Sol 6.1

  1. قِفا في ذِمام الدمع بين الملاعبِ

    وإيهاً فليس الذلُ ضربةَ لازبِ

    Stop, you two, in tears' keeping amid the pleasure grounds.

    And desist: humiliation is no inescapable decree.

  2. مزجتُ الحيا في ساحتَيها بأدمعي

    فكم من غديرٍ لا يحلُّ لشارب

    I mingled the rain in its two courtyards with my tears;

    how many a pool is forbidden to a drinker!

  3. وما احمرَّ دمعُ العين لولا صبابةٌ

    بحمرِ الحلى بيضِ الطلى والترائ

    The eye's tears would not have reddened but for longing

    for women with red ornaments, white necks and collarbones.

  4. أُحبُّ من الأغصان كلَّ مهفهفٍ

    حكى في التثني كل هيفاءَ كاعب

    Of branches, I love every slender one

    that, bending, mimics every slim-waisted maiden with budding breasts.

  5. أسِربُ ظباءٍ عن يومَ سُوَيقةٍ

    أنشدتكما أم هنَّ سِربُ كواعب

    Was it a herd of gazelles that appeared on the day of Suwayqa

    that I asked you two about, or were they a bevy of maidens?

  6. فوِاتكُ لا يسمعنَ شكوى كأنما

    قلوبُ الأعادي في جسوم الحبائب

    Ruthless ones who hear no complaint—as though

    enemies' hearts lay in beloveds' bodies.

  7. شموسٌ بافلاك الجيوب طوالعٌ

    غواربُ عنّي في سماءِ الغوارب

    Suns rising in the orbits of their necklines,

    setting away from me in the sky of their shoulders.

  8. تَلثّمنَ بالإصباح حتى إذا وشى

    بأضوائه اردفنه بالغياهب

    They veiled themselves in dawn until, when it betrayed them

    with its lights, they followed it with deepest darkness.

  9. فلا ذقتما ما ذقت ساعة فوقت

    سهام جفونٍ عن قي حواجب

    May you two never taste what I tasted when they aimed

    eyelid-arrows from the [bows] of eyebrows.

  10. خليلي مالي والغرام كإنما

    يجدده ذكر الليالي الذواهب

    My two friends, what have I to do with love's torment? It is as though

    the memory of departed nights renews it.

  11. وإني لآتي الحي يفهق بالقنا

    اليّ وجنح الليل وحف الهيادب

    Yet I approach the clan, overflowing with lances

    toward me, while night's wing is thickly fringed.

  12. وألقى الفتى الغيران كالليث واثبٌ

    لي الموت في أنيابه والمخالب

    And I meet the jealous young man, leaping like a lion,

    death for me in his fangs and claws.

  13. يحاول مني غرةً لم يفز بها

    ويمسح عطفاً لا يلين لجاذب

    He seeks to catch me unawares but never succeeds,

    and strokes a flank that yields to no one tugging it.

  14. إذا اسودت الأوطان في وجه مطلبٍ

    لبست الفيافي نحو بيض المطالب

    When homelands darken in the face of a quest,

    I don the deserts, making for white goals.

  15. سرىً والدجى لم ينض ثوب شبابه

    وسيراً وفود الصبح أول شائب

    Travelling by night, before darkness has shed the robe of its youth,

    and journeying while dawn's temple-lock is first to grey.

  16. وإما ضفا ثوب الضحاء خلعتهُ

    على ناجيات العيس خلع الجلاببِ

    And when forenoon's robe grows ample, I shed it

    over fleet, pale camels, as one sheds cloaks.

  17. ومخضرّةِ الأقطارِ مخضلّةِ الثرى

    صبحتُ إليها البرقَ قاني الذّوائب

    And a land green to its edges, its soil drenched—

    I greeted crimson-tressed lightning on the way there at dawn.

  18. وصحبي نشاوى من نعاسٍ كأنهم

    على شعب الأكوار أنمل حلسب

    My companions were drunk with drowsiness, as though

    upon the saddle-forks they were the fingers of [a reckoner].

  19. وعدتهمُ قاضي القضاة فمذ بدا

    نزلنا فقبّلنا وجوه الركائب

    I promised them the Chief Judge; as soon as he appeared,

    we dismounted and kissed our mounts' faces.

