دع الهوى يتبعه الأخرق — Sharif Al Murtaza

دَعِ الهَوى يَتبعه الأخرقُ

لا صبوةَ اليومَ ولا مَعْشَقُ

Leave passion for the fool to follow.

No infatuation today, nor any object of love.

ولا دموعٌ خَلْفَ مستوفِزٍ

تجري ولا قلبٌ له يخفقُ

Nor tears behind one poised to depart

flow, nor does a heart beat for him.

ولو درى أهلُ الهوى بالّذي

جَنَى الهوى من قبل لم يعشِقوا

Had lovers known what

passion wrought before, they would not have loved.

يا جَمْلُ لا أبصرني بعدها

أرنو إليه وجهُكِ المُشرِقُ

O Jaml, may it never again see me

gazing toward it—your radiant face.

لو لم أُعرّضْ للهوى مهجتي

ما كان قلبي بالهوى يُسْرَقُ

Had I not exposed my heart's blood to passion,

my heart would not have been stolen by passion.

لا فرعُكِ الفاحمُ يقتادني

ولا اِطّبانِي غُصنُك المورقُ

Your coal-black tresses do not lead me captive,

nor has your leafy bough enticed me.

كنت أسيراً بالهوى عانياً

فالآن قلبي من هوىً مطلقُ

I was a captive of passion, held in bondage;

but now my heart is free of passion.

سَلْوانُ تجتاز به دائباً

روائحُ الحبِّ فلا يَعبقُ

Forgetfulness: through it ceaselessly pass

love's fragrances, yet it takes on no scent.

فمَنْ يكن من حبّكمْ مُثْرِياً

فإنّنِي من بينهمْ مُمْلِقُ

Whoever is enriched by your love,

I, among them, am impoverished.

لا طَرَقَ الطّيفُ الّذي كان مِنْ

أكبر همّي أنّه يطرُقُ

May the dream-phantom never visit by night, though it was among

my greatest concerns that it should visit.

حَدَّثَ قلبي وهْوَ طوعُ الهوى

محدّثٌ باللّيل لا يصدقُ

My heart, obedient to passion, was addressed

by a night-time speaker who tells no truth.

وكيف لولا أنّه باطلٌ

يسري ولا سارتْ به الأيْنُقُ

And how, were it not unreal,

could it travel by night, with no she-camels to carry it?

زار وما زار سوى ذكرِهِ

وبيننا داوِيَّةٌ سَمْلَقُ

It visited; yet only its memory visited,

while a vast, bare desert lay between us,

غرّاءُ لا يُمسي بِأَرجائِها

إلّا ظَليمٌ خلفه نِقْنِقُ

gleaming, whose reaches at dusk hold nothing

but a male ostrich, another behind him.

لَولا مَطِيٌّ كَسفينٍ بها

لكان مَن يركبها يَفْرَقُ

Were there no mounts like ships upon it,

whoever traversed it would be afraid.

مَن عاذري مِن زَمنٍ كلّما

طلبتُ منه راحةً أَخفِقُ

Who will excuse my complaint against an age when, whenever

I seek respite from it, I fail?

يخصّ بالضّرّاءِ أحرارَه

ويَرزقُ السَّرّاءَ من يَرزقُ

It singles out its freeborn men for adversity,

and grants prosperity to whomever it provides for.

صحبتُه أعوجَ لا ينثنِي

ومعجلاً بالشّرِّ لا يرفقُ

I have kept its company, crooked and unyielding,

and hasty with harm, showing no gentleness.

طوراً هو الموسعُ أقطارَه

وتارة أخرى هو الضيّقُ

At times it widens its bounds,

and at another time it is narrow.

لو أنّني أُنفقُ عِرْضِي به

كنتُ عليه أبداً أَنفُقُ

If I spent my honor in it,

I would always be more in demand with it.

عزّ الفتى يكظِمُ حاجاتهِ

والنّاسُ مُستثرٍ ومسترزقُ

Mighty is the man who suppresses his needs,

while people seek riches or seek sustenance.

فما يبالِي حاقرٌ للمنى

جِيدَ اللّوى أم سُقِىَ الأبرقُ

So one who scorns wishes does not care

whether al-Liwa receives rain or al-Abraq is watered.

