Sol 6.1

  1. إذا ذهب الوفاءُ من الزمانِ

    فكيفَ يُعابُ بالغدرِ الغواني

    If faithfulness has departed from the age,

    then how can fair women be reproached for treachery?

  2. نسامحُ دهرَنا العاصي علينا

    ونطلبُ طاعةَ الحدَق الحِسانِ

    We forgive our age its rebellion against us,

    and demand obedience from beautiful eyes.

  3. ونرجوا الأمنَ حيثُ الأمنُ خوفٌ

    ونحن نخافُ في دار الأمانِ

    We hope for safety where safety is fear,

    while we are afraid in the abode of security.

  4. حبيبك من بني هذي الليالي

    هما من طينةٍ متصلصلانِ

    Your beloved is among the children of these nights;

    both are of one clay, dried until it rings.

  5. وما لوناهما إلا وفاقٌ

    وإن برزَتْ لعينك صِبغتانِ

    Their two colors are wholly in accord,

    even if two hues appear to your eye.

  6. تُقلَّب لي صَفاةُ أخي فما لي

    نكِرتُ تقلُّبا في غُصن بانِ

    My brother's smooth rock is turned against me—so why

    have I found swaying strange in a bān branch?

  7. وأسلمني الصديقُ أخا وسيفا

    فكيف بنصرِ مختضِبِ البنانِ

    And my friend abandoned me—both brother and sword;

    so what help can I expect from one with dyed fingertips?

  8. أرى الإخوانَ حولي مِلءَ عيني

    وألقى الحادثاتِ بغير ثاني

    I see brothers around me, filling my sight,

    and face calamities with no second beside me.

  9. وأفتقد الأحبّةَ ثم أرضَى

    كِراهاً بالوقوف على المغاني

    I miss my loved ones, then content myself,

    unwillingly, with standing at their dwellings.

  10. أقلْني يا زمانُ غِلاطَ ظنّي

    بأهلكَ فهو أبرحُ ما دهاني

    Forgive me, Time, the errors of my judgment

    about your people—it is the sorest thing that has struck me.

  11. ظهرتُ بآيتي في غير قومي

    ولم أنظرْ بمُعجزها أواني

    I appeared with my sign among people not my own,

    and did not wait for my proper time to show its miracle.

  12. وإلا فانتقم ما شئتَ منّي

    سوى تعريضِ عِرضي للهوانِ

    Otherwise, take whatever vengeance you wish upon me,

    except exposing my honor to humiliation.

  13. أدال اللهُ من عيني فؤادي

    فكم أهوى على خُدَع العِيانِ

    May God grant my heart victory over my eye,

    for how often I fall for sight's deceits!

  14. أرى صُورا وشاراتٍ حساناً

    مصايدَ للطَّماعَةِ والأماني

    I see beautiful forms and adornments,

    traps for greed and hopes.

  15. فأستذرى بظلٍّ لم يسعني

    وأستروِي غماما ما سقاني

    So I seek shelter in a shade that never held me,

    and seek water from a cloud that never watered me.

  16. وذي قلبين قاسٍ يوم أشكو

    وآخرَ عندَه بعضُ الليانِ

    And many a man with two hearts—one hard when I complain,

    and the other with some measure of softness.

  17. صبَرتُ على تلوّن شيمتيْه

    حَمولا في البعادِ وفي التداني

    I endured the changes of his two dispositions,

    forbearing in separation and in closeness.

  18. وأشكر نبذَهُ بالوصل حينا

    وأعذِرُ في الجفاءِ إذا جفاني

    And at times I answer his rejection with grateful closeness,

    and excuse his coldness when he shuns me.

  19. فأحسَبُ عِطفَه يُثنَى بمدحي

    فأغمزُ منه في جَنْبَيْ أَبانِ

    So I suppose my praise can bend his inclination,

    so, in him, I press against Abān's two flanks.

  20. توانَى في العكوف عليه حزمي

    وكان الحزمُ من قبل التواني

    My prudence faltered in remaining devoted to him,

    yet earlier prudence would have meant holding back.

