مل من صبوته ما أملا — Abn Qlaks

ملّ من صبوتِه ما أمّلا

فسلا عن قلبِه كيفَ سَلا

He tired of what he had hoped for in his youthful passion.

So ask, you two, about his heart: how did it find solace?

نزَعَتْ عنه يدُ الشيب صِباً

طالما غازَل فيه الغزَلا

The hand of gray hair stripped from him a youthful passion

in which he had so often wooed the gazelles.

ونهى منه النُهى مزدَجِراً

نسخَ الآخرُ عنه الأوّلا

And reason within him forbade it, admonishing;

the later state effaced the former from him.

ولقد كان ومن آرابِه

غُصُنٌ ماسَ وبدر كُمِّلا

Once, indeed, among the objects of his desire

were a swaying branch and a moon made full.

كان يهوى منه بدراً طالعاً

أفلا يندُبُه إذْ أفلا

He used to love in him a rising moon;

will he not mourn it now that it has set?

عاطل اللّبّة لولا غَيَدٌ

نقلَ الحسنُ إليه المُقَلا

Bare at the throat, were it not for a supple grace

toward which beauty turned the eyes.

رُبَّ ليلٍ باتَ فيه المُشتَري

بأحاديثي يناجي زُحَلا

Many a night Jupiter spent

whispering my tales to Saturn,

حيثُ رُعْتُ الأُجْلَ في أحشائِه

بابْنِ نكْباءَ يفوتُ الأجَلا

where I startled the wild-cattle herds in its depths

on a son of a veering wind that outstrips death.

كلما استرْقَصَ عِطفَيْهِ هوى

ملأ الرّكضُ بجَنبَيْهِ المَلا

Whenever longing set his two flanks dancing,

his gallop filled the plain on either side.

خاطرٌ جال عليه خاطرٌ

آمنٌ منه الوجا والوجَلا

A prancer, upon whom a thought roamed,

safe with him from footsoreness and fear.

ولقد تعطِفُني نحو الحمى

خُلَلٌ تسد الخَللا

And indeed, I am drawn toward the protected grounds

by friendships that close the gaps.

حبّذا في أبْرَقَيْهِ حِلَلٍ

خلعَ الحُسْنُ عليها حُللا

How lovely the encampments on its two stony rises,

upon which beauty bestowed robes.

وانثنى الأسمرُ منها غُصُناً

وجرى الأبيضُ فيها جدولا

And the dusky one among them swayed like a branch,

and the white one flowed through them like a stream.

طالنا حُيّيتُ في أطلالها

بِطِلاً بت أعاطيها طلا

It reached us [phrase unclear]; I was greeted amid their ruins

by a fawn; I spent the night exchanging wine with them.

زُهَريُّ المرتقى والمُلْتَقى

زهَريُّ المُجْتَنى والمجتلى

Venus-like in ascent and encounter,

flower-like in what is gathered and beheld,

عسكريُّ هزّ من معطِفِه

أسمراً أفتكَ مما اعتقلا

a soldier who brandished from his side

a dusky lance, deadlier than the one he carried.

كلَفي منه ببدرٍ رامِح

ينتَحي منه سِماكاً أعزَلا

My passion for him is for a spear-bearing moon

that, from him, takes aim at an unarmed Simak.

ضاحَكَتْ غُرّتُهُ طُرّتَهُ

فأقلّ الصُبْحُ ليلا ألْيَلا

His radiant brow smiled at his forelock,

so dawn bore aloft a pitch-dark night.

وإذا روّيْتُ في رؤيته

بدَهَ الحُسنُ بها وارتجَلا

And when I reflected on the sight of him,

beauty sprang forth in it, improvising.

سِرْتُ في الحُسْنِ إليه مَعلماً

والى السّلوانِ عنه مَجْهَلا

I traveled toward him through beauty by a marked way,

and away from him toward forgetting through a trackless waste.

ولقد ضاعَ فؤادي عندَه

فأنا أطلبُ عنه بَدَلا

And indeed, my heart was lost with him,

so I seek a replacement for it.

