Sol 6.1

  1. أعطى سرائرك النحول اللّوما

    والحب ليس بممكن أن يكتما

    Your wasting has given your secrets to the reproachers.

    And love cannot possibly be concealed.

  2. ووشى ونم عليك دمعك عندما

    وشي بعندمه الخدود وغنما

    Your tears betrayed and informed against you when

    they embroidered your cheeks with their blood-red dye and yielded spoils.

  3. أفرمت تبهم واضحاً من سره

    والدمع متضح به ما أبهما

    Did you seek to obscure what was plain of love's secret,

    while tears make clear what was concealed?

  4. أم خلت أن أساك تمحو الأسى

    كلا ورب جراحة لن تحسما

    Or did you think your consolations could erase grief?

    No—many a wound will never be staunched.

  5. إن المحبة محنة لا منحة

    ومن الغرام يرى المحب المغرما

    Love is a trial, not a gift;

    through passion the lover is seen burdened with debt.

  6. وشكيتي شاكي السلاح جفونه

    مر العذاب لشقوتي عذب اللما

    My affliction is one whose eyelids are fully armed—

    bitter in torment, to my misery, yet sweet in his dusky lips.

  7. ظبي ظبا لحظاته بمضاءها

    أنا موقن لا شك تردى الضيغما

    A gazelle, the blades of whose glances, in their keenness—

    I am certain, beyond doubt—can fell a lion.

  8. أخشى الهلال توهما من بأسه

    ولربما هلك المحب توهما

    I fear the crescent, imagining his might,

    and many a lover has perished through imagining.

  9. وأظل صادي القلب خيفة صده

    ولو انه بنعيم وصل أنغما

    My heart remains thirsty for fear of his rejection,

    even if he delighted me with the bliss of union [reading uncertain].

  10. وإذا منعت الماء أول مرة

    ووردته أخرى تذكرت الظما

    When you are denied water the first time

    and return to it again, you remember thirst.

  11. بأبي وان كان الأبى وبي رشا

    قد الغصون رشاقة وتقدما

    May my father and I ransom a fawn, though he is unyielding,

    who outdid the branches in grace and took precedence.

  12. كالصبح فرقاً والغزالة طلعة

    والبدر وجهاً والثريا مبسما

    Like dawn in his hair's parting, the sun in his appearance,

    the full moon in face, the Pleiades in his smile.

  13. يزداد ورد خدوده وجوانحي

    من نارهن تضرجا وتضرما

    The roses of his cheeks and my inward parts grow

    redder and more aflame from their fire.

  14. صافي الأديم ترى ترافة جسمه

    ماء ويأبى المار أن يتجشما

    Clear-skinned, his body's delicacy seems to you

    like water, yet the passerby refuses to venture through.

  15. صنم لبست الغي فيه غلائلا

    والمرء يسلب رشده حب الدمى

    An idol for whom I donned error in layered robes;

    a man's reason is stolen by love of idols.

  16. كيف الهداية لي وفاحم فرعه

    قد ظل يجهد أن يضل ويفحما

    How can I find guidance, when his coal-black hair

    keeps striving to lead me astray and confound me?

  17. كالأفعوان على قضيب كثيبه

    لا يرتجى لسليمه أن يسلما

    Like a serpent upon the rod of his sand dune,

    there is no hope that the one it bites will escape unharmed.

  18. أنا من أباح يد الغرام زمامه

    فمشى به أنى يشاء ويمما

    I am he who surrendered his reins to passion's hand,

    so it led him wherever it wished to go.

  19. فعسى الحبائب أن تخفف عبئها

    فلقد حملت من النوائب أعظما

    May the beloveds lessen the burden they impose,

    for I have borne the greatest of calamities.

  20. في كل يوم لوعة أو روعة

    والفذ تقعده الحوادث توأما

    Every day brings burning grief or terror;

    misfortunes come as twins and bring the solitary man low.

  21. شيآن لست بآمن عقباهما

    ان تصحب الدنيا وتدنى الأرقما

    Two things: I am never safe from their consequences—

    keeping company with the world and drawing a viper near.

  22. فلأبلغن نهاية في قدحها

    ان لم تبلغني الأبر الأكرما

    I shall go to the utmost in condemning it,

    if it does not bring me to the most righteous, most generous man:

  23. من حيه حرم وراحته حيا

    وسؤاله ذمم ونائله حمى

    one whose dwelling is a sanctuary, whose palm is life-giving rain,

    asking him brings protection, and his bounty is a refuge.

