أغُمْرَ الهوى كم ذا تُقَطّعُني عَذْلا
قتلتُ الهوى علماً أتقتلني جهلا
O novice in love, how long will you cut me down with blame?
I slew love knowingly—will you slay me in ignorance?
أظنّك لم تُفْتَحْ عليك نواظِرٌ
إذا هي أعْطتْ صبوةً أخذَتْ عقلا
I think no eyes have ever opened upon you
that, when they granted passion, did not take away reason.
ولا عَرَضَتْ من بيضِهِنَّ سَوافِرٌ
عليكَ الخدودَ الحُمرَ والأعينَ النُّجلا
Nor have unveiled faces among those fair women displayed
to you their crimson cheeks and wide, dark eyes.
لم يصبِ منكَ القلبَ مَشْيُ جآذرٍ
يُنَزِّع فيه التّيهَ أقدامَها نَقْلا
Your heart has never been struck by the gait of gazelles
whose proud coquetry makes their feet advance step by step.
ولم ترَ سِحْراً كالعيون تَخالُنا
بِزَعْمِكَ أحياءً ونحنُ بها قتْلى
Nor have you seen sorcery like eyes that make us seem
alive, as you suppose, though by them we are slain.
ومن أعجبِ الأشياءِ أنَّ سُيوفَها
تَعودُ رِماحاً حَيثُ تَلحَظُ أَو نبلا
Strangest of all is that their swords
turn into lances wherever they glance—or arrows.
خَرَجتُ على حَدِّ القياسِ مَعَ الهوى
فقلْ مَن أمَرّ الكأسَ من بعد ما أحلى
With love I have departed from the rule of measure;
tell me, who made the cup bitter after it had been sweet?
ولمّا كَتبتُ الحبَّ في القلبِ وارتَقَى
إلى الطرْفِ ماءُ الشوقِ أنكَر ما أملى
When I inscribed love upon my heart and it rose
to my eye, longing’s water erased what I had written.
وَبي كُلُّ غَيداءِ القَوامِ كأنّما
يُطَاولُ منها قدُّها شَعَراً جَثْلا
Many a slender-waisted beauty possesses me, as though
her stature vied in height with her luxuriant hair.
لَها بَلَهٌ بِالحبِّ تَحسَبُ جِدّهُ
إِذا هَزَّ أَعطافي بِنَشوَتِهِ هَزلا
Her lovesick folly takes love’s earnestness for jest
when its intoxication shakes my limbs in play.
إذا غرَستْ في مسمعِ الصّبِّ موْعِداً
جَنى بِيَدِ التسويفِ مِن غَرْسِها مَطْلا
When she plants a promise in the lover’s ear,
the hand of procrastination reaps delay from what she planted.
وإن هي زارَتْ خلتَها مستعيرةً
لَها مِن خَطيبِ الحفلِ جَلسَتَه العَجْلى
If she visits, you would think she had borrowed
from a public orator the haste with which he sits and leaves.
أَرى البيضَ مِثلَ البيضِ تَقطعُ وَصْلَ مَن
يُقَطِّعُ في كفَّيهِ مِن غَيرِه وَصلا
I see fair women, like bright blades, severing the bond of one
who, sword in hand, cuts another’s joints.
فَلا تَأمَنَنْ مِنهنَّ إن كنتَ حازماً
ولا من هواها المرءَ خبلاً ولا ختلا
Never trust them, if you are prudent,
nor trust their lover to escape madness or deceit.
وساقٍ على ساقٍ يُصرِّفُ بيننا
بكأسٍ نَظَمْنا للسرور بها شَملا
A cupbearer, shin crossed over shin, moves among us,
bearing a cup around which our scattered joy becomes whole.
كلؤلؤةٍ بيضاءَ في الكفِّ أقبلتْ
بياقوتةٍ حمراءَ مظهرةً حَمْلا
Like a white pearl in the palm, he approached,
openly bearing a ruby-red burden.
كأنّ وُثُوبَ السُّكْرِ فيها مُساورٌ
يدبّبُ منه في مفاصلها نملا
It was as though intoxication’s leap within it were bracelets,
while numbness crept from it through the joints like ants.
تَرَكْنا لها من جَوْرِها ما يُسيئُنَا
فمن مَزْجِهَا بالماءِ قارنَتِ العدلا
In our injustice to it, we left it what displeased us;
whoever mixes it with water observes justice.
وعذراءَ كانت وردةً قبل مزجها
ومن بعده عَنّتْ لِمُبصرها شعلا
A virgin, rosy before she was mixed,
afterward appeared to the beholder as flames.
إذا واجهتْ كاساتُها الليلَ خلتَها
تهتّكُ من ظلمائه حُجُباً كُحْلا
When her cups confronted the night, you would think
they tore black veils from its darkness.
