رفعت لك القلل الطوال بعرعر — Ibn Nabata Al Saadi

رفعتْ لكَ القللُ الطوالُ بِعَرْعَرِ

فانظرْ وهل لمتيم من مَنظَرِ

The lofty peaks at Ar'ar have risen before you;

so look—is there any sight for one enslaved by love?

وضياء نار تصطليها طفلةٌ

هيفاءُ بين وُشَاحِهاَ والمئْزَرِ

And the glow of a fire where a tender maiden warms herself,

slender between her shoulder-sash and her waist-wrap.

كالغصن انْ مالتْ وان هي لم تَمِلْ

والبدرِ انْ سَفَرتْ وانْ لم تَسفِرِ

Like a bough, whether she sways or does not sway,

and the full moon, whether she unveils or does not.

أَهوى المكانَ القفر انْ نَزَلَتْ بهِ

والحشرَ انْ أَلقاكِ يوم المحشَرِ

I love the desolate place if she alights there,

and resurrection, if I meet you on the Day of Gathering.

هلاَّ سألتِ منازلاً بُعنيزةٍ

دَثَرتْ وتالدُ حبها لم يَدْثَرِ

Why did you not question the dwelling-sites at Unayzah,

now effaced, though the old love for them has not faded,

وفصائم الجَدْعَاءِ يومَ حُمولِهَا

كالدَّوم أَو سُحقِ الفَسيلِ المُوقِرِ

and al-Jad'a's scattered dunes, the day her laden camels were

like doum palms or towering, fruit-laden date palms?

كلَّفْتَ عينكَ منظراً قَذِيَتْ بهِ

وبِوُدِّ عينك أَنها لم تَنظُرِ

You burdened your eye with a sight that made it smart,

and your eye wishes it had never looked.

أَبلغ بنى الجَذْمَاءِ أَنَّ ركابنَا

حُبِسَتْ على البلقاءِ لم تَتَعَمَّرِ

Tell the sons of al-Jadhma' that our riding camels

were held at al-Balqa', but did not remain long.

حَقَروا الصغير وكل محتقرٍ اذا

قبل الزيادةَ نقصُه لم يُحقَرِ

They scorned the small; yet anything scorned, if

its deficiency admits increase, should not be scorned.

كانت اذا العَدَوِيُّ رقَّ جِواره

طعنتْ فلم تك فِقْعَةً بالقَرْقَرِ

When al-Adawi's protection weakened, she

struck; she was no truffle on the bare plain.

واذا البَراجِم لم تراجم دونها

عَلقت بذمةِ مازنٍ والعَنَبرِ

And when al-Barajim would not trade missiles in her defense,

she clung to the protection of Mazin and al-Anbar.

وهُمُ الازمةُ من مَخاطمِ خِنْدِفٍ

أنواؤُها وجفَانُها في الصَرْصَرِ

They are the bridles on the muzzles of Khindif,

her rain-stars and her great feeding-bowls in the bitter wind.

أَفما لزيد زاجرٌ من همه

يكفيه ناحيةَ القطيع الأَسمَرِ

Has Zayd no curb upon his ambition

to spare him the edge of the tawny whip?

لم يَدمَ من جَذْبِ الحشاشة أَنَفه

وعلى الرِّحالةِ ظهرُه لم يَدبرِ

His nose has not bled from the nose-cord's tug,

nor has his back been galled beneath a saddle.

يعتدُّ بالبيتِ الذي لم يَبنه

وقواعدِ الحسب الذي لم يَعمرِ

He boasts of the house he did not build,

and foundations of ancestral honor he did not raise.

باشرتُ حد السيفِ لم أَحفل به

وزَهِدتُ بعدك في النضار الاحمرِ

I faced the sword's edge and paid it no heed,

and after you I disdained red gold.

كالبُرد ما استَبقَيتَهُ وطَويتَه

فاذا نشرت نشرتَ ثوب الكَنْكَرِ

Like a striped cloak, so long as you preserve it folded,

but when you unfold it, you unfold kankar cloth.

وحَذِرتُ في الاخلاقِ من بَطَرِ الغنى

ومذلةٍ الاملاقِ ما لا تَحذرِ

In conduct I guarded against wealth's insolence

and poverty's abasement, as you did not.

