قالوا صبا يا من رأى مستهام — Ibn Hamdis

قالوا صَبَا يا مَن رأى مستهامْ

حِجاهُ كهْلٌ وَهَوَاهُ غُلامْ

They said, "He has fallen in love!" O who has seen a lovesick man—

his reason a mature man, his passion a boy?

لعلّهُ صادَ ولم يعلموا

رئماً حلالٌ صيدُهُ لا حرام

Perhaps he hunted, though they did not know,

a white gazelle whose hunting is lawful, not forbidden.

أو زاره طيفٌ خفيّ الهوَى

يَطْرُقُهُ في الوهم لا في المنام

Or a phantom of hidden love visited him,

coming to him in fancy, not in a dream.

كأنّ تمثالَ سليمى اجتلى

عليه منها خَفَراً واحتشام

As though he beheld Sulayma's image,

bearing her coyness and modest reserve.

وربّما هاجَ اشتياقَ الفتى

تألّقُ البرقِ وسجعُ الحمام

And sometimes a young man's longing is stirred

by lightning's flash and the doves' cooing,

أو نفحَةٌ تعبقُ من روضةٍ

تُحيي من الصّبّ رَميمَ العظام

or a fragrant breath wafting from a garden,

bringing the lovesick man's crumbling bones to life.

غزالةُ السرب التي جسمها

مَعَانُ مسكٍ ما علاه ختام

The gazelle of the herd, whose body

is an abode of musk upon which no seal has been set—

للّه ما صَوّرَ في فكرتي

بردُ المنى منها وحرّ الغرام

God, what visions were shaped in my mind

by cool hopes of her and the heat of passion!

تمشي وسكرُ التيه في عطفها

يُميلُ منها باعتدال القوام

She walks, and pride's intoxication in her flank

makes her well-balanced figure sway.

يا من رأى في غُصُنٍ روضة

يسمعُ منها للأقاحي كلام

O who has seen a garden in a bough,

and hears the daisies speaking from it!

يخبرُ من فاز بتقبيلها

عن بَرَدٍ تنبعُ منه مُدام

Whoever gains a kiss from her tells

of hailstones from which wine wells forth.

أذكى من المندلِ في نارِهِ

ما سَاكَتِ الدّرَّ به مِنْ بشام

More fragrant than aloeswood amid its fire

is the balsam twig with which she brushed her pearls.

كأنّ في فيها عبيراً إذا

تفجّرَ النورُ وغار الظلام

As though perfume were in her mouth whenever

light bursts forth and darkness retreats.

جسمُ لجينٍ ناعمٌ لَمْسُهُ

لصفرةِ العسجدِ فيه اتّهام

A silver body, soft to the touch—

where gold's yellowness is held suspect.

قد حازها البعدُ فَمِن دونها

ركوبُ طامٍ موجُهُ ذو سنام

Distance has claimed her; before reaching her

lies crossing a surging sea whose waves have humps.

تسافرُ الأرواحُ ما بيننا

والسّر فيما بيننا ذو اكتتام

Our spirits journey between us,

while the secret between us remains concealed.

كأنّما تحملُ أنفاسُها

لطائماً ضُمّنّ مسكَ السّلام

As though her breaths were carrying

caravans laden with the musk of greeting.

وهي من العفة لم تَدْرِ مَنْ

جُنّ بها دونَ الغواني وهام

In her chastity she has never known who

went mad for her, not other beauties, and wandered lovesick.

فتّاكةٌ باللّحظِ وارحمتا

منها لقلبِ الدّنِفِ المستهام

Deadly with her glance—oh, pity

the ailing, lovesick man's heart, because of her!

كأنّما عَلّمَهُ فَتْكَهُ

سيْفُ عليّ يوْمَ تفليقِ هام

As though it learned its deadly art

from Ali's sword on the day of cleaving heads.

مُمَلَّكٌ في ملك آبائه

أيُّ كريمٍ أنجبته كرام

A king enthroned in his fathers' kingdom—

what a noble man, born of noble people!

ذو هيبَةٍ تَحْسَبُ في دَسْتِهِ

قسْوَرَةَ الغيلِ وَبَدْرَ التمام

A lord of awe—you imagine on his throne

a lion of the thicket and the moon at its full.

مُتَرْجِمٌ عنه لسانُ العُلى

فيما عَنَاهُ أو لسانُ الحسام

The tongue of glory interprets on his behalf

what he intends—or the tongue of the keen sword does.

وكلّ جبّارٍ أتى أرْضَهُ

مُقَبّل بالرّغمِ منه الرّغام

And every tyrant who comes to his land

kisses the dust against his will.

يُقدِمُ ما بين العوالي إذا

ما نكلَ المقدامُ عنه وَخَام

He advances among the spearheads when

even the bold warrior shrinks back from it and falters.

يملأ جنبَ القرنِ من طعنةٍ

نَجْلاءَ يَرْغُو شِدْقُها وهو دام

He fills his opponent's flank with a thrust,

wide-gaping, its mouth foaming and bleeding.

مُؤيَّدٌ باللَّه ذو عِصْمَةٍ

للدين تأييدٌ به واعتصام

Supported by God and endowed with protection,

through him the faith finds support and refuge.

أسنّةُ الأعداءِ في حربه

أطعنُ منها إبَرٌ في ثمام

The enemies' spearpoints in his warfare—

needles in thumam grass are more piercing than they.

ذا كعبةُ الجودِ الذي كفُّهُ

ركنٌ لنا لثمٌ به واستلام

This is generosity's Kaaba, whose palm

is a corner for our kissing and reverent touch.

لا تحسبوها حجراً إنّها

من ساكبِ المعروفِ أُختُ الغمام

Do not think it a stone; it is

a sister to the raincloud in pouring forth kindness.

