كاد أن يقضي سقاما ونحولا — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

كادَ أنْ يَقضي سَقاماً ونحولا

إذ عصى في طاعة الحبّ العذولا

He nearly died of sickness and wasting,

When, obeying love, he defied the reproacher.

دنفٌ لولا هواكم ما شكا

كَبداً حرَّى ولا جسماً نحيلا

A lovesick man who, but for his love for you, would not have lamented

A burning liver or an emaciated body.

علم العاذل ما لاقى بكم

يوم أَزْمَعْتُم وإنْ كانَ جهولا

The reproacher learned what he suffered through you,

The day you resolved to depart, though he was ignorant:

من صباباتٍ أَذابَتْه أسًى

وغرام أَهرَقَ الدَّمع همولا

Yearnings that melted him with sorrow,

And passion that poured out tears in torrents.

وصبابات الهوى قد سَوَّلَتْ

لدموعي في جفاكم أن تسيلا

And love's yearnings have prompted

My tears to flow at your coldness.

لا أرى الصَّبر جميلاً عنكم

ومحال أن أرى الصبر جميلا

I see no beauty in patience apart from you,

And it is impossible for me to see patience as beautiful.

قد ذكرناكم على شحط النوى

فانثنينا عند ذاك الذكر ميلا

We remembered you despite separation's great distance,

And at that remembrance we bent and swayed.

يا لها ذكرىٍ أهاجت لوعة

أخَذَتْ منِّي الحشا أخذاً وبيلا

Oh, what a remembrance, stirring anguish

That seized my innards with a grievous grip!

هبَّتِ الإرواح من أحيائكم

فانتشقناها شمالاً وقبولا

The winds blew from your encampments,

And we inhaled them—north wind and east wind.

فكأنَّا بالصّبا حينئذٍ

قد شربناها من الراح شمولا

And in that east wind, it was as though we then

Had drunk it as a draught of wine.

يا رفيقيّ وهل من مُسْعدٍ

لعليل يشتكي طرفاً عليلا

O my two companions, is there any comforter

For a sufferer who complains of an ailing eye?

بلّ كُميّه من الدَّمع وما

بلّ من أحشائه الدَّمع غليلا

He drenched both sleeves with tears, but

Those tears did not quench his innards' burning thirst.

لامني العاذل جهلاً بالهوى

وغدا الناصر في الحبّ خذولا

The reproacher blamed me, ignorant of love,

And my supporter in love became a deserter.

أنا لولا شغفي فيكم لما

وَجَدَ الّلاحي إلى العذل سبيلا

Had I not been so passionately devoted to you,

The faultfinder would have found no path to reproach.

ما على اللاّئم من مستغرم

يعشق السالف والخدَّ الأسيلا

What concern has the blamer with a man consumed by love,

Who loves the side of the neck and the smooth cheek?

راح يُلقي لقيَ السُّوءِ على

مَسْمَعي في عذله قولاً ثقيلا

He went on hurling—may ill befall him!—at

My ear, in his reproach, heavy words.

ليتني قبل الهوى لم أتّخِذْ

ساحر الطرف من السرب خليلا

Would that, before love, I had not taken

One of the herd with a bewitching gaze as my beloved.

لست أدري إذ رَنَتْ ألحاظهم

ألِحاظاً أرْهَفوها أم نصولا

I do not know, when their eyes gazed,

Whether they had sharpened glances or arrowheads.

ظعن الحيُّ وأضحى حبُّهم

يسأل الأرْسُمَ عنهم والطلولا

The tribe departed, and their lover was left

Asking the traces and ruins about them.

ليت شعري أين سارت عيسُهم

تقطعُ البيداء وَخْداً وذميلا

Would that I knew where their pale camels went,

Crossing the desert with swift strides and a brisk trot.

ويعاني ما يعاني بعدَهُم

زفرةَ الأشواق والحزنَ الطويلا

And after them he suffers what he suffers:

The sigh of yearning and prolonged grief.

ساهرُ المقلة في الوجد فما

يطعم الغمض به إلاَّ قليلا

Wakeful-eyed in longing, he does not

Taste sleep in it, save a little.

أمَروا بالصبر عنهم ولكم

لُذْتُ بالصَّبر فما أغنى فتيلا

They commanded patience away from them; how often

I sought refuge in patience, but it availed not a thread's worth.

صاحبي أَنت خبيرٌ بالهوى

أترى مثل الهوى داءً قتولا

My companion, you are well versed in love:

Do you see any disease as deadly as love?

عارضٌ منن عَبرة أهرقْتُها

روَّضَتْ رَوْضَ جوىً كانَ محيلا

A raincloud from a tear I shed

Made a garden of heartache bloom where it had been barren.

إن أردْتُم راحة الروح بكم

فابعثوا الريح إلى روحي سبيلا

If you wish my spirit to find rest through you,

Then send the wind along a path to my spirit.

وأعِدْها مرَّةً ثانيةً

يا نسيماً هيّج الوجد بليلا

And repeat it a second time,

O moist breeze that stirred longing!

عَلِمَ الله بأنِّي شاعر

لم أقل زوراً ولم أمْدَحْ بخيلا

God knows that I am a poet

Who has spoken no falsehood and praised no miser.