والى أحمدَ أحمَدْتُ السُّرى

حين طارَحْتُ الصِّبا والشّمْألا

And I found the night journey to Ahmad praiseworthy,

when I vied with the east wind and the north wind.

أمّت الآمالُ منه راحةً

تُبغِضُ الرّيْثَ وتهوى العَجَلا

Hopes sought the palm of his hand,

which hates delay and loves haste.

واستجاشَ الحقُّ منه واحداً

ينظرُ الباطلُ منه جَحْفَلا

And truth enlisted him alone for battle,

while falsehood sees in him a mighty army.

راقياً حيّةَ خَطْبٍ راقياً

طودَ مجدٍ راقِماً ثوبَ عُلا

Charming the serpent of calamity, ascending

a mountain of glory, embroidering a robe of eminence.

عكَفَ الشِّعْرُ على أوصافه

فهو الروضُ أصابَ المَنهَلا

Poetry devoted itself to his qualities,

so it is a garden that has found its water source.

واستفادَ الدهرُ من آدابِه

بعدما كان اعتدى فاعْتَدَلا

And time benefited from his refinement;

after it had transgressed, it became upright.

ناهضٌ بالعبءِ لو كلّفتهُ

ردّ أيام الصِّبا لاكْتَفلا

He shoulders the burden; if you charged him

to restore the days of youth, he would surely undertake it.

أسفرَتْ آراؤهُ عن شارِقٍ

كلما أومضَ جَلّى الجُلَلا

His counsels unveiled a rising light

whose every flash dispelled grave troubles.

فهو ما سدّد منها أسهُماً

رشقَتْ من كلّ خطبٍ مَقْتَلا

For whenever he aimed arrows from them,

they struck a mortal spot in every calamity.

لانَ عن فرطِ نشاطٍ ولكَمْ

شدّةٍ في القومِ عُدّتْ كسَلا

He was gentle from sheer vigor; and how much

strenuous effort among men was reckoned sloth!

وإذا ما جدّ في أكرومةٍ

قُلْتَ من إفراطِه قد هزَلا

And when he strove earnestly in a noble deed,

you would say, from his excess, that he was jesting.

هزّ عِطفَيْهِ النّدى فانتزعا

ما أعارَتْهُ المُدامُ الثّملا

Generosity swayed his shoulders, and they shook off

the intoxication that wine had lent him.

وانثنَى والمدحُ يلويه كما

لوتِ النكباءُ رُمحاً خطِلا

And he swayed, praise bending him as

the veering wind bent a pliant lance,

بنَثاً فاوحَهُ الطّيبُ فلم

يرتَضِ المندَلَ عنه بدَلا

with renown that perfume rivaled in fragrance, yet would not

accept aloeswood in its stead.

يتغنّى ساجعُ الطّيرِ به

هزَجاً في أيْكِهِ أو رمَلا

The cooing bird sings of it

in hazaj or ramal within its grove.

هنئَ الدّهرُ به من سيّدِ

شدّ منه ما وهى أو وَهَلا

Time was gladdened by him, a lord

who strengthened what in it had weakened or faltered.

وازْدَهى الشهر الذي ألبَسَهُ

ذلك العِلْمَ وذاك العمَلا

And proud grew the month that he had clothed

in that learning and those deeds.

كان فيه صائماً أو قائماً

منعِماً أو مُفضِلاً أو مُجْمِلا

During it he was fasting or standing in prayer,

bestowing favors, or giving generously, or acting graciously.

لم يزَلْ فيه على عاداتِه

بالتقى مرتدياً مُشتَمِلا

He remained in it true to his accustomed ways,

robed and wrapped in piety.

واكْتَسى الفِطْرُ به ثوبَ الصِّبا

مَعْلَماً منسحِباً منسدِلا

And Eid al-Fitr donned through him a robe of youth,

patterned, trailing, flowing down.

ورأى العيدُ لديه عيدَه

فثَنى من معطِفيْهِ جَذَلا

And the festival found its own festival in his presence,

and swayed its shoulders in delight.

دامَ للعلمِ بلا مِثْلٍ فقد

ضربوه في المعالي مَثلا

May he endure for learning without an equal, for

they have made him a model of lofty attainments.