بالله يا أيام يثرب عودي — Sharif Al Murtaza

بِاللَّهِ يا أيّامَ يثربَ عودي

عودِي لبلِّ حُشاشةِ المعمودِ

By God, O days of Yathrib, return!

Return to moisten the last remnant of the afflicted one's life.

ما كان أَنضرَ بينهنّ محاسنِي

في أعينٍ رُمُقٍ وأخضرَ عودِي

How radiant my charms were among those days,

in watchful eyes, and how green my bough!

أيّام لم تحنِ النّوائبُ صَعْدَتِي

بمرورهنّ ولا لَوَين عمودي

Days when calamities had not bent my spear

as they passed, nor twisted my pillar.

كلّا وَلا عَبِثتْ بُيَيْضاتُ الرّدى

في مفرقي أو عارِضيَّ بسودِ

No, nor had death's little white hairs made mischief

with black hairs at my parting or along my cheeks.

يا بُعدَ ما بيني وبين حبائبي

والشّيبُ في فَوْدَيَّ غيرُ بعيدِ

How great the distance between me and my beloveds,

while gray hair at my temples is not far away!

ولقد علمتُ وقد نُزعت شبيبتي

أنْ لا نصيبٌ في الظّباءِ الغِيدِ

I have learned, now that my youth has been stripped away,

that I have no share in the graceful gazelles.

قد كان لي سهمٌ سديدٌ في الدُّمى

لكنّه بالشّيب غيرُ سديدِ

Once I had a true-aimed arrow among the beautiful statues,

but with gray hair it no longer strikes true.

قل للّتي ضنّتْ عليَّ بنظرةٍ

ذاتِ اللّمى واللّؤلؤِ المنضودِ

Tell her who begrudged me a glance,

she of dusky lips and pearls set in rows:

لِمْ تأسفين على المحبِّ بقُبلَةٍ

فكأنّ ثغراً منك غيرُ بَرودِ

Why rue a kiss for the lover,

as though your mouth were not cool and refreshing?

خلّي القُطوبَ منَ الأسرّةِ وَاِكتَفِي

عن عقدهنّ بفرعك المعقودِ

Clear the frown from your brow's furrows, and be content

with your knotted hair, instead of knotting those furrows.

أنتِ الطليقةُ في هواهُ فَاِعلمِي

وَتَحكّمي في الموثقِ المصفودِ

You are the free one in his love—know it,

and rule over the bound and fettered one.

قد كنتُ جَلْداً في الهوى لكنّني

يَومَ الفراقِ عليهِ غيرُ جَليدِ

I once was steadfast in love, but

on the day of parting I have no strength to bear it.

كَم في الهوادجِ من قضيبٍ مائسٍ

أو مُرتوٍ ماءَ الصِّبا أُمْلودِ

How many a swaying branch is in those howdahs,

or a supple shoot steeped in the water of youth!

ما إِنْ دَرى ماذا إليهِ يَقودني

من حُبّهِ ويعودني من عيدِي

He never knew what draws me toward him

from love of him, or what revisits me from my recurring ache.

ما لِي وقد لفَّ الصَّباح خيامهمْ

غيرُ الزَّفير وأنّةِ المورودِ

What have I, now that morning has folded up their tents,

but sighing and the fever-stricken man's groan?

ومماطِلٍ إنْ جاء يوماً وعدُه

غلطاً ومكراً ضنّ بالموعودِ

And many a dallier, if one day his promise comes

by mistake and deceit, begrudges what was promised.

في جيده من حسنِه حَلْيٌ له

والحَلْيُ خيرٌ منه حسنُ الجيدِ

His beauty provides an ornament upon his neck,

yet better than the ornament is the beauty of the neck.

لي فُرقتان ففرقةٌ بيد النّوى

أو فرقةٌ لتجنّبٍ وصُدودِ

Two partings are mine: one at the hand of distance,

or a parting through avoidance and rejection.

