ألف التذكر مبدئا ومعيدا — Al Burai

ألف التذكر مبدئا وَمعيدا

أَملا لبعد الظاعنين بعيدا

He has grown used to remembrance, beginning and repeating it,

with hope made distant by the remoteness of those who departed.

دنف يبيت بحن في آثارهم

وَبظل يندب دمنة وَصَعيدا

A lovesick man spends the night yearning in their wake,

and in the shade laments an abandoned campsite and bare earth.

ذكر الفَريق المنجدين فَباتَ من

ذكر الفَريق المنجدين عميدا

He recalled the Najd-bound company and lay that night,

heartsick from recalling the Najd-bound company.

رَحَلوا عشية فارَقوه بعقله

وَقَضوا عليه بانيموت شَهيدا

They departed one evening, taking his reason with them,

and condemned him to die a martyr.

يسقى الغَرام بعبرة مسفوحة

جعلت محاجر خده اخدودا

He waters passion with a freely shed tear,

which has turned his cheek's hollows into a furrow.

لَو حملتهوج المطي غَرامه

ما جاوزتوادي الاراك وجودا

Had the headstrong riding-camels borne his passion,

they would not have crossed Wadi al-Arak at all.

يا صائد الظبيات باعك قاصر

كَم رام غيرك ان يصيد قصيدا

O hunter of gazelles, your reach is short.

How many others sought to hunt, only to be hunted!

تمسي سمير النجم وَحدك ساهِرا

وَالركب دونك في الرجال هجودا

You spend the evening wakeful and alone, companion to the stars,

while, apart from you, the men of the caravan lie asleep.

وَتظل تنشدهم فؤادا لم يكن

مع غير غزلان الحمى منشودا

You keep asking them for a heart that never was

sought among any but the gazelles of the preserve.

فَتعال نسمعك السجوعبرامة

سحر او نذكرك النقي وَزرودا

Then come: let us make you hear the cooing at Ramah,

before dawn—or recall for you al-Naqa and Zarud.

وأصخ نقص عليك من انبائها

ما كانَ منها قائما وَحيدا

And listen as we tell you some of its tidings,

of what remained of it, standing solitary.

يا ليت شعري هَل لعيش بالحمى

زمن تألف شمله فَيَعودا

Would that I knew: will life in the preserve have

a season when its scattered company reunites and it returns?

وَطن عهدت به حييا زائِرا

وَهَوى يطيب وَمعهدا معهودا

A homeland where I once knew a bashful visitor,

and love grown sweet, and a familiar haunt;

وَزَمان أنس بالوصال وَحيرة

كانوا فانوا منزلا وَصدودا

and a season of intimacy in union, and bewilderment—

they were, then departed—a dwelling and estrangement [text unclear].

نَزَلوا زبيد فليت كل غمامة

تسقى مَنازل نازلين زبيدا

They settled in Zabid; would that every cloud

might water the homes of those who settled in Zabid.

أَرض غدا روض المروءة ناضرا

فيها وَطلع المكرمات نضيدا

A land where the garden of noble character has grown lush,

and the date-clusters of noble deeds grow tier upon tier;

وَبلاد اِشتملت جوانبها عَلى

أمل العفاة صوادرا وَورودا

a country whose bounds embrace

the hopes of petitioners, departing and arriving.

قمر الفتوة عصمة العرب الَّذي

لَولاه لَم يكن الجدا موجودا

The moon of chivalry, the Arabs' refuge, the one

without whom generosity would not exist.

ان ابن اسمعيل احمد لم يزل

في سلك أَرباب الوفا مَعدودا

Indeed Ahmad, son of Isma'il, has always been

counted among the masters of faithfulness.

زره تجده العالمين وَداره الدنيا

وَسائر من لقيت وفودا

Visit him: you will find him all creation, and his house the world,

and all others you have met, visiting delegations,

متفيئين ظلال كل كَرامة

في ريف رأفة من سما ليسودا

sheltering beneath the shade of every honor,

in the fertile abundance of the mercy of one who rose to lead.

أَعلى الوَرى شرفا وأَطولهم يَدا

وأمدهم ظلا وأصلب عمودا

Highest of humankind in honor, longest of hand,

his shade the farthest-reaching, his pillar the strongest.

ما زالَ في صدف الولاية جوهرا

يسمو به شرف الوجود وجودا

He has ever been a jewel in the shell of sainthood,

through whom the honor of existence is truly exalted.

