أمالك من غرام ما أمالا — Sharif Al Murtaza

أمالَكَ من غرامٍ ما أمالا

وزادَك نصحُ عاذلها خَبالا

Love has swayed you as it has,

and her reprover's counsel has deepened your frenzy.

ولو كانتْ وقد هجرتْ أرادتْ

دلالاً لاِحتَملتُ لها الدّلالا

Had she, when she deserted me, intended

coyness, I would have borne her coyness.

وما زال العذول يقول حتّى

أذنتَ له فأسمعك المحالا

The reprover kept speaking until

you listened to him, and he made you hear absurdities.

فما لك والحِجالَ وقد جعلتمْ

قلوبَ العاشقين لكمْ حجالا

What need have you of curtained chambers, when you have made

the lovers' hearts your curtained chambers?

وما أُلحي سوى قلبي وفيه

نُدوبٌ منك كيف إليك مالا

I blame nothing but my heart, though in it

are scars from you: how could it incline toward you?

هجرتَ ونحن أيقاظٌ بوَجٍّ

وزرت بنَعفِ كاظمةٍ خيالا

You deserted us while we were awake at Wajj,

yet visited as a phantom on the slope of Kazimah.

وليس الهجرُ عن سببٍ ولكنْ

خلوتَ وما خلونا منك بالا

Your desertion had no cause; rather,

you were untroubled, while our minds were never free of you.

وطيفٌ منكمُ بجنوب نجدٍ

أراني من محاسنكمْ مثالا

A phantom of you, in southern Najd,

showed me a likeness of your beauties.

أقام على مضاجعنا هُدُوّاً

فلمّا زال عنّا النّومُ زالا

It stayed beside our beds for a quiet spell of night,

and when sleep left us, it too departed.

لَهَوْتُ بِباطل الأحلامِ حتّى

ودِدْتُ لهنّ أنّ اللّيلَ طالا

I delighted in the illusions of dreams until

for their sake I wished the night would lengthen.

ألَيْلَتَنا بكاظمةٍ أضِلِّي

بياضَكِ أنْ يلمّ بنا ضلالا

O our night at Kazimah, send astray

your whiteness, lest it stray upon us.

فليس الصّبحُ من أَرَبي وحسبي

ظِلالُ اللّيل أسكنه ظِلالا

Dawn is not what I desire; enough for me

are night's shadows, where I dwell in shade.

ومعسولِ المراشف لو سقاني

سقاني من مُجاجته الزّلالا

And one with honeyed lips—if he gave me drink,

he would give me limpid water from his saliva.

متى يَفَتَرّ يبسم عن نقيٍّ

شَتيتِ الرَّصْفِ تحسبه سَيالا

Whenever his lips part, his smile reveals pure teeth,

set apart, which you would take for sayal thorns.

كأنّ به سحيقَ المسك وُهْناً

تناثر أو عقيقَ الخمر سالا

As though, upon them, powdered musk by night

had scattered, or wine's carnelian had flowed.

وكان الدّهرُ ألْبَسَنِي سواداً

أَروعُ به الغزالةَ والغزالا

Time had clothed me in blackness,

with which I awed both doe and buck.

نعمتُ بصبغِهِ زمناً قصيراً

فلمّا حالتِ الأعوامُ حالا

I enjoyed its dye for a brief time,

then, when the years changed, it changed too.

بفخر الملك أعتبتُ اللّيالي

وعاد أُجاجُنا عَذْباً زلالا

Through Fakhr al-Mulk I made peace with the nights,

and our brine became sweet, limpid water.

وسالمنا الزّمانُ به وكانتْ

حروبُ صُروفه فينا سِجالا

Through him time made peace with us, though

its vicissitudes had fought us with alternating success.

وأصبحتِ العراقُ بخير حالٍ

وكانتْ أسْوَأَ الأمصار حالا

Iraq came to enjoy the best of conditions,

though it had been the worst of lands in condition.

دخلتُ عليه مجلسَه فأدنى

وأعلاني مكاناً لا يُعالى

I entered his council, and he drew me close,

raising me to a station that cannot be surpassed.

وأثقلني ولم أكُ طولَ عمري

حملتُ لغيره المِنَنَ الثّقالا

He weighed me down—though never throughout my life

had I borne another's weighty favors—

بإكرامٍ إذا عظمتْ وجلّتْ

لدى قلبي أوائِله تَوَالى

with honors that, when they grew great and grand

in my heart at their outset, kept coming in succession;

وقولٍ كلّما اِضطربتْ قلوبٌ

بحظّي منه أعْقَبَهُ فِعالا

and with words that, whenever hearts were stirred

by my share of them, he followed with deeds;

وبِشْرٍ يأخذ الأقوامُ منه

أمامَ نوالِ راحته النّوالا

and with a gracious smile from which people receive

a gift before the bounty of his palm.

ولمّا أنْ دعاك إليه بدرٌ

سبقتَ إلى تداركه العُجالى

When Badr summoned you to him,

you outstripped the swift in coming to his aid.

فأحزنتَ السهولَ حمىً وجُرْداً

محصّنةً وأسهلتَ الجبالا

You made the plains rugged with guarded ground and sleek steeds,

armored, and made the mountains smooth.

وأبصرها هِلالٌ خارقاتٍ

ذيولَ النَّقْعِ يحملن الهلالا

Hilal saw them piercing

the skirts of dust, bearing the crescent.

