Sol 6.1

  1. دمعي عليكَ مجانسٌ قلبي

    فانظرْ على الحالينِ للصب

    My tears for you are akin to my heart;

    so regard the lovelorn one in both conditions.

  2. يا فاضحَ الغزلان حيث رنا

    وإذا انثنى يا مخجل القضب

    O you who shame gazelles when you gaze,

    and, when you sway, O shamer of boughs!

  3. لك منزلٌ يغضي جوانِحنا

    لا بالغضا من جانب الشعب

    You have a dwelling that makes our ribs droop,

    not among ghada trees beside the ravine.

  4. تعفو الرسوم من الديارِ وما

    تعفو رسوم هواكَ من قلبي

    The traces of dwellings fade away, yet

    the traces of love for you never fade from my heart.

  5. بأبي هلالاً شرق طلعتهُ

    يجري مدامِعنا من الغرب

    My father be ransom for a crescent whose eastern rising

    sets our tears streaming from the west.

  6. كسر اللواحظ ناصب فكرِي

    فضنيت بين الكسرِ والنصب

    The languor of his glances wearies my mind;

    so I wasted away between breaking and strain.

  7. وسلبت لبي والحشا وجبت

    فعييت بالإيجاب والسلب

    And you stole my mind, and my heart throbbed;

    so affirmation and negation left me confounded.

  8. وهويته بالحسنِ منتقباً

    فلي الهنا بمواضعِ النقب

    And I loved him, veiled in beauty,

    so mine is joy in the veil's openings.

  9. وسنان ينشدُ سحرُ مقلتهِ

    أجفانَ عاشقهِ ألا هُبّي

    A drowsy one, whose eye's enchantment chants

    to his lover's eyelids, 'Come, awake!'

  10. شقيَ العذولُ على محاسنهِ

    ونعمتُ في تعذيبهِ العذب

    The reprover grew miserable over his beauties,

    while I found bliss in his sweet torment.

  11. فعلَ العواذِل فيه ما اكْتسبت

    أيديهمو ولمهجتي كسبي

    The reprovers did concerning him what

    their hands had earned; my soul has my own earnings.

  12. لا توجعوا بملامِكم كبدِي

    فملامكم ضربٌ من الضرْب

    Do not pain my liver with your reproaches,

    for your reproach is a form of beating.

  13. يا عاذلين تفرَّغوا ودعوا

    للعاشقين شواغِل الحبِّ

    O reprovers, free yourselves, and leave

    love's preoccupations to the lovers.

  14. وذروا لقاءَ الموجعين فقدْ

    تعدي الصحاحَ مبارك الجرب

    And shun encounters with the afflicted, for

    the resting places of mangy camels infect the healthy.

  15. كيف اسْتماعِي من حديثكموا

    قشراً وعند معذِّبي لبي

    How can I listen to your talk—

    mere husk—when my kernel lies with my tormentor?

  16. لم أنسَ إذ وافى يعاتبني

    أشهى معاتبةً لذي ذنب

    I have not forgotten when he came to reproach me,

    with the sweetest reproach for one who has sinned.

  17. ليت الذنوب أطلت شقتها

    كيما يطوّل شقة العتب

    Would that my sins had stretched their span,

    so he would prolong the span of his reproach!

  18. في ليلِ وصلٍ لا رقيب به

    إلا الحباب بأكوس الشرب

    On a night of union, with no watcher there

    except the bubbles in the drinkers' cups.

  19. ومديرها قمرٌ منازِله

    في الطرفِ دائرةٌ وفي القلب

    Their cupbearer was a moon whose stations

    revolved within the eye and in the heart.

  20. وبصحن ذاكَ الخدِّ من قبل

    نقلي ومن رشفاته شربي

    And on the platter of that cheek, kisses were

    my sweetmeats, and his sips my drink.

  21. دهرٌ تولى بالصّبى فرَطاً

    ومضى بمن يصبو ومن يصبي

    An age that swept youth away too soon,

    and passed with those who love and those who inspire love.

  22. لم أقض من إمهاله وطري

    وقضيت من إسراعه نحبي

    I did not fulfill my desire in its respite,

    yet through its haste I met my death.

  23. ما أنصف الباكي شبيبتهُ

    بمدامع كهوامع السحب

    He who weeps for his youth has not done it justice,

    with tears like the downpours of clouds.

