لو كنت أشفق من خضيب بنان — Sardar

لو كنتُ أُشفقُ من خضيبِ بنانِ

ما زرتُ حيَّكُمُ بغير أمانِ

Had I feared one with henna-stained fingertips,

I would not have visited your encampment without safe-conduct.

يا صبوةً دبَّت إلىَّ خديعةً

كالخمر تسرِقُ يقظةَ النشوانِ

O youthful passion that crept toward me deceitfully,

like wine stealing the drinker's wakefulness!

اُنظرْ قما غضُّ الجفون بنافع

قلبا يَرى مالا تَرى العينانِ

Look: lowering the eyelids is of no use

to a heart that sees what the two eyes cannot.

ولقد محا الشَّيبُ الشبابَ وما محا

عهدَ الهوى معه ولا أَنسانى

Gray hair has erased youth, but has not erased

love's covenant with it, nor made me forget.

فعلمتُ أن الحبَّ فيه غَوايةٌ

مغتالةٌ للشَّيبِ والشُّبّانِ

Thus I learned that love contains a delusion

that stealthily slays the gray-haired and the young.

ما فوق أعجازِ الركابِ رسالةٌ

تُلهى ففيمَ تَحيّةُ الرُّكبانِ

No message rides upon the camels' rumps

to distract me; why, then, salute the riders?

عذرا فلو علموا جواك لساءلوا

غِزلانَ وجرةَ عن غصون البانِ

Pardon them: had they known your anguish, they would have asked

Wajra's gazelles about the boughs of the ban-tree.

قُولا لكُثبان العقيقِ تطاولِى

دون الحِمىَ أقدُرْك بالطَّمَحان

You two, tell the dunes of al-Aqiq: rise high

before the sanctuary; I shall measure you with my soaring gaze.

وليَنِسِفَنَّ الرملَ زَفرهُ مدنفٍ

إن لم يُعنْهُ الدمع بالهملانِ

A wasted lover's sigh shall surely scatter the sand,

if tears do not help it with their streaming.

عِجل الفريقُ وكلُّ طَرفٍ إِثرَهم

متعثِّر اللحظاتِ بالأظعانِ

The company hastened away, and every eye following them

stumbles in its glances over the departing camel litters.

وكأنما رُدْناىَ يومَ لقيتُها

بالدمع قد نُسِجا من الأجفان

It was as though my two sleeves, the day I met her,

had been woven of eyelids through tears.

كلِّفْ رُدْناىَ يومَ لقيتُها

بالدمع قد نُسِجا من ألأجفان

Burden my two sleeves, the day I met her,

with tears: they had been woven of eyelids.

كلِّفْ تجلّدِىَ الذي يسطيعُهُ

هل فيَّ إلاّ قدرةُ الإنسانِ

Demand of my fortitude what it can accomplish;

have I anything beyond a human being's capacity?

ولئن فررتُ من الهوى بحُشاشتى

فالحبُّ شرُّ متالف الحيوانِ

Though I escaped love with a remnant of life,

love is the worst destroyer of living creatures.

يدرى الذي نضح الفؤاد بنَبْله

أن قد رمى كَشحيْهِ حينَ رمانى

He who showered my heart with his arrows knows

that he struck his own flanks when he struck me.

لو لم تكن عينى على أطلالهم

عُقِرتْ لما سَفَحتْ بأحمرَ قانى

Had my eye not been, at their ruined dwellings,

slaughtered, it would not have shed deep crimson.

متأوّلين على الجفون تجنيِّا

فالدمع يُمطرُهم بذى ألوانِ

Maliciously imputing false meanings to the eyelids,

while tears rain upon them in many colors.

ولو أنه ماءٌ لقالوا دمعُهُ

رِيقٌ وجفنَا عينِه شَفَتانِ

Even if they were water, they would say: 'His tears

are saliva, and his eye's two lids are lips.'

ظمىء إلى ماء النُّقَيْبِ لأنَّه

وِرْدُ اللَّمَى ومناهلُ الأغصانِ

Thirsty for al-Nuqayb's water, for it is

the watering-place of dark lips and the drinking-places of boughs.

