أرقصها مطرب الأغاريد — Abn Qlaks

أَرْقَصَها مُطْرِبُ الأَغارِيدِ

فاسْتَرَقَتْ هِزَّةَ الأَماليدِ

The singer of entrancing songs set her dancing;

so she stole the sway of supple boughs.

ودبَّ خمرُ السُّرَى بأَذْرُعِها

فَهْيَ على البِيدِ في عَرَابِيدِ

And the wine of night travel crept through her forelegs,

so on the wastes she is among drunken revelers.

وغازَلَتْها الصَّبا بمأْلُكَةٍ

تُفَجِّرُ الماءَ في الجلاميدِ

And the east wind courted her with a message

that makes water gush within the boulders,

تحملُ عن روضِ عالِجٍ خَبَرًا

تُسْنِدُه عن ظِبائِهِ الغِيدِ

bearing news from the meadow of ʿĀlij,

ascribed to its graceful gazelles.

أَجرى عليه السحابُ دَمْعَ شجٍ

وفَرَّقَ البرقُ قَلْبَ معمودِ

The clouds shed upon it the tears of one in grief,

and lightning rent a lovesick heart.

فأَغرق الريحَ بين أربُعِها

موجُ وجَيفٍ ببحْرِ تَوْخِيدِ

Then the wind, between her four legs, was drowned

by a wave of trotting in a sea of long strides.

وخيَّلَتْ ماءَهم يبُلُّ صدًى

وموْرِدُ الآلِ غيرُ مورودِ

And she imagined their water quenching thirst,

though the mirage's watering place cannot be reached.

في ذِمَّةِ الشوقِ مُهْجَةٌ رَكَضَتْ

تَتْبَعُ زُورًا مِنَ المواعيدِ

In longing's keeping is a soul that raced,

pursuing the falsehood of promises.

أَهدَى إِليها الخيالُ إِذ كحلوا

جفون أَحْداقِها بتَسْهِيدِ

The phantom brought her a gift when they kohled

the lids of her eyes with sleeplessness.

وانْعَطَفُوا للأَراكِ وَهْيَ على

عهدٍ من البانِ غيرِ معهودِ

And they turned toward the arāk, while she held to

an unfamiliar covenant with the bān.

عُذْرٌ يَهُزُّ الجفاءُ دوحَتَه

تحت صَدُوحِ المَلالِ غِرِّيدِ

An excuse whose spreading tree estrangement shakes,

beneath a loud, melodious singer of weariness.

وناصحٍ يمحَضُ المَوَدَّةَ لي

وليس في نصحِه بمَوْدودِ

And many an adviser offers me pure affection,

yet is not loved for his counsel.

ظنَّ فؤادي معي فأَنَّبَهُ

وهو من الوجدِ غيرُ موجودِ

He thought my heart was with me, and rebuked it,

though, through passion, it was nowhere to be found.

سارَ وجيشُ الغرامِ يتبَعُه

تحت لواءٍ عليه معقودِ

It journeyed, with love's army following it,

beneath a banner fastened above it.

يخبِطُ مجهولَةً تضِلُّ بها

على اعترافٍ مناخِرُ السِّيدِ

It gropes through an unknown waste where

even the wolf's nostrils stray, for all their knowledge.

عَرَّج عنها الصباحُ منطلقاً

وعادَ والليلُ رَهْنُ تَقْيِيدِ

Morning turned aside from it, moving freely,

and returned while night lay bound in fetters.

يلقى المُرَجِّين من أَسِرَّتِهِ

بِشْرٌ كفيلٌ بحُسْنِ تمهيدِ

From his features, those who hope are greeted

by cheerfulness that promises a gracious welcome.

ويغتَدِي عند كُلِّ نازِلَةٍ

غَوْثَ صريخٍ وغَيْثَ مَصْدودِ

And at every calamity he goes forth as

succor for one crying for help, and rain for one denied.

ويبسُط العُذْرَ عن مُقَصِّرِهِ

بطُولِ طَوْلٍ عليه مَمْدودِ

He extends pardon to one who falls short toward him,

with a long reach of bounty spread over him.

