لم على اللوم من عزم — Suleiman Al Sawla

لُم على اللوم من عزمْ

إن تحرَّيت منعَ ذمْ

Blame whoever resolves to blame,

if you seek to prevent reproach.

واغتنم أجر والهٍ

صار لحماً على وضم

And earn the reward of aiding a distracted lover,

who has become meat upon a butcher's block.

أيها العاذل الذي

يعذل العاشقَ الأصم

O reproacher, who

rebukes the lover deaf to blame:

كل ما يفعل الجمي

ل جميلٌ ولو ظلم

all the beautiful one does

is beautiful, even when he wrongs.

ما صنيعي بشادنٍ

أصبح الخصم والحكم

What am I to do with a young gazelle

who has become both adversary and judge?

يتوارى عن الظبَى

ويراها من النقم

He hides from sword blades

and counts them among afflictions;

وإذا كحَّل الجفو

ن سقى المرهفات سم

yet when he darkens his eyelids with kohl,

he makes the whetted blades drink poison.

يوهم الصب أنه

معدن الجود والكرم

He makes the lovesick think he is

a mine of generosity and munificence;

وإذا امتحتَه اللَمى

رحت من عنده بلم

yet when you ask him for his dusky lips,

you leave him empty-handed.

حرَّم الوصل مثلما

حُرِّم الصيد في الحرم

He has forbidden union, just as

hunting is forbidden in the Sanctuary.

وعلى حبه التقى

يقتل الناس بالتهم

And despite his love of piety,

he kills people on suspicion.

كلما شام باكياً

من جناياته ابتسم

Whenever he sees someone weeping

at his outrages, he smiles,

مثلما تبسم الريا

ض إذا سالت الديم

just as the meadows smile

when steady rains pour down.

والذي برَّد اللمى

وكسا الخد بالضرم

By Him who cooled those dusky lips

and clothed his cheek in flame,

إن قلبي يحبه

منَّ أو ضنَّ أو ظلم

my heart indeed loves him,

whether he favors, withholds, or wrongs.

كيف أسلوه والجما

ل بحبي له حكم

How can I forget him, when beauty

has decreed my love for him?

والذي قسم المحا

سن وفَّى له القسم

And He who apportioned beauty

gave him his share in full.

صاغه ضامر الحشا

ناعم الكف والقدم

He fashioned him slender-waisted,

soft of hand and foot.

كلما لاح مقبلاً

زف بدراً على علم

Whenever he appears, drawing near,

he parades a full moon upon a peak;

وإذا ماج مدبراً

هز غصناً على أكم

and when he sways, turning away,

he shakes a branch above hillocks.

قدَّ قلبي بقده

يا له عادلاً ظلم

He rent my heart with his stature—

ah, that fair one who did me wrong!

عذب اللَه خده

مثلما عذب الأمم

May God torment his cheek,

as he tormented nations,

بلهيب من الطلا

وبنارٍ من العنم

with a blaze of wine

and fire from scarlet 'anam boughs.

وأراني لسانه

ولساني قد انعجم

And he showed me his tongue,

while my own tongue had grown speechless

من شرابٍ مفلفلٍ

يعجب العرْب والعجم

from a peppery wine

that delights Arabs and non-Arabs.

فلعلي أمصه

مصةً تذهب الألم

Perhaps I may suck it

with one suck that takes away the pain.

رب يومٍ رأيته

في رياضٍ من العنم

Many a day I saw him

in gardens of 'anam shrubs,

كمهاةٍ بذي طوى

أو غزالٍ بذي سلم

like an oryx at Dhu Tuwa,

or a gazelle at Dhu Salam.

عمَّ بالندِّ خالَه

خالقُ الخلق من عدم

His beauty spot was covered in nadd perfume

by Him who created all creatures from nothing.

فتيقنت أنه

صاحب البند والعلم

Then I knew for certain that he was

master of the banner and the standard.

واختلينا سويعةً

كم جرى بيننا وكم

We were alone together for a little while—

how much passed between us, how much!

نحسب الضم والعنا

ق ولا نحسب الشمم

We counted claspings and embraces,

but not the times we took in each other's scent.

لا تسلني عن الذي

صار ما بيننا وتم

Do not ask me about what

happened between us and came to pass.

ليس كل الذي جرى

كان في طاقة القلم

Not everything that happened

lay within the pen's power.

لائم المستهام لا

توسع المستهام ذم

O blamer of the love-distraught, do not

heap blame upon the love-distraught.

ما على طائرٍ زقى

وبوادي النقا ألم

What blame lies on a bird that chirped

and alighted in the valley of al-Naqa?

