Sol 6.1

  1. كَيفَ السَبيلُ إِلى طَيفٍ يُزاوِرُهُ

    وَالنَومُ في جُملَةِ الأَحبابِ هاجِرُهُ

    How can he receive a visiting dream-phantom,

    when sleep, among his loved ones, has deserted him?

  2. الحُبُّ آمِرُهُ وَالصَونُ زاجِرُهُ

    وَالصَبرُ أَوَّلُ ماتَأتي أَواخِرُهُ

    Love commands him, and self-restraint checks him;

    and patience is the first thing to reach its end.

  3. أَنا الَّذي إِن صَبا أَو شَفَّهُ غَزَلٌ

    فَلِلعَفافِ وَلِلتَقوى مَآزِرُهُ

    I am one who, if he grows enamored or passion wears him thin,

    keeps his waist-wraps for chastity and piety.

  4. وَأَشرَفُ الناسِ أَهلُ الحُبِّ مَنزِلَةٍ

    وَأَشرَفُ الحُبِّ ماعَفَّت سَرائِرُهُ

    Lovers are the noblest people in rank,

    and the noblest love is that whose inward secrets are chaste.

  5. ما بالُ لَيلِيَ لا تَسري كَواكِبُهُ

    وَطَيفُ عَزَّةَ لا يَعتادُ زائِرُهُ

    What ails my night, that its stars do not travel,

    and Azza's phantom never returns as a visitor?

  6. مَن لا يَنامُ فَلا صَبرٌ يُؤازِرُهُ

    وَلا خَيالٌ عَلى شَحطٍ يُزاوِرُهُ

    Whoever does not sleep has no patience to uphold him,

    nor any dream-image to visit him across the distance.

  7. ياساهِراً لَعِبَت أَيدي الفِراقِ بِهِ

    فَالصَبرُ خاذِلُهُ وَالدَمعُ ناصِرُهُ

    O sleepless one, toyed with by the hands of parting—

    patience forsakes him, and tears come to his aid.

  8. إِنَّ الحَبيبَ الَّذي هامَ الفُؤادُ بِهِ

    يَنامُ عَن طولِ لَيلٍ أَنتَ ساهِرُهُ

    The beloved with whom the heart is madly in love

    sleeps heedless of the long night you spend awake.

  9. ما أَنسَ لا أَنسَ يَومَ البَينِ مَوقِفَنا

    وَالشَوقُ يَنهى البُكى عَنّي وَيَأمُرُهُ

    Whatever I forget, I will not forget where we stood on parting day,

    while longing forbade my weeping and commanded it,

  10. وَقَولَها وَدُموعُ العَينِ واكِفَةٌ

    هَذا الفِراقُ الَّذي كُنّا نُحاذِرُهُ

    and her words, as tears streamed from her eyes:

    'This is the separation we used to dread.'

  11. هَل أَنتِ يارِفقَةَ العُشّاقِ مُخبِرَتي

    عَنِ الخَليطِ الَّذي زُمَّت أَباعِرُهُ

    Will you, O company of lovers, tell me

    of the companions whose camels were bridled?

  12. وَهَل رَأَيتِ أَمامَ الحَيِّ جارِيَةً

    كَالجُؤذَرِ الفَردِ تَقفوهُ جَآذِرُهُ

    And did you see, before the clan, a maiden

    like a lone oryx calf followed by its fellow calves?

  13. وَأَنتَ يا راكِباً يُزجي مَطِيَّتُهُ

    يَستَطرِقُ الحَيَّ لَيلاً أَو يُباكِرُهُ

    And you, O rider who urges on his mount,

    visiting the camp by night or reaching it at dawn,

  14. إِذا وَصَلتَ فَعَرِّض بي وَقُل لَهُمُ

    هَل واعِدُ الوَعدِ يَومَ البَينِ ذاكِرُهُ

    when you arrive, allude to me and say to them:

    'Does the giver of the promise on parting day remember it?'

  15. ما أَعجَبَ الحُبَّ يُمسي طَوعَ جارِيَةٍ

    في الحَيِّ مَن عَجَزَت عَنهُ مَساعِرُهُ

    How wondrous love is: at evening, a maiden rules

    a man in the clan whom its battle-kindlers could not subdue.

  16. وَيَتَّقي الحَيَّ مِن جاءٍ وَغادِيَةٍ

    كَيفَ الوُصولُ إِذا مانامَ سامِرُهُ

    And he fears the clan's arrivals and morning-goers;

    how can he reach her when its night-talker sleeps?