  20. لقينا صروفَ الدهرِ بابن محّمدٍ

    فكانت كجيش الفقر أوّل هارب

    We confronted time's reversals with the son of Muhammad,

    and they, like poverty's army, were the first to flee.

  21. هنالك غصنُ الفضل ليس رطيبهُ

    بلاوٍ وماءُ الجود ليس بناضب

    There virtue's branch has tender growth

    that never withers, and generosity's water never runs dry.

  22. طليقُ المحيّا والليالي عوابسٌ

    رحيبُ العطايا عند ضيقِ المذاهب

    Cheerful of face while the nights scowl,

    lavish in gifts when every avenue narrows.

  23. إذا ما دجا ليلٌ من الخطب دامسٌ

    سرى بالمعالي في صباح التجارب

    Whenever a pitch-dark night of calamity grows black,

    he journeys with noble deeds in the dawn of experience.

  24. يحدث عن نعمائه صامتُ اللهى

    وتفصح عن جدواهُ عجمُ الحقائب

    Silent gifts tell of his blessings,

    and tongueless saddlebags proclaim his bounty.

  25. درأنا بمحي الدين نجلِ كماله

    حوادث كانت كالسّهام الصّوائب

    Through Muhyi al-Din, son of Kamal, we warded off

    events that were like arrows striking home.

  26. وشمنا سيوفَ المدح دون صفاتهِ

    فأغمدن في هام النّدى والرغائب

    We drew the swords of praise before his qualities,

    and they were sheathed in the heads of bounty and hopes.

  27. فتى قومهُ حمرُ الأسنّة والوغى

    وخضر الحمى والسلمِ بيضُ المناقب

    A youth whose people are red in spearhead and battle,

    green in sanctuary and peace, white in virtues.

  28. اذا انتضوا الهنديّ كانت سيوفهم

    صواعقَ من أيديهم في سحائب

    When they draw Indian steel, their swords become

    thunderbolts from their hands amid clouds.

  29. وإن خيفَ حربُ الجدبِ شيموا فأنهلوا

    رماحَ الأماني من صدور المواهب

    And if drought's assault is feared, they are looked to and give drink to

    the lances of hopes from the breasts of bounty.

  30. له الشيب من شيبان فلت أكفهم

    مضارب لزبات السنين اللوازب

    He has Shayban's grey-haired elders; their hands have blunted

    the cutting edges of the years' inescapable hardships.

  31. أعادوا غوادي المزن وهي ذواهلٌ

    تخبر عن إيمانهم بالعجائب

    They brought the morning rain clouds back, bewildered,

    telling marvels of their faith.

  32. إذا ما دعاهم هاتف الظن سلطوا

    يقين العطايا في الظنون الكواذب

    When the caller of expectation summons them, they unleash

    the certainty of gifts upon false conjectures.

  33. لقد وسموا جيد الزمان بجودهم

    وما وسمت أحسابهم بالمصائب

    They have branded time's neck with their generosity,

    and their ancestral honor has not been branded by calamities.

  34. هم منعلو قب المذاكي أهلّةً

    كما نصّلوا خطيّهم بالكواكب

    They shoe lean, mature steeds with crescents,

    as they tip their Khatti spears with stars.

  35. إذا ما دجا ليلُ الوقائع أطلعوا

    نجوم القنا تهدي بروق القواضب

    When the night of battles grows dark, they raise

    lance-stars that guide the lightning of keen swords.

  36. نعم وهم وسمُ القوافي وخطبها

    وقد كنَّ غفلاً لا يدنّ لخاطب

    Yes, they are the hallmark of rhymes and their suitors,

    which once were unmarked and would yield to no suitor.

  37. فصفحهم عيش الصديقِ مسالماً

    وحدّهم حتفُ العدوّ المحارب

    Their flat side is life for a friend at peace,

    their edge, death for an enemy at war.

  38. فروعُ المعالي باسقاتٍ فروعها

    بسمرِ العوالي والعتاق الشواذب

    Branches of noble deeds, their branches rising tall

    with brown lances and lean thoroughbreds,

  39. بجرداءِ سلهوب ودرعٍ مضاعف

    وأسمر عسالٍ وأبيضَ قاضب

    with a sleek, tall mare and doubled mail,

    a brown, quivering lance and a white, cutting sword.