قلْ للذِي ساق الظّعائنَ ربّما

سوّقتَ قلبِي بين تلك البيدِ

Tell the man who drove the women in their litters: perhaps

you drove my heart through those deserts,

ورميتَ في قلبِي وفي عينِي معاً

بالنّارِ ذاك وتلك بالتّسهيدِ

and struck my heart and my eye together,

the former with fire, the latter with sleeplessness.

وإذا دموعِي يومَ سِلنَ شهدن بال

وجدِ المبرّح لم يُفدْكَ جُحودِي

And when my tears, on the day they flowed, testified to

racking passion, my denial availed you nothing.

ما ضرّ من يسرِي سُراه ووجهُه

خلفَ البدور على ليالٍ سودِ

What harm does his night journey do the traveler, his face

following full moons through black nights?

في ليلةٍ بُرْدُ السّماء موشّحٌ

بنجومها والنجمُ كالعنقودِ

On a night when the sky's mantle is embroidered

with its stars, the star-cluster like a bunch of grapes.

في كُلّ يومٍ تَستجدّ قطيعة

وجديدُ لؤمِ المرءِ غيرُ جديدِ

Each day a fresh estrangement arises,

yet a man's new baseness is nothing new.

يا صاحبي فُزْ بالرّشادِ وخلِّنِي

فلقد رضيتُ أكون غيرَ رشيدِ

My friend, gain sound guidance, and leave me;

for I am content to be unwise.

هَب لِي الملامَ عَلى الغَرام فإنّنِي

ملآن من عذلٍ ومن تفنيدِ

Spare me blame for my passion, for I

am full of reproach and charges of folly.

قمْ سلِّ قلبِي كيف شئتَ ولا ترُمْ

منه السُلوَّ عن النّساءِ الرُّودِ

Come, console my heart however you wish, but do not seek

to make it forget those graceful women.

لا تسألنِّي أنْ أعيشَ بلا هوىً

فيهنّ واِسأَلْ طارفِي وتليدِي

Do not ask me to live without love

for them; ask instead for my newly acquired and inherited wealth.

قَد كُنتَ جاري في شبيبة أَعصُرِي

فَكنِ المُجاور في الزّمان المودِي

You were my neighbor in the youth of my years;

so remain my neighbor in this ruinous age.

وَاِمزُجْ صَفاءً قَد عَداك برَنْقِه

وَاِخلُطْ زَماناً ناعماً بشديدِ

Blend the clarity that has passed you by with its muddiness,

and mingle a gentle age with a harsh one.

ما إِنْ رَأيتُ وَلَم أَكن مسُتثنياً

في هَذهِ الأيّامِ من محمودِ

I have not seen—and I make no exceptions—

anyone praiseworthy in these days.

وَإِذا اِلتفَتّ إلى الذين ذخرتُهمْ

لشديدتي لم ألفِ غيرَ حسودِ

And when I turn to those I kept in reserve

for my hardship, I find none but the envious.

أَنا بَينَ خالٍ مِن جَميلٍ قلبُه

وَمِن القَبيحِ وَبَينَ كلّ حقودِ

I stand between one whose heart is empty of goodness

and of evil, and every spiteful soul.

وإذا صُددتُ عن المواردِ جمّةً

فمتى يكون وقد ظمئتُ ورودِي

And if I am barred from abundant watering places,

when, now that I thirst, will I come to drink?

لا بُلّغت عِيسِي مداها إن نحَتْ

غيرَ الكرامِ وقُيّدت بقيودِ

May my pale camels never reach their goal if they seek

any but the noble; and may I be bound in fetters

إن لم أثِرها كالقطا نحو العُلا

يطوين بالإرفادِ كلَّ صعيدِ

if I do not rouse them like sandgrouse toward the heights,

folding up every stretch of land in their swift stride,

وتلفّ أيديها على طول الوَجا

لفّ الإزارِ تهائماً بنجودِ

their forelegs folding, despite prolonged foot-soreness,

lowlands into uplands like a waistcloth.

لا تستفيق من الدُّؤوب وإنّما

يضربن بيداً في الفَلاةِ ببيدِ

They never recover from unceasing toil, but only

press through desert after desert in the wilderness.