لا يعرفُ الثَّعْلَبُ المقيمُ بها

لولا الثَّرَيَّا مكانَ عُنْقُودِ

The fox dwelling there would not know,

but for the Pleiades, the place of a grape cluster.

من عَلِقَ البِيضَ صارَمَتْ يَدُهُ

حبالَ تلك الغدائِرِ السُّودِ

Whoever loves the white blades—his hand severs

the bonds of those black tresses.

وعِمَّةُ الشيبِ لا خُدِعْتَ بها

أَخْلَقُ شيءٍ أَوانَ تَجْديدِ

And the turban of gray hair—may you not be deceived by it—

is the most threadbare thing at the hour of renewal.

واللهوُ خِدْنُ الصِّبا فمُذْ فُقِدَتْ

أَيامُه لم يكن بمحمودِ

And pleasure is youth's companion; once its

days are lost, it is no longer praiseworthy.

وأَغبَنُ الناسِ من أَلَمَّ به

فقْدُ سوادٍ وفَوْتُ تسويدِ

And the most cheated of people is he afflicted by

the loss of black hair and the failure to attain lordship.

وفي بنِي الدهرِ كُلُّ مُعْضِلَةٍ

مِنَ الذي فاتَ والمواجِيدِ

And among the sons of Time is every hardship

of what has slipped away and of passionate sorrows.

إِن أَسكروني بخمرِ لَوْمِهِمُ

فَقَدْ رَمَوْا عِرْضَهُمْ لِعِرْبيدِ

If they intoxicate me with the wine of their reproach,

they have thrown their honor to a drunken brawler.

ومُوعِدٍ صاحَ بي فقلتُ له

رُبَّ وعيدٍ يطيحُ في البيدِ

And many a threatener shouted at me; I told him:

"Many a threat goes astray in the wastes."

قد أَقسم الحمدُ لا يسيرُ إِلى

غيرِ أَبى القاسِمِ بن حَمُّودِ

Praise has sworn it will not journey to

anyone but Abū al-Qāsim ibn Ḥammūd.

في يَدِهِ لِلنَّوالِ معركة

أَرى بها البخل صارم الجيدِ

In his hand, a battle is waged for bounty;

there I see miserliness with its neck severed.

وعنده للضيوف نار قِرًى

تعْرِفُها البُزْلُ كلما نُودي

And he has a fire of hospitality for guests,

which the mature camels know whenever a call is raised.

وتلتقي كُتْبُهُ الكتائِبَ في

جيشٍ من الخَطِّ صائِدِ الصِّيدِ

His writings meet the battalions in

an army of script that hunts the proud,

بكُلِّ لفظٍ كأَنه نَفَسٌ

غَيْرِ مُمِلٍّ بِطُولِ تَرْدِيدِ

with each utterance as though it were a breath,

never wearisome, however long repeated.

صَحَّتْ معانِيهِ فاقْتَسَمْنَ إِلى

فَضْلِ ابتكار وحُسْنِ تَوْليدِ

His meanings proved sound, and were apportioned between

the excellence of invention and the beauty of derivation.

وربما اسْتَضْحَكَ الخميسُ به

عن أَهْرَتِ الماضِغَيْنِ صِنْدِيدِ

And at times, through him, the army breaks into laughter,

revealing a wide-jawed champion.

يهوَى قوامَ القناةِ ذَا هَيَفٍ

وَوَجْنَةَ العَضْبِ ذاتَ توريدِ

He loves the spear's slender-waisted form,

and the rosy cheek of the keen sword.

دَوْحَةُ مجدٍ تميدُ ناضِرَةً

بمُيَّسٍ من غُصونِهِ مِيدِ

A spreading tree of glory sways, verdant,

with graceful boughs among his swaying branches.

عَرَضْتُ منها لِنارِ تجربَتِي

عُودًا ففاحَتْ روائِحُ العودِ

To the fire of my testing I offered from it

a stick—so the scents of aloeswood wafted forth.