سَبِّح خَليلي وَقُل يا حُسنَ تَصويرِ
راحَت سُلَيمى تَهادى في المَقاصيرِ
Glorify God, my friend, and say, "What beautiful shaping!"
My friend, sing praises and say: O beauty manifest!
Sulayma went swaying gracefully through the secluded chambers.
Sulaima came gliding gracefully in her palanquin.
خَليفَةُ الشَمسِ تَكفي الحَيَّ غَيبَتَها
كَأَنَّما صاغَها الخَلّاقُ مِن نورِ
The sun’s deputy, she suffices the clan in its absence,
The sun's vicegerent suffices the living during its absence,
as though the Creator had fashioned her from light.
As if the Maker molded it from light.
تَمَّت قَواماً وَعَمَّت في مَجاسِدِها
كَأَنَّها مِن جَواري الجَنَّةِ الحورِ
She was perfect in stature and full-grown in her garments,
Her figure was made perfect and pervaded her limbs,
as though she were one of Paradise’s dark-eyed maidens.
As if she were one of the maidens of Paradise.
وَرُبَّما شاقَني طَيفٌ بِصورَتِها
وَزُرتُها قَبلَ أَصواتِ العَصافيرِ
And sometimes a phantom in her likeness stirred my longing,
And her apparition would sometimes haunt me,
and I visited her before the sparrows called.
And I would visit her before the birds' singing.
لَمّا رَأَت مَضرَحِيّاً خَلفَ دانِيَةٍ
مِنَ الدَواعِ سَرى في سِترِ مَأثورِ
When she saw a noble man behind one close at hand,
When she saw me behind a curtain,
among the beckoners, slipping by night beneath a patterned veil,
She walked slowly in a frequently worn wrap.
تَشَمَّسَت في الجَواري ثُمَّ قُلنَ لَها
سيري فَقالَت أَميرٌ غَيرُ مَأمورِ
she grew haughty among the girls; then they told her,
She took sun among the maidens, then they told her:
"Go!" She answered, "A commander, not one commanded."
"Walk on." So she said: "A prince does not take orders."
حَتّى إِذا غَرَّ فَتقٌ تَحتَ وَسنَتِها
وَراجَعَت بَعدَ تَسبيحٍ وَتَكبيرِ
Until a cleft beguiled her beneath her drowsiness,
Until when a dimple smiled under her cheek,
and she relented after praise and cries of "God is great."
She returned after prayers and glorifications.
وَكانَ مِنها لَنا شَيءٌ وَكانَ لَها
مِنّا شَبيهٌ بِهِ في غَيرِ تَغييرِ
And something passed from her to us, and to her came
And we shared something, and she shared with me
from us something like it, without alteration.
Something similar without change.
نَعى لَنا اللَيلَ ناعٍ بَينَ أَغشِيَةٍ
تَدعو الصَباحَ بَصوتٍ غَيرِ مَنزورِ
A herald announced the night’s death to us amid coverings,
The night bid us farewell, calling between blankets
calling morning in a voice by no means faint.
That summon the dawn with an unvisited voice.
فَزُلتُ عَنها وَزالَتَ في لَعائِبِها
كَأَنَّما كان حُلماً غَيرَ مَعبورِ
So I withdrew from her, and she went among her playmates,
So I slipped away from her and she slipped into her amusements,
as though it had been a dream left uninterpreted.
As if it had all been an unfulfilled dream.
يا طيبَها بَينَ رَيحانٍ وُمُلتَثِمٍ
نَطوي الدُجى بِسُجودٍ لِلقواريرِ
Oh, her sweetness amid basil and a kissing lover!
O her scent amidst basil and perfume
We fold away the darkness, prostrating before the bottles.
That makes the darkness prostrate in worship of flasks!
مِنَ اللَواتي إِذا حَنَّ الكِرانُ لَها
صَلَّت بِأُذنٍ لِصَوتِ البَمِّ وَالزيرِ
One of those women who, when the lute moans for her,
She is one of those whom, when the wine-jugs are passed around,
prays with an ear to the sound of bass and treble strings.
She prays with an ear inclined to the sound of glasses and pouring.
لَولا الخَليفَةُ شارَفنا زِيارَتَها
لَكِن عَهِدنا أَمينَ اللَهِ في الخيرِ
Were it not for the caliph, we would have drawn near to visit her,
Were it not for the Caliph, we would have visited her,
but we have known God’s trustee for his goodness.
But we made a covenant with the Trustworthy in goodness.
