شدوا على ظهر الصبا رحلى — Sardar

شُدُّوا على ظهر الصِّبا رَحلى

إن الشبابَ مطيَّةُ الجهلِ

Fasten my saddle upon the back of youth;

indeed, youth is the mount of folly.

إن أُحرِزتْ نفسي إلى أمدٍ

دبَّرتُها في الشَّيبِ بالعقلِ

If my soul is preserved until a later time,

I shall govern it in gray old age with reason.

إن المغرَّبَ في مواطنه

من عاش في الدنيا بلا خِلِّ

Indeed, the exile in his own homeland

is one who lives in this world without a close friend.

وإذا الفؤاد ثوى بلا وطر

فكأنه ربعٌ بلا أهلِ

And when the heart dwells without desire,

it is like a dwelling without inhabitants.

من للظباء سواى يقنِصُها

إن أسكرتني خمرةُ العذلِ

Who but me will hunt the gazelles

if the wine of reproach intoxicates me?

أوغلتُ في خوض الهوى أنَفاً

للقلب أن يبقىَ بلا شُغلِ

I plunged deeply into love, disdaining

that the heart should remain unoccupied.

وحِذرتُ سُلوانا فسُمتُهُمُ

أن يَحرِمونى لذّةَ الوصلِ

I feared forgetting love, so I charged them

to deny me the pleasure of union.

فضَلَتْ دموعى عن مدَى حزَنىَ

فبكيتُ مَن قَتَل الهوى قبَلى

My tears exceeded the extent of my grief,

so I wept for those love had slain before me.

ما مرّ ذو شَجنٍ يكتِّمه

إلا أقول متيمَّ مثلى

No sorrowful man concealing his grief passed by

without my saying, 'Love-stricken, like me.'

يُخفى ولا يَخفىَ على نظرى

عَلمَ الخضوع ومِيسَم الذلِّ

He hides—yet they do not escape my gaze—

submission's banner and abasement's brand.

يا فاتكا أضراه أنَّ له

قَتْلَى بلا قَوَدٍ ولا عَقْلِ

O slayer, emboldened by having

victims without retaliation or blood money!

لِمَ لا تُريُق دَماً وصاحبُه

لك جاعلٌ في أوسع الحِلِّ

Why not spill blood, when its owner

grants you the fullest leave to do so?

بُعداً لغِزلان الخدور لقد

كُحِلَتْ مَحاجرُهنَّ بالخَتْلِ

Away with the gazelles of curtained chambers! Indeed,

their eye-sockets have been kohled with deceit.

يرمين في ليلِ الشبابِ لكى

تَخفَى علىَّ مواقعُ النبلِ

They shoot in the night of youth so that

the places where the arrows strike stay hidden from me.

لو لم يُردْ بي السوءَ خالقُها

ما ضمَّ بين الحسن والبخلِ

Had their creator not wished me harm,

he would not have joined beauty with stinginess.

غِقذف عدوَّك إن أردتَ به

دهياءَ بين الأعين النُّجل

So cast your enemy, if you wish him

a dire calamity, among wide eyes.

يبلُغنَ كلَّ العُنفِ في لَطَفٍ

ويَنلنَ أقصى الجِدِّ بالهزلِ

They attain the full measure of violence through gentleness,

and reach the utmost earnestness through play.

هبْهم لَوَوْا وعدِى فطيفهُمُ

من ذا يجسِّره على مطلى

Grant that they evaded their promise to me; their phantom—

who could embolden it to put me off?

قد كدتُ أُنهِكهُ معاقَبةً

لولا ادّكارى حُرمَة الرُّسْلِ

I nearly punished it to exhaustion,

but for remembering the inviolability of messengers.

وعهودُكم بالرَّمل قد نُقضتْ

وكذاك من يبنى على الرملِ

And your pledges at al-Raml have been broken;

and so it is with whoever builds upon sand.

إن ازمعوا صرما فلِمْ عَقدوا

يومَ الكثيب بحبلهم حبلى

If they resolved to sever ties, why did they bind

my cord to theirs on the day at the dune?

لا يوثِق الأُسراءَ بينهُمُ

إلا رِشاءُ الفاحِم الرَّجْلِ

Nothing binds the captives among them

but the well-rope of coal-black, wavy hair.

كيف الخلاصُ ومن قدودهِمُ

وخدودهم ونهودهم عقلى

How can I escape, when from their figures,

their cheeks, and their breasts come my fetters?

وإذا الهوى ربَط النفوسَ فما

يُغنيك حَلُّ يدٍ ولا رِجْلِ

And when love binds souls, what

does untying a hand or foot avail you?

صحبى الألى أزجَوْا مطيَّهُمُ

حتى أناخوها بذى الأَثْلِ

My companions, who urged their mounts onward

until they made them kneel at Dhu al-Athl:

من يطَّلِعْ شَرَفا فيعلمَ لي

هل روَّح الرُّعيانُ بالإبلِ

who will climb a height and find out for me

whether the herdsmen have brought the camels in at evening,

أم قعقَعتْ عَمَدُ الخيام أم ار

تفعَتْ قِبابهُمُ على البُزْلِ

or the tent poles have rattled, or

their pavilions have been lifted onto full-grown camels,

أم غرَّد الحادى بقافيةٍ

منها غرابُ البين يستملى

or the camel-driver has warbled a rhymed verse

from which the raven of parting takes dictation?

إنى أحاذر من رحليهمُ

ما حاذَرَتْ أُمٌّ من الثُّكلِ

I dread their departure

as a mother dreads the loss of her child.

