هوى بين أحناء الضلوع دفين — Almlk Alamjad

هوًى بينَ أحناءِ الضلوعِ دفينُ

وسِرٌّ على شَحْطِ المزارِ مصونُ

Love lies buried within the curving ribs,

And a secret is guarded despite the remoteness of the meeting place.

وعينٌ على الأطلالِ ساكبُ دمعِها

يساعدُني يومَ النوى ويُعينُ

And an eye upon the ruins, the stream of whose tears

Helps and sustains me on the day of separation.

أحِنُّ حنينَ الرائماتِ عشيةً

وقد خَفَّ عن تلكَ الديارِ قطينُ

I yearn with the yearning of mother-camels at evening,

And the dwellers have departed from those abodes,

حنيناً كما شاءَ الغرامُ وما الهوى

ولا الشوقُ إلا لوعةٌ وأنينُ

A yearning as passion wills; and neither love

Nor longing is anything but anguish and moaning.

فيا قلبُ حتى ما لدائكَ في الهوى

دواءٌ لقد عاداكَ منه جُنُونُ

So, O heart, how long? Your sickness in love has no

Cure; madness born of it has indeed become your foe.

أما لمثارِ الوجدِ عندكَ كلَّما

تقادمَ عهدُ الظاعنينَ سكونُ

Does passion's stirring within you, whenever

The time since the travelers left grows long, find no repose?

ولا للنوى إلا الدموعُ مذالةً

سحائبهنَّ الهاطلاتُ جفونُ

Nor is there for separation anything but freely shed tears;

Their downpouring clouds are eyelids.

ومَنْ ذا الذي مِن بعدِ جيرانِ ضارجٍ

يُهَوَّنُ وداً ما أراه يهونُ

And who is there, after the neighbors of Ḍārij,

Who can lessen a love I do not see diminishing?

واِنّي وان جادوا بمثلي على الهوى

بمثلِهُمُ عُمْرُ الزمانِ ضنينُ

And I, though they freely gave up one like me to love,

Am loath to part with their like for as long as time endures.

وذي حَزَنٍ للبينِ ولهانَ كلَّما

تناءَتْ فيافٍ دونهمْ وحُزُونُ

And a sorrowful one, distraught with parting whenever

Wastes and rugged uplands stretch far between him and them—

لقد بَعُدوا عنه وأصبحَ كلُّ ما

تمنّاه قبلَ البينِ وهو مَنونُ

They have indeed grown far from him, and all that

He wished for before parting has become his doom.

أحبَّةَ قلبي بعدَما بانَ أنسُكمْ

وبِنتمْ عنِ الجرعاءِ كيف أكونُ

O beloveds of my heart, now that your companionship has departed

And you have left al-Jar‘ā’, how am I to be?

قضى الوجدُ لي أن لا أزالَ مسهَّداً

اِذا هجعتْ تحت الظلامِ عيونُ

Passion has decreed for me that I remain sleepless

When eyes sleep beneath the darkness.

وأَنْ ليس يُهْدِي العائدينَ لمضجعي

مِنَ السُّقْمِ إلا زفرةٌ وأنينُ

And that nothing guides those visiting me to my bed

But a sigh and a moan from my sickness.

أبيتُ نجيَّ الفكرِ لا أَطعَمُ الكرى

حِذاراً وخوفاً أن يخونَ قرينُ

I spend the night in secret converse with thought, never tasting sleep,

Wary and afraid that a companion might betray me.

وأقلقُ مِن تَذكارِ عيشٍ أَلِفْتُهُ

سجيةَ مَنْ لم يدرِ كيف يخونُ

And I grow restless at the memory of a life I had grown used to,

As is the nature of one who never knew how to betray.

قمينٌ بحفظِ العهدِ في القربِ والنوى

ومثلي جديرٌ بالوفاءِ قمينُ

Worthy of keeping the pledge, in closeness and separation,

And one like me is fit and worthy of fidelity.

