يسرك سر بينهن ويحزن — Abdul Mohsen Al Suri

يَسرُّكَ سرٌّ بَينهنَّ ويُحزِنُ

حدَيثٌ يَلينُ القَلبُ منه ويخشُنُ

A secret among them delights and saddens you:

a tale at which the heart softens and hardens.

سَعينَ إليها إذ رَأينَك مُغرَماً

فضمَّنَّها تَبريدَ ما يَتَضمَّنُ

They hastened to her when they saw you enamored,

so they charged her with cooling what the heart contains.

إذا لُمنهَا في الصدِّ عنكَ بدالها

من الحُسنِ عُذرٌ في التَّدَلُّلِ يَحسُنُ

Whenever they reproached her for shunning you, she found

in beauty a fitting excuse for coyness.

ويا أيُّها العَهدُ الَّذي كانَ بَينَنا

إليكَ اختَصَمنا أيُّنا كانَ أخوَنُ

And O pledge that once was between us,

before you we disputed which of us was more faithless.

ولي مُهجةٌ فاضَت وغاضَت دُمُوعُها

وذاك على ما بي أدلُّ وأبيَنُ

And my soul has overflowed, while its tears have run dry,

and that is more telling, clearer evidence of what ails me.

وَيَبلغُ بي قَلبي وعَيني من الهَوى

إلى حيثُ لم تَبلُغ قُلوبٌ وأعيُنُ

And in love my heart and eye carry me

to where no hearts or eyes have reached.

فأيُّ مَكانٍ من أخي لمُلِمَّةٍ

يشاركني في مرِّها أتَمكَّنُ

So what place with my brother in calamity,

whose bitterness he shares with me, can I secure?

نِداءٌ إِذا نادَيتُ دهري بمثلهِ

ورقَّ وأصغى فالجوابُ المحسِّنُ

A call—if I call to my fate with one like it,

and it softens and listens, the answer is al-Muhassin.

وهل بعدَ رأيِ العَينِ رأيٌ لِناقضٍ

عَليه إليه في النَّوائبِ أسكُنُ

And after the eye's own witness, can an objector offer an opinion

against it? To him I turn for solace in calamities.

إذا يَدُه طالَت إلى صَرفِ صَرفِه

أطالَت لِساني حيثُ تَقصرُ ألسُنُ

When his hand reaches out to avert fate's reversals,

it lengthens my tongue where other tongues fall short.

فتىً بينَ عَزمٍ للِمُلماتِ يُنتَضَى

فَيَمضي ومالٍ للمكارِم يُخزَنُ

A young man with resolve unsheathed against calamities,

which cuts through, and wealth stored for noble deeds.

وحدّاهُ من أصلٍ وسَعدٍ تقارنا

فمالهما إلا السِّماكانِ مَسكنُ

And his two edges—lineage and good fortune—have converged,

so their only dwelling is the two Simak stars.

وصدرٌ غَدا من قَلبِه مُتوَهِّناً

وأعظَمُ مَحمولٍ يَهدُّ ويُوهِنُ

And a breast made feeble by his heart—

for the greatest burden crushes and weakens—

إذا الشَّرَفُ العالي الَّذي لم يَزل لهُ

بأشرافِ أفعالِ البَرية يُقرَنُ

when the lofty honor that has always been his

is paired with the noblest deeds of humankind.

تَجودُ ولَيسَ الجودُ مَدحاً لِمثلِكُم

إذا كانَ من أخلاقِكم يَتكوَّنُ

You give generously, yet generosity is no praise for those like you,

when it springs from your own character.

رأيتُ القَوافي كالغَواني ومَدحَكم

عُقُوداً لها أمسَت بِها تَتَزَيَّنُ

I saw the rhymes as lovely women, and praise of you

as necklaces for them, with which they have come to adorn themselves.