قباء لها أعلى الربى وخيام — Sharif Al Murtaza

قَباءٌ لها أعلى الرُّبى وخيامُ

تُرامُ وهل في الباخلين مَرامُ

A slender-waisted woman has the hilltops and tents;

she is sought—but is there anything to gain from the miserly?

وقفنا فجَفنٌ ماؤه متحدّرٌ

وجَفْنٌ جفاه الماءُ فهوَ جَهامُ

We halted: one eyelid had tears streaming down,

and another, forsaken by tears, was a rainless cloud.

وأعجلنا حادى المطايا فما لنا

علَيهنّ إلّا أَنّةٌ وسلامُ

The driver of the mounts hurried us on, and we had

for them only a groan and a farewell.

وما الدّار من بعد الّذين تحمّلوا

عن الدّار إلّا يَرْمَعٌ وسِلامُ

And the dwelling, after those who journeyed away

from it, is nothing but soft white stones and rocks.

فما لَكِ يا لَمْياءُ في جانب النّوى

تُطيعينَها فينا وأنتِ غَرامُ

Why, Lamya, are you on separation's side,

obeying it against us, though you are passion itself?

وهجرُكِ صِرْفٌ لا لقاءَ يشوبُهُ

فإنْ عَنَّ يوماً فاللّقاءُ لِمامُ

Your estrangement is pure, unmixed with any meeting;

and if one happens some day, the meeting is fleeting.

تصدّين عنّا ساهراتٍ عيونُنا

وَما زرتنا إلّا ونحن نيامُ

You turn away from us while our eyes are sleepless,

and never visit us unless we are asleep.

لِقاءٌ بجنحِ اللّيلِ طَلْقٌ محلُّهُ

وفي الصّبحِ محظورٌ عليَّ حَرامُ

A meeting beneath night's wing is freely allowed,

but at dawn it is barred to me, forbidden.

فخيرٌ من اليقظان مَن بات نائماً

وخيرٌ من الصّبحِ المنير ظلامُ

So better than the wakeful is one who spends the night asleep,

and better than luminous dawn is darkness.

ألا قلْ لمن ملَّ الطّريق إلى العِدا

وَقَد ملّ من مسِّ الرِّحال سَنامُ

Say, then, to whoever has wearied of the road to the foes,

when even a hump has wearied of the saddles' touch:

وللعيس من طولِ الوجيفِ مع الوَجى

على كلّ ملحوبِ السَّراةِ بُغامُ

And the pale camels, from long trotting and aching feet,

utter low cries on every road worn smooth along its back.

لهنّ وأيديهنّ تستلب المدا

طلىً مائلاتٌ بينهنّ وهامُ

They have, as their forelegs snatch away the distances,

necks drooping among them, and heads.

أنيخوا بركن الدّين شُعْثَ مَطِيّكمْ

وحُلّوا فما بعد الهُمامِ هُمامُ

Make your shaggy mounts kneel beside Rukn al-Din,

and encamp: beyond this noble lord there is no noble lord.

وقولوا لسُوّاقِ المطايا تنازحوا

بعيداً فهذا منزلٌ ومُقامُ

Tell the drivers of the mounts to move away,

far off: this is a dwelling and a place to remain.

أقيموا على مَنْ وجهُهُ الشّمسُ بهجةً

وكفّاه من فيض النوالِ غمامُ

Stay with one whose face is the sun in radiance,

and whose two palms are rain clouds, overflowing with bounty.

فَللجود إلّا في نواحيه كُلْفَةٌ

وَللمالِ إلّا في يديه زمامُ

For generosity is a burden anywhere but his domains,

and wealth has a bridle anywhere but his hands.

فَتىً يَهب الأموال طَلْقاً وإنّما

تَجود سماءُ القطر حين تُغامُ

A youth who gives wealth bright-faced, whereas

the rain-bearing sky gives only when clouded.

ولا ضيمَ للجار المقيم ببابه

وإنْ كانتِ الأموالُ فيه تُضامُ

No wrong befalls the neighbor dwelling at his gate,

though the wealth in his keeping is wronged.

وكم موقفٍ صعب الوقوف شهدتَه

وللشّمس من نسج الكُماةِ لِثامُ

How many a stand, difficult to hold, you have witnessed,

with the sun veiled in the armored warriors' weaving,

وَللأرضِ رَيٌّ مِن سيول نجيعِهِ

وللطّير من لحم الجسومِ طعامُ

and the earth drinking its fill from torrents of its shed blood,

and birds finding food in the flesh of bodies.

وما لبث الأعداءُ حتّى نثرتَهمْ

كما اِنحلَّ منعقد الفتاةِ نظامُ

The enemies had scarcely lingered before you scattered them,

as a maiden's knotted necklace comes unstrung.

كأنّهمُ صَرْعى بمدرجةِ الصَّبا

إكامٌ بقاعٍ ليس فيه إكامُ

As though, slain in the east wind's path, they were

hillocks on a plain where no hillocks stood.

وظنّوا وكم ذا للرّجال طماعةٌ

نجاحاً فخابوا يوم ذاك وخاموا

They expected—how often men have such covetous hopes—

success, but failed that day and recoiled.

وَكَم حاملٍ يومَ الكريهة قاطعاً

وساعدُه عند الضّرابِ كَهامُ

How many a man bears a sharp blade on the day of battle,

yet his forearm, when blows are exchanged, is blunt!

وحولك ولّاجون كلَّ مضيقةٍ

نحافٌ ولكنّ النّفوسَ ضِخامُ

Around you are men who plunge into every narrow pass,

lean, but mighty of soul.

