من الجآذر في زي الأعاريب — Al Mutanabbi

مَنِ الجَآذِرُ في زِيِّ الأَعاريبِ

حُمرَ الحُلى وَالمَطايا وَالجَلابيبِ

Who are these wild-cow calves in Bedouin dress,

With red ornaments, mounts, and cloaks?

إِن كُنتَ تَسأَلُ شَكّاً في مَعارِفِها

فَمَن بَلاكَ بِتَسهيدٍ وَتَعذيبِ

If you ask, uncertain of their identity,

Then who afflicted you with sleeplessness and torment?

لا تَجزِني بِضَناً بي بَعدَها بَقَرٌ

تَجزي دُموعِيَ مَسكوباً بِمَسكوبِ

After them, let no wild cows repay me with wasting sickness,

Returning my poured-out tears with poured-out tears.

سَوائِرٌ رُبَّما سارَت هَوادِجُها

مَنيعَةً بَينَ مَطعونٍ وَمَضروبِ

Traveling women, whose howdahs have often passed

Inviolate among men spear-pierced and sword-struck.

وَرُبَّما وَخَدَت أَيدي المَطيِّ بِها

عَلى نَجيعٍ مِنَ الفُرسانِ مَصبوبِ

And often the camels' forelegs sped them

Over the spilled blood of horsemen.

كَم زَورَةٍ لَكَ في الأَعرابِ خافِيَةٍ

أَدهى وَقَد رَقَدوا مِن زَورَةِ الذيبِ

How many a secret visit you made among the Bedouins,

More cunning, while they slept, than a wolf's visit!

أَزورُهُم وَسَوادُ اللَيلِ يَشفَعُ لي

وَأَنثَني وَبَياضُ الصُبحِ يُغري بي

I visit them, and the night's blackness intercedes for me;

I turn back, and dawn's whiteness incites them against me.

قَد وافَقوا الوَحشَ في سُكنى مَراتِعِها

وَخالَفوها بِتَقويضٍ وَتَطنيبِ

They share with wild beasts the dwelling in their grazing grounds,

But differ from them in striking tents and pitching them.

جِيرانُها وَهُمُ شَرُّ الجِوارِ لَها

وَصَحبُها وَهُمُ شَرُّ الأَصاحيبِ

They are their neighbors, yet the worst of neighbors to them,

And their companions, yet the worst of companions.

فُؤادُ كُلِّ مُحِبٍّ في بُيوتِهِمِ

وَمالُ كُلِّ أَخيذِ المالِ مَحروبِ

Every lover's heart is in their tents,

And the wealth of every man robbed of his goods and despoiled.

ما أَوجُهُ الحَضَرِ المُستَحسَناتُ بِهِ

كَأَوجُهِ البَدَوِيّاتِ الرَعابيبِ

The townswomen's faces, admired there, are not

Like the faces of fair, soft-skinned Bedouin women.

حُسنُ الحَضارَةِ مَجلوبٌ بِتَطرِيَةٍ

وَفي البَداوَةِ حُسنٌ غَيرُ مَجلوبِ

Urban beauty is contrived through cosmetics;

In Bedouin life there is beauty not contrived.

أَينَ المَعيزُ مِنَ الآرامِ ناظِرَةً

وَغَيرَ ناظِرَةٍ في الحُسنِ وَالطيبِ

How can goats compare with white gazelles, alive

Or dead, in beauty and savor?

أَفدي ظِباءَ فَلاةٍ ماعَرَفنَ بِها

مَضغَ الكَلامِ وَلا صَبغَ الحَواجيبِ

I would give my life for desert gazelles who there have never known

Chewing their words or dyeing their eyebrows.

وَلا بَرَزنَ مِنَ الحَمّامِ ماثِلَةً

أَوراكُهُنَّ صَقيلاتِ العَراقيبِ

Nor have they emerged from the bathhouse with protruding

Hips and polished heels.

