خفرت بسيف الغنج ذمة مغفري — Abn Matouk

خَفَرَتْ بسيفِ الغُنج ذمّةَ مِغفَري

وفَرَتْ برُمح القدِّ دِرعَ تصبُّري

With coquetry's sword she breached my helmet's protection.

And with her figure's lance she rent the armor of my endurance.

وجلَتْ لنا من تحت مِسكةِ خالِها

كافورَ فجرٍ شقَّ ليلَ العنْبرِ

And from beneath the musk of her beauty spot she unveiled for us

The camphor of a dawn that split the night of ambergris.

وغدَتْ تذُبُّ عن الرُضابِ لِحاظها

فحمَتْ علينا الحورُ وِردَ الكوثرِ

Her glances began guarding her sweet saliva,

And her dark-rimmed eyes denied us a draught from Kawthar.

ودنتْ إلى فمِها أراقِمُ فرعِها

فتكلّفتْ بحِفاظِ كَنزِ الجوهري

The serpents of her hair drew close to her mouth

And undertook to safeguard the jeweler's treasure.

يا حاملَ السيفِ الصّحيح إذا رَنَتْ

إياكَ ضربةَ جفنِها المُتكسِّرِ

O bearer of the unbroken sword, when she gazes,

Beware the stroke of her languid eyelid.

وتَوقَّ يا ربَّ القناةِ الطّعنَ إنْ

حملَتْ عليكَ من القَوامِ بأسْمَرِ

And beware, O master of the spear, of a thrust if

She charges you with the dusky lance of her stature.

برزَتْ فشِمْنا البرقَ لاحَ ملثّماً

والبدرَ بين تقَرطُقٍ وتخمُّرِ

She appeared, and we watched lightning flash, veiled,

And the full moon clad in a tunic and a veil.

وسعَتْ فمرّ بنا الغزالُ مطوّقاً

والغُصنُ بين موشّحٍ ومؤزّرِ

She walked, and a gazelle passed us, collared,

And a bough draped in a sash and a waist-wrap.

بأبي مَراشِفها الّتي قد لُثِّمتْ

فوق الأقاحي بالشّقيقِ الأحمرِ

My father be the ransom of her lips, which were veiled

Above daisies with crimson anemones.

وبمُهجَتي الروضُ المُقيمُ بمُقلةٍ

ذهبَ النُعاسُ بها ذهابَ تحيّري

And my heart's blood the ransom of the garden dwelling in an eye

Which slumber carried away, as bewilderment carried me.

تاللَّهِ ما ذُكرَ العقيقُ وأهلُه

إلّا وأجراهُ الغرامُ بمِحجَري

By God, al-Aqiq and its people were never mentioned

Without passion making it flow through my eye socket.

لولاهُ ما ذابتْ فرائدُ عَبرَتي

بعدَ الجمودِ بحرِّ نارِ تذكّري

But for it, the pearls of my tears would not have melted

After freezing, in the heat of remembrance's fire.

كم قد صَحِبْتُ به منَ اِبْناءِ الظبا

سِرباً ومن أسُدِ الشّرى من معشَرِ

How often there I accompanied gazelles' offspring—

A herd—and a company of al-Shara's lions.

وضَللتُ من غسَقِ الشعورِ بغيهبٍ

وهُديتُ من تلك الوجوهِ بنيّرِ

And I lost my way in the pitch-dark dusk of their hair,

And was guided by a radiance from those faces.

يا لَلعشيرةِ مَنْ لمهجةِ ضَيغمٍ

كمنَتْ منيّتُه بمقلةِ جُؤذرِ

O tribesmen! Who will save a lion's heart

Whose death lurked in a wild-cow calf's eye?

روحي الفِداءُ لظبيةِ الخِدرِ الّتي

بُنِيَ الكِناسُ لها بغابِ القَسْوَرِ

My soul be the ransom of the secluded chamber's gazelle, for whom

A covert was built in the lion's thicket.

لم أنسَ زَورَتَها ووجناتُ الدُجى

تنباعُ ذِفْراها بمسكٍ أذْفرِ

I have not forgotten her visit, while the cheeks of night

Streamed at their hollows behind the ears with pungent musk.

أمّتْ وقد هزّ السِماكُ قناتَه

وسَطا الضياءُ على الظلامِ بخنجرِ

She came toward me when al-Simak had shaken his spear,

And light had assailed darkness with a dagger.

والقوسُ معترضٌ أراشَتْ سَهمَه

بقوادِم النَسرَينِ أيدي المُشتري

The Bow lay athwart; its arrow had been fletched

With the Two Eagles' flight-feathers by Jupiter's hands.

وغدَتْ تُشنّف مسمعيَّ بلُؤلؤٍ

لولاهُ ناظمُ عَبرَتي لم ينثُرِ

She began adorning my ears with pearls,

Without which the stringer of my tears would not have scattered them.

