بِعَينَيكِ إِعوالي وَطولُ شَهيقي
وَإِخفاقُ عَيني مِن كَرىً وَخُفوقي
Before your eyes are my wailing and my long-drawn sobs,
With your eyes my ruin and my sigh's length,
And my eye's loss of sleep, and my heart's fluttering.
And my eyes' defeat by infatuation and passion.
عَلى أَنَّ تَهويماً إِذا عارَضَ اِطَّبى
سُرى طارِقٍ في غَيرِ وَقتِ طُروقِ
Yet a passing doze, when it comes, draws to me
Yet fanciful thoughts, if they appear,
A visitor traveling by night, outside the hour for visits.
Will pass like a night visitor at the wrong time.
سَرى جائِباً لِلخَرقِ يَخشى وَلَم يَكُن
مَلِيّاً بِإِسراءٍ وَجَوبِ خُروقِ
He traveled by night, crossing the wilderness in fear, though he was not
They came bent on wrongdoing though fearing not
Capable of night journeys and crossing vast deserts.
Being caught red-handed in the act.
فَباتَ يُعاطيني عَلى رِقبَةِ العِدى
وَيَمزُجُ ريقاً مِن جَناهُ بِريقي
So he spent the night exchanging kisses with me under our foes' watch,
So they set upon me at the neck of enmity
And mingling the saliva from his fruit with mine.
Mixing my spittle with their spittle.
وَبِتُّ أَهابُ المِسكَ مِنهُ وَأَتَّقي
رُداعِ عَبيرٍ صائِكٍ وَخَلوقِ
And I spent the night fearing his musk and guarding against
I felt the perfume’s intense heat from them
The stains of clinging perfume and saffron fragrance.
And the burning of a penetrating fragrance.
أَرى كَذِبَ الأَحلامِ صِدقاً وَكَم صَغَت
إِلى خَبَرٍ أُذنايَ غَيرِ صَدوقِ
I take dreams' falsehood for truth; how often have
I see dreams’ lies as truth, and how often
My ears inclined toward an untruthful report!
Have my ears listened to unreliable news.
وَما كانَ مِن حَقٍّ وَبُطلٍ فَقَد شَفى
حَرارَةَ مَتبولٍ وَخَبلَ مَشوقِ
And whatever there was of truth and falsehood has soothed
Whatever was right or wrong, it has healed
A love-stricken man's fever and a yearning lover's madness.
The fever of a urinator and the yearning of an enamored one.
سَلا نُوَبَ الأَيّامِ ما بالَها أَبَت
تَعَمَّدُ إِلّا جَفوَتي وَعُقوقي
Ask, you two, the turns of the days why they refuse
Why have the days’ turns insisted
To aim at anything but harshness and disloyalty toward me,
On only my aloofness and filial disobedience?
مُزَيِّلَةٌ شَعبي وَشَعبَ أَصادِقي
وَداخِلَةٌ بَيني وَبَينَ شَقيقي
Dividing my circle from the circle of my friends,
Separating me from my people and my friends
And intruding between me and my full brother.
And coming between me and my intimate companion.
أَرانا عُناةً في يَدِ الدَهرِ نَشتَكي
تَأَكُّدَ عَقدٍ مِن عُراهُ وَثيقِ
I see us captive in Time's hand, complaining of
We see ourselves obstinately in the days’ hands complaining
The tightening of a firm knot among its bonds.
Of a strengthened knot in its bareness and tightness.
وَلَيسَ طَليقُ اليَومِ مَن رَجَعَت لَهُ
صُروفُ اللَيالي في غَدٍ بِطَليقِ
Nor will today's free man, when there return upon him
Today's free man is not he for whom
The turns of the nights tomorrow, remain free.
The nights’ turns will be free tomorrow.
تَفاوَتَتِ الأَفسامُ فينا فَأَفطَرَت
بِظَمآنَ بادٍ لَوحُهُ وَغَريقِ
Our allotted shares differed, then broke their fast
Misfortunes have differed for us, so they broke
On a thirsty man, visibly parched, and on one drowned.
The fast with the thirst of one shipwrecked and drowned.
وَكُنتُ إِذا ما الحادِثاتُ أَصَبنَني
بِهائِضَةٍ صُمَّ العِظامِ دَقوقِ
And whenever calamities struck me
Whenever disasters struck me
With a shattering blow that crushed the solid bones,
With loud unbroken bones and piercing pangs,
شَمَختُ فَلَم أُبدِ اِختِناءً لِشامِتٍ
وَلَم أَبتَعِث شَكوى لِغَيرِ شَفيقِ
I stood proud and showed no submission to a gloater,
I held myself tall, showed no fawning to any gloating enemy,
And sent no complaint to anyone without compassion.
Nor sent any complaint to other than a sympathetic friend.
أَرى كُلَّ مُؤذٍ عاجِزاً عَن أَذِيَّتي
إِذا هُوَ لَم يُنصَر عَلَيَّ بِموقِ
I deem every tormentor incapable of harming me
I see every hurter powerless to hurt me
If folly gives him no help against me.
