دعْ عنكَ ما زخرفَ الواشي وما زَعَما
لم يَصْحُ قلبي مِنَ البلوى ولا عَزَما
Leave what the slanderer embellished and what he claimed,
My heart did not recover from affliction, nor became resolute.
أمارَةُ الوجدِ عندي أدمعٌ ذُرُفٌ
على الديارِ وجسمٌ يألَفُ السَّقما
The sign of passion in me is flowing tears
For the abode, and a body that bears sickness.
ومسمعٌ كلَّما زادَ العذولُ على
وجدي بليلى ملامًا زادَهُ صَمَما
And hearing - whenever estrangement increased upon
My passion for Layla - blaming, it increased his stubbornness.
لم أنسَ يومَ النوى والعيسُ مُحدَجَةٌ
والبينُ قد جَمَعَ التوديعَ والعَنَما
I do not forget the day of parting while the camels are loaded,
And the separation gathered farewell and gloom.
وكلَّما أرمضتْني مِن ملامتهِ
قوارصٌ أضرمتْ في مهجتي ضَرَما
And whenever she blamed me for my passion,
Hot coals kindled in my entrails a burning.
يا حارِ والحرُّ مَنْ لم يُضْحِ في شُغُلٍ
مِنَ الغرامِ ومَنْ لم يُمسِ مُهتَضَما
O critic! Passion is difficult for those
Who are not preoccupied with love or touched with grief.
اِنْ كنتَ أنكرتَ مِنْ دمعي نميمتَهُ
والقومُ عن حاجرٍ قد قوَّضوا الخِيَما
If you denied the tears I shed in lamenting,
While people eroded mountains with their critiques.
فما تحدَّرَ إلا مِن هوًى ونوًى
قد أحوجاه إلى اِظهارِ ما كتما
It only flowed from an affection and a yearning,
That made it reveal what was hidden.
حالٌ تَذِلُ لها غلْبُ الأُسودِ وقد
أعزَّ اِقدامُهُنَّ الغِيلَ والأَجَما
A condition that humiliates, overcoming the bravery of lions,
And their feet made strong the fleeing cowards.
أحبابَنا سُقيتْ أيامُ قربِكمْ
وجادَها الغيثُ منهلاًّ ومُنسجِما
Our loved ones, the days of your nearness were quenched,
And the rain generously watered it, harmoniously.
مَضَتْ سِراعًا وما أدرى لسرعتها
أيقظةً ما أراني الدهرُ أم حُلُما
They passed quickly - I know not in their swiftness
Whether I saw them awake or in a dream.
لا تَتْهَمُوا القلبَ بالسُّلوانِ بعدَكُمُ
فمذ عَرَفْتُ الهوى ما كنتُ متَّهَما
Do not blame my heart for passion after you,
For since I knew love, I have not been blamed.
لم يبقَ لي أملٌ مِن بعدِ بينكمُ
اِلاّ وغادرَهُ صَرْفُ النوى أَلَما
No hope remains for me after being among you
Except what the turning of fate made painful.
أكادُ أبكي إذا سطَّرتُ مشتكياً
مِنَ الفراقِ ومِن أفعالِه القَلَما
I almost weep when I write complaining
Of separation, and of its heartless deeds.
ما للخيالِ ومالي ما ألمَّ بنا
اِلاّ وأورثَني اِلمامُه لَمَما
What is with my imagination? Why did he pain me
Except that his imaginations always brought anxieties?
حيّا وفارقَني في الحالِ مُنصرِفاً
عنَّي فمتُّ على آثارِه نَدَما
He greeted me and left suddenly thereafter,
Turning away from me, so I regretted his tracks.
طوى المهامهَ حتى جاءَ منفرِداً
اليَّ لم يَهَبِ البيداءَ والظُّلمَا
He folded the tent until he came alone
To me - he did not bestow the barren land or the darkness.
ودونهُ مِن فِجاجَ البيدِ مُنطمِسٌ
كاليمَّ مَجْهَلُه يستوقفُ الهِمَما
With him among the crevices of the desert was a faded one
Like an unknown, dubious guide.
ما أوجفَ الركبُ أو ضلَّ الدليلُ به
اِلاّ وشيَّبَ مِنْ رُكبانِه اللَّمَما
No caravan became lost or guide went astray with him
Except that he brought worries to its riders.
