نَأَتكَ عَلى طولِ التَجاوُرِ زَينَبُ
وَما شَعَرَت أَنَّ النَوى سَوفَ تَصقُبُ
Zaynab has grown distant from you, after an age of dwelling near;
she never sensed that separation would soon draw near.
كأَنَّ الَّذي غالَ الرَحيلُ رُقادَها
بِما عَضَبَت مِن قُربِنا النَفسَ تَعضَبُ
It was as though departure had stolen away her sleep,
for, angered by our nearness, her soul took offense.
تَداعى إِلى ما فاتَنا مِن وَداعِنا
عَلى بُعدِها بِالوَأيِ إِذ تَتَقَرَّبُ
She called back toward the farewell we had missed,
though far away, gesturing a promise as she drew near.
فَإِن تَنصَبي يَوماً إِلى لَمَّةِ الهَوى
فَإِنّي بِما أَلقى إِلى تِلكَ أَنصَبُ
If someday you incline toward the company of passion,
then, for all I suffer, I am the most afflicted there.
سَلي تُخبَري أَنَّ المَعَنّى بِذِكرِكُم
عَلى سُنَّةٍ فيمَن يَحيبُ وَيَدأَبُ
Ask, and you will learn that the tormented man who remembers you
keeps to the path of those who love and persevere.
إِذا ذادَ عَنهُ عَقرَباً مِن هَواكُمُ
بِرُقيَتِهِ دَبَّت لَهُ مِنكِ عَقرَبُ
Whenever he turns aside a scorpion from your love,
its spell makes another scorpion from you crawl upon him.
فَباتَ يُدَنّي قَلبَهُ مِن جَلادَةٍ
لِيَقلِبَهُ عَنكُم فَلا يَتَقَلَّبُ
He spent the night schooling his heart in hardness,
to turn it away from you—but it would not turn.
أَبى مِنكِ ما يَلقى وَيَأبى فُؤادُهُ
سِواكِ فَيُلمي هَجرُهُ ثُمَّ يُغلَبُ
He rejects what he suffers from you, yet his heart rejects
everyone but you; abandonment makes it bleed, then love prevails.
لِذي نُصحِهِ عَنكُم بِهِ أَجنَبِيَّةٌ
وَعَن نُصحِ دُنياهُ بِهِ القَلبُ أَجنَبُ
To one who counsels him against you, he is a stranger;
and to counsel about his worldly welfare, his heart is stranger still.
فُؤادٌ عَلى نَهيِ النَصيحِ كَأَنَّما
يُحَثُّ بِما يُنهى إِلَيهِ وَيُتعَبُ
A heart that, when the adviser forbids it, seems
only urged toward what it is forbidden, exhausting itself there.
فَماتَ بِما يُرخى لَهُ مِن خِناقِهِ
وَيَحيا عُلوقاً في الحِبالِ فَيَنشَبُ
It dies whenever the noose around it is slackened,
and lives suspended in the ropes, only to be caught.
كَشاكِيَةٍ مِن عَينِها غَربَ قُرحَةٍ
تَداوى بِما تَدوى عَلَيهِ وَتَذرَبُ
Like a woman complaining of a running sore in her eye,
she doctors herself with the very thing that makes it ache and fester.
يَغَصُّ إِذا نالَ الطَعامَ لِذِكرِكُم
وَيَشرَقُ مِن وَجدٍ بِكُم حينَ يَشرَبُ
He chokes when food reaches him, remembering you,
and, longing for you, gasps whenever he drinks.
فَلا مَذهَبٌ عَنكُم لَهُ شَطَّ أَو دَنا
سِواكِ وَفي الأَرضِ العَريضَةِ مَذهَبُ
No road away from you is his, whether far or near,
except yours—though the broad earth has many roads.
عَلى النَأيِ مَحزونٌ وَفي القُربِ مُغرَمٌ
فَيا كَبِدا أَيَّ الطَريقَينِ أَركَبُ
Far away, he grieves; nearby, he is consumed with love—
O my liver, which of the two roads shall I take?
إِذا خَدِرَت رِجلي شَفَيتُ بِذِكرِها
أَذاها فَأَهفو بِاِسمِها حينَ تُنكَبُ
When my leg goes numb, I heal it by remembering her,
and cry out her name whenever that pain strikes.
لَقَد عُيِّنَت عَمّا أُقاسي بِذِكرِها
وَعَمّا يَقولُ الشاهِدي حينَ أَطرَبُ
Remembering her has blinded me to all I suffer,
and to what my witness says whenever ecstasy seizes me.
