تزاورن عن أذرعات يمينا — Sardar

تَزاوَرن عن أذْرِعات يمينا

نواشزَ ليس يُطِعنَ البُرِينا

They veered rightward away from Adhri'at,

defiant, refusing to obey their nose-rings.

كَلِفنَ بنجدٍ كأَّن الرياضَ

أخذنَ لنجدٍ عليها يمينا

Enamored of Najd, as though the meadows

had bound them by an oath to Najd.

وأقسمن يحملنَ إلا نحيلا

إليه ويُبلغنَ إلا حزينا

They swore to carry none but a wasted lover

there, and bring none but a sorrowful man.

ولما استمعن زفيرَ المشوق

ونوحَ الحمام تركنَ الحنينا

When they heard the lovelorn man's sighing

and the doves' lament, they abandoned their yearning moans.

إذا جئتما بانة الواديين

فأرخوا النسوع وحُلّوا الوضينا

When you two reach the ben-tree of the two valleys,

slacken the straps and loosen the woven girth.

فثَمَّ علائقُ من أجلِهنَّ

مُلاءُ الضحى والدجى قد طُوينا

There are beloved attachments there, for whose sake

the sheets of morning light and darkness have been folded.

وقد أَنبأتْهم مياهُ الجفو

ن أنّ بقلبك داءً دفينا

The waters of your eyelids have already told them

that a hidden sickness dwells in your heart.

لعلَّ تمائمَ ذاك الغزال

تُداوِى وَلوعا وتَشفِى جنونا

Perhaps the amulets of that gazelle

will cure a lovesick man and heal madness.

لقد شبَّ بينَى هذا الغرامُ

وما بين قومِك حَربا زَبونا

This passion has indeed kindled, between me

and your people, a fierce, grinding war.

تُراهم يظنّون لما أغرتُ

بلحظى عليهنّ أ قد سُبينا

Do you think they suppose, when I raided

them with my gaze, ‘Have we been taken captive?’

وماذا على مُسلِفٍ في الظبِاء

أُلطَّ به فتقاضَى الديونا

What blame falls on one who lent to gazelles,

then, denied repayment, demanded his debts?

تلوم على شغَفى بالقدود

فهبْنَى وَرْقاءَ تهوَى الغصونا

You blame my passion for slender figures;

then take me for a gray dove that loves the boughs.

سواءٌ نشيِدي بهنّ النسيب

وترجيعُها بينهنَّ اللُّحونا

My singing love-verses among them is the same

as her warbling melodies among the boughs.

أَلا لُحِىَ الحسنُ من باخلٍ

أبىَ أن يصاحبَ إلا ضنينا

Ah, a curse on beauty—what a miser,

refusing any companion but a miser!

وإنّ وَلوعى بأهل الحمى

يخيِّل لي كلَّ سِربٍ قَطينا

Indeed, my infatuation with the people of the sanctuary

makes every herd seem a resident clan to me.

أينشُدُ رُعيانُهم أن أضلّوا

بعيرا ولا أنشُد الظاعنينا

Do their shepherds search when they have lost

a camel, while I may not seek those departing?

وفي السِّربِ أَحوَى إذا ما استرابَ

بقَنَّاصِه أمَّ دارا شَطونا

Among the herd is a dusky gazelle who, if he suspects

his hunter, makes for a distant dwelling.

ظِللتُ أكُرّ عليه الرُّقَى

وتأبَى عريكتُه أن تلينا

I kept repeating charms over him,

but his nature refuses to soften.

يصون محاسنَه بالصدو

دِ إذ ليس يلقَى عليها أمينا

He guards his charms by turning away,

since he finds no trustworthy guardian for them.

ودون البراقعِ مكحولةٌ

تعلِّم طبعَ السهام القُيونا

Behind the veils is a kohl-darkened eye

that teaches smiths how to forge arrows.

وما كنتُ أعلم من قبله

نّ أن الأسنّة تُسَمى عيونا

Before them, I had never known

that spearheads could be called eyes.

