me
So it may be said, “The greatly esteemed one is wanted.”
إِنَّ اِمرَءً أَمَةٌ حُبلى تُدَبِّرُهُ
لَمُستَضامٌ سَخينُ العَينِ مَفؤودُ
A man whose pregnant female slave manages him
Is a cuckold of hot eyes and addled wits.
وَيلُمِّها خُطَّةً وَيلُمِّ قابِلِها
لِمِثلِها خُلِقَ المَهرِيَّةُ القودُ
He assembles her a dowry and the dowry for her midwife, too,
The likes of her, hellfire was created for.
وَعِندَها لَذَّ طَعمَ المَوتِ شارِبُهُ
إِنَّ المَنِيَّةَ عِندَ الذُلِّ قِنديدُ
And in her presence the taste of death is sweet to its drinker.
Death in disgrace is most craved.
مَن عَلَّمَ الأَسوَدَ المَخصِيَّ مَكرُمَةً
أَقَومُهُ البيضُ أَم آبائُهُ الصيدُ
Who taught the black eunuch gentle manners?
Do his noble white forebears hunt, or his fathers before him?
أَم أُذنُهُ في يَدِ النَخّاسِ دامِيَةً
أَم قَدرُهُ وَهوَ بِالفَلسَينِ مَردودُ
Or is his ear criminals’ in the broker’s hand?
Or his worth when he is sold in the markets reduced?
أَولى اللِئامِ كُوَيفيرٌ بِمَعذِرَةٍ
في كُلِّ لُؤمٍ وَبَعضُ العُذرِ تَفنيدُ
The vilest of villains excuses himself
In every vileness, and some excuse is refutation.
وَذاكَ أَنَّ الفُحولَ البيضَ عاجِزَةٌ
عَنِ الجَميلِ فَكَيفَ الخِصيَةُ السودُ
That is because the noble whites are incapable
Of nobility, so what of the black eunuchs?