وتحسبُها تجلو علينا عرائسا
وشاربُها يفتضّ منهُنَّ ما يُجلى
You would think she unveiled brides before us,
and whoever drank her disclosed whatever could be revealed.
وجدنا نَعَمْ في الناس يُهجرُ قوْلُها
كأنّ على الأفواهِ من لفظها ثِقْلا
We found among humankind a bliss whose name they shunned,
as though its very word lay heavy upon their mouths.
ولمّا اجتَواها كُلُّ حَيٍّ تَعَلَّقتْ
بلفظ ابن عبّادٍ فكان لها أهلا
Yet when every living soul gathered its fruit, it clung
to the name of Ibn ʿAbbād, for he was worthy of it.
جَوادٌ بما فَوقَ الغنى لَكَ والمُنى
فَهِمَّتُكَ العُلْيا لِهِمَّتِه سُفلى
He is generous beyond wealth itself; even aspirations
at their loftiest are low beside his ambition.
تَرى الناسَ يَستَصحونَ مِن جودِ كَفِّهِ
إذا الوبلُ منه انهلّ واتّبعَ الوبلا
You see people carrying away the bounty of his hand
whenever its rain pours down, shower following shower.
هِزَبرُ الوغى بالسيفِ والرمح مقدمٌ
له الضربةُ الفرغاءُ وَالطعنةُ النجلا
A lion of battle, advancing with sword and spear;
his is the sweeping blow and the mighty thrust.
تنوءُ به غِرّاً حفيظةُ عَزْمِهِ
وترجَحُ أسبابُ الأناةِ بِهِ كَهلا
The ardent burden of his proud resolve weighs upon him,
yet mature forbearance tips the balance more heavily.
وحربٍ أذيقتْ في بنيها ببأسِه
مرارةَ كأسِ الثكل لا عَدِمتْ ثكلا
Many a war was made to taste, among its own sons, through his might,
the bitter cup of bereavement—may it never lack bereavement.
وَكانَتْ عيونُ الماءِ زُرْقاً فَأَصبَحتْ
بما مازَجَتْهُ من دمائهمُ شُهْلا
The eyes of the springs were blue, but they became hazel
from the blood he mingled with their waters.
وما ولدتْ سودُ المنايا وَحُمْرُهَا
عَلى الكرهِ حَتَّى كانَ صارِمُكَ الفحلا
Neither black death nor red death gave birth
unwillingly until your sword became the sire.
أقائدَها قبَّ الأياطلِ لم تَدَعْ
له عند أعداءٍ إغارتُها ذَحْلا
Lean steeds ridden by champions led it; their raid left
no blood-debt among his enemies unavenged.
حمَيتَ حِمى الإِسلام إذ ذدتَ دونه
هِزَبراً ورشَّحْتَ الرشيدَ له شِبلا
You guarded the sanctuary of Islam when you defended it,
a lion, and readied al-Rashid as its lion cub.
لَئِن قلتُ فيه صحّ تأليفُ سُؤدَدٍ
فبارعُ نَقْلٍ من شمائِلِك استملى
If what I compose about him is rightly called glory,
I am only a copyist taking dictation from his virtues.
أَلا حبَّذا العيدُ الَّذي عكفت به
على كفّك الأمواهُ تُمْطُرها قُبلا
How welcome the feast day upon which
mouths thronged around your hand, raining kisses upon it.
ويا حبّذا دارٌ يدُ اللَّه مَسّحَتْ
عليها بتجديدِ البقاءِ فما تبلى
And how welcome a palace anointed by the hand of God,
with ever-renewed endurance, so that it never decays.
مُقَدَّسَةٌ لو أنّ موسى كليمَهُ
مَشَى قَدَماً في أرضها خَلَعَ النعلا
So sanctified that, had Moses been addressed within it,
he would have entered its grounds and removed his sandals.
وما هيَ إِلّا خطةُ الملِكِ الّذي
يَحُطُّ لَدَيهِ كلُّ ذي أملٍ رَحْلا
It is nothing but the precinct of sovereignty, where
every hopeful seeker sets down his traveling gear.
إذا فتحت أبوابُها خلتَ أنَّها
تقولُ بترحيبٍ لداخلها أَهلا
When its doors open, you would think they
say to every entrant, Welcome!
وقَد نَقَلَتْ صُنّاعُها مِن صِفاتِهِ
إِلَيها أَفانيناً فَأَحسنَتِ النقلا
Its workmanship has transferred into it, from its attributes,
varied wonders—and reproduced them beautifully.
فَمِن صَدرِهِ رَحباً وَمِن وَجهِهِ سَناً
وَمِن صِيتِهِ فَرعاً وَمِن حِلمِه أَصلا
From its breast comes spaciousness; from its face, radiance;
from its renown, the branch; from its forbearance, the root.
