قِفا في مَغاني الدارِ نَسأَل طُلولَها
عَنِ الأُنَّسِ المَفقودِ كانوا حُلولَها
Stop, you two, among the dwelling's haunts; let us question its ruins
Stand awhile amidst the dwellings and ask the deserted abodes
about the lost companions who once dwelt there.
About the vanished intimacy that once filled their halls
مَتى أَجمَعَت سُعدى رَحيلاً فَإِنَّهُ
قَليلٌ لِسُعدى أَن تُخشى رَحيلَها
Whenever Su‘da resolves to depart, indeed it matters
When will my happiness gather its burden and depart?
little to Su‘da that her departure is feared.
For brief is the happiness that fears its own leaving
وَلَو آذَنَتنا بِالتَحَمُّلِ غُدوَةً
لَشَيَّعَ رَكبٌ بِالدُموعِ حُمولَها
Had she informed us one morning of her departure,
Had it warned us of bearing it at morn
a company of riders would have escorted her laden camels with tears.
A caravan with tears would have escorted its baggage
شَنِئتُ الصَبا أَن قيلَ وَجَّهنَ نَحوَها
وَعادَيتُ مِن بَينِ الرِياحِ قَبولَها
I hated the east wind because it was said the women had headed toward it,
I blamed youth that it was said to be heading towards it
and, among all the winds, made the easterly my enemy.
And became hostile to the zephyrs for blowing to it
وَلَو ساعَدَت سُعدى عَلى الحُبِّ ذا هَوى
أَبَت قَولَ واشيها وَعاصَت عَذولَها
Had Su‘da aided a passionate lover in love,
Even if my happiness had aided me in love of passion
she would have rejected her slanderer's words and defied her reproacher.
Its inclination refused saying and disobeyed its whims
إِذا أَرسَلَت طَيفاً يُذَكِّرُني الجَوى
رَدَدتُ إِلَيها بِالنَجاحِ رَسولَها
Whenever she sent a dream-phantom reminding me of burning heartache,
When it sent a specter to remind me of the pastures
I sent her messenger back to her with its mission fulfilled.
I sent back to it with success its messenger
أَجِدَّ الغَواني ما تَزالُ مُجِدَّةً
تَباريحَ شَجوٍ ما بَرَدتُ غَليلَها
Truly, fair women, still renewing
I experience passion whose embers are ever glowing
the pangs of grief whose burning thirst I have not cooled
Sorrow whose flames I never quenched
نَواظِرُ مُعتَلٍّ يُصَرِّفُ لَحظَها
وَإِن أَغفَلَ العُوّادُ سَهواً غَليلَها
are an ailing man's eyes, whose gaze he keeps turning,
The gaze of a sick person who turns his eyes
even if his visitors heedlessly neglect their burning thirst.
Though the visitor forgot in his oblivion his sickness
تَعَلَّق بِأَسبابِ الوَزيرِ وَلا تُبِل
أَمُبرَمَها عُلِّقتَهُ أَم سَحيلَها
Cling to the minister's cords, and do not mind
Do not blame the minister's power and do not be misled
whether you are attached to their tightly twisted strand or their single one.
By whether you hang on to him or his protection
مُضيءٌ وَأَبهى المَشرَفِيّاتِ أَن تَرى
مُؤَثِّرَها عُلِّقتَهُ أَم سَحيلَها
He is radiant; and the greatest splendor of Mashrafi swords is to see
Shining and the noblest of nobles that you see
their wound-dealing one—you were attached to it, or their single-stranded one [wording unclear].
His patron or his client to whom he clings
عَظيمُ كَراديسِ المَواكِبِ قادِرٌ
عَلى الدِرعِ أَن يَغتالَ عَنهُ فُضولَها
Mighty in the battalions of marching hosts, he is able
The leader of the army's cavalcade has power
to shear from himself the excess of his coat of mail.
To ambush it and take away its redundancies
إِذا قَلَّبَ الآراءَ أَلغى خَسيسَها
وَأَزلَفَ مُختاراً إِلَيهِ أَصيلَها
When he weighs opinions, he discards their basest
When he weighs up the views he annuls the inferior
and draws their soundest close to himself, choosing them.
And moves the excellent closer to him
إِذا أَوطَأَ الشُقرَ الدِماءَ مُشايِحاً
أَعادَ إِلى تِلكَ الشِياتِ حُجولَها
When, fighting fiercely, he makes the chestnut horses tread blood,
When he firmly places his feet in blood running
he returns their white fetlock markings to those coat colors.