  24. مولى يوالي الوفد حتى إنني

    لأظن سائله المكارم أكرما

    A lord who lavishes favor on delegations until I

    think the petitioner for his noble favors is the more generous.

  25. ليث الوغى غيث الندى والشهم من

    تلقاه يبدع منعما أو منقما

    A lion in war, a raincloud in bounty; the noble man is one

    you find excelling, whether granting favors or taking vengeance.

  26. لا يرتضى الجوزاء من عليائه

    مغنى ولا مجرى المجرة مغنما

    In his loftiness, he does not accept Orion

    as an abode, nor the Milky Way's course as spoils.

  27. كلا ولا القمرين إلا باذلا

    لك منهما ديناره والدرهما

    No, nor the sun and moon, save to bestow

    on you, from those two, his dinar and his dirham.

  28. يا أحمد الحمد الذي بمديحه

    أبدى الزمان ترنحا وترنما

    O Ahmad, worthy of praise, at whose praise

    Time began to sway and sing!

  29. والعالم الورع الذي بعلومه

    بهر ابن حنبل والأمام الأعظما

    And the pious scholar whose learning

    dazzled Ibn Hanbal and the Greatest Imam;

  30. والمسهب اللسن البليغ فصاحة

    سحبت على سحبان ذيلا معلماً

    and the copious, silver-tongued orator, whose eloquence

    has swept an embroidered train over Sahban.

  31. لولا انتظام زماننا بنظامه

    في الشعر ما فضل الأخير الأقدما

    Were our age not set in order by his verse,

    the later would not surpass the earlier in poetry.

  32. والكاتب الفطن الذي لذكائه

    صباً غدا الصابي وراح متيما

    And the discerning writer, for whose brilliance

    al-Sabi grew lovesick and remained enthralled.

  33. لم يعتمد نجل العميد محله

    كلا ولا المولى العماد له سما

    The son of al-Amid never aspired to his station;

    no, nor did the lord al-Imad rise to it.

  34. والطيب الأصل الزكي نجاره الفرع

    الرطيب إذا انثى وإذا انتمى

    And he of pure origin and unsullied stock—a branch

    fresh when it bends [reading uncertain] and when its lineage is traced.

  35. ومن ارتقي كأبيه شاهين العلا

    وسما إلى فلك السماحة والسما

    And he who, like his father Shahin, ascended the heights

    and rose to the sphere of generosity and heaven.

  36. بطل تحاربه الظنون تأملا

    وتظل تحسده المنون تألما

    A hero whom conjectures assail as they try to fathom him,

    while Death keeps envying him in anguish.

  37. شغف بضرب الهام هام فؤاده

    طرباً وشوقاً طرفه ما هو ما

    Enraptured by striking heads, his heart is mad

    with rapture and longing; his eye—[the ending is unclear].

  38. يلقى الصفوف بنفسه متقحما

    والسمهري بصدره متحطما

    He meets the battle lines, plunging in himself,

    with the hard spear shattering against his breast.

  39. فكأنه عشق الرماح معاطفاً

    في الحرب والتمس الصفائح معصما

    As though he loved the spears as supple bodies

    in war, and sought a wrist among sword blades.

  40. وتخال في شفق النجيع دلاصه

    برداً قباطياً علبه مسهما

    In the ruddy glow of blood, you would take his smooth mail

    for a striped Coptic cloak upon him [reading uncertain].

  41. ثمل وليس سوى الكؤس اكاوب

    تطفو وما صهباؤها إلا الدما

    Drunk, with cups alone—goblets

    afloat, their tawny wine nothing but blood.

  42. وتطير ما لقى الأعادي خيله

    عزماً فتسبق نحوهن الأسهما

    His horses fly whenever they encounter foes,

    with resolve, reaching them ahead of arrows.

  43. لا تدرك الراجون غاية مجده

    الا إذا اقتنص الغداف الأعصما

    Those who hope cannot attain the limit of his glory,

    except when a white-marked raven is captured.

  44. وإذا تسامى الأكرمون برتبة

    كان السنام لها وكانوا المنسما

    When the noblest men aspire to a rank,

    he is its hump, while they are its hoof.

  45. ومن اغتذى بلبان كل فضيلة

    والندب تقنعه الفضائل مطعما

    And he who was nourished on the milk of every virtue—

    virtues suffice the noble man as food.