يَمُدّهُ المَدْحُ لبذلِ النّدى

كمدّهِ المرهفَ يوم اقتحام

Praise urges him to bestow generosity,

as he thrusts out his keen blade on a day of assault.

وتقبضُ الحرمانَ منه يدٌ

تَبْسُطُ للوفدِ العطايا الجسام

And a hand of his holds deprivation back,

spreading immense gifts before visiting delegations.

للبحر بالرّيح عُبَابٌ كذا

جدواهُ إن أُسْمِعَ فيها الملام

The wind raises a surge upon the sea; so too

his bounty, if he hears reproach concerning it.

إن سابقَ القُرّحَ أبصَرْتَهُ

أمامها سَبْقاً يثيرُ القتام

If he races mature steeds, you see him

out ahead of them, raising the dust.

إنّ الأنابيب لمأمومةٌ

في الرمح واللهذمُ فيها إمام

For the shaft's segments are indeed followers

within the spear; its broad blade is their leader.

لا يَغْتررْ بالعفوِ من سلمه

أعداؤهُ فالحربُ دار انتقام

Let not the pardon of his peacetime beguile

his enemies, for war is a realm of vengeance.

أخافُ والموتُ بهم واقعٌ

أن يُفطِرَ الصمصامُ بعد الصيام

I fear, while death is befalling them,

that the keen sword will break its fast after fasting.

يُمْلي لمن يُغْرَى به نقمَةً

بالبطءِ في النزعِ نفوذُ السهام

To the target of vengeance, respite is granted

by arrows' penetration, slow in drawing out the soul.

إذا تحيّرنا فقولوا لنا

أكان رضوى حِلمُهُ أم شَمام

When we are bewildered, tell us:

Was his forbearance Radwa, or Shamam?

لو رَكَنَ الباغي إلى عزّهِ

ما قَعَدَ الذلّ عليه وقام

Had the rebel taken refuge in his might,

abasement would not have sat upon him and stood over him.

منفردٌ بالبأس في نفسه

سكونُهُ فيه حَرَاكُ اعتزام

Unmatched in his own prowess,

his stillness within it is the movement of resolve.

كأنّه جيشٌ لهامٌ حدا

من أُسُدِ الأبْطال جيشاً لهام

As though he were a vast host, driving onward

a vast host of lionlike champions.

أثوابُهُمْ فيه وتيجانُهُمْ

قُمْصُ الأفاعي وَتَريكُ النعام

Their garments and crowns, in that host,

are vipers' sloughed skins and ostrich eggshells.

من كلّ فتّاكٍ بأقرانِه

له حياةٌ تَغْتذي بالحِمام

Each a slayer of his peers,

whose life feeds on death.

فَصَيْحَةُ الرّوْعِ وطعمُ الرّدى

لديه كالشّدوْ على شربِ جام

So the cry of terror and the taste of death

are to him like song while drinking from a goblet.

إنّ ابن يحيى من وكوف الحيا

في زَمَنِ المحل ليهمي انسجام

Indeed, Ibn Yahya, with rain's copious flow,

pours down steadily in the season of drought.

فمن حياءٍ لا تَرى وَجْهَهُ

إلا وللغيم عليه لثام

So, from modesty, you never see his face

without a veil of cloud upon it.

لئن تزاحمنا بساحاته

فالموْردُ العذبُ كثير الزحام

If we throng his courtyards,

a sweet watering place is much frequented.

نطولُ من ساعات أفْراحهِ

بالسّعْد ما يقصرُ عنه الأنام

We attain, from the hours of his rejoicing,

through good fortune, what mankind falls short of.

أقسمتُ ما بهجةُ أيّامه

في عَبْسَةِ الأيام إلّا ابتسام

I swear, the brightness of his days,

amid the days' frown, is nothing but a smile.

يا منْ إذا مالَ زمانٌ بنا

عن حكمنا قوّمه فاستقام

O you who, when time swerved with us

from our command, set it right, and it ran straight—

لك المذاكي والمواضي الّتي

تَمَيّعَ الماءُ بها في الضرام

yours are the seasoned steeds and keen blades

whose watery sheen melted amid the blaze.

من كلّ يعبوبٍ كريح الصّبا

يطير جرياً ما أراد اللجام

Every swift steed, like the east wind,

flies at a gallop wherever the bridle wills.

وكلّ ماضي الحدّ في جفنه

عينُ الردى ساهرةٌ لا تنام

And every keen-edged sword has, within its sheath,

death's eye, wakeful, never sleeping.

أنصفتَ همّاتِكَ أعْظِمْ بها

لم يُنْصِفِ الهمّاتِ مثلُ الهمام

You have done justice to your ambitions—how great they are!

None does justice to ambitions like the high-souled man.

قابلكَ العامُ الذي تشتهي

فابقَ من بعده ألفَ عام

The year you desire has come to meet you;

then live beyond it for a thousand years.

إنّ المنى في سلكه نُظّمَتْ

وإنّه أوّلُ درِّ النظام

Indeed, hopes have been strung upon its thread,

and it is the first pearl of the necklace.

فقارِنِ السعدَ على أفْقِهِ

وأنْتَ في العمرِ قرينُ الدوام

So keep company with good fortune upon its horizon,

while, in life, you are the companion of permanence,

موشِّحٌ شبليك في عزّةٍ

قعساءَ مرماها بعيدُ المرام

girding your two lion cubs with a glory

unassailable, its heights far beyond reach.

والجودُ في يمناك منه حيا

واليُمْنُ في يُسْرَاكَ منه زمام

And bounty in your right hand is rain from it,

and blessing in your left hand a rein from it.