حتام يشفى الفتى والدهر يدفعه — Abu Fadl Alwaleed

حتّام يِشفى الفَتى والدَّهرُ يَدفعُهُ

وليسَ من ظُلُماتِ الموتِ يُرجعُهُ

How long can a youth find healing while Time drives him onward,

and never brings him back from death's darkness?

يَسعَى إِلى الشّاطئِ المجهُولِ منه ولا

يُلقي المراسي على موجٍ يُرَوِّعه

He makes for its unknown shore, and never

casts anchor upon waves that terrify him.

أيا بُحيرَةُ هل بعدَ الحبيبةِ لي

سَلوى وذاكَ الهوى باقٍ تفجُّعه

O lake, after my beloved, is there for me

solace, while the anguish of that love remains?

وفيكِ فلذَةُ قلبٍ ذائبٍ وَقعَت

بل واقعٌ فيكِ قلبُ الصبِّ أجمعه

A piece of a melting heart has fallen into you;

rather, the lovesick lover's whole heart has fallen into you.

أُحبُّ مَوجَكِ حباً للتي وقفَت

عليهِ يوماً وقد جاءت تُوَدِّعه

I love your waves for love of her who stood

beside them one day, having come to bid them farewell.

ما كادَ عامٌ يولّي بعد فرقَتِنا

حتى رجعتُ وقلبي الشَّوقُ يَدفعه

Scarcely had a year passed since our parting

when I returned, my heart driven by longing.

وجئتُ أجلسُ وحدي حيثُما جَلست

يا حبّذا حَجرٌ دَمعي يُرصِّعه

I came to sit alone wherever she had sat;

how dear the stone my tears bejewel!

كذا على الصّخر كانَ الموجُ مُنمزِقاً

كما تمزَّقُ من مُضناكِ أضلُعه

Thus the waves were shattering against the rock,

as the ribs of your lovesick lover are torn apart.

كذا تَناثرَ في ليلِ الهوى زَبدٌ

فكانَ من قَدَمَيها اللّثمُ يُقنعه

Thus foam scattered through the night of love,

and kissing her feet was enough to content it.

هل تذكرينَ مساء فيه نُزهتُنا

مرّت سريعاً وأحلى العيشِ أسرَعه

Do you remember an evening when our outing

passed swiftly—and life's sweetest moments are its swiftest?

إذ كانَ قارِبنا يَسري ولا نَفَسٌ

تحتَ السماءِ وفَوقَ الماءِ نَسمَعه

When our boat glided along, and not a breath

beneath the sky and above the water could we hear?

وللمجاديفِ وَقعٌ فيكِ يُطربنا

ولحنُها نغَمُ الأمواجِ يتبعه

The oars had a beat upon you that enraptured us,

and the waves' notes followed their melody.

إذا رنيمٌ شجيٌّ ليسَ من بشر

راعَ الضفافَ التي أمسَت ترجعه

Suddenly a plaintive song, from no human voice,

startled the banks, which began to echo it.

والصّخرُ والموجُ والأغصانُ شاعرةٌ

والرّيحُ تخفضهُ طَوراً وترفَعه

The rocks, waves, and branches all felt it,

and the wind now lowered it, now raised it.

فطارَ قلبي وقد أصبَحت من طَرَبي

كنائمٍ زخرفُ الأحلامِ يخدعه

My heart took flight; in my rapture I had become

like a sleeper deceived by the splendor of dreams.

لم أنس والله ماقالت وقد زفرت

ففاضَ من جَفنها الفتّانِ مَدمعه

By God, I have not forgotten what she said when she sighed,

and tears overflowed from her enchanting eyelid:

يا دهرُ مهلاً ويا ساعات لذّتِنا

قِفي قَليلاً لوَصلٍ منكِ نَنزَعه

O Time, slow down! O hours of our delight,

stand still a little, for a union we wrest from you.

مِنَ الغرامِ دَعينا نَشتفي فَنفي

حقَّ الشبابِ الذي جئنا نشيِّعه

Let us take our fill of passion, and so fulfill

the due of youth, which we have come to bid farewell to.

ما أكثرَ الهمَّ في الدنيا الغرورِ فكم

دَعا المنيَّةَ مَن بَلواهُ تَصرَعه

How much sorrow fills this delusive world! How many

have called for death when their affliction struck them down!

خُذي حياةَ ذوي البؤسى وشقوتَهُم

وانسي السعيدَ فإنَّ الحبَّ يُطمِعه

Take the lives of the wretched, and their misery,

and forget the happy one, for love fills him with hope.

سألتُ دَهري وُقُوفاً في سعادَتِنا

ففَرَّ مني كأنَّ الصَّوت يُفزِعه

I asked my Time to halt amid our happiness,

but it fled from me as though my voice frightened it.

وقلتُ يا ليلُ طُل رِفقاً بعاشقةٍ

ففرَّقَ الصبحُ ما كنّا نُجَمِّعه

I said: O night, grow long; be kind to a woman in love!

But dawn scattered what we had been gathering.

فلنَهوَ فلنَهوَ ولنَنعَم على عَجَلٍ

إذا ظَفِرنا بِعِلقٍ لا نُضيِّعه

So let us love, let us love, and enjoy ourselves in haste;

if we gain a treasure, let us not squander it.

ولنغتنم فرصةَ اللذّاتِ هاربةً

فالقلبُ تُهنِئه الذّكرى وتُوجعُه

Let us seize the fleeting chance for pleasures,

for memory gladdens the heart and pains it.

