أمن أفقها ذاك السنا وتألقه — Ibn Hani Andalusia

أمِنْ أُفْقِها ذاك السّنا وتألُّقُهْ

يُؤرِّقُنَا لو أنّ وَجْداً يُؤرِّقُهْ

Is that radiance and its flashing from her horizon?

It keeps us sleepless—if only longing kept it sleepless.

وما انفكَ مُجتازٌ من البرْقِ لامِعٌ

يُشَوِّقُنا تِلقاءَ مَن لا يُشَوِّقُهْ

A passing, shining flash of lightning never ceased

stirring our longing toward one whose longing it does not stir.

وما إن خَبا حتى حسِبْتُ من الدّجى

على الأفْقِ زنجيّاً تكشَّفَ يَلمَقُه

No sooner did it fade than, out of the darkness, I imagined

on the horizon a man of Zanj whose cloak had fallen open.

تَخَلّلَ سِجْفَ الليلِ للّيلِ كالِئاً

يُراعِيهِ بالصُّبْحِ الجَلِيِّ ويَرمُقُه

It pierced the night's veil, keeping watch over the night,

watching it with the clear dawn and keeping it in sight.

ولم يكتحِلْ غُمْضاً فباتَ كأنّمَا

يروغُ إلى إلفٍ من المُزْنِ يَعشقه

It never anointed its eyes with sleep, but spent the night as though

stealing toward a beloved among the rainclouds whom it loves.

فمِنْ حُرَقٍ قد باتَ وَهْناً يَشُبُّهَا

بذكراكِ تُذكَى في الفؤادِ فتُحرِقه

For there are burning pangs it spent the late night kindling,

fed by your remembrance in the heart, until they burn it.

عنى الوالِهَ المتبولَ منكِ ادِّكارُهُ

وأضناهُ طيْفُ من خَيالكِ يَطرُقُه

His remembrance of you has tormented the distraught, love-stricken man,

and a phantom of you, visiting by night, has worn him down.

لأُبرِحْتُ من قلْبٍ إليكِ خُفُوقُهُ

نِزاعاً ومن دَمْعٍ عليكِ تَرَقرُقُه

Truly, I am sorely afflicted by a heart that beats toward you

in longing, and by tears that shimmer over you.

وَحَشْوَ القِبابِ المستقِلّةِ غَادَةٌ

أُجَدِّدُ عَهدَ الوُدِّ منها وتُخلِقُه

And within the pavilions borne aloft is a tender maiden;

I renew my pledge of love with her, while she wears it out.

غريرةُ دَلٍّ ضاقَ دِرْعٌ يزينُهَا

وأقلَقَ مستنَّ الوِشاحَينِ مُقْلِقُه

Innocent in her coquetry, the shift that adorns her has grown tight,

and what strains it has troubled the course of her two sashes.

يَميلُ بها اللحظُ العَليلُ إلى الكرَى

إذا رَنّقَ التفتيرَ فيهِ مُرَنِّقه

Her languid gaze inclines her toward sleep,

when what dims it clouds it with languor.

تهادى بعِطْفَيْ ناعِمٍ جاذَبَ النَّقَا

مُنَطَّقُهُ حتى تَشَكّى مُقَرطَقُه

She sways with a supple body's flanks; with the sandhill vies

its girdled part, until its tunic-clad part complains.

يُغالِبُهَا سُكْرُ الشبابِ فتنثَني

تَثَنّيَ غُصْنِ البانِ يَهتزُّ مُورِقُه

The intoxication of youth overcomes her, and she bends

as a ban-tree branch bends, its leafy growth trembling.

وما الوَجدُ ما يَعتادُ صَبّاً بذكرهَا

ولكنّهُ خَبْلُ التّصابي وأولَقُه

What visits a lovesick lover at her remembrance is not longing,

but the derangement of youthful dalliance and its frenzy.

بوديَ لو حَيّا الربيعُ رُبوعَها

ونَمَّقَ وَشيَ الرّوضِ فيها منمِّقُه

I wish spring would greet her dwellings,

and the garden's embellisher adorn its brocade there.