صوارمُ تَنهَزُ فتقَ الجِراح

وما خُلقتْ للضِّراب الجفونا

Blades that strike at gaping wounds—

yet eyelids were never made for swordplay.

نوَدُّ النحورَ ونهوىَ الثغورَ

ونعلمَ أنّا نحبُّ المنونا

We cherish throats and love mouths,

knowing that we love death itself.

أقِلْنى من الوُخَّد الراسما

تِ أكْفكِ من حيّهم أن يَبينا

Release me from the swift, steady-striding camels;

I shall spare you their clan's departure.

ألسنَ اللواتى هَززن الحدُو

جَ هزًّا يُطاير عنها العُهونا

Are they not the ones that shook the howdahs

so hard their woolen tassels flew?

فكلُّ فنيقٍ ببطن العقيق

من الضُّمْر قد أخدَجَتْه جنينا

Every pampered bull-camel in al-'Aqiq's valley—

those lean she-camels have cast him forth, a premature fetus.

عدِمتُ فتىً عند نقع الصري

خ يُقعى على أسْكَتَيه بطينا

May I be rid of a youth who, when the cry for help rises,

squats on his buttocks, potbellied.

يعدُّ المفاخرَ والمكرما

تِ طرفا كحيلا ورأسا دهينا

He reckons glories and noble deeds

to be a kohl-darkened eye and an oiled head.

فهل لكَ في بسط أيدى المط

ىِّ تَطوى المهامهَ بِيناً فبِينا

Would you care to let the mounts' forelegs stretch,

folding up deserts, tract after tract?

إذا ما صُبغَن بَورِس الهجي

ر حمرا تَجلَّيَن بالليل جُونا

When midday's yellow dye has colored them

red, by night they appear black.

فشبَّهنَ لُجَّ السَّرابِ البحورَ

وشبَّهنَّ السرابُ السفينا

They make the mirage's expanse resemble seas,

and the mirage makes them resemble ships.

وما تستطيلُ المدى أينُقٌ

بحمدِ جَمال الورى قد حُدينا

No distance seems long to she-camels

driven on by praise of the Beauty of Mankind.

وجدنا لديه ربيعَ الثنا

ء غضًّا وماءَ المعالى مَعينا

In his presence we found the springtime of praise

fresh, and the flowing water of high honors.

تبوَّأ في المجد بُحبوحةً

على مثلها يكَمد الحاسدونا

He has settled in the very heart of glory,

a place whose like makes the envious pine.

ينادى النجاحُ بأبوابه

ألا نِعمْ ما قَرَع الطارقونا

Success proclaims at his gates:

‘How excellent the door these visitors have knocked upon!’

وتحسبُ من بأسه والبها

ءِ مجلسَه فَلَكا أو عرينا

From his might and splendor you would think

his assembly a celestial sphere or a lion's den.

لكل مَبَزٍّ به سجدةٌ

تسابق فيه الشفاهُ الجبينا

Every champion there makes a prostration,

his lips racing his forehead to the ground.

مقامٌ تخَاذَلُ من هوله

خُطَى القوم حتى تراهم صُفُونا

A station whose terror makes

men's steps falter, till you see them standing motionless.

طغتْ يدُه وعلَتْ في السما

حِ حتّى ذممنا السحابَ الهتونا

His hand has overflowed and risen in generosity

until we found fault with the pouring clouds.

إذا ما ادّعت صوبَهُ المعصرا

تُ ردَّت عليهنّ غُبْر السنينا

When the rainclouds claim his downpour,

the dust-gray years of drought refute them.

أيحكى بوارقُها والقِطا

رُ للعين عسجدَه والرَّقينا

Can their lightning and rainfall

mirror to the eye his gold and silver?

وما النارُ من ذَهب المجتدين

وما الماءُ من فِضَّة الراغبينا

Fire is nothing beside the suppliants' gold,

nor water beside the seekers' silver.

أفي دِية البخلِ لمَّا أماتَ

يؤدّى الألوفَ ويُعطى المئينا

Is it blood-money for Avarice, whom he slew,

that he pays out thousands and gives hundreds?

