تدَرّعْتُ صبري جُنَّةً للنوائبِ
فإن لم تُسالمْ يا زمان فحاربِ
I armored myself with patience against misfortunes,
So if you do not make peace, O Time, then we shall battle,
عجمتَ حصاةً لا تلين لعاجمٍ
ورُضْتَ شموساً لا يذلّ لراكبِ
You hardened a rock that yields to no foreigner,
And you were determined to be suns that no rider can subdue.
كأنّك لم تقنع لنفسي بغربةٍ
إذا لم أُنَقّب في بِلاد المَغاربِ
It seems you were not content to exile me in a faraway land,
Unless I were to dig into the lands of the Maghreb.
بِلادٌ جرى فوق البُلادة ماؤها
فأصبح منه ناهلاً كلُّ شاربِ
A land whose water flowed over sterility,
So that every drinker became a drawer from it.
فُطِمتُ بها عن كلّ كأسٍ ولَذّةٍ
وأنفقتُ كنزَ العمر في غير واجِبِ
I was weaned from every cup and pleasure,
And spent the treasure of my life without obligation.
يبيت رئاسُ العضب في ثِنْيِ ساعدي
مُعاوضَةً من جِيد غيداءَ كاعبِ
The chief of rage lodges in the fold of my arm
In exchange for the neck of the roaming gazelles.
وما ضاجعَ الهنديُّ إلا مثلّماً
مُضارِبه يَومَ الوغى في الضّرائبِ
The Indian attacked only to be counterattacked
On the day of battle amid charges and raids.
إذا كانَ لي في السَيفِ أُنس ألِفته
فلا وحشة عندي لِفقد الحبائِبِ
If I am intimate with the sword, I befriend it,
So I have no loneliness without intimate friends.
فَكُنتُ وَقَدّي في الصَبا مِثلُ قَدّه
عَهدتُ إِلَيه أَن مِنهُ مَكاسِبي
I was like my sword’s sheath in my youth,
I entrusted to it that it would gain me profits.
فَإِن تَكُ لي في المَشرَفِيّ مآربٌ
فَكَم في عَصا مُوسى لَهُ مِن مَآرِبِ
If I have wishes to accomplish with the noble,
How many wishes does Moses’ staff have!
أَتحسبني أنْسَى وما زلت ذاكِراً
خِيانةَ دَهري أو خيانةَ صَاحبي
Do you reckon I forget? Yet I still remember
The betrayal of my time or the betrayal of my companion.
تَغَذّى بأخلاقي صغيراً ولَم تَكُنْ
ضَرائِبُه إلّا خِلافَ ضَرائبي
He was nurtured by my morals when small, yet there were no
Taxes for him except opposing my taxes.
ويا ربّ نَبْتٍ تعتريهِ مرارَةٌ
وقد كان يُسقى عذبَ ماء السحائِبِ
O Lord of a plantation made bitter
Though it was watered by the fresh rain of clouds.
علمتُ بتجريبي أموراً جَهِلتُها
وقد تُجْهَل الأشياءُ قبل التجارِبِ
By my experience I learned things I was ignorant of,
For things may be unknown before being experienced.
ومَنْ ظَنّ أمْواه الخضارم عَذْبَةً
قضى بخلاف الظنّ عندَ المشارِبِ
He who thought the waters of old wells were sweet
Discovered the opposite when he drank from them.
ركبتُ النّوَى في رحلِ كلّ نَجيبةٍ
تُواصِلُ أسبابي بقطع السَباسِبِ
I mounted determination in the saddle of every noble steed
To further my purposes by cutting off causes.
قِلاصٌ حَناهنّ الهزالُ كَأنها
حنِيّات نَبْعٍ في أكفِّ جواذِبِ
A fleet mount made slender by emaciation
As if it were the bendings of a spring between restraining hands.
إذا وَرَدَتْ من زرقة الماءِ أَعيُناً
وقَفْنَ على أرجائها كالحواجِبِ
When eyes the color of water’s blueness arrive
And pause upon its surface like frowning brows.
بصادقِ عزْم في الأماني يُحِلّني
على أمَلٍ من همّةِ النفس كاذِبِ
My true determination in my wishes carries me
To a hope from the ambition of my dishonest soul.
ولا سَكَنٌ إلا مناجاة فكرضةٍ
كأني بها مستحضرٌ كلّ غائِبِ
I have no peace but the solitude of my thoughts
As if with them I make present every absent one.
ولما رأيْت الناس يُرْهَب شرهُم
تجنّبْتُهم واخترْت وَحْدَة راهِبِ
And when I saw people terrified by their evil,
I avoided them and chose the solitude of an ascetic.
