صبحاني بوجهه القمري — Dawood Bin Issa Al Ayyu…

صَبّحاني بوجههِ القَمريِّ

وأصبحاني بالسلسبيلِ الرّويِّ

You two, greet my morning with his moonlike face,

and give me a morning draught of thirst-quenching Salsabil.

بدرُ ليلٍ يَسعى بشمسِ نهارٍ

فشهيٌّ ينتابُنا بِشهيِّ

A full moon of night hastens, bearing a sun of day:

a delight visits us bearing a delight.

فاعجبا لاجتماعِ بدرٍ وشمسٍ

في سماءَي سَنا كمالٍ سَنيِّ

So marvel, you two, at a full moon and a sun united

in twin heavens radiant with splendid perfection.

مِن بهاهُ البدريِّ تكسى بهاءً

والبهاءُ البدريُّ بالشّمسيِّ

From his moonlike beauty she is clothed in splendor,

and his moonlike splendor in her sunlike glow.

ان تبدّت بوجهِها ذَهبياً

قلتُ هذا مِن وجهِهِ الفِضيِّ

If her face appears golden,

I say, 'This is from his silvery face.'

أو تراءت بخدِّها نَوفَرِيّاً

قلتُ هذا مِن خَدّهِ الورديّ

Or if her cheek appears water-lily-like,

I say, 'This is from his rosy cheek.'

ما رأينا مِن قبلِ خدِّيهِ ورداً

يانعاً فوقَ عارضٍ سَوسَنيِّ

Before his cheeks we had never seen a rose

blooming upon a lily-like cheek.

كيف يُجنى البنفسجُ الغضُّ منه

وهو يُحمى بالنّاظِر النّرجسيِّ

How can the tender violet be plucked from him,

when it is guarded by a narcissus-like eye?

يا ولوعاً بالنَّبلِ أصميتَ قلبي

بسهامٍ من لحظِكَ البابليِّ

O lover of arrows, you have slain my heart

with arrows from your Babylonian glance.

رَشَقتها مِن حاجبيكَ قِسيّ

مُنتضاةٌ أحسن بها مِن قِسيِّ

Bows from your eyebrows have shot them,

drawn—how splendid they are as bows!

ففؤادي باللَّحظِ والخدِّ منه

بينَ سهمٍ جانٍ ووردٍ جنيِّ

Thus, through his glance and cheek, my heart

lies between a wounding arrow and a freshly plucked rose.

فهو ميتٌ بذا وحيٌّ بهذا

مِثلُ عيشي شديدهُ بالرَّخيِّ

It is dead from that, and alive from this,

like my life, its hardship mingled with its ease.

يا رشيقاً فديتُه مِن رشيقٍ

يَتثنى كالذابلِ السّمهريِّ

O graceful one—my life for him, how graceful!—

swaying like a slender Samharī lance.

عاطني صِرفها بصرفٍ برُودٍ

خَصِرٍ من رُضابكَ البَرديِّ

Hand me its unmixed draught with a pure, cooling draught,

cold, from your hail-like saliva.

عاطنيها في بهجة الكأسِ تُجلى

بينَ عودٍ شادٍ وعودٍ شديِّ

Hand it to me, unveiled in the goblet's splendor,

between a singing bough and a tuneful lute.

قم فها فحمةُ الظّلامِ استطارت

تحتها جمرةُ الضِّياءِ الضّويِّ

Rise! Behold the charcoal of darkness: there has flared

beneath it an ember of radiant light.

حَربةُ الفجرِ أنفذت مَنحرَ اللّي

لِ كطعنِ الكميِّ نحرَ الكميِّ

Dawn's spear has pierced the throat of night,

as an armored warrior pierces another warrior's throat.

تَتراءى مصقولةً في رشاشٍ

مُشرقٍ من نجيعهِ المَشرفيِّ

It appears polished amid a spray

gleaming with its Mashrafī blood.

فاسودادٌ فوقَ ابيضاضِ احمرارٍ

كالنّسيجِ المُشّهرِ الخَسروي

So blackness lies over redness turning white,

like the variegated fabric of Khusraw.