ولَنِعمَ هينمة النسيم محدّثا

عن طِيبِ ذاك الجيبِ والأردانِ

How lovely the breeze's murmur, telling

of the fragrance of that neckline and those sleeves!

إن لم يكن سهلُ اللوى وحزونُهُ

وطنى فإنَّ أنيسَه خُلاَّنى

If al-Liwa's plain and rugged ground are not

my homeland, its companions are my dear friends.

ولو أنهم حلُّوا زرودَ منحتُهُ

كَلَفى وقلتُ الدارُ بالجيرانِ

Had they settled at Zarud, I would have bestowed on it

my ardor, saying: 'A home is made by its neighbors.'

عُلَقٌ تَلاعبُ بي ورُبَّ لُبانةٍ

شاميَّةٍ شغَفتْ فؤادَ يماني

Attachments play with me; many a yearning

of Syria has enthralled a Yemeni heart.

هل تبلِغنِّي دارَهُمْ مزْمومةٌ

بالشوقِ موقَرةٌ من ألأشجانِ

Will a she-camel bring me to their home, bridled

with longing, laden with sorrows?

فعسى أميلُ إلى القِبابِ مناجيا

بضائمرِ ثقلُتْ على الكتمانِ

Perhaps I may turn toward the domed tents, confiding

secrets too heavy to remain concealed.

وأطاردُ المُقلَ اللواتي فتكُها

يُملى عليَّ مَقاتل الفُرسانِ

And pursue those eyes whose deadly power

dictates to me the slayings of knights.

متجاذبين من الحديث طرائفا

يُصغِى سماعِها النِّضوانِ

As we exchange delightful turns of speech,

whose sound sets the two lean camels listening.

كرِّرْ لحاظكَ في الحُدوجِ فبعدها

هيهات أن يتجاور الحيّانِ

Repeat your glances into the camel litters; afterward,

far, far away is the two tribes' dwelling side by side.

من بعد ما أرغمتُ أنفَ رقبيهم

حَنَقا وخُضتُ حميَّة الغَيْرانِ

After I had rubbed their watcher's nose in dust,

in anger, and plunged into the jealous man's fury,

وطرقتُ أرضَهُمُ وتحتَ سمائها

عدَدَ النجومِ أسنةُ الخُرصانِ

and entered their land by night, beneath its sky

were spearheads as numerous as the stars.

أرضٌ جَداولُها السيوف وعُشبُها

نَبْعٌ وما ركزوا من المُرَّانِ

A land whose streams are swords, whose grass

is nab'-wood and the ash-spears they have planted.

في معشرٍ عشِقوا الذُّحولَ وآثروا

شُربَ الدماءِ بها على الألبانِ

Among a people who loved blood-feuds and preferred

drinking blood there to drinking milk.

قومٌ إذا حيَّا الضيوفُ جِفانَهم

ردَّتْ عليهمْ ألسنُ النيرانِ

A folk whose guests, when they greet their great bowls,

are answered by the tongues of flames.

وإذَا شَواةُ الرأس صوَّحَ نبتُها

فعلى قضاءِ مآربٍ من شانِ

And when the scalp's growth has withered,

it is through fulfilling needs of consequence.

ولتَعَلَمنَّ البيدُ أنَّ جِباهَها

موسومةٌ بالنَّصِّ والوخَدانِ

The deserts shall surely learn that their foreheads

are branded by swift travel and brisk trotting.

يُزجَرْنَ أمثالَ القِداحِ ضَوامرا

ويُرَحْنَ أمثالَ القِسىِّ حوانى

Urged onward, lean as arrow-shafts,

and brought home curved as bows,

أو ينتهينَ إلى جنابٍ ترتعى

فيه الوفودُ منابتَ الإحسانِ

or they reach a precinct where

delegations graze on the growth of beneficence.

ربُّ المآثرِ والمحامدِ ربُّه

وولىُّ بِكرِ صنيعةٍ وعَوانِ

The lord of great deeds and praises is its lord,

the patron of favors, maiden and seasoned.

