لا نال منك فؤادي ما يرجيه — Alhbal

لا نالَ منكَ فؤادي ما يُرجّيهِ

إنه كَانَ طُولُ التَّنائي عنكَ يُسْلِيهِ

May my heart never gain from you what gives it hope;

indeed, long separation from you used to console it.

سَلِ الصبَّابةَ عَنْ جسمي السَّقيم ولا

تَسَلْ سَقامي فإِنّ السُّقم يخفيهِ

Ask longing about my ailing body, and do not

ask my illness, for illness conceals it.

ولا تَسَلْ غَير طرفي عَنْ مَدامِعِهِ

لا تأَخذِ الماءَ إلاّ من مجاريهِ

And ask none but my eye about its tears;

do not draw water except from its channels.

أشكو إلى اللهِ وجداً ظَلْتُ أَكتُمُهُ

عَنْ عاذِلي ودموع العين تبديه

I complain to God of a passion I kept concealing

from my reproacher, though the eye's tears reveal it;

وخاطراً قد تمادَى في غوايتِه

وزادَ حَتّى تمادَى في تماديهِ

and of a mind that has gone too far in its waywardness,

and gone further still, until it exceeded even its own excess;

وصَرَفَ دَهْرٍ أَصَابتني نوائبُهُ

بكلّ سَهْمٍ مِنَ الأَحداث تَبْريهِ

and of time's vicissitudes, whose calamities struck me

with every arrow that misfortunes sharpen.

سُقْياً لِدَهْرٍ مضَى لو كَأنَ سَاعدني

حَظِي لَكُنتُ بِهَذَا الدَّهرِ أَفْدِيْهِ

May rain bless an age gone by! Had I been aided

by my fortune, I would have ransomed it with this age.

هَذَا الزّمانُ الّذي لاَ كانَ مِنْ زِمَنٍ

ولا سَقَاهُ مِنَ الوسْمِيّ سارِيْهِ

This age—may it never have existed as an age,

nor may its night-cloud water it with autumn rain!

ماتَ الْوفاءُ وأَبناء الوفاءِ بهِ

فالْمجْدُ مِنْ بَعْدِهم أَقوتْ مغانيه

Loyalty and the sons of loyalty have died within it;

so, after them, glory's abodes lie deserted.

فأينَ مَنْ يَسْتَحقُّ المدحَ مُبْتَذِلاً

لِلْمالِ فيهِ فيوفِينَا ونُوفيه

Where, then, is one deserving praise, freely spending

wealth upon it, giving us our due as we give him his?

لَهْفي عَلَى غُرَّ أَبْياتٍ مَدَحْتُ بها

مَنْ لَوْ هَجوتُ لأرخَصْتُ الْهجا فيهِ

Alas for the radiant verses with which I praised

one whom I would have cheapened satire by satirizing!

لَهْفِي عَلَى ثَوبِ عزٍّ نَشْرهُ عَطِرٌ

أَلْبَستُهُ لِشَقَائي غَيرَ أَهْلِيهِ

Alas for a robe of honor whose scent is fragrant,

which, to my misfortune, I draped on one unworthy of it.

وأُفق نَظْمٍ تذيبُ الصّخر رقّتُهُ

أَطْلَعتُ فيه نجوماً مِنْ معانيهِ

And for a horizon of verse whose tenderness melts rock,

in which I made stars of its meanings rise.

حَبّرتُه في بخيلٍ نقشُ دِرْهمِهِ

اللهُ مِن أَعْين السّؤّال يَحْميهِ

I adorned it for a miser whose dirham bears the inscription:

'God protects it from the eyes of beggars.'

تكادُ تسجدُ للدينار جَبْهَتُهُ

بخلاً ويعبدُه مِن دون بارِيهِ

His forehead nearly prostrates itself before the dinar,

out of miserliness, and he worships it instead of his Maker.

يودّ لو أنّ في آذانهِ صَمَماً

إذا دَعاهُ إلى المعروفِ دَاعيهِ

He wishes there were deafness in his ears

whenever someone calls him to generosity.

لو جَاءَه المُصطفى مُسْتَشْفِعاً

بأمينِ الله في دِرهمٍ ما كانَ يُعطيهِ

Even if the Chosen One came to him seeking intercession

through God's trusted one for a dirham, he would not give it.

