سرى طيفها والملتقى متدان — Alabywrdy

سَرى طَيفُها والمُلتَقى مُتَدانِ

وجِنْحُ الدُّجى والصُّبْحُ يَعْتلِجانِ

Her phantom came by night, while our meeting was close at hand,

and the wing of darkness and the dawn contended.

ولا نَيْلَ إلا الطّيف في القُربِ والنّوى

وأما الذي تَهذي بهِ فأماني

Nothing is attained but the phantom, in nearness and separation;

as for what you rave about, it is only wishful dreaming.

خَليلَيَّ مِنْ عُلْيا قُرَيْشٍ هُديتُما

أشَأنُكُما في حُبِّ عَلْوَةَ شاني

My two friends from the noblest of Quraysh—may you be guided—

is your plight in loving ʿAlwah like mine?

فَما لَكُما يَومَ العُذَيْبِ نَقِمْتُما

عَليَّ البُكا والأمرُ ما تَرَيانِ

Why, then, on the day at al-ʿUdhayb, did you both begrudge

me my weeping, when my plight is as you see?

فُؤادٌ بِذِكْرِ العامِريّةِ مُولَعٌ

وعَينٌ لَجوجُ الدّمعِ في الهَملانِ

A heart obsessed with remembering the ʿĀmirī woman,

and an eye whose persistent tears keep streaming.

أما فيكُما مِنْ هِزّةٍ أُمَويّةٍ

لأرْوَعَ في أسْرِ الصّبابَةِ عانِ

Is there in you no stirring of Umayyad sympathy

for a gallant man held captive by ardent longing?

ولمْ يَحْزُنِ الحَيَّ الكِنانِيَّ أنْ أُرَى

أسيراً لِهذا الحَيِّ من غَطَفانِ

Nor did it grieve the Kinānī clan to see me

a captive of this clan of Ghaṭafān.

ألا بِأبي ذاكَ الغُزَيِّلُ إذ رَنا

إليّ وذَيّاكَ البُرَيقُ شَجاني

Ah, my father be ransom for that little gazelle, when it gazed

at me—and that little gleam awakened my sorrow.

نَظَرْتُ غَداةَ البَيْنِ والعَينُ ثَرّةٌ

ورُدْنايَ مِمّا أسْبَلَتْ خَضِلانِ

I looked on the morning of parting, my eye overflowing,

and both my cuffs were drenched with what it shed.

فَحَمْحَمَ مُهْري وامْتَرى الدّمْعَ صاحِبي

وقدْ كادَ يَبكي مُنْصُلي وسِناني

Then my colt whinnied, and my companion coaxed forth his tears;

even my sword-blade and spearhead almost wept.

ولولا حَنينُ الأرْحَبيّةِ لم يَهجْ

فَتًى مُضَريٌّ مِنْ بُكاءِ يَمانِ

But for the Arḥabī she-camel's moaning, never would

a Muḍarī youth be stirred by a Yemeni's weeping.

أفِقْ منْ جَوًى يا أيّها المُهْرُ إنني

وإياكَ في أهْلِ الغَضى غُرُبانِ

Recover from heartache, O colt, for I

and you are strangers among the people of the ghaḍā trees.

يَشوقُكَ ماءٌ بالأباطِحِ سَلْسَلٌ

وقد نَشَحَتْ بالأبْرَقَيْنِ شِناني

Sweet-flowing water in the gravelly valleys makes you yearn,

while my worn waterskins have run dry at al-Abraqayn.

هَوايَ لَعَمْري ما هَوِيْتَ وإنما

يُجاذِبُني رَيْبُ الزّمانِ عِناني

By my life, my desire is what you have loved; only

the vicissitudes of time contend with me for my reins.

وما مُغْزِلٌ تَعْطو الأراكَ يَهُزُّهُ

نَسيمٌ تُناجيه الخَمائِلُ وانِ

Nor is a doe with a fawn, reaching for the arāk tree swayed

by a languid breeze to which the thickets whisper,

وتُزْجي برَوْقَيْها أغَنَّ كأنّهُ

مِنَ الضّعْفِ يَطْوي الأرضَ بالرَّسَفانِ

and nudging with her two horns a soft-voiced fawn, as though

from weakness it crossed the earth with short, dragging steps—

فَمالَ إِلى الظّلِّ الأراكِيّ دونَها

وكانا بهِ مِنْ قَبْلُ يَرْتَديانِ

it turned to the arāk's shade apart from her,

which the two had worn as a mantle before,

وصُبَّتْ علَيهِ الطُّلْسُ وهْيَ سَواغِبٌ

تَجوبُ إليهِ البيدَ بالنّسَلانِ

and the dusky wolves poured down upon it, famished,

crossing the deserts toward it at a swift trot;

فَعادَتْ إليهِ أمُّهُ وفؤادُها

هَفا كجَناحِ الصّقْرِ في الخَفَقانِ

then its mother returned to it, her heart

fluttering like a falcon's beating wing;

وظلّتْ على الجَرْعاءِ ولْهَى كَئيبَةً

وقد سالَ واديها بأحمَرَ قانِ

she remained on the sandy ground, distraught and sorrowful,

while her valley flowed with deep-crimson blood,

تَسوفُ الثّرى طَوراً ويَعْبَثُ تارةً

بِها أوْلَقٌ من شِدّةِ الوَلَهانِ

sniffing the earth at times, at other times tormented

by a frenzy born of overwhelming anguish—

بأوْجَدَ منّي يَومَ سِرْنا إِلى الحِمى

وقد نَزَلَتْ سَمْراءُ سَفْحَ أبانِ

more grief-stricken than I, the day we traveled to the protected pasture,

when Samrāʾ had settled on Abān's slope.