وصحبتُ فخرَ الملكِ في سلطانهِ

هل بَعدَهُ لمفاخرٍ من مَفخَرِ

I kept company with Fakhr al-Mulk in his sovereignty;

after him, has any boaster anything to boast of?

الواهبُ الكوُمَ الذُّرى بفصالِها

والضابِعاتِ من العتاقِ الضمَّرِ

Giver of lofty-humped she-camels with their weanlings,

and of long-striding, lean thoroughbreds.

واذا الكرام جمعتَهم وعددتَهم

بالبِنصرينِ عددتَه بالخنصِرِ

When you gather the noble and count them

on both ring fingers, you count him on the little finger.

قاد الجيادَ الى الطرادِ ولفها

لف المُفيضِ قداحَة في المَيسِرِ

He led the chargers to combat and gathered them

as the lot-shaker gathers his arrows in the gambling game,

متخطياً صُلْفَ الحَرِيزِ الى المَلا

ونَقَا الكثيبِ الى الكُراعِ الاوعَرِ

crossing the barren rocky heights toward open country,

and the dune's crest toward the rugged mountain spur.

أَرضٌ بها صَخَبُ الصدى لك سامرٌ

وأخوكَ فيها الذئبُ ما لم يَغْدرِ

A land where the owl's clamor is your night companion,

and the wolf your brother, so long as he does not betray you.

شهراً الى الماهينَ يَطوى حومَها

يا بُعدَ ذلكَ مورداً من مَصْدَرِ

For a month he crossed its expanses toward al-Mahayn—

how far that watering-place from his point of departure!

حتى رمى شُمَّ الجبالِ وُقُودُهَا

من كيده بالعَنْقَفِير القِنْطِرِ

Until its blaze struck the lofty mountain peaks,

through his cunning, with an immense, mighty host,

من كل غُمر لم تَرضْه كريهةٌ

ومُعاودِ الغمراتِ غير مغمّرِ

of every novice whom no battle had yet schooled,

and veterans of battle's depths, no untried men,

وطمرّةِ ماطورةٍ بلجامِها

قُود أَسَالِمَةِ النساةِ الأَسعَرِ

and a fleet mare drawn taut by her bridle,

long in the branches of her fiery thigh-sinew,

ومعاسلٍ حدب الرماح بعطفه

يعطيك ثِنَي عِنانِه المتيسر

and one weaving his flank among the bowed spears,

yielding you the easy turn of his rein.

يوماً يلاعب في الرِباطِ ظلالَها

أَسراً ويوماً في ظلالِ العِثْيَرِ

One day he plays with their shadows at the tether,

held fast; another day, in the shadows of flying dust.

قُحَمٌ أَعان النصرُ فيها صبره

والصبرُ عون النصرِ ما لم يَضجَرِ

Perils in which victory aided his endurance—

and endurance aids victory, so long as he does not weary.

كم بالمخارمِ منشُؤونٍ ذُعذِعَتْ

بالمرهفاتِ وأَعْظُمٍ لم تقبرِ

How many skulls in the mountain passes were scattered

by whetted blades, and bones left unburied!

لا تبعدُنَّ بها مصارعُ فتيةٍ

لبسوا أَنابيبَ القنا المتكَسِّرِ

May the death-sites of those youths there never be forgotten,

who clothed themselves in splintered spear-shafts,

ومُداعسينَ على شريعةِ داعطٍ

لم يصدروا في الخيلِ يومَ المَصْدَرِ

and of men trading thrusts at Da'it's watering-place,

who did not return with the horsemen on the day of return.

تركوا الدروع لمن أَحبَّ حياتَه

وتَسَربلُوا عَلَقَ النجيع الاحمَرِ

They left armor to whoever loved his life,

and clothed themselves in clotted crimson blood.

أَثرٌ محا أَثرَ القرونِ وحَادِثٌ

في الدهرِ مثل حديثه لم يُؤثرِ

A deed that effaced the deeds of centuries; an event

whose like has never been related in all time.

أَبلى هلالٌ في اللقاءِ ولم يكنْ

في الروعِ أَولَ خائبٍ لم يَظفرِ

Hilal fought valiantly in the encounter; he was not

the first to fail in battle and gain no victory.