  17. يا أَيُّها العاذِلُ الراجي إِنابَتَهُ

    وَالحُبُّ قَد نَشِبَت فيهِ أَظافِرُهُ

    O reproacher, hoping for his repentance,

    when love has already sunk its claws into him,

  18. لاتُشعِلَنَّ فَما يَدري بِحُرقَتِهِ

    أَأَنتَ عاذِلُهُ أَم أَنتَ عاذِرُهُ

    do not stoke the flame: in his burning, he cannot tell

    whether you reproach him or excuse him.

  19. وَراحِلٍ أَوحَشَ الدُنيا بِرِحلَتِهِ

    وَإِن غَداً مَعَهُ قَلبي يُسايِرُهُ

    And a traveler left the world desolate by his departure,

    though tomorrow my heart will be with him, traveling beside him.

  20. هَل أَنتَ مُبلِغُهُ عَنّي بِأَنَّ لَهُ

    وُدّاً تَمَكَّنَ في قَلبي يُجاوِرُهُ

    Will you tell him on my behalf that for him

    affection has taken firm root in my heart, keeping it company;

  21. وَأَنَّني مَن صَفَت مِنهُ سَرائِرُهُ

    وَصَحَّ باطِنُهُ مِنهُ وَظاهِرُهُ

    and that I am one whose secret thoughts are pure,

    and whose inward and outward selves are sincere?

  22. وَما أَخوكَ الَّذي يَدنو بِهِ نَسَبٌ

    لَكِن أَخوكَ الَّذي تَصفو ضَمائِرُهُ

    Your brother is not he whom lineage draws close,

    but he whose innermost thoughts are pure.

  23. وَأَنَّني واصِلٌ مَن أَنتَ واصِلُهُ

    وَأَنَّني هاجِرٌ مَن أَنتَ هاجِرُهُ

    And that I keep ties with whomever you keep ties with,

    and that I shun whomever you shun;

  24. وَلَستُ واجِدَ شَيءٍ أَنتَ عادِمُهُ

    وَلَستُ غائِبَ شَيءٍ أَنتَ حاضِرُهُ

    I possess nothing that you lack,

    and I am absent from nothing where you are present.

  25. وافى كِتابُكَ مَطوِيّاً عَلى نُزَهٍ

    يَحارُ سامِعُهُ فيهِ وَناظِرُهُ

    Your letter arrived, folded around delights;

    its hearer and its beholder are bewildered by it.

  26. فَالعَينُ تَرتَعُ فيما خَطَّ كاتِبُهُ

    وَالسَمعُ يَنعَمُ فيما قالَ شاعِرُهُ

    The eye grazes on what its scribe has written,

    and the ear delights in what its poet has said.

  27. فَإِن وَقَفتُ أَمامَ الحَيِّ أُنشِدُهُ

    وَدَّ الخَرائِدُ لَو تُقنى جَواهِرُهُ

    If I stand before the clan and recite it,

    the secluded maidens wish they could possess its jewels.

  28. أَبا الحُصَينِ وَخَيرُ القَولِ أَصدَقُهُ

    أَنتَ الصَديقُ الَّذي طابَت مَخابِرُهُ

    Abu al-Huṣayn—and the best speech is the truest—

    you are the friend whose tested qualities are good.

  29. لَولا اِعتِذارُ أَخِلّائي بِكَ اِنصَرَفوا

    بِوَجهِ خَزيانَ لَم تُقبَل مَعاذِرُهُ

    Had my friends not pleaded you as their excuse, they would have left

    with the face of a shamefaced man whose excuses were refused.

  30. أَينَ الخَليلُ الَّذي يُرضيكَ باطِنُهُ

    مَعَ الخُطوبِ كَما يُرضيكَ ظاهِرُهُ

    Where is the friend whose inward self pleases you

    amid calamities, just as his outward self does?

  31. أَمّا الكِتابُ فَإِنّي لَستُ أَقرَؤُهُ

    إِلّا تَبادَرَ فَوقَ الدُرِّ ناثِرُهُ

    As for the letter, I never read it

    without the pearl-scatterer hastening over its pearls.

  32. يَجري الجُمانُ عَلى مِثلِ الجُمانِ بِهِ

    وَيَنشُرُ الدُرَّ فَوقَ الدُرِّ ناثِرُهُ

    Pearl-beads flow over their likeness upon it,

    and their scatterer strews pearls upon pearls.

  33. أَنا الَّذي لايُصيبُ الدَهرُ عِترَتَهُ

    وَلا يَبيتُ عَلى خَوفٍ مُجاوِرُهُ

    I am one whose kin time cannot strike,

    and whose neighbor never spends the night in fear.

