عل الهوى يهفو به العذل — Sharif Al Murtaza

عَلَّ الهوى يهفو به العَذَلُ

ويغضّ من جَمَحانِهِ المَلَلُ

Perhaps reproach will make passion falter,

and weariness curb its unbridled rush.

والحبُّ أضيعُ ما أطاف به

قلبٌ ونيطَ بحفظه شُغُلُ

Love is the most easily lost of all that is embraced

by a heart, and whose keeping is entrusted to a care.

ولقد صحبتُ العيشَ مصطبراً

سلوَان لا يسطيعني الغَزَلُ

I have indeed accompanied life with patient endurance,

free of longing: amorous dalliance cannot master me.

إنْ شئتُ أعمدتُ الخِباءَ ولا

تحظَى بِيَ الأستارُ والكِلَلُ

If I wish, I erect a tent; yet

neither curtains nor canopies win my company.

ومُلَوَّحِ الخدّين تحملُهُ

أبداً على أعناقها السُّبُلُ

And many a man with sun-scorched cheeks is carried

forever on their necks by the roads.

نابٍ عن الأوطانِ فهْوَ متى

ظَفِرت به الأوطان مُرتحِلُ

Estranged from homelands, so whenever

homelands gain hold of him, he departs.

ترك البلادَ لمنْ أقام بها

وتقطّعتْ عن عيشِهِ العُقَلُ

He left the lands to those who dwell in them,

and the tethers broke away from his life.

يسعى إلى العلياءِ يُحرزها

سعياً تحامَى وقْعَهُ الزَّلَلُ

He strives toward the heights and wins them,

with a stride whose footfall stumbling shuns.

وإذا الفتى كُتبَ النَّجاءُ له

فالكَلْمُ يعفو والأذى جَلَلُ

And when deliverance is decreed for a young man,

wounds fade, and harm is a slight matter.

دَيني وإنْ ألْوَى المِطالُ به

تَلْويه نحوي البِيضُ والأَسَلُ

What I am owed, though delay has diverted it,

bright swords and spears turn toward me.

وَسوايَ إنْ قعد الزّمان به

قعدتْ به الآراءُ والحِيَلُ

But others, if time holds them back,

are failed by their judgments and stratagems too.

والدّهرُ يجذبنا إلى أَمَدٍ

تَغنى به الأسفارُ والرِّحَلُ

And time draws us toward an end

at which journeys and travels cease.

ما أقربَ الأعمالَ من أجلٍ

العمرُ صبحٌ والرّدى أُصُلُ

How near deeds lie to an appointed end!

Life is morning, and death is eventide.

والمرءُ إنْ أخطاهُ طالبُهُ

لم تخطِهِ من دهرِهِ الغِيَلُ

And a man, though his pursuer miss him,

will not be missed by time's ambushes.

مُلقىً على طُرْقِ الخطوبِ له

من كَرِّها حلٌّ ومُرتَحَلُ

Cast upon the roads of calamity, he has

a halt and a departure with its recurring assaults.

أَيَقودني أَمَلي فأتبَعُهُ

والذُّلُّ يصحب مَن له أَمَلُ

Shall my hope lead me, and I follow it,

while humiliation attends whoever has hope?

وعليَّ تستعلي الرّجالُ وما

يبدو لعينِي منهمُ رجلُ

Men lord it over me, yet

to my eyes not one of them appears a man.

ما لِي أُعلَّلُ بالخِداعِ وقد

تُردِي المعلَّلَ دهرَه العِلَلُ

Why am I soothed with deceit, when

excuses ruin the man they soothe throughout his life?

تَقذِي جفوني كلُّ رائقةٍ

ويَمُرُّ في لَهَواتِيَ العَسَلَ

Every pleasing thing irritates my eyelids,

and honey turns bitter in my throat.

في كلّ يومٍ صاحبٌ سَئِمٌ

يُلقى على ظهري فأحتملُ

Each day a weary companion

is cast upon my back, and I bear him.

وإِذا وصلتُ إلى الحسين فدى

وَصْلِي له الخُلّانُ والخُلَلُ

And when I reach al-Husayn, may ransom

for my bond with him be friends and friendships.

ذاكَ الّذي جُمِعَ الولاءُ له

وتشايعتْ في حبّه المِلَلُ

That is he for whom allegiance is united,

and creeds have joined in loving him.

في كلِّ عارفةٍ له قَدَمٌ

ولكلّ مَكرُمةٍ به مَثَلُ

In every kindness he has a foothold,

and every noble deed has in him its example.

سَبْطُ الأناملِ وَبْلُهُ دِيَمٌ

للمعتفين ووِرْدُه عَلَلُ

Supple-fingered, his downpour is lasting rain

for petitioners, and his first draught brings repeated draughts.

والجودُ حيثُ الوعدُ مُفتَقَدٌ

والقولُ معقودٌ به العَمَلُ

And bounty is there where promises are absent,

and action is bound to the spoken word.

وإذا أعار القولَ منطقُه

خَفَتَ الكلامُ وأَمْسَكَ الزَّمِلُ

And when his eloquence lends speech its voice,

talk grows quiet, and the timid man falls silent.

هذا وكم غمّاءَ خالطها

والظنُّ فيها شاربٌ ثَمِلُ

Such is he—and how many a dark ordeal he entered,

while conjecture within it was a drunken drinker!

