ثنى عطفه للبارق المتأجج — Alabywrdy

ثَنى عِطْفَهُ للْبارِقِ المتأجّجِ

كَما عَلِقَتْ نارٌ بأطْرافِ عَرْفَجِ

He turned his side toward the blazing lightning,

as fire caught on the tips of arfaj shrubs.

وقد صَغَتِ الجَوْزاءُ والفَجْرُ ساطِعٌ

كَما لمَعَتْ رَيّا إليَّ بدُمْلُجِ

And Orion had tilted, with dawn shining,

as Rayya flashed her armlet toward me.

فبِتّ أراعيهِ على حدِّ مِرْفَقٍ

بطَرْفٍ مَتى يَطْمَحْ بهِ الشّوْقُ أنْشِجِ

So I spent the night watching it, propped on the point of an elbow,

with a gaze that, whenever longing lifts it, sets me sobbing.

وكادَتْ عَذارى الحَيِّ يَقْبِسْنَ نارَهُ

إذا ما تلَوَّتْ في السّنا المُتَوهِّجِ

And the camp's maidens almost took fire from its flame,

whenever its flame writhed amid the blazing radiance.

وشَوقي حَليمٌ غَيْرَ أنّ صَبابَةً

تُسَفِّهُ حِلْمَ الوامِقِ المُتَحرِّجِ

And my longing is forbearing, yet ardent yearning

makes a fool of a scrupulous lover's forbearance.

إذا ما سَرى بَرْقٌ وقد هَبّتِ الصَّبا

كَلِفْتُ بذِكْرى أكْحَلِ العَيْنِ أدْعَجِ

Whenever lightning travels by night and the east wind blows,

I am enthralled by memories of one with kohl-dark, large black eyes.

ففي وَمَضانِ البَرْقِ منهُ ابتِسامةٌ

وللريحِ رَيّا نَشْرِهِ المتأرِّجِ

For the lightning's flashing holds his smile,

and the wind carries his sweet, wafting fragrance.

لَبَيْتٌ بأعلى تَلْعَةٍ في ظِلالِهِ

مَلاعِبُ خَفّاقٍ من الرّيحِ سَجْسَجِ

A tent at the crest of a rise, in whose shade

lie playgrounds for a fluttering, temperate breeze,

تَشُدُّ النِّزاريّاتُ أطْنابَهُ العُلا

بأرْضٍ يَلوذُ الطّيْرُ فيها بعَوْسَجِ

whose lofty guy ropes the Nizari women tighten,

in a land where birds shelter in boxthorn;

ويَمْشينَ رَهْواً مِشْيَةً قُرَشيّةً

تَنوءُ بكُثْبانِ النّقا المُتَرَجْرِجِ

and they walk at ease, with a Qurayshi gait,

struggling beneath quivering dunes of sand;

وتُشْرِقُ بالوَرْدِ الخُدودُ نَواضِراً

إذا ابْتَسَمَتْ عن أقْحُوانٍ مُفَلَّجِ

and fresh cheeks glow with roses

when their smiles reveal well-spaced daisies;

ونَغْمَةُ راعي الذّوْدِ يُزْجي إفالَهُ

بدِعْصٍ يُهاديهِ ندىً اللّيلِ أثْبَجِ

and the camel-herder's song as he drives his young camels

on a broad-backed sandhill caressed by the dew of night;

وغارَتُنا والصُّبْحُ حَطّ لِثامَهُ

على كُلِّ مَوّارِ المِلاطَيْنِ أهْوَجِ

and our raid, as dawn casts off its veil,

on every headlong mount with heaving flanks—

أحَبُّ إلَيْنا مِنْ قُوَيْقٍ وضَجْعَةٍ

على زَهَرٍ يسْتَوقِفُ العَيْنَ مُبهِجِ

are dearer to us than Quwayq and reclining

on delightful flowers that arrest the eye.

