قسما بوصلك إن بعد مرامه — Al Tohami

قَسَماً بِوَصلِكَ إِنَّ بُعدَ مَرامِهِ

أَغرى فُؤاد مُتَيَّمٍ بِغَرامِهِ

I swear by union with you: the remoteness of its attainment

has stirred a love-enslaved heart to passion for it.

وَيَلومه فيكِ العَذول وَفي الهَوى

شُغل له عَن عذلِهِ وَمَلامِهِ

The reproacher blames him for you, while in love

he finds distraction from his reproaches and blame.

وَلربَّما هَجَرَ الصَبا واِقتاده

سِحرُ العُيونِ إِلى الصبا بِزمامِهِ

Often he has forsaken youthful passion, only to be led

back to it by the eyes’ enchantment, drawing him by his bridle.

وَبِنَفسي الرَشأ الَّذي لحظاته

في القَلب أَسرَعَ من غرار حُسامِهِ

I would ransom with my life the young gazelle whose glances

pierce the heart faster than his sword’s cutting edge.

هَل يَشفين كَبِدي بِبَرد عِناقه

أَو يُظفِرنَ كَفّي بِحَلِّ لِثامِهِ

Will he heal my liver with the coolness of his embrace,

or let my hand succeed in loosening his veil?

قَد كُنتُ آمل عَطفَهُ لَو لَم يَجِر

صَرف الفِراقِ عَليَّ في أَحكامِهِ

I would have hoped for his tenderness, had not

the vicissitudes of separation been unjust to me in their judgments.

وَلَقَد مَلأتُ يَديَّ من عَفِّ الصِبا

وَعَفَفتُ عَن حُرُماتِِ وَآثامِهِ

I have indeed filled both my hands with chaste youthful passion,

and abstained from forbidden things and its sins.

نهنه فُؤادك عَن ملابَسَةِ الصِبا

وَأَرغَب بِنَفسك عَن تَحَمُّلِ ذامِهِ

Restrain your heart from indulging in youthful passion,

and hold yourself above bearing its disgrace.

أَو لَيسَ في قرب الوَزير جَميعُ ما

أَلهاكَ عَن يَوم الوِصالِ وَعامِهِ

Is there not, in nearness to the vizier, all that

has distracted you from the day of union and its year?

قُل لِلوَزير ابن الفُراتِ وَلَم تَزَل

تَتَوَكَّفُ الآمال ضَوبَ غَمامِهِ

Say to the vizier Ibn al-Furat, while, as ever,

hopes await the downpour from his cloud:

إِن صَدَّني عَنكَ الزَمان فَإِنَّهُ

صَدَّ امرىءٍ يَلقاكَ في أَحلامِهِ

If time has kept me from you, then it has

kept away a man who meets you in his dreams.

إِن أَنأَ عنك فَرُبَّ ناءٍ حَسَّنت

عُقباه لِلمُشتاقِ قرب حِمامِهِ

If I am far from you, many an exile’s fate has made

the nearness of his death welcome to one who longs.

أَو عذت بِالصَبرِ الجَميل فَإِنَّهُ

صَبر الجُفونِ عَن الكرى وَلِمامِهِ

Or if I take refuge in gracious patience, it is

the eyelids’ endurance without sleep or its fleeting visits.

فَبِأَيِّ وَجهٍ أَشنتكي الزَمَنَ الَّذي

أَيّام قربك كنَّ من أَيّامِهِ

On what grounds, then, can I complain of the time whose

days included the days of nearness to you?

وَجمال وجهك في النَديِّ فَإِنَّهُ

وَجهٌ حَكاه البَدرُ عند تَمامِهِ

And by the beauty of your face in the assembly—for it is

a face the moon at its fullness has imitated—

وَوَحَقَّ وُدِّك فَهوَ أَبعَد غايَةٍ

يَجري إِلَيها البِرُّ في أَقسامِهِ

and by the sanctity of your affection, for it is the furthest goal

toward which goodness strives in its various forms,

ما حالَ قَلبي عَن هَواك وَلا جَرى

حسن التَصَبُّرِ مِنك في أَوهامِهِ

my heart has never turned from love of you, nor has

the merit of patience without you crossed its mind.

إِنّي وَإِن عادَ الزَمان إِلى الَّذي

أَهواهُ بَعدَ جِماحِهِ وَعَرامِهِ

I, even if time returns to what

I desire, after its waywardness and unruliness,

لا أَشكُر المَعروف إِلّا منك أَو

ما قَرَّبت كَفّاك بَعدَ مَرامِهِ

give thanks for no kindness except yours, or

that whose distant attainment your hands have brought near.

أَو حَيثُ ما يَجِبُ الثَناء بِغَير ما

أَولى الوَزير القرب مِن إِنعامِهِ

Or where is praise due, except for what

the vizier has bestowed of nearness through his bounty?

كَم قَد تَمَلَّكَني الزَمان فَعادَ لي

مُستَخدِماً إِذ صرت من خُدّامِهِ

How often time has held me in its power, then become

my servant, once I became one of the vizier’s servants!

وَإِلى الوَزير رَفعَتُ فيهِ ظُلامَة

عنوانها من عَبدِهِ وَغُلامِهِ

To the vizier I submitted a grievance against it,

headed: From his servant and his page.

يا من إِذا بَدأ الجَميل جَرى إِلى

أَقصى مَدى الغاياتِ في اِستتمامِهِ

O you who, when you begin a kindness, press on to

the furthest reach of all goals in completing it,

أَرغَب بِعَبدِك أَن يُدنس لفظهِ

بِشكاة صرف زَمانه وَخِصامِهِ

hold your servant above sullying his speech

by complaining of his time’s vicissitudes and quarreling with it.

وَأَجره مِن أَيّامِهِ وَأَقلَهُ من

إِجرامه وَأَنِرهُ في إِظلامِهِ

Shelter him from his days, pardon him for

his offenses, and give him light in his darkness.

يا من يُباري الغُرَّ من أَخواله

كرماً وَيَحكي الصيدَ مِن أَعمامِهِ

O you who rival the illustrious among your maternal uncles

in generosity, and resemble the proud nobles among your paternal uncles,

كَالبَدرِ عِندَ تَمامِهِ وَالغَيث

في إِرهامِهِ وَاللَيث في إِقدامِهِ

like the moon at its fullness, and like rain

in its gentle showers, and like the lion in his bold advance.

ما المُرهفات البيض من أَسيافه

كالمُؤهفات السود مِن أَقلامِهِ

The keen white blades among his swords are not

like the keen black points among his pens.

وَيَقول عند سَماع رائق لَفظِهِ

لا فَرق بَينَ لِسانِهِ وَحُسامِهِ

And one says, on hearing his elegant speech:

There is no difference between his tongue and his sword.

يا ابنَ الفُراتِ وَما الفُراتُ بِجَدوَلٍ

مِن بَحرك المورود فيض جَمامِهِ

O Ibn al-Furat, the Euphrates is not so much as a stream

of your sea, whose overflowing waters people come to draw.

اسمَع مَديحَ فَتىً لِبَرِّكَ شاكِرٍ

متبدِّهٍ في نَثرِهِ وَنِظامِهِ

Hear the praise of a young man grateful for your kindness,

improvising in his prose and verse.

واِسلمَ عَلى قُرب الحَوادِث ما دَعَت

وَتَجاوَبَت في الأَيكِ ورق حَمامِهِ

And remain safe, despite calamities’ nearness, as long as they call

and answer one another in the thicket—its gray doves.