Sol 6

  1. ردوا مطاياها التي نفت الكرى

    وتناولوا من در أجفاني الكرا

    Bring back her mounts, which drove sleep away;

    And take sleep from the pearls of my eyelids.

  2. ودعوا العقيق فما جرى من ناظري

    إلا ليعلم ساكينه بما جرى

    Leave al-Aqiq alone: what flowed from my eye

    Flowed only to tell its inhabitants what happened.

  3. خالت سعاد الشعب يمنع طيفها

    عني إذا طلب الخيال المحجرا

    Suad thought the mountain pass would keep her phantom

    From me when imagination sought my eyes.

  4. فتديرت أرض العراق وغادرت

    مني خيالاً في الشآم محيرا

    So she settled in the land of Iraq and left

    My bewildered imagination behind in Syria.

  5. واللَه لو عاد الكرى لعرى وما

    هاب المهامه والربا والأبحرا

    By God, if sleep returned, it would cross the open lands and never

    Fear the deserts, hills, or seas.

  6. ولبات طوع يدي وبت معانقاً

    منه الغزال مطوَّقاً ومسورا

    It would spend the night at my command, while I embraced

    The gazelle within it, adorned with necklace and bracelets.

  7. يا رب ما عملي بنار صبابةٍ

    تزداد بالدمع الهتون تسعُّرا

    Lord, what can I do with a fire of longing

    That pouring tears only make burn hotter?

  8. وغزالةٍ كتم اللثام شعاعها

    عني فأصبح وهو أسود أحمرا

    And with a gazelle whose veil hid her radiance

    From me, until that black veil turned red?

  9. تغتال آساد الرجال بذابلٍ

    غدت العيون له سناناً أحورا

    She slays the lions among men with a slender shaft

    For which her dark-eyed glances serve as spearpoints.

  10. بكرٌ تمجس في عبادة خدها

    بصري ولكن بالدموع تنصرا

    My sight became a Magian worshipping her cheek,

    But through its tears it became Christian.

  11. أسلمت ناظرها الكرى ولناظري

    ما أسلمت إلّا سحاباً ممطرا

    She surrendered her eyes to sleep, while to my eyes

    She surrendered only a rain-filled cloud.

  12. اللَه بي يا من بمرمر صدرها

    فرجي فعيشي من جفاك تمرمرا

    God help me, you whose marble-white breast

    I beg for relief: your coldness has made my life bitter.

  13. لا تحمدي الصبر المرير لوالهٍ

    ذاق الرضاب فصار يهوى السكَّرا

    Do not praise bitter patience to one distraught

    Who tasted your sweet saliva and came to love sweetness.

  14. وصِفي له من روض خدك وردةً

    حمراءَ تحمل من عذارك عنبرا

    Describe to him a red rose from the garden of your cheek,

    Bearing amber from the down upon it.

  15. فهي التي لو عاد طيف خيالها ال

    ميت الضرير لعاد حيّاً مبصرا

    For if the mere phantom of that rose returned to a

    Blind dead man, he would live again and see.

  16. فإلام قلبك لا يلين لعاشقٍ

    لان الحصى لحنينه وتفطَّرا

    How long will your heart stay hard toward a lover

    Whose moans made even stones soften and split?

  17. أفكلّ لينة المعاطف قلبها

    قاسٍ يصدُّ عن المراشف قسورا

    Is every woman with a supple waist hard-hearted,

    Fiercely withholding her lips?

  18. أم أنت وحدك يا سعاد غزالةً

    عفارء تترك من يهيم معفّرا

    Or are you alone, Suad, a gazelle

    That leaves its infatuated lover in the dust?

  19. أبكى العيون الآس حين تعصفرا

    والورد حين غدا كصبك أصفرا

    The yellowing myrtle made eyes weep,

    As did the rose when it turned as yellow as your lover.

  20. لفراق ليلتنا المحجلة التي

    قصرت وحق لمثلها أن يقصرا

    They mourned the parting from our splendid night,

    Which was brief, though such a night deserves to be brief.

  21. ما كان أبهاها ووجهك يخجل ال

    قمر المنير بها ويجلو الأنورا

    How beautiful it was, when your face shamed the

    Bright moon and made the lights shine clearer.

  22. حار الطبيب بحال صبٍّ كلما

    ذَكرَ النحيبُ له الصبابة أنكرا

    The physician was baffled by a lover who, whenever

    His sobbing recalled his passion, denied it.