وأَعلتْ بها في رُتبَةِ الملك نادياً
وقلَّ لَهُ فَوْقَ السماكين أن يُعْلى
Through it, sovereignty has raised a lofty assembly;
tell it to rise above the two Simāks.
نسيتُ به إيوانَ كسرى لأنّه
أراني له مَوْلى من الفضلِ لا مثلا
Within it I forgot Kisra’s Iwan, for it
showed me a lord whose excellence has no peer.
كَأَنَّ سُلَيمانَ بنَ داودَ لم تُبِحْ
مخافتُه للجنّ في شَيْده مَهْلا
As though Solomon, son of David, had granted
the jinn no respite from his awe while they built it.
كأنّ عيونَ السحر نافذةٌ له
على كلّ بانٍ غايةً منه أو فضلا
As though his sorcerous eyes could penetrate
each builder’s utmost skill and every excellence.
فجاء مكانَ القول نبعثُ وَصْفَهُ
رقيقاً وأذنُ الدهر تَسمَعُهُ جذلى
It arose beyond the reach of human description,
delicate in form, while the ear of Time hears its grandeur.
تجوزُ له الأمواهُ بركةَ جدولٍ
تخالُ الصَّبا منه مُشطِّبةً نصلا
Waters traverse it through the basin of a stream;
you would think its dawn-like gleam a silvered blade.
إذا اتّخَذَتْها الشمسُ مرآةَ وجْهِها
أحالت عليها من مداوسِها صَقْلا
When the sun takes it as the mirror of her face,
she polishes its surface through her circling course.
تَرى الشمسَ فيه ليقةً تَستَمِدُّها
أكفٌّ أقامتْ من تصاويرها شكلا
You see the sun within it as pigment drawn up
by hands that fashioned its images into shapes.
لها حركاتٌ أودِعَتْ في سُكونِها
فما تَبِعَتْ في نقلهنّ يدٌ رِجلا
They possess movements entrusted to their stillness,
though no human hand imparts that motion to them.
وقَد تُوِّجَ البهوُ البهيُّ بِقُبَّةٍ
فقلْ في عروسٍ في جلابيبها تُجلى
The radiant hall has been crowned with a dome:
call it a bride unveiled within her robes.
تجمعتِ الأضدادُ فيها مصانعاً
ولم أرَ خَلْقاً قبلها جَمَعَ الشّمْلا
Contraries have gathered there, harmoniously fashioned;
never before have I seen a created thing unite the scattered whole.
وأغربُ ما أبصرتُ بعد مليكها
بها مُتْرَعٌ يعدي الشجاعةَ والبذلا
The strangest sight I saw there after its king
was a brimming figure embodying courage and generosity.
تنادمُ في غنّاءَ غنّتْ حَمَامُها
فَوارِسَ أغصانٍ ترجّحها حَمْلا
It keeps company, amid music sung by its cooing doves,
with horsemen of branches that sway beneath their burden.
إذا شَرِبتْ وُدّ المؤيّد صيّرَتْ
خلائقَهُ راحاً ورؤيتَهُ نُقْلا
If it drank al-Muʾayyad’s affection, it would turn
his virtues into wine and transmit their fragrance.
كَأَنَّ مها الأَحْداجِ حَلَّتْ سماءَها
وَإِن لَم تَكُن إِلّا حنياته بُزْلا
As though camel-litters had alighted in its sky,
though they were only its arches, like full-grown camels.
كَأَنَّ سِهاماً أرْسِلَتْ عن قِسِيِّها
فَما عَدِمَتْ عَينُ الحَسودِ بِها سَمْلا
As though arrows had been loosed from its bows;
through them the envious eye never escapes blindness.
وما شئتُ مما لو عُنيتُ بوَصْفِهِ
سلكتُ إليه كلّ قافيةٍ سبلا
Whatever one might desire there—were I to describe it—
every rhyme would find a road leading toward it.
فَتَحسَبُ ما في الأرضِ مِن حَيوانِها
رَقَى شَرَفاً فيه إلى الفلكِ الأعلى
You would think every living thing on earth within it
had risen in rank to the highest sphere.
ولمّا عَشينَا من توقّد نورها
تَخِذْنَا سناهُ من نواظرنا كُحْلا
When the blaze of its light dazzled our eyes,
we made its radiance kohl for our vision.
فيا دارُ أغضى الدهرُ عنكِ وأكثرتْ
أُسودُكِ نَسلاً فيه يَختَتِلُ النّسلا
O palace, may Time lower its gaze before you, and may you multiply
your lions, generation after generation, so long as humankind is circumcised.
