قف يا خيال وإن تساوينا ضنى — Alarjani

قِفْ يا خيالُ وإنْ تَساوَيْنا ضنَىً

أنا منك أولَى بالزّيارة مَوْهِنا

Stop, O phantom, though we are alike in wasting sickness.

I have more right than you to visit late at night.

نافستَ طَيفي والمَهامهُ دُونَنا

في أنْ يزورَ العامريّةَ أيُّنا

You rivaled my phantom, with wastelands between us,

over which of us should visit the ʿAmiri woman.

فسرَيتُ أعتجِرُ الظّلامَ إلى الحِمَى

ولقد عناني من أُميمةَ ما عنَى

So I traveled by night, winding darkness round my head, toward the sanctuary,

and suffered what I suffered because of Umayma.

وعَقلتُ ناجيتي بفضْلِ زِمامِها

لمّا رأيتُ خيامَهمْ بالمنحنى

I hobbled my swift she-camel with the spare length of her rein,

when I saw their tents at the bend.

وتطلَّعتْ فأضاء غُرّةُ وجهِها

باللّيلِ أيْسرَ مَنْهجي والأيمَنا

She peered out, and the radiance of her face lit up

the left and right of my path in the night.

لمّا طرقْتُ الحيَّ قالتْ خِيفةً

لا أنتَ إن عَلِمَ الغَيورُ ولا أنا

When I came by night to the camp, she said in fear,

'If the jealous one finds out, neither you nor I are safe.'

فدنَوْتُ طَوْعَ مَقالِها مُتخفِّياً

ورأيتُ خطْبَ القومِ عندي أهْوَنا

So I drew near, obeying her words, concealed,

and deemed the danger from her people less grave.

ومعي وليس معي سِواهُ صاحبٌ

عَضْبٌ أذودُ به الخميسَ الأرْعنا

With me was a companion, and none but him:

a keen sword with which I repel the mighty host.

حتّى رَفعْتُ عن المليحةِ سِجْفَها

يا صحبي فلَوَ انَّ عينَكَ بَيْننا

At last I lifted the beauty's curtain.

O my companions—if only your eye had been there with us!

سَترْتُ مُحيّاها مخافَةَ فِتْنَتي

بنِقابِها عنّي فكانَتْ أفتَنا

I covered her face, fearing my own enchantment,

with her veil, hiding it from myself—yet she was more enchanting.

وتَجرَّدتْ أطرافُها من زِينةٍ

عَمْداً فكان لها التَجرُّدُ أزْيَنا

Her limbs were stripped of adornment,

deliberately; yet going unadorned made her lovelier.

وتكاملَتْ حُسْناً فلو قرَنَتْ لنا

بالحُسْنِ إحساناً لكانتْ أحْسَنا

She was perfect in beauty; had she joined for us

kindness to beauty, she would have been more beautiful still.

قَسَماً بما زار الحجيجُ وما سعَوا

زُمَراً وما نَحَروا على شَطَّيْ مِنى

I swear by what the pilgrims visit, and by their striving

in throngs, and by what they sacrifice on either side of Mina:

ما اعتادَ قلبي ذكْرُ من سكَن الحِمى

إلاّ استطارَ وملَّ صَدْريَ مسكَنا

No memory of those who dwelt in the sanctuary visits my heart

without its taking wing and wearying of my breast as a home.

أمّا الشّبابُ فقد تعاهَدْنا على

ألاّ نَزالَ معاً فكان الأخْوَنا

As for youth, we had pledged to one another

never to part, but youth proved the more faithless.

وتَلَوُّنُ الأيّام علَّم مفرِقي

فِعْلَ الأحبّةِ في الهَوى فتَلوَّنا

The changing colors of the days taught my hair's parting

the ways of lovers in love, and it too changed color.

يا طالِبَ الثّأْرِ المُنيمِ وسَيْفُه

في الغِمْدِ لا تَحْسَبْ مَرامَك هَيِّنا

O seeker of vengeance that brings repose, whose sword

lies in its sheath, do not think your aim easily won.

