تمنَّى فكنتُمْ جُلَّ ما يتمناهُ
أخو وَلَهٍ مضنى الفؤادِ مُعنّاهُ
You were my wish, so you became all I wish for,
A loving brother, afflicted at heart because of you.
دعا لُبَّهُ داعي الغرامِ ودونكمْ
مفاوزُ تَعني الناجياتِ فلبّاهُ
His fervor called him, blinded by passion for you,
Beyond the deserts that save the survivors he went seeking you.
مشوقٌ إذا ما الليلُ جُنَّ ظلامهُ
تضاعفَ فيه بالأحبَّةِ بلواهُ
Alluring when the night spreads its darkness,
Intensifying in it his torment for his loved ones.
دعاهُ اليهم قائدُ الشوقِ عَنْوَةً
ودونهمُ رملُ العُذَيبِ ومَرْماهُ
The guide of longing forcibly called him to them
Beyond the sands of Al-Udhayb and its expanse he urged him.
موامٍ تَكِلُّ النُّجبُ في جنباتِها
وخَرْقٌ يهولُ الأرحبيَّةَ مسراهُ
Terrains where the hills are humiliated at their sides,
And a valley that terrifies the wide wilderness is its path.
وهَجْلٌ إذا ما قلتُ للعيسِهذه
أواخرُه كانتْ مِن البعدِ أُولاهُ
And mirage, when I described it to the scout,
Its ending was, from afar, its beginning.
يحاذرُه الخِرَّيتُ مِن بعدِ خرقهِ
اِذا ما طمى لُجُّ السَّرابِ ويخشاهُ
The guide avoids it after its deception,
When the surface of the mirage is blurred and frightening.
كأنَّ عتاقَ النُّجبِ فيه سفائنٌ
وموّارَ آذيَّ العساقيلِ أمواهُ
As if the tall hills within it are ships
And the twisting sands are its overwhelming waves.
أحبَّتَنا بِنتمْ فلي بعد بينكمْ
فؤادٌ أَجَدَّ الوجدُ لي فيه ذِكراهُ
My loved ones, how I miss you after the separation,
A heart that strongly feels the pain of your memory.
نأيتمْ فلي قلبٌ شديدٌ خُفُوقُه
وبِنتمْ فلي طرفٌ جفا النومَ جفناهُ
You are gone, and I have a steadfast heart, wounded,
And you left, and I have an eye sleepless, its eyelid torn.
أُسائلُ عنكمْ كلَّ ربعٍ رأيتُه
لكم مُقْفِراً قد أنهجَ الدهرُ مغناهُ
I ask about you from every land I see,
Emptied for you, and fate has ended its prosperity.
وأبكي بجفنٍ مِن أليمِ نواكمُ
قريحٍ ألحَّ الدمعُ فيه فادماهُ
And I cry with an eye, hurt by your wailing,
A casualties eye, pouring tears, bloodying it.
تُجدَّدُ لي ربّاهُ كلُّ صبابةٍ
وتُذْكِرُني عهداً تقادمَ رؤياهُ
Renewed for me through every youthful gazelle,
Reminding me of a time past, its vision gone.
وتُسعِدُني عينايَ فيه بدمعِها
فيا ويحَ مَنْ أمسى وعيناهُ عوناهُ
It makes my eyes happy with its tears,
So woe to him whose eyes have lost their helper at separation!
لقد قلَّ أنصارُ الذي قد غدتْ له
على البينِ عوناً في المحبَّةِ عيناهُ
Indeed, the supporters of whom I have become,
His eye at distance, a helper in love, have diminished.
وأرخصَ في يومِ التفرُّقِ دمعَهُ
بحكمِ النوى والهجرِ ما كانَ أغلاهُ
And he undervalued his tears the day we parted,
By the will of purpose and separation, though they were so dear.
