هَل أَنتَ مِن وَصَبِ الصّبابة ناصري
أو أنت في نَصَب الكآبة عاذري
Are you from the youthfulness of al-Saba, my supporter,
Or are you in the grief of the excuser?
هيهات ما رأف الصّحيحُ بمُبْتَلٍ
يوماً ولا وقف الحثيثُ لعاثرِ
Alas! The healthy never pity the afflicted,
Nor does the swift ever stop for the stumbler.
يا قاتل اللَّهُ الغَواني في الهَوى
باعَدْنَنِي لمّا سكنّ ضمائري
O Allah, destroy those infatuated with love!
They plagued me when my conscience was tranquil.
ما زِلن بي حتّى اِلتفتّ إلى الصِّبا
مِن بعدِ إِعراض العَزوف النّافرِ
They never left me until I turned to youthfulness
After being aloof with repulsion.
فَعَرفتُ حينَ صَبوتُ كيف مواردي
لَكِنَّني لم أَدرِ كَيفَ مَصادري
So I knew, when I poured out my passion, my resources,
But I did not know my origins.
ما لِي وَلِلبيضِ الكَواعبِ هِجْنَ لِي
بِلوى الثّوِيّة ذُكرةً من ذاكرِ
I have nothing to do with the white, alluring maidens
With the affliction of separation that recalls the rememberer.
شيّبنَنِي وَذَمَمن شَيبَ مَفارقي
خُذها إليكَ قضيّةً من جائرِ
They made me grey-haired and blemished my parting grey hair,
Take it back to yourself as an issue from the unjust.
لا مَرحباً بِالشّيب أَظلم باطني
لَمّا تجلّلنِي وأشرق ظاهري
There is no welcome to grey hair that darkened my essence
When my appearance was adorned and shone.
شَعَرٌ أَبى لِي في الحسان إصاخةً
يوم العتاب إلى قبول معاذري
Hair that refused me graciousness on the day of reproach
To accept my excuses.
مثلُ الشَّجاةِ مُلِظَّةً في مَبْلَعٍ
أو كالقَذاة مقيمةً في النّاظرِ
Like roughness in the throat,
Or a speck residing in the eye.
لا ذنبَ لي قبل المشيب وإنّني
لمؤاخذٌ من بعده بجرائرِ
I have no fault before the greying, and yet
I am taken to account after it for heinous sins.
يا سائق الأظعانِ يومَ سُوَيقَةٍ
رفقاً بقلبٍ في الظّعائن سائرِ
O driver of the melancholic on the day of their being led,
Be gentle with a heart among the melancholic.
جسدٌ أقام على اللّوى ففؤادُهُ
بعد التفرّق في مخالب طائرِ
A body that lived with anguish, so its heart
After separation is in the claws of a bird.
ما كان ضرّك لو وقفتَ على الأُلى
في الحبّ بين مجاهرٍ ومساترِ
What harm to you if you had stopped at the loved ones
In love among the open and the secretive?
وَمتيّمٍ جَحد الهَوى فَوَشى بهِ
يومَ الوداع لسانُ دمعٍ قاطرِ
And the enamored who denied love, so the tongue of pouring tears
Informed about him on the day of farewell.
وعلى الرّكائب يومَ وَجْرَةَ غائبٌ
لا نفعَ لي من بعده بالحاضرِ
And the rider of the she-camel on the day of departure, an absent one,
No use to me after him is the present.
أشهى إليَّ من المنى غِبَّ المُنى
وأعزّ من سمعي عليَّ وناظري
More coveted to me than purpose is absence of purpose,
And more precious to me than my hearing and sight.
عاصي الوشاة وَزارَني متستِّراً
باللّيل بعد هجوع طرف السّاهرِ
Disobedient to the slanderers, he visited me stealthily
At night after the withdrawal of the eyelids of the wakeful.
عَجلانَ يَستلبُ الحَديثَ كأنّه
جانٍ يخالس غفلةً من ثائرِ
Hastiness that captures the conversation, as if it were
A jinn lying in wait for inattentiveness of the vigilant.
يا راكباً ظهر المطيّةِ مُوجِفاً
في الصّبحِ بين هواجرٍ وظهائرِ
O rider finesse on the back of the she-camel in the morning
Among the chambers and the external.
أبلغْ بني خَلَفٍ بأنّ مودّتي
أُنُفٌ لهمْ وذرائعي وأواصري
Convey to the progeny of Khalaf that my friendship for them
Is intimate, and my means and ties.
أَنتُمْ وَإن لم تُدننا رَحِمٌ بما
أَخلَصتُموه أَقاربي وَمَعاشري
You, even if kinship does not bring us close, with what
You have purified, my relatives and companions.
