قضت ببعادي ربة التيه والعجب — Omar Onsi

قَضت بِبِعادي رَبَّةُ التيه وَالعُجبِ

فَبِاللَهِ يا حادي المَطايا لَها عج بي

The mistress of haughtiness and conceit decreed my banishment.

So, by God, O driver of the camels, turn aside with me to her.

عَساها إِذا شَكواي بثّت صَبابَتي

بَصبِّ دُموع العَين تَحنو على الصَبِّ

Perhaps, when my complaint has revealed my longing

Through tears shed from my eyes, she will pity the lovesick one.

مَهاة بأَشراك النَدى رَمت صَيدَها

عَلى غِرّةٍ فَاِصطادني شرك الهدبِ

An oryx aimed at her quarry with the snares of bounty;

Unawares, the snare of her lashes caught me.

وَحاوَلت في سحر اللِسان وصالها

فَلَمّا رَنت ألحاظها سَحرت لبّي

And I sought union with her through the tongue's enchantment;

But when her eyes gazed, they bewitched my reason.

بِنَفسي الَّتي أَسلَمتها النَفس طائِعاً

فَلم تَرض إِلّا أَخذَها بِيَد الحَربِ

My life for her to whom I willingly surrendered my soul,

Yet she consented only to seize it by the hand of war.

نَبيّة حسن لَحظها وَقَوامها

بنا فَتكا في مَوقف الطَعن وَالضَربِ

A prophetess of beauty: her glance and her stature

Wreaked havoc on us in the field of thrusts and blows.

دَعَتنا فَآمنّا بِمرسل لَحظها

فَما زالَ في العُشّاقِ ينصر بِالرعبِ

She called us, and we believed in the envoy of her glance,

Who has ever since been granted victory among lovers through terror.

أَموجبةً قَلبي وَسالبة لَهُ

تَحكّمتِ بِالإِيجاب فيَّ وَبِالسَلبِ

O you who affirm my heart and negate it,

You have ruled me by affirmation and negation.

أَطلت صُدودي وَالتَجنّي وَطالَما

لِعزّك ذلّ اللَيث يا ظبية السربِ

You have prolonged my rejection and your unjust reproaches; how often

The lion has bowed to your might, O gazelle of the herd!

وَعَن مالك لَمّا رَوى خَبر الهَوى

جَمالك أَحشائي رَوَتهُ عَن الشَعبي

And when, on Malik's authority, love's tale was told

By your beauty, my innermost being retold it on al-Sha‘bi's authority.

عَلاقة حُبٍّ خَصَّها فالق النَوى

بِحبَّةِ قَلبي فَهيَ مِن فالِقِ الحبِّ

A bond of love the Splitter of date-stones reserved

For my heart's kernel; it comes from the Splitter of grain.

فَحَتّى مَتى يا منية القَلب تَمنعي

عُيونيَ عمّا هامَ في حُبّهِ قَلبي

So how long, O heart's desire, will you keep

My eyes from what my heart is madly in love with?

وَما سَبَب الإِعراض عَنّي أَهكَذا

يَكون جَزا هَذا المُحبّ عَلى الحُبِّ

Why turn away from me? Is this how

This lover is rewarded for his love?

محيّاك مِغناطيس أَفئدة الوَرى

لما أَوجَد الباري بِهِ قُوّة الجَذبِ

Your face is a magnet for the hearts of humankind,

For the Creator has placed within it the force of attraction.

دَعي العقد يا ذاتَ الدَلال فَإِنَّهُ

غَنيٌّ جَمال الشَمس عَن زينة الشُهبِ

Leave off the necklace, O mistress of coquetry, for

The sun's beauty has no need of the stars' adornment.

وَلا تَتَواري بِالحِجاب فَطالَما

سناؤك في الأبصار أَغناكِ عَن حجبِ

And do not hide behind a veil, for long has

Your radiance before the eyes spared you the need for veils.

تَذكّرت عَهدي بالحِمى فَاِستَفاضَني

دُموعاً كَفَيض الوَبل مِن مقل السُحبِ

I recalled my days in the sanctuary, and it made me overflow

With tears like heavy rain pouring from the eyes of clouds.

وَنَهنهت أَجفاني لِتَنفيس كُربَتي

فَسالَت دَماً فَاِزددتُ كَرباً عَلى كَربِ

And I restrained my eyelids to ease my anguish;

They streamed with blood, and my anguish grew upon anguish.

تَعَوّذت بِالصَبرِ الجَميل فَعِندَما

أَغار عليَّ البَين كانَ مِن النَهبِ

I sought refuge in beautiful patience; but when

Separation raided me, it was among the plunder.

فَلَولا اِنتِزاع البَين درع تَصبّري

لَما جَسرت خَيل الخُطوب عَلى حَربي

Had separation not stripped away the armor of my endurance,

The cavalry of calamities would never have dared wage war on me.

دَعوا لِلنَوى يَوماً أَحبّاي فَاِنبَرى

فُؤادي صَباً يَشدو عَلى أَثر الركبِ

One day my loved ones called for departure, and forth sprang

My heart, lovesick and singing in the caravan's wake.

