أهذا الذي تحت النقاب هو الخدأم — Alkadawi

أهذا الّذي تحتَ النقابِ هو الخدّ

أمِ الجلّنار الغضّ هذا أم الوردُ

Is this beneath the veil the cheek,

or is this fresh pomegranate blossom, or a rose?

وَهذاكَ طلعٌ أَم بثغرك أشرقت

ثناياك أَم درّ تضمّنه العقدُ

And is that palm blossom, or have there shone in your mouth

your incisors—or pearls clasped by a necklace?

وَريقك ماءُ المزنِ أَم مزج قرقفٍ

يُخالطهُ الكافورُ أم ريقك الشهدُ

And is your saliva rain-cloud water, or a blend of wine

mingled with camphor—or is your saliva honey from the comb?

وَذاك الّذي في الصدر قد تمّ حجمه

هو الحقُّ حقُّ العاجِ أم ذلك النهدُ

And that upon the chest, its fullness complete—

is it a casket, an ivory casket, or is that the breast?

أَمخجلة لِلخيزرانِ تهزّعاً

إِذا ما تثنّى في غلائلها القدُّ

Does she put bamboo to shame in swaying,

when her figure bends within her gauzy gowns?

هبى لي حياتي واِسمحي لي ببلّة

من الثغرِ في ترشافها الحرّ والبردُ

Grant me my life, and allow me a drop of moisture

from your mouth; sipping it brings both heat and cold.

فَما العيشُ لي إلّا وصالك والرضى

وَما الموت لي إلّا جفاؤك والصدُّ

For life to me is nothing but union with you and contentment,

and death to me is nothing but your estrangement and rejection.

تعرّضت لي عمداً لِتعذيبِ مهجتي

وَأعظم ذنب كلّما أحدث الغمدُ

You deliberately crossed my path to torment my soul,

and the greatest offense is all that the sheath has wrought.

وَأَسليت لحمي في الهوى ودمي معاً

وَلم يبقَ إلّا أعظمٌ فوقها جلدُ

And you melted away my flesh and blood together in love,

and nothing remained but bones, with skin over them.

رَعاك رعاك اللّه والوقفة الّتي

نَعِمنا بها بالأمس يا هند يا هندُ

May God guard you, guard you, and that meeting

in which we delighted yesterday, O Hind, O Hind.

غديّة نشكو وجدَنا وقلوبُنا

منَ الوجدِ ذابت حيث خامرها الوجدُ

At daybreak we lamented our longing, and our hearts

melted with longing as longing pervaded them.

وَإِذ نحن خيل الوجدِ فينا مغيرةٌ

وَأَسنانه فينا تطول وتمتدُّ

And there we were, with longing's horses charging through us,

and its teeth lengthening and stretching within us.

أَيا مُخبري ما السفح سفح عنيزةٍ

وَما الأبرقُ الأقصى وما العلمُ الفردُ

O bearer of news to me, what of the hillside, the hillside of Unayzah,

and the farthest Abraq, and the solitary landmark hill?

وَهل لك عهدٌ بِالخليطِ وبالأُلى

عَهدناهمُ لا يَستقيمُ لهم عهدُ

And have you any knowledge of the company, and of those

we knew, whose pledge never holds firm?

وَمَن لي بوادٍ دونَ منعرج اللِوى

تَضوع الخزاما فيه والشيح والرندُ

And who can find me a valley this side of al-Liwa's bend,

where lavender, wormwood, and bay laurel waft their fragrance?

تضلُّ بهِ صيرانة الخنسِ كنّسا

وَترتع في جرفيهِ حيطانه الرندُ

Herds of snub-nosed wild cattle stray there, hiding in coverts,

and graze on both its banks, with bay laurel for its walls.

تقطّعت الغزلان يانعَ مردةٍ

بِأفواهها مِن حيثُ قَد أينعَ المردُ

The gazelles have plucked ripe arak fruit

with their mouths, wherever the arak fruit has ripened.

أَلا ما لِهذا الدّهر يقرع مروتي

حوادث لا يبقى لها الحجرُ الصلدُ

Ah, what ails this age, that my flint is battered

by calamities that even solid stone cannot withstand?