  21. أناسئُهُ الثناءَ ليوم عُسرِي

    وكم وجدَ القضاءَ فما قضاني

    I lend him praise on credit against my day of hardship,

    and how often he had the means to repay, yet did not repay me!

  22. ألا يا ليتَ شعري عن غريمي

    لمن ذَخر القضاءَ إذا لَواني

    Ah, would that I knew about my debtor:

    for whom does he save repayment while putting me off?

  23. وكيف يسرُّه بَعدي خليلٌ

    إذا هو مَلَّ قربي واجتواني

    And how can a friend after me delight him,

    if he has tired of my nearness and loathed me?

  24. قد اصطلح الرجالُ على التجافِي

    وقد نُسيَ التعاطُفُ والتحَاني

    Men have indeed agreed to keep aloof,

    and mutual affection and tenderness have been forgotten,

  25. سِوى بيتٍ طنوبُ المجد فيه

    مطنَّبةٌ بأسباب مِتانِ

    except one house where glory's tent-ropes

    are stretched taut with sturdy cords.

  26. بَنَى عبدُ الرحيم بِهِ فأَرسَى

    وشادَ بنوه بانٍ بعدَ باني

    ʿAbd al-Raḥīm built there and laid firm foundations,

    and his sons raised it, builder after builder.

  27. إذا غَرَبَتْ به للفضلِ شمسٌ

    تمكَّن في المطالعِ فرقدانِ

    When a sun of excellence set within it,

    two Farqad stars took their places at the rising-points.

  28. ولم يك كالوزير ولا أخيه

    ولا أخويهما ذخرٌ لقاني

    There was none like the vizier, nor his brother,

    nor their two brothers, among the treasures I encountered.

  29. وأشرق من كمال الملك بدر

    ليالي تمِّهِ سعدُ القِرانِ

    And from Kamāl al-Mulk a full moon shone,

    its nights of fullness blessed by auspicious conjunction.

  30. تحالفت العلا وأبو المعالي

    إذا الأسماءُ حالفتِ المعاني

    Lofty honor and Abū al-Maʿālī forged an alliance,

    when names allied themselves with meanings.

  31. تعثَّرت الجيادُ وراء جارٍ

    مسلِّمةً له قَصَبَ الرِّهانِ

    The noble steeds stumbled behind a racer,

    yielding him the prize-reed of the race.

  32. زليق اللِّبْدِ مقطوع الأواخِي

    غضيض السرج مخلوعَ العنانِ

    His saddlecloth slipping, his tether-pegs cut loose,

    his saddle lowered, his bridle cast off.

  33. تكفَّلَ بالسياسة ألمعيٌّ

    مليٌّ يومَ يَضمن بالضمانِ

    A man of keen insight undertook governance,

    able, when he pledges, to fulfill the pledge.

  34. إذا خفَقتْ بما ضمِنتْ قلوبٌ

    توقَّد في حشاه الخافقانِ

    When hearts flutter at what they have pledged,

    the East and West blaze within his breast.

  35. شجاعٌ يومَ يَركبُ للمعالي

    وظهرُ الذلِّ من قُعَدِ الجبانِ

    Brave when he rides toward high honors,

    while abasement's back is one of the coward's mounts.

  36. أُعينَ الملكُ منه بجنبِ طودٍ

    ظليلِ الذيلِ مستَنِّ الرِّعانِ

    The realm was aided by him—a mountain's flank,

    its skirt deep in shade, its spurs soaring.

  37. مضت آراؤه فيه نفاذا

    نفاذَ السمْهَرِيّة في الطعانِ

    His counsels penetrated it,

    as Samharī spears pierce in combat.

  38. إذا أوت الأمور إليه بانت

    محامَاةُ المعين عن المُعانِ

    When affairs resorted to him, there became clear

    the helper's defense of the one he aided.

  39. وقال فقال فصلا في زمان

    يكون العيُّ فيه من البيانِ

    He spoke, and spoke decisively, in an age

    when inarticulateness is counted as eloquence.

  40. توحّدَ في الكمال فلم يعزَّزْ

    بقوّةِ ثالثٍ وبنصرِ ثاني

    He stood alone in perfection, and was not reinforced

    by a third's strength or a second's help.

