Sol 6.1

  1. قِفا فاسأَلا مِنِّي زفيراً وأَدْمُعا

    أَكانا لهم إِلاَّ مَصِيفاً ومَرْبَعَا

    Stop, you two, and ask my sighs and tears:

    were they anything but their summer home and spring abode?

  2. ولا تطلبا إِن هُمْ دَنَوْا أَوْ هُمُ نَأَوْا

    بأَخبارِهِمْ إِلاَّ جُفوناً وأَضْلُعا

    And do not ask, whether they drew near or went far,

    for news of them except from eyelids and ribs.

  3. هُمُ عَمَروا قَلْبِي وطَرْفِي وغادَرُوا

    منازِلَهُمْ فيما تَظُنَّان بَلْقَعا

    They inhabited my heart and my eye, and left

    their dwellings desolate, as you two suppose.

  4. وما البينُ من شكوى المحبِّينَ في الهوى

    ولكنْ دَعَا من ضلَّ في الحب فادَّعى

    Separation is not among lovers' complaints in love;

    but it summoned one astray in love, who then claimed to love.

  5. فيا عاشقاً أوْلَى به غَيْرُ عاشِقٍ

    أَقَمْتَ وسارُوا كيف لمْ تَرْفَعَا معا

    O lover, better suited to the name of non-lover:

    you stayed and they departed—how did you not both set out together?

  6. يقول أَناسٌ بَطْنُ لَعْلَعَ هاجَهُ

    أَكُلُّ مكانٍ عندَهُمْ بَطْنُ لعلعا

    Some people say, “The valley of La‘la‘ stirred him.”

    Is every place, to them, the valley of La‘la‘?

  7. نَعَمْ أَنا أَهْوَى بَعْدَهُمْ كُلَّ موضعٍ

    فذكرِي لهُمْ لم يُخْلِ في الأَرضِ مَوْضِعا

    Yes, after their departure I love every place,

    for my remembrance of them has left no place on earth vacant.

  8. رعَى الله من لم يَرْعَ لي حْرْمَةَ الهوى

    فَيَتْرُكَني أَشْدُو رَعَى اللُّه مَنْ رَعَى

    May God protect the one who did not honor love's sanctity for me,

    and so leave me singing, “May God protect whoever protected!”

  9. غزالٌ وَشَى عنه تَضَوُّعُ نَشْرِهِ

    ومن ذا يصُدُّ المِسْكَ أَن يَتَضَوَّعا

    A gazelle whom his spreading fragrance betrayed—

    and who can stop musk from spreading its perfume?

  10. ترعرعَ في بُرْدَيْهِ غُصْنُ أَراكَةٍ

    ذَوَي الغُصْنُ مِنِّي والتوى مذ تَرَعْرَعَا

    An arak bough grew tall within his two mantles;

    my bough withered and twisted since his grew tall.

  11. خَدَعْتُ النَّوَى عنه غَدَاةَ فراقِهِ

    إِلى أَن أَمالَتْ منه لِيتاً وأَخْدَعا

    I cheated separation of him on the morning of his departure,

    until it turned his neck and its jugular vein aside.

  12. وقضّيتُ بالتَّقبيلِ فَرْضَ وَدَاعِهِ

    فقالَ الهوى لا بُدَّ أَنْ تَتَطَوَّعا

    With kisses I fulfilled the duty of bidding him farewell;

    then love said, “You must make a voluntary offering too.”

  13. فكم شَعْشَعَتْ خَدَّاهُ لي من مُدامةٍ

    أَدَرْت عليها البابِلِيَّ المُشَعْشَعَا

    How much wine his cheeks have diluted for me,

    with which I passed round the diluted Babylonian wine.

  14. أَأَقْلَعَ عن عَيْنِي وعندِي صبابَةٌ

    نهاها النُّهَي أَنْ تستقِلَّ فتُقْلِعا

    Has he departed from my sight, while within me is a longing

    that reason forbade to rise and fly away?

  15. وقد مَلَكَتْ مِنِّي الثلاثِينَ عن يدٍ

    محاسِنَ بدرٍ تَمَّ عَشْراً وأَربعا

    And my thirty years have been mastered outright

    by the charms of a full moon that has completed ten and four.

