أهلا بليلى قد جلت هلالها — Bahaa Al Sayadi

أهلاً بليلى قد جلت هلالها

وأبرزت لأهلها جلالها

Welcome to Layla, who has unveiled her crescent,

and displayed her majesty to her people.

كأنها لما انجلت بمرطها

شمسٌ أباحت للورى جمالها

She seemed, when she appeared in her mantle,

a sun revealing her beauty to humankind.

تلمع في سمائها ما أبصرت

عين امرءٍ وحقها مثالها

She shines in her heaven; never has

a mortal eye, by her truth, beheld her equal.

غرامها دعا القلوب للفنا

وكم عقولٍ للهوى أمالها

Love for her called hearts to annihilation,

and how many minds it inclined toward passion!

تداعت العشاق في أعتابها

وطرحت في رحبها آمالها

The lovers gathered at her thresholds

and laid their hopes in her spacious court.

قد قصدتها تروم غيرها

وأنزلت ببابها رحالها

They made for her, seeking someone other than her,

and set down their baggage at her door.

وكم وراء سترها لاحت لهم

فذهلوا حين زأوا خيالها

And how often, behind her veil, she appeared to them,

so they were stunned when they saw her image!

وأخذتهم من هولها رعدةٌ

زلزلت الأرض بها زلزاها

And a tremor seized them at her dread,

shaking the earth with its convulsion.

يا راكب البكر الخلوج مجهدا

زمزم بها وأطلق لها عقالها

O rider of the young she-camel yearning for her calf, urging her hard,

croon to her and loosen her hobble.

واضرب بها الدو ولا تهدأ إلى

أن تلق حول حاجرٍ أثقالها

Ride her across the wilderness, and do not rest until

you set down her burdens around Hajir,

وتلق سكان العقيق موصلاً

بحبل ليلى ريضاً حبالها

and meet the dwellers of al-Aqiq, joining

her cords gently to Layla's cord.

هناك دعها تذرع البيدا وتر

عى روضها وتنتقي زلالها

There let her range across the desert and

graze its meadow and choose its limpid water.

ولا تزم شاكماً زمامها

ولا تحول عن هواها حالها

Do not draw her rein tight to curb her,

nor change her state against her desire.

فإنها قد أوصلتك بغيةً

ورح المحب راضياً تفدى لها

For she has brought you to a desired goal;

and go, lover, content, a ransom for her.

يا أهل ليلى والغرام سكرةٌ

تميل عن حب السوى رجالها

O people of Layla—passion is an intoxication

that turns her men from loving any other.

نحن بليلى ليلنا نهارنا

تبوأت أرواحنا ظلالها

Through Layla, our night is our day;

our souls have made their dwelling in her shade.

تمر في موكبها وتنثني

ترن في قلوبنا جلجالها

She passes in her procession and turns back;

her peal resounds within our hearts.

اللَه ما أبهى شعاع حسنها

وما أحيلى عندنا دلالها

God, how splendid is the radiance of her beauty,

and how sweet her coyness is to us!

ذلت لها أطوارنا بطبعها

ولن يذل طورنا إلا لها

Our states submitted to her through her very nature,

and our state shall yield to none but her.

يا نسمةً مرت بشرقي اللوى

مرنحاً يمينها شمالها

O breeze that passed along al-Liwa's eastern side,

swaying her right and her left,

أذكيت ناراً في فؤادٍ وللَه

أضرمت في ضميره اشتعالها

you kindled a fire in a heart; God,

you fanned its blaze within his inmost soul.

فاح له منخدر ليلى نفحةٌ

حين هببت فبكى أطلالها

A fragrant breath from Layla's secluded chamber wafted to him

when you blew; then he wept over her ruins.

للَه كم من أنةٍ قد جرها

لها وكم من دمعةٍ أسالها

God, how many a moan he drew forth

for her, and how many a tear he shed,

ولوعةٍ بسره ساكنةٍ

وفكرةٍ لأجلها أطالها

and a burning anguish dwelling in his secret heart,

and a thought he prolonged for her sake,

ولهفةٍ بلبه ثائرةٍ

ومهجةٍ أودعها بلبالها

and a yearning raging in his innermost mind,

and a heart in which he lodged its turmoil,

مطروحةٍ بباب ليلى تركت

لما عليها في الهوى وما لها

cast down at Layla's door, abandoned

to what it owes in love and what is owed to it.

ترعدها الغصة إن ما سألت

ولا مجيبٌ سامعٌ سوآلها

Choking anguish makes it tremble if ever it asks,

and no listener answers its question.