  40. غداة كأنَّ الأرض طرسٌ وجمعهم

    سطورٌ وأطرافُ القنا شكلُ كاتب

    On a morning when the earth seems a parchment, and their host

    its lines, the lance-tips a scribe's vowel marks.

  41. يردُّ خطابَ الخطبِ دونَ عفاتهم

    ويثنى كليلَ الحدِّ نابَ النوائب

    It rebuffs calamity's address before it reaches their petitioners,

    and turns back misfortune's fang with its edge dulled.

  42. مصاليتُ ما أسيافهم في عداهمُ

    بأمضى من كتبهم في الكتائب

    Dauntless men: their swords against their enemies

    are no sharper than their writings among the battalions.

  43. إذا جنبوا قبَّ المذاكي لغارةٍ

    أغاروا بها ريح الصبا والجنائب

    When they lead their lean, mature steeds to a raid,

    with them they make the east wind and south winds envious.

  44. وان هتفوا في المحل والعود يابسٌ

    أروك بحار الأرض مثل المذانب

    And if they call out in drought, when the bough is dry,

    they show you earth's seas as mere rivulets.

  45. رموا كل خطبٍ بالخناعة عزةً

    وبالعلي عن إفصاحهم كل خاطب

    Through might they strike every calamity with abasement,

    and every orator with [speechlessness] beside their eloquence.

  46. مآلٌ لملهوفٍ وحليٌ لعاطلٍ

    وأمنٌ لمرعوبٍ ومالٌ لكاسب

    A refuge for the distressed, ornaments for the unadorned,

    safety for the frightened, and wealth for the earner.

  47. نفوس البرايا في صدور مجالسٍ

    وأيدي المنايا في قلوب المواكب

    The souls of humanity at the forefront of assemblies,

    the hands of death in the hearts of marching hosts.

  48. أبا حامدٍ هذا الثناء الذي به

    وحقك يقضى كل حقٍ وواجب

    Abu Hamid, this is the praise through which—

    by your honor—every right and duty is discharged.

  49. تعالى فما يسمو له فكر ناظمٍ

    وعزّ فلم يظفر بهِ عزمُ طالب

    It rises so high no poet's thought can reach it,

    and proves so elusive no seeker's resolve can attain it.

  50. ينير منار الشمس ليس بكاسفٍ

    ويبقى الدهر ليس بذاهب

    It illuminates the sun's beacon, never dimming,

    and endures through time, never departing.

  51. وهن القوافي لم يزل في جنابها

    مرجى ومخشياً جنابي وجانبي

    And these are the rhymes within whose domain

    my presence and my side have ever been hoped for and feared.

  52. فمن مبلغُ الأملاك عني ألوكةً

    وما النّصح عند الأكرمين بخائب

    Who, then, will convey a message from me to the kings?

    Sincere counsel never fails among the noblest:

  53. بأنك وفيتَ الحفيظة حقّها

    ولم تأل جهداً دون حفظ العواقب

    that you have given loyal zeal its full due,

    and spared no effort in safeguarding the outcomes.

  54. نصرتهمُ دون الأنام وعمهم

    وفاؤك لما خانهم كلُّ صاحب

    You aided them when no one else did, and they were encompassed

    by your loyalty when every companion betrayed them.

  55. وما نسب الإنسان إلا فعالة

    فان لم يكنهُ فهو زينُ المناسب

    A person's lineage is nothing but his conduct;

    and if it is not that, it is the adornment of kinship.

  56. سهرتَ لأمر الملك والسيفُ هاجعٌ

    فبان له عجز القنا والمقانب

    You kept vigil for the king's cause while the sword slept,

    so the helplessness of lances and cavalry became plain to him.

  57. يميناً ولم يشهر به نصل حاضرٍ

    ولم يفتقر فيه إلى نصر غائب

    I swear—and no present man's blade was drawn for it,

    nor did he need an absent man's help in it.

  58. فأغنيت ما اغنيت والناس فضلةٌ

    وذدت خطوب الدهر من كل جانب

    You sufficed as you did, while all others were superfluous,

    and repelled time's calamities from every side.

  59. ولا عجبٌ إن النجوم كثيرةٌ

    وما الفضل إلا للنجوم الثواقب

    No wonder: the stars are many,

    but distinction belongs only to the piercing-bright stars.