ما ترى البدر حين حاز كماله — Omar Onsi

ما تَرى البَدرَ حينَ حازَ كَماله

فَلَكَ المَطلع البَهيّ كَماله

Do you not see the full moon when it attains perfection?

Its perfection belongs to you, radiant in your rising.

يا شَقيق الهِلال وَاِبن أَخي الغُص

نِ وَصنو الغَزال وَاِبن الغَزاله

O brother of the crescent and nephew of the branch—

and twin of the gazelle and son of the sun,

وَمُعير النَسيم لُطفاً وَمزري ال

بيان عَطفاً وَفاضح البَدر هاله

who lends the breeze gentleness and puts—

eloquence to shame in suppleness, and the full moon with his halo.

بِأَبي مِنكَ غُصن قامة قَدّ

تيههُ وَالدلال عَنّي أَماله

My father be ransom for your branchlike stature and form,

which his pride and coyness have bent away from me.

وَغَزالاً قَد أَفسَد العَقل عجباً

أَصلَح اللَه بِالمَحاسن حاله

And a gazelle who has wondrously undone reason—

may God set his state aright through his beauties!

مَلك قَد سَما بِدَولة حُسنٍ

أَبّد اللَه عَدله وَاِعتِداله

A king exalted by the sovereignty of beauty;

may God perpetuate his justice and his balance.

سَمهريّ القوام يَطعن قَلبي

يا لَهُ طاعِناً سَما بِالعَداله

Spear-straight in stature, he pierces my heart;

what a piercer, exalted in justice!

كَيفَ يَقسو وَعطفه حَرف لين

لِمَ لا تَعتَريه نَحوي إِماله

How can he be harsh, when his flank is a soft letter?

Why does no inclination toward me come over him?

وَإِذا قيل تِلكَ هَمزة وَصلٍ

قُلت مَن لي بِأَن أَنال وِصاله

And when they say, 'That is a linking hamza,'

I say, 'Who can help me attain union with him?'

وَعَلى الصدغ واو عَطف فَهلّا

عطفت مَن عَليّ أَبدى دَلاله

And on his temple is a waw of conjunction; why has it not—

turned toward me the one who displays his coyness to me?

وَعَساها أَن تَجمَع الشَمل قُرباً

فَهيَ لِلجَمع يا منى القَلب آله

And perhaps it will soon unite us,

for it is an instrument of joining, O desire of the heart.

يا لفرعٍ بِلَيله عَنبر الخا

ل أَرانا صُبح الجَبين بلاله

Ah, those tresses! In their night, the mole's ambergris—

its Bilal—has shown us the dawn of the brow.

وَبَدا تَحت قَوس حاجبه الزا

مي نِبالاً فَخطَّ نون النباله

And beneath the bow of his shooting eyebrow appeared—

arrows; he then traced the nun of nobility.

وَتَلا الحُسن مِن عذاريه سَطرا

فيهِ نَصٌّ وَشاهد ودلاله

And beauty recited a line from his two sideburns,

with a text, a witness, and evidence within it.

وَقَضى لائمي بِتَرك غَرامي

أَفأعتاض عَن هُداي ضلاله

And my reprover ruled that I must abandon my passion;

should I exchange my guidance for error?

أَبدع العَذل لي وَبدعة ذاكَ ال

عذل في مِلّة الغَرام ضلاله

He invented reproach for me; the innovation of that—

reproach is error in the creed of love.

كَم وَحتّامَ يا فَدتك حَياتي

أَنتَ تصغي قيل العَذول وَقاله

How often, and how long—O you whom my life would ransom—

will you heed the reprover's talk and chatter?

قَلَّ صَبري وَالهَجر مِنكَ مَليٌّ

وَبِإِكثاره أَرى إِقلاله

My patience is scant, while your estrangement is abundant;

and as your estrangement increases, I see my patience dwindle.

بِعت روحي صَبابَة بِكَ فاِرفق

بِفَتىً مِن قلاك يَرجو الإِقاله

I sold my soul out of longing for you; be gentle—

with a youth who hopes for release from your disdain.

يا مَليك الجَمال جاءك دَمعي

سائِلاً كَيفَ لا تُجيب سؤاله

O sovereign of beauty, my tears have come to you—

pleading; how can you fail to answer their plea?

