Sol 6.1

  1. علّ البخيلة أن تجود لعاشقٍ

    ما زال يقنع بالخيال الطارقِ

    May the stingy woman be generous to a lover

    Who remains content with the phantom that comes by night.

  2. صدّتْ وقد نظرتْ سوادَ قرونها

    عنّي وقد نظرتْ سواد مفارقي

    She turned away, having seen her tresses' blackness,

    From me, having seen the blackness of my hair's partings.

  3. وتعجّبتْ من جُنحِ ليلٍ مظلِمٍ

    أنّى رمى فيه الزّمانُ بشارقِ

    And she wondered at the gloom of a dark night:

    How had Time cast a rising light into it?

  4. وسوادِ رأسٍ كان رَبْعَ أحبّةٍ

    رجع المشيبُ به طلولَ مُفارقِ

    And at a head's blackness, once a dwelling for beloveds,

    Which graying turned to ruins left by one departed.

  5. يا هندُ إنْ أنكرتِ لونَ ذوائبي

    فكما عهدتِ علائقي وطرائقي

    O Hind, if you disapprove of my tresses' color,

    My attachments and my ways are as you knew them.

  6. ووراءَ ما شَنِئتهُ عينُك ضَلَّةً

    ما شئتِ من خُلُقٍ يسرّك رائقِ

    And behind what your eye foolishly detested

    Lies all the fine character you wish for, to delight you.

  7. أوَميضُ شيبٍ أم وميضُ بواترٍ

    قَطَّعْنَ عند الغانياتِ علائقي

    Is it the gleam of gray hair, or the flash of severing swords

    That have cut my ties with beautiful women?

  8. وكأنّ طَلعة شيبةٍ في مَفْرقٍ

    عندَ الغواني ضربةٌ من فالِقِ

    And a gray hair's appearance at a parting is,

    To beautiful women, like a blow from one who cleaves.

  9. ومعيّري شيبَ العِذار وما درى

    أنّ الشّبابَ مطيّةٌ للفاسقِ

    And he who mocks my graying sideburns does not know

    That youth is a mount for the profligate.

  10. ويقول لو غيّرتَ منه لونَه

    هيهات أُبدِلُ مؤمناً بمنافقِ

    And he says, 'If only you changed its color!'

    Never would I exchange a believer for a hypocrite.

  11. والشّيبُ أملأ للصّدور وإن نَبتْ

    عن لونه في الوجه عينُ الرّامقِ

    And gray hair fills hearts with greater awe, though

    The beholder's eye recoils from its color on the face.

  12. وإذا ليالي الأربعين تكاملتْ

    لِلمرءِ فهو إلى الرّدى من حالقِ

    And when the nights of forty years have run their course

    For a man, he plunges toward death from a lofty peak.

  13. ولقد صحوتُ من الهوى وسلوته

    أيّامَ ريعان الشّباب مُفارقي

    And I sobered from passion and ceased to long for it,

    In the days when youth's first bloom was leaving me.

  14. وكفيتُ عذّالِي فليس يشوقني

    من كان يوماً قبل ذلك شائقي

    And I spared my reproachers: no longer does one stir me

    Who once, before that, awakened my longing.

  15. من بعد أن أَوْضَعتُ في سَنَنِ الصِّبا

    وأخذتُ في اللّذّاتِ خَصْل السابِقِ

    After I had raced along the road of youth

    And claimed, in pleasures, the winner's prize,

  16. ومشيتُ مُلتاثَ الإزارِ كأنّما

    ساورتُ قهوةَ صابحٍ أو غابقِ

    And walked, my waistcloth tangled, as though

    I had wrestled with the wine of a morning or evening drinker.

  17. تنزو بِيَ النشواتُ كلَّ عشيّةٍ

    نَزْوَ الجنادب في متونِ حدائقِ

    Raptures sent me leaping every evening,

    Like grasshoppers leaping across the backs of gardens.

  18. وأخٍ رميتُ إخاءَه لمّا نَبَتْ

    أخلاقُهُ عنّى بفرقةِ طالقِ

    And a brother whose friendship I cast off when

    His character grew estranged from me—with a divorcee's severance.

  19. وتركته لمّا وجدتُ أديمَه

    متفرّقاً من قبل فَريِ الخالِقِ

    And I left him when I found his hide

    Torn apart before the leather-worker's cutting.

  20. يرمي إليَّ وقد ملأتُ ضميره

    نَدَماً على ما فات لَحْظَ مُسارِقِ

    He casts toward me—now that I have filled his heart

    With regret for what was lost—a furtive glance.

  21. وَأَنا الّذي علمتْ نِزارٌ كلُّها

    من بيتها في رأسِ أرعَنَ شاهقِ

    And I am he whom all Nizar knows

    To be of its house, atop a jutting, towering mountain.

  22. وَإذا تتابعت السّنون فلن ترى

    أستارنا مسدولةً من طارِقِ

    And when the years succeed one another, you will never see

    Our curtains drawn against a night visitor.