تلقَى الجبابرةُ المصاعبُ وجهَهُ

بجماجمٍ تحنو على الأذقانِ

The unyielding tyrants meet his face

with heads bowed down upon their chins,

متهافتين على الصَّعيد كأنّهم

شِربوا بهيبتِهِ سُلافَ دِنانِ

falling upon the earth as though they

had drunk pure wine from jars through awe of him.

وطِئُوا سَنابكَ خيله بشفاههم

قُبَلا وجلَّتْ عنهم القَدمانِ

They trod his horses' hooves with their lips

in kisses; his two feet were too exalted for them.

حتى إذا صدَعوا السُّرادقَ أطرقت

تلك اللواحظُ من أغرَّ هِجانِ

Until, when they parted the pavilion curtains, lowered

were those gazes before a radiant, purebred man.

قد أيقنتْ قِممُ الملوك بأنه

إن شاء طلَّقها من التيجانِ

The crowned heads of kings have become certain that he,

if he wishes, can divorce them from their crowns.

خَطْراً أبا قَرْعَى الفِصال مُقاربا

إن القُروم أحقُّ بالخطَرانِ

Strut sparingly, father of mangy camel-calves:

the great stallions have more right to strut.

فذروا الحمى يرعَى به متخمِّطٌ

تُخشَى بوادِرهُ على الأقرانِ

Leave the preserve to a raging beast that grazes there,

whose sudden attacks his peers must fear.

ما بين ساعده الهصورِ محرَّمٌ

فتعرَّضوا لفريسةِ السِّرحانِ

What lies within his crushing foreleg's reach is forbidden;

so turn instead toward the wolf's prey.

لا مَطعَمٌ لبُغاثِكم في مأزقٍ

حامت عليه كواسر العِقبانِ

No feeding-place for your weak birds lies in a strait

over which the predatory eagles hover.

للمْجلس الشرقىّ أبعدُ غاية

في يوم مَلحَمةٍ ويومِ رِهانِ

The eastern court has the furthest reach

on a day of battle and a day of racing.

فركابُه ما تَنثنى بأزِمَّةٍ

وجيادُه ما ترعوىِ بِعنانِ

Its mounts do not turn back at the reins,

nor its noble steeds desist at a bridle.

هِمَمٌ كما سرت البروقُ خواطفا

في حاصبٍ أو عارضٍ هتّانِ

Aspirations like lightning flashing

through a stone-lashing storm or a pouring cloud,

وعزائمٌ رُبِيَتْ وأطرافَ القنا

وظُبا السيوفِ وارِضعت بلبانِ

and resolves reared with the spear-tips

and sword-edges, and suckled with the same milk.

إن الورى لما دعوْه جَمالَهم

حلُّوا من العلياءِ خيرَ مكانِ

When mankind named him their adornment,

they attained the best station in exaltedness.

وأتتْ به عدنانُ في أحسابها

حتى أقرّ بنو قَحطانِ

Adnan brought him forth among its ancestral honors,

until the sons of Qahtan acknowledged him.

مجدٌ أطلَّ على الزمان وأهلِهِ

متقيِّلٌ في ظلِّه الثَّقَلانِ

A glory overlooking time and its people,

in whose shade humankind and jinn rest at noon;

ومفاخرٌ مشهودةٌ يَقضِى لها

يومَ النفار سواجِعُ الكُهّانِ

and witnessed distinctions, in whose favor rule

the soothsayers' rhymed sayings on the day of rivalry.

من ذا يجاذبه الفخارَ وقد لوى

أطنابَه في يَذبُلٍ وأبانِ

Who can contend with him for glory, when he has fastened

its tent-ropes upon Yadhbul and Aban?

طَلاَّب ثأرِ المجد وهو مدفَّعٌ

بين اللئام مسَفَّه الأعوانِ

A seeker of vengeance for glory when it is repulsed

among the base, its supporters deemed fools.