خَفض نَفس المُحبّ بالذلّ عزٌّ

لَكَ لَمّا إِلَيك يَرفَع حاله

The lover's abasement in humiliation is an honor—

to you, when he raises his plight before you.

أَيُّ صَبٍّ يَقوى عَلى ما أُقاسي

مِن هَوان الهَوى بِدون مَلاله

What ardent lover can bear what I endure—

of love's humiliation, without weariness?

كَم أَذلَّ الهَوى عَزيز أُناس

وَهوَ فينا ذو رِفعة وَجَلاله

How often has love humbled a man esteemed among his people,

though among us he holds eminence and majesty!

ما عَلَيهِ لَو في حِمى دَوحة المَج

دِ أَمين العُلى أَناخ رِحاله

What harm if, in the shelter of glory's spreading tree—

Amin of exalted rank—he set down his baggage?

الوَحيد الفَريد مَن عَزَّ نَفساً

وَبِها شَرَّف الإله خصاله

The unique, the peerless, noble in spirit,

and through that spirit God has ennobled his qualities.

الأَمير الَّذي لَهُ الأَمر فينا

حَيث فَرضا نَرى عَلَينا اِمتِثاله

The prince to whom belongs command over us,

for we deem obedience to it our duty.

الأَمير الَّذي هُوَ البَدر عزّاً

شَرَّف اللَه بِالمَعالي كَماله

The prince who is a full moon in glory;

God has honored his perfection with lofty virtues.

الحَليم الَّذي هُوَ البَحر حلماً

وِرده العَذب قَد وَرَدنا زلاله

The forbearing one, an ocean of forbearance;

we have reached his sweet watering-place and its limpid waters.

الكَريم الَّذي بِفَيض العَطايا

في رضاء الإله أَنفَق ماله

The generous one who, in a flood of gifts—

has spent his wealth to win God's pleasure.

أَريحيٌّ مَتى بِنا نوديَ النا

دي لِبَذل النَدى دَعونا نَواله

Open-handed: whenever the assembly among us is summoned—

to bestow bounty, we call upon his largesse.

أَمطر الغَيث وَكَفّ كَفّيه جودا

فَظَنناه ديمَةً هطّاله

The outpouring of his palms rained showers of generosity,

so we thought him a steady, pouring rain.

حَسبه اللَه إنه حَرم الآ

مال جاست وفد الرَجاء خِلاله

God suffices him: he is a sanctuary of hopes—

through whose precincts the delegation of hope has roamed.

تَنزل القاصِدون في باب فَضلٍ

فَتح الفَوز دونَهُم أقفاله

Seekers alight at a gate of bounty;

success has opened its locks before them.

فَهوَ حامي حِمى المَعالي بِسَيف ال

عَزم ذي الحَزم حَيث صدق المَقاله

For he protects the sanctuary of lofty virtues with the sword of—

resolve, endowed with firmness, where words prove true.

أَينَ مَن مِن بَني الزَمان يُباري

في البَرايا أَقواله أو فعاله

Where is one among the sons of this age who rivals—

his words or deeds among humankind?

لَيسَ مَن قلّد العُلى عقد حلمٍ

مِثل مَن ألبستهُ ثَوب جَهاله

One who has adorned eminence with a necklace of forbearance—

is not like one whom it has clothed in ignorance.

لا وَلا من تقبّل الأَرض بردا

هُ كَمَن تَلثم السماء نِعاله

No, nor is one whose two cloaks kiss the earth—

like one whose sandals kiss the sky.

عقم الدَهر بَعد إِنتاجه فَر

داً فَلَم تَنظُر العُيون مِثاله

Time became barren after bringing forth a peerless—

man, and no eyes have seen his like.

فَهوَ فينا كَالجَوهَر الفَرد لَكن

عَرضُ الدَهر لا يُغيّر حاله

For he is among us like the indivisible atom, yet—

the accidents of time do not alter his state.

قَد كَساه الإله ثَوب وقار

وَفَخار فَما اِزدَهته اِختياله

God has clothed him in a robe of dignity—

and glory, yet his proud bearing has not made him vain.