وكلّما هوّم في سَبْسَبٍ

وَسَّدهُ السَّاعدُ والمِرفقُ

And whenever he dozes in a trackless plain,

his forearm and elbow pillow his head.

عِرْضٌ جديدٌ لا ينال البِلى

منه وثوبٌ مُنهَجٌ مُخلَقُ

An honor ever fresh, decay taking nothing

from it; and a garment worn thin and threadbare.

وربّما نال الفتى وادعاً

ما لم ينله المزعَجُ المُقْلَقُ

Often a man at ease attains

what the harried, troubled man never attains.

ودون نيلِ المرءِ أوطارَه

فتقٌ على الأيّامِ لا يُرتَقُ

Between a man and the attainment of his desires

lies a rent that the passing days cannot mend.

وكلُّ شيءٍ راقنا حسنهُ

فهْوَ سرابٌ في الضحى يبرقُ

And everything whose beauty delights us

is a mirage glittering in the forenoon.

وحبُّ هذي الدّارِ خوّانةً

داءٌ دويٌّ ما له مُفرِقُ

And love for this abode, treacherous as it is,

is a grievous sickness that none can dispel.

أين الأُلى حلّو قِلالَ العُلا

فُمزِّقوا من بعد أن مَزَّقوا

Where are those who dwelt upon the summits of glory,

then were torn apart after tearing others apart?

كأنّهمْ من بعد أن غرّبوا

لم يطلعوا قطّ ولم يشرقوا

As though, after they had set,

they had never risen, never shone.

داسوا بأقدامهم شُمَّخاً

تُرامُ بالأيدي ولا تُلْحَقُ

They trod beneath their feet towering heights

that hands reach for but cannot attain.

وكلَّ نجمٍ بالدّجَى ساطعٍ

يرميه نحو المغربِ المشرقُ

And every star that gleams in the darkness—

the east casts it toward the west.

كأنّه من قَبَسٍ جذوَةٌ

أو عن لهيبٍ خلفه يُفتَقُ

As though it were an ember from a firebrand,

or were torn from a blaze behind it.

كم أوضعوا في طُرُقاتِ العُلا

وحلّقوا في العزّ إذْ حلّقوا

How often they sped along the paths of glory,

and soared in honor when they soared,

حتّى إذا حان بلوغُ المَدى

قِيدوا إلى المكروه أو سُوِّقوا

until, when the moment came to reach the end,

they were led to the dreaded fate, or driven there.

طاحوا إلى الموتِ وكم طائحٍ

لم يُغنِ عنه حَذِرٌ مُشفِقُ

They fell into death, and how many a fallen man

was not saved by one watchful and concerned.

نحن أناسٌ لطِلابِ العُلا

نخُبُّ في الأيّامِ أو نَعْنِقُ

We are a people who, in pursuit of glory,

trot or stride swiftly through the days.

ما خَلقَ اللَّه لَنا مُشبهاً

في غابر الدّهرِ ولا يخلُقُ

God has created none resembling us

in ages past, nor will He create any.

كم رام أن يصعد أطوادَنا

بَواذِخاً قومٌ فلم يرتقوا

How many sought to climb our mountains,

towering high—yet those peoples failed to ascend;

أَو يَلحقوا ما اِمتدَّ من شَأْوِنا

في طلب العزّ فلم يلحقوا

or catch up with our far-ranging stride

in seeking honor, but could not catch us.

قد قلت للقوم وكم طامعٍ

يُصبِحُ بالباطل أو يغبُقُ

I have told those people—and how many an aspirant

begins his day with falsehood or drinks it at dusk—

أين من البَوْغاءِ أسماكُنا

ومن ثِمادٍ بحرُنا المُفْهَقُ

how can our heights be compared with dust,

or our brimming sea with scant pools?

في الغاب والغابُ مجازٌ لكمْ

ليثٌ بلا عذر الكرى يُطرِقُ

In the thicket—and the thicket is your passageway—

a lion lowers his gaze, though not from drowsiness.

