متى يشتفي هذا الفؤاد المتيم — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

متى يَشْتَفي هذا الفؤاد المتَيَّمُ

ويقضي لباناتِ الهوى فيك مُغْرَمُ

When will this love-enthralled heart find healing,

and a lover fulfill in you the desires of passion?

أبيتُ أُداري الوجد فيك صبابة

وأسهر ليلي والخليُّون نوَّمُ

I spend the night nursing my anguish for you in yearning,

and keep vigil through my night while the carefree sleep.

أُجيب دواعي الشَّوق حيث دعونني

وإن أكثَرَتْ لومي على الحبِّ لوَّمُ

I answer the summons of longing wherever they call me,

though reprovers heap their blame on me for love.

وأُهرقُ من عينيَّ ماء مدامعٍ

وفي القلب منِّي لوعة تتضرَّمُ

I pour from my eyes the water of tears,

while within my heart a burning anguish blazes.

وأشكو إليك الشَّوق لو كنتَ سامعاً

ومن لي بمشكوٍّ يرقُّ ويرحمُ

I complain to you of longing, if only you would listen;

but who can find me a hearer who softens and shows mercy?

إلامَ أُذيعُ الوجد عندك أمره

وأُظهر ما أخفي عليكم وأكتمُ

How long shall I divulge to you the state of my passion,

and reveal what I hide and conceal from you?

أُعلِّلُ نفسي في تدانيك ضلّة

وأبني المباني في هواك وأهدمُ

Deluded, I soothe myself with hopes of your drawing near,

and build structures in my love for you, then tear them down.

ولي حسرة ما تنقضي وتلهُّفُ

ومن مرسِلاتِ الدَّمع فذٌّ وتوْأَمُ

Mine is a regret that never ends, and aching longing,

and outpourings of tears, singly and in pairs.

وللصَّبّ آياتٌ تَدلُّ على الهوى

تُصرِّح أحياناً به وتجمجمُ

The love-stricken have signs that reveal their passion;

sometimes they proclaim it, sometimes they speak obscurely.

وليلٍ أُقاسيه كأَنَّ نجومه

غرانيقُ في مَوجٍ من اليمِّ عُوَّمُ

Many a night I endure, its stars seeming

like cranes swimming amid the sea's waves.

بمعترك بين الأَضالع والحشا

ينازلني للهمّ جيشٌ عرمرمُ

In a battlefield between ribs and entrails,

a mighty army of sorrow engages me.

كأَنَّ بصدري من تباريح ما أرى

صُدورَ العوالي والقنا المتحطّمُ

As though, from the agonies I suffer, within my breast were

the points of lofty lances and shattered spear-shafts.

أمَضَّ بأَحشائي غرامٌ مبرِّحٌ

وأعضلَني داءٌ من الوجدِ مؤلمُ

A racking passion has seared my entrails,

and a painful sickness of yearning has defied my cure.

عَدَتْك العوادي إنَّما هي زفرة

تطيش باًحناء الضُّلوع وتحلمُ

May misfortunes spare you—it is only a sigh

that rages within the curves of my ribs, then grows calm.

لقد بَرَّحَتْ بي وهي في بُرَحائها

سواجع في أفنانها تترنَّمُ

They have sorely tormented me, themselves in anguish—

cooing birds, warbling among their branches.

تعيد علينا ما مضى من صبابةٍ

وتملي أحاديث الغرام فنفهمُ

They bring back to us the yearning that has passed,

and recite tales of passion, and we understand.

ولم أنسَ لا أنسى الدِّيار الَّتي عَفَتْ

طلول لها تشجي المشوق وأَرسُمُ

I have not forgotten—will never forget—the dwellings effaced,

whose ruins and traces sadden the longing heart.

وقوفاً عليها الرَّكب يقضُون حقَّها

كأَنَّهم طيرٌ على الماءِ حوَّمُ

Standing beside them, the riders pay them their due,

like birds hovering above the water.

تَذَكَّرنا ما كانَ في وَمَن الصّبا

وإنْ طالَ فيه عَهْدُها المتَقَدّمُ

We recalled what had been in [the time of] youth,

though its bygone days had long receded,

وعَيشاً قضيناه نعيماً ولذَّةً

هو العيش إلاَّ أنَّه يتصرَّمُ

and a life we spent in bliss and pleasure—

that is life, except that it passes away.