يا ظامىء الآمال في طلب الغنى

قف حيث تلقى الطالِع المَسعودا

O you whose hopes thirst in the search for wealth,

stop where you will meet the auspicious rising star.

وانزل عَلى الكرم العَريض فَرُبما

اغنتك دجلة عن ثماد ثمودا

And alight upon boundless generosity, for perhaps

the Tigris will spare you the scant pools of Thamud.

بموطا الاكناف تمطر كفه

لِلسائلين ملابسا وَنقودا

With one gentle in bearing, whose palm rains down

clothing and coins upon petitioners.

خلق أرق من النَسيموَنفحة

تغنى العَديموَتنجد المَجهودا

A nature softer than the breeze, and a breath of bounty

that enriches the destitute and succors the distressed;

وَصل يرة مرضية وَعَزيمة

علوية سمت السماء صعودا

a pleasing inner nature [reading uncertain], and a resolve

so lofty that it ascended to the sky.

اللَه أَكبر ذا الَّذي من أمه

لنداء ولى الفقر عنه شَريدا

God is greatest! This is he: whoever comes to him

with an appeal sees poverty flee from him, an outcast.

ذا البحر علما ذا النجوم طَلائعا

ذا الصخر حلما ذا الغَمامَة جودا

This is the sea in knowledge, the stars as heralds;

this is rock in forbearance, the cloud in generosity.

ذا العالم السنى ذا العلم الَّذي

بالعلم وَالحلم اِستَقام رَشيدا

This is the radiant scholar, the beacon who

stands firm and rightly guided through knowledge and forbearance.

قسطاس قسط حَقيقة وَشَريعَة

قبس الرضا قبس الهدى تَوحيدا

A balance of justice, of truth and sacred law,

a flame of contentment, a flame of guidance in affirming God's oneness.

كنز المَعارف منبع الحكم الَّذي

آراؤه شهب يقدن وقودا

A treasure of knowledge, a wellspring of wisdom, whose

judgments are shooting stars, blazing with fire.

حبرة المناظرة المحيط فراسة

بالعلمعلما منه لا تَقليدا

The master of disputation, whose insight encompasses

knowledge through his own understanding, not imitation.

في سره سير وَفي تبريزه

ابر يز مكرمة يَلوح فَريدا

In his secret heart is journeying, and in his excellence

the pure gold of nobility shines, unmatched.

عشق المَعاني الغر وَهو مراهق

فاقنض ابكارالفنون وَليدا

He loved resplendent meanings while still an adolescent,

and claimed the virgin arts while still a child.

مَونلاي جئتك وَالخطوب وَجوهها

سود وَلَولا الفقر لمتك سودا

My master, I have come to you; calamities' faces

are black; but for poverty, they would not be black.

وافيت من أَرض المذاب وَلَم أَزَل

في الارض نحوز بيد أَطوى البيدا

I have arrived from the land of al-Madhab, and have never ceased

crossing the deserts overland toward Zabid.

لنا من عملت رهين فضل فائض

وَحَليف ود يبغي تَجديدا

I am the one you know, bound to overflowing bounty,

and pledged to a love that seeks renewal.

انهى اليك صروف الدهر خانني

وَموددا بالصدق عاد حَسودا

I bring you the turns of time, which has betrayed me,

and one I sincerely loved who has turned envious,

وَخصاصة تفنى النفوس لها وان

تكن النفوس حجارة وَحَديدا

and destitution beneath which souls perish, even if

those souls were stone and iron.

فاِنظر إلى بعين عطفك ربما

أَلفى بك الحظ الشقيّ سَعيدا

So look upon me with your compassionate eye; perhaps

through you my wretched fortune may become happy.

فلأنتَ بعد أَبي اب احببتني

في اللَه حسب الوالد المَولودا

For after my father, you are a father; you have loved me

in God, as a father loves his child.

وَفرنتني بعلا علاك ورشتى

من فيض فضلك طارِفا وَتَليدا

You joined me to your lofty eminence and endowed me

from your overflowing bounty with wealth both new and ancestral.

فاسلم ودم في أَرفع الدرجات يا

ركنا لمن يأوى اليه شَديدا

So live in safety, and remain in the highest ranks, O

mighty pillar for whoever seeks refuge in him.