لا المدحُ يُغْريه بالإِعطا لِسَائِلِهِ

ولا الهِجا عَن الحرمان يُثْنْيهِ

Neither praise entices him to give to his petitioner,

nor does satire turn him from withholding.

أزْهَى مِنَ الدِيكِ إذْ يمشي عَلَى صَلَفٍ

لَهُ جناحان مِنْ كِبرٍ ومن تِيهِ

More vain than a rooster when he struts in arrogance,

he has two wings of pride and haughtiness.

لا حِلم فيه ولا عَقلٌ ولا أدبٌ

ولا وفاء إلى المعروف يهديه

He has no forbearance, no reason, no refinement,

nor loyalty to guide him toward kindness.

يرومُ شأوَ العُلَى والبخْلُ يُقْعدهُ

كأنَّه طائرٌ قُصَّتْ خوافيْهِ

He seeks the heights of glory, but miserliness holds him down,

like a bird whose secondary wing feathers have been clipped.

يَرى التكبَّرِ من أسْنَى مَنَاقبهِ

ويحسَب البُخْلَ مِنْ أَعلَى مَعاليه

He sees arrogance as one of his most splendid virtues,

and counts miserliness among his loftiest distinctions.

فليتَ شِعري علَى ما فيه مِن صَلَفٍ

أكانَ مُنْتَظراً لِلْوحْيِ يأتيه

Would that I knew, despite all his arrogance,

was he waiting for revelation to come to him?

قَلّدتْهُ لِشقائي في سعادتهِ

عقْداً مِنَ المدحِ قد راقَت لآليهِ

To my misery, amid his joy, I hung around his neck

a necklace of praise whose pearls were dazzling.

تودّ شمسُ الضّحى لو أنَها حليَتْ

بهِ وبَدَرُ الدّجى لَو كان يَحكِيهِ

The midmorning sun wishes it could be adorned

with it, and the full moon of night wishes it could rival it.

مَنْ لِلزّهورِ بأن تحكي شمائِلَهُ

ومَنْ لِزُهْرِ الدَّياجي لَو تُضاهيهِ

Who could enable flowers to imitate its qualities,

and who could let the bright stars of night rival it?

وقائل لي أتهجوهُ فقُلتُ لَهُ

مَهلاً فإِنَّ هِجائي ليسَ يؤذيهِ

Someone said to me, 'Will you satirize him?' I replied,

'Wait—my satire does not hurt him.

إنّي لأتلُو مَسَاويه فَيَحْسبُني

لفرطِ تَغْفيلِه أتلُو مَسَاعيهِ

Indeed, I recite his faults, yet he thinks I am

in his utter foolishness, reciting his achievements.'

قد كانَ مَدحي لَه ذَنباً شَقيتُ بهِ

فَصَار تكفِيرُهُ عَنّي هَجائِيهِ

My praise of him was a sin that brought me misery,

so my satire of him became my atonement for it.

يا هادماً بمَساويه بناء عُلىً

أبُوهُ دونَ ملوكِ الأَرض بانيهِ

O man who demolishes with his faults an edifice of glory

whose builder was his father, not the kings of the earth,

حذار من نارِ فكرٍ أضْرِمَتْ لَهباً

ولا تَقِفْ لِعُبابٍ سَالَ واديه

beware a fire of thought kindled into flame,

and do not stand before a surge whose valley runs in flood.

فَما نَبَا سيفُ عَزمي حينَ أُعْمِلُهُ

ولا خَبَا زَندُ فِكري حين أُورِيهِ

For the sword of my resolve never fails when I wield it,

nor does my thought's firestick go out when I kindle it.

وما امْتَدحتك أَرْجو منك نيلَ غِنىً

لكِنْ قضاءٌ جرى في الكونِ ماضيهِ

I did not praise you hoping to gain wealth from you;

rather, it was a decree whose inexorable course ran through the world.

ولو أردْتُ غناءٌ لاَمْتَدحْتُ فتىً

ينالُ مَادِحُه أَقْصى أمانيه

Had I sought wealth, I would have praised a young man

whose praiser attains his utmost wishes.