لم يزل قلبه إليهم مشوقا

ثم أضحى لديهم معلوقا

His heart never ceased yearning toward them.

Then it became captive in their keeping.

بان قلبي فشاقني وجدير

حق للقلب بائناً أن يشوقا

My heart departed and stirred my longing; well deserved

is a departed heart's power to awaken yearning.

يا فتى بان قلبه وهو ثاوٍ

قل لحاديك قد أنى أن تسوقا

O youth whose heart has departed while he remains,

tell your camel-driver: the time has come to drive.

جل مقدار ما نأى عنك فارحل

عرمساً تترك الحصى مدقوقا

Great is the worth of what has gone from you; set out

on a sturdy she-camel that leaves the pebbles crushed.

فاطلب القلب والذين سبوه

عائقاً كل عائق أن يعوقا

Seek your heart and those who captured it,

preventing every obstacle from obstructing you.

لم تدعني حبائل الشادن الأك

حل حتى نشبت فيها نشوقا

The snares of the young gazelle with kohl-dark

eyes would not leave me until I was caught fast in them.

علقتني حبالة منه ما أَنْ

فكُّ فيها بنبله مرشوقا

A snare of his caught me, and I never

cease to be pierced within it by his arrows.

أحلال أن يحزق الصيد صبراً

من رأى في حباله محزوقا

Is it lawful to tighten the bonds upon captive prey,

for one who sees it already bound in his snares?

طالب الله مقلتيه السحورَيْ

نِ بحقي وقدَّه الممشوقا

May God claim my due from his two bewitching

eyes and his slender, graceful figure.

منع العين قرة العين أن تل

تذَّ طعم الرقاد بل أن تذوقا

The delight of my eyes has forbidden my eyes to savor

the taste of sleep—indeed, even to taste it.

ما أنى مسعداً حماماً سجوعاً

فيه أو زاجراً غراباً نعوقا

I never weary of joining a cooing dove in mourning

over him, or of rebuking a croaking raven.

ويك يا عائب الحبيب لتسلى

عنه مهلاً طلبت أحوى عقوقا

Alas, you who fault the beloved to find solace

away from him: gently! You sought a faithless, dark-lipped gazelle.

بأبينا حديث من عبت مسمو

عاً وبالنفس وجهه مرموقا

May our father ransom the words of him you fault, when heard,

and my soul his face, when beheld.

قد رضينا الحبيب لو كان مرضي

ياً لدينا بعهده موثوقا

We are content with the beloved, if only he were pleasing

to us, his pledge worthy of trust.

أيها الذائق المُمِرَّات صبراً

إن شُهداً في إثرها ملعوقا

O you who patiently taste bitter things,

there is honey to lick in their wake.

آل نوبخت ليس يعدم راجي

كم صبوحاً من رفدكم وغبوقا

House of Nawbakht, one who hopes in

you lacks neither a morning nor an evening draught of your bounty.

كم نوال لكم بَكورٍ طروقٍ

قد كفى نوبة بكوراً طروقا

How many gifts of yours, arriving at dawn or by night,

have averted an affliction arriving at dawn or by night!

رب واد أحلَّ من بعد إحرا

م فأضحى عفاؤه محلوقا

Many a valley has opened its pasture after withholding

it, and its luxuriant growth has been shorn away.

جدتم جودة فأصبح رائي

ه بآثارها عليه مروقا

You poured out a generous shower, and whoever saw

the valley was charmed by the traces it left upon it.

طفقت تمطر العفاة سماءٌ

من جداكم فما أساءت طُفوقا

A sky began raining upon those seeking gifts,

out of your bounty; splendid was its beginning.

حسبكم ويب غيركم قد تركتم

كل حر بفعلكم مرقوقا

Enough for you—woe to others!—you have left

every free man enslaved by your deeds.

أيَّ جيد ترونه ليس يمسي

في عرى عارفاتكم مربوقا

What neck do you see that does not end the day

tethered in the bonds of your favors?

وإذا ما جريتم في مدى الحك

مة خلفتم الطلوب اللحوقا

And when you race along the course of

wisdom, you leave the eager pursuer behind.

وتقاسون بالسراة وما زل

تم تفوقون فائقاً لا مفوقا

You are measured against the nobles, yet you have never

ceased to surpass men who excel, not men already surpassed.

فتكونون للوجوه أنوفاً

وتكونون للرؤوس فروقا

Thus you are the noses upon faces,

and the crowns upon heads.

قد وسطتم وفقتمُ وتقدم

تم فأنذرت حاسداً أن يموقا

You have taken the central place, excelled, and advanced

ahead; I have warned the envious man against folly.