  16. ولى في البديعِ الحُسْنِ كلُّ بديعةٍ

    ولولا البديعُ الحسنِ ما كنتُ مُبْدِعا

    And in that wondrous beauty, every marvel is mine;

    without that wondrous beauty, I would not be inventive.

  17. كلانا له الإِحسانُ أَمَّا جَمالُه

    فَمَرْأَى وأَمَّا الشعرُ فيه فمَسْمَعا

    Both of us possess excellence: as for his beauty,

    it delights the eye, while poetry about him delights the ear.

  18. ولولا صفاتُ المالِكِ العُلَى

    تَنَوَّعْتُ في أَوصافِهِ ما تَنَوَّعا

    And were it not for the lord's lofty qualities,

    I would not have varied my descriptions of him so widely.

  19. أَفاضَ أَبو الفَيَّاضِ فيَّ نوالَهُ

    ووسَّعْتُ مولىً في نَدَاهُ فَوَسَّعا

    Abu al-Fayyad lavished his bounty upon me,

    and I gave a lord scope in his bounty, and he expanded it.

  20. دَعا خاطري بالمكرُماتِ وإِنما

    دعا خاطري بالمكرمات فأَسمعا

    He called to my inspiration with noble deeds; it was only

    with noble deeds that he called to my inspiration and made it hear.

  21. وقابلَ منِّي بارعاً في مقالِةِ

    بمَنْ لَمْ يَزَلْ في فِعْلِهِ مُتَبَرِّعا

    He matched my excellence in speech

    with his unfailing generosity in deeds.

  22. ركِبتُ إِليه زاخِرَ الموجِ طامِياً

    وعاصِفَةَ الهَبَّابِ نَكْبَاءَ زَعْزَعا

    I rode toward him upon a swelling sea, its waves surging,

    and a fiercely blowing, slanting, blustering wind,

  23. وظامِئَةً تحتَ الشراعِ وإِن أَبَى

    لها ممتطيها أَن تفارِقَ مَشْرَعا

    and a thirsty vessel beneath the sail, even though

    her rider would not let her leave a watering place.

  24. تشقِّق شَيْبَ الماءِ أَبيضَ ناصِعاً

    بمثلِ الشَّبابِ الغَضِّ أَسْوَدَ أَسْفَعا

    She cleaves the water's gray hair, dazzling white,

    with the likeness of tender youth, black and dusky.

  25. وصُغْتُ له تاجَ المديحِ ولم أَكُنْ

    لأَترُكَه حتى يكونَ مُرَصَّعا

    I fashioned him a crown of praise, and I would not

    leave it until it was set with jewels.

  26. فإِنْ قُلْتُ زرنا أَكرمَ النَاسِ راعنا

    بفتكته حتى نقولَ وأَشْجَعا

    If I said, “We visited the most generous of men,” he awed us

    with his ferocity, until we said, “And the bravest!”

  27. سَمَاحٌ يُرَوِّي الإِلْفَ لا مُتَهَجِّماً

    وباْسٌ يُردُّ الأَلْفَ لا مُتَدرِّعا

    Generosity that slakes a friend without his forcing entry,

    and valor that repels a thousand without wearing armor.

  28. تَصَدَّى لصَخْرِ المَنْجَنِيقِ بعزمةٍ

    زجاجِيَّةٍ لا غَرْوَ أَنْ تَتَصَدَّعا

    He confronted the catapult's stones with a resolve

    of glass—no wonder it should shatter.

  29. وجَمَّع مَنْ فرَّقْت بالسَّعْدِ جَمْعَهُ

    وما جَمَّع المغرورُ إِلا ليُجْمَعا

    And he whose host you scattered with good fortune assembled it;

    and the deluded man assembled it only to be rounded up himself.

  30. فلم يُبْقِ في عينَيْهِ نحوَكَ مَطْمَحاً

    ولم تُبْقِ في جَنْبَيْهِ عندَكَ مَطْمَعَا

    No aspiring gaze toward you remained in his eyes,

    and you left no hope of gain in his breast where you were concerned.