إِذا لاحَ برقٌ منه أومضَ خلّبا

وَإِن حنّ رعدٌ منه لم يصدق الرعدُ

If lightning gleams from it, it flashes without rain,

and if its thunder rumbles, that thunder proves false.

فَما نلت سؤلاً مِن تصرّف حكمه

وَحاولته إِلّا أَتاني له ضدُّ

For I have gained no wish from the turns of its decree;

and whenever I sought one, only its opposite came to me.

وَأَصبحت في قومٍ لئامٍ ومعشرٍ

عن البرِّ وَالإحسانِ أعينهم رمدُ

And I have come to dwell among base people, a company

whose eyes are clouded when it comes to goodness and benevolence.

وَإنّي وَإن نالوا حظوظاً من الغنى

لفي صفو عقلي ما حييت لهم زهدُ

And I, though they have gained shares of wealth,

remain, in my mind's clarity, indifferent to them as long as I live.

إِذا ما أقرّ المال يوماً بفضلهِ

تلقّاه مِن أخلاقهِ مسرعاً جحدُ

If wealth one day acknowledges his merit,

a swift denial from his character meets it.

لَقَد ظفر اللّه المظفّر في العدا

غداةَ اِلتَقى في الحومةِ الجندُ والجندُ

God indeed granted al-Muzaffar victory over his enemies,

on the morning when army met army in the thick of battle.

سَطا في البغاةِ المسرفينَ بِبغيهم

بِدولةِ عدلٍ لا يحلّ لها عقدُ

He fell upon the rebels who exceeded bounds in their rebellion,

with a reign of justice whose knot cannot be undone.

توعّدهم في البعدِ حتّى أَتاهمُ

وَلم يثنهِ عَن وطء أرضهم البعدُ

He threatened them from afar until he came upon them,

and distance did not deter him from treading their land.

وَسارَ بسدٍّ مِن جيوشٍ فَلو رمى

بهِ سدّ يأجوجَ لذاب له السدُّ

And he marched with a wall of armies; had he hurled it

at Yajuj's barrier, that barrier would have melted before it.

وَقلَّد بحراً مكفهرّاً لجيشهِ

تَفيض عليهم من عوارضها جردُ

And he girded his army with a glowering sea,

from whose cloudbanks sleek steeds pour forth upon them.

وَقد شكلت في الدارعينَ وأَجمعت

بِأَيدي صناديد الوغى البيض والملدُ

And already they were arrayed among the armored men and gathered

in battle's champions' hands—the bright swords and supple spears.

وَكانَت متونُ الأرضِ تحت جيادهِ

يقال ببأسِ النعجة الأسد الوردُ

And the earth's backs lay beneath his steeds;

the tawny lion is said to have a ewe's courage.

أَلا أيّها العادون في زَعمهم بأن

تزلزل والشمّ الشوامخ تنهدُّ

Hear, you transgressors, who claim that

he might be shaken, while lofty, towering peaks collapse:

تَوقّوا هزبراً للدناةِ إذا اِبترى

منَ الزردِ الموصوف ما أحكم السردُ

beware a lion against those who draw near, when he cuts away

from the renowned mail what its tight linking had secured.

فَإن لَكم في سلمه وحرابهِ

طَريقين في نهجيهما الغيُّ والرشدُ

For in his peace and his warfare you have

two paths, whose courses are error and right guidance.

هو البحرُ إلّا أنّ جدواه سرمد

وَلَم يَختلف في جودهِ الحرّ والعبدُ

He is the sea, except that his bounty is everlasting,

and his generosity makes no distinction between freeman and slave.

تُساعدهُ الأقدارُ فيما يريدهُ

وَيخدمهُ في ملكه النحس والسعدُ

The fates assist him in whatever he desires,

and ill fortune and good fortune serve him in his realm.

أَشمس المعالي الّذي له

لواء الثنا دون البريّةِ والمجدُ

O sun of high honors, to whom belong

the banner of praise, above all creation, and glory:

فَلا أَمر تقضيه ولا نهي عندهُ

بديع بهِ إلّا وفيك له الحمدُ

no command you decree, nor prohibition at his disposal,

is wondrous in itself without praise for it belonging to you.