فعرِيتُ في يوم الفخارِ على الورى

من فخر آبائي وفخر جدودي

Then may I be stripped, on the day of boasting before mankind,

of pride in my fathers and pride in my forefathers.

قومٌ إِذا سَمِعوا بداعيةِ الوغى

طلعوا النّجادَ على الجيادِ القُودِ

A people who, when they hear the summons to battle,

ascend the highlands on long-necked steeds.

لا يَعبأون إِذا الرّماحُ تشاجرتْ

يوماً بما نسجتْ يدا داوودِ

They pay no heed, when the spears clash

one day, to what David's two hands wove.

وَدِفاعُهمْ وَقِراعُهمْ أدراعهمْ

يومَ الوغى من طعنِ كلّ وريدِ

Their defense and their blows are their armor

on battle day, against the piercing of every jugular.

سادوا أَكابرَ قَومِ كلّ عشيرةٍ

من قبل قطعِ تمائم المَولودِ

They ruled the chiefs of every tribe's people

before the newborn's amulets were cut away.

فَإِذا سَرحتَ الطّرف بينَ بيوتهم

لَم تَلق غيرَ مُغبَّطٍ محسودٍ

If you let your gaze roam among their homes,

you meet only men admired and envied.

وَأَنا الّذي أَطلقتُ أسْرَ سماحةٍ

في النّاسِ أو أنشرت مَيْتَ الجودِ

I am the one who freed generosity from captivity

among mankind, or raised dead munificence to life.

ما الفَرقُ إِنْ لَم أعطِ مالِيَ مُعدماً

ما بين إعدامِي وبين وجودِي

What difference, if I do not give my wealth to the destitute,

is there between my poverty and my wealth?

فَلَو اِنّ حاتِمَ طيّءٍ وقبيلَه

وَفَدوا عليَّ تعلّموا من جودِي

If Hatim of Tayy and his tribe

visited me, they would learn from my generosity.

ما لِلرّجال إذا هُمُ حذورا سوى

حرمِي الأمينِ وظلِّيَ الممدودِ

What have men, when they are afraid, besides

my secure sanctuary and my outspread shade?

لَم أتلُ قطّ مسرّةً بمضرّةٍ

فيهمْ ولا وعْداً لهمْ بوعيدِ

Never have I followed delight with harm

for them, nor a promise to them with a threat.

نَقضُ الجِبال الشُمِّ لا يُعيي وَقَد

أَعيا عَلى الأيّامِ نقضُ عهودِي

Toppling lofty mountains is no hardship, yet

breaking my pledges has defeated time.

وَإِذا عَقدتُ فليسَ يَطمعُ طامعٌ

في أَن يحلَّ بِراحَتيهِ عقودِي

When I bind a pact, no seeker can hope

to untie my knots with his two palms.

وَالحادِثاتُ إِذا طَرَقن فَلم أَكن

عَنهُنَّ نوّاماً ولا بهجودِ

And when calamities come knocking, I am not

one who sleeps through them, nor a slumberer.

إِنْ أُضحِ عَضباً فالقاً قِمَم العدى

فلربّ عضبٍ عِيق عن تجريدِ

If I am a keen blade for cleaving enemies' heads,

many a keen blade has been kept from being drawn.

لَيسَ الأسودُ وَإِن مُنِعنَ فرائساً

وَرَبضن في الغاباتِ غيرَ أسودِ

Lions, though denied their prey,

and crouching in the thickets, are no less lions.

وَإِذا قعدتُ فسوف تبصرُ أعينٌ

منِّي قيامِي في خلال قعودِي

And if I sit, eyes will yet see

me standing even in the midst of my sitting.

أنا مُلجَمٌ بالحزمِ عن قولي الّذي

لو قلته لأشَبْتُ كلَّ وليدِ

I am bridled by prudence from uttering what,

if I uttered it, would turn every newborn gray.

حتّى مَتى أَنا في ثيابِ إضامةٍ

أقرِي المناجِي زفرةَ المجهودِ

How long must I, clothed in humiliation,

serve my confidant an exhausted man's sigh?

