ماجَوُّ خَبتٍ وَإِن نَأَت ظُعُنُه
تارِكُنا أَو تَشوقُنا دِمَنُه
The valley of Khabt, though its caravans have gone far,
The ardour of love, though its firebrands are quenched,
will not leave us without its campsite ruins stirring our longing.
If we abandon it or yearn for it,
يَعودُ لِلصَبِّ بَرحُ لَوعَتِهِ
إِن عاوَدَ الصَبَّ في دَدٍ دَدَنُه
The torment of burning yearning returns to the lover
Returns in passion to rend its vitals,
if his dalliance revisits him amid diversion.
If it rends passion in constant rending.
إِذا إِستَجَدَّت داراً تَعَلَّقَها
بِالإِلفِ حَتّى كَأَنّها وَطَنُه
Whenever a new dwelling is taken, he grows attached to it
When it settles in an abode, clinging
through familiarity, until it seems his homeland.
To intimacy, till it seems its own country,
تَاللَهِ ما إِن يَني يُدَلِّهُنا
سُرورُ هَذا الغَرامِ أَو حَزَنُه
By God, it never ceases to bewilder us—
By God, neither its joy nor its sorrow
the joy of this passion or its sorrow.
Consoles us for this love-sick enslavement.
مَتى عَدِمتَ الجَوى أَعارَكَهُ
مُعيدُ لَحظِ مَكروةٍ فِتَنُه
Whenever you lack burning lovesickness, it is lent to you
When love is lost, your glance restores
by the charms of one who renews Makruwah's gaze.
The image of the beloved to unsettle you.
يَفَتَتُّ فيهِ الهَوى إِذا ثَقُلَت
مَأكِمَتاهُ وَخَفَّ مُحتَضَنُه
Love tears one apart over him, when
In it desire melts away, if the loved one's
his two buttocks are heavy and his waist slender.
Embrace grows heavy and her bosom's shelter fails.
أَبقِ عَلى القَلبِ مِن تَتَيُّمِهِ
وَأَيُّ مُستَغلِقيهِ يَرتَهِنُه
Spare the heart its bondage to love;
Leave in the heart some token of its orphanhood,
and which of its captors will hold it in pledge?
Though every close-shuttered one denies it lodging.
وَرُبَّ صابي نَفسٍ إِلى سَكَنٍ
يَسومُ إِتواءَ نَفسِهِ سَكَنُه
Many a man whose soul yearns toward a beloved—
How often a wearied spirit peaceful rest
his beloved demands his soul's destruction.
Renounces, choosing to endure its own unrest.
يَغتَرُّ بِالدَهرِ ذو الإِضاعَةِ وَال
دَهرُ عَدُوٌّ مَطلولَةٌ إِحَنُه
The heedless man is deceived by Time, and
The wretch is duped by fortune though
Time is an enemy whose malice goes unpunished.
Fortune's a foe, perfidious her intimacy.
في زَمَنٍ رَنَّقَت حَوادِثُهُ
أَشبَهُ شَيءٍ بِحادِثٍ زَمَنُه
In an age whose events have grown murky,
In a time when its calamities cause necks to crack,
the age itself most resembles a calamity.
A thing most like it is its time.
رَضيتُ مِن سَيِّءِ الزَمانِ بِأَن
يَعشُرُهُ غَيرَ زائِدٍ حَسَنُه
I am content with the evil of Time if
Of evil times I consent to accept
its good amounts to one-tenth of that evil, no more.
Only the lesser part of their goodness.
يُحبى الأَتاوي مِن شُكرِنا مَلِكٌ
مَعقودَةٌ في رِقابِنا مِنَنُه
A king receives the tribute of our thanks,
Gifts are bestowed on governors from our gratitude,
his favors bound about our necks.
A monarch whose favors encircle our necks.
تَصنَعُ صَنعاؤُهُ لَهُ شَرَفاً
لَم تَتَأَخَّر عَن مِثلِهِ عَدَنُه
His Sana'a creates glory for him;
His workmen fashion for him a nobility
his Aden has not lagged behind in matching it.
The like of which Adan's once glorious dwellings never matched.
عَلَت يَدٌ لِلعَلاءِ مُفضِلَةٌ
كَما تَعَلّى مِن عارِضٍ مُزُنُه
A bountiful hand has risen toward glory,
A hand is raised up high for eminence
as a cloudbank's rainclouds rise aloft.
As loftily raised as the bough of a waving pine.
إِن هَزَّهُ المادِحونَ سامَحَهُم
فَرعٌ مِنَ النَبعِ طَيّعٌ فَنَنُه
If praise-poets stir him, he gives freely to them—
If panegyrists shake it, it freely pardons them,
a shoot of the nabʿ tree, with a pliant bough.
