قفوا بالناجيات على زرود — Ahmad Alkiwani

قِفوا بِالناجيات عَلى ُزرودِ

تُناجِ دَوارس الدَمن الهَمودِ

Halt with the swift she-camels at Zarud.

Commune with the faded traces of the lifeless encampments.

نحيي حِمى زرود بِالقَوافي

وَتَبكِ عَلَيهِ بِالدَمع البَديدِ

We greet Zarud's protected grounds with rhymes,

And weep over them with scattered tears.

عَفا أَطلالَها وَكَف الغَوادي

بِعرصتها وَدَمدمة الرُعود

The dripping of morning showers effaced her ruins

Across her open ground, together with the rumbling thunder.

تَعَرّت مِن بَشاشَتِها فَأَضحى

يَسرُّ مَحولها قَلب الحَسود

She was stripped of her cheerfulness, so now

Her barrenness gladdens the envier's heart.

وَاخلق ثَوب جدتها وَكانَت

مفوّقة الدرانك وَالبُرود

The garment of her freshness grew threadbare; once she was

Clad in pile-woven cloth and striped mantles.

وَقَد كانَت تهشُّ الزائر بِها

مَنازِلُها وَتضحك لِلوفود

Once the visitor there was welcomed warmly

By her dwellings, which smiled upon arriving guests.

سَقى أَيامَنا بِزرود غَيث

يَجود مَدى الزَمان عَلى زرود

May rain water our days at Zarud,

Pouring generously upon Zarud throughout time.

لَيال بِاللُقا بيض أَعيضت

بِأَيام مِن التَفريق سود

Nights white with meeting were exchanged

For days black with separation.

وَلي كَبد بِذاكَ الجَو جَرى

تَلوب بِهِ مِن الظَمأ الشَديد

And I have a liver burning in that land,

Wandering restlessly there from intense thirst.

وَقَلبٌ لا يَعنف بِالتَسلي

وَدَمعٌ لا يغير بِالجُمود

And a heart that cannot be coerced into solace,

And tears that never turn to dryness.

وَرَكب أَدلَجوا وَاللَيل مَرس

بِكلكلةٍ عَلى قَلب رقود

And riders traveled by night, while night lay heavy

With its chest upon a sleeping heart.

أَبادوا العيس لَما كَلَفوها

دَؤُوباً قَطع بيد بعد بيد

They wore out the pale camels when they tasked them

With tirelessly crossing desert after desert.

وَما زالَ الهَوى وَالشَوق يَرمي

بِراكِبِهِ إِلى أَمَدٍ بَعيد

And love, with longing, never ceased to hurl

Its rider toward a far-off goal.

إِذا أَنوا مِن الأَشواق أَنَت

مِن الجُهد المُبرح وَالوَخيد

When they moaned from longing, the camels moaned

From agonizing exertion and swift trotting.

تَرامى كَالسِهام بَهم وَتَرمي

بِخوص عَيونَهنَّ إِلى الوُرود

The camels darted like arrows with them, and cast

Their sunken eyes toward the watering place.

فَقَد أَلقوا بِها قَطع الفَيافي

وَقَد مَرنت عَلى حَرّ القتود

For they had entrusted them with crossing the wildernesses,

And they had grown accustomed to the heat of the saddle-frames.

تَشف جُسومَهُم مِن حَر وَجد

وَيَبدو عَظمهنَّ مِن الجُلود

Their bodies waste away from passion's heat,

And the camels' bones show through their hides.

إِلى إِن سارَ جَيش الصُبح

عَلى الظَلماء خَفاق البُنود

Until dawn's army advanced

Against the darkness, its banners fluttering.

فَكَفوا الزَجر عَن عيس تَفانَت

وَخَروا كَالسُجود عَلى الصَعيد

So they stopped urging the utterly exhausted pale camels,

And fell upon the earth like people prostrating.

فَرُحتُ أَسائل الرُكبان عَن مَن

أَضاعوني وَلَم يَرعوا عُهودي

Then I began asking the riders about those

Who abandoned me and did not honor my pledges.

وَأَلصق بِالثَرى كَبدي عَساهُ

يَخف بَبردهِ بِغَض الوُقود

And I press my liver to the damp earth, hoping it

Will soothe it with its coolness, abating the blaze.

وَاَسفح دَمع مُشتاق عَميدٍ

إِلى سَكن نَأى عَنهُ فَقيد

And I pour out the tears of one longing, stricken,

For a lost beloved who has gone far from him.

دُموعاً بِالجَوى وَالوَجد أَضحَت

شُهوداً لا تُقابل بِالجُحود

Tears that, through anguish and passion, became

Witnesses that cannot be met with denial.

فَذُب يا قَلب أَشواقاً وَهمّاً

وَيا طَرفي تَسلَّ عَن الهُجود

So melt, O heart, with longing and care,

And you, my eyes, forget sleep.

وَشعر حَكتهُ مِن نَسج فكري

بُروداً مثل ديباج الخُدود

And poetry I wove from the fabric of my thought,

As striped mantles like the brocade of cheeks.

مَعانٍ مثل مَعسول الأَماني

وَأَشهى مِن رِضاب ثُمَ بُرود

Meanings like the honeyed sweetness of wishes,

And sweeter than the nectar of a cool mouth.

