لها العتب هذا دأبها ولي العتبى — Ibn Hamdis

لها العَتْبُ هذا دأبها وَليَ العُتْبَى

سلمتُ من التعذيب لو لم أكن صبّا

Reproach is hers—such is her habit—and mine is to make amends.

I would have escaped torment had I not been lovesick.

رأى عاذلي جسمي حديثاً فرابه

ولم يدرِ أني رعيت به الحبّا

My reproacher saw my body recently and was alarmed,

not knowing that I had fed love with it.

وكيف ونفسي تؤثرُ الغصن والنقا

وتهوى الشقيقَ الغضَّ والعَنَمَ الرطبا

How could it be otherwise, when my soul favors the bough and the sand dune,

and loves the tender anemone and the moist red ʿanam shrub?

وذاتِ دلالٍ أعْجَبَ الحسنَ خَلْقُها

فهزّ اختيالُ التّيه أعطافَها عُجبا

And a coquettish woman whose form amazed Beauty itself—

the swagger of pride swayed her flanks in self-admiration.

يكادُ وليدُ الذرِّ يجرحُ جسمَها

إذا صافحتْ منها أنامله الإتبا

A newborn ant could almost wound her body

when its fingertips brushed the sleeveless shift upon her.

فتاةٌ إذا أحسنتُ في الحبِّ أذنَبَتْ

فمن أين لولا الجورُ تُلْزِمني الدنيا

A maiden who does wrong whenever I do well in love:

so how, were it not for injustice, could the world bind me?

وإني لصعبٌ والهوى راضني لها

وغيرُ عجيبٍ أن يروضَ الهوى الصعبا

Untamable indeed am I, yet love has tamed me for her;

and it is no wonder that love should tame the untamable.

سريعةُ غدرٍ سيفها في جفونها

وهل لك سلمٌ عند من خُلِقَت حربا

Swift in treachery, her sword lies in her eyelids;

can you find peace with one created as war?

وروضة حسنٍ غَرّدَت فوقَ نحرها

عصافيرُ حَلْيٍ تلقطُ الدرّ لا الحبّا

A garden of beauty, above whose throat sang

birds of jewelry, pecking pearls, not grain.

وألحقها بالسرب جيدٌ ومقلةٌ

وإن لم يناسبْ دُرُّ مبسمها السربا

A neck and an eye have joined her to the gazelle herd,

though the pearls of her smile bear no kinship to that herd.

لها من فُتون السحرِ عينٌ مريضةٌ

تحلّبُ من أجفانها الدمع والكربا

From magic's enchantments she has a languid eye,

drawing tears and anguish from her eyelids.

شربتُ بلحظي سكرةً من لحاظها

فلاقيت منها سَوْرَةً تشربُ اللّبا

With my gaze I drank intoxication from her glances,

and encountered a surge from her that drinks up the mind.

وإني لصادٍ والزلالُ مبرَّدٌ

لديّ وإن أكثرت من صفوه شربا

Yet I am thirsty, though clear water lies chilled

beside me, however much I drink of its purity.

فمن لي بودقٍ مطفئٍ حرّ غُلّتي

أباكرُ طلّاً من أقاحيّه عذبا

Who will bring me rain to quench my burning thirst?

At dawn I seek sweet dew from its daisies.

وقالوا أما يسليكَ عن شغفِ الهوَى

ومن ذا من السلوان يَسْلُكُ بي شِعْبا

They said, 'Does nothing console you for love's consuming passion?'

And who can lead me along a mountain path of forgetting,

وأنفاسها أذكى إذا انصرف الدجى

وريقتُها أشهى ومقلتها أسبى

when her breath is more fragrant as darkness withdraws,

her saliva sweeter, and her eye more captivating?

وحمراءَ تُلْقَى الماء في قيد سكرِه

ويطلق من قيد الأسى شربُها القلبا

And a red wine that casts water into the fetters of its intoxication,

while drinking it frees the heart from sorrow's bonds.

