قليل لها أني بها مغرم صب — Albohtry

قَليلٌ لَها أَنّي بِها مُغرَمٌ صَبُّ

وَأَن لَم يُقارِف غَيرَ وَجدٍ بِها القَلبُ

It is little enough for her that I am enamored of her, lovesick,

And that my heart has known nothing but longing for her.

بَذَلتُ الرِضا حَتّى تَصَرَّمَ سُخطُها

وَلِلمُتَجَنّي بَعدَ إِرضائِهِ عَتبُ

I offered appeasement until her anger ended;

Yet the maker of false grievances still reproaches after being appeased.

وَلَم أَرَ مِثلَ الحُبِّ صادَ غُرورُهُ

لَبيبَ الرِجالِ بَعدَ ما اِختُبِرَ الحُبُّ

I have seen nothing like love, whose deception has ensnared

The discerning among men, even after love had been tested.

وَإِنّي لَأَشتاقُ الخَيالَ وَأُكثِرُ ال

زِيارَةَ مِن طَيفٍ زِيارَتُهُ غِبُّ

And I long for the apparition, and seek frequent

Visits from a phantom whose visits come at intervals.

وَمِن أَينَ أَصبو بَعدَ شَيبي وَبَعدَما

تَأَلّى الخَلِيُّ أَنَّ ذا الشَيبِ لايَصبو

How can I be lovesick after my hair has grayed, and after

The man untouched by love swore that the gray-haired do not yearn?

أَسالِبَتي حُسنَ الأُسى أَو مُخيفَتي

عَلى جَلَدي تِلكَ الصَرائِمُ وَالكُثبُ

Are they robbing me of fair consolation, or making me fear

For my endurance—those tracts of sand and dunes?

رَضيتُ اِتِّحادي بِالغَرامِ وَلَم أُرِد

إِلى وَقفَتي في الدارِ أَن يَقِفَ الرَكبُ

I was content to be alone in my passion, and did not wish

The caravan to halt with me at the dwelling.

وَلَو كُنتُ ذا صَحبٍ عَشِيَّةَ عَزَّبي

تَحَدُّرُ دَمعِ العَينِ عَنَّفَني الصَحبُ

Had I had companions the evening I was overcome

By the flowing tears of my eyes, my companions would have rebuked me.

لَقَد قَطَعَ الواشي بِتَلفيقِ ما وَشى

مِنَ القَولِ ما لا يَقطَعُ الصارِمُ العَضبُ

The talebearer has indeed severed, by fabricating what he spread

In speech, what the keen, cutting sword cannot sever.

فَأَصبَحتُ في بَغدادَ لا الظِلُّ واسِعٌ

وَلا العَيشُ غَضٌّ في غَضارَتِهِ رَطبُ

So I found myself in Baghdad: the shade was not ample,

Nor was life tender and moist in its luxuriance.

أَأَمدَحُ عُمّالَ الطَساسيجِ راغِباً

إِلَيهِم وَلي بِالشامِ مُستَمتَعٌ رَغبُ

Am I to praise the tax-district officials, seeking favor

From them, while I have ample enjoyment in Syria?

فَأَيهاتَ مِن رَكبٍ يُؤَدّي رِسالَةً

إِلى الشامِ إِلّا أَن تَحَمَّلَها الكُتبُ

But little hope is there of a caravan to carry a message

To Syria—unless letters bear it.

وَعِندَ أَبي العَبّاسِ لَو كانَ دانِياً

نَواحي الفِناءِ السَهلِ وَالكَنَفُ الرَحبُ

And with Abu al-Abbas, were he near,

Lie the expanses of an accessible courtyard and a spacious refuge.

وَكانَت بَلاءً نِيَّتي عَنهُ وَالغِنى

غِنى الدَهرِ أَدنى ما يُنَوِّلُ أَو يَحبو

My departure from him proved a trial; and wealth—

A lifetime's wealth—is the least he gives or bestows.

وَذو أُهَبٍ لِلحادِثاتِ بِمِثلِها

يُزالُ الطَخى عَنّا وَيُستَدفَعُ الكَربُ

And he has resources for calamities; by means such as these

Gloom is lifted from us, and distress is warded off:

سُيوفٌ لَها في عُمرِ كُلِّ عِدىً رَدىً

وَخَيلٌ لَها في دارِ كُلِّ عِدىً نَهبُ

Swords that bring death to the lives of all enemies,

And horses that take plunder in the dwellings of all enemies.

عَلَت فَوقَ بَغراسٍ فَضاقَت بِما جَنَت

صُدورُ رِجالٍ حينَ ضاقَ بِها الدَربُ

They climbed above Baghras, and what they wrought constricted

Men's breasts, when the pass grew cramped with them.

وَثابَ إِلَيهِم رَأيُهُم فَتَبَيَّنوا

عَلى حالِ فَوتٍ أَنَّ مَركَبَهُم صَعبُ

Their judgment returned to them, and they realized,

Too late, that their mount was unruly.