إن كان ذاك فصادَفوا لقَمَا

يعمَى الدليلُ به عن السُّبْلِ

If that is so, may they encounter a broad road

where the guide is blind to the paths!

رفقا فلست أُطيق أحملُ ما

حَمَلَ الأجلُّ لنا في الثِّقلِ

Gently! I cannot bear to carry what

the most illustrious has borne for us in heavy burdens.

وهو الذي كلٌّ يُقرّ له

يومَ الفخار عليهِ بالفضلِ

He is the one to whom everyone concedes

superiority over himself on the day of boasting.

أَغلتْ مكارمُه المهورَ على

تزويج بِكرِ القول بالفعلِ

His noble deeds have raised the bride-prices for

marrying the virgin of speech to action.

وحَبا العفاةَ وهم بدارهمُ

حتى دَعَوه جامعَ الشملِ

And he gave to petitioners while they were in their homes,

until they called him the gatherer of the scattered.

يعطيك في عُسُر وفي يُسُرٍ

ويُنيل من كُثْرٍ ومن قُلِّ

He gives to you in hardship and in ease,

and bestows from abundance and from little,

مثل السحابةِ ما تُغبُّك في ال

حالاتِ من وبل ومن طلِّ

like a cloud that never fails you through the

changing circumstances, with downpour or drizzle.

فكأنما أوحىَ إلى يده

أن تقتلَ الإملاقَ بالبذلِ

So it is as though he inspired his hand

to kill destitution through giving.

شجر من المعروف أنبتها

تختال في ثمر وفي ظلِّ

Trees of kindness he has caused to grow

sway proudly in fruit and shade.

ومناهلٌ إن يرضَ واردها

بالنَّهْل يجبُرْهُ على العَلِّ

And watering-places: if their visitor is content

with a first draught, he compels him to a second,

ظنًّا بأن الفرضَ ليس له

حمدٌ وأن الشكرَ للنَّفلِ

believing that duty earns no

praise, and that gratitude is for giving beyond duty.

لعدوّه وما للصديق به

والغيثُ رزقُ الحَزِن والسهلِ

His enemy too receives what his friend has from him;

and rain sustains rugged ground and level land alike.

وإذا السماء غدت كأنّ على

أبوابها قُفلا من المَحْلِ

And when the sky becomes as though on

its doors lay a lock of drought,

وجدوا الغمامَ قلائصا غَرِضتْ

بالسير من جهد ومن هُزْلِ

they find the clouds to be young she-camels wearied

by travel, from exhaustion and emaciation,

واستحسن الكرماءُ من سَغبٍ

أن يبعثوا بذخائر النملِ

and the generous, through hunger, think it good

to send gifts from the ants' hoards,

في شَتوةٍ شمطاءَ عانسةٍ

عزَّ الرَّضاعُ بها على الطفلِ

in a gray-haired, spinster winter

when milk is hard for the infant to obtain,

بكَرت أناملهُ بغاديةٍ

تكسو البلادَ مَلاحفَ البَقْلِ

his fingertips come early with a morning shower

that clothes the land in mantles of herbage,

وكأنما الأنواءُ حائلةٌ

عجفاءُ تَرمحُ حالبَ الرِّسْلِ

and the rain-stars seem like a barren she-camel,

gaunt, kicking the one who draws the milk.

بلغَ المدى والتابعون له

متعثرون بزَلّة النعلِ

He has reached the goal, while his followers

stumble as their sandals slip.

لو قُلّد الشجعانُ عزمَته

لغَنُوا عن الهِندىِّ ذى الصقلِ

Were the brave girded with his resolve,

they would have no need of the polished Indian sword.

حُنِيتْ أضالعُه على همم

مخلوقة للعَقد والحَلِّ

His ribs have been curved around ambitions

created for binding and unbinding.

لا يدّعِى إقدامَه أحدٌ

وإن ادعاه فوالدُ الشِّبلِ

No one claims his boldness;

and if one does, it is the lion cub's father.

ما يذعَرُ الخصماءُ من فُطُمٍ

ترميهمُ بشقاشقٍ تغّلى

Adversaries do not take fright at weanlings

that assail them with seething throat-pouches.

أبدا يفِرُّ صريعُ منطقه

منه إلى الخَطّىّ والنَّصلِ

Always, the man struck down by his speech flees

from him to the Khattian spear and the blade.

يرنو الزمان إلى معاندِه

حنَقاً عليه بأعينٍ قُبْلِ

Time gazes at his adversary,

in wrath against him, with inward-squinting eyes.

في كفِّه صمَّاءُ ضامرةٌ

سرَقَتْ شمائَلها من الصِّلِّ

In his palm is a hard, slender pen

that stole its traits from the asp.

سمُّ الأساودِ في نواجذها

وإن اغتذت بمُجاجةِ النحلِ

Black serpents' venom is in its teeth,

though it feeds on the bees' spittle.

ما حُكِّمتْ في أمرِ مُشكلةٍ

إلا أتت بقضيَّةٍ فَصلِ

It is never made arbiter in a difficult matter

without delivering a decisive judgment.

من مثلُه لقراع نائبةٍ

فيها فراق العِرْسِ للبَعلِ

Who is his equal in confronting a calamity

that parts a wife from her husband?

هيهات أن تلقىَ مشابَهه

أمُّ الصقورِ قليلةُ النسلِ

How unlikely that you should find his like!

The mother of falcons bears few young.