يَرى الناسُ ما نُبدي بِزَينَبَ إِذ نَأَت
عَجيباً وَما يَخفى مِنَ الحُبِّ أَعجَبُ
People see what we reveal for Zaynab now that she is far
and marvel; more wondrous is the love that remains concealed.
يَروحُ وَيَغدو واجِداً يَنتَحي الهَوى
عَلى رِجلِ مَصبورٍ عَلى الوِردِ أَجرَبُ
Morning and evening he goes, love-struck, pursuing desire,
like a mangy beast, tethered by the leg and barred from the watering place.
إِذا عَرَضَ القَومُ الحَديثَ بِذِكرِها
أَئِنُّ كَما أَنَّ المَريضُ المُوَصَّبُ
Whenever the company happens to speak of her,
I groan as a fever-worn sick man groans.
إِذا ما نَأَت فَالعَيشُ ناءٍ لِنَأيِها
وَإِن قَرُبَت فَالمَوتُ بِالقُربِ يَقرُبُ
When she is far, life itself is far because she is far;
if she comes near, death itself comes near through that nearness.
كَفاكَ مِنَ الذَلفاءِ لَو كُنتَ تَكتَفي
مَواعِدُ لَم تَذهَب بِها حَيثُ تَذهَبُ
The short-nosed doe would suffice you, if you could be satisfied—
but promises cannot go with you wherever you go.
وَقائِلَةٍ حينَ اِستُحِقَّ رَحيلُنا
وَأَجفانُ عَينَيها تَجودُ وَتَسكُبُ
A woman said, when the time came for us to depart,
while her eyelids poured and streamed with tears:
أَغادٍ إِلى حَرّانَ في غَيرِ شيعَةٍ
وَذَلِكَ شَأوٌ عَن هَوانا مُغَرَّبُ
“Are you leaving for Harran with no escort,
toward a distant goal, away from familiar ground?”
فَقُلتُ لَها كَلَّفِتني طَلَبَ النَدى
وَلَيسَ وَراءَ اِبنِ الخَليفَةِ مَطلَبُ
I told her: “The quest for bounty has burdened me,
and beyond the caliph’s son there is nothing left to seek.
سَيَكفي فَتىً مِن شيعَةٍ حَدُّ سَيفِهِ
وَكورٌ عِلافِيٌّ وَوَجناءُ ذِعلِبُ
A young man like me has no escort but his keen sword,
his ʿUklī saddle, and a lean, swift she-camel.
إِذا اِستَوعَرَت دارٌ عَلَيهِ رَمى بِها
بَناتِ الصُوى مِنها رَكوبٌ وَمُصعِبُ
Whenever the ground grows rugged beneath him, he flings against it
the daughters of the waymarks—mounts both tractable and stubborn.
فَعُدّي إِلى يَومَ اِرتَحَلتُ وَسائِلي
نَوافِلَكِ الفَعّالَ مَن جاءَ يَضرِبُ
So count from the day I set out, and ask
who comes seeking your abundant acts of grace.
لِعَلَّكِ أَن تَستَيقِني أَنَّ زَورَتي
سُلَيمانَ مِن سَيرِ الهَواجِرِ يُعقِبُ
Then perhaps you will know for certain that my visit
to Sulayman comes after a journey through the noonday blaze.
وَماءِ عَفاءٍ لا أَنيسَ بِجَوِّهِ
حَليفاهُ مِن شَتّى عِفاءٌ وَطُحلُبُ
Many a desolate pool, with no companion in its open waste,
had only wilderness and waterweed as its two intimates.
وَرَدتُ إِذا اِلتاثَ الهِجانُ وَقَد خَوى
عَلَيهِ مِنَ الظَلماءِ بَيتٌ مُطَنَّبُ
I reached it when the pale camels had wandered in confusion,
and darkness had pitched over it a tent with taut ropes.
نَعوجٌ عَلى التَأويبِ صُعرٌ مِنَ البَرى
نَواشِطُ في لُجٍّ مِنَ اللَيلِ تَنعَبُ
At the night-call we turned them, their necks chafed by nose-rings,
restless in the night’s deep sea, lifting their cries.
إِذا ما أَنَخناها لِغَيرِ تَئِيَّةٍ
عَلى غَرَضِ الحاجاتِ وَالقَومُ لُغَّبُ
When we made them kneel, without delay,
at our goal, the men themselves were spent.