وَكانوا ثَمودَ الحِجرِ حَقَّ عَلَيهُمُ

وُقوعُ العَذابِ وَالخَصِيُّ لَهُم سَقبُ

They were Thamud of al-Hijr, doomed to suffer

The descent of punishment; the eunuch was their camel calf.

تَحَنّى عَلَيهِم وَالمَوارِدُ سَهلَةٌ

وَأَفرَجَ عَنهُم بَعدَما أَعضَلَ الخَطبُ

He bent toward them in kindness, while the watering places were easy to reach,

And relieved them after the crisis had grown intractable.

وَلَو حَضَرَتهُ أُنثَياهُ استَقَلَّتا

إِلى كُليَتَيهِ حينَ أَزعَجَهُ الرُعبُ

Had his two testicles been present, they would have risen

To his kidneys when terror jolted him.

فَما هُوَ إِلّا العَفوُ عَمَّت سَماؤُهُ

أَوِ السَيفُ عُريانُ المَضارِبِ لا يَنبو

Thus he is nothing but pardon, whose rain reaches all,

Or the sword, its striking edges bare, never glancing off.

وَما شَكَّ قَومٌ أَوقَدوا نارَ فِتنَةٍ

وَسِرتَ إِلَيهِم أَنَّ نارَهُمُ تَخبو

No people who kindled a fire of rebellion doubted,

When you marched against them, that their fire would die down.

كَأَن لَم يَرَوا سيما الطَويلَ وَجَمعَهُ

وَما فَعَلَت فيهِ وَفي جَمعِهِ الحَربُ

As though they had not seen Sima al-Tawil and his host,

And what war did to him and to his host.

وَخارِجَ بابَ البَحرِ أُسدُ خَفِيَّةٍ

وَقَد سَدَّ قُطرَيهِ عَلى الغَنَمِ الزَربُ

And outside Bab al-Bahr stood lions of Khafiyya,

While the pen had shut both its sides upon the sheep.

تَحَيَّرَ في أَمرَيهِ ثُمَّ تَحَبَّبَت

إِلَيهِ الحَياةُ ماؤُها عَلَلٌ سَكبُ

He wavered between his two choices; then life became dear

To him, its water poured out in draught after draught.

وَقَد غَلُظَت دونَ النَجاةِ الَّتي اِبتَغى

رِقابُ رِجالٍ دونَ ما مَنَعَت غُلبُ

And the escape he sought was barred by thick

Necks of men, stout in defense of what they guarded.

تَكَرَّهَ طَعمَ المَوتِ وَالسَيفُ آخِذٌ

مُخَنَّقَ لَيثِ الحَربِ حاصِلُهُ كَلبُ

He loathed the taste of death, while the sword gripped

The throat of war's lion—a dog in reality.

وَلَو كانَ حُرَّ النَفسِ وَالعَيشُ مُدبِرٌ

لَماتَ وَطَعمُ المَوتِ في فَمِهِ عَذبُ

Had he been noble of soul, as life turned away,

He would have died with the taste of death sweet in his mouth.

وَلَو لَم يُحاجِز لُؤلُؤٌ بِفِرارِهِ

لَكانَ لِصَدرِ الرُمحِ في لُؤلُؤٍ ثَقبُ

Had Lu'lu' not kept his distance by fleeing,

The spear's point would have made a hole in Lu'lu'.

تَخَطَّأَ عَرضَ الأَرضِ راكِبَ وَجهِهِ

لِيَمنَعَ مِنهُ البُعدُ ما يَبذُلُ القُربُ

He crossed the earth's breadth, riding headlong,

So distance might safeguard what nearness would surrender.

يُحِبُّ البِلادَ وَهيَ شَرقٌ لِشَخصِهِ

وَيُذعَرُ مِنها وَهيَ مِن فَوقِهِ غَربُ

He loves the land when it is his body's place of rising,

And dreads it when, above him, it is his place of setting.

إِذا سارَ سَهباً عادَ ظُهراً عَدُوَّهُ

وَكانَ الصَديقَ غُدوَةً ذَلِكَ السَهبُ

When he crosses a plain, by noon it becomes his enemy,

Though that same plain had been his friend in the morning.

مَخاذيلُ لَم يَستُر فَضائِحَ عَجزِهِم

وَفاءٌ وَلَم يَنهَض بِغَدرِهِمِ شَغبُ

Forsaken men—the disgraces of their weakness were not concealed

By loyalty, nor did tumult sustain their treachery.

أَخافُ كَأَنّي حامِلٌ وِزرَ بَعضِهِم

مِنَ الذَنبِ أَو أَنّي لِبَعضِهِمِ إِلبُ

I fear as though I bore, for some of them, the burden

Of sin, or as though I were an ally to some of them.

وَما كانَ لي ذَنبٌ فَأَخشى جَزاءَهُ

وَعَفوُكَ مَرجُوٌّ وَإن كانَ لي ذَنبُ

Yet I have no offense whose punishment I should fear,

And I hope for your pardon, even if I have offended.