أَحتّى خَيالٌ كُنتُ أَحظى بزَوْرِهِ
لَه في الكَرى عن مَضجعي صدّ عاتِبِ
How I used to converse with an imaginary companion,
Who had, in my cares, a visitor’s prevention of my sleep.
فَهل حالَ من شَكلي عليهِ فَلم يَزرْ
قضافةُ جسمي وابيضاضُ ذوائبي
Does my bodily form fail to resemble him, that he did not visit?
The slenderness of my waist and the whiteness of my sidelocks?
إذا عدَّ مَن غابَ الشُهورَ لِغُربَةٍ
عددتُ لها الأحقابَ فوقَ الحقائِبِ
When one counts the months of his absence in exile,
I count for them the eras above the saddlebags.
وكَم عَزَماتٍ كالسيوفِ صوادِق
تجرّدها أيدي الأَماني الكواذِبِ
How many resolves like sincere swords
Have been bared by the hands of dishonest wishes!
ولي في سماء الشرقِ مَطلَعُة كَوكَبٍ
جلا من طلوعي بينَ زهرِ الكواكِبِ
I have a star that rises in the sky of the east
That rises above the stars from my rising among them.
ألفتُ اغترابي عنه حتى تكاثَرَت
له عُقَدُ الأيّام في كفِّ حاسِبِ
I grew accustomed to being apart from it until
The knots of days accumulated in the hand of the recorder.
متى تَسمَعُ الجَوزاءُ في الجو مَنطقي
تصخْ في مَقالي لارتجالِ الغرائِبِ
Whenever the Pleiades hear my speech in the atmosphere
They pour in my words the ascents of wonders.
وكم لي به من صنوِ وُدٍّ محافظٍ
لذي العيب من أعدائهِ غير غائِبِ
How much sincere affection I have for it
That wards off the shameful from its enemies though absent!
أخي ثقةٍ نادَمْتُهُ الراحَ والصبا
له من يدِ الأيامِ غَيرُ سوالِبِ
A trusted brother whom I counseled in comfort and youth
Whom the days had no garments to strip from him.
معتّقةٌ دعْ ذكر أحْقابِ عُمرها
فقد مُلئتْ منها أناملُ حاسِبِ
A lady prisoner, leave mentioning the eras of her life
For the fingers of the recorder have been filled with them.
إذا خاض منها الماءُ في مُضْمَر الحشا
بدا الدرّ منها بين طافٍ وراسِبِ
When the water flows in the racecourse of valour
The pearls in it become manifest between the foam and sediments.
لياليّ بالمهديَّتين كأنها ال
لآلئُ منْ دنْياك فَوقَ ترائِبِ
Nights in Mahdiyya seem to be
Pearls from your world placed atop necklaces.
ليالي لم يذهبن إلّا لآلئاً
نظمنَ عقوداً للسّنين الذواهِبِ
Nights that went away taking only
The pearls they threaded on necklaces for the fleeting years.
إذا شئتُ أنْ أرْمي الهلالَ بلحظَةٍ
لمحتُ تَميماً في سماءِ المناقِبِ
When I wish to throw the crescent with a glance
I glimpse a pendant in the sky of high rank.
ولو أنّ أرضي حرةٌ لأتَيتُها
بعزمٍ يعُدُّ السيرَ ضربةَ لازِبِ
Had my land been free, I would have come to it
With a resolve that considers travel a single leap.
ولكنَّ أَرضي كَيفَ لي بفكاكها
من الأسْر في أيدي العُلوجِ الغواصِبِ
But how can I redeem my land
From captivity in the hands of the plundering tyrants?
لَئِن ظَفِرت تِلكَ الكِلابُ بأَكلِها
فبعد سكونٍ للعروقِ الضوارِبِ
If those dogs gain its food
It will be after tranquility for the pulsing veins.
أَحينَ تفانى أَهلها طوْعَ فتنةٍ
يضرّم فيها نارَه كلُّ حاطِبِ
When its people perish because of sedition
In which every fire-kindler fans his flames?
وأَضحَت بها أَهواؤهم وكَأَنَّما
مذاهبهم فيها اختلافُ المذاهِبِ
Their whims have become in it as though
Their ways are the differing of doctrines.
ولَم يرحَمِ الأَرحامَ منها أقارِبٌ
تروّي سيوفاً من نجيع أقارِبِ
Nor did relatives spare relatives,
Watering swords from the resting place of relatives.
وكان لهم جَذْبُ الأصابِعِ لم يَكُن
رواجبُ منها حانياتِ رواجِبِ
Had they been pulled by their fingers, it would not have been
The fees of the singing girls therein.