في كفّه مثلُ حِدادِ المُدى

يفرِي بها الجلدَ ولا تَخْلِقُ

In his paw are the likes of keen-edged knives;

he rends hide with them, and they do not wear out.

يَغتالُ طولَ البعد إرقالُه

فَمُنْجِدٌ إنْ شاء أو مُعْرِقُ

His swift gait annihilates great distances;

so he journeys to Najd, if he wishes, or to Iraq.

فكم صريعٍ عنده للرّدَى

وكم نجيعٍ حوله يُهرقُ

How many a victim of death lies beside him,

and how much blood is spilled around him!

كأنّما خيط على غضبةٍ

فهوَ مغيظٌ أبداً مُحنَقُ

As though he were sewn around a fit of rage,

he is forever angered and enraged.

خلّوا الّتي سكّانُها معشرٌ

هُمُ بها من غيرهمْ ألْيَقُ

Leave that place whose dwellers are a people

better suited to it than others are.

قناتُهمْ في المجد لا تُرتَقَى

وجُردُهم في الجود لا تُسبَقُ

Their spear of glory cannot be scaled,

and their sleek steeds of generosity cannot be outstripped.

قومٌ إذا ما سنحوا في الوغى

سالوا دماً أو قدحوا أحرقوا

A people who, whenever they appear in battle,

pour forth blood, or, striking sparks, set ablaze,

بكلِّ مشحوذِ الظُّبا أبيضٍ

وأسمرٍ يعلو به أزرقُ

with every bright sword of sharpened edges,

and every brown spear tipped by a blue point.

لا باسلٌ يشبهه ناكِلٌ

ولا صميمٌ مثلُه مُلْحَقُ

No coward resembles a valiant man,

nor is an affiliate like one true-born.

ولا سواءٌ عند ذي إِرْبَةٍ

باطنُ رجلِ المرءِ والمَفْرقُ

Nor, to a discerning person, are equal

the sole of a man's foot and the crown of his head.

وقد زلقتُم في مطافٍ له

بابٌ إلى العزّ ولم يزلقوا

And you slipped upon a course that has

a gate to honor, while they did not slip.

وخلتُمُ أنّ العُلا نُهْزَةٌ

يعلقها بالكفّ مَن يَعْلِقُ

And you imagined glory was an opportunity

that anyone could take hold of with his hand,

حتّى رأيناها بأيديكُمُ

تزِلُّ أو تَزلقُ أو تَمْرُقُ

until we saw it in your hands

slipping, sliding, or shooting away.

ودونكمْ من لؤمِ أفعالكمْ

بابٌ إلى ساحاتها مُغلَقُ

Before you, because of your base deeds,

the gate to its courts stands locked.

إنّ أناساً طلبوا حُوَّماً

وِرْداً شربنا صفوَه ما سُقوا

Indeed, some people sought, circling thirstily,

a watering-place whose clear water we drank, but they were not given drink.

لَيسوا منَ الفخرِ ولا عنده

ولا لهمْ في رَبْعِه مَطْرَقُ

They do not belong to glory, nor stand near it,

nor have they a path within its abode.

إنْ سُئلوا في مَغْرَمٍ بَخَّلوا

أو جُمعوا في معركٍ فُرِّقوا

If asked to bear an expense, they show their stinginess;

or, if gathered for battle, they are scattered.

وليس يجري أبداً في الورى

إلّا بِما ساءَهمُ المنطقُ

And speech never passes among humankind

except concerning what distresses them.

قل لرواةِ الشّعر جوبوا بها

فجّاً من الإحسانِ لا يُطرَقُ

Tell poetry's transmitters: 'With it, traverse

a pass of excellence no one has trodden.'

كأنّها في ربوةٍ روضةٌ

أو من شبابٍ ناعمٍ رَيِّقُ

As though it were a garden upon a hill,

or the first bloom of tender youth.

صِينتْ عن اللّين على أنّها

غانٍ بها الإشراقُ والرَّوْنَقُ

It has been kept from softness, though

radiance and luster dwell within it.

فكم أُناسِ بقيتْ منهُمُ

محاسنُ الشِّعر وما أنْ بقوا

For how many people have left behind

the beauties of poetry, though they themselves are gone!