ألا حبذا زمن الحاجر — Sharif Al Murtaza

ألا حبّذا زمنُ الحاجرِ

وإِذ أنَا في الورق النّاضرِ

Ah, how lovely were the days at al-Hajir,

and when I was amid fresh green leaves,

أُجرّر ذيل الصّبا جامحاً

بلا آمرٍ وبلا زاجرِ

trailing youth's hem, unbridled,

with none to command or restrain me,

إلى أنْ بدا الشّيبُ في مَفرقي

فكانت أوائله آخري

until gray hair appeared in my hair-parting,

and its first signs were my end.

وزَوْرٍ تخطّى جَنوبَ المَلا

فناديت أهلاً بذا الزّائرِ

And a visitor crossed the southern reaches of al-Mala,

so I cried, 'Welcome to this visitor!'

أتاني هدوّاً وَعينُ الرّقي

ب مطروفةٌ بالكرى الغامرِ

He came to me in the still of night, while the watcher's eye

was closed by overwhelming sleep.

فأعجب بهِ يُسعف الهاجعينَ

وتُحرمه مُقلةُ السّاهرِ

How wondrous he is: he aids those asleep,

while the wakeful one's eye is denied him.

وعهدي بتمويه عين المحبّ

تنُمُّ على قلبه الطّائرِ

And I had known the lover's dissembling eye

to betray his fluttering heart.

فَلَمّا اِلتَقينا برغم الرّقا

دِ مَوّه قلبي على ناظري

Yet when we met, despite slumber,

my heart deceived my eye.

وبيضُ العوارضِ لمّا برز

ن برّحن بالقمر الباهرِ

And the white-toothed women, when they emerged,

tormented the dazzling moon.

يُعِرْن الحليمَ خُفوفَ السّفيهِ

ويحلُلْن عَقْدَ الفتى الماهرِ

They lend the sober man the fool's flightiness,

and undo the skillful young man's bonds.

وفيهنّ آنسةٌ بالحديثِ

وفي البذل كالرَّشأِ النّافرِ

And among them is one at ease in conversation,

but in giving, like a skittish gazelle fawn,

بطَرْفٍ فَتورٍ ويا حَرَّما

بقلبيَ من ذلك الفاترِ

with a languid gaze—oh, the burning

in my heart from that languid gaze!

ويا عاذلي لو تذوق الهوى

لكنتَ على حبّها عاذري

O you who reproach me, if you tasted love,

you would excuse me for loving her.

تلوم وقلبُك غيرُ الشجيِّ

ألا ضلّ أمرُك من آمرِ

You blame me, though your heart is not grief-stricken;

ah, how misguided your counsel is, counselor!

أقول لركبٍ أرادوا المسير

وقد أخذوا أُهْبَةَ السّائرِ

I say to riders who intended to depart

and had taken up the traveler's gear,

وَقَد وَقَفوا مِن لَهيبِ الوَداعِ

على حرِّ مستعرٍ فائرِ

and stood amid farewell's blaze,

in a fierce and seething heat:

فَمِن مَدمعٍ جامدٍ للفِراق

وآخرَ واهي الكُلى قاطرِ

one tear duct was frozen by parting,

and another dripped, its seams grown weak.

إِذا ما مَرَرتمْ عَلى واسِطٍ

فَعوجوا عَلى الجانِبِ العامرِ

If you pass through Wasit,

turn aside toward its inhabited quarter,

وَأَهدوا سَلامي إلى غائبٍ

بها وهْوَ في خاطري حاضري

and convey my greeting to an absent one

there, though he is present to me in my thoughts.

إلى كم أسوّف منه اللقاءَ

وكم أرتدي بُردةَ الصّابرِ

How long shall I put off meeting him,

and how long wear the patient man's mantle?

وقد ضاق بي مُذ نأيتَ العراقُ

كما ضاق عِقْدٌ على شابرِ

And since you went away, Iraq has grown too narrow for me,

as a necklace is too tight for the hand that spans it.

كأنِّيَ لمّا حماك البِعا

دُ عَن ناظرَيَّ بلا ناظرِ

It is as though, when distance hid you

from my eyes, I were left without sight.

وَإِنّيَ مِن فَرْطِ شَوقي إليك

ووجدي كسيرٌ بلا جابرِ

And I, from my overwhelming longing for you

and my passion, am broken, with none to mend me.

كئيب الضّمير وإن كنت بالت

تجلّد مبتسمَ الظّاهرِ

Sorrowful within, though through

fortitude I wear an outward smile.

ويُحسَبُ بين الضّلوع الفؤاد

وقد طار في مِخْلَبَيْ طائرِ

And the heart is thought to lie between the ribs,

though it has flown off in a bird's two talons.

فيا لك من مُجرِمٍ مُسْلمٍ

تغيّب عنه شبا النّاصرِ

Oh, what a guilty man you are, abandoned,

from whom the defender's weapon-points are absent!

ومن واترٍ ظَفِرَتْ عنوةً

بأثوابه قبضةُ الثّائرِ

And a blood-enemy, forcibly caught

by his robes in the avenger's grasp!

ولولا الوزيرُ ابنُ حَمْدٍ لَما

سألتُ وصالَ امرئٍ هاجرِ

But for the minister Ibn Hamd, I would not

have sought union with one who shuns me.

وَما كنتُ إلّا قَليلَ الصّدي

قِ في النّاس كالضّيغمِ الخادرِ

And I have been a man of few friends

among people, like a lion lurking in its lair.

أيا من تملّك منّي الفؤا

دَ حوشيتَ من سُنّةِ الجائرِ

O you who took possession of my heart,

may you be spared a tyrant's ways!

وَيا نافِعي بِزمانِ الوِصا

لِ لِمْ عاد نفعُك لي ضائري

O you who helped me in the days of union,

why has your kindness become my bane?

تفرّدتَ بي دون هذا الأنام

وشورِكتُ في قَسْمِكَ الوافرِ

You alone possessed me, apart from all these people,

yet others shared with me your abundant portion.

ومن عجبٍ أن يرومَ البطيءُ

عَن الودّ منزلةَ الباكرِ

And how strange that a laggard should seek

in affection the earlycomer's rank.

وقد علم القومُ إذْ وازنو

ك أين الجَهامُ من الماطرِ

And the people knew, when they weighed you,

how far a rainless cloud is from a rain-bearing one,

وأين الحضيضُ من الفرقدين

وأين الخبيث من الطّاهرِ

and how far the depths are from the two Farqad stars,

and how far the vile is from the pure.

وإنّك وحدَك في ذا الزّما

ن تستنتج الفضلَ من عاقرِ

And you alone, in this age,

bring excellence to birth from the barren.

وتصبو على نفحاتِ الخطو

ب سمعاً إلى منطق الشّاكرِ

And amid the gusts of adversity, you incline

your ear toward the grateful man's words.

أهزّك بالشّعر هزَّ الشّجا

عِ يومَ الوغى ظُبَتَيْ باترِ

I stir you with verse as the brave man shakes

a keen sword's two edges on the day of battle.

وأمري وصالَكَ بالنَّاظماتِ

سموطاً على مَفرَقِ الفاخرِ

And I draw forth your affection with verses that string

necklaces upon the proud one's crown.

وأعلمُ إنْ كان غيري لدي

ك كالجَفْن إنِّي كالنَّاظرِ

And I know: if another, with you,

is like the eyelid, I am like the pupil.

ولستُ إذا فُتَّنِي ثمّ نلتُ

جميع المنى لستُ بالظّافرِ

And if you elude me and I then attain

all my desires, I am still no victor.