فللّهِ مَرْأىً بالعَقيقِ ومَسْمَعٌ

عشيّةَ مرّتْ بالحِمى أُخْتُ مُدْلِجِ

By God, what a sight and sound at al-Aqiq,

that evening when Mudlij's sister passed through the protected pasture!

يَحُفُّ بها مِنْ فَرِْ خِنْدِفَ غِلْمَةٌ

كِنانيّةٌ تَنْحو خَمائِلَ مَنْعِجِ

Youths of Khindif's stock surrounded her,

of Kinanah, heading for the thickets of Man'ij.

أمالوا العَوالي بينَ آذانِ قُرَّحٍ

تردَّدْنَ في آلِ الضُّبَيْبِ وأعْوَجِ

They inclined their lances between the ears of full-grown steeds,

whose descent ran through the stock of al-Dubayb and A'waj.

فلمْ أرَ أُسْداً قَبْلَهُمْ تَحْتَ أدْرُعٍ

ولا رشأً مِنْ قَبْلِها وَسْطَ هَوْدَجِ

So never before them had I seen lions beneath coats of mail,

nor, before her, a gazelle fawn inside a howdah.

تجلّتْ لنا كالشّمْسِ يَكْنُفُ خِدْرَها

بُدورٌ تَوارَتْ مِنْ حُدوجٍ بأبْرُجِ

She appeared before us like the sun, her curtained chamber ringed

by full moons hidden in towers fashioned from camel-litters.

فما اكْتحَلَتْ عَيْني وللبَيْنِ رَوْعَةٌ

بأحْسَنَ منْ يَومِ الوَداعِ وأسمَجِ

So never was my eye kohled, amid the dread of parting,

with anything lovelier—or uglier—than the day of farewell.

وهاجَتْ تَباريحُ الصّبابةِ والهَوى

بَلابِلَ منْ صَدْرٍ على الوَجْدِ مُشْرَجِ

And the torments of yearning and love stirred

anguish from a breast laced shut over passion.

كأنّ فُؤادي بينَ أحْشاءِ مُجْرِمٍ

دَعاهُ الفَتى الجوثيُّ يَخشى ويَرْتجي

As though my heart lay in the entrails of a guilty man

summoned by the Jawthi youth, fearing yet hoping.

يُلِمُّ بمَغْشيِّ الرّواقَيْنِ ماجِدٍ

يُساجِلُ أنواءَ الرّبيعِ المُثَجّجِ

He approaches a nobleman whose two porticoes are thronged,

who rivals the torrential rains of spring.

ويَنْسِبُهُ آلُ المُسَيّبِ في الذُّرا

إِلى كُلِّ مَشْبوحِ الذِّراعَيْنِ أبْلَجِ

And the house of al-Musayyab traces his lofty lineage

to every broad-armed, bright-browed forebear.

وتُعْرَفُ فيهِ من وُهَيْبٍ وجَعْفرٍ

شَمائِلُ مَنْ يَفْخَرْ بِها لا يُلَجْلِجِ

And in him, from Wuhayb and Ja'far, are recognized

traits that anyone may boast of without faltering:

سَماحٌ إذا ألْقى الشّتاءُ جِرانَهُ

وهبّتْ لكَ النّكْباءُ مِنْ كُلِّ منْأَجِ

generosity when winter lays down its neck,

and the veering wind blows upon you from every quarter;

وطَعْنٌ يُجِرُّ القِرْنَ عاليَةَ القنا

ويَخْطِرُ منهُ في الرِّداءِ المُضَرَّجِ

and a thrust that makes the foe trail the lance's upper shaft,

and sends him swaying in a blood-stained cloak;

وتيهٌ عُقَيْليٌّ كأنّ دِلاصَهُ

يُزَرُّ على ذي لِبْدَتَيْنِ مُهَيّجٍ

and Uqayli pride, as though his polished mail

were fastened around a roused lion with twin mane-locks.

عليكَ بَهاءَ الدّلَتَيْنِ تعطّفَتْ

هَوازِنُ في جُرْثومِها المتوَشِّجِ

Around you, O Splendor of the Two States, has gathered

Hawazin, within its interwoven ancestral stock.