أُلوى عن الأوطانِ لا تدنو لها

كفّايَ لَيَّ الأرقم المطرودِ

I am turned from my homelands; no nearer to them come

my two hands, twisted like a speckled serpent driven away.

وَأُذادُ عن وِرْدِي وَبي صدأٌ وكمْ

ظمآنِ قومٍ كان غيرَ مَذودِ

I am driven from my watering place, though I thirst; how many

a thirsty tribesman was not turned away!

أبغِي الرّذاذ من الجَهام وتارةً

أرجو وأمرِي دَرَّ كلِّ جَدودِ

I seek drizzle from a rainless cloud, and at times

I hope for, and coax, the milk of every scant-milking ewe.

والخيلُ تعثر بالجماجم والطُّلى

مخضلّةً عن يابس الجُلمودِ

And the horses stumble over skulls and necks,

drenched, rather than tripping on dry, hard stone.

للّهِ دَرّكُمُ بنِي موسى وقد

صُدِمَ الحديدُ لدى وغىً بحديدِ

God bless you, sons of Musa, when

iron was dashed against iron in battle.

ما إِن تَرى إلّا صَريعاً هافياً

كَرَع الحمامَ وليس بالملحودِ

You see nothing but a fallen, lifeless man,

who drank death deeply and has not been buried;

وَمُجدَّلاً بالقاعِ طارِ بِصفوه

نَسْرٌ وبقَّى شِلْوَه للسِّيدِ

or one laid low on the plain, whose choicest flesh was borne off in flight

by a vulture that left his torn remains to the wolf.

هَذا وَكَم جيشٍ أَتاهُمْ ساحِباً

فوق الإِكامِ ذيولَ كلِّ بُرودِ

This—and many an army came against them, trailing

over the hillocks the hems of every striped mantle,

غَصّانَ مِن خَيلٍ بهِ وَفَوارسٍ

ملآنَ من عُدَدٍ له وعديدِ

choked with the horses and riders in it,

full of its equipment and its multitudes.

رُدّوا رُؤوساً كنَّ فيه مَنيعةً

بالضّربِ بين مُشجَّجٍ وحصيدِ

They were reduced to heads, once impregnable within it,

by blows—some split open, some cut down.

وَمَتى اِستَرَبْتَ بنَجْدتِي في خُطّةٍ

فمِنَ الطّعانِ أو الضرّاب شهودِ

Whenever you doubt my valor in an undertaking,

there are witnesses in spear-thrusts or sword-blows.

خُذها فَما تَسطيع تَدفعُ إنّها

في الغايةِ القصوى من التّجويدِ

Take it; you cannot reject it, for it is

at the utmost height of craftsmanship.

ما لاكَها مِن شاعِرٍ حَنكٌ ولا

أَفضى إِلَيها ذهنُ كلِّ مُجيدِ

No poet's palate has chewed it, nor

has any master's mind attained it.

غَرّاءَ لَو تُليتْ على ظُلَمِ الدّجى

شابتْ لها لَمِمُ الرّجالِ السُّودِ

Radiant—if recited to the darkness of deep night,

the locks of dark-skinned men would turn gray at it.

يُنسيكَ نَظمٌ حيكَ بينَ كَلامها

نَظْمَ الثّغورِ ونَظْمَ كلِّ فريدِ

A pattern woven among its words makes you forget

the rows of teeth and the stringing of every peerless pearl.

لَيسَ الّذي اِعتسفَ القريضَ بشاعرٍ

وإذا أصاب فليس بالمحمودِ

One who forces his way through verse is no poet;

even if he hits the mark, he deserves no praise.

وَإِذا اِلتَوى الكَلِمُ الفصيحُ على اِمرئٍ

يوماً فأحرارُ الكلامِ عبيدي

And when eloquent words grow tangled for a man

one day, the freeborn among words are my slaves.

وإذا أردتَ تَعاف ما سَطَر الورى

فَاِسمَعْ قصيدي تارةً ونشيدي

And if you wish to disdain what mankind has written,

then listen once to my poems and my song.