  24. ذابَ السوادُ منَ العيونِ بها

    فالدَّهرُ إثر الحمرِ والشهب

    In them the eyes' blackness melted away,

    so time pursues the red and the gray.

  25. ولقدْ كوَى قلبي المشيبُ فما

    تهفو العوَائدُ بي إلى الحبّ

    Gray hair has cauterized my heart, so

    old habits no longer stir me toward love.

  26. لا طبّ بعدَ وُقوعهِ لهوىً

    والكيّ آخر رتبة الطب

    No remedy for passion remains after its coming,

    and cautery is medicine's final stage.

  27. في مدحِ أحمد للفتى شُغُلٌ

    فاخلصْ لمدح عُلاه بالوثب

    In praising Ahmad a young man finds occupation;

    so leap wholeheartedly into praise of his high rank.

  28. ولقد أغبّ المدحُ من قِصَرَ

    عنه ومن خَجَلٍ ومن رُعب

    Praise had kept away because it fell short

    of him, and out of shame and dread,

  29. حتى دعاهُ حكمُ سيدهِ

    وهوَى اللقاءَ فزارَ عن غبّ

    until its master's command summoned it;

    it longed for the meeting and visited after an absence.

  30. وأقامَ في أوقاتِ خدمتهِ

    فرضَ الثنا ودَعا إلى ندْب

    In the hours of his service it performed

    the duty of praise, and called for voluntary praise.

  31. لا تأسَ إن فَنيَ الكرامُ وإذ

    وُجد ابنُ يحياها فقل حسبي

    Do not grieve if the noble perish; when

    the son of their Yahya is found, say, 'He suffices me.'

  32. ساد ابن يحي في الصّبا بِثنىً

    أسرى به شرقاً إلى غرْب

    Ibn Yahya won lordship in youth, through praise

    that sped with him by night from east to west.

  33. وسما على السادات كلُّ سما

    بمآثرٍ ترْبو على الترْب

    And he soared above the lords in every ascent,

    with noble deeds surpassing the grains of dust.

  34. فَهْماً وَرَأياً قد سما وَحمى

    وكذا تكونُ مآثرُ الشهب

    In understanding and counsel he rose high and gave protection—

    such are the achievements of shooting stars.

  35. متحجباً بضياءِ سؤدَدِه

    ولُهاهُ سافرةٌ بلاَ حجب

    Veiled in the radiance of his lordship,

    while his gifts stand unveiled, without curtains.

  36. يختالُ بينَ سيادةٍ خفِضتْ

    حقًّا رؤسَ العُجم والعُربِ

    He strides proudly amid a lordship that has bowed

    the heads of non-Arabs and Arabs, truly;

  37. ومَناسبٍ عُمرِيةٍ نصبت

    درجَ المفاخرِ أحسن النصب

    and ʿUmari ties of descent that have erected

    the stairway of glories in the finest way;

  38. ومهابةٍ سكنَ الزمانُ بها

    عن خائفيهِ وكانَ ذا شغب

    and a majesty through which time grew quiet

    toward those who feared it, though once it was unruly;

  39. ومكارمٍ من دونِ غايتها

    خفيت وما بلغت قوَى كعب

    and noble deeds, short of whose summit

    Kaʿb's powers faded, never attaining it;

  40. وفضائلٍ وأبيكَ ما ترَكت

    للرّوض غير موَارثِ الأَبّ

    and virtues that—by your father!—left

    the meadow nothing but its heritage of fodder.

  41. سكبَ الزمانُ بها غمائمهُ

    شهداً فيا لحلاوةِ السّكب

    Time poured out its clouds through them

    as honey—O how sweet the pouring!

  42. بينَ اللطافةِ والجزالةِ قدْ

    فاضَ الزلالُ بها من الهضب

    Between delicacy and stately eloquence,

    clear water flowed through them from the uplands.

  43. بينا ترَى كالقضبِ رائعةً

    حتى ترى كوشائعِ القضب

    One moment you see them fearsome as swords,

    the next like the woven trappings of swords.

  44. تهوي القلوبُ لدرِّ منطقها

    في الطرس نحوَ ملاقِطِ الحب

    Hearts swoop toward the pearls of their utterance

    on the page, as toward grain to be gleaned.