وَمِن هَوى كُلِّ مَن لَيسَت مُمَوَّهَةً

تَرَكتُ لَونَ مَشيبي غَيرَ مَخضوبِ

And out of love for every woman free of cosmetic disguise,

I have left the color of my gray hair undyed.

وَمِن هَوى الصِدقِ في قَولي وَعادَتِهِ

رَغِبتُ عَن شَعَرٍ في الرَأسِ مَكذوبِ

And out of love for truth in my speech, and the habit of it,

I have shunned hair on my head made false.

لَيتَ الحَوادِثَ باعَتني الَّذي أَخَذَت

مِنّي بِحِلمي الَّذي أَعطَت وَتَجريبي

Would that life's vicissitudes sold me back what they took

From me, for the wisdom and experience they gave me.

فَما الحَداثَةُ مِن حِلمٍ بِمانِعَةٍ

قَد يوجَدُ الحِلمُ في الشُبّانِ وَالشيبِ

For youth does not preclude wisdom;

Wisdom may be found among the young and the gray-haired.

تَرَعرَعَ المَلِكُ الأُستاذُ مُكتَهِلاً

قَبلَ اِكتِهالٍ أَديباً قَبلَ تَأديبِ

The king, the Master, grew up mature

Before middle age, cultivated before instruction;

مُجَرَّباً فَهَماً مِن قَبلِ تَجرِبَةٍ

مُهَذَّباً كَرَماً مِن غَيرِ تَهذيبِ

Seasoned through insight before experience,

Refined through nobility without training.

حَتّى أَصابَ مِنَ الدُنيا نِهايَتَها

وَهَمُّهُ في اِبتِداءاتٍ وَتَشبيبِ

Until he attained the utmost the world could give,

While his ambition is still at beginnings and preludes.

يُدَبِّرُ المُلكَ مِن مِصرٍ إِلى عَدَنٍ

إِلى العِراقِ فَأَرضِ الرومِ فَالنُوَبِ

He governs the realm from Egypt to Aden,

To Iraq, then the Romans' land, then Nubia.

إِذا أَتَتها الرِياحُ النُكبُ مِن بَلَدٍ

فَما تَهُبُّ بِها إِلّا بِتَرتيبِ

When oblique winds reach it from some land,

They blow within it only in due order.

وَلا تُجاوِزُها شَمسٌ إِذا شَرَقَت

إِلّا وَمِنهُ لَها إِذنٌ بِتَغريبِ

Nor does the sun cross it when it rises,

Without his permission to set.

يُصَرِّفُ الأَمرَ فيها طينُ خاتِمِهِ

وَلَو تَطَلَّسَ مِنهُ كُلُّ مَكتوبِ

The clay impressed by his signet directs affairs there,

Even if every inscription on it were effaced.

يَحِطَّ كُلَّ طَويلِ الرُمحِ حامِلُهُ

مِن سَرجِ كُلِّ طَويلِ الباعِ يَعبوبِ

Its bearer unseats every long-speared warrior

From the saddle of every long-striding steed.

كَأَنَّ كُلَّ سُؤالٍ في مَسامِعِهِ

قَميصُ يوسُفَ في أَجفانِ يَعقوبِ

As though every request in his hearing

Were Joseph's shirt upon Jacob's eyelids.

إِذا غَزَتهُ أَعاديهِ بِمَسأَلَةٍ

فَقَد غَزَتهُ بِجَيشٍ غَيرِ مَغلوبِ

If his enemies attack him with a request,

They have attacked him with an army that cannot be defeated.

أَو حارَبَتهُ فَما تَنجو بِتَقدِمَةٍ

مِمّا أَرادَ وَلا تَنجو بِتَجبيبِ

Or if they wage war on him, no offering saves them

From what he intends, nor does flight save them.

أَضرَت شَجاعَتُهُ أَقصى كَتائِبِهِ

عَلى الحِمامِ فَما مَوتٌ بِمَرهوبِ

His courage has inured his remotest battalions

To death, so death is not feared.