تَقَضّتْ ليالينا بها ونَعيمُها

فكَرَّ على الشمل الجميعِ مُفرِّقه

Our nights there, and their pleasures, have passed,

and the disperser swept down upon our united company.

أقولُ لسَبّاقٍ إلى أمَدِ العُلى

بحيْثُ ثَنى شأوَ المُرَهَّقِ مُرْهِقُه

I say to one racing toward the farthest reach of eminence,

where the overtaker has turned back the hard-pressed racer's course:

لَسَعيُكَ أبطى عن لَحاق ابن جعفرٍ

وسَعيُ جَهْولٍ ظَنَّ أنّك تَلحقُه

Your striving is too slow to catch Ibn Ja'far,

and is the striving of a fool who thought you could catch him.

لَعَلّكَ مُودٍ أن تقَاذَفَ شَأوُهُ

إلى أمَدٍ أعيا عليك تَعَلُّقُه

You may perish, for his course has ranged far

toward a goal whose attainment is beyond you.

لهُ خُلُقٌ كالرّوضِ يُنْدي تبرُّعاً

إذا ما نَبا بالحُرِّ يوماً تَخَلُّقُه

His nature is like a garden, freely shedding dew,

when a noble man's affected manners fail him one day;

وكالمَشرَفيِّ العَضْبِ يَفري غِرارُهُ

وكالعارضِ الوسميِّ يَنهَلُّ مُغدِقُه

and like a keen Mashrafi sword whose edge cuts through,

and like an early-season raincloud, its laden mass pouring down;

وكالكوكبِ الدُّرّيِّ يُحمدَ في الوغى

تألُّقُ بِيضِ المُرهَفاتِ تألُّقُه

and like a brilliant star; praised in battle

is his gleam, the gleam of white, finely honed swords.

ويَعنُفُ في الهيجاءِ بالقِرْن رِفْقُهُ

وأعنَفُ ما يسطو به السيْفُ أرفَقُه

In battle, his gentleness bears fiercely upon his opponent,

and the sword strikes most fiercely with its gentlest touch.

لهُ من جُذامٍ في الذّوائبِ مَحتِدٌ

زكا منبتاً في مَغرسِ المجدِ مُعرَقُه

He has an origin among the highest lineages of Judham;

his ancestral root flourished in the planting-ground of glory.

رفيعُ بناءِ البيتِ فيهم مُشيدُهُ

مُطَنِّبُهُ بالمَأثُراتِ مُرَوِّقُه

The house's builder raises its structure high among them,

fastening its ropes with glorious deeds and spreading its canopy.

هُمُ جوهرُ الأحساب وهو لُبابُهُ

وإفْرِندُهُ المُعْشي العيونَ ورَونقُه

They are the essence of noble ancestry, and he is its purest core,

its eye-dazzling damascened pattern and its luster.

إذا ما تجلّى من مَطالِعِ سَعْدِهِ

تجلّى عليك البدرُ يَلتاحُ مَشرِقُه

When he appears from the rising-places of his good fortune,

the full moon appears before you, its rising-place gleaming.

لَئِنْ مُلِئَتْ منهُ الجوانحُ رَهْبَةً

لقد راقَها من منظرِ العَينِ مُونِقُه

Though breasts are filled with awe of him,

the lovely sight he presents to the eye delights them.

مُقَلَّصُ أثناءِ النّجادِ مُعَصَّبٌ

بتاج العُلى بين السماكينِ مَفْرَقُه

Short are his sword-belt's folds; enwreathed

with the crown of eminence, between the two Simaks, is his brow.

لهُ هاجِسٌ يَفْري الفَرِيَّ كأنّهُ

شَبَا مَشرَفّيٍ ليسَ ينبو مُذَلَّقُه

He has a thought that works wonders, as though it were

the edge of a Mashrafi sword whose honed point never glances off.

يُصيبُ بيانَ القوْل يُوفي بحَقّهِ

على باطِلِ الخَصْمِ الألَدِّ فيمحَقُه

He delivers lucid speech, doing full justice to it,

against the contentious adversary's falsehood, which he obliterates.