خليليَّ ما لي كلَّما عنَّ ذكرهم

وجيء بأخبارِ الأَناشيد عنهمُ

My two friends, what is it with me that, whenever their memory arises,

and reports of songs about them are brought,

أُكفكفُ من عيني بوادرَ عَبرة

وأبكي لبرقٍ شِمْتُه يتبسَّمُ

I wipe from my eye the first rush of tears,

and weep at lightning I watched smiling?

رعى الله جيراناً مُنيتُ بحبّهم

أحَلُّوا دمي في الحبّ وهو محرّم

May God watch over neighbors whose love was my allotted trial;

they declared my blood lawful in love, though it is forbidden.

رَعَيْتُ بهم رَوض المحبّة يانعاً

وحكّمْتُهم في مُهجتي فتحكّموا

With them I grazed the lush meadow of love,

and gave them mastery of my heart's blood, and they ruled.

ألا من مجيري يا لقومي ومسعدي

على ظالمٍ في حكمه يتظلّم

Ah, who will protect me—O my people!—and aid me

against an oppressor who, while judging, complains of being wronged?

هم أعوَزوني الصَّبرَ بعد فراقهم

وسار فؤادي حيث ساروا ويمّموا

They have left me without patience since their departure,

and my heart traveled wherever they traveled and headed.

بنفسي الظعون السائرات كأنَّها

بدورٌ تداعَتْ للمغيب وأنجُمُ

With my life I would ransom those journeying women in litters, as though they were

full moons and stars calling one another to set.

إذا زُحزحت عنها اللئام عشيةُ

أضاءَ بها جنحٌ من اللَّيل مظلمُ

When the ignoble are moved away from them at evening,

a dark stretch of night is lit by them.

أيزعمُ واشي الحبّ أني سلوتهم

ألا ساء واشي الحبّ ما يتوهم

Does love's tale-bearer claim I have forgotten them?

Ah, how evil is what love's tale-bearer imagines!

خلا عَصرُنا هذا من النَّاس فارتقب

أناساً سواهم تحسنُ الظنّ فيهم

This age of ours is empty of true men; so await

others besides these, of whom you may think well.

وما بعد سلمان النقيب من امرئٍ

ببغداد من يُعزى إليه التكرُّم

There is no man besides Salman the Naqib

in Baghdad to whom magnanimity can be ascribed.

بذي طلعَةٍ تنبيك سيماؤها العلى

ويَصدُق فيها القايف المتوسّم

Endowed with a countenance whose features proclaim loftiness,

in which the discerning reader of features proves right.

عليه وقارٌ ظاهرٌ وسكينةٌ

يُمثّلُ رضوى دونَها ويَلَمْلَم

Visible dignity and tranquility rest upon him,

beside which Radwa and Yalamlam seem lesser.

من السادة الغُرِّ الميامين سيّد

أعزُّ بني الدنيا وأندى وأكرمُ

A lord among radiant, blessed lords,

the mightiest, most generous, and noblest of this world's sons.

وما هو إلاَّ من ذؤابة هاشم

هو الرأس فيهمْ والرئيس المقدم

He is none other than one of Hashim's highest scions;

he is their head, their foremost chief.

تُناخُ لديه للمطامع أنْيُقٌ

إذا حَثحَثَ الركبُ المطيَّ ويمَّموا

She-camels are made to kneel before him in pursuit of hopes,

when the riders spur their mounts and head his way.

فما دون هذا الشهم للوفد مقنع

ولا بعده في البرّ للناس مغنم

No lesser man than this noble one can satisfy a delegation,

nor beyond him is there further kindness for people to gain.

لنا من أياديه وشاملُ فضله

مواهبُ تَتْرى من لدنه وأنْعُم

From his favors and his all-embracing grace, we have

gifts that follow one another from him, and blessings.

تَصَدَّر في دَسْتِ النقابة سيّداً

وما لسواه في الصدور التقدم

He took the naqib's seat as a lord,

and no other has precedence in the seats of honor.