A rivulet from the spring, compliant its branches.
تَكرُمُ أَذواؤُهُ إِذا جَعَلَت
تَحظُرُها قُصرَةً لَهُ يَمَنُه
His Dhu-lords gain honor when
Its injuries, when you appoint them,
his Yemen reserves them for him alone.
Are confined by a barrier kept from its right hand.
وِزارَتاهُ فيما نُشاهِدُ أَو
نُواسُهُ في القَديمِ أَو يَزَنُه
His two vizierates, as we witness them, or
Whether we regard his present deputies
his Nuwas of old, or his Yazan.
Or judge by those of old, his good judgment,
ساقَ أُمورَ السُلطانِ يُسلِكُها
نَهجاً مِنَ الرُشدِ واضِحاً سَنَنُه
He guides the sovereign's affairs, leading them
Who managed the Sultan's affairs, guiding them
along a path of sound judgment whose course is clear.
In the path of probity, clear his precedents.
يَغبى رِجالٌ عَنها وَقَد ضُرِبَت
مُحيطَةً مِن وَرائِها فِطَنُه
Men fail to grasp them, though already arrayed
Some men are oblivious of them, yet there is struck around them
all around them from behind are his keen perceptions.
A circle of intelligence, behind them his insight.
إِن شَذَّ عَن عَينَيهِ مُغَيَّبُها
كانَت وَفاءً مِن عَينِهِ أُذُنُه
If their hidden side escapes his eyes,
If, concealed from his eyes, they are absent from him,
his ear fully compensates for his eye.
His hearing attentive to him is their fidelity.
إِن خاتَلَتهُ الرِجالُ في خَمرٍ
فَسِرُّهُ المُستَشارُ لا عَلَنُه
If men try to deceive him under cover,
If the great ensnare him over wine,
his inner self is consulted, not his outward show.
His intimate counsellor is his secret, not his declaration.
وَالسَيفُ في نَصلِهِ خُشونَتُهُ
لَيسَ الَّتي يَستَعيرُها سَفَنُه
A sword's harshness lies in its blade,
The sword in its scabbard retains its sharpness;
not the borrowed roughness of its shagreen covering.
It does not borrow what arms his ships.
نَذُمُّ عَجزَ العُقولِ عَن خَطَرٍ
نَكيلُهُ بِالعُقولِ أَو نَزِنُه
We blame minds for failing to grasp a greatness
We blame the impotence of minds to gauge a grave concern,
which we measure with minds, or weigh.
Weighing it with minds or evaluating its consequence.
يَشرَهُ حِرصاً حَتّى يَثوبَ لَهُ
ذُخرٌ مِنَ المُعلَياتِ يَختَزِنُه
He hungers with eager zeal until he gains
He craves it avidly until stores from the heights amass,
a treasure of ennobling deeds to store away.
Hoarded riches he treasures and garners.
لا يَتَأَنّى العَدُوَّ يُمهِلُهُ
وَلا يُبادي الصَديقَ يَمتَهِنُه
He does not dally with a foe, granting him respite,
No enemy does he indulge with delays;
nor confront a friend to humiliate him.
No friend does he drive away by suspicion.
أُذكُر هَداكَ الإِلَهُ أَغثَرَ لا
يُغسَلُ بِالبَحرِ طامِياً دَرَنُه
Recall—may God guide you—a filthy oaf whose
I remember, O God, that guidance which cannot
grime cannot be washed away by the swelling sea.
Be washed away though plunged in a swollen sea.
إِبنَ وَضيعٍ مِنَ اليَهودِ إِذا إِس
تُنطِقَ لَم يَرتَفِع بِهِ لَسَنُه
the son of a baseborn Jew, who, when asked
A son of some wretched Jew, when allowed to speak,
to speak, gains no stature through his eloquence.
Nothing of worth comes from his tongue.
تَرَبَّبَتهُ قُرى السَوادِ وَلَم
تُبنَ عَلى أُمَّهاتِهِ مُدُنُه
The villages of the Sawad reared him, and
He was nurtured in the villages of the Sa'd; no cities arose
its cities were not built upon his mothers.
On their mother-sites or were founded by his hands.
أَلكَنُ مِن عُجمَةِ البِلادِ إِذا
أَرادَ مِنهُ يُقالُ قالَ مِنه
His tongue falters from the land's foreign speech: when
Secluded in the boorishness of provinces, if
he means to say 'minhu,' he says 'minh.'
Speech is wanted from him, only babbled nonsense emerges.
لَم يَضرِبِ الهَرمُزانُ فيهِ وَلا
مارَمَّةٌ خالُهُ وَلا خَتَنُه
Al-Hurmuzan contributed nothing to his lineage; nor
Neither Maramma his uncle's clan nor the Harmuzan struck roots in him
is Marammah his maternal uncle or his in-law.