لا تلجَنَّ في معاندة الحق

ق فتعتد جاهلاً مألوقا

Do not persist in opposing the truth,

lest you be reckoned an ignorant madman.

كم عدو لكم غدا يجتديكم

ولقد بات نابه محروقا

How many enemies of yours have come seeking your gifts,

though their teeth had spent the night grinding in rage!

فاجتدى نخلة قريباً جناها

قد أنافت على النخيل بسوقا

They sought bounty from a palm whose fruit hangs near,

though it has risen tall above the other palms.

لا يراها أشاءة من يسامي

ها ولا من بغى جناها سحوقا

No one who seeks to rival

it sees a sapling, nor does one seeking its fruit see an unreachable palm.

أيها الطالبون خيراً وشرّاً

إن شوكاً فيها وإن عذوقا

O seekers of good and evil,

it bears thorns, and it bears fruit-clusters.

لا تزل عين شانئٍ تتقذا

كم مَعوراً إنسانها مبخوقا

May the eye of one who hates you and finds

you an eyesore remain injured, its pupil gouged out.

ووقاكم به الإله ولقّا

ه من الجائحات حداً حلوقا

May God protect you through this, and make

that eye meet a keen, destructive edge of calamity.

لم أقل إذ صحبتكم بعد أقوا

مٍ تبدلت بعد نوق عنوقا

When I joined you after other

people, I did not say: I have exchanged she-camels for she-kids.

يحذق الناس ما تعاطوا وما أح

سب مدحاً في مثلكم محذوقا

People master what they undertake; but I do not

think praise of men like you can ever be mastered.

يا أبا سهل الذي راع في السؤ

دُدِ لا لاحقاً ولا ملحوقا

O Abu Sahl, who inspires awe in

nobility, neither following nor being caught,

بل سبوقا إلى البعيد من الغا

ياتِ عند الجراء لا مسبوقا

but outrunning others toward the most distant

goals in the race, never outrun.

والذي أبصر السحاب عطايا

ه فأضحى يشيم منه البروقا

And whose gifts the clouds beheld,

and then began watching for lightning from him.

ورآه العيوق في فلك المج

د فأمسى يخاله العيوقا

Al-ʿAyyuq saw him in the sphere of

glory, and came to think him Al-ʿAyyuq itself.

والذي يبهَرُ البدور ببدرٍ

لا يُرى كاسفاً ولا ممحوقا

And he who dazzles full moons with a full moon

never seen eclipsed or waning.

وإذا رامه عدوٌّ رآه

جبلاً فوق رأسه منتوقا

When an enemy assails him, he sees him

as a mountain plucked up above his head.

وإذا امتاحه ولي رآه

عارضاً واهي الكُلى معقوقا

When a friend draws bounty from him, he sees him

as a raincloud, its loins yielding, cleft open.

وإذا الخصم لبَّس الحق بالبا

طل كان المميز الفاروقا

When an adversary disguises truth with

falsehood, he is the discerning separator.

ما لقينا مثل البثوق اللواتي

منحت منك بعد برٍّ عقوقا

We have never encountered the like of these breaches, which

gave us estrangement from you after kindness.

لا قصوراً من الكرامة عنا

غير أن اللقاء أضحى معوقا

Not through any lack of honor toward us,

but because our meeting has become obstructed.

تركت لي حشاً عليك خَفوقا

وفؤاداً إليك صبّاً مشوقا

They left my innermost heart fluttering for you,

and a heart ardent and yearning toward you.

عجباً من خليفة وأمير

كلَّفا البحر أن يسد البثوقا

How strange that a caliph and a governor

charged the sea with stopping the breaches!

كيف يرجى لسد بثقِ جوادٍ

لم يزل ماء جوده مبثوقا

How can a generous man be expected to stop a breach,

when the water of his generosity has always poured forth?

أريحيٌّ تخاف بائقة الطو

فان من بطن كفه أن تبوقا

So openhanded that you fear the calamity of a

flood might burst from the hollow of his palm.

ولي السدَّ وهو أقوم بالفت

ح وان كان قد يسد الفتوقا

He was entrusted with closure, though more adept at

opening, even if he does sometimes close breaches.

وجدير شرواه أن يرتق المف

توق طوراً ويفتق المرتوقا

One like him is well suited to mend what is

torn at one time, and tear open what is mended.

شق بحراً من البحار وأرسى

جبلاً شامخاً يفوق الأنوقا

He split a sea among the seas and set firm

a towering mountain rising above the vulture.