وَقَعنَ فَريصاتِ السَديسِ كَما دَعا
عَلى فَنَنٍ مِن ضالَةِ الأَيكِ أَخطَبُ
The full-grown camels’ shoulder muscles quivered as they sank,
like a black bird calling from a branch of a wild grove-tree.
قَلائِصُ إِن حَرَّكتَ كَفّاً تَكَمَّشَت
كَأَنَّ عَلى أَكسائِها الجِنَّ تُجلِبُ
Young she-camels: move a hand, and they huddle together,
as though jinn were clamoring over their coverings.
سُقينَ بِحَذّاءِ النَجاءِ شِمِلَّةٍ
إِذا قالَ يَعفورُ الفَلاةِ تَأَوَّبوا
A gaunt, hard-riding guide drove them, bent on escape;
when the wild ass of the waste called, “Turn back,” they pressed on.
مُفَرَّجَةُ الضَبعَينِ مَمهورَةُ القَرى
تَحُذُّ عَلَيها راكِبٌ مُتَنَقِّبُ
Broad in the forelegs, their backs made firm,
a veiled rider urges them swiftly onward.
سَرى اللَيلَ وَالتَهجيرَ في كُلِّ سَبسَبٍ
يُعارِضُهُ مِن عارِضِ النَصِّ سَبسَبُ
He traveled by night and through burning noon across every waste,
one level stretch of hard track following another.
دَياميمُ تَرمي بِالمَطِيِّ إِلَيكُمُ
تَظَلُّ بَناتُ الأَزَلِ فيهِنَّ تَلعَبُ
Vast deserts cast the riding beasts toward you,
where the daughters of hunger sport among them all day.
وَكَم جاوَزَت مِن ظَهرِ أَرعَنَ شاخِصٍ
وَمِن بَطنِ وادٍ جَوفُهُ مُتَصَوِّبُ
How many a towering, jutting mountain-back they crossed,
and how many a valley-bottom whose hollow plunged downward.
لَها هاتِفٌ يَحكي غِناءً عَشَنَّقاً
سَميعاً بِما أَدّى لَهُ الصَوتُ مُعرِبُ
There a caller echoes a high-pitched song,
hearing and clearly voicing whatever sound reaches him.
فَغَنَّت غِناءً عَينُهُ وَلِسانُهُ
قَريبُ مَصارِ الصَوتِ لَيسَ يُثَقَّبُ
His eye and tongue break into song,
the passages of his voice close-set, never indistinct.
هُوَ الخَنفُ لا إِنسٌ وَلا نَجلُ جِنَّةٍ
يَعيشُ وَلا يَغذوهُ أُمٌّ وَلا أَبُ
Still-winged, with neither people nor date-palms nearby,
he lives, though neither mother nor father feeds him.
إِلَيكَ أَبا أَيّوبَ أَسمَعتُ صاحِبي
أَغانِيَهُ وَالناعِجاتُ تَسَرَّبُ
To you, Abu Ayyub, I made my companion hear
that the swift she-camels were streaming onward.
إِذا خَرَجَت مِن عَينِهِ قُلتُ لَيتَني
يَجوبُ الدُجى مِنها حَرارٌ وَتَنعَبُ
Whenever it vanished from his sight, I said, “If only I might be
the desert bird that crosses the darkness from there, crying.”
شَرِبتُ بِرَنقٍ مِن مُدامٍ وَلَو دَنَت
حِياضُ سُلَيمانٍ صَفا لِيَ مَشرَبُ
I drank turbid water—but had those pools drawn near,
Sulayman’s watering places would have made my drink run clear.
إِذا جِئتِ حَرّاناً وَزُرتِ أَميرَها
فَرَبُّكِ مَضمونٌ وَواديكِ مُعشِبُ
When you reach Harran and call on its emir,
your pasture is assured and your valley green.
هُناكَ اِمرُؤٌ إِنَّ النَوالَ لِمَن دَنا
لَهُ عَطَنٌ سَهلٌ وَكَفٌّ تَحَلَّبُ
The man who guides you there has gifts awaiting whoever draws near;
his watering place is easy, his hand a streaming udder,
دَرورٌ لِقَومٍ بِالحَياةِ عَلى الرِضى
عَلى أَنَّ فيها مَوتَهُم حينَ يَغضَبُ
pouring for the needy even upon bare rock;
yet in that same hand lies death when anger stirs him.
أَلا أَيُّها المُستَعتِبُ الدَهرَ مَسَّهُ
مِنَ الضيقِ وَالتَأنيبِ نابٌ وَمِخلَبُ
O you who ask Time to make amends—you have been struck
by the fang and claw of hardship and reproach.
