إذا ما الغزال سرى زائرا — Alkadhi Alfadil

إِذا ما الغَزالُ سَرى زائِرا

فَلا تَأمَنِ الأَسَدَ الزائِرا

If the gazelle comes visiting by night,

do not trust the roaring lion.

وَلَكِن سَلِ اللَيلَ سَتراً عَلَيكَ

وَإِن كُنتَ تَأمَنُهُ كافِرا

But ask the night to veil you,

even if you trust it, unbelieving as it is.

عَسى الفَجرُ يَغفو وَلَو ساعَةً

يَنامُ بِها نَجمُهُ سائِرا

May dawn doze, if only for an hour,

during which its star sleeps while on its course.

فَيا لَيلُ إِن تولِنيها يداً

تجدني لها ذاكراً شاكرا

O night, if you grant me this favor,

you will find me mindful of it and thankful.

وإن قيل نعرفُهُ كافِراً

أَقُل لا وَلَكِن نَعَم فاجِرا

And if they say, “We know it as an unbeliever,”

I say, “No—but yes, a dawn-breaking sinner.”

فَيا لَيلُ ما اِفتَرَقَ العاشِقانِ

إِذا كُنتَ بَينَهُما حاضِرا

O night, the two lovers never part

when you are present between them.

فَقَد جاءَني هاجِري واصِلاً

فَلا يَرجِعَن واصِلي هاجِرا

For my forsaker has come to me in union;

let the one who joins me not return a forsaker.

رَوَيتَ بِهِ غُلَّتي وارِداً

فَلا تَفجَعَنّي بِهِ صادِرا

Through him you quenched my burning thirst as he arrived;

do not bereave me of him as he departs.

وَدَعني أُطارِحهُ شَكوى الفِراقِ

وَأَحفَظ حَديثَ الهَوى طاهِرا

And let me exchange with him complaints of separation,

and keep love's discourse pure.

لَعَلَّكَ تَعرِفُ سِرَّ الغَرامِ

فَتُصبِحَ لِلمُبتَلى عاذِرا

Perhaps you will learn passion's secret,

and come to excuse the afflicted.

وَتَعشَقَ بَدرَكَ عِشقي البُدورَ

وَتَرجِعَ مِثلي بِهِم حائِرا

And love your full moon as I love full moons,

and return, like me, bewildered by them.

فَلا تَبعَث الفَجرَ قَبلَ العِشاءِ

وَلا تُتبِع الأَوَّلَ الآخِرا

So do not send dawn forth before evening,

nor make the last follow the first.

فَكَم في حَواشيكَ مِن طائِرٍ

تُمِضُّ بِهِ قَلبِيَ الطائِرا

How many a bird within your fringes

you use to torment my fluttering heart!

وَيَكسِرُ صُبحُكَ لي عَينَهُ

فَيا لَيلُ دُمتَ لَهُ كاسِرا

And your dawn winks its eye at me;

O night, may you always subdue it.

وَكَم لَكَ عِندَ اِمرِئٍ مِن يَدٍ

كَلَونِكَ يَغشى الأَسى الخاطِرا

And how many a favor you have done a man,

black as your color, with sorrow veiling his mind.

نُصَدِّقُ في ذَمِّكَ المانَوِيَّ

وَإِن كانَ في قَولِهِ كافِرا

In condemning you we believe the Manichaean,

though in what he says he is an unbeliever.

أَسِرّاً بِأَمرٍ بِهِ موبِقاً

يُقيمُ الصَباحُ بِهِ سافِرا

Do you act in secret, bringing ruin through a deed

in which morning stands unveiled?

وَما بَتَّ إِلّا عَلى رِيبَةٍ

نَغُضُّ حَياءً لَها الناظِرا

And you have spent no night except amid suspicion,

at which we lower our eyes in shame.

فَلَو لَم يُغَسِّلكَ مِنّا الصَباحُ

لَما كُنتَ مِن نَجَسٍ طاهِرا

Had morning not washed you away from us,

you would not be clean of filth.

وَلَولا جِلاءُ مُحَيّا الأَجَلِّ

مُحَيّاكَ دامَ كَذا باسِرا

And were it not for the radiance of the most august one's face,

your face would remain scowling thus.

أَعادَكَ يَومَ يُثيرُ العَجاجَ

بِرَكضٍ بِهِ سَكَّنَ الثائِرا

He brought you back the day he stirred up dust,

with a gallop that stilled the rebel.

وَرَدَّ إِلَيكَ بِرَغمِ الصَبا

حِ أُفقَكَ مِن سُمرِهِ ظاهِرا

and restored to you, despite the morn-

ing, your horizon, manifest in his dusky spears.

وَضَربٍ لَهُ ناجِرٍ قَد أَعادَ

بِشَهرَي قُماحٍ لَنا ناجِرا

And a hewing blow of his has restored

Najir for us in Qumah's two months.

فَجِسمٌ تَراهُ بِهِ واقِعاً

وَهامٌ تَراهُ بِهِ طائِراً

So you see a body felled by it,

and heads sent flying by it.

وَيَجنُبُ ريحُ العِنانِ الدُبورَ

فَيُحدِثُ ما يَقطَعُ الدابِرا

The wind of the reins leads the west wind alongside,

and brings forth what cuts off the last remnant.

وَكَم حَرَّكَت ساكِناً لِلغُبارِ

فَسَكَّن مِن تَحتِهِ غابِرا

And how often it has stirred the dust at rest,

and stilled a survivor beneath it.

