أرقت وصحبي بنجد هجود — Alarjani

أرِقْتُ وصَحْبي بنَجْدٍ هُجودُ

وأيدِي الرّكائبِ وَهْناً ركودُ

I lay awake while my companions slept in Najd,

and the camels' forelegs rested motionless late at night.

لبَرْقٍ تَبَسَّمَ فاستَعْبَرتْ

جُفوني وحَنَّ الفؤادُ العَميد

At lightning that smiled, tears welled up

in my eyelids, and my love-stricken heart yearned.

كأنّ تَلألُؤه في الظّلامِ

إذا لاحَ ثَغْرٌ لسلْمَى بَرود

Its glittering in the darkness seemed,

when it flashed, to be Salma's cool smile.

دنا ضوءه فَسَما ناظري

إليه وسُقْياهُ منّا بَعيد

Its light drew near, and my gaze rose

toward it, though its rain was far from us.

فمَنْ بالأجارعِ من وَمْضِه

مَشوقٌ ومَن بالمَطالي مَجود

So those in the sandy flats, at its flash,

are stirred with longing; those in the valley bottoms receive rain.

وما ضَرَّ صحبي سنا بارقٍ

إذا ضَنَّ ما دام عَينَي تَجود

The gleam of lightning does my companions no harm

if it withholds, so long as my eyes pour forth.

وشَوْقٌ نحَرتُ له مُقْلتي

بُكاءً لأنْ عادَني منه عِيد

And for longing I sacrificed my eye,

weeping, for its festival returned to visit me.

ومن دونِ فاتنةِ البِيضِ بيِضٌ

ومن دونِ ساكنةِ البيدِ بِيد

Between me and the enchantress of fair women lie bright swords,

and between me and the desert's dweller lie deserts.

فللّهِ قومٌ على نَأْيِهم

لهم من هَوايَ ذِمامٌ وكيد

How wondrous, by God, those people, despite their distance:

they have from my love a binding pledge.

نأىَ النّومُ عَنّىَ لمّا نأوا

وأقْسمَ لا عادَ حتّى يَعودوا

Sleep departed from me when they departed,

and swore not to return until they returned.

وقد بُدّلَ الوحشُ بالآنِسا

تِ يومَ غدا الظّعنُ منهم زَرود

Wild beasts replaced the companionable women

the day their departing caravan set out from Zarud.

فظَبياً يُراعُ بظَبيٍ يَروعُ

وخِشْفاً يُصادُ بخِشْفٍ يَصيد

A gazelle that is frightened for a gazelle that frightens,

and a fawn that is hunted for a fawn that hunts.

نظرتُ إلى السِّرْبِ لمَّا نَصبْنَ

إلى الرَّكبِ أَجيادَها وهْي غِيد

I watched the herd when they stretched

their necks toward the caravan, slender and graceful.

فكم قلتُ للعَيْن أَين النقابُ

وكم قلتُ للجيدِ أَين العقود

How often I asked the eye, 'Where is the veil?'

And how often I asked the neck, 'Where are the necklaces?'

فيا راكباً يتَخطّى الفلاةَ

به في الصباحِ نَجاةٌ وخُود

O rider traversing the wilderness,

borne at dawn by a swift, long-striding she-camel:

إذا ما بلُغْتُ الحِمى سالماً

وحُطَّتْ لِنضْوِك فيه القُتود

when I reach the sanctuary safely,

and your weary mount's saddle-frames are set down there,

فَبلَّغْ سَلاميَ بَدْرَ الخيا

مِ يَكْسِفُه نأْيُه والصُّدود

then carry my greetings to the full moon of the tents,

eclipsed by his remoteness and rejection.

بآيةِ ما قال يومَ الرَّحي

لِ مَرْعِيَّةٌ للخليلِ العهود

By the token of his words on the day of departure:

'Pledges to a dear friend are honored.'

ولمَّا وقَفْنا غداةَ الوداعِ

وقِيدتْ لتظْعَن بالحيّ قُود

When we stood on the morning of farewell,

and long-necked camels were led to carry the tribe away,

بكَى وتَنفَّس خوفَ الفِراق

فأسلَم عِقدَيْهِ جَفْنٌ وجِيد

he wept and sighed for fear of separation,

and his eyelid and neck surrendered his two necklaces.

كأنَّ الذي خلَعتْه النٌّحو

رُ من لُؤْلُؤٍ لَبِستْه الخُدود

As though what the necks had cast off

of pearls was now worn by the cheeks.

