بعض التماسك أيها القلب — Al Tughrai

بعضَ التَماسُكِ أيُّها القلبُ

فهو الهَوى ومرامُه صعبُ

Hold yourself together a little, O heart!

For this is love, and its goal is hard to attain.

إن الأُلَى قدروا وما غفروا

ما لي سوى حُبِيّهمُ ذنبُ

Indeed, those who had power yet would not forgive—

I have no fault except my love for them.

صَالوا على ضَعْفِي بقوَّتِهمْ

ما هكذا يتعاشَرُ الصحبُ

They assailed my weakness with their strength.

This is not how friends treat one another.

من ذا ألومُ على إِساءتِهم

قلبي عليَّ مع الهَوى إِلْبُ

Whom can I blame for their ill-treatment?

My heart is allied with love against me.

تاللّه ما قلبي بمنفردٍ

في الحبِّ كُلُّ جوارحي قلبُ

By God, my heart is not alone:

In love, every one of my limbs is a heart.

إِنيَ لتشعرنِي مواعِدُهمْ

طرباً وأعلم أنها كِذْبُ

Indeed, their promises fill me

with rapture, though I know they are lies.

وأَغُرُّ نفسي منهم طمعاً

فيهم فَيَملِكني له عُجْبُ

I beguile myself about them, out of hope

in them, and wonder at it masters me.

ما لي وما للركب إِذ حسِبوا

أنّي يُسكِّنُ ما بيَ العَتْبُ

What have I to do with the caravan, when they supposed

that reproach would soothe what ails me?

العَتْبُ أيسرُ ما أكابدُهُ

لو كان يعلمُ ما بي الرّكْبُ

Reproach is the least of what I endure—

if only the caravan knew what ails me!

يا وقفةً إثْرَ الأُلَى رحلُوا

حيث التقَى بالأبطحِ الشِّعْبُ

O halt in the wake of those who departed,

where the ravine met al-Abtah, the pebbled valley!

أرضٌ إِذا ولعَ النسيمُ بها

مَرِضَ الصَّبَا وتماثَلَ الترْبُ

A land where, when the breeze falls in love with it,

the east wind sickens and the soil recovers.

فترابُها جَعْدٌ ونطفتُهَا

عذبٌ وذيلُ نسيمها رَطْبُ

Its soil is moist and clumped, and its water

is sweet, and the hem of its breeze is damp.

أبكي لها دهراً قضيتُ له

نحبي ولا يُقْضَى له نَحْبُ

I weep for it, mourning an age for which I spent

my life, though no life can ever pay its due.

ساعاتُه خُلَسٌ ولذَّتُهُ

مسروقَةٌ ونعيمُه نَهْبُ

Its hours were snatched moments, and its delight

was stolen, its bliss a plundered prize.

دهرٌ غريمٌ لم يُحِسَّ به

ريبٌ ولم يَفْطُنْ له خَطْبُ

An age, a creditor, that went unnoticed

by ill fortune, and unperceived by calamity.

قد قلتُ للمُزجِي قلائِصَهُ

حُدْباً تَعرَّق لحمَها الحُدْبُ

I have said to the driver of his young she-camels,

humpbacked, the hills having gnawed away their flesh,

مترجِّحاً يحدو به رَغَبٌ

فيصدُّهُ عن قَصْدهِ الرَّهْبُ

wavering, driven onward by desire,

then turned from his course by fear:

أبشِرْ فقد جادتْكَ مقبلةً

أيامُ مجدِ المُلْك والخِصْبُ

Rejoice! They have come showering bounty upon you—

the days of royal glory and abundance.

أيامُ من ضَمِنَتْ سعادتُه

أنْ لا يطورَ فِناءَهُ جَدْبُ

The days of him whose good fortune has guaranteed

that drought shall never circle his courtyard.

ذاك الذي خضعتْ لطاعتِه

صِيْدُ الملوكِ وأذعنَ الغُلْبُ

He is the one to whose rule have bowed

the proud kings, and the mighty have submitted.

ذاك الذي يغدو وشِكَّتُه

إِقبالُه وجنودُه الرُّعْبُ

He is the one who goes forth, his battle gear

his good fortune, and his troops terror.

رَدَّ الأمورَ إِلى حقائِقِها

حتَّى استبدَّ بدورِه القُطْبُ

He restored affairs to their true order,

until the pole alone mastered its circuit.

وحمى حريمَ الملك ممتعِضاً

للجِدّ قد ألوَى به اللِّعْبُ

He guarded the sacred bounds of kingship, indignant

for earnestness, which frivolity had overthrown.

وشفَى من الداءِ العُضَالِ وقدْ

عجزَ الرُقَاةُ وأبلسَ الطِّبُ

He cured the incurable disease, though

the incantation-healers had failed, and medicine had despaired.

وأقامَ للأجنادِ هيبتَه

حتى صَفا للدولة الشرْبُ

He established awe of himself among the troops,

until the state's drinking water ran clear.

فتوقرتْ من بعدِما قَلِقَتْ

عُقَدُ الحُبَى وتفاقمَ الشغْبُ

Then grew steady, after they had shaken,

the knots of the knee-wraps, and after turmoil had mounted.