يا دارُ ما لكِ قد عُوَّضتِ بعدهمُ
كُرْهاً بحكمِ النوى الغِربانَ والرَّخَما
O abode! Why are you compensated after them
Perforce with the judgments of fate - the ravens and rubble?
لو كنتِ مِن حَدَثانِ الدهرِ سالمةً
لكانَ فيكِ فؤادي ربَّما سَلِما
If you were safe from the occurrences of time
My heart might have found peace within you.
ومنزلٍ عجتُ مِن بعدِ الخليطِ ضحًى
عليه أسألُ مِن أطلالِه الرُّسُما
And a house whose traces I asked at dawn
As travelers halted there - seeking its ruins.
فلم يُجبني وكم في الصَّمتِ من لَسَنٍ
فَهِمْتُه فجرى دمعي له وهَمَى
So it did not answer me, yet how eloquent is silence!
I understood it, so my tears flowed profusely.
لمّا ذكرتُ به هنداً وجيرتَها
أيامَ قد كان شملُ الحيَّ ملتئما
When I recalled Hind and her neighbor -
Days when the thread of the living was harmoniously joined.
تحدَّرتْ مِن جفوني فوقَهُ دِيَمٌ
اِذا استهلَّ حياها أخجلُ الدَّيَما
Tears flowed down my eyelids abundantly
When it recalled her life - outshining tears.
اِنَّ الكريمَ يرى ذكرَ الذين نأوا
وان أضاعوا عهودَ المنحنى ذِمَما
Indeed the generous one sees the memory of those who are distant
Even if they forfeited the covenants of the bent one blamefully.
أين الحبائبُ في أيامِ جِدَّتِه
أولَينَهُ بشفاعاتِ الهوى نِعَما
Where are the sweethearts in the days of her grandmother -
Should he win their mediation through passion's bounty?
نُفَرنَ عنه وهذي شيمةٌ عُرِفتْ
مِنَ الأوانسِ لمّا شارفَ الهَرَما
They abandoned him - and this is a trait known
Of girlfriends when old age draws near.
ما روضةٌ وشَّعتْها كلُّ غاديةٍ
فوشَّحتْها الثُّمامَ الغَضَّ واليَنَما
No garden blossomed with flowers that every passerby
Plucked - adorned with tender greenery and violets.
حاكَ الغمامُ لها مِن وشيهِ حُلَلاً
فيها فيا حسنَ ما وشَّى وما رَقَما
The clouds wove for it garments of interwoven rains
In which - how excellent is its adornment and embroidery!
هِمْنا وقد هبَّ معتلُّ النسيمِ بها
كأنَّه بأحاديثِ الحِمى نَسَما
We yearned when the gentle breeze blew upon it
As if it breathed to us the conversations of love.
وخصَّني دونَ أصحابي بسَّرِهمُ
كأنَّه بالذي ألقاه قد عَلِما
And it imparted me - apart from my companions - its secret
As if it knew what it cast upon me.
يوماً بأحسنَ مِن تفويفِ ما نَظَمَتْ
قرائحي مِن كلامٍ يُنتِجُ الحِكَما
One day in poetry more beautiful than the rhythmic songs
My talents have composed of articulate words.
حوى العلومَ فأضحى في جزالتهِ
وسبكهِ بينَ أشعارِ الورى عَلَما
It contained knowledge thus its words are weighted,
And its style among the poets' verses is a flag.
ولا الفراتُ كدمعي في غواربهِ
يوماً إذا جاشَ في تيّارِه وطَمَا
Neither is the Euphrates like my tears in its swirling pools
When it surges in its currents, turbulent.
ولا الحمائمُ في نوحي ولا قلقي
غداةَ أضحتْ تُبكَّي الضّالَ والسَّلَما
Nor are the doves in my laments and worries
Tomorrow when they weep for the lost and departed.
متى ترنَّمَ منها طائرٌ غَرِدٌ
وقلتُ شعراً غدونا نَنْشُرُ الرَّمَما
Whenever a singing bird chirped from it
And I recited poetry, we spread our verse.
وقد رضيتُ بقاضي العقلِ لي حَكَماً
فيما أقولُ وحسبي رأيُه حَكَما
And I have been content with reason's judgment for me
In what I say, and its opinion suffices as judge.