أدّتْهُ وضّاحَ الجَبين كما

أدّتْ صقال الصّارمِ الخِلَلُ

It brought him forth with radiant brow, as

openings reveal the sheen of a keen sword.

وَلأَنتَ إنْ عُدّ اِمرؤٌ سَلَفاً

من معشرٍ إنْ فوضِلوا فَضَلوا

And you indeed—if a man is reckoned a forebear—

are of a people who, when matched in excellence, excel.

المفضِلون إذا الورى بخلوا

والمقدِمون إذا هُمُ نَكلَوا

The generous when mankind is miserly,

and those who advance when others recoil.

والمعجلو الجُرْدِ العِتاقِ ولا ال

أَرْسانُ تمسكها ولا الجُدُلُ

And those who speed sleek, noble-bred steeds; neither

reins nor braided cords hold them back.

غلبوا على خطط العَلاءِ وكم

قد رامها قومٌ فما وصلوا

They mastered the domains of glory; how many

peoples sought them, yet never reached them!

لا يطمحون إلى بُلَهْنِيَةٍ

في طيّها التّأْنيبُ والعَذَلُ

They do not covet a life of ease

whose folds conceal rebuke and reproach.

وإذا الصَّريحُ عَلَتْ غَماغِمُهُ

وأزلّ من خطواتِهِ البَطَلُ

And when the noble-born man's muffled cries rise,

and the champion falters in his steps,

ملأوا الفضاءَ بكلّ مُنْصَلِتٍ

ما دبّ في حَيْزومه الوَجَلُ

they fill the open ground with every charging warrior

into whose breast fear has never crept.

للَّه دَرُّك والثَّرى ضَرِجٌ

والبيضُ تهطِلُ والقنا خَضِلُ

God bless your prowess, while the soil is bloodstained,

bright swords rain down, and spears are drenched.

فَلَرُبَّ نازلةٍ نَدبتَ لها

عزماً تَولَّجَ رَيْثه العَجَلُ

For many a calamity you called forth

a resolve whose deliberation was infused with speed.

ومُرَوَّعٍ حصّنتَ مهجتَه

وقدِ اِشْرَأَبَّ لأخذها الأَجَلُ

And many a frightened man's life you fortified,

when death had craned its neck to seize it.

حيث الرّدى موفٍ بكَلْكَلِهِ

ينجاب عنه الثُّكْلُ والهَبَلُ

Where death looms with its broad breast,

bereavement and grief are lifted from him.

والسُّمرُ في اللَّبّاتِ طائشةٌ

والبيضُ تكثِمُ شطرَها القُلَلُ

While tawny spears dart wildly into breast hollows,

and heads conceal half the bright blades.

هَجَرَ الحسودُ تباعَ زَفْرتِه

وتحسّرتْ عن صدره الغِلَلُ

The envious man abandoned his repeated sighing,

and rancors fell away from his breast.

ورآك أسبق إنْ جريتَ ولو

أعطته سَبْقَ لحاظها المُقَلُ

And he saw you swifter whenever you raced, even if

eyes lent him the swiftness of their glances.

واليأسُ أروحُ للقلوب إذا

كانت إلى المطلوب لا تصلُ

And despair is more restful for hearts when

they cannot reach what they seek.

ما ضرّ مَن يرضاك جُنَّتَهُ

إنْ حُكّمَتْ فيه القنا الذُّبُلُ

What harm comes to one who chooses you as his shield,

even if slender spears are given sway over him?

حسبي دفاعُك فهو لِي حَرَمٌ

يضفو على سِرْبي وينسدِلُ

Your defense suffices me; it is my sanctuary,

spreading broadly over my person and hanging down.

أعليتَ طرفي وهو منخفضٌ

وحميتَ رَبْعي وهو مُبتَذَلُ

You raised my gaze when it was lowered,

and guarded my dwelling when it lay exposed.

وبلغتَ بِي في العزّ منزلةً

كلُّ الورى عن مثلها نُزُلُ

And brought me to a station of glory;

all mankind fall short of its like.

فلأَشكرنّك ما مشتْ بفتىً

قدمٌ وحنّتْ للنّوى إِبِلُ

I shall surely thank you as long as a young man is borne

by a foot, and camels yearn for distant travel.

وَليُهْنِك العيدُ الّذي عَزَبَتْ

عنه الهمومُ وأطبق الجَذَلُ

And may the feast gladden you, the feast from which

cares have fled and over which joy has spread.

يومٌ تطيح به الذّنوبُ كما

دفع الغُثاءَ العارضُ الهَطِلُ

A day on which sins fall away, as

a pouring rain-cloud sweeps away the flotsam.

فَاِسعَدْ بهِ فالعزُّ مؤتَنَفٌ

بقدومه والمجدُ مُقتَبِلُ

Rejoice in it, for honor begins anew

with its coming, and glory is renewed.

وَاِسلَمْ على نُوَبِ الزّمان وإنْ

شَقِيَتْ بها الأملاكُ والدُّوَلُ

And remain safe through time's reversals, even if

kings and dynasties suffer under them.

والعنقُ أوْلَى أنْ يُصان وأنْ

يشقى بجمرةِ دائِهِ الكَفَلُ

And the neck is more deserving of protection, and

the rump of suffering the burning coal of its disease.