ذكراني عهد الصبا بسعاد — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

ذَكّراني عَهْدَ الصبا بسعاد

وخَوافي الجوى عليَّ بوادي

Remind me, you two, of my youthful days with Su'ad.

And longing's hidden pangs show plainly upon me.

ورَواحي مع الهوى وغدوّي

لا عداها يوماً مصبُّ الغوادي

And of my evening and morning journeys in love.

May the downpour of morning clouds never pass her by.

وبياض المشيب سَوَّدَ حَظي

عِنْدَ بيض المها سوادَ المداد

And gray hair's whiteness has blackened my fortune

before the white oryxes, as black as ink.

يا ابن وُدِّي وللمودَّة حقٌّ

فاقضِ إن شئتَ لي حقوق الوداد

O son of my affection—and affection has a claim—

so fulfill, if you wish, affection's dues to me.

وأَعِدْ لي ما كانَ من برحاء

كنتُ منها في طاعة وانقياد

And restore to me the anguish that once was,

under which I lived in obedience and submission.

يومَ حانَ الوداع من آل ميّ

فأرانا تَفَتُّتَ الأَكباد

on the day the time came to part from Mayy's kin,

and it showed us livers torn apart.

تركوا عَبرتي تصوب وَوَجدي

في هياجٍ ومهجتي في اتّقاد

They left my tears pouring down, and my longing

in turmoil, and my heart's blood ablaze.

هلْ علمْتُمْ في بينكم أنَّ عيني

لم تذق بعدكم لذيذ الرقاد

Did you know, when you parted, that my eye

has not tasted sweet sleep since you left?

لا أذوق الكرى ولا أطعمُ الغم

ضَ ولا تَنثني لطيفٍ وسادي

I taste no slumber, nor savor

sleep; nor does my pillow bend for a dream-phantom.

واللَّيالي الَّتي تَمرُّ وتمضي

ألَّفَتْ بين مقلتي والسُّهاد

And the nights that pass and go by

have joined my eye to sleeplessness.

كلّ يومٍ أرى اصطباري عنكم

في انتقاص ولوعَتي في ازدياد

Every day I see my endurance away from you

diminishing, and my anguish increasing.

قد أخذتم منِّي الفؤاد فردُّوا

في تَدانيكم عَليَّ فؤادي

You have taken my heart from me; restore

my heart to me by drawing near.

وأعيدوا ما كانَ منَّا ومنكم

وليَكُنْ ما جَرى على المعتاد

And restore what once passed between us and you,

and let things proceed in the customary way.

أينَ عهدي بهم فقد طال عهدي

فسُقي عهدهم بصَوب عِهاد

Where are my days with them? Long has it been!

May their days be watered by recurring showers.

فمرضي في هواك زادني سقاماً

فَلَعلِّي أراك في عوَّادي

My sickness for love of you has made me still more ill;

perhaps I shall see you among my sickbed visitors.

فَدموعي على هَواك غزارٌ

وفؤادي إلى رضابك صادي

My tears for love of you flow abundantly,

and my heart thirsts for your lips' sweet moisture.

يا عَذولاً يَظُنُّ أنَّ صلاحي

في سُلُوِّي وذاك عينُ فَسادي

O censurer, who thinks that my well-being

lies in forgetting love—yet that is my very ruin.

أنا فيما أراه عنكَ بوادٍ

في هيامي وأنتَ عنِّي بواد

As I see it, I am in a valley apart from you,

in my love-madness, and you in a valley apart from me.

إنَّما أعينُ الظِّباء وما يج

هل منها مصارع الآساد

It is the eyes of gazelles—as everyone knows—

that are the places where lions meet their deaths.

ما أراني من القوام المفدَّى

ما أراني من القنا الميَّاد

What I was shown of that cherished figure

was what I was shown of swaying spears.

ولحاظٍ كأنَّهنَّ بقلبي

مُرهَفَات سُلَّتْ من الأَغماد

And glances, as though in my heart they were

sharpened blades drawn from their sheaths.

أيُّ قلبٍ عذَّبته بصدودٍ

ودُنُوٍّ نَغَّصَتْهُ ببعاد

What a heart she tormented with rejection,

and what nearness she embittered with distance!

لم يُفدْني تطلُّبي من ثِمادٍ

أبتغيه ورقَّةٍ من جَماد

My quest yielded none of the scant water

I seek, nor tenderness from lifeless stone.

ما لحظي من اغترابي وما لي

موُلعٌ بالاتهام والإِنجاد

What does my fortune gain from exile? And why am I

so taken with going to Tihamah and Najd?

ويَدُ البين طالما قَذَفَتْني

غُرَّةً في دكادك ووهاد

And the hand of separation has so often hurled me

unawares, amid low hillocks and hollows.

وتَقَلَّبْتُ في البلاد وماذا

أبتَغي من تَقَلُّبي في البلاد

I have roamed through the lands; but what

do I seek from my roaming through the lands?

ليتَ شعري وليتني كنتُ أدري

ما مرامي من النوى ومرادي

Would that I knew! Would that I understood

my aim and purpose in separation.

وببغدادَ من أُحاولُ فيها

أشْرَفُ الحاضرين في بغداد

In Baghdad is the one I seek there,

the noblest of those present in Baghdad.