  23. أفلا أبوح له فتوصف قطرة

    من فيك تفضل كل شيءٍ قُطِّرا

    Shall I confide in him, so he may prescribe a drop

    From your mouth, surpassing everything ever distilled?

  24. وشميم جيدٍ جاده اللَه البها

    وحباه مولانا الأمير الجوهرا

    And the scent of a neck God endowed with beauty

    And our lord the emir adorned with jewels.

  25. السيد السند الذي ساد الورى

    وبرأيه الرحمن أحسن ما برا

    He is the noble protector who rules over people,

    Whom the Merciful fashioned with the finest judgment:

  26. جوداً ومجداً باذخاً وسماحةً

    وفصاحةً وتقىً وذهناً نيرا

    With generosity, towering glory, and openhandedness,

    Eloquence, piety, and a luminous mind.

  27. فهو الذي لولا نداه تجرعت

    آل الشآم السوكران المنكرا

    Without his bounty, the people of Syria would have drunk

    A bitter, abhorrent draught.

  28. ولبارت الحِكَمُ التي ببيوتها

    سكن البيانُ وأصبحت لا تشترى

    And the wisdom whose verses housed eloquence

    Would have gone unsold and unvalued.

  29. أيام بات غنيها وفقيرها

    سيَّين يلتمسان نيران القرى

    Those were days when its rich and poor alike

    Sought the fires of hospitality.

  30. وأرامل الأحياء لا يعطى لها

    غير الدعاء من المداين والقرى

    The widows of its communities received

    Only prayers from towns and villages.

  31. والناس تنفر للحروب وزادها

    وجل القلوب وخيبة المسعى كرا

    People rushed into war, provisioned with

    Fearful hearts and the bitter fruit of failed efforts.

  32. والشهم من جعل الفرار جواده

    ونجا يقول الصيد في جوف الفرا

    A brave man was one who made flight his steed

    And escaped, saying, “The prey is inside the wild ass.”

  33. وقميص كل محاربٍ ومضاربٍ

    ما قده المران إلّا من ورا

    The shirt of every fighter and striker

    Was pierced by spears only from behind.

  34. والمال يجمع للذين توكلوا

    في جمعه ليعود جمعاً مسكرا

    And money was gathered by those entrusted

    To collect it, only to become a gathering of wine.

  35. يزهو ويزهر في الكؤوس كأنه

    خد العروس مضرجاً ومبخرا

    It glowed and bloomed in cups as though it were

    A bride’s cheek, flushed and perfumed.

  36. اللَه أكبر كم رأيت لفارسٍ

    فرساً مطهَّمةً تسير القهقرى

    God is great! How often I saw a knight’s

    Fine horse going backward.

  37. ومنازلاً ما أغلقت أبوابها

    إلّا لتدفع سائلاً متنكرا

    And houses whose doors were shut

    Only to turn away a petitioner in disguise.

  38. إلّا ملاذ الشهم عبد القادر اب

    ن الشهم محي الدين دام معمرا

    Except the refuge of the valiant Abd al-Qadir,

    Son of the valiant Muhyi al-Din; may he live long:

  39. الواهب الآلاف تبراً أصفرا

    ومجرّع الآلاف موتاً أحمرا

    Giver of thousands in yellow gold,

    And giver of red death to thousands.

  40. ومعيد عيش بني الكنانة والربا

    مبيضة الأرجاء عيشاً أخضرا

    He restored to the people of Kinanah and the bright hills

    A green and flourishing life.

  41. فهو الذي كنا نشيم ببابه

    قوتاً وياقوتاً ومسكاً أذفرا

    At his door we used to glimpse

    Food, rubies, and richly fragrant musk.

  42. وهو الذي أوقاته وهباته

    للحرب والمحراب تصرف والقرى

    He is the one whose hours and gifts

    Are spent on war, worship, and hospitality.

  43. أذكى الورى حسباً وأشرف عنصراً

    وأعم إحساناً وأحسن منظرا

    Noblest of all in lineage and birth,

    Most generous in kindness and fairest in appearance;

  44. وأعزهم جاراً وأمنعهم حمىً

    وأشبهم ناراً وأرفعهم ذرى

    Strongest in protecting a neighbor and guarding a sanctuary,

    Most like a welcoming fire, and loftiest in rank.