سأَصبر حَتّى لا تَظنَّ عَواذِلي

بِأَنّي أَرى تَعذيبهم لَيسَ بِالعَذبِ

I shall endure, so my reproachers will not think

That I find their torment anything but sweet.

وَأضرب صَفحاً عَن عِتابي وَرُبَّما

أَرى فَرجاً لِلقَلب مِن قبلِ العتبِ

And I turn aside from my reproaches, though perhaps

I shall find relief for the heart through reproach.

أَحبّايَ ما هَذي القَطيعة وَالجَفا

وَذا البُعد ما جرمي لَدَيكُم وَما ذَنبي

My loved ones, what is this estrangement and coldness,

And this distance? What is my crime in your eyes, and what my sin?

يَولّد إنشائي الثَناءَ عَلَيكُمُ

فَيَخرُج مِن بَينَ التَرائب وَالصُلبِ

My verse begets praise of you,

Which issues from between the breastbones and the spine.

وَما الودّ إِلّا بِالجِنان وَإِنَّما

تترجمُ أَنباء اللِسان عَن القَلبِ

Love resides only in the heart; it is only

The tongue's tidings that speak for the heart.

نَأَيتُم وَما النائي سِوى القَلب قَبلَكُم

وَيا رُبَّما صادَفتُموه عَلى الدَربِ

You departed, but only the heart had departed before you;

And oh, perhaps you encountered it along the road.

لِمَن اِشتَكى دَهري فَلَم يَشك دَهره

إِليَّ وَينبيني بِأَضعاف ما أُنبي

To whom can I complain of my lot, who has not complained of his own

To me, and told me many times more than I tell?

وَمَن ذا الَّذي مِن دَأبِهِ بَذل سَعيهِ

بِنَفعِ مُحبّيه كَما هُوَ مِن دَأبي

And who is it whose custom is to devote his efforts

To helping those who love him, as is my custom?

أَلا مَن لِمثلي في الأَنام بِمثله

صَديقاً حماه اللَه مِن وَصمة الكذبِ

Ah, who among mankind can give one like me his equal,

As a friend whom God has kept from the stain of lying?

خَبرت بَني الأَيّام حَتّى كَأَنَّما

جَليسي بِهم عَن أَيمني علة الجَنبِ

I have tested the sons of time, until it seems

My companion, because of them, at my right side is pleurisy.

وَعالجت أَدواء النُفوس فَلَم أَجد

دَواءً لِداء الجَهل في كُتب الطبِّ

And I have treated the ailments of souls, but found

No remedy for the disease of ignorance in medical books.

حذاريَ أَدنى الناس مِنكَ فَإِنَّما

رَجاك بِهِ أَدنى مِن الشَرق لِلغَربِ

Beware the person closest to you, for

Your hope in him is less than the east's nearness to the west.

أَلا لا رَعى الرَحمن ذمّة معشرٍ

إِذا لَم يُراعوا ذمّة الآلِ وَالصحبِ

Ah, may the All-Merciful not safeguard a people's covenant

If they do not honor the covenant of family and companions!

وبُعداً لِقَومٍ لا اِنتِفاع بِقربهم

عَلى أَنّ ذاكَ البُعد خَير مِن القُربِ

And away with a people whose company is of no use,

Yet that distance is better than nearness.

فَكَم في بَني عجل فَتىً قَد صحبته

إِلى أَن بَدا لي أَنَّهُ مِن بَني كَلبِ

How many a youth of Banu ‘Ijl have I kept company with,

Until I found him to be of Banu Kalb!

إِذا لَم أَنَل بِالحلم حَقّي فَإِنَّني

سَأَطلبه بِالسمهريّ أَوِ العضبِ

If I cannot obtain my due through forbearance, then I

Shall seek it with the Samhari spear or the keen sword,

وَكُلّ كَميٍّ فَوقَ كُلّ طمرَّةٍ

مِن النجبِ الجرد المطهّمة القُبِّ

And every armored warrior upon every spirited mare

Of the noble, sleek-coated, finely formed, lean-bellied steeds.

عِتاب الفَتى لِلدَهر محض جَهالةٍ

وَإِلّا فَعجز ظاهر في ذَوي العتبِ

A man's reproaching time is pure ignorance,

Or else plain impotence in those who reproach.

وَما الدَهر إِلّا ساعَةٌ بَعدَ ساعَةٍ

تَمُرُّ بِلا سَمع لَدَيها وَلا لُبِّ

And time is nothing but hour after hour,

Passing, possessed of neither hearing nor sense.

ألا إِنَّما الأَقدار تَجري بِأَمر مَن

لَهُ الأَمرُ في مُستسهل الأَمر وَالصَعبِ

Indeed, destinies move only at the command of Him

To whom belongs command over matters easy and hard.

عَذيري بِما فاه اليراع فَإِنَّني

وَضَعتُ هَناء القَول في مَوضع النقبِ

Excuse me for what the reed pen has uttered, for I

Have applied the tar of words to the place of mange.

عَفا اللَه عَمَّن قَد عَفت بَعدَ بُعدِهم

دِيارٌ وَعَفو اللَهِ يُرجى بِلا ذَنبِ

May God pardon those after whose departure were effaced

The dwellings; God's pardon is hoped for even without sin.