هم بالجمال فلست أول هائم — Suleiman Al Sawla

هِم بالجمال فلست أول هائمِ

أو مت فما لك لذةٌ في العالمِ

Be enamored of beauty, for you are not the first lover.

Or die, for you have no pleasure in the world.

واخضع لأرباب الملاحة والبها

إن الخضوع مطيةٌ للعالم

Submit to the lords of charm and splendor;

submission is a mount for the learned.

لا عيش للإنسان بين مؤدِّبٍ

ومؤنبٍ يدعو لفرضٍ لازم

There is no life for a person among a disciplinarian

and a reprover who calls for binding obligations.

العيش بين بواغمٍ ونواعمٍ

مثل الدمى وأكارمٍ وكرائم

Life is among soft-voiced beauties and tender ones,

like sculpted figures, and noble men and women.

وغزالة في الخد يشرق نورها

بعد الغروب بكل ثغر باسم

And a sun whose light shines in the cheek

after setting in every smiling mouth.

تسعى بها ملء الإناء غريرةٌ

طوع العناق رفيقةٌ باللاثم

A guileless maiden bears it in a brimming vessel,

yielding to embraces, gentle with the one who kisses.

بخدودها لون العقيق وريقها

طعم الرحيق لشارب ولشائم

Her cheeks bear carnelian's hue, and her saliva

the taste of nectar, for drinker and for one who scents it.

تفترُّ عن طلعٍ نضيدٍ ناصعٍ

وتميس في فرعٍ أثيثٍ فاحم

She smiles, revealing dazzling, closely arrayed palm blossoms,

and sways with luxuriant, coal-black tresses.

أو شادنٍ سهل القياد بصدره

سعة الفضا وبفيه ضيق الخاتم

Or an easily led young gazelle: in his chest

the breadth of open space, in his mouth a ring's narrowness;

صاحٍ لإيقاظ السرور بناعسٍ

ساهٍ على شفقٍ كخد النائم

awake to rouse delight with a drowsy gaze,

dreamy over a twilight glow like a sleeper's cheek.

صبت يداه ومقلتاه لصبه

راحين راح وَلاً وراح ولائم

His hands and his eyes poured for his enamored lover

two wines: the wine of passion and the wine of feasts.

في روضةٍ أُنُفٍ كأن غصونها

قامات عربٍ في ثياب أعاجم

In an untouched garden whose branches seem

Arab figures in the robes of non-Arabs.

تزهو شقائقها كخد مخاصمٍ

ويغض نرجسها كعين مسالم

Its anemones glow like a quarreller's cheek,

and its narcissus lowers its gaze like a peaceable person's eye.

من لم يعش بين الحسان منعماً

قد مات عن دنياه بين بهائم

Whoever has not lived among beauties in comfort

has died to his earthly life among beasts.

وإذا الفتى فقد الصبابة والصبا

فقد اغتدى صنماً بهيئة آدمي

And when a young man loses passion and youthfulness,

he has become an idol in human form.

حكمَ الجمالُ المستقل بأمره

إن يُشتهَى فأطعتُ أمر الحاكم

Beauty, sovereign in its own affairs, decreed

that it be desired; so I obeyed the ruler's command.

وخلعت في شوط الصبابة جبتي

وملأت من زهر العناق محازمي

I shed my robe in the race of passion,

and filled my girdles with the blossoms of embraces.

ماذا علي إذا شفيت جوانحي

بشفاه معسول المراشف باغم

What blame is mine if I heal my heart

with the lips of a honey-lipped, soft-voiced one,

وشميم عارض بضةٍ ما عارضت

بسواه راحة لامسٍ أو لاثم

and the fragrance of a tender maiden's cheek, who has never met

a caresser's or kisser's palm with anything other than it?

صنوان يحمل ردفُ كل منهما

بان الغوير على كثيب الكاظم

Two kindred stems: each one's hips bear

al-Ghuwayr's ban tree upon al-Kazim's dune.

فهوى الجمالِ اليوسفي خليقتي

وطريقتي حب الجمال الفاطمي

For love of Yusuf-like beauty is my nature,

and my way is love of Fatimah-like beauty.