وتضمُّ منّي في القميص مهنّداً

وأضمّ منها بالنصيفِ السّمهري

She embraces in me an Indian-steel sword within a shirt,

And I embrace in her, beneath a veil, a straight spear.

طوراً أرى طوقي الذراعَ وتارةً

منها أرى الكفّ الخضيبَ بمِسْوَرِ

At times I see her arm as my collar, and at times

I see her henna-dyed hand encircled by a bracelet.

حتّى بَدا كِسرى الصّباح وأدبرَتْ

قومُ النّجاشي عن عَساكر قيصَرِ

Until morning's Khosrow appeared, and away fled

The Negus's people before Caesar's armies.

لمّا رأتْ روضَ البنفسجِ قد ذوى

من ليلِنا وزهَتْ رياضُ العُصفُرِ

When she saw that the violet garden had withered

From our night, and safflower gardens had bloomed,

والنجمُ غارَ على جوادٍ أدهمٍ

والفجرُ أقبل فوقَ صهوةِ أشقرِ

And the star had sunk upon a coal-black steed,

And dawn approached upon a chestnut horse's back,

فزعَتْ فضرّسَتِ العقيقَ بلؤلؤٍ

سكنَتْ فرائِدُه غديرَ السُّكّرِ

She took fright and bit the agate with pearls,

Whose gems dwelt in a pool of sugar.

وتنهّدتْ جزَعاً فأثّرَ كفُّها

في صَدرِها فنظرْتُ ما لم أنظُرِ

She sighed in dismay, and her palm left a mark

Upon her breast; I beheld what I had never beheld:

أقلامَ مَرجانٍ كتَبْن بعنبَرٍ

بصحيفةِ البِلّورِ خمسةَ أسطُرِ

Coral pens that wrote in ambergris

Five lines upon a page of crystal.

ومضَتْ وحُمرةُ خدِّها من أدْمِها

لبسَتْ رَمادَ المِسكِ بعد تستُّرِ

And she departed; her cheek's blush, rising from her skin,

Donned musk's ashes after she veiled herself.

للّهِ دَرُّ جَمالِها من زائرٍ

رسمَ الخيالُ مثالَها بتصوّري

How wondrous her beauty as a visitor,

Whose likeness imagination drew within my thoughts!

لم ألقَ أطيبَ بهجةً من نَشرِها

إلّا البشارةَ في إيابِ الحَيدَري

I have encountered no joy sweeter than her fragrance

Except the glad tidings of al-Haydari's return.

ابنُ الهُمامِ أخو الغَمامِ أبو النّدى

بركاتُ شمس نهارنا المَولى السّري

Son of the valiant, brother to the raincloud, father of bounty:

Barakat, our day's sun, the noble lord.

الخاطبُ المعروف قبلَ فِطامِه

والطالبُ العلياء غيرَ مُقدّرِ

Who courted good deeds before his weaning,

And sought the heights without reckoning limits.

مِصباحُ أهلِ الجود والصُبحُ الّذي

ما اِنجابَ لَيلُ البُخلِ لو لمْ يُسفِرِ

The lamp of the generous, and the morning

Without whose breaking the night of stinginess would not have lifted.

قِرنٌ إذا سلَّ الحُسام حسِبتَهُ

نهراً جرى من لُجّ خمسةِ أبحُرِ

A champion: when he draws his keen sword, you would deem it

A river flowing from the depths of five seas.

قرَن البراعةَ بالشجاعةِ والنّدى

والرأيَ في عَفوٍ وحُسنِ تدبّرِ

He united brilliance with courage and bounty,

And sound judgment with clemency and wise deliberation.

آباؤهُ الغُرُّ الكِرامُ وجدّهُ

خيرُ الأنام أبو شُبيرَ وشَيْبرِ

His forefathers are illustrious and generous, and his grandfather

The best of mankind, father of Shubayr and Shaybar.

لو أنّ موسى قد أتى فرعَونَه

في آي ذاتِ فقاره لم يَكفُرِ

Had Moses come to his Pharaoh

With the signs of his notched blade, he would not have disbelieved.

أو لو دَعا إبليسَ آدمُ باِسْمهِ

عندَ السُجودِ لديه لم يستكْبِرِ

Or had Adam called to Iblis by his name

At the prostration before him, he would not have grown arrogant.

أو كان بالبَدرِ المُنير كمالُه

ما غار أو بالشمسِ لم تتكوّرِ

Or had his perfection belonged to the shining full moon,

It would not have set; or to the sun, it would not have been rolled up.

أو في السماء تكون قوّةُ بأسهِ

في الروعِ يومَ البعثِ لم تتفطّرِ

Or had the strength of his might been in the sky,

It would not have split in the terror of Resurrection Day.

سمحٌ أذلَّ الدرَّ حتّى أنّه

خَشيَتْ ثُغورُ البيضِ فيها يزدري

A liberal man who humbled pearls so utterly

That fair women's mouths feared he would scorn what lay within.

