هل أنت فادية فؤاد عميد — Ibn Hamdis

هلْ أنتِ فاديَةٌ فؤادَ عميدِ

من لوعةٍ في الصّدْرِ ذاتِ وَقُودِ

Will you redeem a lovesick man's heart

from anguish in the breast, with fuel to burn?

أم أنتِ في الفَتَكاتِ لا تخشَينَ في

قَتلِ العبادِ عُقوبةَ المَعبودِ

Or, in your deadly assaults, do you not fear, in

slaying His servants, the punishment of the One they worship?

إِن كَانَ لا تَنبُو سُيوفُكِ عن حَشا

صَبٍّ فَلَيسَ حِدادُها بِحَديدِ

If your swords do not glance off the vitals

of a lovesick man, their keen edges are not of iron.

قُلْ كَيفَ تَعطِفُ بِالوِصالِ لِعاشِقٍ

من لا تجودُ له بِعَطْفَةِ جيدِ

Tell me: how can she favor a lover with union,

she who will not grant him a turn of her neck?

لَو بِتّ مُغتَبِقاً مُدامةَ ريقِها

لَخَشيتُ صارمَ جَفنِها العِربِيدِ

Were I to spend the night drinking the wine of her saliva,

I would fear the keen sword of her riotous eyelid.

إِن شِئتَ أن تَطْوي على ظَمَأٍ فَرِدْ

ماءَ المَحاسِنِ فَوْقَ وَجْنَةِ رُودِ

If you wish to endure thirst, then come to

beauty's water upon a tender maiden's cheek.

غيداءُ يُسقِمُ بالملاحةِ دَلُّهَا

جِسمَ العَميدِ كَذاكَ دلّ الغيدِ

A supple maiden: her coquetry, through beauty, sickens

the lovesick man's body—such is graceful maidens' coquetry.

كَتَبَتْ لها وَصلاً إِشارةُ ناظِري

فَمَحاهُ ناظِرُ طَرفِها بِصُدودِ

My eye's gesture wrote her a message of union,

then the pupil of her eye erased it with rejection.

وَلَقَد يَهيجُ لِيَ البُكاءَ صَبابَةً

شادٍ مُطوَّقُ آلةِ التّغريدِ

And indeed, tears of longing are stirred in me

by a singer whose instrument of song is ringed with a collar.

باتَت سَواري الطَلِّ تَضرِبُ ريشَهُ

بجواهرٍ لم تَدْرِ سِلْكَ فريدِ

All night, wandering dew-showers struck its feathers

with jewels that had never known a string of pearls.

غَنّى عَلى عُودٍ يَميسُ بِهِ كَما

غَنّى التَقابُلَ مَعْبَدٌ في العُودِ

It sang upon a branch that swayed with it, as

Ma'bad sang answering strains upon the lute.

واللَّيل قَوّضَ رافِعاً من شَبهِهِ

بيضَ القبابِ على نَجائبَ سُودِ

And night struck camp, seeming to hoist

white pavilions onto noble black camels.

والصبحُ يلقط من جُمَانِ نجومِهِ

ما كانَ في الآفاقِ ذا تَبديدِ

And dawn gathers from the pearls of night's stars

those that lay scattered across the horizons.

زُهْرٌ خَبَتْ أنوارُهَا فَكَأَنَّها

سُرُجُ المَشاكي عُولِجَت بِخُمودِ

Bright stars whose lights have faded, as though they were

lamps in niches that had been put out.

كَأَزاهِرِ النُوّارِ تَقطِفُها مَهاً

مِن كُلّ مُخضرِّ البقاع مَجُودِ

Like flowers in bloom that oryxes pluck

from every green, rain-drenched tract of land.

كَأَسِنَّةٍ طَعَنَتْ بها فُرسانُها

ثُمَّ امتَسكنَ عَنِ القَنا بِكبودِ

Like spearheads with which their horsemen thrust,

then lodged in livers, apart from their shafts.

كَعُيونِ عُشّاقٍ أبَاحَ لها الكَرى

مَنْ كان عَذّبَهُنّ بالتَّسهِيدِ

Like lovers' eyes, to which sleep was granted

by the one who had tormented them with sleeplessness.

والصبحُ يبرقُ كرّةً في كرّةٍ

مِثلَ استلالِ الصارِمِ المَغمودِ

And dawn flashes, time after time,

like the drawing of a keen, sheathed sword.