هز للماء هزمة كعصا مو

سى فأضحى عموده مفروقا

He shook the water with a stroke like the staff of

Moses, and its column stood divided.

بين فرقيه برزخ مثل رضوى

عفق البثق فانتهى معفوقا

Between its two halves stood a barrier like Radwa,

which beat back the breach until its flow was checked.

وثنى النيل نحو مسلكه الأر

شد لما اعتدى وجار فسوقا

He turned the Nile toward its right

course, when it transgressed and strayed in lawless excess.

يا ابن نوبخت وابن أبنائه الصي

د كذا تشبه الغصون العروقا

O son of Nawbakht and son of his proud

descendants, so do branches resemble their roots.

لا عدمناك حوَّلاً قُلَّبِيّاً

مخلطا مزيلاً فتوقاً رتوقا

May we never lose you, resourceful and versatile,

bringing together and separating, opening and mending.

لتقلدت حفر إسنايَةِ الني

ل كميشا تخال سيفا دلوقا

You undertook the excavation of the Nile's Isnaya,

brisk and resolute, seeming a sword slipped from its sheath.

تسبق الفجر بالغدو عليها

ثم لا تستفيق إلا غُسوقا

You precede the dawn in setting out to it,

then do not come to yourself until nightfall.

لازماً بطنها تراها قناةً

وترى طينها هناك خلوقا

Remaining in its bed, you regard it as a lance,

and regard its mud there as perfumed paste.

وترى السافيات تجري بها الأر

واح مسكاً يذرونه مسحوقا

And the windblown dust, carried along it by the

winds, you regard as musk they scatter in powder.

كم حُلوقٍ بللتَها قد أفاءت

لك ذكراً في الناس يشجي الحلوقا

How many throats you have moistened have brought

you fame among people that catches in the throat!

كان مما حدَّثتُ ضيفك أن قل

تُ وقد حل في ذراك طروقا

Among the things I told your guest was what I

said when he arrived by night under your protection:

لو ترانا في بطن إسناية الني

ل لأبصرت هارباً مرهوقا

If you could see us in the bed of the Nile's Isnaya,

you would see a fugitive hard pressed,

هارباً من مغوثة كم أغاثت

من لهيف ونفَّست مخنوقا

fleeing a source of relief that has rescued so many

distressed people and eased the choking.

تقدمُ الماء وهو يتبعنا في

ها مخلَّىً سبيلَه مدفوقا

You go before the water, while it follows us in

it, its path cleared, pouring forth.

كلما استقبلتهُ فيها صعودا

ءُ شققنا له هناك شقوقا

Whenever it encountered an uphill

stretch there, we cut channels for it in that place.

فإذا ما احزألَّ فيها نجونا

منه عدواً فلا يسيء اللحوقا

Whenever it swelled up there, we escaped

it at a run; it was no laggard in pursuit.

والمساحي تسوقه نحو مجرا

هُ فيا حسنه هناك مسوقا

The spades drove it toward its

course—how lovely it was there, driven onward!

عجباً أن تفرَّ منه وقد حُم

مِل من ميرة الحياة وسوقا

How strange to flee from it when it was

laden with cargoes of life's provisions!

بل لتطريقنا له وهو المه

روبُ منه ولم يكن ذاك موقا

Rather, we fled to clear its path, though it was the thing

we fled from; that was no foolishness.

دأبنا ذاك سائر اليوم حتى

ملأ الماء بطنها المشقوقا

That was our toil throughout the day, until

the water filled its excavated bed.

لو تراها وقد تسامت ذراها

خلت أمواجها جِمالاً ونوقا

If you could see it with its crests rising high,

you would think its waves were camels, male and female.

صنع والٍ يمسي ويصبح مصبو

حاً بإتعاب جسمه مغبوقا

The work of a governor who, evening and morning, is served

morning and evening draughts of bodily toil.

وهب النفس للعلا فجزته

رتبةً تفرع النجوم سموقا

He gave himself to greatness, and it rewarded him

with a rank rising above the stars.

يا أبا سهلٍ الذي راق مَرْئِيْ

ياً وطاب المخبور منه مذوقا

O Abu Sahl, who delights when

seen, and whose known character tastes sweet,

لم تزل مبدئاً معيداً لفضلٍ

وبما أنت فاعل محقوقا

you have always begun and renewed acts of excellence,

and been worthy of what you do.

لا عجيب صفاء ودِّك للخل

ل إذا كان خيمك الراووقا

The purity of your affection for a

friend is no wonder, when your nature is a filter.

مثل ذاك الطباع صُفِّي من الأق

ذاء مستأثراً بذاك سبوقا

Such a temperament was purified of

impurities, uniquely possessing that excellence and excelling in it.