وَما بَذلوا الأرواحَ إلّا لأنّهمُ

كرامٌ وما كلُّ الرّجالِ كرامُ

They gave their lives only because they are

noble—and not all men are noble.

وقد علموا لمّا عرا الملك ما عَرا

ولجّ به داءٌ وطال سَقامُ

They knew, when the realm suffered what it suffered,

and disease persisted in it and sickness lingered,

بأنّك أصبحتَ الدّواء لدائه

وما لك في شيءٍ صنعت مَلامُ

that you had become the remedy for its disease,

and you deserve no blame for anything you did.

وأصلحتها ما هُزّ رمحٌ لطعنةٍ

ولا سُلّ فيها للقِراعِ حسامُ

You set matters right with no spear brandished for a thrust,

and no sharp sword drawn there for combat.

ولُذْتَ بحلمٍ عنهمُ يوم طيشهمْ

ينافس فيه يَذْبُلٌ وشمامُ

You sheltered yourself from them in forbearance on their day of rashness,

a forbearance Yadhbul and Shamam strive to rival.

وَلولا اِعتبارُ النَّصْف عندك لم تكنْ

تُسام خلاف النَّصْف حين تُسامُ

Were it not for your regard for fairness, you would not be

pressed to accept injustice when demands are made of you.

أعِذْنِيَ من قول الوشاة ومعشرٍ

لهمْ كلماتٌ حشوهنّ كِلامُ

Protect me from the speech of slanderers and a band

whose words are filled with wounds.

فلو شئتَ لم يخدُشْنَ جلدي وطالما

وَقَيْتَ فلم تَخْلُصْ إليَّ سهامُ

If you wished, they would not scratch my skin; how often

you have protected me, so no arrows reached me.

فشبهُ سقيمٍ من حديثٍ مُصحَّحٌ

وصدقٌ وكذبٌ في المقال كَلامُ

For the semblance of an unsound report is deemed sound;

and truth and falsehood, in speech, are both words.

فَما أنَا ممّنْ يَركب الأمرَ يُجْتَوى

عليه ويُلحى عنده ويُلامُ

I am not one who undertakes an affair for which he is detested,

and on its account reproached and blamed.

وما لِيَ تعريجٌ بدارِ خيانةٍ

ولا لِي على غير الوفاءِ مقامُ

I do not turn aside to a dwelling of betrayal,

nor do I abide in anything but fidelity.

نفذتَ بدَرٍّ من هوائك أَعظُمِي

فليس لها عمرَ الزّمانِ فِطامُ

You have suffused my bones with the milk of your affection,

and they will never be weaned for all time.

فَما لِيَ إلّا مِن هواك علاقةٌ

وَلا لِيَ إلّا في يديك زِمامُ

I have no bond except through your love,

and no bridle except in your two hands.

وما كنتُ لولا أنّك اليومَ مالِكِي

أُرامُ ونجمُ الأُفقِ ليس يُرامُ

Were you not my master today, I could not be

reached; nor can the star of the horizon be reached.

وكم لي بمدحي في علاك قصائدٌ

لهنّ بأفواهِ الرُّواةِ زِحامُ

How many poems I have in praise of your loftiness,

thronging the mouths of reciters!

مُرقِّصَةٌ للسّامعين نشيدُها

كما رقصتْ بالشّاربين مُدامُ

Their chanting sets their listeners dancing,

as wine sets its drinkers dancing.

هَدَجْنَ على القيعان شرقاً ومغرباً

كما هيج في دوّ الفلاةِ نَعامُ

They went bobbing across the plains, eastward and westward,

like ostriches startled in the desert's vast expanse.

فَلا تَخش من جحدٍ لنُعماك في الورى

فنُعماك أطواقٌ ونحن حَمامُ

Do not fear your favors being denied among humankind:

your favors are neck-rings, and we are doves.

وَلا تُدنِ إلّا مَنْ خبرتَ مغيبَه

ففي النّاس نبعٌ منجبٌ وثُمامُ

Bring near only those whose hidden nature you have tested,

for among people are bow-trees of fine yield and thumam grass.

فلا عبثتْ منك اللّيالِي بفُرصةٍ

ولا عاث في رَبْعٍ حللتَ حِمامُ

May the nights never toy with an opportunity against you,

nor death ravage a dwelling where you have settled.

ولا خصمتْ أيّامنا لك دولةً

فلم يك في حقٍّ أبَنْتَ خصامُ

May our days never contest your reign,

for there was no dispute over a right you made plain.

وهُنِّئتَ بالعيد الجديد ولم تزلْ

يعودك فِطْرٌ بعده وصيامُ

May you be congratulated on the new festival, and may you always

be revisited by fast-breaking, followed by fasting.

فما كُتبتْ فيه عليك خطيئةٌ

ولا شان من بِرٍّ أتيتَ أثامُ

For no sin was recorded against you in it,

nor did sin tarnish any good you performed.

وأعطاك يومُ المِهْرَجانِ مسرّةً

لها يوم نقصان العطاء تمامُ

May the day of Mihragan grant you joy,

complete on the day when giving diminishes.

وطالتْ لنا أيّامُك الغُرُّ سَرْمداً

ودام لها بعد الدّوام دوامُ

May your radiant days endure for us forever,

and may endurance follow endurance for them.

ولا زال فينا نورُ وجهك ساطعاً

فإنّك شمسٌ والأنامُ قَتامُ

May the light of your face never cease shining among us,

for you are a sun, and humankind is a haze of dust.