أو كأنَّ الجاديَّ غُلِفَ بالكا

فورِ مِن تحتِ ندِّهِ العَنبريِّ

Or as though saffron were coated with camphor,

beneath its ambergris-scented incense.

وقيانُ الأشجارِ في وَضحِ الأس

حارِ تشدُو بلحنِها المَعبدِيِّ

And the trees' singing maidens, in the clear light of daybreak,

sing in their Maʿbad-like strain.

كلّما طرّبَ الهزارُ هديلاً

حنّتِ الورقُ مِن شجاهُ الشّجيِّ

Whenever the nightingale trills a cooing song,

the gray doves moan at its heart-stirring plaint,

بتغاريدَ تُخرِسُ ابنَ سُريحٍ

وغناءٍ يُغني عن ابنِ غنيِّ

with trills that silence Ibn Surayḥ,

and song that dispenses with Ibn Ghanī.

مُعرباتٌ بلحنِها عن غرامٍ

مُغرباتٌ في لحنهِ الأعجميِّ

Expressing passion through their melody,

they work wonders in its non-Arabic strain.

بحسابٍ لا بالدَّساتينِ تُحصى

لا ولا مُطلقٍ ولا ملويِّ

They are measured by counting, not by frets—

no, nor by open strings, nor tightened ones.

واسقنيها فقد بدا زَهرُ النّو

رِ على نُورِ صُبحِها الأزهريِّ

And pour me wine: the bloom of flowers has appeared

in the light of its radiant morning.

فثغورُ الرّياضِ تضحكُ بِشراً

لبكاءِ الوليِّ والوَسميِّ

The mouths of the gardens smile joyfully

at the weeping of the later and the first rains.

ولسانُ الرّبيعِ يُثني عليه

بعبارتِ عرفهِ المَندليِّ

And spring's tongue sings its praise

in the language of its Mandalī fragrance.

كلّما راحت الرِّياحُ تَمشّى

بينَ زاهٍ من نبتهِ وزهيِّ

Whenever the winds go out strolling

among its plants, flourishing and splendid,

تَتمشّى ما بينَ تِبرٍ ونَدٍّ

مِن عرارٍ ذاكٍ وَرندٍ ذكيِّ

they wander between raw gold and fragrant incense,

of fragrant ʿarār blossoms and sweet-scented laurel.

عاطنيها كأنّها وَهجُ الشّم

سِ تبدّت مِن بُرجِها الحَمليِّ

Hand it to me, as though it were the sun's blaze,

appearing from its house of Aries.

فهي في كأسِها كنارٍ وماءٍ

قُيّدا باقتدارِ أيدٍ قَوِيِّ

For in its goblet it is like fire and water,

bound together by masterful, mighty power.

ذائبُ النارِ حلَّ في جامدِ ال

ماءِ فاعجب بالذّائبِ الجَمديِّ

Molten fire has settled in solid

water—so marvel at this icy liquid!

ذهبٌ حلَّ في اناءِ لُجينٍ

فتحلّى باللؤلؤِ الحَببيِّ

Gold has settled in a vessel of silver,

and decked itself with bubble-pearls.

يا صريعَ الكاساتِ خُذها سُلافاً

تُذهبِ الهمَّ بالسّنا الذّهَبيِّ

O one felled by goblets, take it as choice wine:

it will banish care with its golden radiance.

ما تمشّت في الجسمِ الا تمشّت

بشفاءٍ مِن كلِّ داءٍ دويِّ

It never courses through the body without flowing

with a cure for every grievous disease.

انّما مهلةُ الشّبابِ بهاءٌ

فاغتنمها بنهبِ عيشٍ هَنيِّ

Youth's allotted span is nothing but splendor;

so seize it by plundering a blissful life.

فكأن قد مَضى الشّبابُ نهيّاً

وأتى الشّيبُ بالنُّهى الهَرميِّ

For it is as though youth has already passed in its fullness,

and gray hair has arrived with the wisdom of old age.

وتوقّع مِن بعدِ ذلكَ حِلماً

مُستمدّاً مِن الحليمِ العليِّ

And after that, expect forbearance

drawn from the Forbearing, the Most High.