شام غصناً فضمه

ورأى وردةً فشم

It saw a branch and clasped it,

and saw a rose and breathed its scent.

جل من ألهم الرشا

أنَّ من هام لم يلم

Exalted is He who inspired the young gazelle

that one lost in love is not to be blamed.

إن للشوق همةً

قصرت دونها الهمم

Longing has an aspiration

before which all aspirations fall short,

ما عدا همة الخلي

ل ابن أيوبٍ الحكم

except the aspiration of al-Khalil,

son of Ayyub, the judge.

سيد من صفاته ال

لطف والظرف والكرم

A lord whose qualities include

gentleness, refinement, and generosity.

قطرةٌ من سماحه

تفضل البحر والديم

A single drop of his bounty

surpasses the sea and the steady rains.

حسَّن اللَه خلقه

مثلما حسن الشيم

God made his outward form beautiful,

just as He beautified his character.

صادق القول ثابت ال

عزم مستحكم الذمم

Truthful in speech, firm in

resolve, steadfast in his pledges.

وائلي البيان حس

سانه فاه أو رقم

A Wa'ili in eloquence, its Hassan,

whether he speaks or writes.

يفضل الراح رقةً

ونسيماتها كلم

More delicate than wine

and its wafting breezes are his words.

يكره الظلم مثلما

يكره المفلس العدم

He hates injustice just as

the penniless man hates destitution.

فإذا استصرخ الصري

خ فضرغامة الأجم

When one who cries for help appeals,

he is the lion of the thickets;

وإذا استقدح المُشي

ح فمهزوزه الضرم

and when a resolute warrior seeks a spark,

his brandished blade is flame.

فهو بحرٌ إذا حبا

وهو نارٌ إن انتقم

He is a sea when he gives,

and fire when he takes revenge.

يقتل الروع خصمه

قبل صمصامه الخذم

Dread kills his foe

before his keen, cleaving sword.

ما علا مثله الجوا

د ولا مثله احتكم

No one like him has mounted a steed,

nor has anyone like him sat in judgment.

يعرف السيف قدره

مثلما يعرف القلم

The sword knows his worth,

just as the pen does.

وإذا الصيد شافه

رفق الطير واعتصم

When the quarry catches sight of him,

it joins the birds and seeks refuge.

واختشت أنجم السما

ء على نسرها الأشم

And the stars of heaven fear

for their lofty Eagle.

شاهد العاهل العظي

م به رونق العظم

The great sovereign beheld

in him the splendor of greatness;

فحبا ذاته الكري

مة بالرونق الأتم

so he endowed his noble person

with the fullest splendor:

رتبةٍ أوليةٍ

عمها حسنه الأعم

a rank of the first order,

pervaded by his all-embracing excellence.

أجمع الناس أنها

قسمةٌ أعدل القسم

All people agreed that it was

the fairest of allotments,

والإمام الذي حبا

ه بها أعدل الأمم

and that the imam who honored

him with it was the justest of mankind.

حل منها أرومةً

فاخرت بالعلى إرم

There he took root in noble stock

that rivaled Iram in loftiness.

كم وكم حاسدٍ لها

جنَّ بالغيظ وارتغم

How many, how many envied it,

maddened with rage and humbled in the dust!

ما يفيد الحسود إن

طاب خلقاً أو احتدم

What does the envious man gain, whether

he is pleasant-tempered or burns with rage?

أيها البارع الذي

كلل الحكم بالحِكَم

O accomplished one, who

crowned judgment with wise sayings,

ظلتُ مذ صارت الشآ

م وسكانها عدم

ever since al-Sham was reduced,

with its inhabitants, to nothing,

لا أرى النور نيراً

من نكالٍ وفرط هم

I have seen no brightness in light,

from affliction and overwhelming grief.

فأتتني بشارةٌ

منك بالنائل العمم

Then glad tidings reached me

from you of all-embracing bounty:

صرف أثمان ضائعا

تي وما سطر القلم

payment for what I lost

and what the pen had written

في الزمان الذي صفا

من قريض ومن حكم

in the time that was serene,

of poetry and wise sayings.

طيبت خاطري كما

طيب العنبر النسم

It gladdened my heart, as

ambergris sweetens the breezes,

وأعادت لفكرتي

ما تناست من الكلم

and restored to my mind

the words it had forgotten.

فثنائي عليك من

بعض أفاضلك أنسجم

Thus my praise of you has poured forth

from some of your favors.

هكذا تمطر البحا

ر بما أعطت الديم

So the seas are showered

with what they gave the rain clouds.