عيدي بيوم شفائكم لسقامي — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

عيدي بيوم شفائِكم لسقامي

إنْ تَعطفوا يوماً فذاك مرامي

My festival is the day you heal my sickness.

If you show compassion one day, that is my aim.

يا خلَّةً أرعى ذِمام ودادهم

ولو انهم نقضوا عهود ذمامي

O friend, I honor the bonds of their affection,

even if they have broken the pledges binding them to me.

رعياً لأيام خَلَوْنَ بقُربهم

لم أسلُها بتعاقب الأيام

Cherishing days that passed in their company,

I have not forgotten them as the days succeed each other.

يا أيها الريَّان من ماءٍ بها

هل موردٌ لغليل قلبي الظامي

O you whose thirst is quenched by water there,

is there a watering place for my parched heart's thirst?

فلقد طوَيْتُ على هواك جوانحي

وعَصيْتُ فيك ملامة اللوام

For I have folded my ribs around my love for you,

and defied the censurers' reproach for your sake.

فاستبق من دنف الفؤاد بقيةً

لولاك ما ملك الزمان زمامي

So spare a remnant of one sick at heart;

were it not for you, Time would not hold my reins.

هلاّ سمحتَ بزورة فَوَجدْتها

مقرونةً بالرحب والإكرام

Why not grant a visit? Then you would find it

accompanied by welcome and honor.

حيّ الربوع النازلين بذي الغضا

وسقيت ذاك الحيّ صوب غمام

Greet the dwellings of those settled at Dhu al-Ghada,

and may that encampment be watered by a cloud's downpour.

ظعنوا فما أبقَوا لمسلوب الحشى

إلاَّ توقُّد لوعة وغرام

They departed, leaving nothing to one robbed of his heart

except the blaze of anguish and passion.

من كلِّ أحوى ما تلفَّتَ طرْفُه

إلاَّ ادَّكرْتُ تَلَفُّتَ الآرام

Among them, each dark-eyed beauty never turned his gaze

without my recalling the gazelles' turning glances.

يا حادي الأظعان يزعجها النوى

فتخذ خدّ فدافد ومرامي

O driver of the caravans that separation drives onward,

so they furrow the faces of vast deserts and distant reaches,

بالله إنْ يمَّمْتَ ذيّاك الحمى

بلِّغ أُميمَ تحيَّتي وسلامي

by God, if you head for that sanctuary,

convey to Umaym my greeting and my salutation.

مذ غابَ عن عينيَّ نورُ شموسهم

ما ذاقت الأَجفان طيب منام

Since the light of their suns vanished from my eyes,

my eyelids have not tasted the sweetness of sleep.

ما للحمَام أهاجَ لي برح الأَسى

هذا الحمَام يروم جلب حمامي

What ails the dove? It has stirred grief's torment in me.

This dove seeks to bring about my death.

يتلو صبابات الهُيام بوجده

أَترى هيام الورق مثل هيامي

In its passion it recites the longings of love-madness;

do you think the gray doves' love-madness is like mine?

قمْ يا نديم وعاطنيها قرقفاً

فالعيش بين منادم ومدام

Rise, O boon companion, and pass me the potent wine;

for life lies between a boon companion and wine.

راح إذا لَمَعَتْ بكأسٍ خِلْتَها

برقاً تألَّقَ من خلال غمام

Wine that, when it gleams in a cup, you would take for

lightning flashing from the midst of clouds.

تتراقَصُ الكاساتُ في إقبالها

كتراقُصِ الأَرواح بالأَجسام

The cups dance at its coming,

like spirits dancing in bodies.

جَمَحَتْ بنا خيلُ المسرَّة برهةً

والعيشُ كالغصن الرَّطيب النَّامي

The steeds of joy bolted away with us for a while,

and life was like a fresh, growing bough.

أيَّام مرجعُها علينا مُنيتي

إنَّ المنى كوساوس الأَحلام

Days whose return to us is my wish—

indeed, wishes are like the whisperings of dreams.

أَمُواعد الأَجفان منه بزورةٍ

ما كانَ ذاك المزن غير جهام

Are the eyelids promised a visit from him?

That raincloud was nothing but a rainless cloud.

فاشفع زيارتك الَّتي قد زرتني

واللَّيل قد أرخى سدول ظلام

So add another to the visit you paid me,

while night had let down its curtains of darkness.

لما أَلمَّ يُميط لي سُجُفَ الدُّجى

وفَقَدْتُ في وجدانه آلامي

When he came, lifting the curtains of darkness for me,

in finding him, I lost my pains.

ورَمَتْ لواحِظُه نِصالَ صَبابةٍ

ها قد أصابَ القلبَ ذاك الرَّامي

And his sidelong glances shot arrowheads of longing;

behold, that archer has struck the heart!

لا غروَ إنْ هام الفؤاد به جوًى

إنَّ الغرام مُوَكَّلٌ بهيامي

No wonder if the heart is mad with aching love for him;

indeed, passion is charged with my love-madness.

أنَّى تصيَّدني الغزالُ فريسةً

عَهدي الغزال فريسة الضرغام

How has the gazelle hunted me down as prey?

I knew the gazelle to be the lion's prey.