أتُراكَ تَملآُ من غرارٍ أجفُناً

حتّى تُفرّغَ من غِرارٍ أجْفُنا

Do you think you can fill eyelids with a little sleep

before you empty scabbards of their sword-edges?

أوَما رأيتَ السَّيفَ وهْو مُسلَّطٌ

ما زال يَحكمُ بالمنايا والمُنى

Have you not seen the sword, when given power,

ever decreeing deaths and granting wishes?

لمّا ادَّعَى الأقلامُ فَضْلاً عندَه

غَضِبَ الحديدُ فشَقَّ منها الألْسُنا

When the pens claimed superiority before it,

the iron grew angry and split their tongues.

حتّى إذا زادَتْ بذاك فصاحةُ ال

أقلامِ حارَ النَّصْلُ لمّا أنْ رَنا

Then, when this increased the eloquence of the

pens, the blade was bewildered as it gazed.

وأراد أنْ يُضْحي لساناً كُلُّه

حتّى يُقِرَّ بفَضْلهِ فتلَسَّنا

It wished to become a tongue in its entirety,

so its merit would be acknowledged; thus it grew a tongue.

ولقلّما غَرِيَ الحسودُ بفاضلٍ

مُتَنقِّصاً إلاّ وزيدَ تَمكُّنا

Rarely does an envier fasten upon a worthy man,

belittling him, without his standing growing firmer.

إن كان جاذَبني المُقامَ مَعاشرٌ

فلقد تَخِذْتُ ليَ التَّغرُّبَ مَوْطِنا

If some people have contested my place with me,

I have indeed made living abroad my homeland.

ولقد نَزلتُ من الملوكِ بماجدٍ

فَقْرُ الرِّجالِ إليه مِفْتاحُ الغنى

Among kings I have lodged with a noble one:

men's need of him is the key to wealth.

مَلِكٌ إذا ألقَى اللّثامَ لوَفدِه

حُيّوا به حسَناً ورَجَّوا مُحْسِنا

A king who, when he unveils himself to his delegation,

greets them as a handsome man, and they hope for a benefactor.

لا يَألَفُ الرّاجونَ غيرَ فِنائهِ

أبداً ففيهِ الظِّلُّ يُشْمَلُ والجَنى

Those who hope frequent no courtyard but his

ever; there shade is spread for all, and fruit as well.

خَضِلُ اليدَيْنِ إذا انتدى ألفيْتَه

كالطَّود يَحتضنُ الغمامَ المُدْجنا

Moist of hand, when he holds assembly you find him

like a mountain embracing dark rainclouds.

فإذا بدا في لَبّةِ الخيلِ اكْتَسى

وجهُ النّهارِ له نِقاباً أدْكَنا

When he appears at the breast of the cavalry,

the face of day dons a dusky veil for him.

وإذا تفَرْعنَ من عِداهُ مارِقٌ

أومَى إلى قلمٍ له فتَثَعْبَنا

When a renegade among his foes plays Pharaoh,

he gestures toward his pen, and it becomes a serpent.

وجلا اليدَ البيضاءَ في تَوْقيعِه

فتلقَّفَ المُتمرِّدَ المُتفَرْعنا

He reveals the white hand in his decree,

and it swallows the rebel who plays Pharaoh.

للهِ دَرُّ بني جَهيرٍ إنّهمْ

جَهَروا بدِينِ المَجْدِ حتّى أُعلِنا

God bless the sons of Jahir! They

proclaimed the creed of glory until it was made public.

المُرتَقينَ من العلاء مَراقياً

منها السَّماكُ بحيثُ منه أَكُفُّنا

They ascend such heights of eminence

that al-Simak lies below them as our palms lie below it.

أَعليُّ يا ابْنَ مُحمّدِ بْنَ مُحمّدٍ

نَسَباً منَ الشّمسِ المُنيرة أَبْينا

O Ali, son of Muhammad, son of Muhammad,

with a lineage clearer than the shining sun!