وتراجعتْ بيضُ السيوف إِلى ال

أغمادِ لا طَعْنٌ ولا ضَرْبُ

And the bright sword-blades returned to the

sheaths: no thrusting, no striking,

من بعدِ ما هجمَ الزمانُ بها

بِكْراً وحَلَّ عِقالَها الحَرْبُ

after Time had charged forth with them

still virgins, and war had loosed their tether,

في فترةٍ نُسِيَ الحُلومُ بها

وتشابَه المربوبُ والربُّ

during a lapse when reason was forgotten

and the ruled and ruler became alike.

بعزيمةٍ لو أنَّ هبَّتَها

للريح لم يَثْبُتْ لها هِضْبُ

With a resolve whose blast, if it belonged

to the wind, would leave no rocky height standing;

ولطافةٍ لو أنَّها رأبتْ

شعبَ الزُّجَاجِ تلاءَم الشَّعْبُ

and a gentleness that, if it mended

a crack in glass, would make the fissure close;

وسياسةٍ تحمي حميَّتُها

فتذوبُ في أغمادِها القُضْبُ

and a statecraft whose zeal burns hot,

so swords melt inside their sheaths;

وأغرَّ مطبوعِ النَّدَى شَرِقٍ

بالمجد فيضُ يمينِه سَكْبُ

and a radiant man, generous by nature, brimming

with glory; his right hand's bounty pours forth.

لقطوبهِ من بشرِهِ شِيَعٌ

ولحِلْمه من بطشهِ حِزْبُ

His frown has allies in his cheerful welcome,

and his forbearance has a faction in his might.

مُرُّ الحلاوةِ في مَهَزّتِه

لِينٌ ومَعْجَمُ عودِه صُلْبُ

Bitter in sweetness; when shaken,

pliant, yet his wood is hard to the testing bite.

لم تشتهرْ بالشرق عزمتُه

إِلّا ودانَ لحدِّها الغَرْبُ

No sooner was his resolve renowned in the East

than the West submitted to its edge.

آراؤُه كمقالِه سدَدٌ

ولسانُه كحسامِه عَضْبُ

His judgments, like his speech, are sound,

and his tongue, like his sword, is keen.

لم يُسْمَ في صَمَّاءَ مُعْضِلَةٍ

إِلّا تفرَّجَ باسمهِ الكَرْبُ

He was never named in a hard, baffling crisis

without distress lifting at his name.

متبرجٌ للوفدِ همَّتُهُ

بينَ الوفُودِ وبينَهُ حُجْبُ

He appears unveiled to the delegation; his ambition

sets veils between the delegations and him.

رأيٌ بعيدُ الغَوْرِ سانَدَهُ

جُودٌ قريبُ المستقَى عَذْبُ

A judgment of unfathomable depth, supported

by sweet bounty with a well close at hand;

وندىً لَوَ اَن السحبَ تَعْشُرُه

لم يتَّسِعْ لِقطَارها سُهبُ

And bounty—were the clouds to take a tenth of it,

no plains could contain their rain;

وعُلىً لوَ اَن الشمس تبلُغُها

في وجهِها سجدتْ لها الشُّهْبُ

and heights—were the sun to attain them,

the bright stars would bow to it in its presence;

وصَرامةٌ لو أنّ أيسرَهَا

للسيف لم يُثلَمْ له غرْبُ

and firmness—if the least of it belonged

to a sword, its edge would never be chipped.

لا نارُهُ تخبُو ولا يدُهُ

تنبو ولا إِقبالُه يكبُو

His fire does not fade, nor does his hand

recoil, nor does his good fortune stumble.

ساسَ الرعيةَ لا يباعدُه

بُغْضٌ ولا يدنُو به حُبُّ

He governed his subjects, neither held distant by

hatred nor drawn near by love.

واستغزرَ الأموالَ لا عنَتٌ

فيما يُثَمِّرُهُ ولا غَصبُ

He made wealth abundant, with no hardship

in what he made fruitful, and no forcible seizure.

جادت حلوبتُها بدَرَّتِها

عفواً ولا مَرْيٌ ولا عصبُ

Its milch-beast poured forth its milk,

freely, with no udder-stroking or binding.

وسواهُ قد جُهِدتْ حلوبتُه

مَرْياً ولم يُملأْ له قَعْبُ

Another's milch-beast has been exhausted

by stroking, yet no wooden bowl was filled for him.

لولا تأخّرُ عصرهِ نزلتْ

في شأنه الآياتُ والكُتْبُ

Had his age not come so late, there would have descended

verses and scriptures concerning him.

خُذْهَا مدبَّجَةً يَذِلُّ لها

قِطَعُ الرياض ويَخْجَلُ العصْبُ

Take it, richly brocaded; before it bow

patches of gardens, and striped fabrics blush.

واسْعد بعيد العُجْمِ مغتبطاً

من شأنك الإِعطاءُ والسلبُ

And rejoice in the Persians' festival, exultant;

giving and taking away are your prerogative.

غَمرَ الخلافُ الناسَ واتفقتْ

فيه وفيك العُجْمُ والعُرْبُ

Discord has engulfed the people, yet there is accord

on it and on you between the Persians and the Arabs.