نعم المشوق وأنعم المعشوق — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

نَعِمَ المشوقُ وأَنعمَ المعشوقُ

فالعيشُ كالخِصْرِ الرقيق رقيقُ

The yearning lover enjoyed bliss, and the beloved bestowed it.

So life, like that slender waist, is delicate.

واهاً على الخصر الرَّقيق وإِنَّما

قطعَ الحديثَ حديثُه الموثوقُ

Ah, that slender waist! Yet only

its trusted tale cut the conversation short.

خِصْرٌ أُديرَ عليه مِعْصَمُ قُبلةٍ

فكأَنَّ تقبيلي لَه تَعْنِيقُ

A waist around which the wrist of a kiss was wound,

so that my kissing it seemed an embrace.

ونَعم لقد طرقَ الحبيبُ وما لَه

إِلا خدودُ العاشقين طريقُ

And yes, the beloved visited by night, and he has

no path but lovers' cheeks.

فرشُوا الخدودَ طريقَه وكأَنَّما

زَفراتُهم لِقدومِه تَطْرِيق

They spread their cheeks along his path, as though

their sighs were paving the way for his arrival.

حلَّى البعادُ دُنُوَّه فلربَّما

كانَ الشَّقاءُ إِلى النَّعيمِ يَسُوق

Separation sweetened his nearness; for sometimes

misery leads the way to bliss.

وافَى وصُبْحُ جبينِه مُتَنَفِّسٌ

وأَتَى وجِيدُ رَقيبه مَخْنُوق

He arrived, the dawn of his brow drawing breath,

and came with his watcher's neck strangled.

يُملي تعاليقَ العِتاب وقبلَها

لَمْ أَدْرِ أَنَّ فؤادَه تَعْلِيق

He dictates annotations of reproach; before them,

I did not know his heart was an annotation.

وصنعتُ في صِناعةً شِعريَّةً

فالصَّدرُ يرْحُب والعِناقُ يَضِيقُ

And within, I fashioned a poetic art:

the breast expands while the embrace grows tight.

وفنيتُ من طرب وقد أَفْنى فَمِي

ريقاً له يَجْري عليه الرِّيقُ

I dissolved in rapture, while my mouth consumed

his saliva, for which the mouth waters.

وضممتُه الضَّم العنيفَ فقال لي

لا قلتُ إِنَّك يا رفيقُ رفيقُ

I clasped him in a fierce embrace, and he said to me,

“No!” I said, “You, my companion, are gentle.”

وهممتُ بالعذرِ الَّذي تصحيفُه

فيه وما كُلُّ الوَفاءِ يَليقُ

I thought of an excuse—its mispointed twin is betrayal,

which lies in him; not all faithfulness is fitting.

وغداً يُطارِدُني ولا يحلُو الهوى

حتَّى يطاردَ عاشِقاً معشوق

And tomorrow he will pursue me; love is not sweet

until a beloved pursues a lover.

فصبرتُ أَو عجبَ الغرامُ وما درى

أَنِّي على أَخلاقِه مَخْلوقُ

So I endured—or passion marveled, not knowing

that I was fashioned according to his character.

في مجلسٍ مَطرُ الكئوسِ بربْعه

وبْلٌ وغَيْمُ النَّدِّ فيه صَفِيقُ

In a gathering, where the rain of cups within its precincts

is a downpour, and the cloud of incense there is thick.

وكأَنَّما النَّد الذَّكِيُّ غُلالةٌ

فيها بُروق البابِلِيِّ خُروقُ

As though the fragrant incense were a gauzy veil,

with flashes of Babylonian wine as rents in it.

وأَتى الحبيبُ بكأَسِه وكأَنَّها

شفَقٌ يُقرِّبه إِليه شَفِيقُ

The beloved brought his cup, as though it were

a twilight glow a tender friend draws close to him.

فشربتها شَغَفاً لأَنَّ نسيمها الـ

ـمسكيَّ من أَنفاسِه مَسْروق

I drank it passionately, for its breeze—

musky—was stolen from his breath.

وجهلتُها وعلِمْتُ أَنَّ رُضَابَه

راحٌ وأَنَّ لِسانَه إِبْريق

I knew it not, yet knew that his lip-nectar

was wine, and that his tongue was a wine jug.

يا من أَدار وقَدْ أَدار عقولَنا

كأَساً يَرِقُّ شرابُها ويرُوق

O you who passed around—and had already turned our heads—

a cup whose drink is delicate and delightful!

بين الرِّياضِ وبيْن وجهك نِسبَةٌ

فالآسُ تُربٌ والشقيقُ شَقِيق

There is a kinship between the gardens and your face:

the myrtle is a peer, and the anemone a brother.

سُقياً لدارك وهْي دارَهُ بَدْرِنا

وله غُروبٌ عندها وشُروق

May rain bless your home, the abode of our full moon,

who has there a setting and a rising.

يا دارُ كَمْ طرِبَتْ إِليكِ نُفوسُنا

شوقاً فلا طَرِبَتْ إِليكِ النُّوقُ

O dwelling, how often our souls have thrilled toward you

with longing—may the she-camels never thrill toward you!

ولقد نأَيتِ فضقتُ ذَرْعاً إِذْ أَتى

عبدُ الرَّحيم فزالَ عَنِّي الضَّيقُ

You grew distant, and my endurance failed, when there came

Abd al-Rahim, and my distress departed.