رمانيَ عن عَطْفَةِ الحاجبَيْنِ

بطَرْفٍ كليلٍ شَباهُ حَديد

From the curve of his two eyebrows he shot me

with a languid glance whose edge was sharp:

من النَّبْلِ يَملأ منه القلوبُ

جِراحاً وتَسلَمُ منه الجلود

an arrow that fills hearts

with wounds, yet leaves the skin unharmed.

أَفاتنةَ العينِ كم قد رمْيتِ

فَصِيدَ وسَهْمُكِ في القوسِ صِيد

O enchantress of the eye, how often have you shot,

and captured proud lords, your arrow still in its bow!

كحضرة مَولَى الورى إذ تظَلُّ

ومن شَرف الدّينِ فيها سَديد

Like the court of the lord of humankind, where

Sharaf al-Din stands unerring,

مُقيمٌ ولم تَخْلُ يوماً له

تَهائمُ من أَثَرٍ أو نُجود

resident there; yet never for a day have his

lowlands or uplands lacked a trace of him.

مُصِيبٌ لأغراضِ مَن يَرتَجيه

يُشير فَيْقرُبُ منه البَعيد

Striking the aims of those who hope in him,

he gestures, and the distant draws near him.

فلا زال منها بهذا المحَلْ

لِ تَبدأُ آلاؤه أو تَعود

May he ever hold this station there,

his favors either beginning anew or returning.

ولا خاب إلاّ جَهولانِ منه

عَدُوُّ يُكايِدُه أو حَسود

None is disappointed in him but two ignorant kinds:

an enemy scheming against him, or an envier.

فتىً زانَهُ بأْسُه والسَّماحُ

ومَجَّده نَفْسُه والجُدود

A young man adorned by his valor and generosity,

ennobled by his own soul and his ancestors.

لياليهِ بِيضٌ من المكرماتِ

وأيّامُ قَومٍ من اللٌّؤْمِ سُود

His nights are white with noble deeds,

while other people's days are black with baseness.

فقد ساد قبلَ خُلُوِّ الدّيارِ

وأَهْوِنْ بمَنْ حين تَخْلو يَسود

He was already lord before the dwellings stood empty;

how paltry is one who rules only when they fall empty!

تَحُلُّ من المُلْكِ في وَسْطهِ

لأنّك في كُلِّ فَضْلٍ وَحيد

You occupy the center of sovereignty,

for in every excellence you stand alone.

ومُزْدَوِجٌ كُلُّ دُرِّ النّظامِ

وواسِطةُ العِقْدِ فيه فَريد

Every pearl in the string is paired,

but the necklace's central gem is single.

ومَن حَلَّ فوقَ مَحلِّ النُّجومِ

فلا شَيْءَ يَنقُصه أو يَزيد

Whoever dwells above the station of the stars—

nothing diminishes or increases him.

وتَكْبُرُ عَمّا به يَكْبُرون

فما لكَ في يَومِ فَخْرٍ نَديد

You rise above the things through which they grow great;

you have no rival on a day of boasting.

وما قَلَّ عنك يَقِلّونَ عنه

إذا ضُرِبَتْ للأُمورِ الحُدود

What falls below you, they fall below in turn,

when the bounds of matters are drawn.

يَعُدُّ لكَ المُلْكُ أيّامَكَ ال

حسان على حين قلّ العديد

The realm counts to your credit your days—

the splendid ones—when their number has grown few.

وكم قمت بالرّأي من دونه

مقاوم ما شهدته الجنود

How often, with counsel, you stood in its defense,

in contests the armies never witnessed!

متى تدّع السّبق في نصره

فتلك اللّيالي عليه شهود

Whenever you claim precedence in supporting it,

those nights bear witness to your claim.

فدام ودمت ولا زلتما

قرينين في العزّ ما اخضرّ عود

May it endure, and you endure; may you both remain

companions in glory while any branch stays green.

وللهِ ذو كرَمٍ لم يَزَلْ

تَناهَبُ ما في يدَيْهِ الوُفود

Wondrous, by God, is a generous man whose

visiting delegations ever vie to seize what is in his hands.

يَقي ديِنَه ويَقِي عِرْضَهُ

منَ الذَّمِّ طارِفُهُ والتّليد

His faith and his honor are guarded

from reproach by his new-gained and inherited wealth.

وتُطبَعُ للمُلْكِ من رَأيْهِ

صَوارِمُ ما تَحْتويها غُمود

From his counsel are forged for the realm

sharp swords that no sheaths can contain.

ويا رُبَّ ذي لَجَبٍ أرْعَنٍ

له عَارِضٌ بالمنايا يَجود

How many a vast, clamorous host,

with a cloud-front showering deaths,

كثيرٌ به للسُّيوفِ البُروقُ

كثيرٌ به للقِسيِّ الرُّعود

thick with the lightning of swords,

thick with the thunder of bows,

ثنَيْتَ بسطْرَيْنِ ممّا كتَبْت

فظَلَّ الكتائبُ عنه تَحيد

have you turned back with two lines of what you wrote,

so that the battalions kept veering away from it!

