خليلي من سعد العشير دعاني — Mohammed Al Hamdani

خليليّ من سَعد العشير دعاني

فعندي وجدٌ غيرُ ما تجدان

My two friends from Saʿd al-ʿAshīr, leave me alone,

for my longing is unlike what you two feel.

خليلي مالي والسَّلو وهذه

ظعائنُ ذاتِ الخالِ قيدَ عِياني

My two friends, what have I to do with forgetting love, when these

litters of the woman with the beauty mark are within my sight?

خليلي من لي بالقرار وقد غَدَا

مكانُ ابنة البكري غَيرُ مكاني

My two friends, who can give me peace, now that

the dwelling of al-Bakrī's daughter has become other than my own?

تشآمَ بي شوقي وأيمن شوقُها

وإنّي وإياها لمختلفان

My longing took me toward Syria, and hers toward Yemen,

and she and I are indeed bound in different directions.

أقول وقد أمّ المحَّصّب ركبُها

وعَينَاي كالعينين تنهملان

I say, as her caravan heads for al-Muḥaṣṣab,

while my eyes, like two springs, pour forth:

ألاَ ليتَ لي طرفَين يطلعانكم

على البعد أحياناً ويَنْثيان

Ah, would that I had two eyes that could look in on you

from afar, now and then, and report back.

يقولُ أصَيْحَابي حملت وطالما

تركت المطايا الكومَ وهي حواني

My dear companions say, 'You have taken on a burden,' yet how often

I have left high-humped riding camels bent with weariness.

وما أنا إلاّ ابنُ المراحل والسُّري

فليس بمقبوضِ عليّ عناني

And I am but a son of journey-stages and night travel,

so no one holds my reins to restrain me.

ومن ذمّ عند الباخلين زمانهُ

فإني في زِنًّ بخير زمان

Whoever may blame his age among the miserly—

I, among Zinn, live in the best of times.

تذبُ الأذى عني حِدادُ سُيوفهم

وأحمى على أعراضِهم بلساني

Their swords' keen edges ward harm away from me,

and with my tongue I defend their honor.

وحَوْلي مِنْ أرماحهم وجفانِهم

طوالَ رمَاحٍ بل عراض جفانِ

Around me, of their spears and their serving bowls,

are long spears—nay, broad serving bowls.

ومن عضّ في أرض الهوان بَنانه

فإني بعزٍ لا تُعضّ بِناني

Whoever bites his fingertips in a land of humiliation—

I live in honor: my fingertips go unbitten.

وَمَنْ كَسُهيل بن الوليد وقومِه

غَداةَ طعامٍ أو غداة طعانِ

Who is like Suhayl ibn al-Walīd and his people

on a morning of feasting or a morning of spear-fighting?

أناسٌ رباط الخيل بينَ بيوتِهم

عناجيح من خيفانة وحصان

A people with horses tethered among their houses,

swift steeds, slender mares and stallions.

أناس ترى الأرماح حول بيوتهم

كمثلِ شآبيب الحياءِ المتداني

A people around whose houses you see spears

like showers of rain drawing near.

نزيلُهم فوقَ السِّماك وجارُهم

عزيزُ كجار الأسود بن قِنان

Their guest is above al-Simāk, and their neighbor

is inviolable, like the neighbor of al-Aswad ibn Qinān.

هم ورثوا من خالد بن خويلد

علا دونَها النضران والقمَران

They inherited from Khālid ibn Khuwaylid

glories beneath which lie the two Naḍrs and the sun and moon.

وجدّهُم المُرْوى مَا مدّ رمحَة

نَجيعاً ونارُ الحربِ ذاتُ دُخان

Their forefather drenched each spear he extended

in fresh blood, while war's fire sent up smoke.

هم منعوا الضحاكُ أكِناف منبجٍ

بسمرٍ كاشطانِ القليب ليان

They barred al-Ḍaḥḥāk from the outskirts of Manbij

with brown spears, supple as well-ropes.

ويوم زحاف يوم حيرانَ غادروا

ترابَ زحافٍ وهو بالدم قان

On the day of Zaḥāf, the day of Ḥayrān, they left

Zaḥāf's soil crimson with blood.

ومِنهم سُهَيل بن الوليدِ وإنما

رديفَ ملوك بل ربيع زمان

Among them is Suhayl ibn al-Walīd, who is none other than

a companion of kings—nay, the springtime of his age.

أجَلّ ابن انثى من معدٍ ويَعرب

وخير شَآميٍّ وخير يماني

The noblest son of woman among Maʿadd and Yaʿrub,

and the finest Syrian and the finest Yemeni.

زعيم لعكٍ لا زعيمٌ كمثلِه

وفردٌ لعمري دونَه الثقلان

A leader of ʿAkk, with no leader like him,

peerless, by my life, with humans and jinn beneath him.

تُنْيخُ وفودُ الحمد حول رحابه

لا كرم مُغنٍ في أعز مغَان

Delegations of praise make their camels kneel around his courtyards.

No generosity suffices in the most honored abodes.

إذا أنشدوا فوق الأرائكَ مدحه

ظننتهم يتلون أي قُران

When they recite his praise upon the couches,

you would think they were reciting verses of the Qurʾān.

فتىً يفخَر الفتيانُ عن شَيد ما بَنَى

ويعتذرُ العُمران والعُمَران

A young man—other youths boast of the lofty edifice he has built,

and the two ʿAmrs and the two ʿUmars offer excuses.

كفاني أبو عثمان عن كلِّ باخل

ومعطٍ كفاه الله حينَ كفاني

Abū ʿUthmān spared me need of every miser

and every giver; may God meet his needs, as he met mine.

وعاهدني بالبرّ في كلّ حالةٍ

ووقتٍ فلو لم آته لأتاني

He pledged kindness to me in every circumstance

and at every time: if I did not come to him, he would come to me.

رعتني عَكٌّ أجمعون بعينه

نعم ورعانيَ الكل حين رعاني

All of ʿAkk cared for me under his watchful eye,

yes, everyone cared for me when he cared for me.

ألا لا خَلَتْ منك البلادُ ولا تزل

أبا أحمدٍ تبقى وَضِدَّك فإني

Ah, may the lands never be empty of you, and may you ever

endure, Abū Aḥmad—and your foe ... for I ... [wording unclear].

ولا برحتْ هذه الرِّحابُ رحيبةً

مُعَرَّسُ ضيفانٍ ومأمَنُ جانِ

And may these broad courts forever remain spacious,

a resting place for guests and a refuge for an offender.