فالقلبُ من أَسْرِ الهمومِ مخلَّص

والطَّرفُ من رِقِّ السُّهادِ عَتيقُ

The heart is freed from the captivity of cares,

and the eye emancipated from the bondage of sleeplessness.

قَدِمَ الأَجَلُّ على أَجلِّ سعادةٍ

تصبُو لوجهِ لقائِه وتَتُوق

The most illustrious arrived amid the greatest happiness,

which yearns and longs for the prospect of meeting him.

قد مض السُّرورُ مهنئاً بقدومِه

وأَتى يُبَشِّرُنَا بِه التَّوفِيقُ

Joy has [gone forth], offering congratulations on his arrival,

and good fortune came to give us glad tidings of him.

فالدَّهر معتذِرٌ بيوم لِقائه

ممَّا جَنَاه بيومِه التَّفْرِيقُ

Time apologizes through the day of meeting him

for the wrong that separation wrought on its day.

والصبحُ في شَفَةِ الظَّلام تَبَسُّمٌ

والشَّمسُ في ثَوب السَّماءِ خُلُوقُ

Dawn is a smile upon the lip of darkness,

and the sun is saffron perfume upon the sky's robe.

سُرَّت بمقدمِه السماءُ فَثَوبُها

فوقَ الخلائِق بالخلُوق خَلِيقُ

The sky rejoiced at his arrival, so its robe,

spread above creation, is worthy of saffron perfume.

ركبَ الطريقَ فسهَّل التسهيلُ في

تِلكَ الطريقِ وعوَّق التعويقُ

He took the road; ease made the going easy along

that road, and hindrance hindered.

لا غَرْوَ أَن سَعِدت طريقُ رِكابه

فالسَّعد عبدٌ والرَّشادُ طَريقُ

No wonder the road of his mounts found good fortune:

good fortune is a servant, and right guidance a road.

وأَتى إِلى البيتِ العتيق ووجدُه

وهواهُ بالبيت العتيقِ عَتيقُ

He came to the Ancient House; his longing

and his love for the Ancient House are ancient.

وردَ المناهِلَ وهْي مِلحٌ ماؤُها

وكأَنَّها في رَاحَتيه رحيقُ

He reached the watering places, though their water was salt,

as though, in his two palms, it were pure nectar.

ويكادُ يَرويه السرابُ كرامَةً

والرَّي في بحر السَّراب غريقُ

A mirage almost quenches his thirst in his honor,

though thirst-quenching lies drowned in the mirage's sea.

ومضَى وعاودَه كما قَدْ عاوَد الـ

ـمعشوقُ من بعد الفِراق عَشِيقُ

He departed and revisited it, just as the—

beloved is revisited, after separation, by a lover.

أَهدى له البدرُ النضارَ تصدُّقاً

والرسْمُ أَن تُهدَى إِليه النُّوق

The full moon gave him gold in charity,

whereas custom is for she-camels to be presented to him.

وغدا الخلائقَ في مُنى تحْليقِهم

وله على أُفْقِ السُّها تَحْليق

And at Mina the people took to shaving their heads,

while his soaring is above al-Suha's horizon.

إِن جلَّ هذا الفعلُ منه فكَم له

معنىً جليلُ القدرِ وهو دقيقُ

If this deed of his is great, how many are his

ideas, exalted in worth yet subtle!

وأَمامَ ما يُبْديه من أَلْفاظِه

رأَيٌ يَشفُّ وراءَه التوفيقُ

Before the words he brings forth

stands judgment, behind which success shines through.

لولا اعتقادِي للشَّريعةِ مُخْلِصاً

ما قلتُ إِنَّ كلامَه مخلوقُ

Were it not for my sincere belief in the sacred law,

I would not say his speech was created.

وَرِثَ السِّيادَة كابراً عن كابرٍ

فالعِرْقُ في أُفْق العَلاءِ عَريقُ

He inherited lordship, great man from great man;

his lineage is deep-rooted on the horizon of eminence.

معنَى الرِّئَاسةِ فيه بِكرٌ لا كَمن

معنَى الرِّئَاسَةِ عنده مطروقُ

Leadership's essence in him is virgin, unlike one

in whom leadership's essence is well-trodden.

الحُكمُ فصلٌ والكلامُ مفصَّل

والوجهُ طلْقٌ والنَّوالُ طليقُ

His judgment is decisive, his speech well articulated;

his face is cheerful, and his bounty unfettered.

متعمِّقٌ في الجودِ لولا جودُه

ما كان يُشكر في الوَرى التَّعميقُ

He delves deep into generosity; were it not for his bounty,

delving deep would not be praised among humankind.

لا يستقرُّ المالُ فوقَ بَنَانِه

حتَّى كأَنَّ بنانَه مخروقُ

Wealth does not rest upon his fingertips,

so that his fingertips seem pierced through.

سبقَ الكِرامَ وما ازْدهى متكبِّراً

حتَّى ظنَنَّا أَنَّه مسبُوق

He outstripped the noble, yet did not swell with pride,

until we thought he had been outstripped.

يا طالبين ذُرا عُلاه توقَّفُوا

ومؤَمِّلين نَدى يَديْه أَفِيقُوا

O seekers of the heights of his eminence, stop!

And you who hope for the bounty of his hands, awake!

لو رَامت الشَّمْس المنيرةُ شأْوَه

يومَ الفَخَار لعاقَها العيُّوق

If the radiant sun sought to match his reach

on the day of vaunting, al-Ayyuq would hold her back.