وَأَصاحبي دونَ الرّجالِ إِذا اِلتَوى
خطبٌ يُبرّئُ غائباً من حاضرِ
And my companions over men when calamities coil
Events that acquit the absent from the present.
لا تَحسبوا منّي التغيّرَ بعدكمْ
فأوائلي في حبّكمْ كأواخري
Do not think I would change after you all,
For my beginnings in loving you are like my ends.
هَل تَذكُرونَ فَإنّني لم أنسَه
ذاك التّداني في الزّمان العابرِ
Do you remember? For I have not forgotten
That intimacy in time gone by.
إذ نحن في أرض التّصابي جيرةٌ
في ظلّ أيامٍ هناك نضائرِ
When we in the land of ancestry were neighbors
In the shade of those days over there like peers.
كم فيكُمُ من طالعٍ شَرَفَ العُلا
أو قامعٍ شَرَفَ العدا أو قاهرِ
How many among you with ascendant nobility
Or suppressor of nobility or subduer!
ومُرَفّعون تخالهمْ لجميلهمْ
بين الرّجال على ظهور منابرِ
And you are raised up, your beauty raises you
Amongst men upon the backs of minbars.
طالوا إلى نيل العُلا وثيابهمْ
تُلوى بمثل متالعِ وقَراقِرِ
They aspired to attain the heights and their clothes
Twist like interlaced and dotted.
يا أيّها الأستاذ طُلتَ تفضّلاً
قولاً فخذ عنه جواب الشاكرِ
O teacher, you have excelled, so generously
Say a word, so take from it the thanks of the grateful,
قولاً كما رقّ النسيم على ثرىً
عَطرِ النبات عقيب غيثٍ ماطرِ
A word like the breeze blew gently on soil,
The scent of plants after a raining cloud.
وافى كما طرق الرّقادُ تعلّقَتْ
بعد الكلال به جفون السّاهرِ
It has reached like slumber knocking fastened
After weariness the eyelids of the wakeful.
ما خِلتُهُ إلّا عَطيّةَ مانعٍ
نَقَعَ الجوانحَ أو زيارةَ هاجِرِ
I have none but the bestowal of a preventer
That tears out the wings or the visit of a departing one.
وكأنّه بعد المشيب مبشّرِي
بإيابِ آونةِ الشّبابِ الناضِرِ
As if after the greying it gives me good tidings
Of the return of the flourishing days of youth.
وظللتَ تنعتُ لي جميلَ مآثرٍ
لولا ثناؤك لم يكنّ مآثري
And you went on describing to me the beauty of glorious deeds,
Were it not for your praise, I would have no glorious deeds.
فمدائحي مشفوعةٌ بمدائحي
ومفاخري مجموعة بمفاخري
So my eulogies vouched for by my eulogies
And my glories accumulated with my glories.
لا ترهبَنْ منّي الملالَةَ في الهوى
وَاِرهَبْ مَلالَةَ من لقيتَ وحاذرِ
Do not fear from me weariness in passion
And fear the weariness of those you have met and bewared.
وَاِعلَمْ بأنّي لا أحول عن الّذي
لكَ في الجوانح من محلٍّ عامرِ
And know that I do not waver from she who
Has the abode in my soul a populated one.
وَبَلوتُ بعدك للرّجال خلائقاً
عُوجاً تُبرِّح بالبصير الخابرِ
And after you I have tested men’s morals
Bent, the insights of the experienced flee from them.
لا مرتَعٌ فيها ولا مستمتَعٌ
كسراب قاعٍ أو زجاجة كاسرِ
No pasture in them and no pleasance,
Like the mirage of a barren desert or broken glass.
يَتكالَبونَ عَلى القَبائح بَينهمْ
كَلَبَ الذّئابِ رأين عَقْرَ العاقِرِ
They vie with one another for vileness among themselves
Like the dogs of wolves they saw the sterile’s vulva.
لَم يَبتنوا شَرَقاً ولا بَحثوا على
كَسبِ المَحامِد منهمُ بأظافرِ
They did not rise to the East nor sought
To earn praise from them with claws.
وَكأنّ جارَهُمُ مقيمٌ بينهمْ
في منزلٍ قَفْرٍ ورسمٍ داثرِ
And as if their neighbor residing among them
In an abode of wasteland and ruins.
فَدعِ التشكّي للفراقِ فَقَد مَضى
وَخذِ الوِصال مجاهراً لمجاهرِ
So leave complaining of separation, for it has passed,
And take union openly with the open.
إِنّي أَغارُ عَلى زَمانٍ بيننا
يمضي بغير تجاورٍ وتحاورِ
I am jealous of a time between us
That passes without company and discourse.