وَتَفرَّقَت تِلكَ الغَياهِبُ عَن سَنا

فلقٍ يُفَلّقُ هامَها بِعَمُودِ

And those depths of darkness parted to reveal the radiance

of daybreak, which splits their heads with a pillar.

إِنِّي خَبرتُ الدَّهر خُبْرَ مُجَرّبٍ

وكلمْتُ غاربَهُ بِحَمْلِ قتودِ

I have known Time as a man seasoned by experience,

and wounded its withers with a load of saddle-frames.

فالحَظّ فيهِ طَوْعُ كَفّيْ مُظْلِمٍ

بِالجَهلِ مِن نورِ العُلومِ بَلِيدِ

So fortune in it obeys the two hands of one benighted

by ignorance, a dullard far from the light of learning.

والحَمدُ في الأَقوامِ غَيرُ مُسَلّمٍ

إلّا لأحمدَ ذي العُلى والجُودِ

And praise among men is not conceded

except to Ahmad, possessor of eminence and generosity.

مَن لا يَجودُ على العُفاةِ بطارِفٍ

حَتّى يَجودَ عليهمُ بِتَليدِ

He gives petitioners no newly acquired wealth

until he has given them his inherited riches.

خَرَقَ العوائدَ منه خِرْقٌ سَيْبُهُ

ثَرُّ الغَمائِمِ مورقُ الجُلمودِ

He has broken custom—a noble giver whose bounty

pours from copious clouds, making solid rock sprout leaves.

يأوي إلى شَرَفٍ تَقَادَمَ بيتُهُ

أَزمانَ عادٍ في العلى وثَمودِ

He shelters in a nobility whose house has long endured

in eminence since the ages of 'Ad and Thamud.

مُتَردِّدٌ في سامِياتِ مَراتِبٍ

والبَدرُ في الأَبراجِ ذو تَغريدِ

Moving to and fro among lofty ranks,

while the full moon sings in the zodiacal towers.

كَالشَّمسِ يَبْعُدُ في السماءِ مَحَلُّها

وشُعاعُها في الأَرضِ غَيرُ بَعيدِ

Like the sun, whose station is distant in the sky,

yet whose rays upon the earth are not far away.

يَلقى وُجوهَ المُعتَفينَ بِغُرّةٍ

بَسّامَةٍ ويدٍ تَسُحّ بِجُودِ

He meets the faces of petitioners with a radiant brow,

ever smiling, and a hand pouring forth generosity.

ما زال يشردُ عِرْضُهُ عن ذمّةٍ

وعَطاؤُهُ بالمَطلِ غَيرُ شَريدِ

His honor has always fled reproach,

and his giving is not driven away by delay.

في رَبعِهِ رَوضٌ مَرُودٌ خِصْبُهُ

أبداً مُصَاقِبُ مَنْهَلٍ مَورودِ

In his abode is a garden whose abundance is sought,

always beside a much-frequented watering place.

وكَأَنَّما لِلّيْلِ فيه مدارِجٌ

عِندَ التِقاءِ وفودِهِ بِوفودِ

And it is as though night had pathways within it,

when his delegations meet other delegations.

سَبقَ الكِرامَ وأَقبَلوا في إِثرِهِ

كَسِنانِ مُطّرِدِ الكُعُوبِ مَديدِ

He outstripped the noble, who came in his wake,

like the tip of a long spear with evenly spaced joints.

مُتَصرّفُ الكَفّيْنِ في شُغُلِ العُلى

لَم يَخلُ من بَذلٍ وَمِن تَشييدِ

His two hands busy in the work of eminence,

he has never been without giving and building.

والمجدُ لا تُعْلي يَداك بناءَهُ

إلّا بِمالٍ بِالنَدى مَهدودِ

And your hands cannot raise glory's edifice

except with wealth demolished by generosity.

يا ابن السيادةِ والرّياسةِ والعُلَى

وعظيمِ آباءٍ عظيمِ جُدودِ

O son of lordship, leadership, and eminence,

and of great fathers and great forefathers,

خُذْهَا كَمُنتَظَمِ الجُمانِ غَرائِباً

تُرْوَى قَصيدَتُها بِكُلِّ قَصيدِ

Take it: rare marvels like a string of pearls,

its ode recited alongside every poem.

نِيطَتْ عَلَيكَ عُقودُهَا وَلَطالَما

نُظِمَتْ لأَجيادِ المُلوكِ عُقودي

Its necklaces have been hung upon you, and many a time

my necklaces have been strung for the necks of kings.