بما شئتَ يسخو ولولا الحيا

ءُ من مجده قسَّم المجدَ فينا

He lavishes whatever you wish; were it not for shame

before his own glory, he would divide glory among us.

ويأبَى على سرَف الطالبي

نَ ألاّ يُصدِّق فيه الظنونا

Despite the petitioners' excess, he refuses

to leave their expectations of him unfulfilled.

ومن يستدلُّ على المكرمات

يُمِرّ من الشكر حبلا متينا

Whoever seeks the way to noble deeds

twists a sturdy rope of gratitude.

وما زال يَكذِبُ وعدُ المنى

إلى أن أقامت يداه ضمينا

The promise of wishes kept proving false

until his hands provided a guarantor.

وقد غَمزت عُودَه النائباتُ

فلم تجد الضارعَ المستكينا

Calamities have tested his timber,

but found no meek, submissive man.

وإن زعزعتْه فإن القنا

ةَ للطعن زعزعها الطاعنونا

Though they shook him, a spear-shaft

is shaken by its wielders for the thrust.

سرى عزمه والكرى خمرة

يُدير زجاجتَها الهاجعونا

His resolve traveled by night, while slumber was wine

whose flask the sleepers passed around.

فبات على صهواتِ الخطو

ب أقنَى يقلِّب طَرْفا شَفونا

He spent the night astride the backs of hardships,

aquiline-nosed, turning a keen, watchful eye.

إذا ما ارتقى ظنُّه مرباً

من الغيب أوحَى إليه اليقينا

When his conjecture climbs to a lookout

over the unseen, it reveals certainty to him.

وأفوهَ طارده بالجدال

فخرّ بغير العوالى طعينا

He pursued an eloquent man in debate,

who fell pierced, without any tall spears.

وكم خُطّة أَفردتهُ الرجا

لُ فيها وولت شَعاعا عِضينا

How many a crisis men left him alone

to face, fleeing in scattered, broken bands!

أضاء بحِندسِها رأيُه

وكان له الله فيها مُعينا

His judgment shone through its pitch darkness,

and God was his helper in it.

ففي كلّ يومٍ يُوافى البشيرُ

بفتحٍ مبينٍ يُقرُّ العيونا

Each day a herald arrives

with a clear victory that delights the eyes.

رَمى أهلَ بابلَ في سِحرهم

برقشاءَ تلقَفُ ما يأفِكونا

He struck the people of Babylon amid their sorcery

with a speckled serpent swallowing their fabrications.

ألم تعلموا أنَّ في أفقهِ

سحائبَ أمطارُها الدارعونا

Did you not know that on his horizon

are clouds whose rain is mail-clad warriors?

وفتيانَ صدقٍ تكون السهامُ

طليعتَهم والسيوفُ الكمينا

And trusty young warriors whose arrows serve

as their vanguard, and whose swords are the ambush?

وجُرْدا إذا وَجِيَتْ بالبطا

ح أحذَى سنابكَهن الوَجينا

And sleek horses: when the flats bruise their feet,

he shoes their hooves with hard ground itself.

فيوما لنُعمَى تَلُسّ الغَميرَ

ويوما لبؤسَى تسُفُّ الدَّرينا

One day, in ease, they nibble fresh undergrowth;

another, in hardship, they crop dry herbage.

جرتْ سُنحُا بنواصى العراق

فأحجم عن زجرها العائفونا

They coursed as auspicious omens along Iraq's fringes,

and the bird-diviners shrank from checking them.

وحكَّتْ على واسطٍ بَركْهَا

بيومٍ عسير أشابَ القرونا

They ground their breast upon Wasit

on a grim day that turned locks gray,

تصبُّ على الفئةِ الناكثين

لعهدك سوطَ عذابٍ مُهينا

pouring upon the band that broke

your covenant a scourge of humiliating torment.

فتلك جماجمُهم في الصعي

د تتَّخِذ الطيرُ فيها وُكونا

There lie their skulls upon the ground,

where birds make nests.

مَرَى ابنُ فَسنجُسَ من خِلْفها

زُعافا وما كلُّ خِلْف لَبونا

Ibn Fasanjus drew from its teat

deadly poison—not every teat yields milk.

