قال يوماً لأسود
ناكه وسط ممرغَهْ
One day he said to his black servant
Joking in the midst of their gathering:
حُكَّ درزي بخصيتَيْ
ك قليلاً بنغنغه
"Scratch my testicles a little, with pleasure,
Then let out a loud fart
ثم قفّى بضرطة
ذات هول مترَّغه
Of tremendous impact."
He said: By God, he conveyed it well!
قال
والله بيَّغه
I said: Taste it, for it is
An obscenity that knows language.
قلت نكها فإنها
فقحة تعرف اللغه
It is a marvel among marvels that captivates
Every mind and pleases every eye.
وبديع من البدائع يسبي
كل عقل ويطَّبي كل طرفِ
It combines beauty and wit until
No true describer can fully describe it.
وُفِيَ الحسنَ والملاحة حتى
ما يوفيه واصف حق وصفِ
A wineskin the Caliph had chosen
Unlike any left by his ancestors.
قدحٌ كان للرشيد اصطفاه
خلف من ذكوره غير خَلْفِ
It restrains love with its sweetness, though it is
Sweeter, and no letter can rival it.
كفم الحب في الحلاوة بل أح
لى وإن كان لا يناغى بحرف
Refined from purified essence in nature
Not with alchemy of an apothecary.
صيغ من جوهر مصفى طباعاً
لا علاجاً بكيمياء مُصَفِّ
Eyes penetrate it until they see themselves
Mistaken, from the delicate transparency.
تنفذ العين فيه حتى تراها
أخطأته من رقة المُستَشفِّ
Like air without haze, made subtle
With luminosity - purer and clearer!
كهواء بلا هباء مشوب
بضياء أرقِق بذاك وأصفي
Its waist did not grow big with successive drafts
Nor did it shrink from a sip.
وَسَطُ القَدر لم يكبَّر لجرعٍ
متوالٍ ولم يُصَغَّر لرشفِ
No rashness against minds - rather gentle
With them, not weakness.
لا عجول على العقول جهولٌ
بل حليم عنهن في غير ضعف
It gratifies the drinkers as they drink
And the melodies of every drinking horn and flute.
يمتع الشاربين بالشرب فيه
وبلذات كل قصف وعزف
The beholders never saw a shape and form
Like a steed’s belly beneath its saddlecloth.
ما رأى الناظرون قداً وشكلاً
فارساً مثله على بطن كف
When people drink it their palms do not refrain
From fondling it respectfully.
ليس يخلو إذا تعاطاه قوم
من أكف يمسحنه بتحفّي
Whenever they saw it, this gentle one
Was not previously so underestimated.
ما رأوه إلا استُخِفَّ حليمٌ
لم يكن قبل ذاك بالمستخفِّ
The eye prefers to enjoy it
When the critic tells the beholder: close your eye!
تؤثر العين أن تنزَّه فيه
عند قول الكرى لذي العين أغفي
In it is a fermented Nun whose inflection
The wise vintners bent most excellently.
فيه نونٌ معقرب عطفته
حكماء القيون أحسن عطف
Like the bending of the cheeks in the faces
Of a gazelle adorned with beauty and charm.
مثل عطف الأصداغ في وجنات
من غزال يُزهَى بحسن وطرف
I have stored it for you for emergencies -
Sufficient for you at every time of need.
ذخرته لك العواقب عندي
يتخطاه كل حين وحتف
So enjoy it and live happily
A thousand years - and I won't be pleased with a thousand!
فتمتع به وعش في سرور
ألف عام ولستُ أرضى بألف
For I have rolled up my sleeves
And will reproach you with shuffling steps:
ثم إني مشمر من ثيابي
فملاقيك من عتابي بزحف
Is it justice that I and others
Are deprived of your gifts between mansion and valley?
أمن العدل أن حُرمت وغيري
من عطاياك بين غرف وجرف
He whose praise the people repeat far and wide
From you received abundant generosity.
عمَّ من عمَّ مدحه الناس طراً
منك جود سماؤه ذات وكف
You promised I would have your exclusive eulogy,
O son of Yahya - but that is a crumbling design!
وعداني أن أستخصَّك مدحي
يا ابن يحيى وتلك خطة خسف
The dedications I made will not please you,
You who sends them out and seals them!
ليس ترضى بما فعلت قواف
أنت منها مصدِّرٌ ومقفّي
A eulogy of you I protected with all protection
Beneath the cloak of my compositions.
