تَظُنُّ شُجونِيَ لَم تَعتَلِج
وَقَد خَلَجَ البَينُ مَن قَد خَلَج
You think my sorrows have not festered,
Yet separation has festered in one who has festered.
أَشارَت بِعَينَينِ مَكحولَتَي
نِ مِنَ السِحرِ إِذ وَدَّعَت وَالدَعَج
With kohl-rimmed eyes she gestured,
Bewitching, when she bade farewell and took leave.
عِناقُ وَداعٍ أَجالَ اِعتِرا
ضَ دَمعِيَ في دَمعِها فَاِمتَزَج
A farewell embrace prolonged the good-byes,
My tears mingled with hers as they intermixed.
فَهَل وَصلُ ساعَتِنا مُنشِئٌ
صُدودَ شُهورٍ خَلَت أَو حِجَج
Will a reunion time come to pass
After months gone by and pilgrimages made?
وَما كانَ صَدُّكَ إِلّا الدَلا
لَ وَإِلّا المَلالَ وَإِلّا الغُنُج
You kept your distance only because of boredom,
Weariness, nothing else, and jesting.
وَإِن تَكُ قَد دَخَلَت بَينَنا
مَهامِهُ لِلآلِ فيها لُجَج
And if difficulties came between us,
In them are complexities for the family.
فَكَم رَوضَةٍ بِفِناءِ الرَبي
عِ يُضاحِكُها البَرقُ مِن كُلِّ فَج
So many gardens in the courtyard of the Lord
That lightning flashes through every nook.
تَأَيّا قُوَيقُ لِتَدويرِها
فَنَكَّبَ عَن قَصدِها وَاِنعَرَج
How a sandgrouse circles about to reach them,
Then, missing its mark, swerves askance!
إِذا هَزَّتِ الريحُ أَغصانَها
تَعانَقَ نُوّارُها وَاِزدَوَج
When the wind shakes their boughs,
Their lamps entwine and double over.
لَقيناكَ فيها فَخايَلتَها
بِلينِ التَكَفّي وَطيبِ الأَرَج
We met there, and you pretended with their
Soft twittering and goodly scent.
سَقى حَلَباً حَلَبٌ مُسبِلٌ
مِنَ الغَيثِ يَهمي بِها أَو يَثِج
A pasture has sent forth a copious stream
From the rain, gushing or rippling.
وَإِن حالَ مِن دونِ حَقّي فَلَم
يُسَلِّمهُ يَعقوبُها اِبنُ الفَرَج
If my rightful due comes between us, Jacob
Will not relinquish it, Ibn al-Faraj.
أَيُتلِفُ يَعقوبُ مالي لَدَي
هِ وَيَعقوبُ مُتَّئِدٌ لَم يُهَج
Will Jacob appropriate what is mine with him
While Jacob is a man well-provisioned, unneedy?
وَإِنّي مَلِيٌّ بِأَلّا يُسَرَّ
بِما نالَ مِنّي وَلا يَبتَهِج
I am bent on his gaining no joy from me
And delighting not in what he has attained.
إِذا شَدَّ عُروَةَ زُنّارِهِ
عَلى سَلحَةٍ ضَخمَةٍ وَاِنتَفَج
When he tightens the band of his belt
Over a mighty scabbard, becoming enraged,
تَوَهَّمَ أَنِّيَ لا أَستَطي
عُ مَساءَةَ أَغثَرَ بادي الهَوَج
He fancies that I cannot contend with
An uncouth lout in the open desert.
وَمِن أَينَ يَكثُرُ أَنصارُهُ
فَيَأتي الأَحَجُّ لَهُ فَالأَحَج
Whence throng to him numerous partisans?
Do crowds upon crowds come to him?
وَزَوجَتُهُ قَد عَشا بَظرُها
عَلى كَبرَةٍ وَاِبنُهُ قَد عَلُج
His wife, her womb is barren.
His son is crippled and lame.
فَأَلّا تَوَرَّعَ عَمّا جَنى
عَلَيَّ الخَبيثُ وَأَلّا حَرِج
Would that he had not transgressed
Against me, the deceitful wretch, and quailed!
أَبا يوسُفٍ سَمِجٌ ما أَتَي
تَ وَلَم يَكُ مِثلُكَ يَأتي السَمِج
Father Joseph, stubborn man that you are,
None has acted as you have acted, stubborn man!
وَشَرُّ المُسيئينَ ذو نَبوَةٍ
إِذا ليمَ فيها تَمادى وَلَج
The evildoers' worst is the hypocrite
Who persists if he finds scope for persistence.
