سقت عهود الديم — أبو المعالي الطالوي — Saqi

May recurring, steady rains water
a remembered time at Dhu Salam.
There I spent a night
that passed for us like a dream.
Upon the brow of time it became
like a white blaze upon a black steed.
And my companions were a band
arrayed like stars;
their manners seemed to be
the flowers of hills and knolls,
or a lush meadow
drenched by the rains of al-Mirzam.
And likewise their words were
like pearls upon a string,
from each man obedient to love,
submissive to its command,
yet on the day of battle he was
a fierce lion of the lair.
And around us grazed
herds of resting beauties with wide eyes.
Whenever she swayed her flank,
in pride before the besotted lover,
she showed you slender spear shafts,
each topped with a keen spearhead.
I exchanged with her secret whispers of passion,
from a lover deeply enamored.
And I did not drive the grazing herd of glances
from her preserve, moistened by gentle rain,
until, when drowsiness wandered
over her languid eyelid,
she slept, while I had not yet slept,
with heartache settling over me,
and a tear spilled
like the downpours of steady rain.
Until, when morning came
in an immense, massed army,
and night fled away
with its defeated army,
and al-Jawza bowed
after veiling herself with a cloth,
I parted from her, while in my breast
were the first stirrings of a love that ruled me,
and in the eyes—may they never weep—
a downpour of tears and blood,
from women with radiant smiles
and maidens keeping to their tents,
and every tender maiden clothed
in youth's ornamented mantle.
She sways proudly in youth's brocade,
its two mantles unembroidered.
Alas, if the days do not reunite
me with them
in a garden moistened with fine rain
by a cloud pouring down,
where the sanctuary's gray doves sang
with eloquent melodies,
I would perish with longing for them
and sorrow over them.
I do indeed hope for it, and
our time together is not long past.
And here, take her, a supple beauty,
with fingertips red as dragon's blood resin.
Where her earring falls were hung
pearls from my words,
from a wandering thought
and a divided mind.
She seeks acceptance in the shade
of the most generous, son of the most generous,
the young al-Ajami, who rose
through excellence to the crowns of the stars.
And she seeks from his abundance
and his surging generosity
release from what was made binding by
requiring what was never required.
May he ever soar in glory,
amid grace and blessings,
as long as an accomplished songstress sings
the sleepless longing of doves and gazelles,
and, galloping, turn
toward him the mounts of words.