هي الدار موقوف عليك بكاها — Sharif Al Murtaza

هي الدّارُ موقوفٌ عليك بكاها

فلا تعدُها يوماً تؤمُّ سواها

This is the dwelling; weeping for it is yours alone.

So never pass it by to seek another.

وخلِّ اِعتذاراً بالرّكاب فإنّما

بكفّ الّذي يعدو الرّكابَ خُطاها

Abandon excuses about the mounts, for

their steps lie in the hand of him who drives them.

هويتُ ثراها قاصداً مَن مشى بها

ولولا هواها ما هويتُ ثَراها

I loved its soil for the sake of her who walked there;

but for love of her, I would not have loved its soil.

ولمّا عرفنا دارَها بمُحَجَّرٍ

وَحَلَّتْ عيونٌ بالدّموعِ حُباها

When we recognized her dwelling at Muḥajjar,

eyes loosened their bonds with tears.

نظرتُ إليها يوم سارتْ حُدوجُها

فلم يكُ للأجفانِ غيرُ قَذاها

I looked toward it the day her camel-litters departed;

my eyelids had nothing left but their grit.

وقفنا عليها طاعةً لقلوبنا

رِكاباً حَداها الشّوقُ حين حَداها

We halted by it, obeying our hearts,

with mounts that longing drove when it sang them onward.

فكان حنينَ المُهْجَساتِ رُعودُها

وصوبَ دموعِ النّاشجين حَياها

Its thunder was the yearning cry of the lowing she-camels,

and its rain the streaming tears of those who sobbed.

فيا منزلاً بانتْ وفيه ضياؤها

وليستْ به وَهْناً وفيه نَشاها

O dwelling she has left, though her radiance remains there—

she is absent at night, yet her fragrance remains there.

سقاكَ من الأنواءِ ما شئتَ من ندىً

ولا زلتَ ريّانَ الثّرى وسَقاها

May the rain-stars water you with all the moisture you desire;

may your soil stay drenched, and may that rain water her.

أُحبّكَ والبيتِ الّذي طوّفَتْ به

قريشٌ ومسّتْ تُربَهُ بلحاها

I love you, by the House around which

Quraysh circled, touching its dust with their beards;

ومَنْ حَطَّهُ بيتاً عتيقاً محرّماً

وجاب له الأحجارَ ثمّ بناها

and by him who established it as an ancient, sacred House,

and quarried stones for it, then built them up;

وقومٍ نَضَوْا بالمَوْقِفَيْنِ ذنوبهمْ

ومَن حلَّ في وادي مِنىً وأتاها

and by people who cast off their sins at the two stations,

and by those who lodged in Mina's valley and came to it;

وبالحَصَياتِ اللّاتي يُنبذن حِسْبَةً

ومَنْ قَلَّها من صخرها ورماها

and by the pebbles cast in hope of divine reward,

and by those who lifted them from their rock and threw them.

لَئِنْ كنتِ من دارِ الغرامِ صحيحةً

فلي مُهْجَةٌ لم يبقَ غيرُ ذَماها

If you are unharmed by the dwelling of passion,

my heart has nothing left but its last flicker of life.

وَزارتْ وِسادي في الظّلامِ خَرِيدةٌ

أَراها الكرى عيني ولستُ أراها

A bashful maiden visited my pillow in the dark;

sleep showed her to my eye, though I did not truly see her.

تَمانَعُ صبحاً أنْ أراها بناظري

وتبذلُ جُنحاً أنْ أُقبِّلَ فاها

By morning she refuses to let my gaze behold her,

but by night she freely lets me kiss her mouth.

ولمّا سَرَتْ لم تخشَ وَهْناً ضلالةً

ولا عرف العُذّالُ كيف سُراها

When she traveled by night, she feared no straying in the darkness,

nor did the censurers know how she journeyed by night.

فما ذا الّذي من غير وعدٍ أتى بها

وماذا على بُعدِ المزارِ هَداها

What was it that brought her without an appointment,

and what guided her despite the distant place of meeting?

ويا ليتني لمّا نزلتُ بشِعْبها

تكون قِرَايَ أوْ أكون قِراها

Would that, when I alighted in her ravine,

she were my feast of welcome, or I were hers.

وقالوا عساها بعد زَوْرةِ باطلٍ

تزور بلا ريبٍ فقلتُ عساها

They said, ‘Perhaps, after a visit of illusion,

she will visit beyond doubt.’ I said, ‘Perhaps.’

ألا نكّب الأنواءُ دارَ مَهانةٍ

فما عندنا للنّفسِ غيرُ ضَناها

Ah, may the rain-stars shun a dwelling of humiliation!

For we have nothing for the soul but its wasting sickness.

مقيمٌ بلا زادٍ سوى الصّبر والحِجى

على شَجَراتٍ لا أذوق جَناها

I dwell without provisions but patience and reason,

beside trees whose fruit I never taste.

لغيري اِخضرارٌ من فروعِ غُصونِها

وليس عليه بَلْ عليَّ ذَواها

Another has the greenness of their branching boughs;

their withering falls not on him, but on me.

أَشيمُ بُروقاً لا أرى الغيثَ بعدها

وأرقبُ سُحباً لا يَطُلُّ نَداها

I watch lightning with no rain to follow,

and watch clouds that shed no dew.

ولو كنتُ أرجوها قنعتُ فإنّني

حُرِمْتُ بها فيما حُرِمتُ مُناها

If I could hope in it, I would be content; for

of all I was denied there, even hope of it was denied me.

