أَراكَ أَكبَرتَ إِدماني عَلى الدِمَنِ
وَحَملي الشَوقَ مِن بادٍ وَمُكتَمِنِ
I see you have made me overindulge my haunting of the ruined camps,
and my bearing of longing, both manifest and concealed.
لا تُكثِرَنَّ مَلامي إِن عَكَفتُ عَلى
رَبعِ الحَبيبِ فَلَم أَعكُف عَلى وَثَنِ
Do not heap blame upon me if I linger at
the beloved’s dwelling; blame me if I devote myself to an idol.
سَلَوتُ إِن كُنتُ أَدري ما تَقولُ إِذَن
مَجَّت مَقالَتَها في وَجهِها أُذُني
I would forget her, if I could understand what she says; then
my ear would spit her words back into her face.
الحُبُّ أَولى بِقَلبي في تَصَرُّفِهِ
مِن أَن يُغادِرَني يَوماً بِلا شَجَنِ
Love has the greater claim upon my heart in governing it
than to leave me, even for a day, without sorrow.
حَلَبتُ صَرفَ النَوى صَرفَ الأَسى وَحَداً
بِالبَثِّ في دَولَةِ الإِغرامِ وَالدَدَنِ
I milked from separation’s vicissitudes the pure essence of grief, alone,
by lingering in the dominion of passion and the ruined camps.
فَما وَجَدتُ عَلى الأَحشاءِ أَوقَدَ مِن
دَمعٍ عَلى وَطَنٍ لي في سِوى وَطَني
And I found nothing more fiercely kindling to my vitals than
tears for a home of mine in a place other than my homeland.
صَيَّرتُ لي مِن تَباري عَبرَتي سَكَناً
مُذ صِرتُ فَرداً بِلا إِلفٍ وَلا سَكَنِ
From my tears’ racing I made myself a dwelling,
since I became solitary, with neither companion nor home.
مَن ذا يُعَظِّمُ مِقدارَ السُرورِ بِمَن
يَهوى إِذا لَم يُعَظِّم مَوضِعَ الحَزَنِ
Who can prize the measure of joy in the one
he loves, if he does not also prize the place of grief?
العيسُ وَالهَمُّ وَاللَيلُ التِمامُ مَعاً
ثَلاثَةٌ أَبَداً يُقرَنَّ في قَرَنِ
The white camels, care, and night in its fullness—all together:
three things forever coupled in a single tether.
أَقولُ لِلحُرَّةِ الوَجناءِ لا تَهِني
فَقَد خُلِقتِ لِغَيرِ الحَوضِ وَالعَطَنِ
I say to the noble, strong-cheeked she-camel: Do not weaken;
for you were created for more than the watering pool and camel pen.
ما يُحسِنُ الدَهرُ أَن يَسطو عَلى رَجُلٍ
إِذا تَعَلَّقَ حَبلاً مِن أَبي حَسَنِ
Fate cannot well assail a man
once he has grasped a rope of protection from Abu Hasan.
كَم حالَ فَيضُ نَداهُ يَومَ مُعضِلَةٍ
وَبَأسُهُ بَينَ مَن يَرجوهُ وَالمِحَنِ
How often, on a day of crisis, has the flood of his bounty
and his valor stood between one who hopes in him and afflictions!
كَأَنَّني يَومَ جَرَّدتُ الرَجاءَ لَهُ
عَضباً أَخَذتُ بِهِ سَيفاً عَلى الزَمَنِ
It was as though, the day I unsheathed my hope in him,
I had grasped a keen blade—a sword against Fate.
فَتىً تَريشُ جَناحَ الجودِ راحَتُهُ
حَتّى يُخالَ بِأَنَّ البُخلَ لَم يَكُنِ
A young lord whose palm feathers the wing of generosity,
until one imagines miserliness never existed.
وَتَشتَري نَفسُهُ المَعروفَ بِالثَمَنِ ال
غالي وَلَو أَنَّها كانَت مِنَ الثَمَنِ
His soul purchases beneficence at the price—the
dear price—even were that soul itself part of the price.
أَموالُهُ وَعِداهُ مِن مَواهِبِهِ
وَبَأسُهُ يَطلُبونَ الدَهرَ بِالإِحَنِ
His wealth and his foes spring from his gifts
and his valor; his foes pursue him forever in rancor.
يُقَشِّعُ الفِتَنَ المُسوَدَّ جانِبُها
وَمالُهُ مِن نَداهُ الدَهرَ في فِتَنِ
He scatters the dark-flanked trials,
and his wealth, born of his bounty, scatters Fate amid trials.
إِذا بَدا لَكَ مُرٌّ في كَتائِبِهِم
لَم يُحجَبِ المَوتُ عَن روحٍ وَلا بَدَنِ
Whenever some bitter peril appears before you among his battalions,
death is withheld from neither soul nor body.
كَم في العُلى وَالمَجدِ مِن بِدَعٍ
إِذا تُصُفِّحَت اِختيرَت عَلى السُنَنِ
How many unprecedented deeds there are in high rank and glory—
when closely examined, they are preferred to established ways.
قَومٌ إِذا هَطَلَت جوداً أَكُفُّهُمُ
عَلِمتَ أَنَّ النَدى مُذ كانَ في اليَمَنِ
A people whose palms, whenever they rain down generosity,
make you know that munificence, since it first existed, has dwelt in Yemen.
Sol 5.6