وأبدى عليه مِن سرائرِ حبَّهِ
بما فاضَ منه كلُّ ما كانَ أخفاهُ
And he showed, of his love’s secrets,
All that he had kept hidden by what overflowed from him.
حنيناً على بعدِ الديارِ وقربِها
الى جيرةٍ بالمنحنى يتقاضاهُ
Yearning for the distant homeland and its nearness,
To a neighbor at Al-Manahah he appeals for it.
وشوقاً إلى أهلِ العقيقِ كثيرُه
يذودُ الكرى عن مقلتيِه وأدناهُ
And longing for the people of Al-Uqayq, so much
It protects his eyelids and draws them near.
أمِنْ بعدِ ما شابَ في الوجدِ فَودُهُ
وأبلى الشبابَ الغضَّ فيهم وأفناهُ
After the youth in him was marred by passion’s scorching,
And time made the exuberance in them infertile and ended it.
تناءوا وأمسى قانعاً بسلامِهم
على النأي أو طيفٍ إذا نامَ يغشاه
They went far, and he was content with their greeting
From afar, or a phantom that comes to him when he sleeps.
وما كانَ في ظنَّ المحبَّ بأنَّه
تخيبُ أمانيهِ ويُخفِقُ مسعاهُ
And it was not in a lover's mind that
His hopes would fail and his endeavor disappoint.
وقد كانَ لا يرضى على قربِ دارِهمْ
بما كانَ يرجوه وما يتوخّاهُ
He had not been pleased, when near their homes,
With what he had wished and sought from them.
ولمّا نأى ذاكَ الفريقُ عنِ الحِمى
وسارتْ تؤمُّ المازِمَيْنِ مطاياهُ
And when that company went far from the sanctuary,
And the camels of the two groups set out,
وسارَ غزالٌ كانَ يَهدي مع الصبَّا
اِذا منعوه مِن وصالي تحاياهُ
And a gazelle that used to be led, with the morning breeze,
When they prevented me from union, went its way.
وأصبحَ قلبي وهو في الحبَّ مُوثَقٌ
يروحُ ويغدو وهو مِن بعضِ أسراهُ
And my heart remained, though bound by love,
Coming and going, while still partly shackled.
سَمَحتُ بدمعي والسحابُ بدمعهِ
ضنينٌ على الربعِ المُحيلِ فرّواهُ
I allowed my tears, and the clouds their tears,
Grief for the departing land to flow profusely.
وأجريتُ دمعاً في الطلولِ مورَّداً
غزيرَ الحيا لا يبلغُ القطرُ شرواهُ
And I shed a pouring tear, abundant, pure,
Whose drops the shower cannot match in flow.
وقلتُ لقلبيطالَ عهدُكَ باللَّوى
فأين لياليهِ ومَنْ كنتَ تهواهُ
And I said to my heart, “Long has your affliction been with anguish,
Where are its nights, and whom were you infatuated with?”
وقلتُ لِمَنْ قد كانَ يَعذِلُني على
غرامي بهدعْ عنكَ ما لستُ أرضاهُ
And I said, “Refrain from blaming me for
A passion I do not approve or accept.”
فما لجَّ بالمشتاقِ في مذهبِ الهوى
على ما أراه العَذْلُ إلا وأغراهُ
So how can an ardent lover, in love's doctrine,
Stop what the blame, though he sees it, urges him to?!
وما كنتُ قبلَ البينِ والشمل جامعٌ
أرى العيشَ مخضرَّ الجنابِ بلقياهُ
I was not, before separation and union, someone who
Saw life flourishing and green through meeting them.
حميداً إذا ما ربعُه عادَ مُكِثباً
شهيّاً إذا لم تفقدِ العينُ مرآهُ
Praiseworthy, when his land revived, lively,
Appealing, when the eye did not lose its vision.
فما كانَ أصفى ذلكَ العيشَ برهةً
وقد غابَ واشيه وما كانَ أسناهُ
That life was never as pure for a moment,
Once it was hidden, and its lightning gone.