قد قرأنا كتابك الحسن النظ

م فخلناه لؤلؤاً منسوقا

We read your beautifully composed

letter, and thought it pearls strung in order.

ووقفنا على خطابك إيّا

يَ فأصبحت وامقاً موموقا

We considered your words addressed to

me, and I became loving and beloved.

وبأني معشوق نفسك لا تض

حي وتمسي إلا إليَّ مشوقا

And that I am the beloved of your soul: you do not

pass morning or evening without yearning toward me.

فرأينا تطوُّلاً وسمعنا

منطقاً مونقاً كوجهك روقا

We saw generosity, and heard

speech as charming and beautiful as your face.

إن تكن عاشقاً لعبدك تعشق

عاشقاً لم تزل له معشوقا

If you love your servant, you love

a lover to whom you have always been beloved.

ولأنت المحقوق بالعشق لا المر

زوق لكن إخالني المرزوقا

You are love's rightful claimant, not merely one blessed

by chance; yet I think myself the fortunate one.

غير أني إذا تأملت إخلا

صك ودي أهَّلتَني أن أروقا

But when I consider the sincerity of

your affection for me, you make me worthy of admiration.

أنا من إن عشقته فلِودٍّ

خالصٍ منه لم يكن ممذوقا

I am one whom, if you love him, you love for affection

pure in him, never adulterated.

وكأني وقد طويت إليك ال

ناس جاوزت نحو ماءٍ خروقا

It is as though, having folded away for you all other

people, I crossed trackless wastes toward water.

ولعمري لقد وردتك عذباً

لا جوىً آجناً ولا مطروقا

By my life, I found you sweet water,

neither foul and stagnant nor fouled by beasts.

دائم العهد لا يُنَقِّلُك الغد

ر إذا خيل بعضهم زاووقا

Constant in your pledge, not changed by

treachery, when some others seem like quicksilver.

إن تكن جاحداً لنعماك عندي

لا تجدني لها كفوراً سروقا

If you disavow your favors toward me,

you will not find me ungrateful for them or stealing their credit.

تلك شمس لها لديك غروبٌ

وتُلاقى لها لديَّ شروقا

They are a sun that has its setting with you,

and whose rising is encountered with me.

إن هذا من الأمور لبدعٌ

حين ترعى الأمور عينا رموقا

This is surely a marvel among affairs,

when you survey affairs with a watchful eye:

شرق شمس فيه تغيب وغربٌ

فيه تبدي صباحَها المفتوقا

an east in which the sun sets, and a west

in which it reveals its freshly opened dawn.

أنت من راشني أثيث رياشي

وكسى اللحم عظميَ المعروقا

You are the one who feathered me with abundant plumage,

and clothed my stripped bones with flesh.

واتّقاني بحق سلطان ودي

قسمةً ما ذممتها وطسوقا

Acknowledging my affection's sovereign claim, you appeased me

with an allotment and tribute I have never faulted,

مجرياً ذاك سُنَّةً لي مادا

م نهارٌ لليله موسوقا

keeping that as a regular custom for me as long

as day is herded toward its night.

ولما كنت مثل مستودع الما

ءِ سقاءً مهزَّماً مخروقا

Nor were you like someone entrusting

water to a battered, punctured waterskin.

لا ولا مثل زارعٍ في سباخٍ

غادرت جلَّ زرعه ماروقا

No, nor like a sower in salt flats

that left most of his crop ruined.

أنا ممّن يستقرض العرف مفعو

لاً ويقضي أضعافه منطوقا

I am among those who borrow kindness in

deeds, and repay it many times over in words.

ورأيناك لا تُقاضَى إذا أق

رضت قرضاً إلا لساناً نطوقا

We have seen that, when you make

a loan, you seek repayment only in an eloquent tongue.

بل وجدناك لا مريغاً جزاءً

بل إلى البذل لا سواه تؤوقا

Indeed, we found you seeking no recompense,

but yearning for giving alone, nothing else.

حاش لله لم تكن عند إفضا

لٍ إلى غير ذاته لتتوقا

God forbid! In acts of

generosity, you never yearned for anything beyond generosity itself.

يا مُهاناً تلاده كل هونٍ

مُتَحَفَّىً بضيفه مرفوقا

O you whose ancestral wealth is utterly disregarded,

while your guest is warmly honored and kindly treated,

سالماً عرضه وإن بات بالأل

سن من عاذلاته مسلوقا

whose honor remains unharmed, though by the

tongues of his reproachers he is scalded,

نُصبَ وفدينِ ركبِ ماءٍ وطوراً

ركبِ ظهرٍ يعلو سباسبَ خوقا

a destination for two sorts of delegations: travelers by water, and at times

riders on mounts crossing wide, open plains.

