هو منزل النجوى بخالي الأعصر — Sardar

هو منزلُ النجوَى بخالي الأعصرِ

فمتى تجاوزْهُ الركائبُ تُعقَرِ

It is the abode of intimate converse in bygone ages.

Whenever the riding camels pass beyond it, may they be hamstrung.

أشتاقُ دارَهُمُ وليس يشوقنى

إلا مجاورةُ الغزال الأحورِ

I yearn for their home, and nothing draws my yearning

but the nearness of the dark-eyed gazelle.

وأفضِّل الطيفَ المُلمَّ لأنهم

هَجروا وأن طُيوفَهم لم تَهجُرِ

I favor the visiting phantom, for they

have deserted me, while their phantoms have not.

أرضَى بوعدٍ منهُمُ لم يُنتظَرُ

ومن الخيال بزَورةٍ لم تَعبُرِ

I am content with a promise from them that is not awaited,

and with a visit from the phantom that does not pass.

لا ماؤهم للمشتكى ظماً ولا

نيرانُهم للقابس المتنوّرِ

Neither is their water for one complaining of thirst, nor

their fires for one seeking a firebrand and light.

أثرَوْا ولم يقضُوا ديونَ غريمهم

واللُّؤمُ كلُّ اللُّوْم مطلُ الموسِرِ

They grew wealthy, yet did not pay the debts owed their creditor.

And baseness, worthy of every blame, is a rich man's delaying payment.

هل ترعون بأنَّةٍ من مدنفٍ

أو تسمحون لمطلبٍ من مُقترِ

Will you heed a groan from one wasted by illness,

or grant a request from an impoverished man?

أو تتركون من الدموع بقيَّةً

يلقى بها يومَ التفرُّق مَحْجِرى

Or will you leave some tears remaining

for my eye to face the day of separation?

ما اجتاز بعضكُمُ بأسرابِ المها

إلا اعترفن عليه مقلةَ جُؤذُرِ

Not one of you passed by herds of oryx

without their recognizing in him an oryx calf's eye.

يا من تبلَّد بين آثار الحِمَى

يقفو مَعالِمها بعينَىْ مُنِكرِ

O you who linger bewildered among the traces of the protected pasture,

tracing its landmarks with unrecognizing eyes:

أُنشدْ قضيبَ البان بين مُروطهِم

واطلب كثيبَ الرمل تحت المئزرِ

seek the ban-tree's slender bough among their cloaks,

and seek the sand dune beneath the waistcloth.

وإذا أردتَ البدرَ فابعث نظرةً

لمطالع بين اللِّوى فمُحَجَّرِ

And if you desire the full moon, cast a glance

toward its rising places between al-Liwa and Muhajjar.

أتردُّ يا روضَ العقيق ظُلامةً

رُفِعتْ إليك من القِلاصِ الضُّمَّرِ

Will you redress, O meadow of al-Aqiq, a grievance

brought before you by the lean young she-camels?

إياك أن تطأَ اللَّعاع بمَنسمِ

منها وأن ترعَى الجحيمَ بمَشفَرِ

Beware of treading tender herbage with a pad

of theirs, and of grazing Hellfire with a lip.

لولا النجاءُ من الرواقِص بالفلا

لم يُفجَع النجدىُّ بالمتغوّرِ

Were it not for the swift travel of the camels swaying through the desert,

the man of Najd would not be bereft of the one bound for the lowlands.

فصَمِمْنَ حتى لاوعت أسماعُها

تَصهالَ رعدٍ في حَبِىٍّ ممطِرِ

So may they go deaf, until their ears no longer hear

thunder's neighing in a massed, rain-bearing cloud.

وعمِين حتى لا رأت أبصارُها

بَرقا كناصيةِ الحِصان الأشقرِ

And may they go blind, until their eyes no longer see

lightning like the chestnut stallion's forelock.

إن كنتَ تنظرُ ما أرى فانظر إلى

بانٍ على أكتادِ نَخلٍ موقَرِ

If you see what I see, then look at

ban-trees upon the shoulders of laden palms.

وكأنما رفعوا قبابَهُمُ على

شجرٍ بربَّات الهوادج مثمِر

It is as though they raised their domes upon

trees whose fruit is the ladies of the howdahs.

أممتِّعى وحشَ الفلا بجمالهم

ما ذنْب طرف الهائم المستهترِ

O you who delight the desert's wild beasts with their beauty,

what sin has the lovesick, besotted man's eye committed?

خلَّفتُمُ خِلَّ الصفاء وراءكم

كالميْتِ إلا أنّه لم يُقبرِ

You left your true-hearted friend behind you,

like a dead man, save that he was not buried,

بمدامع لمَّا تَغِضْ ومَكاسرٍ

لم تَنجبر وجرائحٍ لم تُسبَرِ

with tear-streams that have not yet ebbed, and fractures

unmended, and wounds that have not been probed.