وَبِحُسن البَيان فَضلاً عَلى سح

بان ما زالَ ساحِباً أَذياله

And in fine eloquence, surpassing—

Sahban, he has never ceased trailing his hems.

أوتِيَ الحُكم بِالكَمال فَحلّى

جيده بِالنهى فَزان جَماله

He was granted perfect judgment, and adorned—

his neck with reason, which embellished his beauty.

قَد أَمنّا الزَمان باِسمك يا مَن

الأَمين اِسمه نَرى الأمن فاله

We have found safety from time through your name, O you—

whose name is al-Amin: we see security as its good omen.

ما دَهانا مِن حادث الدَهر كَرب

قطّ إلّا مَنَحتنا ما أَزاله

No distress from a calamity of time has befallen us—

ever—without your granting us what dispelled it.

لا وَلا اِغتالنا الزَمان بِخَطب

مُدلهمٍّ إِلّا منعت اِغتياله

Nor has time ambushed us with a calamity—

dark and dire—without your preventing its ambush.

فَلكَ اللَه بَدر حلم وَحُكم

فَلَك السَعد حَلَّ لا شَيءَ هاله

May God keep you, full moon of forbearance and judgment—

settled in good fortune's sphere, with nothing to alarm him.

إِنَّ مَدحي بِباب عزّك أَضحى

مَثَلاً يُحسنُ الثَنا إِرساله

My praise at the gate of your glory has become—

a proverb whose circulation adorns praise.

وَلعمري يَجلّ وَصف مَعاني

ك بِأَن تُدرك النُهى أَمثاله

And by my life, describing your qualities is too lofty—

for intellects to grasp anything like it.

لَيسَ في الوسع ذا وأيُّ جَوادٍ

لَم يضيّق قَصد المحال مَجاله

This is beyond our power; what noble steed—

has not had its course narrowed by pursuing the impossible?

هاكَها قَد أَتَتكَ بكر نِظامٍ

ما تَجَلَّت عَلى سِواك وَلا له

Take her: she has come to you, a virgin of verse,

unveiled to none but you, and never for another.

غادة تَفضح الغَزال دَلالاً

وَجَمالاً تزري بِنور الغَزاله

A maiden whose coquetry puts the gazelle to shame,

and whose beauty outshines the light of the sun.

أَقبَلت تَنشُر الهَناء بعيد

أَبدع الحَمد بِالمَقام مَقاله

She came spreading joy at a festival;

praise crafted its speech exquisitely for the occasion.

يا لَهُ مِن عيد سَعيد تَهنّى

بِعُلاكُم بكورهُ آصاله

Ah, what a happy festival, rejoicing—

in your eminence, in its mornings and evenings!

فاِلق عيد التَقريب للّه فيما

نحره سُنَّة فَسُنَّ نِصاله

So welcome the festival of drawing near to God through what—

it is a prescribed rite to slaughter; then sharpen its blades.

ضَحِّ وَاِنحر فداك كُلّ عَدوٍّ

وَحَسودٍ هُما حليفا جهاله

Offer sacrifice and slaughter; may every foe ransom you—

and every envier: both are allies of ignorance.

فَالتَهاني لَكُم بِنَيل الأَماني

بلّغت كُلّ منتمٍ آماله

So congratulations to you on attaining your wishes;

you have brought every adherent to his hopes.

فَهيَ مِنّا مقدّمات فَلا زَا

ل يُرينا إِنتاجها أَشكاله

They are premises from us; may his figures never cease—

to show us the conclusions they yield.

وَبَراهين ذا الهَنا قاطِعات

عَن حِماكُم مَن لا يَروم اِتِّصاله

And the proofs of this joy cut off—

from your sanctuary whoever does not seek to join it.

فاِبق وَاِسلم عَلى المَدى بَدر عزٍّ

لا يُعاني الزَمان إِلّا اِكتِماله

Live on and stay safe forever, full moon of glory—

whose fullness alone is experienced by time.

وَاِستنر في سَما العُلى شَمس فَضلٍ

لا ترى أَعيُن الحَسود زَواله

And shine in the sky of eminence, a sun of excellence—

whose setting the envier's eyes never see.