  46. ومن اهتدى طفلا واصبح علمه

    علماً لمن ضل السبيل ومعلما

    And he who found guidance as a child, whose knowledge became

    a beacon and a guide to whoever strayed from the path.

  47. أنا من اضاعته الكبار تحكما

    والأصغرون تحملا وتحلما

    I am one cast aside by the great through their tyranny,

    and by the lesser through indulgence and forbearance.

  48. سئموا تقدمنا وساموا دوننا

    والدون ازرى ما يكون مقدما

    They tired of our precedence and sought those beneath us;

    the base are most contemptible when placed foremost.

  49. لن يفقدوني في طلائع خيلهم

    الا كما فقد الوشيج اللهذما

    They will find me missing from their cavalry's vanguard

    only as a spear shaft misses its keen blade.

  50. وأخوك من ان تدعه لكريهة

    جردت منه في الكريهة مخذما

    Your brother is the one whom, if you summon him to hardship,

    you draw forth as a keen sword in that hardship.

  51. وإذا البصائر لم تفد ابصارنا

    نظراً يصبن به ففيهن العمى

    If insights do not give our eyes

    a vision that lets them strike true, blindness lies within them.

  52. لا أصحب الندم الممض لفقدهم

    فندامة الإنسان في أن يندما

    I will not keep agonizing regret as a companion for their loss;

    a person's regret lies in regretting.

  53. رزق تقسم لي وجد مقسم

    ان لست أبرح منجداً أو متهما

    A livelihood is apportioned to me, and fortune allotted,

    though I never cease journeying to Najd or Tihama.

  54. ولمحكم التقدير أمر مبرم

    أو ينقض التدبير أمراً مبرما

    And firmly ordained destiny has an irrevocable decree;

    or can planning undo an irrevocable decree?

  55. ولو ان إدراك المنى بيد النهى

    وطئت نعامة اخمصي الأنجما

    Were the attainment of wishes in reason's hands,

    the soft sole of my foot would tread the stars.

  56. ومتى يصح سقيم جدا خي الحجا

    يوما إذا كان الزمان المسقما

    When can a wise man's ailing fortune recover [reading uncertain],

    if Time itself is what makes it ill?

  57. فالحمق اليق والخداع موافق

    والمكر أرفق ما ترافق منهما

    Then folly is more fitting, deceit more welcome,

    and guile is the gentlest of the two to keep as company.

  58. أبناء دهرك بالنفاق نفاقهم

    افير تضونك بالهدى متكلما

    The men of your age gain their currency through hypocrisy;

    will they then accept you speaking of guidance?

  59. ما لم تنافق فاتخذ نفقا به

    ترجو السلامة منهم أو سلما

    If you will not practice hypocrisy, find a tunnel

    in which to hope for safety from them—or a ladder.

  60. لا يفقهون وشر من صاحبته

    أن تصحب الأعمى الأصم الأبكما

    They understand nothing; the worst of companionship

    is to accompany one blind, deaf, and mute.

  61. ولقد ملئت تحارباً وتجارباً

    لم تلقني إلا إناءً مفعما

    I have indeed been filled with strife and trials;

    you have found me only a vessel filled to the brim.

  62. وإليكها ظمياء حلف صبابة

    تشكو إليك تألما وتظلما

    And here she is for you, dark-lipped, sworn to ardent longing,

    complaining to you of pain and ill-treatment.

  63. تاقت إليك فترجمت عن شوقها

    وأخو الهوى لا يستطيع تكتما

    She yearned for you and gave voice to her longing;

    one possessed by love cannot keep it secret.

  64. قصرت مساعي نظمها عن شوقها

    أدركتها طولاً وطلن المرزما

    The efforts of her composition fell short of her longing,

    though they reached its height and towered above al-Mirzam.

  65. لكنها جعلت قبولك ظنها

    وإذا ظننت محققا لن تؤثما

    Yet she has set her expectation on your acceptance;

    when you expect a sure thing, you incur no sin.

  66. دم وابق وارق علاً وسد حمداً

    وشد مجداً أمنت عليه أن يتهدما

    Endure, live on, ascend in glory, and rule in praise;

    and build a glory whose collapse you need not fear.

  67. واسلم فدهرك لا يزال مسالما

    من أم بابك مسلماً ومسلما

    Be safe, for your age remains at peace with

    whoever seeks your door, submitting and offering greetings.