ما ضر وجد الهوى العذرى لوهانا — Al Burai

ما ضر وجد الهَوى العذرى لوهانا

عَن قلب صب اطاع اللهو وَلهانا

What harm would it do chaste love's longing, were it to ease

from a lovesick heart that followed pleasure, love-bewildered?

ما تأتلى نسمات الغور تنشقه

مسكا فيمسي إِلى الحنان حنانا

The breezes of al-Ghawr never fail to make him breathe

musk, and he grows full of longing for al-Hanan.

يسقى خَمائل نجد من مدامع

ان لم يجدها عَريض المزن هتانا

He waters Najd's thickets with tears

if the broad rain-cloud does not shower them with rain.

باللَهباللَه يا ذاك النَسيم أعد

علما عَن العلم الغَربي أَحيانا

By God, by God, O breeze, bring back

news of the western landmark from time to time.

هَل باكرته الغواديوَهي مثقلة

بالري تسقى الاراك الغض البانا

Have the morning clouds visited it early, laden

with moisture, watering the tender arak and ban trees?

وَهَل بنجد وَسفح البان من اضم

ما يذهب القلب عَن نعم وَنعمانا

And is there in Najd and on the ban-tree slope in Idam

anything to turn the heart from Nu'm and Nu'man?

كَم غلطة من نوار بالحمى بدرت

لَنا وَعين الهَوى العذرى تَرعانا

How many a slip by Nawar in the preserve appeared

to us, while the eye of chaste love watched over us.

زاغَت بنا فرصة بالليل ممكنة

فايقظتنا وَباتاللَيل وَسنانا

An attainable chance led us astray at night,

and awakened us while the night lay drowsy.

وافَت فبت واياها تعللني

من راح لهو الهوى سكرى وَسكرانا

She came; I spent the night with her as she soothed me

with the wine of love's dalliance—she drunk, and I drunk.

لما تشعشع افق المشرقين عَلى

رغمي وَكاد يبينالفجر أَو بانا

When the horizon of the two easts began to gleam, against

my will, and dawn was nearly breaking—or had broken—

وَفارَقتَني وَفارَقت السلو فهل

بعد التفرق نَلقاها وَتَلقانا

she left me, and I lost all solace. Will

we meet her after parting, and will she meet us?

لا شيء اصعب من هجر تقدمه

وصل فليت الهوى العذرى ما كانا

Nothing is harder than separation preceded by

union; would that chaste love had never been!

يا ظامىء القصد دع ورد الثماد ورد

بحر الشهاب ابن فخر الدين معدانا

O thirsting seeker, leave the scant-water pools and drink from

the sea of al-Shihab, son of Fakhr al-Din Ma'dan.

زرأَحمد بن أَبي بكر واي فَتى

اذا دَعَوناه للمعروف لبانا

Visit Ahmad, son of Abu Bakr—what a noble man!

Whenever we called him to do good, he answered us.

زر بحر علم غدا كل العلوم به

وَطود حلم يحاكى طود ثهلانا

Visit a sea of learning, with every science gathered within him,

and a mountain of forbearance rivaling Mount Thahlan.

تَلقاه ان فاضَ جودا حاتِما كرما

حمى وان قال أَما بعد سجانا

When his bounty overflows, you find him a Hatim in generosity,

a refuge; and when he says 'Now then,' a Sahban [probable reading].

ذاكَ المعد لحل المشكلات حوى

علم المذاهب تبريزا وايقانا

That man, equipped to solve perplexities, has mastered

the learning of the legal schools with distinction and certainty.

العالم العامل الفرد الَّذي امتلأت

من صيته الارض اجبالا واحزانا

The peerless scholar who lives by his learning, whose renown has filled

the earth, its mountains and rugged lands.

كنز المَعارف عدل الدين لا برحت

آثاره للهدىنورا وَبرهانا

Treasure of knowledge, justice of the faith—may his works never cease

to be a light and proof for guidance.

