لو يكون اللقاء باستحقاق — Ahmad Alkiwani

لَو يَكون اللِقاء بِاستحقاقِ

ما قَضى الدَهر بَينَنا بفُراقِ

If meeting were a matter of merit,

time would not have decreed separation between us.

جَلَّ عَن وَصف واصف غَير دَمعي

ما أُقاسي مشن الهَوى وَأُلاقي

Beyond any describer's words, save my tears,

is what I suffer and endure from love.

لا تَلُمني في الحُب وَاِنظُر إِلى آ

ثار فعل البُعاد والإِفتِراق

Do not blame me for love; look at the traces

of what distance and separation have wrought.

بَدن صَبغ مِن سقام وَقَلب

صَيغ مِن حَرقة وَمِن أَشواق

A body dyed with sickness, and a heart

fashioned from burning anguish and longing.

لَيسَ يَطفي ما شَبَ لي لاعج الوَج

د شَآبيب دَمعيَ المهراق

The blaze kindled in me by searing passion is not quenched

by torrents of my poured-out tears.

كُل ظل مَع النَوى يَحموم

كُل وَرد كَذاكَ مِن غَساق

Every shade amid separation is black smoke;

every draught, likewise, is foul, icy fluid.

فَسَقى اللُهُ طيب عَهد تَلاقي

نا وَحَيّا الإِلَه عَهد التَلاقي

May God water the sweet days of meeting

between us, and may the Lord bless the days of reunion.

حَيث روق الشَباب غَض حَميدٌ

وَظِلال الصِبا ظَليل الرِواق

Where youth's bloom was tender and lovely,

and youth's shades were a sheltering canopy;

وَمَحيّا الزَمان طَلق نَضيرٌ

وَجَنى العَيش يانع الأَوراق

and time's face was cheerful and radiant,

and life's fruit was lush with leaves.

رُبَ لَيلٍ قَد زارَني وَسِواري الشَه

ب حَيرى تَهيم في الآفاق

Many a night he visited me, while night-roaming meteors

wandered bewildered through the horizons;

وَيَمين الصَباح مِن مَعطف الجَو

زاء كادَت وَتَحل عَقد النِطاق

and dawn's right hand, from al-Jawza's curving flank,

was almost untying the girdle's knot;

وَعَليل النَسيم في الرَوض يَهفو

بِذبول ثَدي خَلوقاً رِقاق

and the languid breeze fluttered through the garden,

with a drooping breast, saffron-perfumed and delicate [wording unclear].

بَرَدَت مِن صِقالَها خَد نَهر

كَرِضاب الأَحباب حُلو المَذاق

A river's cheek cooled from its burnishing,

sweet to taste, like the saliva of beloveds;

وَحَنين الحَمام في الدَوح يَشدو

كَأَنين المُتَيم المِقلاق

and the doves' yearning sang among the great trees,

like the moan of a restless captive of love.

بَدرٌ تَمَ كَمالَهُ يوقع الب

ر حَياءً وَغَيرَهُ في المحاق

A full moon, perfect in beauty, consigns the [moon?]

through shame—and others too—to the moon's dark phase.

يَحسر الطَرف ثَغرَهُ وَمَحيا

هُ بِفَرط الإِبراق وَالأَتلاق

His mouth and face exhausted the gaze

with their excessive flashing and radiance.

مَنطق يَقتل الهُموم وَيُحيي

داعيات السُرور لِلعُشاق

Speech that kills worries and revives

the stirrings of joy for lovers;

وَحَديث يَجري عَلى كُل قَلبٍ

كَالزلال المُسلسل الرَقراق

and talk that flows over every heart

like clear water, continuously flowing and shimmering;

وَعُيون قَد اِستَباحَت حِمى الفَت

ك فَلَيسَت تَبقى عَلى الأَرماق

and eyes that have breached slaughter's guarded realm,

sparing no last remnant of life.

قُلت وَالرُوح في التَراقي مِن الوَج

د وَدَمعي خُيولَهُ في اِستِباق

I said, my soul at my collarbones from passion,

and the steeds of my tears racing one another,

وَلَهيب الزَفير يَحبس أَنفا

سي وَنَفسي تَسيل مِن آماقي

while the blaze of sighing held back my breaths,

and my soul streamed from the corners of my eyes:

سَيدي بِرَحت بَعبدك بَلوا

ه فَأَعيب طَبيبهُ وَالراقي

My lord, his affliction has tormented your servant,

so I fault his physician and the charm-healer.

أَشتَكي مِنكَ أَم إِلَيكَ اِشتِياقي

ما لِمِثلي مِن جور مثلك راقي

Should I complain of you, or to you of my longing?

No charm-healer can save one like me from the cruelty of one like you.

أَحجاب البُعاد وَالهَجر أَشكر

أم حِجاب الصُدود وَالأَطراق

Should I thank the veil of distance and abandonment,

or the veil of aversion and downcast eyes?

وَرَقيبي أَم الوشاة أَم الأَيا

م أَشكو إَلَيك أَم اشفاقي

And is it my watcher, the talebearers, or the days

I should complain of to you—or my own apprehension?

نَظرة مِنكَ سَيدي تَنشر المَو

تى بِإِذن المُهيمن الخَلاق

A glance from you, my lord, raises the dead,

by permission of the Guardian, the Creator.

فَبَدا في ياقوت وَجنَتِهِ الشفا

ف ماءٌ كَاللُؤلؤ البَراق

Then in the translucent ruby of his cheek appeared

water like gleaming pearls.

ثُمَّ عاطَيتهُ مِن العَتب كَأساً

شَبَت مَعسولَها بِدَمع مُراق

Then I passed him a cup of reproach;

I mixed its honeyed sweetness with tears poured out.

دُرٌ عَقد مِن لَفظ عَتب يُحاكي

حُسن طَووا العَناوا في الأَعناق

Pearls strung from words of reproach, rivaling

the beauty of [unclear wording] around necks.

فالانت أَخلاقُهُ وَرَقيق اللف

ظ يَهفو بِأَكرَم الأَخلاق

So it softened his manners, and gentle speech

fluttered with the noblest courtesy.

وَنَهاني عَن لَثمِهِ غَيرَتي من

ي وَلَم يَسمَح التَقي بِعِناق

And my jealousy—even of myself—forbade me to kiss him,

and the pious one would not permit an embrace.

هَكَذا الحُب عِندَما يَتَناهى

ما بِهِ غَير لَوعَة وَاِحتِراق

Such is love when it reaches its utmost:

there is nothing in it but anguish and burning.

وَإِذا لَم يَكُ المُعل طَبيباً

لَيسَ يَرجا لِلداءِ مِن إِفراق

And if the one who causes illness is not a physician,

no recovery from the sickness can be hoped for.

عَجلي يا يَد الغَرام حَمامي

فَعَذاب الأَشواق حالَ السِياق

Hasten my death, O hand of passionate love,

for longing's torment is the throes of death.

وَاسق يا سُحب عَن جُفوني بِعَدي

عَهد أَلفي بَدَمعِكِ الدَفاق

And, O clouds, water in my eyelids' stead when I am gone

the days with my beloved, with your pouring tears.

وَأَبلِغي قاتِلي برفقِ سَلامي

ثُمَّ حَيي عَني وَجوه الرِفاق

And gently convey my greeting to my slayer;

then greet my companions' faces on my behalf.