ألكم إلى رد الشباب سبيل — Sardar

أَلَكم إلى ردِّ الشباب سبيلُ

أم عندكم لمشيبه تأويلُ

Have you a way to restore youth,

or an explanation for its graying?

نُورٌ من الشعَراتِ ليتَ افولَه

فيها طلوعٌ والطلوعَ أفولُ

A light among the hairs—would that its setting

within them were a rising, and its rising a setting.

ما كان يشفع لى فجدَّد هِجرةً

فِقدانُهُ لكنّه تعليلُ

What once interceded for me—estrangement was renewed by

its loss; yet this is only an excuse.

يا ليته جَنَبَ الغرامَ وراءه

فيقالَ لا غِرٌّ ولا معذولُ

Would that it had led love away behind it,

so one might say: neither naive nor reproached.

ها تلك أشجانى كما خلَّفتها

لعبَ الزمانُ بها وليس تحولُ

Behold my sorrows, just as I left them;

Time has played with them, yet they do not change.

يقتادُنى البرقُ اليمانِ كأنه

من عند إيماضِ الثغور رسولُ

Yemeni lightning leads me on, as though it were

a messenger from the flash of smiling mouths.

وكأَنَّ قلبي والمهامهُ بيننا

جىٌّ على وادى العِضاهِ حُلولُ

And my heart, with wastelands between us, seems

a tribe encamped in the valley of thorn trees.

تُفتِى براقِعُهم وما استفتيتُها

أنّ اللِّحاظَ إذا اختُلسنَ غُلولُ

Their veils issue a ruling, though I never sought one:

glances, when stolen, are illicit plunder.

اُنظر خليلى من قَرَارٍ هل ترى

قَطَنا فطَرفُ العامرىِّ كليلُ

Look, my two friends, from Qarar: do you see

Qatan? Al-'Amiri's sight is dim.

وحلفتُ ما بَصِرى بأصدقَ منكما

نظرا ولكنَّ الغرامَ دليلُ

And I swore: my sight is no truer than yours

in seeing, but love is a guide.

قالوا الديارُ وقد وقفت فزدانى

بثًّا رسومٌ رثَّةٌ وطلولُ

They said, 'The dwellings!' I halted, and they increased

my sorrow—worn-out traces and ruins.

ونَشِقتُ خفّاقَ النسيم فما شفا

دائى وهل يشفِى العليلَ عليلُ

And I inhaled the fluttering breeze, yet it did not heal

my illness; can the ailing heal the ailing?

وكَرعتُ سَلسالَ الغدير وليس ما

بُلّ الشفاهُ به يُبَلُّ غليلُ

And I drank the pool's sweet-flowing water; yet what

moistens the lips does not quench burning thirst.

يا ضالة الوادى أَحُثّ مطيَّتى

أم عند ظبِيِك في الكناسِ مَقيلُ

O wild lote tree of the valley, shall I spur my mount,

or find noonday rest beside your gazelle in its lair?

عيناه أسلمُ لي ويُعجِبُ ناظرى

مُقَلُ كأن لحاظَهنُّ نُصولُ

Its eyes are safer for me, yet my gaze delights in

eyes whose glances seem arrowheads.

مُقَلٌ لغِزلانِ الحِجازِ وسِحرُها

من بابلٍ مستجلَبٌ منقولُ

Eyes of the gazelles of the Hijaz; their magic

is imported, brought from Babylon.

ولقد طرقتُ البيتَ يُكره ربُّه

والشوقُ ليس يَعيبه التطفيلُ

I visited the house by night, its master unwilling;

and longing is not shamed by coming uninvited.

أيظُنُّ من عَقَر النجائبَ قومُه

أ الدماءَ جميعَها مطلولُ

Does he whose people hamstrung noble camels suppose

that all blood may be shed without redress?

من دون سفكِ مدامعى ما شئت من

حِلْم ودون دمىِ تغولك غولُ

Short of spilling my tears, take all you wish of

forbearance; before you reach my blood, a ghoul will destroy you.

وأنا امرؤٌ لو مُدَّ من غُلوَائه

نطقى لقيل كلامُه تنزيلُ

And I am a man: were it extended in its fervor,

my speech would be called revelation.

لا يطمع العظماءُ في مدحى ولا

طمَعى على أبوابهم معقولُ

The mighty have no hope of my praise, nor

is my ambition tethered at their doors.

ولو استطعتُ لما اغتبقتُ بشَربةٍ

مما يَمُدُّ فُراتُهم والنيلُ

And if I could, I would not take an evening draught

of what their Euphrates and Nile provide.

وإذا تأملتُ الرجالَ تفاوتت

قِيَما وميَّز بينها التحصيلُ

And when I reflect on men, they differ

in worth, and scrutiny distinguishes between them.

بعضٌ همُ غُرر الجيادِ وبعضُهم

بين السنابك والصِّفاقِ حُجولُ

Some are the blazes on noble horses, while others

are white leg-markings between hooves and belly.

مِثل الِّحُلى دمالجٌ وخلاخلٌ

منه ومنه التاجُ والإكليلُ

Like jewelry: armlets and anklets

are among it, as are the crown and diadem.

لولاهُمُ غرَبتْ شموسُ محاسنٍ

وهوَى ببدر المكرمَات أُفُولُ

Without them, suns of excellence would have set,

and setting would have cast down the full moon of noble deeds.