لم يرضَ ما سنّ الكرامُ أمامَه

حتى أتى بغرئبٍ ومَعانِ

He was not content with what the noble had established before him,

until he brought marvels and meanings.

نسخت فضائُله خِلالَهم التي

نجحوا بها في سالف الأزمانِ

His virtues superseded those qualities of theirs

through which they prospered in bygone ages.

فهي المناقبُ لو تقدّم ذكُرها

تُليتْ مَثانِيهن في القرآنِ

Such are his merits: had their mention come earlier,

their repeated verses would have been recited in the Qur'an.

يعطيك ما حَرَم الجوادُ ودِينُه

أن الثراءَ وعُدْمَهُ سِيّانِ

He gives you what the generous man withheld; his creed

is that wealth and its absence are alike.

وإذا رجالٌ حصَّنوا أموالَهم

جعَل المواهبَ أوثقَ الخُزّانِ

When men fortified their riches,

he made gifts his most trustworthy treasurers.

كم أزمةٍ ضحِكت بها أنواءُهُ

والغيثُ لا يلوِى على طمآنِ

How many a famine his rain-stars have made smile,

though rain does not turn toward a thirsty man.

من راحتيه نوافلٌ ومنائحٌ

ومن القلوب مطامعٌ وأماني

From his palms come extra gifts and grants,

and from hearts come hopes and wishes.

فحذارِ أن يطغىَ السؤالُ بطالبٍ

رفدّا فيركبَ غاربَ الطُّوفانِ

Beware lest asking overwhelm one seeking

a gift, and he ride the flood's crest.

وأصَبْتُ قد يَحكى السحابُ نوالَه

لكنَّ ذا ناءٍ وهذا دانِ

I judged rightly: clouds may resemble his bounty,

but that is distant, while this is near.

وقرنتُه بالبحر يقذِفُ باللُّهَى

ونسيتُ ما فيه من الحَدْثَانِ

I paired him with the sea, casting forth lavish gifts,

forgetting the disasters it contains.

وذكرتُ ما في الليثِ من سَطَواتهِ

ولربّما وَلَّى عن الأقرانِ

I recalled the lion's fierce assaults in him,

yet a lion may turn away from rivals.

لا تعدمَ الأزمانُ رأيَك إنه

في ليلها ونهارها القمرانِ

May the ages never lack your counsel: it is

the sun and moon of their nights and days.

رأىٌ سقىَ اللهُ الخلافةَ صوبَهُ

ورمى بصاعقه ذوى الشَّنآنِ

A counsel whose downpour may God give the caliphate,

and with whose thunderbolts may He strike the hateful.

نُجْحا بنى العباّس إن قناتَكم

هُزَّتْ بأحذقِ ساعدٍ بطعانِ

Success, sons of al-Abbas! Your spear

is wielded by the arm most skilled in thrusting.

جَدٌّ أمدّ عديدكم من غِيله

بأشدَّ من أسَد العرين الجانى

Fortune reinforced your numbers from its thicket

with one fiercer than the marauding lion of the lair.

يحمى ذمارَكُمُ بغير مساعدٍ

ويحوط سَرحكُمُ بلا أعوانِ

He guards your honor without a helper,

and protects your grazing herds without assistants.

وثباتُه العزم الذليق إذا سطا

وزئيره حُكْمٌ وفصلُ بيانِ

His leaps are keen resolve whenever he attacks,

his roar a judgment and decisive declaration.

مستلءمٍ بجَنانه وبنانِهِ

واسانهِ مِضرابةٍ مِطعانِ

Armored with his heart and fingertips,

and his tongue—a mighty striker and thruster.

لما رأى والحزمُ ينفعُ أهلَه

عَوْدَ الخلافةِ ضارباً بجرانِ

When he saw—and prudence benefits its possessors—

the caliphate's old camel resting its neck upon the ground,

والسيفَ لو يَرْكُضْ بكفَّىْ ضاربٍ

والرمحَ لم يَطمحْ بعينِ سنانِ

and the sword—if it leapt in a striker's hands—

and the spear not lifting the eye of its point,

داوَى عَياءَ الداءِ ساحرُ رفِقهِ

والنَّقْبُ يَشفيهِ هِنَاءُ الهانى

the wizardry of his gentleness treated the incurable disease;

camel-mange is cured by the tar-applier's salve.