أَعيا الثُّريّا وهْيَ كَفُّ سمائها

من دَوْحِ مجدِكَ أَن تَناولَ أَغصُنا

The Pleiades, though their sky's own palm, are powerless

to reach branches of the mighty tree of your glory.

وإذا الطّريفُ المجدِ زانَ زمانَه

فعُلاك تالدُه يَزينُ الأزمُنا

When newly acquired glory adorns its own age,

your eminence, its ancestral glory, adorns all ages.

لكَ من أَوائلِ وائلٍ جُرثومةٌ

من فَرْعها ثَمرُ المكارمِ يُجْتَنى

From Wa'il's earliest forebears you have an ancestral root,

from whose branch the fruit of noble deeds is gathered.

تَحْمي الخلافةَ بالوِزارةِ مثْلَما

قد كان يَحْمي العِزَّ قومُك بالقَنا

You guard the caliphate through the vizierate, just as

your people once guarded honor with spears.

ومُجيرُ دينِ اللهِ يا ابْنَ أَكارم

ما زال حفْظُ الجارِ منهمْ دَيْدَنا

You are the protector of God's religion, O son of noble men,

whose constant custom has been to protect a neighbor.

أَظهرْتَ للمُستَظْهرِ النُّصْحَ الّذي

ما مسَّ عزْمَك دونَ غايتهِ ونَى

You showed al-Mustazhir the sincere devotion

in whose pursuit no slackness touched your resolve short of its goal.

وأَبوك قبلَك من أَبيه قبلَه

قد حَلَّ حيث حَللْتَ تَبني ما بنَى

Your father before you, succeeding his father before him,

held the place you hold; you build what he built.

فسقىَ ثَراهُ كجُودِ كفِّكَ يا ابْنَهُ

غيْثٌ ودُمْتَ كذِكْرِه أَبداً لنا

May his grave be watered, like the bounty of your hand, O his son,

by rain; and may you endure for us forever, as his memory does.

فلأنتَ أَكرمُ مَن تأزَّرَ وارْتَدى

خُلُقاً وأَكملُ مَن تَسمّى واكتنَى

For you are the noblest of all who gird and cloak themselves,

in character, and the most perfect of all who bear names and bynames.

دانٍ من الجاني إذا عافٍ عفا

لكنّه عافٍ إذا الجاني جنَى

Within reach of the fruit-gatherer when a suppliant seeks bounty,

yet forgiving when the offender offends.

طَلْقٌ إذا اكتحلَتْ به عينُ امْرئٍ

برَقتْ أَسرِّةُ وجهِه فتَيمَّنا

Cheerful-faced: when a man's eye is anointed with the sight of him,

the lines of his face gleam, and he deems it auspicious.

ما أرسلَتْ يدُه عِنانَ مُطهّمٍ

إلاّ ويأتيهِ النّجاحُ إذا ثَنَى

Never does his hand loose the rein of a splendid steed

without success coming to him when he turns it back.

للهِ مَقْدَمُه الّذي في يَوْمه

نَذَرَ المَسرَّةَ لا أَجَدَّتْ مَظْعَنا

Blessed be his arrival, which on its day

pledged joy—may it never set out anew!

وطُلوعُه في مَوكبٍ ودَّتْ له

كُلُّ الجَوارحِ لو تَحَوَّلَ أَعيُنا

And his appearance in a procession, for whose sake

every limb wished it could be transformed into eyes.

لمّا بدا والشّوقُ يُدْني مَن نأى

مِن وجههِ والعزُّ يُنْئي مَن دنا

When he appeared, longing drew close those far away

from his face, while majesty kept those nearby at a distance.

والأرضُ تُلطَمُ من هُنا بسَنابِكٍ

من خَيْلهِ مَرَحاً وتُلثَمُ من هُنا

The earth was slapped here by the hooves

of his frolicking horses, and kissed over there.

والتِّبْرُ مِن أَدْنَى دَوامِ نِثارهِ

قد صارَ منه الجَرُّ يُحْسَبُ مَعدِنا

Gold, from even a brief continuance of his scattering,

made the ground seem a mine of it.