تَوَلّدَ في ما بين ماءٍ ونارِها

مُجَوّفٌ دُرٍّ لا تطيقُ له ثقبا

Between water and its fire there was born

a hollow pearl that you cannot pierce.

قستْ ما قستْ ثم اقتضى المزجُ لينَها

فكم شررٍ في الكأسِ رشّت به الشربا

Harsh it was, so harsh; then blending required its softness.

How many sparks in the cup it sprinkled upon the drinkers!

وذي قتلةٍ بالراحِ أحييتُ سمعه

بأجوفَ أحيته مميتَتُهُ ضَرْبا

And one whom wine had slain—I revived his hearing

with a hollow instrument whose slayer revived it by striking.

فهَبّ نزيفاً والنّسيم معطرٌ

فما خلتُهُ إلّا النّسيم الّذي هبّا

He rose drunk, while the breeze was perfumed;

I thought him none other than the breeze that blew.

شربنا على إيماضِ برقٍ كأنّهُ

سنا قبسٍ في فحمةِ الليل قد شبّا

We drank amid flashes of lightning, as though it were

the gleam of a firebrand blazing in the charcoal-dark night.

سرى رامحاً دهم الدياجي كأبْلَقٍ

له وثبةٌ في الشرق يأتي به الغرْبا

It coursed, spearing the black steeds of darkness, like a piebald horse

whose leap in the east carries it to the west.

كأنّ سياط التبر منهُ تَطايَرتْ

لها قِطَعٌ مما يسوق بها السُّحْبا

As though whips of gold were flying from it,

fragments of those with which it drives the clouds.

إذ العيْش يجري في الحياة نعيمهُ

وذيلُ الشبابِ الغضّ أركضهُ سَحْبا

When life's bliss flowed through existence,

and I galloped, trailing the hem of tender youth:

لياليَ يَندى بالمنى لي أمانُها

كأيّام يحيى لا تخاف لها خطْبا

nights whose peace was dewed with hopes for me,

like Yahya's days, in which no calamity is feared.

سليلُ تميم بن المعزّ الذي له

مطالعُ فخرٍ في العلى تُطلعُ الشّهبا

The scion of Tamim ibn al-Muʿizz, who has

rising places of glory in the heights that bring forth bright stars.

هو الملك الحامي الهدى بقواضبٍ

قلوبُ العدى منها مقلّبةٌ رعبا

He is the king who guards right guidance with cutting swords,

at which his enemies' hearts are tossed about with terror.

إذا ما الحيا روّى ليسكب صوبهُ

رأيتَ ندى يمناه يبتدرُ السكبا

When rain deliberates before pouring its downpour,

you see his right hand's bounty hastening to pour first.

بنى من منار الجود ما جَدُّهُ بنى

وذبّ عن الإسلام بالسيف ما ذبّا

He built the same beacons of generosity his grandfather built,

and defended Islam with the sword as his grandfather did.

وجهَّزَ للأعداءِ كلَّ عَرَمرَمٍ

يغادرُ بالأرماح أرواحهم نهبا

He mustered against the enemies every mighty host

that leaves their souls as plunder for spears.

كتائبُ يعلوها مُشارُ قتامها

كما نَشّرَتْ أيدٍ مرسّلة كتبا

Battalions over which their stirred-up dust rises,

as outstretched hands unfurl scrolls.

وتفشي سريراتِ النُفوسِ حماتها

بجهدِ ضرابٍ يصرعُ الأُسدَ الغلبا

Their defenders lay bare the innermost secrets of souls

with forceful swordplay that fells thick-necked lions.

إذا ما بديعُ المدحِ ضاقَ مجاله

على مادحٍ ألفاهُ في وصفه رَحْبا

Whenever the scope of wondrous praise grows narrow

for a panegyrist, he finds ample room in describing him.

ثناءٌ تخالُ الشمسَ ناراً له وما

على الأرضِ من نبتٍ له منزلاً رطبا

Praise—you would think the sun its fire, and all

the vegetation upon earth its green lodging.