وليلةَ وافاني على غيرِ موعدٍ
يجوبُ الدجى لا أصغرَ اللهُ ممشاهُ
On a night he came to me unexpectedly,
Crossing the darkness, may God not make his course small!
وباتَ وذاكَ الحسنُ يجلوه طائعاً
على ناظري في الليلِ نورُ محيّاهُ
He stayed, and that beauty shone willingly
Upon my eyes in the night, the light of his cheek.
فبتُّ ولي ضوءانِضوءُ جبينهِ
على غرَّةِ الواشي وضوءُ ثناياهُ
I spent the night, and I had two lights:
The light of his forehead in the darkness, and the light of his smile.
أُعاطيهِ كأساً مِن مُدامٍ كأنَّما
عصارةُ خدَّيهِ الذي يتعاطاهُ
I give him a cup of wine, as though
It is the extract of his cheek that he sips.
مُدامٌ إذا راقتْ ورقَّتْ حسبتَها
جنى ظَلْمِه مقطوبةً وسجاياهُ
A wine, that when it flows gently and sparkles, you'd think it
The produce of his oppression, plucked while still unripe.
وحيّاً بها صبّاً أماتَ سرورَهُ
تطاولُ أيامِ البعادِ فأحياهُ
I greeted him with it, pouring until it killed his sadness,
The prolonged days of distance giving him life.
وروَّحَ قلباً طالَ بالبينِ هَمُّهُ
وصبّاً به طولُ التفرُّقِ أضناهُ
It comforted a heart long burdened with concerns,
The long separation had made it distraught.
ومضنًى يُراعي النيَّراتِ لأجلِه
غراماً فهلاّ في المحبَّةِ يرعاهُ
And distraught, he regards the gazelles because of it,
Passionately in love, so sublime in his passion.
وما كانَ يدري ما الفراقُ ولا الهوى
ولا مؤلماتُ الصدَّ والبينِ لولاهُ
He did not know what separation, love,
Or the pains of estrangement and distance were, had it not been for him.
وما الروضُ سقّاهُ الغمامُ بمائهِ
فطرَّزهُ دمعُ السحابُ ووشّاهُ
The meadow was not watered by the clouds with its water,
Embroidered by the weeping of the clouds, were it not for him.
تأرَّجَ طيباً عندما هبَّتِ الصبَّا
على جانبيهِ نَوْرُه وخُزماهُ
It exuded fragrance when the morning breeze
Blew upon its sides, his brilliance and his flowers.
وأطلعَ فيه الزهرَ أخلافُ دَرَّهِ
كشعري إذا ما دبَّجَ الفكرُ معناهُ
The succession of his beauty's seeds spawned blossoms in it,
Like my poetry when the mind composes its meaning.
يصوغُ له اللفظَ الصحيحَ فيغتدي
جلياً على الفَهمِ السقيمِ مُعمّاهُ
It casts for it the proper words eloquently,
Clear to the feeble mind, comprehensive in meaning.
له نشواتٌ في العقولِ كأنَّما
أُديرتْ على الأذهانِ منه حُميّاهُ
It has joys in the minds, as though
Its passionate imaginings were stirred about them.
ويلعبُ بالألبابِ سِحْرُ كلامِه
متى أوردتْهُ في المحافلِ أفواهُ
The sorcery of his words plays with intellects,
When uttered in assemblies, by mouths.
قريضٌ إذا فصَّلتُ جوهرَ لفظهِ
وبينَّتُ معناهُ وأحكمتُ مبناهُ
A poem, when I articulate the essence of its words
And explain its meaning and perfect its composition,
دنا جيدُ هذا الدهرِ منه وطالما
غدا عاطلاً مِن قبلِ شعري فحلاّهُ
The prime of this age comes near to it, and often
It succeeds while my poetry fails and embarrasses it.
