سَأَنفُثُ وَالمَصدُورُ لا شَكَّ نَافِثُ
وَأُسمِعُ إِن أَصغَت إِلَيَّ الحَوَادِثُ
I will vent though my breast is surely venting
And make heard, if events but lend an ear,
وَكَم وَقَفَت لِي بِالمَعَاتِبِ مِثلُهَا
عَلَى حِين لا شَيء عَلَى الصَّبرِ بَاعِثُ
How often the likes of her have taxed me
When nothing urged me to show patience!
فَهَل سِحرُ هَارُوتٍ يَقِي لِمُلِمَّةٍ
فَرَوعِي مُمِيتٌ وَالتَّوَهُّمُ بَاحِثُ
Can Harut’s sorcery ward off a gathering
Of deadly panic and imagining’s quest?
خَلِيلَيَّ مِن سُكَّانِ بَابِلَ حَدِّثَا
فَإِنَّ الخَلِيلَ لِلخَلِيلِ مُحَادِثُ
O dwellers in Babylon, my two friends, tell me:
A friend converses freely with his friend.
هَلِ السِّحرُ بَاقٍ مِثلَ مَا قَد عَهِدتُهُ
أَمِ اتَّفَقَت بَعدِي أُمُورٌ حَوَادِثُ
Does sorcery still exist as once I knew it?
Or have things happened to bring changes new?
وَمَا عِندَ هَارُوت وَمَارُوتَ فَانظَرَا
أَعِلمُهُمَا فِي ذَلِكَ الغَارِ لابِثُ
See what Harut and Marut still possess;
Find out if they in that cave remain.
وَإِلا فَشِعرٌ قد أَعارَتهُ عَينَهَا
فَإِنَّ ابنَ مَرجِ الكُحلِ بِالسِّحرِ نَافِثُ
If not, then poetry which her eyes have lent him:
Ibn Marj al-Kuḥl is skillful in sorcery.
أَمَا وَالَّذِي أَعطَاهُ فِي الشِّعرِ غَايَةً
أَمَانِي ابنِ حُجرٍ عَن مدَاهَا رَوَائِثُ
But, by Him who granted the topmost place
In poetry, hopes of Ibn Ḥujr are vain.
وَقَالَ أَليسَ الحُسنُ ذَلِكَ طَبعُهُ
وَأنَّكَ فِيهِ مِن مَحَلٍّ لَمَاكِثُ
Did she not say: “Is not beauty his nature
And you fixed here, not soon to leave your place?”
لَقَد رَاعَ سِربِي أَن عَنانِي بِقَولِهِ
تَغَيَّرَ لِي فِيمَن تَغَيَّرَ حَارِثُ
Her words that my self-guidance was changed shocked me;
It startled me that Hārith had changed his ways.
فَمِن بَعدِ هَذَا القَولِ لَستُ بِجَانِحٍ
إِلَى مَكسَبٍ إِذ مَكسبِي هُوَ حَارِثُ
After this saying, no more will I seek profit;
My profit is Hārith; to him my love clings!
وَوَجَّهتُهَا غَرَّاءَ عَلَّ قَرِينهُ
يُصِيخُ وَبِي فُكَّ القَدِيمُ الكَثَاكِثُ
I set her bolt straight to strike her mate;
He screamed while she undid bonds formed long since.
كَأَنَّ بَيَاضَ الطِّرسِ سَامٍ كَرَامَةً
وَأَسوَدَهُ حَامٍ فَمَن هُوَ يَافِثُ
As though the Tīrās mount were honoring
Its whiteness while its blackness brought it shame.
وَفِي حَرَمِ الإخلاصِ ودُّكَ عِندَنَا
وَقَد مُنِعَت عَنَّا هُنَاكَ الرَّوَافِثُ
You have our love and friendship constantly;
No interlopers come to us therein.
وَسُوقُ وِدَادِي نَفَّقَت كَاسِدَ الوَفَا
وَقَد كَسَدَت فِيهَا المَسَاعِي الرَّثَائِثُ
My loyalty’s market gained for spendthrift Wafā’
Whose paltry earnings all had gone amiss.
مَتَى رُمتَ بِي نَصراً تُجِبكَ ثَلاثَةٌ
لِسَانِي وَودِّي وَالسُّريجِيُّ ثَالِثُ
Whene’er you back me, three respond to you:
My words, my love, andSarahJī third of three!