سميعُ سؤالِ المُجْتدي غيرَ سامعٍ

على بذلِ مالٍ من مُعاتِبه عتبا

He listens to the supplicant's plea, but does not listen

to a reproacher's blame for giving wealth away.

ومن ذا يردُّ البحرَ عن فَيْضِ مَدّهْ

إذا عبّ منه بالجنائب ما عبّا

Who can restrain the sea from its overflowing tide,

when one draws from it in led steeds, however much one draws?

إذا ما أديرتْ بالسيول من الظُّبى

رحى الحرب في الهيجاء كان لها قطبا

When torrents from sword-edges set turning

the millstone of war in battle, he is its pivot.

شجاعٌ له في القرْن نجلاءُ ثرّةٌ

يُجَرّرُ منْها وهو كالثَّملِ القُضْبا

A brave warrior whose foe bears a wide, gushing wound,

from which he drags the blades, as though drunk.

يُطير فراشَ الرأس مضربُ سيفِهِ

وعامله في القلبِ يحترشُ الضبّا

His sword's striking edge sends skull-fragments flying,

and his spear-tip hunts the spiny-tailed lizard in the heart.

يخوضُ دمَ الأبطال بالجَرْدِ في الوغى

فيصدرها ورْداً إذا وردت شهبا

On sleek horses he wades through heroes' blood in battle,

bringing them out red though they entered gray.

عليمٌ بأسرار الزمان فراسةً

كأنّ لها عيناً تريه بها العُقبى

He knows time's secrets through discerning insight,

as though it had an eye through which it showed him the outcome.

قريبٌ إذا ساماه ذو رفعةٍ نأَى

بعيدٌ إذا ناداه مستنصرٌ لبّى

Near at hand, yet when a man of high rank rivals him, he draws away;

far away, yet when someone seeking aid calls, he answers.

يُشرّد من آلائهِ الفقرَ بالغِنى

ويقصد من آرائه بالهِنَا النُّقْبا

Through his favors he drives poverty away with wealth,

and with the tar of his counsels he seeks out sore-stricken camels.

يطوّقُ ذا الجُرْم المخالفِ مِنَّةً

ولولا مكانُ الحلم طَوّقَهُ العضبا

He collars the guilty opponent with a favor;

but for the place of forbearance, he would collar him with the keen sword.

يَعُدّ من الآباءِ كلّ مُتَوَّجٍ

نديم المعالي مُلِّكَ المال والتّربا

Among his forefathers he counts every crowned king,

a companion of lofty deeds, made master of wealth and soil.

لهم كل مرتاعٍ به الرّوعُ مُعْلَمٌ

إذا الحَرب بالأَرماحِ ناجزَتِ الحربا

Theirs is every trembling blade upon which terror is marked,

when war, with spears, brings war to a decisive clash:

مضرِّم هيجا في طويِّة غمدِهِ

منَ الفتك ما يرضي مَنيَّتها الغَضبى

a kindler of battle, in the folds of whose sheath

lies slaughter enough to appease its wrathful Death.

إذا حاولوا قَضْبَ الجماجم جرّدوا

لها ورقاً يَنبتن في النار أو قُضبا

When they seek to sever skulls, they unsheathe

for them leaves that grow in fire—or boughs.

وإن رُفعت فوق المفارق صَيّرَتْ

دبيبَ المنايا من مضاربها وثبا

And when raised above the partings of heads, they turn

death's creeping into leaps from their striking edges.

لقد أصبحتْ ساحاتُ يحيى كأنّما

إليه نفوسُ الخلق منقادةٌ جذْبا

Yahya's courtyards have become as though

the souls of humankind were drawn submissively toward him.

ربوعٌ بعثتُ الطرفَ فيهنّ خاشعاً

وإن كان بُعْد العزّ يمتنح القربا

Abodes through which I sent my gaze in humility,

though majesty's remoteness seeks the gift of nearness.

فلا همّةٌ إلا رأيتُ لها عُلاً

ولا أمّة إلا لقيت لها ركبا

No ambition but I saw heights for it,

and no nation but I met its cavalcade.