أطاعَ له بَدءُ السَّماحِ وعَودُهُ

فكان غَماماً لا يَغُبُّ تَدَفُّقُه

Generosity obeyed him in its first giving and its renewal,

so he became a cloud whose outpouring never lapses:

دَلوحاً إذا ما شِمتَهُ افتَرَّ وَبْلُهُ

وإرْهامُهُ سَحّاً عليكَ ورَيّقُه

heavy with rain—when you scan it, its downpour bursts forth,

its drizzle and first rain pouring upon you.

إذا شاءَ قادَ الأعوَجِيّاتِ فيْلَقاً

ومنْ بينِ أيْديها الحِمامُ وفَيْلَقُه

When he wills, he leads the A'waji mares as an army,

with death and its army before them.

وكنْتَ إذا ازوَرَّتْ لقَوْمٍ كتيبَةٌ

وعارَضَها من عارِضِ الطعن مُبرِقُه

And you, whenever a people's battalion swerved aside,

and a flash from the cloud of spear-thrusts confronted it,

وقُدْتَ بها قُبَّ الأياطِلِ شُزَّباً

تُسابقُ وَقْدَ الرّيحِ عَدْواً فتَسبقُه

and you led through it lean steeds with hollow flanks,

racing the wind's blaze in their gallop and outstripping it,

تخَطّى إلى النّهْبِ الخميسَ ودونَهُ

سُرَادِقُ خَطّيّاتِهِ ومُسَرْدَقُه

would pass beyond the army to reach the spoils, though before it stood

the pavilion of its Khatti spears and the host enclosed within.

إذا شارَفَتْهُ قلتَ سِربُ أجادِلٍ

يُشارِفُ هَضْباً من ثَبيرٍ مُحلِّقُه

When they approach it, you would say: a flock of falcons,

its soaring birds overlooking a crag of Thabir.

رعى اللّهُ إبراهيمَ مِنْ مِلكٍ حَنا

على المُلكِ حانِيهِ وأشفَقَ مُشفِقُه

May God guard Ibrahim—what a king! Tenderly bends

over kingship its guardian, and its protector shows compassion.

وأورى بزند الأرقمِ الصِّلّ جعفَرٌ

ولم يُعْيِهِ فَتْقُ من الأرضِ يَرتقُهُ

And Ja'far struck fire with the fire-stick of the speckled asp,

and no breach in the land that he mended baffled him.

إلى ذاك رأيُ الهِبْرِزِيِّ إذا ارتأى

وصِدْقُ ظنونِ الألَمعيِّ ومَصْدَقُه

Added to that is the noble man's judgment when he deliberates,

and the keen-sighted man's true surmises, and what proves him right.

على كُلِّ قُطْرٍ منه لَفْتَةُ ناظِرٍ

يُراعي بها الثّغْرَ القَصِيَّ ويَرمقُه

Over every region he casts a watchful glance,

guarding the distant frontier with it and keeping it in sight.

وأعيَا الحروريّينَ مُتَّقِدُ النُّهَى

مُظاهِرُ عِقدِ الحزْمِ بالحزْم موثِقُه

The man of blazing intellect has baffled the Haruriyyun,

reinforcing resolve's knot with resolve and binding it fast.

فكم فِيهِمِ من ذي غِرارَينِ قد نَبَا

ومِدْرَهِ قَومٍ قد تَلَجْلَجَ منطِقُه

How many a bearer of two edges among them has failed to strike true,

and a people's spokesman whose speech has faltered!

يرونَ بإبراهيمَ سَهْماً يَريشُهُ

لهم بالمَنَايا جعفرٌ ويُفَوِّقُه

They see in Ibrahim an arrow, feathered

by Ja'far for them with deaths, and fitted to the bowstring.

مؤازِرُهُ في عُنفُوانِ شبابهِ

يُسَدِّدُهُ في هَدْيِهِ ويُوَفِّقُه

His supporter in the prime of his youth

guides him rightly on his path and grants him success.