والوقتُ كالمرءِ لم يبلغ شواطئَه

والحسنُ في الحزنِ روضٌ جفَّ ممرعه

Time, like man, has not reached its shores,

and beauty in sorrow is a garden whose lush growth has dried.

يا دهرُ رِفقاً بأهلِ الحبِّ إنَّ لهم

في عَيشِهم وطراً ما زلتَ تمنعه

O Time, be gentle with lovers; they have

a wish in life that you never cease to thwart.

حتى على أقصرِ اللذّاتِ تحسدُنا

وقد غَصَصنا بما في الهمِّ نجرعه

You envy us even our briefest pleasures,

though we have choked on the sorrow we swallow.

على الهوى قد جرى دَمعي وسالَ دمي

وما الذي بعد طيب الوَصلِ أصنعه

For love my tears have flowed and my blood has streamed;

what can I do after the sweetness of union?

تقلّص الظلُّ من رَوضي وها قَدحي

مُكَسَّرٌ بعد ما قد كنتُ أترعه

The shade has shrunk from my garden, and here is my cup,

shattered, after I had once filled it to the brim.

وَلّى نعيمي كبؤسي عاجلاً فذَوَى

عليهِ قلبي وأبكاني تمنُّعه

My bliss, like my misery, swiftly fled; then withered

my heart for it, and its elusiveness made me weep.

ألستُ أقدرُ أن أُبقي لهُ أثراً

في مُهجتي وعلى الأحشاءِ أطبعه

Can I not preserve a trace of it

in my soul, and imprint it on my innermost heart?

ما مرَّ فاتَ فلا دمعٌ ولا ندمٌ

يَشفي فؤادي وليسَ الصّبرُ ينفعه

What has passed is gone; neither tears nor regret

can heal my heart, nor can patience help it.

يا ذاهبَ العمرِ كم ذكرٍ وكم ألمٍ

تَطوي وتخرقُ ما الإنسانُ يَرقَعه

O passing life, how many memories, how much pain

you fold away, tearing what man keeps patching!

قُل ما فعلتَ بأيامٍ تُدفِّنُها

والحسنُ والحبُّ ماءٌ غاضَ منبعه

Say what you have done with the days you bury,

while beauty and love are water whose spring has run dry.

ألا تُعيدُ لقلبي لذةً هَرَبت

ومن ليالي الهوَى حينا تمتِّعه

Will you not restore to my heart a pleasure that has fled,

and delight it a while with nights of love?

يا حبذا ما مَضى لو كان يرجعُ لي

وحبّذا المنزلُ المهجورُ مربعه

How dear is what has passed—if only it would return to me!

And how dear the dwelling whose grounds lie deserted!

أيا بحيرةُ يا صخراً أصمَّ ويا

غاباً كثيفاً وكهفاً شاق بَلقعه

O lake, O deaf rock, and O

dense forest, and cave whose desolation stirred longing!

صانت محاسنك النُّعمى مجدّدةً

ثوباً من النضرِ تكسوهُ وتخلعه

Bliss has preserved your beauties, renewing

a robe of freshness it clothes you in and takes away.

ناشَدتُكِ الله أحيي ذكرَ ليلتِنا

لكلِّ قلبٍ يدُ البَلوى تُصَدِّعه

I adjure you by God: keep the memory of our night alive

for every heart that affliction's hand shatters.

إن كنتِ هادئةً أو كنتِ هائجةً

بحيرةَ الحبّ فيكِ الذكرُ أُودعه

Whether you are calm or raging,

lake of love, in you I entrust that memory.

فليَحيَ في ضفَّةٍ خضراءَ مُزهِرةٍ

وفي خمائلِ وادٍ طابَ مَرتَعه

Let it live upon a green, flowering bank,

and in the thickets of a valley whose pasture is sweet,

وفي الصّخور التي تحنو عليكِ وفي

صنوبرٍ زَادني وَجداً تَخَشُّعه

and in the rocks that bend over you, and in

pines whose reverent bowing deepened my longing,

وفي هديرِ صَدى الضفّاتِ ردَّدَه

والغصنُ مُدَّت لضّم الغصنِ أذرعه

and in a roar repeated by the banks' echo,

and in the bough, its arms outstretched to embrace a bough,

وفي نسيمٍ لهُ في الدَّوحِ هَينمةٌ

كأنها لحنُ تَطريبٍ نُوقِّعه

and in a breeze whose whisper among the great trees

is like a rapturous melody we play,

وفي ضياءٍ على ماءٍ يُفَضّضُ ما

شَجا من الكوكبِ الدريِّ مطلعه

and in radiance upon water, silvering what

the brilliant star's rising has stirred to longing.

فالرّيحُ إن زَفَرت في رَوضةٍ نضرت

ومالَ بالقصَبِ الشّاكي تلوُّعه

So, if the wind sighs in a garden grown lush,

and anguish bends the lamenting reeds,

وإن سَرى أرَجٌ تحيا به مُهَجٌ

فأنعَشَ السّاهرَ العاني تَضوُّعه

and if a fragrance drifts, bringing souls to life,

and its wafting revives the sleepless sufferer,

ليسمعِ الناسُ صَوتاً هاتفاً أبداً

في ليلِ حبٍّ خليُّ البالِ يَهجَعه

let people hear a voice calling forever

in a night of love that the carefree sleep away:

لقد أحبَّا فما طالَ اجتماعُهُما

والحبُّ إن زالَ أبكى العينَ موضِعه

They loved indeed, but their union did not last;

and when love is gone, the place it held makes the eye weep.