Sol 6.1

  1. مَدَحْتُ السُّرى وهي الحقيقةُ بالَّمِّ

    لفرقةِ أَرضٍ غاب عن أُفْقِها نجمي

    I praised night travel, though it deserves [blame],

    for leaving a land from whose horizon my star had vanished.

  2. إِذا خَلَتِ الأَوطانُ ممن أُحبُّه

    فلا قامَ فيها للحَيَا موسُم الوَسْم

    If homelands are empty of those I love,

    then may no season of life-giving autumn rain ever come to them.

  3. ديارٌ رأَيتُ الصُّبحَ من بعدِ أَهْلِها

    أَشدَّ سواداً من حَنادسِه الدُّهْم

    Dwellings where, after their people left, I saw dawn

    blacker than its own pitch-dark nights.

  4. خَلَتْ من حبيبِ القلب إِلا خيالَه

    كجسمي خَلاَ بالبَينِ إِلاَّ من السُّقْم

    They were empty of my heart's beloved, save his phantom,

    like my body, emptied by separation of all but sickness.

  5. يُسائِلُني عنه صداها لظَنِّه

    بأَن الصَّدى والرَّسمَ صَوْتي مَعَ الجسم

    Their echo asks me about him, supposing

    that the echo and the ruins are my voice and body.

  6. حَبيبي له مِّني الفؤادُ صَبَابةً

    بأَجْمَلَ من جُمْلٍ وأَنعَمَ من نُعْم

    My heart belongs in passionate longing to my beloved,

    fairer than Juml and more tender than Nuʿm.

  7. قرأتُ كتابَ الحُسْنٍ من خَطِّ خدِّه

    أَلم تَره في خَدِّه واضحَ الرَّقْم

    I read the book of beauty from the script on his cheek;

    have you not seen it, clearly inscribed upon his cheek?

  8. فباءُ عِذَارٍ فَوْقَه سِيْن طُرَّةٍ

    إِلى ميمِ ثَغْرٍ فَهْو أَوَّلُه بَسْم

    So a bāʾ of cheek-down, above it a sīn of forelock,

    joined to a mīm of mouth: its opening reads b-s-m, 'smile.'

  9. وقيل تُسَمَّى الخمرُ إِثماً وإِن يكن

    فريقتُه الإِثم البَرِيءُ من الإِثم

    They say wine is called sin; if that is so,

    then his saliva is the sin innocent of sin.

  10. كأَنيَ لم أَسْكَر بخمرةِ رِيقه

    وعَرْبَدْت لكنْ فَوْقَ خدَّيهِ باللَّثم

    As though I had never grown drunk on the wine of his saliva,

    or caroused—though on his cheeks, with kisses;

  11. ولم أَر غُصْناً مائِلاً مِنْ قَوَامِه

    يُقوِّمه لكِنْ عِنَاقِيَ أَو ضَمِّي

    nor seen a swaying branch in his figure,

    straightened only by my embrace or clasp;

  12. ولم أَصرع العذَّالَ في مَعْركَ الهوى

    ومن قدِّه رُمْحِي ومِنْ لَحْظِه سَهْمِي

    nor felled the reproachers in love's battlefield,

    his stature my spear, his glance my arrow;

  13. ولم تَلْتقِ الرُّوحان رُوحِي ورُوحُه

    وغايةُ غيرِي يَلْتقي الجسمُ بالْجسْم

    nor had the two souls met—my soul and his—

    while others' utmost is for body to meet body;

  14. ولم أَرْضَ منه جنَّةً هان عِنْدَها

    عليَّ دخولُ النارِ فيها عَلى عِلْم

    nor delighted in a paradise from him, beside which

    I thought little of knowingly entering Hell for its sake.

  15. زمانٌ كأَنِّي لم أَفُزْ فيه بالمُنىَ

    ولم تَنْزِلِ اللَّذاتُ فيه على حُكْمي

    A time—as though I never won my desires in it,

    nor had pleasures come there at my command.

  16. فحِلْميَ إِلاَّ فيه حِلْمُ ذوي النَّهى

    وصَبْرِيَ إِلاَّ عنه صبرُ أُولي العزم

    So my self-restraint, save regarding him, is that of the wise,

    and my patience, save in separation from him, that of the resolute.

  17. وذاك دنوٌّ آل مني إِلى النَّوى

    وذاك سرورٌ آل منه إِلى الهمِّ

    And that nearness turned, for me, into separation,

    and that joy from him ended in sorrow.

  18. كذا خُلِقَتْ فالقربُ للبعْدِ والرِّضَا

    إِلى السُّخْطِ والقَصْرُ المشيدُ إِلى الْهَدْم

    Thus it was fashioned: nearness leads to distance, and contentment

    to displeasure, and the lofty palace to ruin.

  19. نَسيتُ سِوى دارٍ بكيتُ برَسْمِها

    وذَلِكَ رَسْمي إِنْ وَقَفْتُ على الرَّسم

    I forgot all but a dwelling whose traces I wept over;

    and such is my custom whenever I stop at ruins.

  20. وديعةُ مسكٍ في ثَراها وجْدتُها

    فصيِّرتُ لَثْمِي للوَدِيعةِ كالخَتْمِ

    I found a deposit of musk within its soil,

    so I made my kiss a seal upon that deposit.