هَلُمَّ إِلى الصِدقِ نَسري إِلَي
هِ بِحُجَّتِنا فيهِ أَو نَدَّلِج
Come, to truth let us hasten!
With our argument let us hasten or grope blindly!
وَنَعتَمِدُ الحَقَّ حَتّى يُضيءَ
لَنا مُظلِمُ الأَمرِ أَو يَنبَلِج
We will rely on the truth until it illuminates
The confusing situation or becomes clear.
وَفي مَوقِفٍ ما لَنا بَعدَهُ
تَنازُعُ نَجوى وَلا مُعتَلَج
In a stance beyond which we have
No more disputes, whispers, or turmoil.
فَمَن أَبرَأَ الحُكمُ فيهِ نَجا
وَمَن أَلحَجَ الحُكمُ فيهِ لَحِج
He whom the Judge acquits is delivered;
He whom the Judge indicts is condemned.
وَإِذ لَم يَكُن شاهِدٌ يُرتَضى
وَراءَكَ في الجَحدِ مودٍ مُضِج
Since no acceptable witness backs you
In your denial, a friend conniving,
وَأَنتَ فَلا حالِفٌ بِالعِتا
قِ وَلا حانِثٌ في طَلاقِ الحَرَج
While you are neither an oath-keeper
Nor one who breaks his oath and recoils,
فَهَل تَتَقَبَّلَ جُرمُ القُسو
سِ وَتَقطَعُ مِن إِلِّهِم ما وَشَج
Will you accept the enormity of priests
And sever what they have patched together?
وَتَضرِطُ في لِحيَةِ الجاثِلي
قِ إِذا خارَ في سِفرِ شَعيا وَعَج
Will you wail in the beard of a prostrate old man
When he wanders in the lands of Sheba and sobs?
وَتَزعُمُ أَنَّ الَّذينَ اِبتَدَوا
عُلومَ النَصارى رَعاعٌ هَمَج
Claiming that those who pursued
Christian sciences are an unruly rabble?
بِأَنَّكَ لَم تُتوِ مالي وَلَم
تَطَلَّب عَلَيَّ عَويصَ الحُجَج
That you did not appropriate my money
And did not persistently demand proofs?
فَإِن كُنتَ أَدهَنتَ أَو خُنتَ أَو
لَهِجتَ بِظُلمِيَ فيمَن لَهِج
If you have conspired, betrayed,
Or maligned me unjustly to any who maligned,
فَخالَفتَ مَريَمَ في دينِها
وَفارَقتَ ناموسَها المُنتَهَج
Violating Mary in her faith,
Abandoning her established way,
وَخَرَّقتَ غُفّورَها كافِراً
بِمَن غَزَلَ الثَوبَ أَو مَن نَسَج
Tearing her compassion to shreds, unbeliever
In Him who spun the thread or wove—
وَأَعظَمتَ ما أَعظَمَتهُ اليَهو
دُ تُصَلّي لِقِبلَتِهِم أَو تَحُج
If you have magnified what the Jews magnified,
Praying to their direction or making pilgrimage—
وَنِكتَ عَجوزَكَ حَتّى تَرُدَّ
في رَحمِها داخِلاً ما خَرَج
If you have mocked your old woman until you penetrated
Her womb, entering what had come out—
وَهَدَّمتَ بَيعَةَ ماسَرجِسٍ
وَأَطفَأتَ نيرانَها وَالسُرُج
If you have demolished the Church of Saint Sergius,
Extinguished its lamps and candlesticks—
وَأَوقَدتَ ناقوسَها وَالصَلي
بَ تَحتَ عَشائِكَ حَتّى يَضِج
If you have kindled its bells and cross
Beneath your supper until the sparks flew—
وَبَكَرتَ تَخرَأُ في المَذبَحِ ال
كَبيرِ وَتَلطَخُ تِلكَ الدَرَج
If you have risen early to belch at the great altar
And befoul those stairs—
وَزِلتَ مِنَ اللَهِ في لَعنَةٍ
تُقيمُ عَلَيكَ وَلا تَنزَعِج
If you have slipped into a curse from God
That will settle upon you without troubling you—
وَأَي طِماسٍ إِذا ما أَشَظَّ
في صَدعِ إِمراتِكَ المُنفَرِج
What plaster when the cracks start
To crumble in your broken emirates?
يَمينٌ مَتى ما اِستَحَلَّ اِمرُؤٌ
تَجَشُّمَها عِندَ قاضٍ فَلَج
What oath if a man undertakes it
Under a judge, yet it proves difficult?
