Sol 6.1

  1. هي الظبي لولا عقدها والخلاخلُ

    أو الغصن لولا وشيها والغلائلُ

    She is the gazelle, were it not for her necklace and anklets,

    Or the bough, were it not for her brocade and fine robes.

  2. يحركها ريح الدلال ولينها

    وثبتها حفف لذا تتمايل

    The breeze of coquetry and her suppleness stir her;

    And her steadiness is slight; hence she sways.

  3. وتهتزّ في ورق النضار إذا مشت

    فتثبت أشواقاً إليها العنادل

    She sways among leaves of pure gold as she walks,

    So the nightingales attest their longing for her.

  4. وقد رام تشبيهاً بها البدر والقنا

    وهي لعديم المثل شيء يماثل

    The full moon and spear-shafts have sought to be likened to her,

    Yet she is a thing that matches the matchless.

  5. فيا أيها البدر انثنِ بك كلفة

    ويا أيها اللدن انحن أنت ذابل

    O full moon, turn back: you bear a dark blemish.

    And O supple shaft, bend down: you are withered.

  6. إذا انساب فوق الدعص أرقم فرعها

    فمن جائري من صاعدٍ وهو نازل

    When the speckled serpent of her hair glides over the sand-mound,

    Who, then, will protect me from one that rises even as it descends?

  7. أعير الدجى من فرعها الدجن واكتفت

    بوضّاحها عن شمسهن الأصائل

    Night was lent darkness from her tresses; content were

    The afternoons with her radiance instead of their sun.

  8. بعيدة مهوى القرط حوراء لحظها

    صقيل وشخص العين منها المقاتل

    Long is her earring's fall; dark-eyed, her glance

    Is burnished, and the pupil of her eye is the fighter.

  9. وقد كمن السحر الحلال بجفنها

    وعنها روت سحر المحرم بابل

    Lawful magic has lain hidden in her eyelid,

    And Babylon recounted forbidden magic from her.

  10. لي اللَه قلبي بالصبابة عامرٌ

    وجسمي لوجدي والكآبة ناحل

    God is my support; my heart is filled with yearning,

    And my body is wasted by my passion and sorrow.

  11. ولولا بكائي في الأصيل وفي الضحى

    لما نحن فوق الأيك تلك البلابل

    And were it not for my weeping in late afternoon and in the forenoon,

    Those bulbuls would not have lamented above the groves.

  12. ولي زفرة من حرّها أوقدت لظى

    ولي مدفع من سفحه السفح سائل

    And I have a sigh whose heat has kindled a blaze,

    And I have a stream whose outpouring makes the mountainside run.

  13. ولي رقّةٌ عنها النسائم حدّثت

    ولي مقة فلّت لديها المفاصل

    And I have a tenderness of which the breezes have spoken,

    And I have a love before which my joints are shattered.

  14. رعى اللَه عيشاً كرخ بغداد ربعه

    وروّاه هتّان من المزن هاطل

    May God preserve a life whose home was the Karkh of Baghdad,

    And may steady rain pouring from the clouds water it.

  15. وأيام سعدكم قضيت مآربها

    بها ولكم قد أنتجت لي مآمل

    And days of your good fortune, whose delights I attained

    Therein—and how many hopes they brought to fruition for me!

  16. وأديت فيها للشبيبة حقها

    ونبّهت فيها اللهو والدهر غافل

    I gave youth its due in those days,

    And roused merriment in them while Time was heedless.

  17. خليليّ ما للدهر يعمل بالفتى

    نقيض الذي نصّت عليه الأماثل

    My two friends, why does Time do to a young man

    The opposite of what the finest men have prescribed?

  18. فيخفض منه قدره وهو عالم

    ويرفع منه ذكره وهو جاهل

    It lowers his standing when he is learned,

    And raises his renown when he is ignorant.

  19. ويعجم منه النطق وهو ابن وائل

    ويفصح منه قوله وهو باقل

    And makes his speech inarticulate though he is Ibn Wa'il,

    And makes his words eloquent though he is Baqil.

  20. ولا جائر منه وأبناؤه هم

    زعانف أنحاسٌ لئامٌ أراذل

    None is more unjust than it; its children are

    Riffraff: ill-fated, base, and vile.

  21. إذا ما الغمام الجون عن حُرّ وجهها

    تقشّع كاد الشمس عنه تآفَل

    When the dark cloud over her unblemished face

    Clears away, the sun nearly sinks from sight before it.

  22. تماثَل ما في ثغرها وعقودها

    وبالروح يُشرى ذلك المتماثل

    Alike are what her mouth and necklaces hold,

    And that matching beauty is bought at the cost of the soul.

  23. وقد شاكل الخدّ الشقيق فخال ذا

    وحبّة ذا ما بين كلٍّ تشاكل

    Her cheek resembles the anemone: the beauty-spot of the one,

    And the seed of the other—between them is likeness.