وإنّي لَمغرورٌ بقومٍ أذِلَّةٍ

يحِلّون من أرضِ الهوانِ ذُراها

Truly I am deceived by an abased people,

who inhabit the summits of the land of humiliation.

وإنْ جئتهمْ تشكو مضيضَ مُلِمَّةٍ

تَقَوْا بك مغلولَ اليدين شَباها

If you come to them complaining of a calamity's sharp pain,

they shield themselves from its points with you, your hands bound.

وكلِّ مَليءٍ وبالمَلامِ مذمَّمٍ

عَرَتْه المخازي مرّةً وعَراها

And by every wealthy man branded with reproach,

whom disgraces visited once, and who visited them.

يهشُّ إلى العَوْراءِ وهْيَ قَصِيَّةٌ

ويَعْمى عن العلياءِ وهو يراها

He eagerly welcomes a shameful deed, though it is far away,

and is blind to nobility, though he sees it.

صحبْتكُمُ أجلو بكمْ عنِّيَ القَذا

فَأَعشى عيوني قربُكمْ وغَطاها

I kept your company to rid myself, through you, of grit;

yet nearness to you dimmed my eyes and veiled them.

وكنتُ أُرَجِّي صُبحَكمْ بحنادِسٍ

فكنتمْ نهاراً للعيونِ دُجاها

I hoped for your dawn amid deep darkness,

yet in daylight you were darkness to my eyes.

فَلَيت الّذي ما كان للعين قرّةً

وقد أبصَرَته لا يكون عَماها

Would that what brought the eye no delight,

now that it has seen it, might not become its blindness.

وَدارُكمُ دارٌ إِذا ما مضى بها

كريمٌ عداها مُعرِضاً وطَواها

Your dwelling is one where, whenever there passes by it

a noble man, he shuns it, turns away, and leaves it behind.

إِذا قرّبَتْ شَيئاً لديه اِنتوى لها

وإنْ عرضتْ يوماً عليه أباها

If it offers him anything, he resolves to depart;

if ever it presents itself to him, he refuses it.

وما هانَ إلّا خائفٌ يستجيرها

وَلا خابَ إلّا مَنْ مَنا فَرَجاها

None is abased but a frightened man who seeks its protection;

none is disappointed but one who wishes and hopes in it.

وما المُسلَمُ المخدوعُ إلّا نَزولُها

ولا المُهْمَلُ المبذولُ غيرُ حِماها

Only its guest is abandoned and deceived,

and nothing is neglected and left exposed but its sanctuary.

فلا باركَ الرّحمَن فيمنْ أحبَّها

وبارك فيمن مَلَّها فقلاها

May the All-Merciful not bless whoever loves it,

and may He bless whoever wearies of it and hates it.

ولا بَلَغَتْها النّاجياتُ طَلَبْنَها

وعُقِّلْنَ عن إدراكها بوَجاها

May swift she-camels seeking it never reach it;

may their sore feet hobble them from attaining it.

فأيُّ اِنتِفاعٍ بالبلادِ عريضةً

وبات قصيراً في الرّجال جَداها

What use are lands, however broad,

when their bounty to men has grown so scant?

فكلُّ بلادٍ لم يُفِدْك اِقتِرابها

فَما قربُها إلّا كبُعدِ مداها

Any land whose nearness brings you no benefit—

its nearness is no different from its farthest remove.

رُمِ المَطرَحَ الأعلى من الفضل كلّهِ

ولا ترضَ في أُكرومةٍ بسواها

Aim for the highest reach of every excellence,

and in any noble deed be content with nothing less.

وَخلِّ ضنيناً بالحياةِ فإنّه

فداها ببذلِ العِرْضِ حين فَداها

Leave the man who clings to life, for

when he saved it, he ransomed it by surrendering his honor.

فَلستَ لدى حكمِ العشيرةِ شيخها

إذا لم تكنْ يوم الطّعانِ فتاها

In the tribe's judgment you are not its elder,

if you are not its young champion on the day of spear-thrusts.

وكيف ولم تحملْ بظهرك ثِقْلَها

تدور على قطبٍ نَصَبْتَ رحاها

How, when you have not borne its burden on your back,

can its mill turn upon a pivot you have set up?

وما سُدْتَها في يوم سِلْمٍ ولم تكنْ

بسيِّدها في الضَّربِ يوم وغاها

You have not ruled it on a day of peace if you were not

its chief amid the blows on its day of battle.

فَكُن إِنْ أَردتَ العزَّ فيها مسالماً

شِفارَ مَواضيها وزُرْقَ قناها

So, if you seek honor within it, befriend

the edges of its keen swords and the blue points of its spears.

فَلي في معاريضِ الكلامِ تَعِلَّةٌ

ومن عِلَلِ الأدواء منه شفاها

For I find solace in oblique speech,

and through it, healing from the afflictions of disease.

فإن يمكن التّصريحُ صرّحتُ آنفاً

وروّيتُ أحشاءً أطَلْتُ ظماها

Were plain speech possible, I would have spoken plainly earlier,

and watered my inmost depths, whose thirst I have prolonged.

وإلّا فَجمجامٌ من القولِ سائرٌ

بِأيدي عِناق النّاعجاتِ كفاها

Otherwise, a veiled utterance traveling abroad,

borne by long-necked, swift white she-camels' forelegs, will suffice them.