فطار على قادماتِ الفِرار

جريضاً وكان فِرارا حَرونا

He flew on the flight-feathers of escape,

choking with anguish, though once reluctant to flee.

زجَتْه إليك أكفُّ القضاءِ

وتأتي بأقدامها الحائنونا

The hands of fate drove him toward you,

and the doomed come on their own feet.

وفي دار بَكْرٍ لها رجفةٌ

أزالت صياصِيَها والحصونا

In Dar Bakr they raised a tremor

that tore away its strongholds and fortresses,

غداةَ زحمَت بها عامرا

تخوصُ قبائلَها والبُطونا

the morning you pressed against 'Amir with them,

plunging through its tribes and clans.

لها غُرَوٌ إن رآها العد

وّ لم ير أكفالَها والمتُونا

They have this marvel: when the enemy sees them,

he never sees their rumps or backs.

قضت من عُبَادَةَ أوطاَرها

وحكَّمت البيض حتى رضينا

They took their fill of 'Ubada,

and let the bright blades judge until they were satisfied.

وما تركت للموالى حِمى

ولا العقائل خِدرا مصونا

They left the retainers no protected ground,

nor noblewomen a sheltered chamber.

فتلك عقيلٌ عقيلُ الفِرا

ر تُحْرش بالدوّ ضبًّا مَكونا

There is 'Uqayl—'Uqayl of flight—

luring an egg-laden lizard out in the wilderness.

جعلتَ من الخواف أفراسَها

كأقتادِها والفيافى سُجونا

Through fear you have made their horses

like their saddle-frames, and the deserts prisons.

ووافت بنو أسَدٍ كالأسود

تخُطُّ الرماح عليها عَرينا

The sons of Asad came like lions,

with spears marking out a lion's den around them.

فدع فُرصة الثأر ممطولةً

لذنبٍ أقرّ به المذنبونا

Leave the chance for vengeance deferred,

for a sin its sinners have confessed.

أليس طُليْحةُ من عِصيهم

أراغ النبوّة في الناس حينا

Was not Tulayha one of their branches,

who once sought prophethood among men?

فلما نَمَى الدينَ أشبالُه

أناب وأطلقَ تلك الفنونا

Then, when its lion-cubs had made the faith grow,

he repented and abandoned those practices.

ولاقت به الفُرسُ أمَّ اللُّهَي

م وأْدَ البناتِ وذبحَ البنينا

Through him the Persians met Umm al-Luhaym—

the live burial of daughters and slaughter of sons.

ولا بدَّ للشام من نطحة

تُحذِّر زمزمُ منها الحَجونا

Syria too must face a butting blow

of which Zamzam will warn al-Hajun.

وأخرَى لمصرَ تَخُطُّ الرّوا

ةُ في الرقِّ منها الحديثَ الشُّجونا

And Egypt another, from which narrators will write

on parchment a tale full of sorrows.

جعلتَ الخلافةَ في عصرنا

تُفاخر مأمونَها والأمينا

You have made the caliphate in our age

vie in glory with its al-Ma'mun and al-Amin.

وجاهدتَ فيها جِهادَ امرىء

له جمعَ الله دينا ودِينا

Within it you have striven like a man

for whom God has joined obligation and faith.

إذا ما سلكتَ بها منهجا

وثبتَ الجبالَ وجُبت الحُزونا

Whenever you lead it along a path,

you vault the mountains and traverse the rugged ground.

بسطتَ لعَمرك كفَّ الزما

ن يُحصى الليالي ويُفنى القرونا

You have stretched Time's hand out for your lifetime;

it counts the nights and consumes generations.

ولا برِحتْ ألسنُ المكرما

ت تُغْنِيك عن ألسن المادحينا

May the tongues of noble deeds never cease

to spare you the tongues of panegyrists.

دعاءٌ إذا سمِعْته العُدا

ةُ قالت على الكره منها أمينا

A prayer that, when your enemies hear it,

they say, against their will, ‘Amen.’