بِتُّ أُبدي وَجداً وَأَكتُمُ وَجدا
لِخَيالٍ مِنَ البَخيلَةِ يُهدى
I spent the night revealing longing and concealing longing,
I suffer endless passion though I disguise my torment,
for an apparition sent as a gift from the withholding beloved.
for the apparition of a beauty parsimonious with her gifts.
أَقِسمُ الظَنَّ فيهِ أَنّى تَخَطّى ال
رَملَ مِن عالِجِ وَأَنّى تَهَدّى
I weigh my guesses about it: how did it cross the
I swear my doubts that she has scaled the ridges
sands of ʿĀlij, and how did it find its way?
of the dunes or traversed the desert wastes on a night journey.
خَطَأٌ ما أَزارَناهُ طُروقاً
أَم تَوَخيهِ لِلزِيارَةِ عَمدا
Was it chance that brought it to visit us by night,
Was it an error that had clothed her in the garments
or its deliberate intent to make the visit?
of intentional visiting or a plan to fulfill her promise?
جاءَ يَسري فَأَشرَقَت أَرضُ نَجدٍ
لِسُراهُ وَواصَلَ الغَيثُ نَجدا
It came traveling by night, and the land of Najd shone
She came easy through the night and the land of Najd shone bright
at its night journey, and rain kept visiting Najd.
at her advent as copious rains irrigated Najd.
لا تَخيبُ البِلادُ تَخطِرُ فيها
رُسُلُ الشَوقِ مِن خَيالاتِ سُعدى
No land goes wanting where there wander
The regions are not doomed where her likenesses—
longing's messengers, the apparitions of Suʿdā.
missives of longing from the beloved of Saʿdāʾ—alight.
وَعَدَتنا فَما وَفَت بِوِصالٍ
وَوَفَت حينَ أَوعَدَت أَن تُصَدّا
She promised us, but fulfilled no promise of union,
She made us promises she did not keep with union,
yet kept her word when she threatened rejection.
but kept when she swore she would fulfill them.
قَرَّبَ الطَيفُ مُنتَواها فَأَصبَح
تُ حَديثاً بِنافِضِ العَهدِ عَهدا
The apparition brought her dwelling near; by morning I was
Her specter brought her dwelling near so that
newly acquainted with the breaker of pledges.
by the shaking hands of the covenant renewal was made.
سَكَنٌ لي إِذا دَنا اِزدادَ لِيّا
ناً وَبُعداً فَاِزدَدتُ بِالقُربِ بُعدا
My solace, whenever drawing near, grew more evasive
When she drew close it meant tranquility for me, but
and distant; so with nearness I grew farther away.
as she retreated, approaching thus increased my distance.
سَأَلَتني عَنِ الشَبابِ كَأَن لَم
تَدرِ أَنَّ الشَبابَ قَرضٌ يُؤَدّى
She asked me about youth, as though she did not
She asked me of youth as if she was unaware
know that youth is a loan to be repaid.
that youth is a loan soon to be reclaimed.
لَم يَبِن عَن زَهادَةٍ مِنهُ لَكِن
آنَ لِلمُستَعارِ أَن يُستَرَدّا
It did not depart out of disdain on its part; rather,
No austerity of his indicated it, yet now was the time
it was time for what was borrowed to be reclaimed.
for the borrower to restore what he had borrowed.
ما ذَخَرتُ الدُموعَ أَبكيهِ إِلّا
لِفِراقِ مُواشِكٍ إِن أَجَدّا
I saved my tears to mourn it only
I hoarded tears only to weep the imminent
for an imminent parting, should it come in earnest.
parting of one soon to depart, if he should depart.
إِنَّني ما حَلَلتُ في الأَرضِ إِلّا
كُنتُ في أَهلِها المُجَلَّ المُفَدّى
Indeed, wherever on earth I settled,
On earth I have not settled in a land except
I was revered among its people, one they would ransom.
that I was the stranger there, the ransomed one.
وَإِذا القَومُ لَم يَراحوا لِقُربي
كانَ لي عَنهُمُ مَراحٌ وَمَغدى
And if the people felt no joy at my nearness,
When people felt no intimacy toward me,
I had ways away from them, evening and morning.
I found distance from them and a resting place.
