لذاك الحبيب وهذي الدمن — Abn Alsaati

لذاك الحبيب وهذي الدمنْ

خلعتُ عذار الهوى والشجن

For that beloved and these ruined encampments,

I cast off the bridle of passion and grief.

فللحسن من أدمعي ما هوى

وللبين من جلدي ما وهن

For beauty are my tears that fell,

and for separation, my endurance that failed.

وقفتُ وما كان ذاك الوقو

فُ إلاَّ لسعي الأسى والحزن

I stood, and that standing was nothing

but to set anguish and sorrow in motion.

فضيَّع سمعي قرطَ الملام

وشقت جفوني جيب الوسن

So my hearing lost the earring of reproach,

and my eyelids tore the collar of sleep.

فيا راوي الحبّ عن أدمعي

عرفت ولوعي ولكن بمن

O narrator of love on the authority of my tears,

you know my ardor—but for whom?

وإني لأخشى عليه الظنون وق

د ينتج العلمُ بعد الظنن

And I do fear suspicions concerning him;

for knowledge may emerge after conjecture.

بروحي أحور ساجي اللحا

ظ وما فترَ اللحظ إلاَّ فتن

My soul be ransom for a dark-eyed one of tranquil

glances; his gaze never languished without beguiling.

وإني وأني لعينُ الحنيف

لمن جاهليّة ذاك الوثن

And I—though the very model of an upright believer—

am surely of that idol's pagan age.

قضيت هوّى وقضى بالهوى

فأطلق دمعي وقلبي سجن

I perished of passion; he pronounced judgment by passion,

then set my tears free and imprisoned my heart.

وعلَّمني فيه ندب الحمول

وجدٌ دمعي وقلبي سجن

And I was taught, for his sake, to lament the laden camels

by yearning—my tears, and my heart imprisoned [wording unclear].

إلى الله من مغرمَ بالوفاء

كأني من غير أهل الزمن

To God goes the plea of one enamored of fidelity,

as though I were not of the people of this age.

وكيف يلام غريبٌ بكى

لقرب المشيب وبعد الوطن

How can a stranger be blamed for weeping

at the nearness of gray hair and the remoteness of home?

أحنُّ ولا عجبٌ للكريم

تذكَّر عهداً كريماً فحن

I yearn; no wonder for a noble man

who remembers a noble covenant and yearns.

ويكفيك أني بسهم الفراق

كليمُ الفؤاد سليمُ البدن

Let it suffice you that, by separation's arrow,

my heart is wounded, my body unharmed.

فللدهر منى شنيه الملام

ولأبن الحسين الثناء الحسن

For Time, from me, there is harsh reproach;

and for Ibn al-Husayn there is fair praise.

هو النجمُ لا العرضُ منهُ يباح

كلاَّ ولا مالهُ يختزن

He is the star; his honor cannot be violated,

certainly not, nor is his wealth hoarded.

جوادٌ يعمُّ الورى والوغى

بنشر العطايا وطيّ المحن

A generous man, embracing mankind and war

by spreading gifts and folding troubles away.

لقد قعدتُ حين قام الخطوبُ

فأحيى المنى وأمات الفتن

Indeed, I sank down when calamities arose;

he revived hopes and put strife to death.

ولم يفترق فعلهُ والتقى

ولم يجتمع حكمهُ والغبن

His deeds and piety never parted,

nor did his judgment and injustice ever meet.

رفيع العماد طويلُ النجاد

حديدُ الفؤاد رحيبُ العطن

Lofty of tent-pole, long of sword-belt,

steely of heart, spacious of watering-ground.

إذا جمد العام في المحل ذاب

وأن أمسك القطرُ بخلاً هتن

When the year freezes in drought, he melts;

and if rain holds back in stinginess, he pours down.

وأن طاش ثهلان حلماً رسا

أناةً وأن خفَّ خوفٌ رصن

And if Thahlan reels, he stands firm in forbearance,

with patience; and if fear turns flighty, he remains steady.

فليتك تشهده خاطباً

وقد سلَّ في الخطب سيف اللَّسن

If only you could witness him speaking,

having drawn in his address the sword of eloquence,

وسدَّد أسهمَ أقلامهِ

وضاعف بالجود سرد الجنن

and aimed the arrows of his pens,

and with generosity doubled the weave of protective armor,

وأقبل في جيش أفكاره

وقد عرَّضتهُ شهودُ الفطن

and advanced amid the army of his thoughts,

already reviewed by the witnesses of keen insight.