أفي كُلِّ يَومٍ حَنّةٌ تُعْقِبُ الأسى

وهَبْتُ لَها الأحشاءَ مُنذُ زَمانِ

Must each day bring a pang of longing that begets sorrow?

I gave her my innermost being long ago.

فحَتّامَ أُغْضي ناظِريَّ على القَذى

وأُلْقي بِمُسْتَنِّ الخُطوبِ جِراني

How long, then, must I close my eyes upon the grit,

and lay my neck in the racecourse of calamities?

ألَمْ تَعْلَمِ الأيّامُ أنّي بمَنزِلٍ

بهِ يُحْتَمى مِنْ طارِقِ الحَدَثانِ

Have the days not learned that I am in an abode

where refuge is found from misfortune's night-visitor,

بأشْرَفِ بَيْتٍ في لُؤَيِّ بْنِ غالِبٍ

جَنوحٍ إِلى أبوابِهِ الثَّقَلانِ

in the noblest house among the line of Luʾayy ibn Ghālib,

to whose doors humankind and jinn incline,

ومَربوطَةٍ جُرْدٍ سَوابِقَ حَوْلَهُ

بمَرْكوزَةٍ مُلْسِ المُتونِ لِدانِ

with tethered, sleek-coated, fleet horses around it,

beside planted spears, smooth-shafted and supple?

تَخِرُّ على الأذْقانِ في عَرَصاتِهِ

ملوكٌ يَرَوْنَ العِزَّ تَحتَ هَوانِ

In its courtyards fall upon their chins

kings who see glory beneath abasement;

وتَجمَحُ فيهمْ هَيْبةٌ قُرَشيّةٌ

لأبيَضَ منْ آلِ النّبيِّ هجانِ

and a Qurashī awe runs unbridled among them

before a radiant, pure-born man of the Prophet's family,

مِنَ النَّفَرِ البيضِ الإِلى تَعْتَري العُلا

إلَيْهِمْ بيَومَيْ نائِلٍ وطِعانِ

one of the radiant company whom high glory visits

on the two days of bounty and spear-fighting.

بهِمْ رَفَعَتْ عُلْيا مَعَدٍّ عِمادَها

ودانَتْ لَها الأيّامُ بَعْدَ حِرانِ

Through them Maʿadd's nobility raised its tent-pole,

and the days submitted to it after stubborn resistance.

وجَرّوا أنابيبَ الرِّماحِ بهَضْبَةٍ

منَ المَجْدِ تَكْبو دونَها القَدَمانِ

They trailed the jointed shafts of their spears upon a height

of glory before which both feet stumble.

فأفْياؤُهُمْ للمُسْتَجيرِ مَعاقِلٌ

وأبياتُهُمْ للمَكْرُماتِ مَغاني

Their shades are strongholds for those seeking refuge,

and their houses are dwellings for noble deeds.

أقولُ لِحادينا وقد لَغَبَ السُّرى

بأشباحِ قُودٍ كالقِسِيِّ حَوانِ

I say to our camel-driver, when night travel has worn down

the frames of long-necked camels, bent like bows,

نَواصِلَ من أعْقابِ لَيلٍ كأنّما

سَقاها الكرى عانيَّةً وسَقاني

emerging from the night's trailing hours, as though

drowsiness had given them ʿĀnah wine, and given it to me.

يُلَوّينَ أعناقاً خَواضِعَ في الدُّجى

وتَرْمي بألْحاظٍ إليَّ رَوانِ

They twist their drooping necks in the darkness,

and cast lingering glances toward me.

أنِخْها طَليحاتِ المآقي لَواغِباً

بِما اعْتَسَفَتْ من صَحْصَحٍ ومِتانِ

Make them kneel, weary-eyed and exhausted

by the open plains and hard uplands they have crossed without a path.

فإنّ أميرَ المُؤمنينَ وجارَهُ

بِعَلياءَ لا يَسْمو لَها القَمَرانِ

For the Commander of the Faithful and his protected neighbor

are at a height to which neither sun nor moon can rise.

إليكَ امتطَيْتُ الخَيلَ واللّيلَ والفَلا

وقد طاحَ في الإدلاجِ كُلُّ هِدانِ

Toward you I mounted horses, the night, and the wilderness,

while every sluggard gave way in the night march,

بِذي مَرَحٍ لا يَمْلأُ الهَوْلُ قَلْبَهُ

ولا يَتلَقّى لِمَّةً بِلَبانِ

on a spirited steed whose heart no terror fills,

and whose forelock never meets its breast.

وأُهْدي إليكَ الشِّعْرَ غَضّاً وما لَهُ

بِنَشْرِ أياديكَ الجِسامِ يَدانِ

I offer you verse, fresh and tender, though it has no

two hands equal to proclaiming your mighty favors.

تَطولُ يَدي منها على ما أُريدُهُ

ويَقْصُرُ عنها خاطِري ولساني

Through them my hand reaches whatever I desire,

while my thought and tongue fall short of them.

بَقيتَ ولا أبْقى لكَ اللهُ كاشِحاً

على غَرَرٍ يُرْمَى بهِ الرَّجَوانِ

May you endure, and may God leave you no spiteful foe,

in mortal peril, hurled against both brinks.

ومَدَّ عِنانَ الدّهْرِ إنْ شاءَ أو أَبى

إِلى نَيْلِ ما أمّلْتَهُ المَلَوانِ

And may time's reins be stretched, whether it wills or refuses,

by night and day, toward attaining what you hoped for.