Or Khattab his paternal uncle or Circumcision.
أَدّى إِلَينا خِنزيرَ مَزبَلَةٍ
فاحِشَةً إِن عَدَدتُها أُبَنُه
They have brought us a pig from a dungheap—
He conveyed to us a repulsive pig from the garbage heap;
his vices, outrageous if I were to count them.
It would shame his idols if I recounted its abominations.
إِذا اِلتَقى وَالشُروطُ أَقبَلَ قُب
لَ الأَرضِ حَتّى يُصيبُها ذَقَنُه
When he and the contracts meet, he turns toward
When the rules of decency prevailed, he proceeded
the ground, till his chin touches it.
Prone to the ground until his beard swept the soil.
أُنظُر إِلى الأَصهَبِ العَنَطنَطِ مِن
مُعَلِّليهِ فَعِندَهُ شَجَنُه
Look at the red-haired, lanky one among
I look to that misshaped, humpbacked invalid
his comforters: with him lies his sorrow.
Among his supporters, and in him find my lament.
أَفرَطَ إِدلالُهُ وَطالَ عَلى
سُخطِكَ مِن أَفنِ رايِهِ وَسَنُه
His presumption is excessive, and prolonged, despite
His coddling went too far, and against your wrath
your anger, is his stupor, born of feeble judgment.
His banner's blazon and his age overreached.
وَكَم جَريءٍ عَلى عِنادِكَ قَد
عادَ هُزالاً في مَتنِهِ سِمَنُه
And many a man bold in defying you has
How oft the arrogant provoked your enmity
seen the fat upon his back turn to emaciation.
Then wasted away in their saddles, their fat melting!
وَغدٌ يَعُدُّ الإِفضالَ يُمنَحَهُ
حِقداً عَلى المُفضِلينَ يَضطَغِنُه
A wretch who reckons the bounty granted him
Tomorrow he counts favors bestowed and is vexed by them,
a grudge against his benefactors, which he nurses.
He seethes with spite against the generous.
لَم يَعبَ لِلنِعمَةِ الجَزاءَ لَم
يَقدُر جَليلَ المَعروفِ ما ثَمَنُه
He has not rendered full recompense for favor, nor
He who shows no gratitude for a boon
judged what great kindness is worth.
Cannot value glorious favors or know their price.
يَسرِقُكَ الشُكرَ ثُمَّ أَنتَ عَلى
سَيحِ دُجَيلٍ وَالسوسِ تَأتَمِنُه
He robs you of thanks, yet you entrust him with
He steals away your thanks, while you trust that long-tailed
the running waters of Dujayl and al-Sus.
Vile one, the mouse, and rely on him.
وَلَم أَجِد قَبلَهُ قَصيرَ يَدٍ
فازَ بِمالِ الأَهوازِ يَحتَجِنُه
Never before him have I found a tightfisted man
Before him I found no one so deficient in merit
who won the wealth of al-Ahwaz and hoarded it.
Who gained possession of Ahvaz' wealth and clutched it.
ما رابَ رَأيٌ إِلّا جَعَلتُكَ ميزا
ناً عَلَيهِ في الحَزمِ أَمتَحِنُه
No opinion aroused doubt but I made you a balance
No opinion differs but I have made you the measure,
by which I test it for sound judgment.
Testing it against your wisdom and discretion.
وَما إِختِياري جاراً سِواكَ سِوى ال
عَجزِ أَجَنَّت رَوِيَّتي جُنَنُه
And my choice of a protector other than you is nothing but
None but you is my choice of an intimate, apart from
helplessness, whose coverings have hidden my deliberation.
Incapacity whose madness my reason has harvested.
إِنَّ المُوَلّى عَنكُم وَمُهجَتُهُ
فيكُم لَعانٍ وَثيقَةٌ رُهُنُه
He who goes away from you, while his lifeblood
The Master is bound to you, his spirit
remains with you, is surely a captive, his pledges firmly held.
Among you an indissoluble pledge and hostage.
لَهُ إِلَيكُم نَفسٌ مُشَرِّقَةٌ
إِن راحَ عَنكُم مُغَرِّباً بَدَنُه
His soul journeys eastward toward you,
To you his soul inclines,
even if his body leaves you journeying west.
Though his body departs estranged.
وَالبُعدُ إِن تاجَرَ المَشوقُ بِهِ
قَيضٌ مِنَ القُربِ بَيِّنٌ غَبَنُه
And distance, if a yearning lover trades in it,
If longing travels its distance,
is a substitute for nearness at an evident loss.
Lucrative the bargain, its profit manifest.
Sol 6.1