وهو عبد الرحمن نجلُ عليٍّ

عَلَويُّ الآباء والأَجداد

He is Abd al-Rahman, the son of Ali,

Alid through his fathers and forefathers.

التَّقيّ النَّقيّ قولاً وفعلاً

والكريمُ الجوادُ وابنُ الجواد

Pious and pure in word and deed,

noble and generous, and son of a generous man.

رفعَ اللهُ ذِكره في المعالي

من عَليِّ العُلى رفيع العماد

God has raised his renown to the heights of honor,

descended from Ali of lofty rank and towering pillar.

شَرَفٌ باذخ ورفعةُ ذكر

رَغِمَتْ عندها أُنوفُ الأَعادي

Soaring honor and exalted renown,

before which his enemies' noses are rubbed in dust.

هكذا هكذا المكارم تروى

والمزايا من طارف وتلاد

Thus, thus are noble deeds recounted,

and virtues, newly acquired and inherited.

ساد بالعلم والتُّقى سيّد النا

س فخاراً للسَّادة الأَمجاد

Through learning and piety, he rose as lord

of the people, a pride to the illustrious masters.

يَقتَني المالَ للنَّوال وإنْ كا

نَ لَعَمري فيه من الزهّاد

He acquires wealth to give it away, although

by my life, he is among those who renounce it.

شرح اللهُ صدْرَهُ فأرانا

في سَواد الخطوب بيض الأَيادي

God opened his breast, and so he showed us,

amid calamities' blackness, white hands of kindness.

كم رَوَتْنا الرُّواة عنه حديثاً

صَحَّ عندي بصحّة الإِسناد

How often narrators have told us an account of him,

proven true to me by a sound chain of transmission!

وأَعَدْتُ الحديثَ عنه فقالوا

ما أُحيلى هذا الحديث المعاد

I retold the account of him, and they said,

"How sweet this repeated account is!"

فَيُريني حلاوة الجود جوداً

وأُريه حَلاوةَ الإِنشاد

He shows me generosity's sweetness through generosity,

and I show him the sweetness of verse recitation.

عَلِمَ اللهُ أنَّه في حِجاهُ

مُفْرَدُ العَصْر واحدُ الآحاد

God knows that, in his intelligence,

he is unique in his age, the one among the peerless.

صَيْرَفِيُّ الكلام لفظاً ومعنًى

من بصير بذوقهِ نقَّاد

An assayer of speech, in wording and meaning,

one of discerning taste, an exacting critic.

يعرف الفضل أهْلَهُ وذَووه

وامتياز الأَضداد بالأَضداد

Merit's people and possessors recognize merit,

and how opposites are distinguished by their opposites.

إنْ تغابَتْ عنه أُناسٌ لأمرٍ

أَو عَمَتْ عنه أعينُ الحسَّاد

If some people feign ignorance of him for some reason,

or the eyes of the envious are blind to him,

فكذاك البياض وهو نقيٌّ

مُبْتلى في نقائه بالسَّواد

so too is whiteness, pure though it is,

afflicted in its purity by blackness.

يا بني الغوث والرُّجوع إليكم

حينَ تعدو من الخطوب العوادي

O sons of Succor—to you we turn

when the assailants of calamity charge.

يكشف الله فيكم الضُّرَّ عنَّا

وبكم نَقْتَفي سَبيلَ الرَّشاد

Through you God removes harm from us,

and through you we follow the path of right guidance.

كيفَ لا نستمدُّ من رُوحِ قوم

شُفَعَاء لنا بيوم المعاد

How should we not draw strength from the spirit of a people

who intercede for us on the Day of Return?

رضيَ الله عنهم ورضوا عنه

خيار العباد بين العباد

God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him,

the choicest servants among all servants.

فولائي لهم وخالص حبِّي

هو ديني ومذهبي واعتقادي

My allegiance to them and my pure love

are my religion, my way, and my belief.

فعلى ذلك الجناب اعتمادي

وإلى ذلك الجناب استنادي

On that honored presence I place my trust,

and on that honored presence I lean.

فضلكم يشمل العُفاة جميعاً

ونداكم للصادر الوَرَّاد

Your bounty embraces every petitioner,

and your generosity reaches those who come and go.

إنَّ لله فيكم كنز عِلْمٍ

ما له ما بقيتم من نفاد

In you God has a treasure of knowledge,

which, while you remain, is never exhausted.

إنْ حدا هذه القصائد حادٍ

فلها من جميل فِعلك حادي

If a camel-driver chants these odes,

your fine deeds are the singer that urges them on.

وعليكم تملي القوافي ثناءً

عطراتِ الأَنفاسِ في كلِّ ناد

The rhymes dictate praises of you,

fragrant of breath in every assembly.

وإذا ما أردْتُ مدحَ سواكُم

فكأنِّي اخترطت شوك القتاد

And whenever I wish to praise anyone but you,

it is as though I stripped thorns from a qatad bush.

ربحت فيكم تجارة شعري

لا رماها في غيركم بالكساد

The trade of my poetry has profited through you;

may it never be struck with poor sales among others.

أنا في شكركم أروح وأغدو

فأنا الرَّائح الشكورُ الغادي

In thanking you, I go forth at evening and at dawn;

I am the grateful one, going at evening and at dawn.