He returns those fiends back to their dens
يُؤَمَّلُ جَدواهُ وَمَرجُوُّ نَيلِهِ
كَما غَنِيَت مِصرٌ تُؤَمِّلُ نيلَها
His bounty is hoped for, his giving awaited,
His efforts are hoped for and his attaining is wished
as Egypt has lived in hope of her Nile.
Like Egypt is hoped for to fill up with its Nile
لُهاً سَوَّدَتهُ دونَ قَومٍ وَلَم يَدَع
جَوادُ الرِجالِ أَن يَسودَ بِخَيلَها
Gifts made him master above his fellows; nor did
To him belongs a sword blackened for a people and he did not prevent
the generous man allow their miser to take the lead.
The generosity of men to blacken with their horses
تَراحُ الغَوادي أَن تُشاهِدَ عِندَهُ
شَبائِهَها مِن سيبِهِ وَشُكولَها
The morning rainclouds rejoice to see beside him
The meadows desire to witness in his presence
their likenesses and counterparts in his flowing bounty.
Their cubs from his sword and his flocks
تَقَرّى جُنوبَ الأَرضِ جوداً وَنائِلاً
وَطَبَّقَ عَدلاً حُزنَها وَسُهولَها
He ranged through the earth's regions with generosity and gifts,
He surveyed the lands of south with munificence and gaining
and covered its rugged ground and plains with justice.
And clasped in his sorrow their mountains and valleys
وَلَو سيقَتِ الدُنيا إِلَيهِ بِأَسرِها
وَلَم يَتلُها حَمدٌ لَعافَ قَبولَها
Were the whole world brought to him,
Even if the whole world were driven to him
and no praise followed it, he would disdain to accept it.
No praise would touch him but he would spurn it
بَقيتَ فَكائِن جِئتَ بادِئَ نِعمَةٍ
يَفِلُّ السَحابُ أَن يَجيءَ رَسيلَها
May you endure! How many a favor have you initiated
You remain forever the same since you began with favor
that the clouds are too feeble to come as its equal!
The clouds disdain to come with their showers
وَأَعطَيتَ طُلّابَ النَوافِلِ سُؤلَهُم
فَمِن أَينَ لا تُعطي القَصائِدَ سولَها
You have granted the seekers of gifts their wish;
You gave the worshippers of extra deeds their request
how, then, can you deny the poems their wish?
Then why do not You give to poems their wish?
وَوَلَّيتَ عُمّالَ السَوادِ فَوَلِّني
قَرارَةَ بَيتي مُدَّةً لَن أُطيلَها
You have appointed the administrators of al-Sawad; so appoint me
You appointed workers over the lands so appoint me
to the quiet of my home for a term I shall not prolong.
The steadiness of my house for a time I will not prolong
قَصَرتُ مَسافاتِ المَدائِحِ عامِداً
وَحَقُّكَ أَن تُعطى بِجَدواكَ طولَها
I deliberately shortened the spans of praise,
I intended to shorten the distance of praises
though your bounty entitles you to receive their full length.
While Your right is to be given for Your generosity their fullness
حَبَستُ القَوافي عَنكَ وَهيَ نَوازِعٌ
تُجاذِبُ مِن شَوقٍ إِلَيكَ كُبولَها
I held the rhymes back from you, though they strain forward,
I withheld the rhymes from You though they vie
tugging at their fetters out of longing for you.
To reach You pulling their reins out of yearning
فَها أَنا إِن تُطلِق سَبيلي مُيَسَّراً
إِلى بَلَدي أُطلِق لَدَيكَ سَبيلَها
So here I am: if you grant me an easy passage
To my country I will release to You their release
to my homeland, I shall give them free passage before you.
And none thanked the benefactor as I thank
وَما شَكَرَ النَعماءَ مِثلِيَ شاكِرٌ
إِذا قائِلُ الأَقوامِ جازى فَعولَها
No grateful person has thanked blessings as I have,
When the speaker of people rewards their actions
when a people's poet repays their bestower.
How can You see me act in its plenty
فَكَيفَ تَراني صانِعاً في كَثيرِها
إِذا كُنتُ أُجزى بِالكَثيرِ قَليلَها
How, then, do you think I would act for abundant favors,
When I am rewarded for plenty with little
when I repay even their least with so much?
Sol 6.1