نَهُزُّ معاليه لكلِّ مُلمَّةٍ

كما هُزَّ للطَّعنِ الوشيجُ المقَوَّم

We stir his lofty virtues at every calamity,

as the straightened spear is brandished for the thrust.

وما زال كالسيف المهنَّد يُنتضى

عُرا كلِّ خطبٍ في غراريه تُفْصَم

He has ever been like an unsheathed Indian blade;

the bonds of every crisis are severed by its two edges.

تمسَّكتُ بالحبل الَّذي منه لم يَرِمْ

بحادثةِ الدنيا ولا يتصرم

I have clung to the rope from him that has never given way

through this world's calamities, nor will it break.

وفي كل يوم من أياديه نعمة

مكارمُ تُسْتَوفى ورزقٌ يقسَّم

Every day brings a blessing from his favors:

noble gifts received in full, and sustenance apportioned.

فلِلفضلِ في أيَّامه البيض موسمٌ

وللجودِ منه والمكارم موسم

In his bright days, excellence has its season,

and generosity and noble deeds have a season through him.

بطلعتِه نستطلع الشمسَ في الضحى

ويَنجابُ من ليل الخطوب التجهُّم

In his countenance we seek the forenoon sun,

and gloom lifts from the night of calamities.

وذي همةٍ أمضى من السَّيف حدُّها

لأظفار أحداثِ الزمان تقلّم

And one whose resolve has an edge sharper than a sword's,

clipping the claws of time's misfortunes.

تطير بذكراه القوافي وارداً

فتنجدُ في أقصى البلاد وتُتْهم

Rhymes fly to their destinations bearing his memory,

traveling through the farthest lands, to Najd and Tihamah.

أبا مصطفى لم أر مدحَك لامرئ

من النَّاس ألا قال هذا مُسَلَّم

Abu Mustafa, never have I shown your praise to anyone

among men without his saying, "This is beyond dispute."

لتهنا قريشٌ حيث كنتَ زعيمَها

تُبَجَّل في أشرافها وتُعظَّم

May Quraysh rejoice, since you are its chief,

honored and exalted among its nobles.

ومن كانَ عبد القادر الشيخ جدّه

فماذا يقول المفصِحُ المتكلم

And he whose grandfather was Shaykh Abd al-Qadir—

what can the eloquent speaker say of him?

وكم نعمةٍ أوْلَيْتَني فشكرتُها

ولو لم يَفُه منِّي لسان ولا فم

How many a blessing you have bestowed on me, and I have given thanks for it,

even if neither tongue nor mouth of mine spoke.

فما ساغ لي إلاَّ بفضلك مشربٌ

ولا لَذّ لي إلاَّ بظلِّك مطعم

No drink has gone down pleasantly for me except through your bounty,

nor food tasted sweet except beneath your shade.

لكلّ امرئٍ حظٌّ لديك قوافياً

بأوصافك الحسنى تصاغُ وتنظمُ

Every man has a share with you, in rhymes

fashioned and strung together from your fairest qualities.

إذا أفصَحَتْ عن كنه ذاتك غادرت

حَسودَك في إعرابها وهو أبكم

When they speak plainly of your being's essence, they leave

your envier speechless at their eloquence.

ومنك ثرائي حيث كنتُ وثروتي

وما زال يَثرى في نوالك معدم

From you comes my prosperity, wherever I may be, and my wealth;

through your giving, the destitute have ever grown rich.

رأيتُ بك الدنيا كما شئت طلقة

وعيشي لولا شهدُ جودك علقم

Through you I have found the world cheerful, as I wished;

without the honey of your generosity, my life would be bitter colocynth.

خَدَمْتُك بالمدح الَّذي أنت أهْلُه

ومثلك يا مولايَ بالمدح يُخدم

I have served you with the praise you deserve;

one such as you, my lord, is served with praise.

أرى الشعر إلاَّ فيك ينقص قدره

وديناره في غير مَدْحَك درهم

I see poetry lose its worth unless it is of you;

outside your praise, its dinar is only a dirham.

ونثني عليك الخير في كل ساعةٍ

ونبتدئ الذكرَ الجميلَ ونختم

We speak your praises every hour,

beginning and ending with fair mention of you.