يَطيبُ نسيمُ الزّابِ من طِيبِ ذكره

كما فتّقَ المِسكَ الذكيَّ مُفتِّقُه

The breeze of the Zab is sweet with the sweetness of his mention,

as fragrant musk is unsealed by the one who opens it.

ويعبق ذاك الترب من أوجه الدجى

كما فاح من نثر الأجنة أعبقه

And that soil gives off fragrance from the faces of darkness,

as its strongest scent wafts from scattered embryos.

وقد عمَّ من في ذلك الثغرِ نائِلاً

كما افترقَتْ تَهمي من المُزْن فُرَّقُه

His bounty has embraced everyone in that frontier,

as the raincloud's fragments spread apart and pour down.

أإخبْاتُهُ أحْفَى بهم أم حَنَانُهُ

ورأفَتُهُ أم عَدْلُهُ وتَرَفُّقُه

Is his humility more solicitous toward them, or his tenderness

and compassion, or his justice and gentle care?

ثَوَى بكَ عز المُلكِ فيهم ولم تَزَلْ

وأنتَ لهُ العِلْقُ النفيسُ ومَعْلَقُه

Through you, the glory of kingship has settled among them, and still

you are its precious treasure and that on which it hangs.

شَهِدْتُ فلا واللّهِ ما غابَ جَعفرٌ

ولا باتَ ذا وَجْدٍ إليك يُؤرِّقُه

I bear witness: no, by God, Ja'far has not been absent,

nor spent a night with longing for you keeping him awake.

وبالمغرب الأقصَى قَريعُ كتائبٍ

تخُبُّ بمَسراهُ فيرجُفُ مَشرِقُه

And in the far Maghrib is a foremost commander of battalions

that trot on his night-march, so its eastern region trembles.

سيُرضيكَ منهُ بالإيابِ وسَعْدِهِ

ويجمَعُ شَملاً شادَ مجْداً تَفَرُّقُه

He will gladden you with his return and his good fortune,

and reunite a company whose separation built glory;

ويَشفي مشوقاً منكَ بالقُربِ لوعَةً

وبَرْحَ غليلٍ في الجوانحِ يُقْلِقُه

and through nearness heal the yearning one in you of anguish,

and the torment of burning thirst in the breast that troubles him.

ويُبْهِجُ أرضَ الزّاب بهجةَ سؤددٍ

وتُبْهِجُه أفوافُ زَهْرٍ وتُونِقُه

and gladden the land of the Zab with the joy of lordship,

while striped brocades of flowers delight and charm him.

لك الخير قد طالَتْ يدايَ وقصّرَتْ

يدا زَمَنٍ ألْوى بنَحضي يمزِّقه

May good be yours: my hands have lengthened, and shortened are

the hands of time that wrenched my flesh, tearing it.

كفى بعضُ ما أوْليْتَ فأذَنْ لقِافلٍ

بفضلك زُمَّتْ للترَحُّلِ أينُقُه

Even part of what you bestowed suffices; grant leave to a homebound traveler,

whose she-camels, through your bounty, have been haltered for departure.

أفَضْتَ عليه بالنّدى غيرَ سائِلٍ

بحارَكَ حتى ظنَّ أنّك تُغْرِقُه

You poured upon him in generosity, though he had not asked,

your seas, until he thought you would drown him.

سأشكركَ النُّعْمَى عليَّ وإنّني

بذاك لَواني الشّأوِ عنك مُرهَّقُه

I shall thank you for your favor upon me, though I

am lagging behind you in that race, its hard-pressed runner.

وما كحميدِ القولِ ينمي مزيدُه

ولا كاليَدِ البيضاء عندي تحَقُّقُه

Nothing is like praiseworthy speech, whose increase keeps growing,

nor like a white hand of kindness, whose truth is certain to me.

وما أنا أو مثلي وقولٌ يقوله

إذا لم أكُنْ أُلفي به مَن يُصَدِّقُه

What am I, or one like me, and the saying he utters,

if I do not find through it someone who proves it true?