وإذا العواذلُ أطفأت صبوَاتِه

شبَّت لظاها زفرةُ المتذكِّرِ

Whenever the reproaching women extinguish his passions,

a sigh of remembrance rekindles their blaze.

اِحذرْ عذارك والعذارُ مغلِّس

فإذا بدا صبحُ المشيبِ فأقصرِ

Beware your cheek-down while the cheek-down is still dark;

when the dawn of gray hair appears, desist.

وَضَحٌ تَجَنَّبَهُ الغوانى خِيفةَ ال

عَدوَى فإن يقرُبْ إليها تنِفُرِ

A white blemish that fair women shun for fear of

contagion: if it comes near them, they flee.

ما كنت أحسبُ أنَّ سيفَ ذؤابتى

ينبو بترديد الصّقال الأزهرِ

I never thought that the sword of my forelock

would be blunted by repeated gleaming burnishing.

صدأُ النُّصول من الشعور أدلُّ من

لونِ الجلاء على كريم الجوهرِ

Rust on the blades of hair is more telling than

the hue of polish as a sign of noble substance.

أأسير في الليل البهيم فأهتدى

وأَضِلُّ في إدلاجِ ليلٍ مقمرِ

Shall I travel through pitch-dark night and find my way,

yet go astray when journeying through a moonlit night?

ومدحتَ لي صِبْغَ المشيبِ بأنه

كافورةٌ ونسيتَ صِبْغَ العنبرِ

You praised to me the hue of gray hair, saying it

was camphor, forgetting the hue of ambergris.

وإذا الثناءُ على الوزير قَرَنته

بهما أقراَّ للذكىِّ الأعطرِ

And if you couple praise of the vizier

with those two, both yield to the keen-scented, more fragrant one.

فلذى السعادات ابنِ جعفرَ شيمةٌ

من قَرقفٍ صِرفٍ ومِسك أذفرِ

For Dhu al-Sa'adat, Ibn Ja'far, has a disposition

of unmixed strong wine and pungent musk.

في الأرض سبعةُ أبحرٍ ويمينُه

وشِمالُه تجرى بعشرةِ أبحرِ

There are seven seas on earth, while his right hand

and his left flow with ten seas.

وهما سحائبُ ماؤهنّ لُجينُه

وبروقُهن من النضار ألأحمرِ

The two are rainclouds whose water is his silver,

and whose lightning is red gold.

قسمت أناملُه المواهبَ في الورى

فكأنهم زَجَروا قداحَ الميسرِ

His fingertips divided gifts among mankind,

as though they had cast the gaming arrows.

وإذا عِشارُ المال عُذنَ بكفّهِ

فلقد عقَلن نفوسَهنَّ بمَنحَرِ

When the heavily pregnant she-camels of wealth seek refuge in his hand,

they have indeed hobbled themselves at a slaughtering place.

ومعذَّلٍ أعيَا على عُذَّاله

في الجود قَصُّ جناحِ ريحٍ صرصرِ

And a reproached man—his reproachers found it beyond them

to clip, in his generosity, a howling wind's wing.

وهو السخىُّ وإنما حسدوا اسمَهُ

فدعَوْه فيما بينهم بمبذِّرِ

He is the generous one; they merely envied his name,

and so, among themselves, called him a squanderer.

طلبوا الذي أجرِى إليه فخُيِّبوا

ومن العناء طِلابُ ما لم يُقدَرِ

They sought what was allotted him, but their hopes were dashed;

and it is toil to seek what has not been decreed.

والأكرمون حَكَوه في أفعاله

فعُزُوا إلى كرمٍ مزوَّرِ

The noblest imitated him in his deeds,

and were credited with counterfeit generosity.

ما زال يبحث عن سرائر وفده

حتى أجاب إلى اسلؤال المضمَرِ

He kept searching the hidden thoughts of his visitors

until he answered their unspoken request.

يغزو إليه المقُتِرونَ لعلمهم

أنَّ النوالَ لديه غيرُ مخَفَّرِ

The impoverished march upon him, knowing

that his bounty lies unguarded.

في كلّ يومٍ يُلجِمون لغارةٍ

فسِنُوه غير محرَّماتِ الأشهرِ

Every day they bridle their mounts for a raid,

so his years contain no sacred months.

مستنشق عِطرَ الثناء بسمعه

ما كلّ طيِّبة تُشَمُّ بمنَخِرِ

He inhales the perfume of praise with his hearing;

not every fragrance is smelled through a nostril.

متيقِّظٌ فمتى تُصِبه نَفثةٌ

للشكر في عُقَدِ المطامعِ يُسحَرِ

Ever vigilant, whenever a breath touches him

of thanks upon the knots of hopes, he is bewitched.

