تحدث البرق عن سعدي فما كذبا — Abn Alsaati

تحدَّث البرقُ عن سعدي فما كذبا

والدمعُ يشرح ما أملى بما كتبا

Lightning spoke of Saʿdā and did not lie.

And tears explain what it dictated through what they wrote.

يفترُّ معترضاً عن مثل مبسمها

لو كان يملك ذاك الظَّلم والشَّنبا

It parts, flashing crosswise, to reveal the likeness of her smiling mouth—

if only it possessed that tooth-luster and cool sweetness.

سيفٌ من الوجد ما شيمت مضاربه

على مقاتل صبرٍ عنهمُ فنبا

A sword of yearning: never were its edges drawn

against the vitals of patience in their absence only to glance aside.

وإن سرى في هزيع الليل لامعهُ

أشاب من للمِ الآفاق ما خضبا

And if its flash travels through a watch of night,

it whitens whatever was dyed of the horizons’ locks.

وساهرٍ وهبتهُ العينُ هجعتها

ولا يجيز كريمٌ ردَّ ما طلبا

And a wakeful one—the eye gave it its slumber,

and no generous soul permits refusal of what it asks—

جفني يخادعني ثمَّ استطار سناً

حتى استثار خبيُّ الوجد ثمَّ خبا

keeps my eyelid awake, deceives me, then flares with light,

until hidden yearning stirs; then the light fades.

نار إذا هاجها ليلاً نسيمُ صبا

أصار فحمَ الدياجي ومضها ذهبا

A fire: when an east breeze stirs it by night,

its flash turns the charcoal of dark nights into gold.

يا غائبينَ ولا والمجدِ ما فقدت

عيني وحاشا فوادي مثلهم غيبا

O absent ones! No, by glory, never has

my eye—much less my heart—lost absent ones like them.

لو كنت أملك ما بتُّم أحقَّ بهِ

مني لسكَّنتُ قلباً طالما وجبا

If I possessed what you have become more entitled to

than I, I would soothe a heart that has so often trembled.

أبكي القدود وما ضمَّت مآزرها

وعاذلي ظنَّها الأغصان والكثبا

I weep for the slender figures and what their waistcloths enfold,

while my reprover takes them for branches and dunes.

دارٌ لو أسطعتُ وجداً وهي مجدبة

نحرت في ساحتيها الدمع والسُّحبا

A dwelling: if I could, in my yearning, while it lies barren,

I would slaughter tears and clouds in its two courtyards.

يحلو بقلبي تمنّيها وممتنعٌ

أن يدركَ المتمنّي كلَّ ما طلبا

The wish for it is sweet within my heart, yet it is impossible

for the wisher to attain everything he seeks.

وليلةٍ بات بدر التمِّ ساقينا

يدير في فلكٍ من شربها شهبا

And a night when the full moon was our cupbearer,

passing meteors around an orbit of her drinkers.

بكرٌ إذا فرّعت بالماء كان بنا

جدّاً وإن كان في كاساتها لعبا

A virgin wine: when deflowered with water, she treats us

in earnest, though she plays within her cups.

حمراء من خجل حتى إذا مزجتْ

لم ندر هل خجلاً تحمّر أو غضبا

Red with bashfulness—yet when she is mixed,

we cannot tell whether she reddens from bashfulness or anger.

تزيد بالبارد السلسال جذوتها

وما سمعتُ بماء محدثٍ لهباً

With cool, sweet water her ember grows,

and I have never heard of water kindling flame.

أكرم بها بنت كرم زانها عطلٌ

ويا لها من حبيب طوق الحببا

How noble this daughter of the vine, whom bareness adorns!

And what a beloved she is, necklaced with bubbles!

تكسو النديم إذا ما ذاقها بهجا

حتى كأنَّ شعاع الشمس ما شربا

She clothes the drinking companion in delight when he tastes her,

as though what he drank were the sun’s radiance.

يا ساهرَ الليل إذ نامت عقاربه

ووارد الملم حيث العذب قد عذبا

O wakeful watcher of the night when its scorpions slept,

and you who brave calamity where sweet water has turned to torment,

أدركتَ بالعيسِ ما أرجوهُ من أملٍ

ناءٍ نحنْ من مطايا بلّغت حلبا

with the pale camels you attained the hope I cherish,

far away—we are among mounts that brought us to Aleppo.

موارقاً من إهاب الليل تحسبها

بوارقاً لا تشكَّى الأين والوصبا

Darting from the skin of night, you would think them

lightning flashes that complain of neither weariness nor pain.

ما زلتُ أسمو إليها همَّةً وسرىً

لا خاب حتى بلغتُ البدرَ والسُّحبا

I kept ascending toward her in resolve and night travel—

may it not fail—until I reached the full moon and the clouds.

عهدي بقامتها شمطاء من كبرٍ

واليوم تختال في ثوبي هوى وصبا

I remember her figure, gray-haired with age,

and today she struts in the two robes of love and youth.

لو ينقلُ البرقُ طرفاً دونها لهوى

أو يعمل النجم طرفاً نحوها لكبا

If lightning shifted its glance below her, it would fall,

or if a star directed its gaze toward her, it would stumble.

أخاف وأرجو من أساءت فعالها

صدوداً ولكن طيفها أحسن الوصلا

I fear and hope in her whose deeds were cruel

through rejection, though her dream-phantom made reunion beautiful.

زوت حاجبيها ثم كرَّت لحاظها

فقل في جبات عاين القوس والنَّبلا

She drew her brows together; then her glances charged.

Think, then, of a coward facing the bow and arrows.

وما كان بالمبدي لخطب ضراعةً

أخو وجلٍ او سلَّ من طرفها نصلا

Nor would he show meek submission before calamity—

that fearful man—unless a blade were drawn from her glance.

أذوب على تلك الذوائب غيرةً

إذا لاعبتْ أحيانَ ترسلها الحجلا

I melt in jealousy over those tresses,

when they play with the anklets at times when she lets them loose.

وما قلت يوماً للغرام وعسفهِ

رويداً ولا برحِ السقام لها مهلا

I have never told passion and its tyranny,

“Gently!” nor the torment of sickness for her, “Ease up!”

وأكبر همّي حاسدٌ مثل ناصح

أضيق به سمعاً ويوسعني عذلا

And my greatest concern is an envier who seems an adviser:

I can scarcely bear to hear him, while he lavishes reproach on me.

وحاكمةٍ تقضي بتسفيه أدمعي

وقد جعلوها بالهوى شاهداً عدلا

And a woman judge who pronounces my tears foolish,

though they have made them an upright witness to love.

وثقت بعينيها فخانا تجلُّدي

فلا تأمنوا من بعدها الأعين النجلا

I trusted her two eyes, and both betrayed my fortitude;

so after her, put no trust in wide eyes.

وأعشق منها البخل صوناً لحسنها

وما ظفرت كفُّ أمرءٍ عشقَ البخلا

And I adore her stinginess as protection for her beauty,

yet no man’s hand ever gained by loving stinginess.

سقى الله أطلال الحمى كلٍّ وابل

من المزن هامٍ لا رشاشاً ولا طلتّ

May God water the ruins of the sanctuary with every downpour

pouring from rain clouds—not a sprinkling or dew.

وإن لم تجد يا سعدُ سعدي سحابةٌ

فلا مطرت أرضٌ ولا انبت بقلا

And if no cloud rains generously on Saʿdā, O Saʿd,

then may no land receive rain or grow herbage.