وانْ لاحَ لي برقٌ بمَيْثاءِ حاجرٍ

جرتْ بالدموعِ السافحاتِ شؤونُ

And if lightning flashes for me over Ḥājir's soft plain,

My tear ducts flow with streaming tears.

وهاتفةٍ في البانِ مثلي شجيَّةٍ

تنوحُ فتبدو لوعتي وتَبينُ

And a bird calling in the bān tree, sorrowful like me,

Laments, so my anguish appears and becomes plain.

اِذا غرَّدتْ مِن فوقِ غصنِ أراكةٍ

تَحدَّرَ دمعٌ لا يَجِفُّ هَتونُ

When it sings from above the branch of an arāk tree,

Tears flow down, pouring incessantly, never drying.

غزيرٌ وقد ضَنَّ السحابُ بمائهِ

مُعينٌ على وجدي الغداةَ مَعينُ

Abundant, though the clouds have been stingy with their water,

Aiding my passion this morning, flowing like springwater.

حمائمُ أمستْ والغصونُ تشوقُها

وأيُّ فؤادٍ ما اطَّبتْهُ غصونُ

Doves pass the evening as branches stir their longing;

And what heart have branches not captivated?

فلو أن أحبابي على العهدِ ما اغتدى

السَّهَرُ المألوفُ وهو قرينُ

For had my beloveds kept the pledge, it would not have become

My companion—this familiar sleeplessness.

ولو أنصفوني في الصبابةِ لم أَبِتْ

وقلبيَ في أَسِرِ الغرامِ رهينُ

And had they treated me fairly in love, I would not spend the night

With my heart a hostage in passion's captivity.

أحبَّتنا لي بالايابِ مواعدٌ

فحتامَ تُلوَى والعِداتُ دُيُونُ

O our beloveds, I have promises of your return;

So how long will they be deferred, when promises are debts?

وحتامَ أشكو الهجرَ منكمْ شكايةً

تُعَلَّمُ صدرَ الصخرِ كيف يلينُ

And how long must I complain of your estrangement with a lament

That teaches the breast of stone how to soften?

اِذا قلتُهذا آخرُ البعدِ طوَّحتْ

نوًى بكمُ تُنضي المطيَّ شَطُونُ

Whenever I say, 'This is the end of distance,' you are flung

Away by a far-reaching separation that exhausts the riding camels.

فما حيلتي قد سارَ شكاً اِيابُكمْ

وأمّا النوى والهجرُ فهو يقينُ

So what is my recourse? Your return has passed into doubt;

And as for separation and estrangement, they are certain.

وفي حالتيهجرانكمْ ووصالكمْ

مكانُكمُ دونَ الشَّغافِ مكينُ

And in both states—your estrangement and your closeness—

Your place is secure beneath the heart's membrane.

يميناً بكمْ لا حِلتُ عمّا عهدتُمُ

ولا كَذَبَتْ لي بالوفاءِ يمينُ

I swear by you: I have not changed from what you knew of me,

Nor has my oath of faithfulness ever proved false.

ولا زلتُ موقوفاً على الوجدِ كلَّما

تَغنَّتْ حمامات لهنَّ وكُونُ

Nor have I ceased to be devoted to passion, whenever

Doves sing in their nesting places.

وكيف يَرى نَقْضَ المواثيقِ مُدْنَفٌ

له الحبُّ شرعٌ والصبابةُ دينُ

And how could a love-sick man countenance breaking covenants,

For whom love is sacred law and longing a religion?

ومَضْنَيْ غرامٍ يبكيان إذا جَرَى

حديثُ التداني والحديثُ شجونُ

And two lovers wasted by passion weep whenever

Talk of closeness arises—and talk has many branches.

يَهيمانِ بالظبي الغريرِ وحولَهُ

أُسودٌ لها سُمْرُ الرماحِ عرينُ

They both dote on the innocent gazelle, while around him

Stand lions whose lair is made of dusky spears.

فهذا جريحٌ من سيوفِ لحاظِه

وهذا بعسّالِ القَوامِ طعينُ

So this one is wounded by the swords of his glances,

And that one is pierced by his supple, swaying form.