يسعَى ويكدحُ ثم يُتلفُ ما حوى

عاداتُ أروعَ للأنام مسخَّرِ

He strives and labors, then dissipates what he has amassed:

the habits of a splendid man placed at mankind's service.

بالله نُقسمُ أنه لا خيرَ في

حسبٍ ولا نسبٍ لمن لم يُشكَرِ

By God, we swear there is no worth in

standing or lineage for one who earns no thanks.

لو كان مجهولَ المغارس أخبرت

عنه شمائُله بطِيب العُنصُرِ

Were his roots unknown, his qualities would tell

of the goodness of his stock.

قد زان مَخبَره بأجملِ مَنظرٍ

وأعان مَنظرَه بأحسن مخَبرِ

He adorned his inner worth with the fairest appearance,

and supported his appearance with the finest inner worth.

ما مَن تتوّج أو تمنطقَ عسجداً

كمطوَّق بالمكرماتِ مسوَّرِ

No one crowned or girdled with gold

equals one necklaced and braceleted with noble deeds.

تحكى أنابيبُ اليراع بكفّه

فعلَ الرماح تخاطرت في سَمهرِ

The reed-pen shafts in his hand imitate

the action of spears swaying in Samhar.

وكأنها الخطباءُ فوقَ بنانهِ

لكن بلاغُتها كلامُ المنبرِ

They seem like orators above his fingertips,

yet their eloquence is the pulpit's speech.

لا تَبعدنْ هِممٌ له أُودِعت

عند الكواكب لادّعاها المشترى

May his high ambitions never perish—if they were lodged

among the stars, Jupiter would claim them.

وعزائمٌ يَلحُمْن مثلومَ الظُّبا

ويُقِمنَ أصلابَ القنا المتأطِّرِ

And resolves that weld notched sword-edges

and straighten the spines of bent spears.

إطراقهُ يُخشىَ ويُرهَبُ صَمتُه

والسيفُ محذورٌ وإن لم يُشهَرِ

His bowed head is feared, and his silence dreaded;

a sword is feared even when not unsheathed.

لولاك ما انتبه الثرىَ بمَناسمٍ

خُلطتْ بطونُ صعيده بالأظهرِ

But for you, the earth would not have been roused by camel-pads

mixing the belly of its soil with its back,

وسواهمٍ لبنات نعشٍ لحظُها

وخِفافُها تفلى بناتِ الأَوْبرِ

and by gaunt camels whose gaze rests on the Daughters of Na'sh,

while their pads comb through the 'Daughters of al-Awbar' truffles.

فأتتك أمثالَ السَّعالَىِ زُوّجتْ

أشباحَ رُكبانٍ كجِنَّةِ عَبقَرِ

So they came to you like she-ghouls, paired

with shadowy riders like the jinn of Abqar.

غصبَوا النجومَ على السُّرَى وتعلَّموا

خوضَ الظلام ومن المطىِّ الزُّوَّرِ

They forced the stars to journey by night, and learned

from the crooked-necked mounts how to wade through darkness.

لا ينظرون وِصابَهم وشحوبَهم

إلا بمِرآة الصباح المُسفرِ

They do not see their fatigue and pallor

except in the mirror of brightening morning.

لم يلبسوا الأدراع إلا رِيبةً

لا خيفةً من أبيضٍ أو أسمرِ

They wore coats of mail only out of suspicion,

not from fear of a white sword or a brown spear.

إن لم يُنيخوا في ذَراك فإننى

لكفيلُ كلِّ مهنّىءٍ ومبشِّرِ

If they do not kneel their mounts in your shelter, then I

am surely guarantor for every congratulator and bearer of good news.

جدِّدْ بنوروز الأعاجم رتبةً

سَمْتَ المجرة أو فويقَ الأنسُرِ

Renew at the Persians' Nowruz a rank

toward the Milky Way, or a little above the Eagles.

واسَرحْ سَوامَك في رياضِ سعادةٍ

وعميمِ عُشْبٍ بالعلاء منوِّرِ

Let your grazing herd roam in gardens of happiness

and abundant grass flowering with exalted glory.

فإذا ورَدت فماء أعذبِ مَوْرِد

وإذا صدَرتَ فرَوْح أفسحِ مَصدَرِ

When you come to water, may it be the sweetest watering place's water;

and when you depart, repose in the most spacious place of departure.

أهديتُ من كلِمِى إليك تحيَّةً

غراءَ تسترعى حنينَ المِزهَرِ

I have offered you, from my words, a greeting,

radiant, calling forth the lute's plaintive strains.

ولو ادخرتُ المالَ أو أبقيتُه

يوما أثبتُ بأبيضٍ وبأصفرِ

Had I stored away money or kept it

for a day, I would have repaid you in white silver and yellow gold.