تبًّا لهذا الدهر لا مِيزانُه

قِسْطٌ ولا في قَسمه تعديلُ

A curse upon this age! Its scales are not

just, nor is its allotment fair.

جَوْرٌ يساوى عالما متعالمٌ

فيه ويُشبِهُ فاضلا مفضولُ

Injustice: a pretender to learning equals a scholar

in it, and an inferior resembles a man of merit.

لا درَّ دَرُّ المرء يقطعُ دهرَه

رِخوَ الإزارِ وعزمُه مفلولُ

No blessing upon the man who spends his life

slack-girdled, his resolve blunted.

الَبيدُ تزرعُها المناسمُ وهي لا

تدرى أعرضُ شَوطُها أم طولُ

The deserts are sown by camel pads, which do not

know whether their course spans breadth or length.

واليَعْمَلاتُ سياطُها وحذاؤها

نسبٌ نماه شَدقُم وجديلُ

And the swift she-camels have, for whips and shoes,

a lineage nurtured by Shadqum and Jadil.

فإذا كمالُ الملكِ سَحّ سحابُهُ

نبتَ الرجاءُ وأثمر المأمولُ

Then, when Kamal al-Mulk's cloud pours down,

hope sprouts and the hoped-for bears fruit.

سبقت مواهبُه المديحَ فظنَّ مَن

عجِلتْ إليه أنها بِرطيلُ

His gifts preceded the praise, so their recipient thought,

as they hastened to him, that they were a bribe.

عجِلٌ إلى المعروف يَحسبَ أنه

ظلٌّ إذا لم يغتنمه يزول

Swift to do good, he thinks it is

a shade that vanishes if he fails to seize it.

كثُر الكلامُ به وفي أمثالهم

من قبله أ الكرام قليلُ

Much is said of him, and in their proverbs

before his time: 'The noble are few.'

وإذا جرى في غايةٍ شهِدت له

أن لا مخلِّقَ في مَداه رسيلُ

And when he races toward a goal, it bears witness for him

that no swift runner on his course is his equal.

ضلَّتْ ركائبُ من يؤمُّ طريقَه

إنّ العلاءَ سبيلهُ مجهولُ

The mounts of those who seek his path go astray;

indeed, the road to eminence is unknown.

يتوارث المجدَ التليدَ بمعشر

أدنَتْ فروعَهمُ إليه أُصولُ

He inherits ancestral glory among a clan

whose roots have brought their branches close to him.

جازوا على عَنَت الحسودِ فلم يجد

عيبا وماذا في النجوم يقولُ

They passed through the envious man's malice, yet he found

no fault—what could he say against the stars?

لهمُ إذا كرمُ الطباعِ هززْتَهُ

نصلٌ وأنت الرونقُ المحلولُ

When you brandish nobility of character, they have

a blade, and you are its unveiled luster.

وإذا انتهى نسبٌ إليك فإنه

فَلَقُ الصباح مع الضُّحى موصولُ

And when a lineage reaches you, it is

daybreak joined to the forenoon's light.

ولقد شددتَ وَثَاقَ كلِّ مُلَّمةٍ

يُلوَى عليها مُبَرمٌ وسحيلُ

You have tightened the bonds of every calamity;

plied and single-strand cords are wound around it.

وحمَيت أوطانَ الأمور وإنما

كانت غماما بالدماء تسيلُ

And you guarded the domains of affairs, though they

were but clouds streaming with blood.

وإذا التقت حِلَقُ البِطان فإنما

يكفيك ثَمَّ رسالةٌ ورسولُ

And when the girth-rings meet, then

a letter and a messenger alone suffice you there.

بدلا من القُب العِتاق ضوامرٌ

رُقشُ المتونِ صريرُهن صهيلُ

In place of slim-bellied thoroughbreds are lean ones

with speckled backs, their squeaks a neigh.

يَنبُتنَ مثل الروض إلا أنّه

ترعاه أسماعٌ لنا وعقولُ

They grow like a garden, except that it

is grazed by our ears and minds.

ومن الصِّفاح البِيض كل صحيفةٍ

لنزاعها بالراحتين صليلُ

And in place of gleaming sword-blades, each sheet

rings when drawn out with both hands.

سحَبت لكَ الأيامُ ردائها

مَرَحا يدوم بقاؤه ويطولُ

May the days trail their robe for you

in joy whose life endures and lengthens.

وتتابعت حِججٌ يؤرِّخ عصرَها

عُمرٌ به خُلدُ الزمان كفيلُ

And may years follow one another, their era dated

by a lifetime for which Time's eternity stands surety.

ينتابك النوروز يجنُب إِثَرهُ

أعوامَ سعدٍ كلُّهن صقيلُ

Nowruz returns to you, leading in its wake

years of good fortune, all of them polished bright.

هو خطةٌ همَّ المُصيفُ بقصدها

شوقا ونادى بالشتاء رحيلُ

It is a realm that summer has resolved to seek

in longing, while departure calls to winter.

أخذ الربيعُ زمامه حتى استوى

في عارضيه نبتُه المطلولُ

Spring took its reins, until full-grown

upon its two cheeks was its dew-moistened growth.

بك أشرقت إيّامه فكأننا

في عصِر كِسرَى يَزْدَجِرْدَ نُزولُ

Through you its days have shone, as though we

were sojourners in the age of Kisra Yazdegerd.