يا وَيحَ حَمّادٍ أَمِن نَظرَةٍ
راحَ أَسيراً غَيرَ مَجنوبِ
Alas for Hammād! Has a single glance
O woe to Hammad, from a single glance
sent him away a captive, though no one led him?
He became a captive, though unwounded.
لِلَّهِ ما رانَ عَلى قَلبِهِ
مِن ساحِرِ المُقلَةِ مَشبوبِ
By God, what has taken hold of his heart
By Allah, nothing but the sorcerer's eye
from a glowing youth with a bewitching eye!
Had overwhelmed his heart and confounded.
كَأَنَّهُ هاروتُ يَومَ اِغتَدى
يُديرُ عَينَيهِ بِتَقليبِ
As though he were Hārūt when he went out at dawn,
As if Harut himself one day transgressed
turning his eyes this way and that.
And rolled his eyes, practicing his art.
أَغَنَّ أَحوى لانَ في رِقَّةٍ
يَختالُ في الخَزِّ وَفي الطيبِ
Sweetly nasal-voiced, dark-lipped, supple and delicate,
He sang so sweetly with a delicate voice
he struts in silken cloth and perfume.
Swaying in silk and scent - a beauty's part.
بَدا لِحَمّادٍ فَأَبدى لَهُ
شُغلاً عَنِ الدِرياقِ وَالكوبِ
He appeared to Hammād and revealed to him
To Hammad he appeared and showed to him
a distraction from the 'antidote' wine and the cup.
A task unlike medicine and wine.
قادَ النَباطِيَّ إِلى حَتفِهِ
نَظرَةُ عَينٍ شَطرَ مَحبوبِ
The Nabataean was led to his death
The glance of the Nabatean's eye drove
by an eye's glance toward a beloved.
To his doom, a glance from eyes divine.
لَمّا رَأى ما عِندَهُ مُعجِباً
حَنَّ إِلَيهِ غَيرَ تَعييبِ
When he saw how pleasing was what he had,
When he saw what pleased him, approving it,
he yearned for him without finding fault.
He inclined to him, not berating.
يَهذى بِخَشفٍ مُؤنِقٍ مُشرِقٍ
مُقابَلِ الجَدَّينِ مَنسوبِ
He raves about a delightful, radiant fawn,
Wandering aimlessly, passionately
noble through both grandfathers, of known lineage.
Opposite cheeks of softness correlating.
يَختَلِسُ القَلبَ بِإِبرامِهِ
مِنهُ وَإِطماعٍ وَتَجنيبِ
He steals the heart through the vexation
Stealing the heart with his knitting
he brings, through raised hopes and holding aloof.
Of it, and greed and gathering.
مُبَتَّلُ الخَلقِ هَضيمُ الحَشا
ذو شَعَرٍ كَالكَرمِ غِربيبِ
Well-proportioned, slender at the waist,
Perfect creation, sweet of disposition
with jet-black hair like a grapevine.
With hair like grapes, so appealing.
أَمرَدُ كَالمَأثورِ حينَ اِستَوى
لَم تَرَهُ عَينٌ عَلى حوبِ
Beardless when fully grown, like a patterned sword;
An elegant creature not seen before
no eye has seen him doing wrong.
By any eye, in perfection flowering.
يَمشي إِذا راحَ بِرَمّاغَةٍ
لَجَّت بِإِصعادٍ وَتَصويبِ
When he goes out, he walks with a rump
He walks with a graceful and measured gait
that keeps on rising and falling,
Made up precisely and aptly.
وَخِصيَةٍ في حُسنِ ياقوتَةٍ
سيقَت إِلى أَصيَدَ مَحجوبِ
and a testicle as lovely as a ruby
A jewel in the beauty of chastity
borne to a proud lord screened from view.
Taken to hunt forbidden trapping.
يَقولُ حَمّادٌ إِذا ما نَأى
يا رَبِّ فَرِّج كَربَ مَكروبِ
Hammād says whenever the beloved draws away:
Hammad says when he is apart
'O my lord, relieve a sufferer's distress!
"O Lord, relieve the distress of the troubled."
حَمَّلتَني الشَوقَ وَباعَدتَني
ما هَكَذا الرَبُّ لِمَربوبِ
You have burdened me with longing and kept me far away;
You have burdened me with desire and distanced me
this is no way for a master to treat his servant.
Is this how a Lord treats the devoted?
رَضيتُ ميعادَكَ يا سَيِّدي
إِن لَم يَكُن ميعادَ عُرقوبِ
I am content with your promise, O my master,
I accept your tryst, my Master
if it is not a promise like ʿUrqūb's.'
If it is not an impossible meeting.
Sol 6.1