عَهدي به يمرى عُفَافَةَ سابحٍ

كالسِيدِ أَوْ كالاذْعَرِ المُتَمَطِّرِ

I remember him drawing a galloper's last reserves,

like a wolf or a startled beast racing headlong.

فاستنزلته يدٌ قريبٌ عهدُها

بصليفِ سالفةِ الهزبز القَسْوَرِ

Then a hand brought him down, one that had only lately

known the hard side of a mighty, ravening lion's neck.

ضَمَّتْ الى عُرْشيَهِ كفاً طالما

ضُمت على ماضى الغِرار مُذكَّرِ

It drew against the two sides of his neck a hand that had often

closed upon a hard-tempered, keen-edged sword.

حتى اذا عضَّ الحديدُ كِراعَه

أَلقى معاذرَه التي لم تُعذَرِ

Until, when iron bit his shank,

he offered excuses that were not accepted,

يرجو هوادةَ معشرٍ أَعضاؤُهم

لم تلتئم وكلومُهم لم تُسْبَرِ

hoping for leniency from men whose limbs

had not healed, and whose wounds had not been probed.

والشر تكويه فينغلُ جُرحه

واذا نظمتَ صغيرةً لم تكْبُرَ

Evil—you cauterize it, and its wound festers;

and if you stitch a small wound, it does not grow.

جَمَحَتْ به الخُيلاءُ وهي حِبَالَةٌ

عرتْ بها فتيانُ آلِ المنذِرِ

Pride bolted away with him; it is a snare

in which the youths of al-Mundhir's house were caught,

وغطارف رفلوا الخطى من قبلهم

قُبروا وحسنُ بلائِهم لم يُقْبَرِ

and noble lords who swaggered before them.

They were buried, but the glory of their deeds was not.

يا من تأَلق ثغرُه ووميضُه

في الجودِ بارقُ غيثِه المُستَمطِرِ

O you whose mouth flashes, its gleam

in bounty, the lightning of your cloud whose rain is sought!

لا نافست فيك الخطوبُ رعيةً

نافستَ بين مُقلِّهم والمكثِرِ

May misfortunes never contend with your people for you—

those whose poor you made rivals of their rich.

لكَ في مخائلةِ الشَّجَاعةِ والندى

قِدْحَانِ مَنْ خَطَرا عليه يُقَمَّرِ

In the rivalry of courage and bounty you have

two gaming-arrows: whoever wagers against them loses.

نفستَ عن بدرٍ غَواشي كربةٍ

وشددتَ حبلَ وتينهِ والأَبهَرِ

You lifted from Badr the veils of anguish

and strengthened the cord of his life-vein and aorta.

وبأَرضِ بابلَ من سمائك لاقحٌ

خَدَجَتْ حلوبتُها لسبعةِ أَشهُرِ

And in Babylon's land, from your sky, a pregnant cloud—

its milch-camel calved prematurely at seven months.

مَنْ للقلاصِ الهُوجِ غَيركَ والسُّرى

والأريحيةِ والنَّوالِ الثَّرثَرِ

Who but you is there for headlong young camels and night journeys,

for generous ardor and overflowing gifts,

ولغيظِ أَربدَ وجهُه كأَظلّةٍ

تَرميكَ مقلتُه بطَرفِ أَخْزَرِ

and for an angry man, his face dark as cloud-canopies,

whose eye assails you with a narrow, sidelong glare?

كأَبى على يوم جار قَضَاؤُه

ورمى سخينةَ في عُباب الاخضَرِ

Like Abu Ali, the day his judgment went astray

and he hurled Sakhinah into the green sea's swelling flood,

وأقام باللَّورين حولاً كاملاً

يترقبُ القدرَ الذي لم يقدَرِ

and stayed at al-Lurayn for an entire year,

awaiting a fate that had not been decreed.

أَنت الذي في متنِه وقناتِهِ

لينٌ ومَعجَمُها صليبُ المكْسَرِ

You are he whose back and spear-shaft have

suppleness, though its tested core is hard to break.

زينُ السريرِ اذا علوتَ فروعَه

واذا خَطَبْتَ فأَنتَ تاجُ المِنَبرِ

You grace the throne when you ascend its heights,

and when you speak, you are the pulpit's crown.