حرام على الجفن القريح منامه — Almlk Alamjad

حرامٌ على الجفنِ القريحِ منامُه

اِذا بانَ مَنْ تهوى وغزَّ لِمامُهُ

Sleep is forbidden to the wounded eyelid,

when the one you love departs and his brief visits grow scarce.

حياةُ الفتى

والعيسُ تُحدَجُ للنوى

The young man's life,

while the pale camels are saddled for departure,

حِمامٌ واِنْ لم يُقضَ فيها حِمامُهُ

ومضنًى بكى في الربعِ حتى بكى له

is death, even if his allotted death is not decreed within it.

And a wasted lover wept at the dwelling until there wept for him,

به رحمةً عُذّالُهُ وسَقامُهُ

به لاعجٌ مِن شدَّةِ الوجدِ مُقلِقُ

out of pity for him, his reproachers and his sickness.

Within him burns an unsettling flame of intense longing;

يزيدُ على بعدِ المزارِ ضِرامُهُ

غريمُ الهوى العذريِّ في كلَّ حالةٍ

its blaze grows with the distance of the place of meeting.

A debtor to chaste love in every state,

على ما يراهُ وجدُهُ وغرامُهُ

حمامَ الحِمى قلْ ليهلِ البانُ مثمرٌ

as his longing and his passion see fit.

Doves of the sanctuary, tell me: does the moringa bear fruit?

وويحَ المُنى أن لم يُحِبني حَمامُهُ

فهذا الحِمى والبانُ والأثلُ قد بدا

And alas for hopes, if its doves do not love me!

Here are the sanctuary, the moringa, and the tamarisk, now revealed

لعيني وأين المنحنى وخيامُهُ

وأين غزالٌ كان يهدي مع الصَّبا اليَّ

to my eyes—but where are the bend and its tents?

And where is the gazelle who used to send me, with the east breeze,

إذا ما بانَ عنّي سلامُهُ

يُذكِّرنُي ومض البروقِ اِذا بدتْ

his greeting whenever he departed from me?

Lightning's flash, whenever it appears, reminds me,

تلوحُ على وادي الأراكَ ابتسامُهُ

وألمحُ ذاكَ الثغرَ يلمعُ برقُه

as it gleams over Wadi al-Arak, of his smile.

And I glimpse that mouth, its lightning gleaming,

متى حُطَّ عن درِّ الثنايا لِثامُهُ

له مِن غزالِ الرملِ جيدٌ ومقلةٌ

whenever his veil is lowered from the pearls of his front teeth.

He has a sand gazelle's neck and eye,

وما شانَهُ اِذ ليس فيه بُغامُهُ

فكلُّ كلامٍ في الحشا مِن حديثهِ

nor does it mar him that he lacks its bleating.

For all the wounds within the breast come from his speech,

اِذا ذُكِرَتْ ألفاظُه وكلامُهُ

مِنَ الحور وَدَّ البدرُ مِن فرطِ حسنهِ

whenever his words and speech are recalled.

A fair-eyed one: the full moon wished, for his surpassing beauty

وفرطِ الحيا لوعادَ وهو غلامُهُ

فلم أُعطِ يوماً للعذولِ مسامعي

and surpassing modesty, to become his servant.

Never once did I lend my ears to the reproacher

عليه ولم يَثنِ الغرامَ ملامُهُ

هو البدرُ إلا أنَّه غيرُ خائفٍ

against him, nor did his blame turn my passion aside.

He is the full moon, save that he has no fear

مِنَ النقصِ يوماً حين تمَّ تمامُهُ

وأين الحِمى يبدو أنيقاً جميمُه

of ever waning, now that his fullness is complete.

And where is the sanctuary, lovely with its fresh growth,

ومنهَلهُ الفياضُ تطغى جِمامُهُ

وتلكَ الرياضُ الفيحُ فيه وزهرُها

and its brimming watering place, whose gathered waters overflow,

and those broad meadows there, and their flowers,

تَفتَّحُ عن مثلِ الثغورِ كِمامُهُ

وخرقٍ أزرناه النجائبَ سُهَّما

whose calyxes open to reveal forms like mouths?