إِذا قَذِيَت عَينُ الزَمانِ فَداوِها
بِقُربِ سُلَيمانٍ فَإِنَّكَ مُعتَبُ
When Time’s eye is flecked with grit, treat it
by drawing near Sulayman; then you will be soothed.
عَداكَ العِدى ما سارَ تَحتَ لِوائِهِ
بَطاريقُ في الماذِيِّ كَهلٌ وَأَشيَبُ
May my enemies pass you by while beneath his banner march
commanders in the ranks—elders and graybeards.
هُوَ المَرءُ يَستَعلي قُرَيشاً بِنَفعِهِ
وَدَفعِ عَدُوٍّ فاحِشٍ حينَ يَكلَبُ
He is the man by whose favors Quraysh rises,
and by whose repulse a monstrous foe is checked when it rages.
رَزينُ حَصاةِ العِلمِ لا يَستَخِفُّهُ
أَحاديثُ يَستَوعي عَلَيها المُعَيِّبُ
Steady, a touchstone of knowledge, no impulse makes him flighty;
no faultfinder can encompass all that is reported of him.
شَبيهُ أَميرِ المُؤمِنينَ وَسَيفُهُ
بِهِ يُتَّقى في النائِباتِ وَيُعصَبُ
He is the Commander of the Faithful’s likeness and his sword;
through him men take shelter and rally in calamity.
يَهَشُّ لِميقاتِ الجِهادِ فُؤادُهُ
فَلا يَتَطَرَّقهُ البَنانُ المُخَضَّبُ
His heart leaps at the appointed hour of holy war,
untouched by henna-dyed fingertips.
إِذا الحَربُ قامَت قامَ حَتّى يُفيدَها
قُعوداً وَحُثحوثُ الكَتيبَةِ مُطنَبُ
When war rises, he rises; he does not cease until he brings it
to rest, while the army’s hard-driving tumult stretches on.
لَهُ كُلَّ عامٍ غَزوَةٌ بِمُسَوَّمٍ
يَقودُ المَنايا رايُهُ حينَ يَذهَبُ
Each year he has a campaign with branded mounts,
his banner leading deaths wherever he goes.
لُهامٌ كَأَنَّ البيضَ في حَجَراتِهِ
نُجومُ سَماءٍ نورُها مُتَجَوِّبُ
There, the helmets within his chambers seem
stars in a sky whose light has broken through.
كَراديسُ خَيلٍ لا تَزالُ مُغيرَةً
بِها المَلِكُ الرومِيُّ عانٍ مُعَذَّبُ
Like massed squadrons of horses, forever raiding,
they leave the Roman king a captive under torment.
كَأَنَّ بَناتِ اليونِ بَعدَ إِيابِهِ
مُوَزَّعَةً بَينَ الصَحائِبِ رَبرَبُ
It is as though the daughters of the Greeks before him
were scattered among the troops—a herd of gazelles.
مَواهِبُ مَغبوطٌ بِها مَن يَنالُها
صَفايا سَبايا الرومِ بِكرٌ وَثَيِّبُ
Gifts—fortunate is the man who receives them:
captured Roman women, maiden and matron alike.
وَما قَصَدَت قَوماً مُحَلّينَ خَيلُهُ
فَتَصرُفَ إِلّا عَن دِماءٍ تَصَبَّبُ
Never have his horses sought an encamped people
and turned away except from blood poured out.
جَديرٌ بِتَركِ النائِحاتِ إِذا غَدا
لَهُنَّ عَلى القَتلى عَويلٌ وَمَندَبُ
He can leave the mourning women, when he raids,
wailing and lamenting over their slain.
أَغَرُّ هِشامِيُّ القَناةِ إِذا اِنتَمى
نَمَتهُ بُدورٌ لَيسَ فيهِنَّ كَوكَبُ
A radiant Hashemite, firm as a spear when he declares his lineage,
descended from full moons among whom no mere star appears.
جَميلُ المُحَيّا حينَ راحَ كَأَنَّما
تُخُيِّرَ في ديباجَةِ الوَصفِ مُذهَبُ
When he appears, the beauty of his face makes it seem
that gold is coursing across its breadth.
يَزينُ سَريرَ المُلكِ زَيناً وَيَنتَهي
بِهِ المِنبَرُ المَنصوبُ في يَومِ يَخطُبُ
He adorns the throne of kingship and reaches its full height;
through him the raised pulpit is exalted on the day he preaches.