  41. وصُدِّقَ ما ادَّعى الغالون فيه

    فما أحدٌ غلا فيه بجاني

    The extravagant praisers' claims about him proved true,

    so no one who overpraised him was guilty.

  42. كأنّ حديثَ من يُثنِي عليه

    حديثُ القَيْن عن نصلٍ يماني

    As though the words of one who praises him

    were a smith's words about a Yemeni blade.

  43. وزُوّجتِ الوزارةُ من أخيه

    ومنهُ بعدُ نِعْم الكافلانِ

    The vizierate was wedded to his brother,

    and then to him—what excellent guardians the two are!

  44. إذا قعدا فمجلسُها عرينٌ

    يذود الضيمَ عنه ضيغمانِ

    When they sit, its council chamber is a lion's den,

    where two lions drive injustice away from it.

  45. وإن قاما إباءً فهي سرحٌ

    مُعِرٌّ نام عنه الراعيانِ

    And if they rise in proud refusal, it is a herd,

    mange-stricken, with its two shepherds asleep away from it.

  46. يرافدُ ذاك في العزمات هذا

    رفادَ السيف أُيِّدَ بالسنانِ

    This one supports that one in resolute undertakings,

    as a sword is strengthened by a spearhead.

  47. ألا أبلغ كمالَ الملك عنّي

    وإن يك حيث يسمع أو يراني

    Now convey to Kamāl al-Mulk, from me,

    even if he is where he hears or sees me,

  48. رسالةَ مطلَقٍ في الناس لكن

    عليه من القطيعة ذلُّ عاني

    the message of a free man among people, yet

    bearing through estrangement a captive's humiliation.

  49. حِفاظُك ذاك من ألهاك عنه

    وقلبُك بعدَ حبّك لِمْ قَلاني

    That loyalty of yours—who distracted you from it?

    And why, after your love, has your heart hated me?

  50. ومن عَدَّى عوائدَك اللواتي

    ترادفُ بين بِكرٍ أو عَوانِ

    And who diverted those habitual favors of yours

    that come in succession, maiden or mature?

  51. يواصلني سماحُ يديك منها

    بأوسعِ ما تجود به يدانِ

    Your hands' generosity reaches me through them,

    with the amplest bounty two hands can bestow.

  52. فعاد النقدُ لي منها ضمانا

    وصار الإهتمامُ إلى التواني

    So their ready payment has become a pledge to me,

    and solicitude has turned to delay.

  53. أُعيذك أن تصيبَك فيَّ عين

    وأوخذ في وفائك من أماني

    I seek protection for you lest an evil eye strike you on my account,

    and I be seized from my security in your faithfulness,

  54. وأن أُنسَى وعندك باعثاتٌ

    على حقّي ومُذكِرةٌ بشاني

    and be forgotten, though you have things that urge you

    to honor my due and remind you of my standing:

  55. خوالدُ في الصحائف باقياتٌ

    لمجدكُمُ على الحِقَبِ الفَواني

    immortal verses, enduring on the pages,

    for your glory through the ages that pass away.

  56. لها سرُّ الصدور إذا حوتها

    وفي الآذان إعلانُ الأذان

    Theirs is the secrecy of hearts when hearts hold them,

    and in ears, the proclamation of the call to prayer.

  57. يزُرنَك يمتطينَ من التهاني

    سليس الرأس منقادَ الجِرانِ

    They visit you, riding congratulation's mount,

    docile of head, yielding of neck.

  58. إذا سمحَتْ برسم العيدِ جاءتْ

    مطالِبةً برسم المِهرَجانِ

    When they freely offer the customary tribute for Eid, they come

    demanding the customary due for Mihragān.

  59. بقيتُ لرصفِها فتغنَّموني

    بقاء الخمرِ في نِصفِ الدنانِ

    I have remained to compose them—so make the most of me,

    like wine lingering in half the jars.

  60. وقد كثُر المديحُ وقائلوه

    ولكنْ من يسدُّ لكم مكاني

    Praise and those who utter it have indeed grown many,

    but who can fill my place for you?