  24. أما وجبين حول هالة بدره

    نجوم تذيب القلبَ وهي نوازل

    Indeed, by a forehead around whose full-moon halo

    Are stars that melt the heart as they descend;

  25. وهادٍ أضلّ القلب وهو مطوّق

    ويذهب طوراً بالنهى وهو عاطل

    And by a neck that leads the heart astray when necklace-circled,

    And at times steals reason away when unadorned;

  26. وبلّور نحرٍ مشرقٍ فكأنما

    عليه لإشراق اللآلي دلائل

    And by the crystal of a radiant breast, as though

    Upon it lay signs of the pearls' brightness—

  27. ففي القلب منها حرقة لو يبثها

    أنيني لذابت من سناها الجنادل

    For in my heart is a burning from her that, were it spread

    By my moaning, would melt the rocks with its radiance.

  28. ممنّعة لا يستطاع لشيّق

    إليها اللقا بل دون ذاك معاقل

    Unapproachable: no longing lover can attain

    A meeting with her; strongholds bar the way to it.

  29. محجّبة عن كل شيء سوى الكرى

    فلا الوهم يدنوها ولا الفكر واصل

    She is veiled from everything except sleep,

    So neither fancy approaches her nor thought reaches her.

  30. مخدّرة من دونها كل حاذر

    من الصيد أسباب المنيّة حامل

    She is secluded; before her, every watchful one

    Among the proud chiefs bears the instruments of death.

  31. أطعتُ هواها إذ عصيتُ عواذلي

    وهل في سوى أسماء تُعصى العواذل

    I obeyed my love for her when I disobeyed my reproachers,

    And are reproachers defied for anyone but Asma?

  32. وأخفيتُ أمري خوف واشٍ يذيعه

    فَهَمَت وأبدته العيون الهواطل

    I hid my plight, fearing an informer would reveal it,

    Then the streaming eyes poured forth and laid it bare.

  33. أما إنني قد كنت أخشى صروفه

    ولكن دعاه والذي هو فاعل

    Indeed, I once feared its vicissitudes,

    But leave it, you two, and whatever it may do;

  34. فلست ابالي منه بعد استجارتي

    بمن كملت فيه الخصال الفضائل

    I no longer care about it, after seeking refuge

    With one in whom virtuous qualities are perfected.

  35. نبيٌّ نبيٌّ مرسلٌ خير من هدى

    وأكرم من سارت إليه الرواحل

    A prophet—a prophet sent forth—the best of those who guided,

    And the noblest to whom riding-camels have travelled.

  36. كريم فلا برق الأماني بخلّب

    لديه ولا يستمنح الجود خاجل

    Generous: the lightning of hopes is no false flash

    With him; no seeker of bounty need blush.

  37. هو البحر إلا أن مورد عذبه

    إلى رِيّه تهمي العفاة الأرامل

    He is the sea, save that at his fresh-water spring

    Needy petitioners stream in to drink their fill.

  38. حقير عطاياه جلائل حاتم

    وأنزر معطاه الهِجان الأفائل

    Beside his gifts, Hatim's great gifts are trifling,

    And his least gift is young purebred camels.

  39. يجود بما جاد الكرام وبالذي

    به كل كرّامٍ لدى الجود باخل

    He gives what generous men have given, and also that

    Which every lavish giver grudges at the moment of giving.

  40. ويلتذّ بالحدوى لعافٍ ووافدٍ

    ويأنس بالجائي إذا قيل سائل

    And he delights in giving gifts to a petitioner and a visitor,

    And welcomes the newcomer when told, 'A petitioner.'

  41. فشاغل يمناه لدى اسلم نائلٌ

    وفي الحرب مفتوق القرارين فاصل

    So a gift occupies his right hand in peace,

    And in war, a cleaving blade laid open at both edges.

  42. وفيّ الجرشّى شامخ النَّجر دونه

    تقاعس رضوى والخورنق خامل

    Perfect in spirit, lofty in lineage; before him

    Radwa falls short, and al-Khawarnaq is diminished.

  43. به فضلت عدنان كعباً وحِميَراً

    ودانت لعلياها تميمٌ ووائل

    Through him Adnan surpassed Ka'b and Himyar,

    And Tamim and Wa'il bowed to its lofty rank.

  44. وإن فخروا آباؤه فبفخره

    وبالسيف يغلو غمده والحمائل

    If his forefathers boast, it is through his glory,

    And through the sword, its sheath and baldrics grow precious.

  45. تنزّه عن كل المثالب فاستوت

    على صهوات الحُسن منه الشمائل

    He is free of every failing; thus firmly seated

    On the saddlebacks of beauty are his noble qualities.