  45. عف الردا جم الرماد أجل من

    تحت السما وأبر من فوق الثرى

    Pure of cloak and great of ash, noblest of those

    Beneath heaven and kindest of those above earth.

  46. يروى الندى متواضعاً عن حاتمٍ

    ونداه يحتقر الحيا والأبحرا

    Generosity is modestly related of Hatim,

    But his generosity makes rain and seas seem small.

  47. ويعد أقيال الزمان ولم أرد

    عبداً لبعض عبيده الإسكندرا

    He is counted among the rulers of the age; I would not count

    Alexander as a servant to one of his servants.

  48. نفس الحروب لديه أنفس من شذا ال

    بكر الكعوب ومن معانقة الكرى

    The very breath of battle is dearer to him than the fragrance of a

    Young, full-breasted maiden, or an embrace with sleep.

  49. يعلو لها ظهر الجواد وعندما

    يعلو عليها السلم يعلو المبنرا

    For battle he mounts a horse’s back, and when

    Peace rises, he mounts the pulpit.

  50. طربت وأطربت الوفود بجوده

    فحسبت أن الجود أصبح مسكرا

    I rejoiced, and the delegations rejoiced at his giving,

    Until I thought generosity itself had become intoxicating.

  51. حتى إذا ابيضت لديه وجوههم

    أيقنت أن نداه يسقي الكوثرا

    Then, when their faces brightened before him,

    I knew his bounty gave them water from al-Kawthar.

  52. فاكرم به ملكاً إذا ما كبرا

    ترك الجماجم للصوافن عثيرا

    How noble a ruler he is: when he declares God’s greatness,

    He leaves skulls as dust for the horses.

  53. وإذا روى خالَ النديمُ حديثَه

    يدَه التي ألقت عليه الجوهرا

    And when he tells a tale, his companion imagines his words

    Are the hand that has scattered jewels over him.

  54. وصل الصَلاة مع الصِلات بعرورةٍ

    وثقى فبات المال محلول العرى

    He joined prayer to gifts with a firm

    Bond, so that wealth lay with its ties undone.

  55. ودعا الوفود فكنت أسعد من سعى

    وجنى ثمار سماحه وتشكرا

    He summoned delegations; I was the happiest to come,

    Reap the fruits of his generosity, and give thanks.

  56. فتبارك اللَه الذي جعل الندى

    بيديه للثقلين روضاً مثمرا

    Blessed be God, who made generosity

    In his hands a fruitful garden for humans and jinn.

  57. يا خير من صلى وصام وكبرا

    وأجل من أخذ اليراع وسطرا

    O best of those who pray, fast, and proclaim God’s greatness,

    And noblest of those who take up a pen and write:

  58. حصر اقتدارك باليراعة معجزٌ

    جلت صفاتك أن تعد وتحصرا

    To confine your skill to the pen is impossible;

    Your qualities are too exalted to count or contain.

  59. والعجز عن تعداد فضلك ظاهرٌ

    فاعذر فتى عد النجوم فقصرا

    My inability to number your merits is plain;

    Forgive one who counted the stars yet fell short.

  60. قسماً بجاهك ليس يحنث حالف

    باللَه أنك خير مخلوقٍ يرى

    By your standing, an oath-taker would not break his oath

    In swearing by God that you are the finest being seen.

  61. فإن ادعى بشرٌ وأقسم أنه

    ساواك في شوط السماحة كُفِّرا

    If someone claimed, and swore, that he

    Matched you in the race of generosity, he would be condemned.

  62. بان الصيام مخلِّفاً لك أجره

    والعيد أقبل بالسرور مبشرا

    The fast has departed, leaving you its reward,

    And the festival arrives bearing gladness.

  63. فافطر وفطِّر من مرائر حسدي

    بقبول أشعاري العديد الأكثرا

    So break your fast, and relieve my bitter envy

    By accepting my many poems.

  64. واسلم لأشتات الفضائل جامعاً

    ولكل عيدٍ جاء عيداً نيرا

    Live safely, gathering virtues from every quarter,

    And greet each coming festival as a radiant festival.

  65. ختم الإله بجاه خاتم رسله

    لك بالصفا وحباك أعمار الورى

    May God, for the sake of the Seal of His messengers, grant

    You purity and the lifespans of all mankind.