تروم ليلى وعلى أمثالها

ليلى علوّاً حرمت وصالها

It seeks Layla; yet, to the likes of it,

Layla, in her loftiness, has forbidden union with her.

أقسم بالجرعاء من بطحائها

ومن رأى مولهاً غزالها

I swear by al-Jar'a in her broad valley,

and by whoever saw her gazelle, enraptured,

والناهزين نحوها قوافلاً

تجهد وجداً للحمى جمالها

and by those urging caravans toward her,

their camels straining with longing for the sanctuary.

لها عيونٌ من عيونٍ قد جرت

رشت على قيعانها سجالها

For her, springs have flowed from eyes,

sprinkling their bucketfuls over her plains,

وبعثت من نوحها سحائباً

تجر في رياضها أذيالها

and sending forth clouds from their lamentation,

trailing their skirts through her gardens.

إني على العهد القديم في الهوى

وكم نفوس الغرام اغتالها

I hold to the old covenant in love,

and how many souls passion has slain unawares!

أحب ليلي طارحاً لوامها

وقاطعاً في حبها عذالها

I love Layla, casting aside her reproachers,

and, for love of her, breaking with her censurers.

ترمقها عيني ولن ترى السوى

وغيرها واللَه ما حلالها

My eye gazes at her and shall never see another;

and any other, by God, is forbidden to it.

لها بها وحقها مآربٌ

عسى بعزم الدق أن تنالها

It has desires in her, by her truth;

perhaps, by resolute knocking, it may attain them.

قد رفعت لربها ضراعها

بحبها وأبدت ابتهالها

It has raised its entreaty to its Lord,

out of love for her, and shown its fervent prayer.

للَه أوقاتٌ بسلعٍ قد مضت

قصارها قد زاحمت طوالها

God, what times have passed at Sal'!

Their brief moments jostled their long ones.

يرسم فكر الصب في خيالها

صار وطيب عيشها خبالها

The lover's thought sketches within her image;

and the sweetness of her life became her delirium [wording unclear].

يا أرض ليلى والحياء لم يزل

يرش في هطاله تلالها

O land of Layla, the rain has not ceased

sprinkling her hills in its downpour.

حسبك مني مقلةٌ ساهرةٌ

عليك كل الكون ما استمالها

Let a sleepless eye from me suffice you,

fixed on you; all creation has not lured it away.

خافتةٌ ترقب شمسك التي

قد بلغت بنورها كمالها

Hushed, it watches your sun, which

has reached her perfection through her light,

ونشرت في الملاثين بردها

ونسجت بينهما غلغالها

and spread her mantle in the two refuges,

and woven her permeating flow between them.

طافت بها قلوب أهل ودها

وبالهدى قد محقت ضلالها

The hearts of those who love her circled her,

and with guidance she effaced their error,

وأبرأت بلطفها سقامها

جهراً وداوت منةً عضالها

and with her gentleness healed their sickness

openly, and by grace treated their incurable ills.

تفيض آلاء الغيوب مبرزٌ

يمينها من طمسها أشكالها

She pours forth blessings of the unseen, revealing

with her right hand their forms from effacement.

وتكشف الجلى وعن جلالةٍ

يسأل كل عاشقٍ نوالها

She unveils the great matter; and from her majesty

every lover asks for her bounty.

لم تدخل الدخيل رحب قدسها

ما برحت رجالها رجالها

She has not admitted the outsider into her holy precinct;

her men have never ceased to be her men.

قامت بأرض اللَه عنها عصبةٌ

أوتادها أقطابها أبدالها

A band arose on God's earth on her behalf:

her Stakes, her Poles, her Substitutes.

فدوخت بعزمها أقيالها

وأيقظت بهديها أجيالها

So with its resolve it subdued her princes,

and with its guidance awakened her generations.

باللَه يا ليلاي رفقاً بامرئٍ

طوى البرايا ورمى آمالها

By God, O my Layla, be gentle with a man

who folded away creation and cast off its hopes,

زوى كنوزها وفاتها وقد

ألقى إلى طلابها أقفالها

put away its treasures, passed it by, and has

cast its locks to those who seek it.

ولو أراد ذورة البدر بما

أعطاه فضلا ربه لطالها

Were he to seek the full moon's summit, with what

his Lord graciously gave him, he would surely reach it.

فأقفيه بقبول صدقه

وبسماع مجملاٍ قالها

So reward him by accepting his sincerity,

and hearing what he uttered in brief.