حذرت الحب لو أغنى حذاري — Albohtry

I was wary of love—if only my caution had availed;

And sought escape—if only my flight had saved me.

And time's vicissitudes did not cease until

Asma became far off, difficult to visit.

I am granted no rest, though she has grown distant,

And this love keeps me from my repose.

The rose grows jealous when she unveils, and there appears

A melancholy change in the pomegranate blossom.

Love for you kept the mote stubbornly in my eye,

And let gray hair play in my sideburns,

Because of the redness in your cheeks

And the striking black and white of your eyes.

Though I parted from you heedlessly, I am

Most reproachful toward the day of parting.

And how many nights I left behind with you—

Filled with love, and days all too short!

Am I, then, trading a life for a life

Gone by, or exchanging one home for another?

O you who unjustly chide me over Asma,

And for shedding copious tears for her:

Whenever you return to blaming me for her,

Then may you sleep beside the Borrowed One—

One who shits more at dusk than a bustard,

And farts more at dawn than a donkey.

When his loved ones find themselves at dusk,

They make ready and brace themselves for ruin.

When he drops down to his bed at night,

Then oh, the disgrace of the saddlecloths and concubines!

And woe to the bedfellow, now smeared

With two mixtures—solid and flowing together.

And royal robes were never meant to be stuffed

With the disgrace of one pissing and shitting in them.

If only we could, we would ransom

The lengths of figured cloth from him, even at the price of ruin.

He drains the wine on the day of boon companions,

And consumes the provisions on the day of the hangover.

A boor, he gulps and exhausts the tawny wine,

Not long removed from molasses passed around.

We sent him back, in his entirety, abased,

After he had engulfed mankind in devastation.

And he was more harmful among them than Suhayl

When it brought pestilence, and more ill-omened than Qudar.

People destroyed one another, till I said they had returned

To the war of al-Basus or al-Fijar.

But for God and al-Mu'tazz, we would have perished,

As Jadir of Wabar perished.

He rescued a bewildered band of us

On a crumbling brink of time's calamities.

He saved them with lavish bounty from himself,

And all-embracing pardon after gaining power.

A guiding imam, endeared by his deliberation,

And feared in his calm and dignity.

When the delegations look at him, they say:

Is he the night's full moon, or the day's sun?

His are both excellences: a father's and a mother's,

And goodness of character in noble lineage.

We brandished him against the nights' calamities,

And found Dhu al-Fiqar's striking edges worthy of praise.

Commander of the Faithful, your bounty is a sea:

Whenever it overflows, it puts the seas to shame.

Indeed, your hand reaches farther in kindness,

And you give more freely of silver and gold.

And you are more faithful to the bond when we appeal

To you through it, and more protective of what must be defended.

If the ransom is completed as we hoped,

Through your blessing, after delay and waiting,

Then among your purest virtues is to ransom

Those among them back to their families and homes.

You spent wealth on them so they might return

To their own families and their homes.

Oh, what a deed, whose fame is carried

To the people of al-Muhassab and al-Jimar!

You graced Wasif with its fair renown,

And through its nobility he won the honor of glory.

You honored his trustworthiness and loyal counsel,

And you are well guided in your choice.

And through loyalty to you he emerged honored,

And risked himself when the stakes were perilous.

And he preferred you, preferring no one above you,

Though the Loaned One's world lay open to him.

Whenever they drew him near and welcomed him,

He went to extremes in staying far from them and shunning them:

Out of shame lest he be said to have committed treachery,

And from nobility lest he take a place of disgrace,

And with the ambition of one who holds his life cheap, he rises

Through his ambition to lofty ranks.

I thanked you in rhymes on behalf of my intercessor

With you, and my closest companion and my neighbor,

And your client, whom you have always favored

And whose unseen conduct you commend in choosing.

So may we never lack your enduring presence in joy

And glory, as long as a traveler journeys through darkness.