مَن مُعيني مِنكُم عَلى اِبنِ فُراتٍ
وَمُجازاةِ ما أَنالُ وَأُسدى
Who among you will help me contend with Ibn Furāt,
Who will help me against the son of the Euphrates
and repay what I receive and am granted?
and reward me for my injuries and help given?
يَعجَزُ الشِعرُ عَن مُجازاةِ خِرقٍ
أَريَحِيٍّ إِذا اِجتَدَيناهُ أَجدى
Poetry cannot repay a magnanimous man,
Poetry falls short of repaying the rending by
open-handed: whenever we seek his bounty, he gives.
an Urayḥite when we vie with him in generosity.
كُلَّما قُلتُ أَعتَقَ المَدحُ رِقّي
رَجَعَتني لَهُ أَياديهِ عَبدا
Whenever I say, “Praise has freed me from bondage,”
Whenever I say: “Praise has freed my neck”
his favors return me to him as a slave.
his hands return me to him as a slave.
إِن لَقينا بِهِ الخُطوبَ مُشيحاً
كانَ خَصماً عَلى الخُطوبِ أَلَدّا
If we face calamities with him ready for combat,
If in him we meet disasters looming,
he is a relentless adversary to calamities.
he opposes disasters most resolutely.
لَو تَعاطى السَحابُ إِدراكَ ما تَب
لُغُ آلاؤُهُ لَقُلنا تَعَدّى
If the clouds attempted to attain what
If the clouds attempted to attain his perfections
his favors reach, we would say, “They have overreached.”
in full, we would say: “They have exceeded due bounds.”
كَرَمٌ أَعجَلَ المَواعيدَ حَتّى
رَدَّ فينا نَسيئَةَ النيلِ نَقدا
A generosity that outran the promised times, until
Bounty whose trysts were swift until
it turned deferred bounty into ready cash for us.
he returned the delay of the Nile flood in ready cash.
يَستَضيمُ الأَنواءَ جودُ كَريمٍ
راحَتاهُ أَطَلُّ مِنهُ وَأَندى
A generous man's bounty puts the rain-bearing stars to shame;
The breadth of a generous man’s munificence
his two palms shed more drizzle and dew than their rain.
makes the gusts of storms seem niggardly.
لا تَلُمهُ عَلى الفَعالِ إِنِ اِستَأ
ثَرَ شُحّاً بِسُروِهِ وَاِستَبَدّا
Do not blame him for his deeds if he reserves
Do not blame him for prioritizing if he preferred
his nobility jealously for himself and stands alone.
to be stingy with his cypresses and domineering.
هِمَّةٌ أَنزَلَتهُ مَنزِلَةَ الموفي
عَلى النَجمِ مَأثُراتٍ وَمَجدا
High ambition placed him in the station of one towering
An resolve brought him to the rank of the trustworthy
above the stars in noble deeds and glory.
star in thrilling glories and honor.
لَيسَ بِالمُصرِمِ المُقِلِّ الَّذي يو
جَدُ رَبُّ اِثنَتَي مَساعٍ وَإِحدى
No destitute pauper is the man who is found
He is no weak, petty man who finds
possessed of two noble endeavors and a third.
sufficiency in two goat-hair tents and one more.
وَشَريفَ الأَقوامِ إِن عُدَّ فَضلٌ
كَثُرَت مَأثُراتُهُ أَن تُعَدّا
And the nobleman among peoples, if merit is reckoned,
The nobility of folk, if you count their superiority,
has noble deeds too numerous to count.
is that their glorious deeds be beyond count.
كَم لَهُ مِن أَبٍ يَتيهُ بِأَثوا
بِ المَعالي مُؤَزَّراً أَو مُرَدّى
How many forefathers he has, strutting in the garments
How many a father does he have robed
of high honor, girded in them or cloaked!
in the mantles of grandeur or clad in mail!
نَحَلَتهُ العِراقُ ما كانَ نُحلاً
مِن عُمانٍ وَمُلكِها لِلجُلَندى
Iraq bestowed on him what had been a gift
‘Irāq endowed him gifts that were no endowment
from Oman and its kingdom to al-Julandā.
from ‘Umān or its rule for the Jalandah.
Sol 6.1