عوابس كلّما طرحت قتيلاً

جَعلن ضَفير لمّتهِ قِبالا

Scowling steeds: whenever they cast down a slain man,

they made his braided locks their sandal-thongs.

عليهنّ الأُلى جعلوا العوالي

وما طالتْ بأيديهمْ طوالا

Upon them were men who made their lofty lances,

though not long in their hands, truly long.

كأنّ على قُنِيّهمُ نجوماً

خَرَرْن على القوانس أو ذُبالا

As though their lance-shafts bore stars

fallen upon helmets, or blazing wicks.

ومذ صقلوا سيوفهمُ المواضي

بأعناق العِدا هجروا الصّقالا

Since they polished their keen swords

on their enemies' necks, they abandoned other polishing.

تُمَدُّ الحربُ منك بلَوْذَعِيٍّ

يسعّرها إذا خَبَتِ اِشتعالا

You furnish war with a keen-witted man

who fans it into flame whenever it dies down.

وقلبُك يا جريء القلب قلبٌ

كأنّك ما شهدتَ به القتالا

Your heart, O bold-hearted one, is a heart

as though you had never witnessed battle with it.

وذي لَجَبٍ تألّق جانباه

كأنّ به على الآفاقِ آلا

And many a clamorous army, its two flanks glittering

as though it held a mirage along the horizons,

وفيه كلُّ سَلْهَبَةٍ جَموحٍ

يعاسلن المثقّفةَ الطِّوالا

with every tall, headstrong mare within it

racing beside the long, straightened lances—

فَلَوْتَ بكلّ أبيضَ مشرفيٍّ

بكَبَّتِهِ رؤوساً لا تُفالى

you deloused, with every gleaming Mashrafi sword,

amid its throng, heads no one could delouse.

ومَنْ لولاك زوّارُ الأعادي

إذا ملّوك زدتَهمُ ملالا

Who, without you, would keep visiting the enemy?

When they tire of you, you make them tire still more.

وشاهقةٍ حماها مُبتنيها

وطوّلها حذاراً أن تُنالا

And many a towering fortress, guarded by its builder,

who raised it high for fear it might be reached,

وحصّنها وعند اللَّه علمٌ

بأنّك لم تدع فيها عِقالا

and fortified it—yet God had knowledge

that you left not even a tether in it.

تراها تستدقّ لمن علاها

كأنّ بها وما هُزِلَتْ هُزالا

You see it tapering for whoever climbs it,

as though it were emaciated, though it had not grown thin.

وقُلَّتُها تمسّ الأُفقَ حتّى

تقدّرها بخدّ الشّمسِ خالا

Its summit touches the horizon, until

you reckon it a mole upon the sun's cheek.

ظفرتَ بها وضيفك من بعيدٍ

يرى ما كان فيه إليك آلا

You conquered it, while your guest, from afar,

sees what had been there now passed to you.

وما كان الزّمانُ يرى عليها

لغير الطير جائلةً مجالا

Time had never seen upon it

room to roam for any but circling birds.

نقلتَ بما نقلتَ قلوبَ قومٍ

ويحسبك الغنيُّ نقلتَ مالا

In transferring what you transferred, you moved a people's hearts,

while the rich man thinks you only transferred wealth.

وسقتَ إلى قوام الدّين فتحاً

يرى كلّ الفتوح له عيالا

You brought Qiwam al-Din a conquest

beside which he counts all conquests as its dependents.

وكم لك قبله من قاطعاتٍ

مدى الآفاق لم تَخَفِ الكلالا

How many before it were yours that traversed

the breadth of the horizons, never fearing fatigue!

إذا ما بات يقلب جانبيها

قوامُ الدين تاه بها وصالا

When he spends the night turning over their two sides,

Qiwam al-Din glories in them and strides proudly.

فخذها فوق ما تهواه منها

عطاءً ما لقيتَ به مِطالا

So take it, surpassing all you desire of it,

a gift in which you have met no delay.

ومجدِك إِنّه قسمٌ جليلٌ

لقد أتعبتَ في الدّنيا الرّجالا

By your glory—it is a solemn oath—

you have wearied the men of this world.

إذا طلبوك فُتَّهُمُ جميلاً

وإنْ رَمَقوك رُعْتَهمُ جمالا

If they seek to match you, you outstrip them nobly,

and if they gaze upon you, you awe them with beauty.

فما لَكَ ليس ترضى عن محلٍّ

كأنّك بعدُ لم تُصبِ الكمالا

Why are you never content with any station,

as though you had not yet attained perfection?

أَلَسْتَ أتمَّنا خُلُقاً وخَلْقاً

وأبسطَنا يميناً أو شمالا

Are you not the most perfect of us in character and form,

and the most openhanded of us, with right hand or left?

فما يبغي الّذي يضحي ويُمسِي

وقد جمع المهابةَ والجَلالا

What more seeks the man who, morning and evening,

has united awe and majesty?

ومَن لولاه كان الناسُ فَوْضى

وكان الأمر مُطّرَحاً مُذالا

And without whom the people would be in disorder,

and authority cast aside and debased?

فدمْ يا فخرَ ملك بني بُوَيْهٍ

دواماً لا نريد به زوالا

Live on, O Fakhr al-Mulk of the sons of Buwayh,

with a continuance we wish never to end.

وقبلك مَن حرامٌ فيه مدحي

فخذه اليوم مبذولاً حلالا

Before you was one to whom my praise was forbidden;

so take it today, freely offered and lawful.