مِدَحٌ فيك صنتها كل صون
تحت عرض ظَلِفتَه كل ظلف
Some of it has appeared and some remains guarded
Waiting for the occasion of revelation.
بعضها قد بدا وبعض يراعي
أن يُرى للعطاء موضع كشف
Do not deny imaginations of you that have become
Dazzling, snatched by every blinking eye.
لا تُكذِّب مخيلة لك أضحت
يخطف الطرف لمعها كل خطف
A trinket or bauble, O son of Yahya,
Could console me, cooling my passion.
لُهوةٌ أو فإسوةٌ يا ابن يحيى
أتأسّى بها فتُبرد لهفي
Toss me a wing, or point out a place for me
That has become for you an abandoned ruin.
رِش جناحي أو سمِّ لي مُستريشا
لك أضحى وريشه غير وحف
As for reproaching the blamer, I
Subdue all my reproaches.
وعلى فارطِ العتاب فإني
واطئٌ من معاتبي كل رضف
Saying about you to the enemy words
That humble and compel him against his will.
قائل فيك للعدو مقالاً
فيه كَبتٌ له وإرغام أنف
"This questioner - isn't he excellent?
I am delighted by him" - so I ask and scruple.
أيهذا المسائلي بعليٍّ
أنا طَبٌّ به فسائل وأحف
For Ali, at the peak of glory, there is a house
Roofed by none but the sky.
لعليٍّ في ذروة المجد بيتٌ
لم يُسقَّف سوى السماء بسقف
His generosity built it to the stars
Destroying wealth by aggression and tyranny.
شاد بنيانه إلى النجم جودٌ
يهدم المال باعتداء وعسف
O people! How his generosity builds
While it is a flood - and every flood demolishes!
يا لَقومٍ لجوده كيف يبني
وهو سيل وكل سيلٍ معفِّي
If mountains were wealth or the sea
He would annihilate them by pulverizing and bleeding.
لو تكون الجبال مالاً أو البح
ر لغاداهما بنسف ونزف
Do you see him, while his wealth is none but plunder,
Or see him, while his prestige is none but endowment?
هل تراه ومالُه غيرُ نهبٍ
أم تراه وجاهُه غيرُ وقف
He does not see a whiff of honor but
A grasping hand snatches it.
ما يرى نُهزة من العرف إلا
ثقفتها يد امرئ منه ثَقف
The slander of blame was tossed from him
Into the heart of every marching escort.
قُذِفت خيفة الملامة منه
في فؤاد مشيَّعٍ كلَّ قذف
So he is whatever you wish, from cowardly to brave,
Trusting, though the timid quake.
فهو ما شئت من جبان شجاع
آمن راجف الحشا كل رجف
Bold against arms, armored with coats of mail
Against the slightest twanging of a bowstring.
حاسر للسلاح مجتاب درع
دون أدنى قوارص القول زغف
He avoids the breath of tongues but is overwhelmed
By every stab and blow of a sword.
يتقي نفحة اللسان ويغشى
كل طعن وكل ضرب طِلَخْف
Ali accepts the shortchanging of praise,
And measures reward to fulfill it completely.
يقبل البخس في الثناء عليٌّ
ويكيل الجزاء كيل موفِّي
We do not fabricate in praising him, but describe
Some of his traits - and that suffices.
ما افترينا في مدحه بل وصفنا
بعض أخلاقه وذلك يكفي
If we praised him with what is not in him
The praise would fall short of what he deserves.
لو مدحناه بالذي ليس فيه
وقع المدح منه موقع قرف
Rather, we were like the musk-gatherers, in knowledge
Of his scent, not the places of better scent.
ولكنا كناحلي المسك عَرفاً
من سواه مكان أطيب عرف
We have in his praise nothing but verse
Describing the efforts he made.
ما لنا في مديحه غير نظم
للمساعي التي سعاها ووصف
This is my absence in spite of an enemy
Who twists his ear away from it.
هذه غِيبتي برغم عدو
يَغضف الأذن دونها كل غضف
And in spite of the distractions that distracted me
Completely diverting me away.
وبرغم اللُّهى التي راغمتني
فهي عني مصروفة كل صرف
For whoever takes you as his refuge, it suffices
To have you in adversities as every refuge.
من يكن كهفه سواك فحسبي
بك في النائبات من كل كهف