And many a wilderness we sent lean, noble camels through,

يُسابِقُها مِن كلَّ مَرْتٍ نعامُهُ

فتنأى النعامَ الرُّبدَ فيه لواغباً

its ostriches racing them from every barren tract.

So they outdistance the grey ostriches there, leaving them exhausted,

واِنْ بَعُدَتْ أعوارُه وأكامُهُ

أمامَ المطايا شاهقُ الكُورِ أهوجٌ

even if its rough stretches and hillocks extend far.

Ahead of the mounts, a high-saddled, headstrong camel

تَخَمَّطَ أن يَثنيهِ عنه خِطامُهُ

تناثرَ في البيداءِ وردُ خِفافِه

rages lest his halter turn him aside from it.

The roses of his hoof-pads scatter across the waste,

وَيندِفُ ندفَ البُرسِ فيها لُغامُهُ

بحيث تراه في الفلاةِ كأنَّما

and his foam flies there in tufts like carded cotton.

There you see him in the wilderness, as though

تقاضاه وجدي بالحِمى وغرامُهُ

هما سَبَبا ذاكَ التماسكِ بعدَما

my yearning for the sanctuary and his passion were urging him on.

These are the two causes of that endurance, after

أضرَّ به اِرقالُه ودوامُهُ

يناحلُه في البيدِ وهو مُهربِدٌ

his rapid trotting and its continuance had worn him down.

Vying with him in leanness in the deserts as he rushes

الى الجِزعِ يشأى الواخداتِ زِمامُهُ

ودارٍ وقفنا بعدَما بانَ أهلُها

toward the valley bend, his rein outstrips the swift-striding camels.

And at a dwelling we halted after its people had departed,

بها فسقاها دمعُ جفني غمامُهُ

حبستُ بها صحبي مِن الوجدِ لاثماً

and there the raincloud of my eyelid's tears watered it.

There I detained my companions, out of longing, kissing

ثرى منزلٍ يَشفي الغليلَ التثامُهُ

مُسائلَ أطلالٍِ صحبتُ بها الهوى

the soil of a dwelling whose kissing eases the burning thirst;

questioning ruins where I had kept company with love,

حليفايَ فيهاعهدُهُ وذِمامُهُ

وليلٍ عقدتُ الطرفَ وجداً بنجمهِ

my two allies there being its covenant and its pledge.

And many a night I bound my gaze in yearning to its star,

وقد بانَ مَنْ أهوى وعزَّ مَرامُهُ

فيا حارِ أن جئتَ العقيقَ فحيِّهِ

when the one I love had departed and was hard to reach.

So, O Har, if you come to al-Aqiq, greet it,

واِنْ بانَ عنه أهلُه وكِرامُهُ

تحيِّةَ مشغوفِ الفؤادِ مُلَدَّدٍ

even if its people and its noble ones have departed from it,

with the greeting of one love-struck at heart and bewildered,

يُروِّعُه اِصباحُه وظلامُهُ

اِذا ذُكِرَ الأحبابُ أثجمَ دمعُه

whom his daybreak and his darkness terrify.

Whenever the loved ones are mentioned, his tears flow unceasingly,

وطالَ على بالي الرسومِ انسجامُهُ

وأنشدَ فيها مِن نتائجِ فكرِه

and their flow lasts long upon the weathered ruins.

And there he recited, from the fruits of his thought,

فريداً تساوى قَدُّهُ وقَوامُهُ

يُحيِّرُ أربابَ النظيمِ إذا بدا

a peerless verse, its stature and form evenly matched.

It bewilders the masters of verse when it appears,

وقد راقَ في سلكِ القريضِ نظامُهُ

ويفعلُ في عقلِ الأريبِ سماعُهُ

and its arrangement has proved lovely on the thread of poetry.

And hearing it works upon the discerning man's mind

من السكرِ ما لم تستطعْهُ مُدامُهُ

an intoxication that his wine could never achieve.