وَأَلفاظ عَذاب رائِقات

تَروق بِحُسنِها دُر العُقود

And sweet, limpid words,

Whose beauty enchants the pearls of necklaces.

كَما جَمع الهَوى مِن بَعد شَوق

يَذيب النَفس بَين فَم وَجيد

As love, after longing, joined

—Longing that melts the soul—a mouth and a neck.

شَكَوت بِها هَوى ظَبي غَرير

يُعذِبُني بِهَجر أو صُدود

In them I lamented my love for an innocent gazelle

Who torments me with desertion or aversion.

فَلَيسَ لَهُ مِن الأَغراض بُدٌّ

وَلا لي عَن هَواهُ مِن مَحيد

For he cannot relinquish his own purposes,

Nor can I turn aside from loving him.

إِذا أَحيا بِمِنطِقِهِ فُؤادي

إِذابَ النَفس بِالصَد المُبيد

When his speech brings my heart to life,

He melts my soul with ruinous rejection.

أَخذت السحر عَن عَينيهِ حَتّى

طَبَعت السحر نَظماً كَالفَريد

I learned enchantment from his eyes, until

I fashioned enchantment into verse like choice pearls.

قَوافٍ مثل ما سَقَطَت دُموع ال

نَدى وَهناً عَلى الرَوض المَجود

Rhymes like the falling tears of the

Dew, late at night, upon the rain-watered garden.

تَميل بِكُل طَبع مُستَقيم

وَتَطرب كُل مِفضال مَجيد

They sway every sound disposition,

And enrapture every generous, noble soul.

إِذا أَنشَدتَهنَّ أَدرت راحاً

وَقالَ الدَهر لي هَل مِن مَزيد

When you recite them, you circulate wine,

And Time says to me, 'Is there more?'

رَمى كَبدي بِثالثة الأَثافي

زَمانٌ حكمهُ حُكم الوَليد

My liver was struck with the third hearthstone

By an age whose judgment is a child's.

زَمانٌ أَخرقٌ قَد راحَ سُكراً

بِجَرُّ ذُيول جبار عَنيد

A foolish age that has gone drunkenly,

Dragging the skirts of a stubborn tyrant.

يَريك الباز مِن خَدم الحبارى

وَأسد الغاب مِن خَول القُرود

It shows you the falcon among the bustard's servants,

And the forest's lion among the monkeys' slaves.

وَأجدل مرقب يُمسي غَراب

يِهدّدهُ بِأَنواع الوَعيد

And a hawk upon its lookout spends the evening with a raven

Threatening him with every kind of menace.

وَأَيامٌ غضابٌ لا لجرم

عَلى الأَيام مُعلِنَة الحُقود

And angry days, for no offense,

Proclaim their grudges against the days.

دَعا داعي الحَمام بغر قَومي

فَوافوهُ عَلى خَيل البَريد

Death's summoner called to the noblest of my people,

And they came to him on courier horses.

وَأَودعهم لُحوداً بَل جُفوناً

كَذا الأسياف تَودع في الغُمود

And he lodged them in graves—rather, in scabbards;

Thus swords are laid within their sheaths.

فَلا زالَت جُفون السُحب تَهمي

عَلى تِلكَ الصَفائح وَاللُحود

So may the clouds' eyelids never cease to weep

Upon those grave-slabs and tombs.

مَضوا وَبَقيت بَعدَهُم فَريداً

أُقاسي وَحشَهُ الفرد الوَحيد

They passed away, and I remained alone after them,

Enduring the desolation of one utterly alone.

أَرى عاراً وَقَد أَودوا حَياتي

فَأَنف مِن بَقائي وَمِن وُجودي

Now that they have perished, I deem my life a disgrace,

And disdain my survival and my very existence.

أَكفكف كُلَما ذَكَروا دُموعي

فَتَعصيني وَتَأبى غَير جودي

Whenever they are remembered, I hold back my tears,

But they defy me, accepting nothing but my lavish giving.

تَرامى هِمَتي بي كُل مَرمى

وَأَرسف مِن هُمومي في قُيود

My ambition flings me toward every goal,

While my cares make me shuffle in chains.

وَأَطوى أَضلعاً مائث غَراماً

لِتَقصيري عَلى نَفس مَديد

And I enclose ribs dissolving with passion

Around a long-drawn sigh over my shortcomings.

أَعل بِآحن رَنق وَأَمري

عَفافة بَلغهُ دونَ الزَهيد

I am given stagnant, murky water again, and my lot

Is a scant remnant of subsistence, less than a pittance.

تَرفق يا زَمان فَما فُؤادي

بِصَلد لا يَلين وَلا جَليد

Be gentle, O Time: my heart is not

Unyielding stone, nor is it tough.

وَلَيسَ القَلب مِن حَجر فَيَبقى

عَلى هَذا وَلا أَنا مِن حَديد

The heart is not made of stone, to endure

All this, nor am I made of iron.

رُويَداً لا تُحاول ماء وَجهي

وَهاكَ إِن أشتهيت دَم الوَريد

Gently—do not assail my face's water, my honor;

And here, if you desire it, take my jugular vein's blood.

وَلا تَحسَب حَياتي فيكَ مِنّا

فَإِني لَستُ أَرغَب في الخُلود

And do not count my life in you as a favor;

For I have no desire for immortality.