  21. على سُنَّةِ العُشَّاقِ أَو بِدْعةِ الهوى

    حَمَلْتُ بجهْلي إِذْ جهِلْتُ على حِلْمِي

    Following the lovers' custom, or love's innovation,

    I attacked my good sense with my folly, in my foolishness.

  22. ولكنني أَنْشَرْتُ فهمِي من البِلَى

    كما أَنَّنِي أَيقظْتُ حِلْمي من الحُلْمِ

    But I resurrected my understanding from decay,

    just as I awakened my reason from dreaming.

  23. وأَقبل نُسْكِي حينَ ولَّتْ شَبيبَتي

    وآضَ اجْتِرامِي حين عاتَبَه حزْمِي

    And my devotion came forward as my youth departed,

    and my wrongdoing turned back when my resolve rebuked it.

  24. فجِئْتُ إِلى الإِسكندريةِ قاصداً

    إِلى كعبةِ الإسلامِ أَو عَلَمِ العِلْم

    So I came to Alexandria, making my way

    to Islam's Kaaba, or the beacon of learning,

  25. إِلى خيرِ دينٍ عنده خَيْرُ مُرشِدٍ

    وخيرِ إِمامٍ عنْدَهُ خيرُ مُؤْتَمِّ

    to the finest faith, whose guide is the finest,

    and the finest imam, whose follower is the finest;

  26. إِلى أَحمدَ المُحيي شَريعةَ أَحمدٍ

    فلا عَدِمتْ منهُ أَباً أُمَّهُ الأُمِّي

    to Ahmad, reviver of the sacred law of Ahmad;

    so may the Unlettered One's [community] never lose a father in him.

  27. حَمَى بدُعاءٍ أَو هَمَى بفوائدٍ

    فبُورِكَ مَنْ ما زَال يَحْمي كما يَهْمِي

    He sheltered through prayer, or showered benefits;

    blessed be he who never ceases to shelter as he showers.

  28. تقوَّس تقويسَ الهِلالِ تهجُّداً

    وذاك هلالٌ يَفْضَحُ البدرَ في التمِّ

    He bowed in night prayer, curved like the crescent,

    and that crescent shames the moon at its fullest.

  29. إِذا ما شياطينُ الضَّلالِ تمرَّدت

    جِدَالاً فمِنْ أَقواله كَوْكَبُ الرَّجْمِ

    When the devils of error rebel

    in argument, from his words comes a stoning star.

  30. تكادُ لديْه العربُ والفخرُ فَخْرُها

    تُقِرُّ به أَنَّ المفاخرَ في العُجْمِ

    Before him the Arabs, for all their glory, almost

    concede through him that glories belong to non-Arabs.

  31. أَبُو الدَّهر عمراً واعْتِزَاماً ومنصِباً

    فلا ذاقَ منه دهرُه فَجْعَةَ اليُتْم

    Time's father in years, resolve, and rank—

    may his time never taste, through losing him, the grief of orphanhood.

  32. أَتيتُ له مُسْتَشْفِعاً بدُعائِه

    يُقِيلُ به جُرْمِي ويَشْفَعُ في إِثمِي

    I came to him seeking intercession through his prayer,

    that through it he might remit my offense and intercede for my sin.

  33. ويمَّمْتُ يمّاً حُزْتُ في اليَمِّ قَبْلَهُ

    إِليه فمِنْ يمٍّ وَصَلْتُ إِلى يَمِّ

    And I sought a sea, voyaging first across the sea

    toward him: from one sea I came to another.

  34. وفارَقْتُ مَالا يُسْتَطاعُ فِراقُه

    فيالكَ عَدْلاً لاَحَ في صُورَةِ الظُّلْمِ

    And I parted from what one cannot bear to leave;

    what justice appeared in the guise of injustice!

  35. وخلَّفتُ إِخواناً كِرَاماً ومَعْشَراً

    إِذا مَرِضُوا دَاوَوْا سقيمَهمُ باسمي

    And I left behind noble brothers and companions

    who, when ill, would cure their sick with my name.

  36. فهل عِندَكُم أَنِّ نزلتُ بِبَلْدَةٍ

    هي الثغرُ إِلاَّ أَنه بَاردُ الظَّلْم

    Do you know that I have settled in a city

    that is a frontier port, yet a mouth with cool saliva?

  37. ترى أَهُله كسبَ المحامِد في النُّهى

    وحَوْزَ العُلى في البِرِّ والغُنمْ في الغُرْمِ

    Its people see the earning of praise in wisdom,

    and the attainment of greatness in goodness, and gain in loss.

  38. شَكْرتكُمُ يا أَهْلَ اسْكندريَّةٍ

    لأَنَّكُمُ أَنأَى الأَنامِ عن الذَّمِّ

    I thank you, O people of Alexandria,

    for you are the furthest of humankind from blame.

  39. فإِن أَنا واصَلْتُ المقامَ فعن رِضىً

    وإِنْ أَنا أَزْمَعْتُ الرَحيلَ فَعَنْ رَغْمي

    So if I prolong my stay, it is from contentment;

    and if I resolve to leave, it is against my will.

  40. سأَحبوكُم رِقَّ القوافي فإِنَّني

    بغير اخْتِلاقٍ مَالِكُ النَّثْرِ والنَّظْمِ

    I shall give you my rhymes as slaves, for I,

    without fabrication, am master of prose and verse.