قد كفاني الله في ألطافه

بأبي عيسى نوالاً ومنيلا

God, in His gracious kindness, has provided for me

Through Abu Isa, a bounty and a benefactor.

بالزكيِّ الطاهر الشَّهْمِ الَّذي

طابَ في النَّاس فروعاً وأُصولا

The virtuous, pure, noble-hearted man whose

Branches and roots are good among mankind.

من يُنيلُ النَّيْل من إحسانه

والعطاءُ الجمَّ والمال الجزيلا

Who bestows gifts through his kindness,

And abundant bounty and plentiful wealth.

وإذا ما لفحت هاجرةٌ

كانَ من رمضائها ظلاًّ ظليلا

And when midday heat scorches,

He is deep shade against its scorching ground.

واضح الفخر ومن هذا الَّذي

يبتغي يوماً على الشَّمس دليلا

His glory is manifest—and who is there

Who would ever seek proof of the sun?

من فتىً فيه وفي آبائه

كلّ ما قد قيل في الأنجاب قيلا

A youth in whom, and in his forefathers,

Is all that has ever been said of the nobly born.

أنْجَبُ العالم أمًّا وأباً

وأعزُّ النَّاس في النَّاس قبيلا

The noblest-born in the world through mother and father,

And of the mightiest clan among all mankind.

إنَّما آل جميل غُرَّةٌ

أُلْهِموا المعروف والفعلَ الجميلا

The house of Jamil is indeed a radiant blaze,

Inspired to kindness and noble deeds.

وَرِثوها عن أبيهم شيَماً

تبلُغ العلياء والمجد الأثيلا

They inherited these traits from their father,

Reaching loftiness and deep-rooted glory.

قد أحَلَّتْهم نفوسٌ شَرُفَتْ

بمكان الأنجم الزهر حلولا

Noble souls have settled them

In a dwelling at the station of the bright stars.

قل لمن يزعم أن يُشْبِهَهُم

لم تَنَلْ بالزعم شيئاً مستحيلا

Tell whoever claims to resemble them:

You have not achieved the impossible by claiming it.

وبروحي من يهين المال في

جوده الوافي ومن يحمي النزيلا

With my soul I would ransom him who holds wealth cheap in

His unstinting generosity, and who shelters the guest.

وإذا ما هزّه مستنجدٌ

بعُلاهُ هزَّه عضباً صقيلا

And when a seeker of aid rouses him,

By his high honor, he rouses a keen, burnished sword.

طاول الشمّ الرواسي في العلى

وجديرٌ في علاه أن يطولا

He rivals the lofty, rooted mountains in height,

And deserves, in his loftiness, to tower above them.

وإذا ما سُئِل الفضل اغتدى

مُبلِغاً من كلّ من يًسألُ سولا

And when asked for bounty, he becomes

One who fulfills the wish of everyone who asks.

لم أزل حتَّى أوارى في الثرى

مقصراً فيهم ثنائي ومطيلا

I shall never cease, until I am buried in the earth,

Falling short in their praise, even as I prolong it.

أورِثوها كابراً عن كابرٍ

مكرُماتٍ لم تزل جيلاً فجيلا

They inherited them, noble forebear after noble forebear:

Noble deeds enduring generation after generation.

نَجَموا بعد أبيهم أنجماً

لا أراهم بعد إشراقٍ أُفولا

They rose as stars after their father;

I see no setting for them after their shining.

خَلَفٌ عن سالفٍ أخْلَفَهُم

للندى بحراً وللوفد مقيلا

Successors to a forebear who left them

As a sea of bounty and a resting place for delegations.

كلُّ فردٍ يلبس الدهر به

غرراً تُشْرِقُ فيه وحجولا

Through each one, time puts on

Blazes that shine upon it, and white fetlock markings.

مظهرٌ من صنعه منقبة

حيَّر الأفكار فيها والعقولا

Displaying through his deeds a noble quality,

He bewildered thoughts and minds through it.

أبدعوا في مكرماتٍ منهم

فَعَلت آياتُها فيهم فصولا

They excelled in noble deeds of their own,

So their signs rose among them as distinct chapters.

سَلْهم الفضل فهم أهل له

وسواهم يحسب الفضل فضولا

Ask them for bounty: they are worthy of it,

While others consider bounty needless excess.

وارتقت أنواءهم ممطرةً

لا ندىً نزراً ولا وعداً مطولا

And their rain-bearing stars rose, pouring showers:

No meager dew, nor a promise long deferred.

ضَمِنَتْ آمالُنا إحسانهم

وتضمَّنْ ولا ريب الحصولا

Our hopes have guaranteed their kindness,

And guarantee its attainment, beyond doubt.

يا بني عبد الغنيّ العزّ لي

في معاليكم وما كنتُ ذليلا

O sons of Abd al-Ghani, my honor lies

In your lofty virtues, and I have not been abased.

كُلَّما ألْبَسْتُ شعري مدحكم

سحبَ الشعر من الفخر ذيولا

Whenever I clothe my verse in your praise,

Verse trails the skirts of pride.