تَخوضُ الوَغى والقَوْمُ ما بينَ مُلْجِمٍ

أتاهُ الصّريخُ العامريُّ ومُسْرِجِ

You plunge into battle while the men are either bridling—

the Amiri alarm-crier having reached them—or saddling.

إذا اعْتَقَلَ القَيْسيُّ رُمْحاً تكسّرَتْ

أعالِيهِ في صَدْرِ الكَميِّ المُدجَّجِ

When the Qaysi couches a spear, splintered are

its upper parts in the breast of the fully armored warrior.

فكَمْ لكَ منْ يَومٍ أغَرَّ مُحَجَّلٍ

وقَتْلى علَيها الأنْسُرُ الفُتْخُ تَنْتَجي

How many a day is yours, white-blazed and white-stockinged,

and slain men over whom broad-winged vultures confer!

تَرَكْتُمْ لَدى النّشّاشِ منْ سِرِّ وائِلٍ

جُثاً حَنَفيّاتٍ بِكلِّ مُعرَّجِ

You left at al-Nashshash, from Wa'il's noblest stock,

corpses of Hanifah at every bend.

وبالحَفَرِ القَبْرُ القَنانيُّ داثِرٌ

بهِ هامَةٌ لمْ يَسْقِها آلُ مَذْحِجِ

And at al-Hafar the Qanani's grave is effaced,

within it a death-owl whose thirst the house of Madhhij has not quenched.

وكُلُّ غُلامٍ عامريٍّ إذا سَما

إِلى القِرْنِ لمْ يحْفِلْ صِياحَ المُهَجْهِجِ

And every Amiri youth, when he rises

to face his rival, heeds no clamorer's cries.

تُرشّحُ للهَيْجاءِ نَفْساً شَريسةً

متى تُلْقِحِ الحَرْبَ العَقيمَةَ تُنتِجِ

You prepare a fierce soul for battle;

whenever you make barren war conceive, she gives birth.

ولو كُنتَ يومَ الجَوْنِ بالشِّعْبِ لمْ يَسُدْ

شُرَيْحٌ ولم يُذْكَرْ غَناءٌ لحُنْدُجِ

And had you been in the ravine on the day of al-Jawn, no supremacy

would Shurayh have won, nor would Hunduj's prowess have been mentioned.

فسدَّ بِكَ الحيُّ العَباديُّ في العُلا

مَكانَ الخَفاجيِّ الأغَرِّ المُتَوَّجِ

So through you the Abadi clan has filled, in the heights of honor,

the place of the radiant, crowned Khafaji.

ونِيطَ بكَ الآمالُ لا زالَ يَنتَهي

إليكَ بآمالِ الوَرى كُلّ مَنهَجِ

And hopes are bound to you; may there always lead

to you, bearing humankind's hopes, every road.

وجاءَكَ بي نِضْوٌ كأنّيَ فوقَهُ

مُهيبٌ بصَفّاقِ الجَناحَيْنِ أخْرَجِ

And a worn-out mount brought me to you, as though upon it

I were urging on a pied ostrich with beating wings.

ولَولاكَ لمْ أخْبِطْ دُجَى الليْلِ والفَلا

بسَيْرٍ يُلَوّي منْ طُلَى الرّكْبِ مُزْعِجِ

But for you, I would not have groped through night's darkness and the wastes

at a jolting pace that twists the riders' necks.

وعندكَ قَوْمٌ يُلْقِحونَ ضَغائِناً

فألْحِقْ مُتِمَّ الحامِلاتِ بمُخْدِجِ

And around you are men who set grudges breeding;

so make the full-term bearer like one that miscarries.

فَذو العُرِّ يُكْوَى حينَ يُعْضِلُ داؤُهُ

وكلُّ أخي حَزْمٍ متى يَكْوِ يُنْضِجِ

For one with mange is cauterized when his illness defies cure,

and every man of resolve, when he cauterizes, sears thoroughly.