قَد كُنتُ لا أَتقَّي عَيناً مُبَصَّرَةً
وَلا أُراقِبُ أَهلَ الفُحشِ وَالزورِ
Once I feared no watchful eye,
Before this I did not guard my seeing eyes
nor heeded the people of obscenity and falsehood,
Or watch those of immorality and falsehood.
حَتّى إِذا القائِمُ المَهدِيُّ أَوعَدَني
في اللَهوِ خَلَّيتُهُ لِلعاشِقِ الزيرِ
until the reigning al-Mahdi threatened me
Until when the Righteous Mahdi promised me,
over revelry; I left it to the womanizing lover.
I left it for the passionate drunkard.
فَالآنَ أَقصَرتُ عَن سَلمى وَزَيَّنَني
عَهدُ الخَليفَةِ زينَ البُردِ بِالنيرِ
So now I have desisted from Salma, and I am adorned
So now I refrain from Salma, and the Caliph's covenant adorns me,
by the caliph’s injunction, as woven stripes adorn a cloak.
The ornament of the robe with rivets.
يا سَلمَ إِنّا تَأَيّاني لَكُم مَلِكٌ
حِبُّ الوَفاءِ وَشَوقي غَيرُ تَعذيرِ
O Salm, as for us, a king has held me back for your sake,
O Salma, we are prevented from coming to you by a king
a lover of faithfulness; my longing is no half-hearted pretense.
Whose love of loyalty and my passion are no excuse.
روحي عَليكِ سلامُ اللَهِ وادِعَةً
لا يَقطَعُ الإِلفَ شَيءٌ غَيرُ مَقدورِ
Depart at ease; God’s peace be upon you.
My soul bids you safety and prayer to Allah
Nothing unordained can sever affection.
That nothing but the foreordained cut short this friendship.
إِنّي يُشَيِّعُني قَلبي بِقافِيَةٍ
راحَت تُحَرِّقُ في كَلبٍ وَخِنزيرِ
Indeed, my heart escorts me with a rhyme
I am seen off by a verse
that set out to scorch a dog and a pig.
That departed burning in a dog and pig.
أَنّا المُرَعَّثُ يَخشى الجِنُّ بادِهَتي
وَلا يَنامُ الأَعادي مِن مَزاميري
I am al-Muraʿʿath; the jinn fear my impromptu verse,
I am the disheveled one whom jinn fear because of my madness,
and my enemies cannot sleep for my pipes.
And enemies cannot sleep because of my poems.
رَفَعتُ قَوماً وَفي أَحسابِهِم ضَعَةٌ
وَقَد كَعَمتُ رِجالاً بَعدَ تَهريرِ
I raised up men whose ancestral standing was low,
I have raised a people though lowly in account,
and I have muzzled men after their snarling.
And I have masked men after uncovering.
وَمُقبِلٍ مُدبِرٍ في وَجهِهِ ضَخَمٌ
كَأَنَّهُ قُرصُ زادٍ غَيرُ مَكسورِ
And one approaching and retreating, with a broad face,
One approaching and one retreating, his face frowning
as though he were an unbroken round of bread,
As if it were a piece of dry bread, unbroken.
عَلَّلتُهُ بِسِنانِ الرُمحِ مَنفَرِداً
دونَ الأَحِبَّةِ في سَوداءِ دَيجورِ
I solaced him with the spear’s point, alone,
I undid him with the point of a spear, alone,
apart from the loved ones, in a black, pitch-dark night.
Without loved ones, in the blackness of night.
يا حُسنَهُ مَنظَراً في حُسنِ كامِلَةٍ
طارا عَلى النَفسِ بَل قالا لَها طيري
Oh, how lovely his appearance, with a perfect woman’s beauty!
O his beauty manifest in the perfection of a full moon
The two soared over the soul—rather, they told it, "Fly!"
That made the soul soar, nay, that said to it: "Fly!"
حِتّى إِذا شُقَّ عَنهُ اللَيلُ وَدَّعَني
بِعَبرَةٍ وَلِثامٍ في التَنانيرِ
Until, when night was torn away from him, he bade me farewell,
Until when the night parted from him and bid me farewell
with a tear and kisses amid the ovens.
With falling tears and a wrap of stars,
كَأَنَّهُ في بَياضِ الصُبحِ مُنصَرِفاً
بَدرُ السَماءِ تَمادى في التَماصيرِ
As though, departing in the whiteness of dawn, he were
It was as if, at the whitening of dawn, turning away,
the sky’s full moon, moving onward through the settlements.
The full moon of the sky flowed into vessels.
Sol 6.1