وَيَجبُرُ ناهِضُ هِمّاتِهِ

لَكَ المَجدُ ذا الزَمَنَ الفاتِرا

And his soaring aspirations mend—

glory be yours—this languishing age.

فَدُمتَ عَلى خَيرِهِ آمِراً

وَدُمتَ عَلى شَرِّهِ آمِرا

So may you always command its good,

and may you always command its evil.

لَقَد نَصَرَ اللَهُ دينَ الهُدى

بِأَن نَصَرَ المَلِكَ الناصِرا

God has indeed aided the religion of guidance

by aiding King al-Nasir.

فَلَسنا نَخافُ عَلى غابِهِ

إِذا كنَ في غابِهِ خادِرا

So we do not fear for his thicket

when he shelters, crouching in his thicket.

وَمَن عَدَّ مِنهُ الحَيا ثانِياً

فَلَستُ أَراهُ لَهُ عاشِرا

And whoever ranks rain as second to him—

I do not rank it even tenth beside him.

فَلا تَتَجَشَّم سُؤالاً لَهُ

سَيَكفيكَهُ بادِئاً بادِرا

So do not trouble yourself to ask him;

he will spare you that, taking the initiative swiftly.

أَيَحتاجُ عُشبُ الدُجى زارِعاً

لَهُ وَقَليبُ السَما حافِرا

Does the grass of night need a sower

for it, or heaven's well a digger?

فَلا تَستَمِر غَيرَ إِحسانِهِ

وَإِلّا فَمُت ظامِئاً ضامِرا

So seek no sustenance but his bounty,

or else die thirsty and gaunt.

فَمَن يَستَمِر مِن أَكُفِّ اللِئامِ

يَعِش دَهرَهُ ما يرى مَائِرا

For whoever seeks provisions from the hands of the base

will live his life without seeing a provider.

وَمَن حَطَّ أَقدارَ سُؤَّالِهِ

فَما زِلتُ سائِلَهُ الفاخِرا

And who could lower his petitioners' standing?

For I have always remained his proud petitioner.

إِذا سَأَلوا مانِعاً عاجِزاً

سَأَلتُ بِهِ باذِلاً قادِرا

When they ask a withholding, powerless man,

I ask, through him, a generous, capable giver.

فَأَوفى عَلى قَولِهِم أَوَّلاً

وَأَوفى عَلى قَولِهِ آخِرا

Thus he first surpassed their words,

and finally surpassed his own.

رَأى الناسُ هِجرَةَ مَملوكِهِ

فَلا يَنظُروهُ لَهُ هاجِرا

People have seen his slave's departure;

let them not deem him a deserter of his master.

وَجودُكَ أَشعَرُ مِن شِعرِهِ

فَلا عَدِمَ الشاعِرُ الشاعِرا

And your generosity is more poetic than his verse;

may the poet never lose the poet.

وَهَذي المَآثِرُ لَولا القَريضُ

لَما كُنتَ تَلقى لَها آثَرا

And these noble deeds, were it not for poetry,

you would find no trace of them.

وَلَمّا جَلا البِشرُ مِن وَجهِهِ

لَنا القَمَرَ المُصبِحَ الزاهِرا

And when delight unveiled from his face

for us the radiant moon of morning,

رَأَيتُ زَماني مَضى كُلُّهُ

سُرىً جاءَ بي هَكَذا ضامِرا

I saw that all my lifetime had passed

as a night journey that brought me thus, gaunt.

وَلَو لَم أَرِد وَجهَهُ ما ظَفِرتُ

بِصُبحٍ أُطالِعُهُ نائِرا

Had I not approached his face, I would not have won

a dawn that I behold shining.

وَلي حاسِدٌ أَنتَ أَربَحتَهُ

وَأَنتَ تُصَيِّرُهُ خاسِرا

I have an envier whom you have enriched,

and whom you are making a loser.

وَقَد ساءَ في الجِدِّ تَوسيعُهُ

يُكَرِّرُ أَقوالَهُ ماكِرا

And his earnest elaboration has grown ugly;

he repeats his words with guile.

وَكَم قَد خَلا بِشَياطينِهِ

فَأَجرى الحَديثَ بِنا فاجِرا

How often he has been alone with his devils,

then set talk running about us, wickedly.

وَذَكَّرَ بي فَمَ صَرفِ الزَمانِ

فَأَغرى بِلَحمي فَماً فاغِرا

He reminded the mouth of Time's vicissitudes of me,

thus setting a gaping mouth upon my flesh.

وَقَد نَظَرَ اللَهُ لِلمُسلِمينَ

بِأَن كُنتَ في أَمرِهِم ناظِرا

God has indeed watched over the Muslims

through your watching over their affairs.

وَلَم أَلحَهُم أَن يَجوروا عَلَيَّ

وَلَو ذاكَ كُنتُ لَهُم عاذِرا

I did not blame them for dealing unjustly with me;

even so, I would have excused them.

فَما جارَ مَن جارَ في حُكمِهِ

وَلَكِنَّ مَن أَلجَأَ الجائِرا

For it was not he who judged unjustly who wronged me,

but he who drove the wrongdoer to it.

وَما أَتَّقي أَن زيفاً يَمُرُّ

بِنَقدِكَ إِلّا بَدا ظاهِرا

I do not fear that a counterfeit might pass

your assay without being plainly exposed.