لا كمن أعتب العواذل مذمو

ماً فأضحى أديمه ممزوقا

Not like one who appeased his reproachers and became

blameworthy, his skin then rent to shreds.

كم وعيد أخلفت لو حُقَّ أمسى

من أصابت سماؤه مصعوقا

How many threats you failed to fulfill! Had they come true,

whoever their storm-cloud struck would have been thunderstruck.

وعدات أنجزت عفواً وحاشى

عدةً منك أن تشوك بروقا

And promises you fulfilled freely; far be it

that a promise of yours should flash rainless lightning.

يا سميَّ الصدوق في الوعد إسما

عيل أنّى يكون إلا صدوقا

O namesake of the one true to his promise, Ismaʿil,

how could you be anything but truthful?

ورعاً أن تقارف البخل كفا

ك وهيهات أن تُلاقى فروقا

Scrupulous lest your two hands practice

avarice—and far be it that you be found fearful.

رابط الجأش في الخطوب وما تع

دم قلباً من خوف ذمٍّ خفوقا

Steadfast in calamities, yet never

lacking a heart that flutters for fear of blame.

تركب السيف في المعالي ولكن

تتقي شفرةَ اللسان العروقا

You ride the sword in pursuing greatness, yet

fear the tongue's flesh-stripping blade.

وتشيم الأمور غير مضاهٍ

راعي الثلَّةِ النؤوم النعوقا

You watch the course of affairs, never resembling

the sleepy, shouting shepherd of a little flock.

قد بلونا يوميك يا ابن عليٍّ

فحمدنا المغيوم والمطلوقا

We have tested your two days, O son of Ali,

and praised both the cloudy and the clear.

يومك الحاتمي والتارك الخص

م مُزِلّاً مقامه زحلوقا

Your Hatim-like day, and the one that leaves the

adversary slipping, his footing a treacherous slide.

لك يوم من الندى ذو سماء

لم تزل ثرة الفروغ دفوقا

You have a day of generosity with a sky

whose outlets have always poured abundantly,

شفعَ يومٍ من الحجى ذي حجاج

تدع الشبهة الثبوت زَلوقا

paired with a day of wisdom, armed with arguments

that leave doubt unable to hold its ground.

تنتحي مقتلَ الخصيم وَقوراً

لا خفيفاً عند الخُفوف نَزوقا

You aim at your adversary's vulnerable point with dignity,

not flighty or impulsive when others hasten.

منطقيّاً تصرِّفُ الجنسَ والفص

ل وما ولَّدا جموعاً فروقا

A logician, you handle genus and

differentia, and what they produce, grouping and distinguishing.

بارَ حمدُ الرجال بين ملوك ال

ناس حتى أقمت للحمد سوقا

The praise of men went unsold among the kings of

mankind, until you established a market for praise.

وغدا الشعر في فنائك مبرو

راً وقد كان برهة معقوقا

Poetry came to be honored in your

courtyard, after having long been neglected.

فابق يفديك من يفي بك مفدي

ياً ومن ليس عادلاً ثُفروقا

Live on; may whoever matches your worth, himself worth ransom, ransom

you, and whoever is not worth even a date-stalk.

إن تُقدَّم مُنافسيك فلن يُذ

كر للنصل إن تقدَّم فُوقا

If you precede your rivals, no credit is

accorded an arrowhead for preceding its nock.

غير ما طاعنٍ على من يُسامي

ك ولكن لفائق أن يفوقا

Not to disparage anyone who rivals

you, but one who excels is entitled to excel.

لو مدحناكَ بالمديح الذي قد

قيل في الناس لم يكن مسروقا

If we praised you with praise already

spoken of others, it would not be stolen.

ولَكُنَّا في ما فعلناه كالحك

كام ردُّوا على محقٍّ حقوقا

We would be, in what we did, like

judges restoring rights to their rightful claimant.

مَدَحَ الأوَّلون قوماً بأخلا

قك من قبل أن تُرى مخلوقا

The ancients praised people for

your qualities before you were seen created.

نحلوهم ذخائراً لك بالبا

طل من قِيلهم وكان زهوقا

They bestowed upon them treasures belonging to you through

falsehood in their speech—and falsehood was doomed to vanish.

فانتزعنا الغُصوبَ من غاصبيها

فحبا صادقٌ بها مصدوقا

So we wrested the usurped possessions from their usurpers,

and a truthful speaker bestowed them upon one truthfully praised.