  31. رأَى لك عزماً محتويا نَعَى له

    أَباهُ فَوَلَّى مُدْبِراً عندما نَعَى

    He saw your all-encompassing resolve announce to him

    his father's death; he turned and fled at its announcement;

  32. ونَهْضَةَ مَنْ راعَ الأَعادِيَ ناشِئاً

    بفتكاته مِنْ قبلِ أَن يَتَرَعْرَعَا

    and the rising force of one who terrified his enemies while young,

    with his onslaughts, before he had grown tall.

  33. مُصِيبٍ سِهامَ الظَّنِّ في كُلِّ مَنْزِعٍ

    إِصابَةَ مَنْ لم يُبْقِ في القَوْسِ مَنْزِعا

    One who lands the arrows of conjecture at every target,

    with the accuracy of one who leaves no further draw in his bow.

  34. فكم وَقَفَ العافِي فقالَ له هَلاَ

    وكم عَثَرَ الجانِي فقالَ له لَعَا

    How often a petitioner stood, and he said to him, “Welcome!”

    And how often an offender stumbled, and he said to him, “May you rise!”

  35. سَجِيَّةُ ميمونِ النَّقيبةِ ماجدٍ

    أَعادَ وأَبْدَى في المعالِي فأَبْدَعا

    Such is the nature of a noble man of blessed disposition,

    who renewed and displayed lofty deeds, and wrought wonders.

  36. خَدَمْتُ بأَشعارِي محاسِنَ مَجْدِهِ

    وأَخْدَمَنِي الدَّهْرَ الأَبِيَّ المُمَنَّعا

    With my poems I served the beauties of his glory,

    and he made proud, unassailable Time my servant.

  37. وأَصْفَى مياهَ الفِكْرِ مِنِّي فصفَّقَتْ

    وأَرْوَى نباتَ الشُّكْرِ منِّي فأَمْرَعا

    He purified the waters of my thought, and they rippled,

    and watered the growth of my gratitude, so it grew lush.

  38. وقابَلَني بالأَهْلِ والمالِ عِنْدَما

    تركتُ إِليهِ الأَهْلَ والمالَ أَجمعا

    He received me with family and wealth, when

    I had left all family and wealth behind to come to him.

  39. وخصَّص مني بالصّنيعةِ أَهْلَها

    على شيمةٍ لم يأْتِها مُتَصَنِّعا

    He singled out, in me, one worthy of his favor,

    acting from a nature he did not assume for show.

  40. وما زلتُ زَوَّارَ الملوكِ الملوكِ مُبَجَّلاً

    لديها عزيزاً عندها مُتَرَفِّعا

    I have always been honored as a frequent visitor to kings—to kings—

    esteemed in their presence, exalted among them.

  41. يَمُجُّ لها شُهْدَ المدائِحِ مَنْطِقِي

    وتَنْفُثُ في أَعدائِها السُّمَّ مُنْقَعا

    My speech pours forth the honey of praises for them,

    and spits potent poison into their enemies,

  42. بكُلِّ بديعِ الطُّرَّتَيْنِ مُرَصَّعاً

    بدُرِّ الكلامِ المُنْتَقَى ومُصَرَّعا

    with every poem, wondrous at both ends, jeweled

    with pearls of choice speech and matching opening rhymes.

  43. تشابَهَ أُولاهُ وأُخْراهُ بهجةً

    فَوَشَّحَ في اللَّفظِ الرّقيقِ ووَشَّعا

    Its beginning and its end resemble one another in splendor,

    thus adorned and embroidered in delicate words.

  44. فإِن راقَ أَسماعَ المصيخِينَ مطلعاً

    فقد راقَ أسماعَ المُصِيخِينَ مَقْطَعَا

    If its opening delights the ears of attentive listeners,

    its ending has delighted the ears of attentive listeners too,

  45. كما فاح عَرْفُ الوردِ في الزَّهْرِ قادماً

    وفي الماءِ من بَعْدِ القُدومِ مُوَدِّعا

    just as a rose's scent wafts among flowers at its arrival,

    and in water after its arrival, as it bids farewell.