لتعلمَ في الملك كيف الغناءُ

وتعرف في الفضل كيف المنن

So you may learn what worthy service to a kingdom is,

and know what favors in excellence are,

وتبصرَ من كفّهِ واليراعِ

ورقاء ساجعةً في فنن

and see, from his hand and reed-pen,

a gray dove cooing on a bough.

فيا مبهجي باختصاص دنا

ويا مزعجي بمرادٍ شطن

O you who gladden me with special favor drawn near,

and unsettle me with a wish far distant,

نشرتُ كتابك لمَّا فضضتُ

فمثَّل لي تبّتاً في عدّن

I unfolded your letter when I broke its seal,

and it conjured for me Tibet in Aden.

وقامت غرائبُ إنشائهٍ

بنظم السرور ونسخ الإحن

The marvels of its composition set about

weaving joy and erasing rancor.

فأفصحُ من نظمنا نثرةُ

وأرجحُ من فهمنا ما وزن

So his prose is more eloquent than our verse,

and what he weighed is weightier than our understanding.

إذِ الألفاتُ كهيف القدود

ونوناتهُ كقسيّ العكن

For its alifs are like slender figures,

and its nūns like the bows of belly-folds.

وتهزأُ ميماتهُ بالثغور

وتلك العيونُ بحسنِ العين

Its mīms mock mouths,

and those ʿayns mock the beauty of eyes.

وتخصرُّ منهُ أيادي الندى

وتبيضُّ فيهِ وجوهُ المنن

And through it the hands of bounty grow green [reading uncertain],

and in it the faces of favors grow white.

لأرعد أعطافَ سمر القنا

وأخجل أوجهَ بيض اليمن

It truly made the flanks of brown lances tremble,

and shamed the faces of bright Yemeni blades.

كأني علقتُ بذيل السّحاب

أجل وحللتُ بركني حضن

As though I had clung to the hem of a cloud—

yes, and settled at Hadan's two flanks.

فما شئتَ من نهرٍ في الوهادِ

وما شئتَ من زهرٍ في القنن

Rivers as you wish in the lowlands,

and flowers as you wish upon the peaks.

إلا بهما فليكدني الحسود

جليت القذى وغسلت الدرن

With those two alone, let the envious man scheme against me!

I have cleared the motes and washed away the grime.

إذا المجد لم يقترن بالسماح

فما هو إلا كبعض المهن

If glory is not joined with generosity,

it is no more than one of the trades.

وكم في البرَّية من جاهلِ

عيّيٍ ويحسبُ أن قد فطن

How many an ignorant man there is among mankind,

tongue-tied, yet thinking himself perceptive!

إذا بكرَ الناس للمكرمات

تخيَّر أثوابهُ وأدَّهن

When people rise early for noble deeds,

he selects his clothes and oils himself.

فياليتهُ وهو غال بذاك

شرى عرضهُ بأخسّ الثمن

If only he—dear even at that price—

had bought his honor for the paltriest sum!

وما غضبي طعماً في النَّوال

ولكنَّهُ غضبٌ للغبن

My anger is not for a taste of bounty,

but it is anger at injustice.

جهلتُ فأظلمَ وجهُ العتاب

لضيمِ سرى ولهمٍّ كمن

I acted rashly, and the face of reproach darkened

at an injustice that crept in and a worry that lurked.

لدنت بمفترضات النّدى

وكلٍّ نوافلهِ والسنن

You have truly adhered to bounty's prescribed duties,

and all its voluntary offerings and observances.

وقدماً جرى لأعثرتَ الكرا

مُ فما سلكوا مثلَ هذا السَّنن

It flowed of old; you have indeed made the noble

men stumble, for they never followed such a course.

فيا ناشداً غيرهُ لا وجدت

سوى مننٍ كاذبات المنن

O seeker of anyone else, may you find nothing

save favors whose generosity is false!

إذا شمت ومض ندى يوسفٍ

أصبت الحيا فنبذت الشَّطن

If you glimpse the flash of Yusuf's bounty,

you find life-giving rain and cast the rope away.

وحيدُ على مثلهُ لم يكن

وطنّي بهِ أنهُ لا ولن

Peerless in eminence—his like has never existed;

and I believe he has none now, nor ever will.