قالوا هَجَرتَ إِلَيهِ الغَيثَ قُلتُ لَهُم

إِلى غُيوثِ يَدَيهِ وَالشَآبيبِ

They said, 'You forsook rain for him.' I told them,

'For the rains and downpours of his hands.'

إِلى الَّذي تَهَبُ الدَولاتِ راحَتُهُ

وَلا يَمُنُّ عَلى آثارِ مَوهوبِ

To him whose palm bestows dominions,

And who never follows gifts with reproachful reminders.

وَلا يَروعُ بِمَغدورٍ بِهِ أَحَداً

وَلا يُفَزِّعُ مَوفوراً بِمَنكوبِ

Nor frightens anyone by betraying another,

Nor terrifies the prosperous by ruining another.

بَلى يَروعُ بِذي جَيشٍ يُجَدِّلُهُ

ذا مِثلِهِ في أَحَمِّ النَقعِ غِربيبِ

Yes: by felling one army's commander, he terrifies

The lord of a like army, amid the blackest, pitch-dark dust.

وَجَدتُ أَنفَعَ مالٍ كُنتُ أَذخَرُهُ

ما في السَوابِقِ مِن جَريٍ وَتَقريبِ

I found the most useful wealth I had laid by

Was the gallop and canter of my racing steeds.

لَمّا رَأَينَ صُروفَ الدَهرِ تَغدِرُ بي

وَفَينَ لي وَوَفَت صُمُّ الأَنابيبِ

When they saw time's vicissitudes betray me,

They kept faith with me, and the hard-shafted spears kept faith.

فُتنَ المَهالِكِ حَتّى قالَ قائِلُها

ماذا لَقينا مِنَ الجُردِ السَراحيبِ

They outpaced the perils, till the perils' spokesman said,

'What have we suffered from these sleek, long-bodied steeds!'

تَهوي بِمُنجَرِدٍ لَيسَت مَذاهِبُهُ

لِلُبسِ ثَوبٍ وَمَأكولٍ وَمَشروبِ

They rush onward with a single-minded man whose pursuits are not

For wearing a garment, or for food and drink.

يَرى النُجومَ بِعَينَي مَن يُحاوِلُها

كَأَنَّها سَلَبٌ في عَينِ مَسلوبِ

He sees the stars with the eyes of one intent on reaching them,

As though they were plunder in a plundered man's eye.

حَتّى وَصَلتُ إِلى نَفسٍ مُحَجَّبَةٍ

تَلقى النُفوسَ بِفَضلٍ غَيرِ مَحجوبِ

Until I reached a veiled soul,

That meets other souls with bounty never veiled,

في جِسمِ أَروَعَ صافي العَقلِ تُضحِكُهُ

خَلائِقُ الناسِ إِضحاكَ الأَعاجيبِ

In the body of an awe-inspiring, clear-minded man, whom

People's natures make laugh as marvels do.

فَالحَمدُ قَبلُ لَهُ وَالحَمدُ بَعدُ لَها

وَلِلقَنا وَلِإِدلاجي وَتَؤويبي

So praise goes first to him, and afterward to them,

And to the spears, my night journeys, and my daytime journeys.

وَكَيفَ أَكفُرُ يا كافورُ نِعمَتَها

وَقَد بَلَغنَكَ بي يا كُلَّ مَطلوبي

And how could I deny their favor, O Kafur,

When they have brought me to you, O all that I seek?

يا أَيُّها المَلِكُ الغاني بِتَسمِيَةٍ

في الشَرقِ وَالغَربِ عَن وَصفٍ وَتَلقيبِ

O king whose name alone suffices

In East and West, without description or title!

أَنتَ الحَبيبُ وَلَكِنّي أَعوذُ بِهِ

مِن أَن أَكونَ مُحِبّاً غَيرَ مَحبوبِ

You are the beloved, but I seek refuge in him

From being a lover who is not loved.