حُماةٌ إذا أبْصَرْتَهُمْ في كريهَةٍ
رضيتَ من الآساد عن كلّ غاضِبِ
Defenders - when you see them in an evil predicament
You would be satisfied with lions after every angry one.
إِذا ضَارَبوا في مأزِقِ الضربِ جرّدوا
صواعقَ من أيديهمُ في سحائِبِ
When they strike in the strait of striking they bare
Lightning bolts from their hands in clouds.
لهم يومَ طَعْنِ السُّمْرِ أيدٍ مبيحةٌ
كُلَى الأسْدِ في كرّاتهم للثَعالِبِ
The day they stab with lances they have hands
That tear apart the lions in their den for the foxes.
تخبّ بهمْ قبٌّ يُطيلُ صهيلُها
بأرْض أعاديهم نياحَ النّوادِبِ
Ruin lies in wait for them, their neighing lasting long
In the land of their enemies with the crying of wild animals.
مؤلَّلَةُ الآذان تحتَ إلالهمْ
كما حُرّفَتْ بالبريِ أقلامُ كاتِبِ
Their ears adorned as if bent
Beneath their turbans like the reeds of a writer in the desert.
إذا ما أدارَتها على الهام خلتَها
تَدورُ لِسَمعِ الذِكر فوقَ الكَواكِبِ
When they turn them to the aspirations, they make them
Circle about to hear mention above the stars.
إذا سكتوا في غمرةِ الموْتِ أنْطقوا
على البيض بيضَ المرهفاتِ القواضِبِ
When they are silent in the overwhelmings of death they speak
Of the whites of their sharp swords on the whites of the cheeks.
تَرى شُعَل النيرانِ في خَلجِ الظبا
تذيق المنايا من أكفِّ المواهِبِ
You see the flames of fires writhing in the thickets of acacia
Tasting deaths from the palms of the givers.
أُولئكَ قومٌ لا يُخاف انحرافُهُمْ
عن الموت إن خامَتْ أسودُ الكتائِبِ
They are a people who are not feared to divert
From death if the black standards advance.
إِذا ضَلَّ قومٌ عن سَبيلِ الهُدى اهتدوا
وأيّ ضَلالٍ للنّجوم الثواقِبِ
If a people go astray from the path of guidance they are guided aright,
What misguidance is there for the penetrating stars?
وكم منهمُ من صادق البأس مُفْكِرٍ
إذا كَرّ في الأقدامِ لا في العَواقِبِ
How many of them are earnest in might when he charges
Not heeding the consequences when attacking the feet.
له حملةٌ عن فتكَتَينِ انفراجُها
كفتكِك من وجهين شاهَ الملَاعِبِ
He has a band whose opening of two rent valleys
Is like your rending in the faces of the well-trained horses.
إذا ما غَزَوْا في الرّومِ كان دخولُهُمْ
بطونَ الخلايا في مُتون السّلاهِبِ
When they invade Roman lands their entrance therein
Is like the entering of intestines into the bodies of lions.
يموتونَ موتَ العِزّ في حَوْمةِ الوَغى
إذا ماتَ أهلُ الجبنِ بين الكَواعِبِ
They die the death of honour in the intensity of the fray
While the people of cowardice die between the elbows.
حَشَوْا من عجاجاتِ الجهادِ وسائداً
تُعَدّ لهم في الدّفن تَحتَ المَناكِبِ
They filled cushions of struggle to be their grave pillows
Prepared for them in burial beneath their shoulders.
فغاروا أفولَ الشهب في حُفَرِ البلى
وأبْقَوْا على الدنْيا سوادَ الغياهِبِ
They hid in the graves of decay like the setting
Of stars, and left upon the world the blackness of gloom.
ألا في ضمانِ اللَّه دار بِنُوطَسٍ
وَدَرّتْ عليها مُعْصِراتُ الهواضِبِ
Behold! The abode of the Banu Tus is in the protection of God,
And its pouring torrents have run upon it.
أُمَثّلُها في خاطري كلّ ساعةٍ
وأمْري لها قَطْرَ الدّموعِ السواكِبِ
I portray it in my mind every hour
And my tears flow for it drop by drop.
أَحنّ حنينَ النيبِ للمَوطنِ الّذي
مغَاني غوانيه إِليهِ جَواذبي
I yearn with the nostalgia of the prophet for the homeland
Whose songs appeal to me.
ومن سار عن أرْضٍ ثوى قلبُهُ بها
تَمَنَّى له بالجِسمِ أَوبةَ آيِبِ
He who travels from a land where his heart settled
Wishes for the returning there like a returning raven.