  45. وتريكَ تأثيرَ الكواكبِ في

    يومِ الخطوبِ وليلةِ الخطْب

    And they show you the stars' influence on

    a day of calamities and a night of crisis.

  46. وأقامَ سهرانَ اليراعِ إذا

    ما نامَ جفنُ الصارم العضَب

    And he kept his reed pen awake whenever

    the eyelid of the keen, cutting sword slept;

  47. ومجيب داعي الملك يومَ وغى

    بكتائبٍ يُنعَتنَ بالكتب

    answering the king's summons on a day of battle

    with battalions called books.

  48. ولقد حكى كعبَ القناةِ لهُ

    قلمٌ فكانَ مُباركَ الكعب

    Indeed, the joint of a spear was mirrored in his

    pen, and blessed was its fortune.

  49. جمُّ المغازي والصِّلاتِ فيا

    لحدائقٍ وضرَاغمٍ غُلْبِ

    Abounding in campaigns and gifts—O,

    what gardens, what stout-necked lions!

  50. يروي حديثَ ثناهُ عن صِلةٍ

    ولرُبما يرويهِ عن حَرْبِ

    It relates his praise on the authority of a gift,

    and often relates it on the authority of war.

  51. فعلت على بعدٍ يَراعتُهُ

    فعل الظبا نشطت من القرْب

    His reed pen, from afar, performed

    the work of blades drawn at close range.

  52. في مصر يذكر بالخصيب وفي

    أفقِ الشآمِ ببارقِ الخصب

    In Egypt he is recalled as al-Khasib, and on

    al-Sham's horizon as a lightning-flash of plenty.

  53. من كف وضاحِ الجبين إذا

    لَحظَ الترابَ اهتزَّ بالعشب

    From the hand of one bright of brow: when

    he looks at dust, it quivers with grass.

  54. وافى ويومُ الشآم ملتبسٌ

    وعقاربُ الظلماءِ في كثب

    He arrived when al-Sham's day was shrouded,

    and darkness's scorpions lay among the dunes.

  55. فمحا بصبحِ العدلِ من ظلمٍ

    وشفى بأيدي اللطف من كرب

    He effaced oppression with the dawn of justice,

    and healed distress with the hands of kindness.

  56. ودعا السَّحابَ بيمنِ طلعتهِ

    ولو استغاث دعاهُ بالسّحب

    He summoned the clouds through the blessing of his coming,

    and, were he to seek their aid, would summon them by dragging them.

  57. يا آلَ فضلِ اللهِ مدحكمو

    إلفي القديمُ وشعبُكمْ شعبي

    O house of Fadl Allah, praising you

    is my old companion, and your clan is my clan.

  58. أنتم وقد شهرتْ مواهبكمْ

    مأوَى المدائحِ لا بنو وهب

    You—whose gifts have become renowned—

    are the refuge of panegyrics, not Banu Wahb.

  59. أقلامكمْ للملك حافظةٌ

    ونوالكمْ في المجدِ للنهب

    Your pens safeguard the kingdom,

    and, in glory, your bounty lies open to plunder.

  60. كم سقتمو نجحاً إلى طلبٍ

    وبعثتموا نَصراً إلى طَلْب

    How often you brought success to a quest,

    and sent victory to a troop!

  61. وصحبتمو ملكاً فما خدعت

    يمناهُ خدْعَ الآل بالصحب

    You accompanied a king, and never did

    his right hand play the mirage's trick on companions.

  62. إنْ يَنأَ عني بابُ أحمدِكمْ

    فالآن وافرَحاه بالقرب

    If your Ahmad's door has been far from me,

    now—O my joy in nearness!

  63. مولايَ خذها نظم ذي لسن

    يومَ الثناءِ كلؤلؤٍ رَطب

    My lord, accept it, the verse of an eloquent man,

    on the day of praise, like fresh pearls:

  64. حسناءَ تعرِفُ مَنْ تَسيرُ لهُ

    فتجدّ في سهلٍ وفي صعب

    a fair one who knows to whom she journeys,

    and presses on across smooth ground and rough.

  65. ألوَى بثعْلبَ نقدُ معرَبها

    وعَلتْ ذؤابتها على الضّبي

    Scrutiny of her inflected speech laid Thaʿlab low,

    and her forelock rose above al-Dabbi.