If he is not supported against me by appointment.
وَلَولا غُلُوُّ الجَهلِ ما عُدَّ هَيِّناً
تَكَبُّدُ سِخطي وَاِصطِلاءُ حَريقي
Were it not for excessive ignorance, it would not seem easy
Were it not for ignorance’ extreme, it would not be thought slight
To bear my wrath and be scorched by my fire.
To endure my disfavor and the burning of my pyre.
تَشِفُّ أَقاصي الأَمرِ في بَدَآتِهِ
لِعَيني وَسِترُ الغَيبِ غَيرُ رَقيقِ
A matter's farthest outcomes show through its beginnings
The furthest consequences show themselves to me in their beginnings,
To my eye, though the veil of the unseen is not thin.
For my eye, and the unseen's veil is not thin.
وَمازِلتُ أَخشى مُذ تَبَدّى اِبنُ يَلبَخٍ
عَلى سَعَةٍ مِن أَن تُدالَ بِضيقِ
And ever since Ibn Yalbakh appeared, I have kept fearing
I still fear, since the son of Bilbak appeared,
For my ease, lest it be replaced by hardship.
Lest breadth become straitened.
وَما كانَ مالي غَيرَ حَسوَةِ طائِرٍ
أُضيفَ إِلى بَحرٍ بِمِصرَ عَميقِ
And my wealth was no more than a bird's sip,
I had no property but a bird’s daring,
Added to a deep sea in Egypt.
Added to the deep sea by Egypt.
لَئِن فاتَ وَفري في اللِئامِ فَلَم أُطِق
تَلافِيَهُ مُستَرجِعاً بِلُحوقِ
Though my wealth slipped away among the base, and I could not
If I missed my goal among the scoundrels, I could not
Make good its loss, seeking to reclaim it by pursuit,
Retrieve it by catching up.
فَلَستُ أَلومُ النَفسَ في فَوتِ بِغيَةٍ
إِذا لَم يَكُن عَصري لَها بِخَليقِ
So I do not blame myself for a desired goal left unfulfilled
So I do not blame the soul for losing an object
When my age is not suited to it.
Of desire, if my time was not suited to it.
أَما كانَ بَذلُ العَدلِ أَيسَرَ واجِبي
عَلى المُتَعَدّي أَو أَقَلَّ حُقوقي
Was granting justice not the easiest duty owed me
Was it not easier to fulfill the duty of justice
By the aggressor, or the least of my rights?
For the aggressor, or lighten my rights?
إِذا ما طَلَبنا خُطَّةَ النِصفِ رَدَّها
عَلَينا اِبنُ خُبثٍ فاحِشٍ وَفُسوقِ
Whenever we sought a course of fairness, he thrust it back
When we sought the plan of halves, the son of gross, manifest immorality and corruption
Upon us—a son of outrageous wickedness and debauchery,
Rejected it for us.
وَعاهِرَةٍ أَدَّت إِلى شَرِّ عاهِرٍ
مَشابِهَ كَلبٍ في الكِلابِ عَريقِ
And of a whore who passed to the vilest fornicator
And of a whore who led to the evil of a fellow whore
The features of a dog, purebred among dogs.
Resembling a dog among dogs of pure breed.
لِيَلبَخَ أَو طولونَ يُعزى فَقَد حَوَت
عَلى اِثنَينِ زَوجٍ مِنهُما وَعَشيقِ
He is ascribed to Yalbakh or Tulun, for she had
Whether it is Bilbak or Tulun, it is excused, for it comprised
Two men—one a husband, the other a lover.
Both of them as man and lover.
فَأَيَّهُما أَدّاةُ فَهوَ مُؤَخَّرٌ
إِلى ضَعَةٍ مِن شَخصِهِ وَلُصوقِ
Whichever of the two begot him, he is relegated
So whichever of them is the tool, he is relegated
To baseness of person and spurious kinship.
To weakness of person and theft.
فَقُل لِأَبي إِسحاقَ إِمّا عَلِقتَهُ
وَأَينَ بِناءٍ في العِراقِ سَحيقِ
Then tell Abu Ishaq, if you encounter him—
Say to Abu Ishaq, where did you hang him
But where, with him far away in distant Iraq?—
And where is a building in Iraq solid?
لَقَد جَلَّ ما بَيني وَبَينَكَ إِنَّنا
عَلى سَنَنٍ مِن حَربِهِ وَطَريقِ
Great indeed is what binds me to you; we are
Much distance lies between me and you, we are indeed
On a common course and path in war against him.
On divergent paths of his war and road.
وَإِنَّ أَحَقَّ الناسَ مِنّي بِخُلَّةٍ
عَدُوُّ عَدُوّي أَو صَديقُ صَديقي
And the person most deserving of my friendship is
And the most deserving people of my disdain
My enemy's enemy, or my friend's friend.
Are my enemy’s enemy or my friend’s friend.
Sol 6.1