هل هزَّ بالأعطافِ سمرَ صعادهِ
أم جرَّد الألحاظَ من أغمادهِ
Has the slender one swayed his supple form,
Or freed his glances from their sheaths?
كالظبي فتي لفتاته ونفارهِ
والبدر في إشراقهِ وبعاده
Like a gazelle, a youth in his glances and startled leaps,
And the moon in its rising and distance.
متعزّزٌ فلذاكَ ذلُّ محبّةٍ
متمنّعٌ فلذاك لينُ قياده
Haughty, and so humble in love,
Coy, and so gentle in leading.
وسنانُ ساجي الطرف صدَّ مسّهدا
فكأنّهُ متكحّلٌ برقاده
The tooth of the smooth-cheeked one blocked his touch,
As if lined with kohl in its sheaths.
ذا القلبُ شبَّ لظاهُ جفنٌ واكفٌ
ما ذاق طرفُ النجمِ مثلَ سهاده
That heart grew up gazing at an eyelid and palm,
No eye of a star knew such a pillow.
يلقى مصاحبةَ الدَّجى فبودهِ
لو زال صبغُ سوادهِ بسواده
He meets the company of night in longing
If only the dye of his blackness would fade into his blackness.
وكأنما قبض الصباحُ فدهرهُ
متستّرٌ والليلُ ثوبُ حداده
As if morning clasped its silk,
Veiled, with the night a dress of mourning.
وكأنما جنح الظلام حراقةٌ
والرقُ يذكيها بسقطِ زناده
As if darkness swooped down in passion,
And stars kindled it with the fall of their wicks.
أو مدنفٌ خافٍ على زوَّارهِ
وأظنَّ أنَّ الطيفَ من عوَّاده
Or a lamp, fearful for its visitors,
And I think the specter is one of its own.
لهفانُ إلفُ جفونهِ لدموعهِ
أهدى عداوةَ جنبهِ لمهاده
The flames of his eyelids burn for his tears.
His enmity gifted his side to his pillow.
لولا الهوى ما أحمرَّ أبيضُ دمعهِ
يوم النوى وأبيضَّ فودُ فؤاده
If not for love, the white of his tears would not redden
The day of pining, nor the white of his heart whiten.
يا بعدها أمداً وحمرُ دموعه
من عنسهِ وسهاده من زاده
O remote one, long in his tears flowing red
From coyness, and his pillow is all he owns.
تهوى الذوابلَ من قدود ظبائه
وتصدُّ خوفاً من ظبي آساده
The bent ones fear the zebras of his glances,
And shy from the gazelle of his swaying form.
ما أجملتْ جملٌ ولم تنعم إذاً
نعمٌ ولم يسعد فعال سعاده
No beauty adorned a camel, and so
No bounty enriched the deeds of his fortune.
ذهبَ الهدوُّ فأينَ ساعةُ عودهِ
وقضى السلوُّ فأين يومُ معاده
The loved one left, so where is the hour of his return?
And the night has passed, so where is the day we will meet?
هيَ عادةُ الأيام في أبنائها
والشيءُ ليس بزائلٍ عن عاده
Such is the way of days with their sons,
And nothing strays from its own ways.
جاهدنني فرددتها بمؤيَّدٍ
لله صدقُ تقاته وجهاده
He battled me, so I returned it, supported
By God, the honesty of his devotion and strife.