  23. وترى على كَلَبِ الزّمانِ جفانَنا

    وتعاقُبِ الأضيافِ جِدَّ فواهقِ

    And despite Time's savagery, you will see our serving bowls,

    And despite the succession of guests, brimful to overflowing.

  24. وتخال طالعةَ الكواكبِ وسْطَها

    قد مُنطقَتْ من نظمها بمناطِقِ

    And you would think the rising stars in their midst

    Had been girdled with belts formed from their arrangement.

  25. وإِذا تشاجرت الرّماحُ رأيتني

    رَحْبَ الخُطا في المأزقِ المتضايقِ

    And when spears interlock, you see me

    Broad of stride within the narrowing battle-pass.

  26. وعليَّ مِن نَسْجِ الأسنّةِ نَثْلَةٌ

    وعلى كُماةِ الرَّوْعِ نسجُ يَلامِقِ

    And on me is a coat of mail woven from spearheads,

    And upon battle's champions lies the weave of robes.

  27. في ظهر سابقةٍ تفيءُ عروقُها

    يومَ الجِراءِ إلى الوَجيهِ ولاحِقِ

    On the back of a fleet mare whose bloodlines return,

    On race-day, to al-Wajih and Lahiq.

  28. وإذا جَرتْ فالبرقُ ليس بمسرعٍ

    إيماضُهُ والطَّرْفُ ليس بسابقِ

    And when she runs, lightning is not swift

    In its flashing, nor can the eye outstrip her.

  29. أُنمى إلى بيت العُلا من هاشمٍ

    من ذلك الأصلِ الأشمِّ الباسِقِ

    I trace my descent to Hashim's house of glory,

    From that proud, towering root.

  30. قومٌ إذا حَمِيَ الحديدُ عليهمُ

    يَرِدون أوديةَ النّجيعِ الدّافِقِ

    A people who, when iron grows hot against them,

    Go down to the valleys of gushing blood.

  31. وإذا هَوَوْا من نجدةٍ في خُطَّةٍ

    لم يَثْنِهمْ عنها نعيقُ النّاعقِ

    And when, out of valor, they plunge into an undertaking,

    No croaker's croak can turn them back from it.

  32. وهُمُ غيوثُ صنائعٍ ومجاوعٍ

    وهُمُ ليوثُ مواقفٍ ومآزقِ

    And they are life-giving rains in kindness and famine;

    And they are lions in encounters and straits;

  33. وهُمُ صدورُ محافلٍ ومجالسٍ

    وهُمُ بدورُ مواكبٍ وفيالِقِ

    And they are the leaders of assemblies and councils;

    And they are full moons of processions and legions.

  34. مَن مُبلغٌ عنّي بنِي جُشَمٍ وإِنْ

    كانوا على حكمِ الزَّمانِ أَصَادقي

    Who will carry word from me to the sons of Jusham, though

    They were my friends by Time's decree?

  35. كم في صدوركُمُ لنا من إحْنَةٍ

    برزتْ فموّهَهَا لسانُ الناطقِ

    How many a grudge against us in your breasts

    Has emerged, then been disguised by the speaker's tongue!

  36. ولَكَمْ لكمْ بِشْرٌ تكشّف غِبَّه

    عن شرّ عاقبةٍ كخُلَّبِ بارقِ

    And how often your smiles have revealed, in their wake,

    An evil outcome, like a flash of rainless lightning.

  37. ومتى أُصِخْ سمعاً لرجع جوابكمْ

    فإلى كلامِ مُواربٍ ومماذِقِ

    And whenever I lend an ear to the echo of your reply,

    It is to the words of a dissembler and a false friend.

  38. إنّي مَرَيْتُكُمُ فكنتُ كمن مَرى

    جَدّاء لا تسخو بدَرّةِ حالِقِ

    I tried to milk you, and was like one who milked

    A dry-uddered beast that yields no full udder's flow.

  39. ما في عهودكُمُ وإنْ وثّقتُمُ

    شَطَنٌ تَعلَّقُهُ يمينُ الواثقِ

    In your pledges, however firmly you bind them, there is no

    Rope a trusting man's right hand can grasp.

  40. والجارُ بين بيوتكمْ كَثِبٌ على الْ

    أعداءِ نَصْبَ جوائحٍ وبوائقِ

    And the neighbor among your houses stands close to the

    Enemies, a target for devastation and disasters.

  41. يسري إِليه ضراركم وخُصصتمُ

    من دونه بمنافعٍ ومرافقِ

    Your harm creeps toward him, while you are favored,

    To his exclusion, with benefits and comforts.

  42. ومتى تفكّر في عطائكمُ اِمرؤٌ

    لم يدرِ أسخطه قضاءُ الرّازقِ

    And whenever a man reflects on what you have been given,

    He cannot fathom it; the Provider's decree angers him.

  43. ودرى بأنّ النُّجحَ ليس لعاقلٍ

    فينا وأنَّ الحظَّ حظُّ المائقِ

    And he knows that success is not for the wise

    Among us, and that fortune belongs to the fool.