أهوى على حبّ الجَمال تغزُّلي

وعلى مديح أبي الثناء نظامي

I cherish my love verse for love of beauty,

and my poetry is devoted to praising Abu al-Thana:

مفتي العراقين الَّذي بعلومِهِ

قد فاخرت بغدادُ أرضَ الشَّام

Mufti of the two Iraqs, through whose learning

Baghdad has vied in glory with the land of al-Sham.

أين السَّحائب من مكارم أُنْمُلٍ

في المكرُمات ينابع الإِكرام

Where are the clouds beside the bounty of fingertips—

wellsprings of generosity in noble deeds?

إنْ شحَّ هطَّالُ السَّحاب بغيثه

فسحابه في كلّ وقت هامي

If the pouring cloud begrudges its rain,

his cloud pours forth at every hour.

لا زالَ من لين العريكةِ باسماً

كتبسُّم الأَزهار بالأَكمام

May he ever smile from gentleness of disposition,

like flowers smiling in their calyxes.

يفترُّ في وجه المؤَمّل ثغره

وكذا افترار البارق البسَّام

His mouth breaks into a smile before the hopeful petitioner,

so, too, breaks the smile of laughing lightning.

ما بين منطقه العجيب وقلبه

صدرٌ يفيض ببحر علمٍ طامي

What lies between his wondrous speech and his heart

is a breast overflowing with a surging sea of knowledge.

أحيا به الله الشَّريعة والهدى

وأقام فيه شعائر الإِسلام

Through him God revived the Sharia and right guidance,

and established in him the rites of Islam.

يجدي العباد بنانُه وبيانُه

دُرَّين دُرَّ ندًى ودرَّ كلام

His fingertips and his eloquence bestow on people

two pearls—a pearl of bounty and a pearl of speech.

حِكَمٌ على أهل العقول يبثّها

متقونة الأَوضاع والأَحكام

Wise sayings he spreads among people of intellect,

well-crafted in their formulations and judgments.

ويريك في أَلفاظه وكلامه

سِحْرَ العقول وحيرةَ الأَفهام

And he shows you, in his words and speech,

enchantment of minds and bewilderment of understanding.

كم أعرَبَتْ أَلفاظُه عن حاله

يوماً فأَعْجَمَ منطقَ الأَعْجام

How often have his words eloquently revealed his state,

on a day when he rendered non-Arab speech inarticulate!

ولقد أدار على الورى جام الحجى

فالناس صرعى راحَ ذاك الجام

And he has passed the cup of wisdom among humankind;

so people lie felled by the wine of that cup.

من كلّ مكرمةٍ وكلّ فضيلةٍ

قد حلَّ منها في محلٍّ سامي

In every noble quality and every virtue,

he has attained a lofty station in each.

تمَّت به حسن المعالي والعلى

ومحاسن الأَشياء بالإِتمام

Through him, the beauty of lofty deeds and eminence is complete,

and the beauties of things come through perfection.

من ذا يهنِّي الوافدين بسيِّدٍ

جُبِلَتْ سجيَّتُه على الإِكرام

Who will congratulate the visitors on a lord

whose disposition was fashioned for generosity?

ويقولُ نائله لطالب فضله

حُيِّيت بين أكارمٍ وكرام

His bounty tells the seeker of his favor,

Welcome among the noblest and the generous!

ولربَّ رأي بالأُمور مجرّبٍ

تغني مضاربه عن الصَّمصام

And many a judgment tested in affairs—

its strokes dispense with the keen-edged sword.

قدَّ الحوادث غاربٌ من حدِّه

فكأَنَّه في الخطب حدُّ حسام

A crest of its edge has cleft calamities,

as though, in crises, it were a sword's edge.

والله ما فتك الكميُّ برمحه

يوماً كفتك يديه بالأَقلام

By God, no armored warrior has slain with his lance

on any day as his two hands have slain with pens.

وطوائف لم يُفْحَموا في مَبحثٍ

ذاقت لديه مرارةَ الإِفحام

And groups who had never been silenced in debate

tasted before him the bitterness of being silenced,

ببلاغةٍ وبراعةٍ قُسِّيَّةٍ

وقَعَتْ على الأَغيار وقع سهام

with eloquence and Quss-like brilliance

that struck others as arrows strike.

إنْ يحسُدوك الجاهلون على النهى

لا تحسُدُ الكرماءَ غيرُ لئام

If the ignorant envy you for your intellect,

none but the base envy the noble.

ولقد تفاخرت فيك سادات الورى

أَنتَ افتخار السَّادة الأَعلام

And the lords of humankind have vied in taking pride in you;

you are the pride of illustrious lords.

يا كعبةً قد جئتُ أَبغي حجّها

فأَخذتُ شعري أهبة الإِحرام

O Kaaba whose pilgrimage I have come to seek,

so I took my verse as the garb of ihram.

عام بك للعيد وجهك عيده

فليفتخر فيها على الأَعوام

A year with you—your face is the festival's own festival;

let it glory in this above all other years.

لم أرضَ منك وإنْ بَذَلْتَ جوائزاً

لكنْ رضاؤك مطلبي ومرامي

I am not content with your rewards, even if you bestow them;

but your approval is my desire and my aim.