حتى إذا برح الخفاءُ وسفَّهتْ

حِلَم الحليمِ حفيظةُ الغضبانِ

Until concealment vanished, and was scorned

the patient man's patience by the angry man's fury,

ورأى الهَوادَة مَرَوةً مقروعةً

والسّلم مطعمةَ العدوّ الوانى

and he saw truce as a flint being struck,

and peace as food for the weakened enemy,

نادَى فلبَّاه صهيلُ سوابقٍ

وأطيطُ كلِّ حنِيَّةٍ مِرنانِ

he called, and answering him were the neighs of racers

and the creaking of every resounding bow,

وفوارسٌ يَصلَوْن نيرانَ الوغى

مما تُثيرُ جيادُهم بدخانِ

and horsemen who endure the fires of battle,

amid smoke from what their steeds stir up.

جنَبوا إلى الأعداءِ كلَّ طِمِرَّةٍ

بُنيت مفاصلُها على شَيطانِ

They led against the enemy every swift mare,

whose joints were built upon a demon.

مثل المَراقبِ تحتهم وهُمُ على

صواتها كالهَضْب من ثَهلان

Like watchtowers beneath them; and they upon

their backs were like the crags of Thahlan.

طلعوا طلوع الشمسِ يغمرُ ضوءُها

هامَ الرُّبَى ومغَابنَ الغِيطانِ

They rose like the sun, whose light submerges

the heads of hillocks and the hollows of lowlands.

وكأنما سجدتْ قِسِيُّهمُ إلى

لألاء وجهك إذ أتتك حوانىِ

It was as though their bows prostrated themselves before

your face's radiance, when they came to you bent,

من بعد ما سدّوا الفضاءَ وحرَّموا

نَفَل الربيع به على الغِزلانِ

after they had filled the open land and forbidden

its spring clover to the gazelles.

يتسابقون إلى المنون فكلُّهم

يغَشى الردَى ما عُدّ في الوِلدانِ

They race toward death, each one of them

facing destruction while still numbered among boys.

وإذا هُم عدِموا مَقاودَ خيلهم

فتلوا لهنَّ ذوائبَ الفُرسانِ

If they lack reins for their horses,

they twist the warriors' forelocks into reins for them.

في كلِّ معترَك تُجيلُ كماتُهم

قِدْحا يفوز إذا التقَى الجمَعانِ

In every battlefield their champions cast

an arrow-lot that wins when the two hosts meet.

فاسئلْ جبالَ الروم لمَّا طوَّقوا

أعناقَها من جَمعهم برِعانِ

Ask the mountains of Rum, when they encircled

their necks with ridges of their assembled host:

ترعَى بها زُهرَ النجوم جيادُهم

ومن السحاب يَرِدنَ في غُدرانِ

their steeds graze there upon the bright stars,

and drink in pools from the clouds.

فكأنّهم يبغون في فَلك الذُّرَى

أن يأسروا العَيُّوقَ للدَّبَرانِ

As though, in the sphere of the summits, they sought

to capture Capella for Aldebaran.

تركوا المعاركَ كالمنَاحِرِ من مِنىً

وجماجمَ الأعداء كالقُربانِ

They left battlefields like the slaughter-places of Mina,

and enemies' skulls like sacrificial offerings.

فكأنّما فرَشَ النجيعُ تِلاعَها

ووِهادَها بشقائق النُّعمانِ

As though fresh blood carpeted their heights

and their hollows with Nu'man's anemones.

فأتاك وفدُ بنى الأُصيفِرِ يرتمى

بهمُ جَناحَا ذِلّةٍ وهوانِ

Then came to you the delegation of the sons of al-Usayfir, borne

by the two wings of abasement and humiliation.

جنحوا به مستسلمين وطالما

شمَخوا بدينهمُ على الأديانِ

They turned toward him in surrender; long had they

exalted their faith above other faiths.