  34. يُمسي وَكُلُّ بِلادٍ حَلَّها وَطَنٌ

    وَكُلُّ قَومٍ غَدا فيهِم عَشائِرُهُ

    At evening, every land he has settled in is his homeland,

    and every people he goes among are his kindred.

  35. وَما تُمَدُّ لَهُ الأَطنابُ في بَلَدٍ

    إِلّا تَضَعضَعَ باديهِ وَحاضِرُهُ

    No tent-ropes are stretched for him in any land

    without its nomads and townsfolk being shaken.

  36. لِيَ التَخَيُّرُ مُشتَطّاً وَمُنتَصِفاً

    وَلِلأَفاضِلِ بَعدي ما أُغادِرُهُ

    Mine is the choice, whether I overreach or take my rightful share,

    and the noble have, after me, whatever I leave.

  37. وَكَيفَ تَنتَصِفُ الأَعداءُ مِن رَجُلٍ

    العِزُّ أَوَّلُهُ وَالمَجدُ آخِرُهُ

    How can enemies exact redress from a man

    whose beginning is might and whose end is glory?

  38. زاكي الأُصولِ كَريمُ النَبعَتَينِ وَمَن

    زَكَت أَوائِلُهُ طابَت أَواخِرُهُ

    Pure of roots, noble in both ancestral branches—and whoever

    has pure beginnings has worthy ends.

  39. فَمِن سَعيدِ بنِ حَمدانٍ وِلادَتُهُ

    وَمِن عَلِيِّ بنِ عَبدِ اللَهِ سائِرُهُ

    His birth is from Sa'id ibn Hamdan,

    and the rest of him is from Ali ibn Abd Allah:

  40. القائِلُ الفاعِلُ المَأمونُ نَبوَتُهُ

    وَالسَيِّدُ الأَيِّدُ المَيمونُ طائِرُهُ

    the man of word and deed whose faltering need not be feared,

    the mighty lord whose omen is auspicious.

  41. بَنى لَنا العِزَّ مَرفوعاً دَعائِمُهُ

    وَشَيَّدَ المَجدَ مُشتَدّاً مَرائِرُهُ

    He built us might with its pillars raised high,

    and raised up glory with its twisted cords made firm.

  42. فَما فَضائِلُنا إِلّا فَضائِلُهُ

    وَلا مَفاخِرُنا إِلّا مَفاخِرُهُ

    Our virtues are nothing but his virtues,

    and our sources of pride are nothing but his.

  43. لَقَد فَقَدتُ أَبي طِفلاً فَكانَ أَبي

    مِنَ الرِجالِ كَريمُ العودِ ناضِرُهُ

    I lost my father as a child; my father thereafter was

    a man of noble stock, fresh and flourishing.

  44. فَهوَ اِبنُ عَمِّيَ دُنيا حينَ أَنسُبُهُ

    لَكِنَّهُ لِيَ مَولىً لا أُناكِرُهُ

    He is my close paternal cousin when I trace his lineage,

    but to me he is a patron whom I do not disavow.

  45. مازالَ لي نَجوَةً مِمّا أُحاذِرُهُ

    لازالَ في نَجوَةٍ مِمّا يُحاذِرُهُ

    He has always been my refuge from what I fear;

    may he always be safe from what he fears.

  46. وَإِنَّما وَقَّتِ الدُنيا مُوَقِّتَها

    مِنهُ وَعُمِّرَ لِلإِسلامِ عامِرُهُ

    The world has only allotted time to its own timekeeper

    in him, and Islam's builder has been granted long life.

  47. هَذا كِتابُ مَشوقِ القَلبِ مُكتَئِبٍ

    لَم يَألُ ناظِمُهُ جُهداً وَناثِرُهُ

    This is a letter from one yearning of heart and sorrowful;

    its versifier and prose-writer have spared no effort.

  48. وَقَد سَمَحتُ غَداةَ البَينِ مُبتَدِئاً

    مِنَ الجَوابِ بِوَعدٍ أَنتَ ذاكِرُهُ

    On parting's morning I freely offered, as a beginning

    to my reply, a promise you remember.

  49. بَقيتَ ما غَرَّدَت وُرقُ الحَمامِ وَما اِس

    تَهَلَّ مِن مونَقِ الوَسمِيِّ باكِرُهُ

    May you live as long as the gray doves sing, and as long as

    the first of the lovely autumn rains pours down,

  50. حَتّى تُبَلَّغَ أَقصى ماتُؤَمِّلُهُ

    مِنَ الأُمورِ وَتُكفى ماتُحاذِرُهُ

    until you attain the utmost of what you hope for

    in all affairs, and are spared what you fear.