يَراعُكَ من قَبْلِ أن يُجْتَنى

تُراعُ له في الغِياضِ الأُسود

Even before your reed-pen is harvested,

the lions in the thickets take fright at it.

إلى شَرَفِ الدّينِ سارَتْ بنا

وتَشْرُفُ عند المَوالي العَبيد

To Sharaf al-Din they journeyed with us—

and slaves grow noble beside their masters—

ظَوامِئُ منه إلى مَنْهَلٍ

زَمانِيَ قد كان عنه يَذود

thirsty for a watering-place he provides,

from which my time had kept me away.

فما جاء سَوْقٌ شديدٌ بها

ولكنّ ما جاءَ شَوقٌ شَديد

No fierce driving brought them here;

rather, what brought them was fierce longing.

لقِينا حوادثَ مِن دَهْرِنا

تكادُ لها الأرضُ عُظْماً تَميد

We encountered calamities from our times,

so mighty that the earth almost reeled at them.

قنَأْتُ حَيائي لها واصطَبرت

وطالَ قيامي لها والقُعود

I held fast to my modesty before them and endured;

long were my standing and sitting before them.

سُتورُ التّجمُّلِ أضحَتْ وهُنْ

نَ من دونِ أسرارِ حالي سُدود

The curtains of composure had become

barriers set before the secrets of my condition.

فَيَبكي لظاهرِهنَّ العَدُو

ويَبْكِي لباطِنهنّ الوَدود

The enemy weeps at their outward appearance,

and the loving friend weeps at their hidden depths.

ويَفْدَحُ كتِمانُ ما لا يُطيق

ويَفْضَحُ إعلانُ ما لا يُريد

Concealing what one cannot bear is crushing,

and disclosing what one would not wish is shaming.

فَبدَّل شَكْوايَ شُكْراً لها

بأروعَ قَصْدِي له والقَصيد

Then my complaint was changed to gratitude for them

by my seeking a splendid man and addressing him in verse.

وعمّا يُفيتُ زمانِي المُسي

ءُ أقبلْتُ أعتاضُ مِمّا يُفيد

And for what my ill-doing time makes me lose,

I turned to take compensation from what he gives.

كما يَقْصِدُ القَمرُ الشّمسَ لا

يَزالُ يُرى صَدَرِي والورُود

As the moon seeks the sun, so ceaselessly

my departures and arrivals are seen.

فأنقُصُ عند اجتماعي به

وعند انصرافيَ عنه أَزيد

I dwindle when I come together with him,

and grow when I depart from him.

فَخُذْها قلائدَ من خاطرٍ

له نَفَسٌ في المعاني مَديد

Take them, then, as necklaces from a mind

whose breath in meanings is far-reaching.

شَوارِدَ تُقْضَى بهِنَّ الحقو

قُ حُسْناً وتُنْسَى لَهُنَّ الحُقود

Wandering verses that discharge obligations

beautifully, and for whose sake grudges are forgotten.

قَريضٌ لأقلامِ كُتّابهِ

إليه لذِكْرِك فيه سُجود

Poetry before which the pens of his scribes

bow down, because you are mentioned within it.

وما يَغْتدى في الرّياضِ النّسيم

ولا تَلْتقي في السّماءِ السُعود

No breeze visiting the gardens at dawn,

nor lucky stars meeting in the sky, compares

كما يَعْتفِي فاضِلٌ مُفْضِلاً

فهذا يَجودُ وهذا يُجيد

with a worthy man seeking a benefactor:

this one gives generously, and that one excels.

فلا زال عُمْرُك يُبْلِي الزّمان

ولا زال يَلْقاك عِيدٌ جَديد

May your lifetime forever wear time away,

and may a new feast day always meet you.

تَردَّدُ نحوَك أمثالُه

فبَدْءُ سعيدٌ وعَودٌ حميد

May others like it return to you:

a happy beginning and a praiseworthy return.

وأدنَى مَعاليك أمسَتْ تُجَرْ

رُ فوق المجَرّةِ منه بُرود

Even the least of your lofty honors now has

robes trailing from it above the Milky Way.

فَهنّأكَ اللّهُ ما نِلْتَه

وزادَك إن كان فيه مَزيد

May God give you joy in what you have attained,

and grant you more, if there is more to grant.

فقد جُزْتُمُ فوقَ حَدِّ الورى

وللمجدِ من بعدُ فيكم وُعود

For you have gone beyond the bounds of humankind,

and glory still has promises for you hereafter.