أفديهما بأبي وأمي مثلما

يُفدَى الوزير بقاعدٍ وبقائم

I would ransom them both with my father and mother, just as

the minister is ransomed with those seated and those standing.

خرشيد أفضل من تحكم وارتقى

بالعدل من عربٍ سمت وأعاجم

Khurshid is the best of those who have ruled and risen

through justice, among eminent Arabs and non-Arabs;

وأبر برٍّ فاضلٍ فاضت على ال

دنيا سيول سماحه المتراكم

and the most righteous of upright, virtuous men; there have poured over the

world torrents of his ever-mounting bounty.

والٍ يؤيد صدقه وسماحه

إنجاز موعده ويسر الخادم

A governor whose truthfulness and generosity are confirmed

by fulfillment of his promise and the servant's prosperity.

أنشا قوانين البلاد بحذقه

وأعاد رونق مجدها المتقادم

He established the country's laws through his skill,

and restored the luster of its long-established glory.

للناس منه ومن يديه وعلمه

وحديثه شغفٌ بخمس خضارم

The people's love of him, his two hands, his learning,

and his speech is a passion for five vast seas.

زان الوزارة بالأمانة والتقى

ومحا الخيانة بالعفاف الدائم

He adorned the ministry with integrity and piety,

and erased treachery through steadfast probity.

يخشى الملام ويتقيه وإنما

في اللَه لا يخشى ملامة لائم

He fears reproach and guards against it; yet

in God's cause he fears no reproacher's blame.

قل للذي يهوى العلوم بأسرها

قم واقتبس من نور هذا العالم

Tell the one who loves knowledge in all its branches:

Rise and draw from this scholar's light—

الأريحي اللوذعي الألمعي

ي الحيدري الفاطمي الهاشمي

the openhanded, astute, perceptive one,

the Haydari, Fatimid, Hashimite.

فاللَه ألهمه الصواب وجاده

علم الكتاب وصانه من ظالم

For God inspired him with right judgment and lavished upon him

knowledge of the Book, and protected him from a wrongdoer.

لو قارنت شمس الضحى قمر الدجى

ما أولدت كمحمدٍ في العالم

Had the morning sun joined the moon of darkness,

it would not have borne Muhammad's like in the world.

نجواه ألطف من نسيم عاطر

ونداه أوكفُ من مُلِثٍّ ساجم

His intimate speech is gentler than a fragrant breeze,

and his bounty pours more abundantly than a lingering, streaming raincloud.

وتعده الحرب العوان إذا التقت

حلقُ البطانِ بألف ألف مهاجم

Seasoned war reckons him, when

the saddle-girth rings meet, as a thousand thousand attackers.

ويكاد يورق بالنضار يراعه

ما مرَّ منه على ثلاث غمائم

His reed pen almost puts forth leaves of gold

whenever it passes from him over three rainclouds.

دع غيره واقصد حدائق فضله

تجد الحدائق نوِّرت بمكارم

Leave others; seek the gardens of his bounty;

you will find the gardens blossoming with noble deeds.

والجود بين مدنَّر ومدرهم

والناس بين مهرول ومزاحم

Bounty is shared between those given dinars and those given dirhams,

and people either hurry or jostle.

أي خير من سارت لكعبة جوده

إبل الرجا سير الحجيج الهائم

O best of those to whose Kaaba of bounty have journeyed

the camels of hope, like enraptured pilgrims;

وأجل من وشّى الطروس وشق بال

سيف الرؤوس وكفَّ كف الظالم

and greatest of those who embroidered pages and cleft, with the

sword, heads, and restrained the oppressor's hand.

ضاعفت ساعات السرور بساعةٍ

منَّت يداك بها لأصغر خادم

You multiplied the hours of joy with a single hour

your hands graciously bestowed upon the humblest servant.

دامت لك المنح الحسان ودمت ما

دام الزمان حِمام كل مقاوم

May beautiful gifts endure for you, and may you remain, as long as

time endures, the doom of every opponent.

تزهو بك الأيام زهو مواسمٍ

ويمدك الباري بفوز دائم

The days glory in you with the splendor of festive seasons,

and may the Creator sustain you with lasting triumph.