امين مكنون اسرار الملوك اذا

ما أودع السر أَغشى السر كتمانا

Trusted keeper of kings' hidden secrets, whenever

he is entrusted with a secret, he cloaks that secret in silence.

من لو وزنت جَميع الاكرمين به

في الفضل والفخر خفوا عنه ميزانا

One who, were you to weigh all the noblest men against him

in merit and glory, would outweigh them in the scales.

مهذب العرض فرد الجود ان وكفت

كفاه انساك سيحانا جيحانا

Unsullied in honor, unrivaled in bounty—if

his palms pour forth, he makes you forget Sayhan and Jayhan.

لا تطلبن به في عصره بدلا

أَتبدل الشمس بهراما وَكيوانا

Seek no substitute for him in his age.

Would you exchange the sun for Bahram and Kaywan?

يا أَيُّهاالوالد البر الشَفيق احب

عَن كل منزاده التذكير نسيانا

O kind, compassionate father, answer [probable reading]

for all those whom reminders only make more forgetful.

تاجرت بالشعر بغي الريح فاِنعكست

حالي عَلى فعاد الريح خسرانا

I traded in poetry, seeking profit [probable reading], but things turned:

my fortunes went against me, and profit became loss.

وَخانَني من اسيحابي وَغيرهم

من لَم يَكن قبل صفر الكف خوانا

Among my companions and others, I was betrayed

by those not treacherous before my hands were empty.

قالوا أَتَشكو من الاخوان قلتوَما

افاد كون بَني يعقوب اخوانا

They said, 'Do you complain of brothers?' I said, 'And what

good did it do that Ya'qub's sons were brothers?'

أَلقوا أَخاهم عَلى قرب الرحامة في

غيابة الجب باكي العين حيرانا

Despite close kinship, they cast their brother into

the well's dark depths, weeping and bewildered.

وَبعدباعوه عبدا آبقاورموا

به عَلى غير جرم ذئب كنوانا

Afterward they sold him as a runaway slave, and cast

the blame on Canaan's wolf [probable reading], though it had done no wrong.

وَكَم رجالكَثير كنت آملهم

وَلَم يَزل لابس الآمال عريانا

And how many men I once placed my hopes in—so many!

Yet the man clothed in hopes has always remained naked.

لا يورق العود من رعد بلا مطر

اذا يَروي سراب القاع ظمآنا

No branch puts forth leaves from thunder without rain;

otherwise the plain's mirage would quench a thirsty man.

وانتَ مالي وَمأمولي وَمعتمدي

ما زالَ حوضك لي بالجود ملآنا

And you are my wealth, my hope, and my support;

your pool has always been full of bounty for me.

حاشا جَلالك بل حاشا نوالك أن

أَكون في بحرك الفياضعطشانا

Far be it from your majesty—rather, from your bounty—that

I should be thirsty in your overflowing sea.

دع المَقادير تطويني وَتنشرني

حَتّى تبلغني مَعروفك الآنا

Let the decrees of fate fold me up and unfold me

until they bring me your bounty, now.

فَما نزلت عَلى مولى سواك وَلا

أَرجو وَراءَك بعد اللَه انسانا

For I have come to no patron but you, nor

do I hope in any person beyond you, after God.

يا منصب الحسن والاحسان خذ بيدي

فذاك مَن لم يكنحسنا واحسانا

O seat of beauty and beneficence, take me by the hand;

for here is one who has not been good or beneficent.

وَجد عَلى ببذل المكرمات وصل

حَبلي فَلست ببذل الجود منانا

And bestow noble favors upon me, and join

my cord; you do not reproach others for the bounty you give.

وانظر إِلى بعين منك مشفقة

وانعش بعزمك لي اهلا وَحيرانا

And look upon me with a compassionate eye of yours,

and with your resolve revive my family and this bewildered man.

وَدم منيع الحمى من كل نائبة

في رتبة ملثت يمنا وايمانا

And may your domain remain secure from every calamity,

in a station showering good fortune and faith.