لا تعذلاه فلأمر ما صبا

هيجه تذكار سلع فالنقا

Do not reproach him, you two: some cause has made him yearn.

Memories of Sal‘, then al-Naqa, stirred him.

وشام من نحو الشآم بارقا

يستمطر الشؤون دمعاً بدما

And he espied lightning from the direction of al-Sham,

Drawing from the tear ducts a rain of tears mixed with blood.

مدت له سلاسل قد وشعت

برد الدجا ورشحت خضر الربا

Chains stretched out before him, embroidering

The mantle of darkness and moistening the green hills.

فانهل من غرب السما في نوئه

مذهب الفضة محلول الوكا

Then from heaven’s bucket, amid its rainstorm, poured

Gilded silver, its drawstring untied.

واستفرغ العبرة حتى نضبت

فاستأنف البكا على فقد البكا

And he exhausted his tears until they ran dry,

Then wept anew over the loss of tears.

يا بارق الجرعاء جددت لنا

ما أخلقت جلبابه يد النوى

O lightning of al-Jar‘a, you have renewed for us

What the hand of separation had worn threadbare.

أذكرتنا وإنما الذكرى أسى

عهداً تفيأنا به ظل الصبا

You reminded us—and remembrance is only sorrow—

Of a time when we sheltered in the shade of youth.

ما هذه الفلول في عزمك من

قرع الدجا أم صبر أنضاء الهوى

What are these notches in your resolve—from

Battering the darkness, or the endurance of those wasted by love?

إن كنت شامياً فثم مسكني

أو كنت نجد يا فلى ثم هوي

If you are of al-Sham, there is my home;

Or if you are of Najd, there lies my love.

إيه وإني لا أراك صادقاً

ما صنعت من بعدنا تلك الدمى

Go on—though I do not find you truthful—

What have those doll-like beauties done since we left?

هل حفظوا الود كما حفظته

أم حملوا العهد على ظهر القلى

Have they kept our affection as I have kept it,

Or carried our pledge on the back of aversion?

واحك لنا هل بزغت من بعدنا

في دارة الشهد أقمار الدجا

And tell us: have there risen since our departure

In Darat al-Shahd the moons of night?

واظمئي وهل قويق بعده

يضم بالمعصم أعطاف الربا

Ah, my thirst! And does the Quwayq still

Clasp the curves of the hills with its wrist?

وهل بها الفيض كما عهدته

ترتع في مسرحه تلك الظبا

And is al-Fayd there as I remember it,

With those gazelles grazing in its meadow?

وهل ترى بالعجمي أصبحت

بلابل تدعو الخلي للأسى

And do you see how, in al-‘Ajami, now

Nightingales call the carefree to sorrow?

وهل جرت تلك السواقي فسعت

فيه جواري دوحه الغض الجني

And have those channels flowed, so that there raced

Through it the maidens of its tender, fruit-laden grove?

وهل بساط الظل في الكهف غدت

تحثو الدنانير به كف ذكا

And on the carpet of shade in al-Kahf, has

The sun’s palm begun scattering dinars?

وهل تمشت بعدنا جآذر

في سفج بابلي قصيرات الخطا

And have young oryxes wandered since we left,

On Babili’s slope, taking tiny steps?

تلك مطامح المنى لا برحت

يرضع طفل نبتها ضرع الحيا

Those are the goals of longing; may they endure,

Their infant growth suckling at the udder of rain.

تلك مواسم الأماني فإذا

نبت رباها فعلى الدنيا العفا

Those are the seasons of desire; if ever

Their hills turn hostile, then dust upon the world!

مسارح صرفت في أرجائها

نقد شبابي مثلما شاء الهوى

Haunts where, through all their reaches, I spent

The coin of my youth just as desire willed.

يا صاحبي والليالي دأبها

دنو ماشت وشت ما دنا

O my two companions—the nights are ever given to

Drawing together the scattered, and scattering what drew near—

هل ترياني والأماني جمة

في وسع هذا الدهر نثر ما طوى

Can you two show me—with hopes so many—

Whether this age can unfold what it has folded away?

فإن دون تلكما مهامهاً

قد لبس الصيف بها برد الشتا

For between us and those places lie vast deserts

Where summer has put on winter’s cloak.

كل أشم شامخ عرنينه

لا يذعنن للسحاب بعلا

Every proud peak, its nose held high,

Will never yield to the clouds in height.

لو استوى الأشل في صهوته

لأطمعته في تناول السها

If a palsied man sat astride its back,

It would tempt him to reach for al-Suha.

إحدى لغوب يصغر الليث بها

أبدلت سخط المجد فيها برضى

One wearying ordeal, in which the lion seems small,

Where I exchanged glory’s displeasure for its favor.

ومهمه قد ارتوت سباعه

فيه الظما واستبطنت من الطوى

And a wilderness whose beasts had drunk their fill

Of thirst within it, and filled their bellies with hunger.

شققت جيب الليل عنه كارعا

على زئير أسده إثم الشرى

I tore open night’s collar over it, drinking deep,

To the roar of its lions, the sinful wine of al-Shara.

سنة من شحذ عزم غر به

فأقتنص المجد بأشراك العنا

The way of one who whets resolve, venturing with it,

So I snare glory with the traps of toil.

عسى تكون رحلة محمودة

يعتذر الدهر بها عما جنى

May it prove a journey worthy of praise,

Through which time apologizes for the wrongs it did.

هذا جبين ابن حسام منشدي

عند الصباح بحمد القوم السرى

Here is Ibn Husam’s brow, reciting to me:

“At dawn, the night journey earns the people’s praise.”