ناط الإمامُ بسَعْيهِ وبرأيِه

أَمراً بقاصيةِ السّعادةِ مُؤْذِنا

The Imam entrusted to his effort and his judgment

an undertaking heralding the farthest reach of happiness.

وجرَى به فلَكُ الجيادِ فما مضَى

منّا وإن بَعُدَ المدَى حتّى انْثَنى

The sphere of the steeds swept him along, yet he had hardly gone

from us, far as the course might be, before he returned.

كالشّمسِ دار على البسيطةِ دَوْرةً

علياءَ فامتلأتْ بهِ الدُّنْيا سَنا

Like the sun, he circled over the earth in a circuit

on high, and the world was filled with radiance from him.

فلْتشكُرَنَّ الدّولتانِ صَنيعةً

إن كان شُكْرُ صنيعِ مثْلكَ مُمْكنا

Let the two states surely give thanks for a kindness,

if thanking the beneficence of one like you is possible.

أَبدأْتَ قُربَهُما بقُرْبيَ فاغْتدَى

سَبَبُ العَلاء به وأَبدَوْا أمْتَنا

You began their rapprochement by drawing me near; thus

the bond of eminence grew firmer through it, as they made plain.

ونظَمْتَ شملَهما فدُمتَ ودامَتا

في العِزِّ ما سجَع الحمامُ ولَحَّنا

You knit their union; may you endure, and may they both endure

in might, as long as doves coo and sing.

أمّا الرّجاءُ فلم يَزلْ مُتغرِّباً

حتّى إذا وافَى ذُراك اسْتَوطَنا

As for hope, it remained a stranger abroad

until, reaching your heights, it made its home there.

ورأيتُ مُبتاعَ المحامدِ راغباً

فجلَبْتُ من دُرِّ القَريضِ المُثْمَنا

I saw a buyer of praises eager to purchase,

so I brought precious pearls of verse.

فلئنْ أتاك المدْحُ منّيَ رائقاً

فلأنَّ فكْرِيَ من عُلاك تَلقّنا

If praise reaches you from me pleasing and pure,

it is because my thought took its lessons from your eminence.

أمْلَتْ على قلبي بدائعَ وَصْفها

شيَمٌ تُفَصِّحُ في المديح الألْكَنا

Marvelous descriptions of them were dictated to my heart

by virtues that make the tongue-tied eloquent in praise.

والشِّعْرُ يعلَمُ أنّ أحسنَ نَظْمِه

وأجلَّهُ ما قيلَ فيك ودُوّنا

Poetry knows that the finest of its verse

and its most glorious is what is said of you and written down.

لي حالةٌ عَجُفَتْ فإنْ تُعْنَوْا بها

فجديرةٌ هيَ أنْ تعودَ فَتسْمنَا

My state has grown lean; if you give it your care,

it is surely fit to recover and grow fat again.

ولعلَّ أيّامَ الإقامةِ عندكمْ

آثارُها للنّاسِ تَظْهَرُ عندَنا

Perhaps the days of staying with you

will show people their effects upon us.

فالبدْرُ تحت شُعاعِ طلْعةِ شَمْسه

يَضْنَى إلى ألاّ يبِينَ منَ الضَّنى

The full moon beneath the rays of its sun's rising

wastes away until it cannot be seen for wasting.

ولها إليه على تَجاوُزِ بُرْجِها

في كلِّ يومٍ فَضْلُ نُورٍ يُقْتنَى

Yet she has for him, when he passes beyond her zodiacal house,

each day an added share of light to be gained.

فاسلَمْ لنا يا مجدَ دولةِ هاشمٍ

في دولةٍ قَعْساءَ عاليةِ البُنَى

May you remain safe for us, O glory of the state of Hashim,

in an unassailable state, lofty in its edifices.

سُرَّتْ بك الدُّنيا وحاش لقَلْبِها

معَ نُورِ وَجْهِك طالعاً أنْ يَحْزَنا

The world is gladdened by you; far be it from its heart,

with the light of your face rising, to feel sorrow.