بذلوا الإتاوة عن يدٍ فكأنّهم

عقدوا بذاك الغُرِم عَقْدَ ضَمانِ

They paid tribute submissively, as though

through that payment they had made a covenant of protection.

في كلِّ يومٍ تستهلُّ منوزَهم

كرماً بعَشرِمِىءٍ من العِقيانِ

Each day their treasuries pour forth

in bounty a thousand in pure gold.

وبرزتَ في حُلل الوقارِ بهيبة

فقأتْ عيونَ الكفر بالإيمانِ

You emerged in robes of dignity, with an awe

that put out unbelief's eyes with faith.

وكفاكَ أن قُدتَ الضلالة بالهدى

وجعلت دارَ الحرب دارَ أمانِ

It is enough that you led error by guidance

and made the abode of war an abode of safety.

هذا العراق قد انجلت شُبُهاتُه

وصَفا من الأقذاءِ والأدرانِ

This Iraq: its confusions have cleared,

and it is purified of motes and stains.

إن مّسه نَصبُ الورودِ فإنه

سيُنيخُ من نعماك في أعطانِ

If the toil of reaching water has touched it,

it shall kneel, through your blessings, at watering-place folds.

نفَّرت ذُؤبانَ الغضا عن شِربِهِ

فالأَمنُ يَسرحُهُ بلا رُعيانِ

You drove the wolves of the ghada thickets from its watering-place,

so safety pastures it without herdsmen.

ولَّى أَرَسْلانٌ يُمَسِّح في الحشا

قلبا يشير عليه بالطيرانِ

Arslan fled, stroking within his breast

a heart that urged him to take flight.

وهوت بنو أَسَدٍ تَسُلُّ لقاحَها

فتسيل بين الحَزْنِ فالصَّمّانِ

Banu Asad sped away, drawing off their milch camels,

pouring between al-Hazn and al-Samman.

وجرى الغرابُ مع البوارحِ ضائحا

بالبين بين منازل الجَاوانِ

The raven flew with the ill-omened birds, crying

of separation among al-Jawan's dwellings.

وطوتْ عقيلٌ عَرضَ كلِّ تَنوفَةٍ

بذميلِ ذِعلبةٍ وركِض حِصانِ

Uqayl traversed the breadth of every wasteland

with a swift she-camel's trot and a stallion's gallop.

بالشام ألَّفَ خوفُ بإسك بينهم

وقلوبُهم شتَّى في الأضغانِ

In Syria, fear of your might united them,

though their hearts were divided by rancor.

هيهات لو رِكبوا النعائمَ في الدجى

وأردتَ لاقتنصاهُم النَّسرانِ

Far from escape! Had they ridden the Ostriches in the dark,

and had you wished, the two Eagles would have hunted them down.

وكذا عدوُّك إن نجا جُثمانه

فالقلبُ في قِدِّ المخافةِ عانِ

So too your enemy: if his body escapes,

his heart is a captive in fear's leather bonds.

ما بين مصرَ وبين عزِمك موعدٌ

متوِّقعٌ لوقائه الهرَمانِ

Between Egypt and your resolve lies an appointed meeting,

whose encounter the two pyramids await.

إن صانها بُعدُ المدَى فلمثلها

تقتادُ كلّ نجيبةٍ مِذاعانِ

If distance protects it, it is for such a goal

that every noble, obedient she-camel is led.

ماءُ الجداولِ للأكفِّ وإنما

ماء القَليبِ يُنال بالأشطانِ

Stream-water is for hands; but

well-water is reached with ropes.

من كان شرقُ الأرض طوعَ زمامِهِ

لِمَ لا يصرِّف غَربَها بعِنانِ

He whose reins command the earth's east—

why should he not direct its west with a bridle?

والجيشُ مَجْرٌ والأوامرُ طاعةٌ

والنصر مرجوٌّ من الرحمنِ

The army is a vast host, and orders are obeyed,

and victory is hoped for from the Most Merciful.