ومَحا سَوادَ الجَورِ أبيض عدلِه

حتّى تخوّف كلُّ طَرفٍ أحوَرِ

The whiteness of his justice erased the blackness of tyranny,

Until every dark-rimmed eye grew fearful.

يجدُ الظِباءَ البيضَ كالبيضِ الظُبا

وصَليلها بالكَعْمِ نغمةَ مِزْمَرِ

He finds white gazelles like gleaming sword-blades,

And their ringing at close quarters a flute-player's tune.

بعد المشقّة نال لذّاتِ العُلى

لا يستلذّ الغُمضَ مَنْ لم يَسْهَرِ

After hardship he attained the delights of eminence;

None savors sleep who has not stayed awake.

قُلْ للّذي في الجودِ يطلبُ شأوَه

أربيْتَ في الغُلواءِ ويحكَ فاِقصِرِ

Tell him who seeks to match his generosity:

You have gone too far in excess—woe to you, desist!

بُدِئَ النّدى منه فأفعالُ السّخا

عن غيرِ مصدرِ ذاته لم تَصْدُرِ

Bounty began with him, and deeds of liberality

Issued from no source other than his own essence.

فالناسُ من ماءٍ مَهينٍ وهوَ من

ماءٍ مَعينٍ طاهِرٍ ومُطَهِّرِ

People are made from base water, whereas he is from

Flowing water, pure and purifying.

يا مَنْ بكُنيتهِ نريدُ تيمُّناً

وبه يُزالُ تشاؤُمُ المتطيّرِ

O you by whose byname we seek good fortune,

And through whom the augur's ill foreboding is dispelled:

إنْ عُدَّ قبلَك في المكارم ماجدٌ

قد كان دونَك في قديم الأعْصُرِ

If before you a glorious man was counted among the generous,

He was beneath you in ages long past.

فكذلك الإبهامُ فهوَ مقدَّمٌ

عند الحِساب يُعدُّ بعد الخِنصرِ

So too the thumb: it stands foremost,

Yet in counting is counted after the little finger.

بالفخرِ ساد أبوكَ سادات الورى

وأبوك لولاكَ ابنُه لم يفخَرِ

Through glory your father ruled the lords of mankind,

Yet your father, but for you, his son, would not have gloried.

كالعين بالبصرِ المُنير تفضّلتْ

والعينُ لولا نَجلُها لم تُبصِرِ

Just as the eye excels through radiant sight,

And the eye, without its offspring, would not see.

قسَماً ببارقِ مُرهفٍ قُلِّدتَهُ

وبعارِضٍ من مُزنِ جودِك مُمطِرِ

I swear by the flash of the keen blade you were girded with,

And by a raining cloud from the rainclouds of your bounty:

لولا إيابُك للجزيرة ما صفَتْ

منها مشارِعُ أمنِها المتكدِّرِ

But for your return to al-Jazira, never would have cleared

The watering places of its troubled security.

أسكَنْتَ أهليها النّعيمَ وطالما

شهدوا الجحيمَ بها وهَولَ المَحْشَرِ

You lodged its people in bliss, though long

They had witnessed hell there and the terror of the Gathering.

وكسَوْتَها حُلَلَ الأمان وإنّها

لولاك أضحتْ عَورةً لم تُسْتَرِ

You clothed it in robes of safety, though it,

But for you, would have become nakedness left uncovered.

بوركْتَ من شهمٍ قدِمتَ مشمّراً

نحو العُلى إذ يُحجِم الليثُ الشّري

Blessed are you, a valiant man who advanced, sleeves rolled up,

Toward the heights when the fierce lion hangs back.

وقطعْتَ أنوار الفَخار بأنمُل ال

فِتيان من روضِ الجديد الأخضرِ

And you plucked the blossoms of glory with the fingertips of the

Young men, from the new green garden.

فليَهْنِكَ المجدُ التّليد وعادكَ الْ

عيدُ الجديد بنبلِ سعدٍ أكبرِ

May ancestral glory gladden you, and may the

New feast revisit you with noble, still greater fortune.

واِلبَس قميصَ المُلكِ يا طالوتَه

واِسحبْ ذيولَ الفضل فخراً وأجْرُرِ

And don the shirt of kingship, O its Talut,

And drag the trains of excellence proudly, trailing them.

واِستَجل بِكرَ ثَنا فصاحةِ لفظها

عبثَتْ بحِكمتِها بسِحرِ البُحتُري

And unveil a virgin of praise: the eloquence of her words

Has, with her wisdom, made sport of al-Buhturi's magic.

لو يعلمُ الكوفي بها لم يزدَري

أو يشعرُ الطائي بها لم يشعرِ

Had the Kufan known of her, he would not have scorned her;

Or had the Ta'i been aware of her, he would not have composed verse.

لا زِلتَ تاجَ عُلىً وحِليةَ مَنصِب

وطرازَ مَكرُمةٍ وزينةَ منبَرِ

May you ever remain a crown of eminence and the adornment of office,

The embroidery of nobility and the ornament of the pulpit.