إن على رمل العقيق خيما — Sharif Al Murtaza

إنّ على رَمْلِ العقيق خِيَما

زوّدني مَنْ حلّهنَّ السَّقَما

Indeed, upon the sands of al-ʿAqīq stand tents.

The one who dwelt in them provisioned me with sickness.

بِنّا فما نأمل من لقائِنا

ذاتَ الثّنايا الغُرِّ إلّا الحُلُما

We parted; we hope for no meeting

with her of gleaming teeth except in dreams.

أَهوى وإِن كان لنا تعلَّةً

طيفاً يوافي منكم مسلِّما

I love, though it is but a consolation to us,

a phantom that comes from you bearing greetings.

يبذل لِي من بعد أن ضَنَّ به

وشافعي النومُ العِذارَ والفما

It offers me, after withholding them,

with sleep my intercessor, the cheek and mouth.

وجاد حِلّاً والدُّجى شعارُنا

بنائلٍ لو كان صبحاً حَرَما

It gave lawfully, with darkness our close-worn cloak,

a gift it would have forbidden had it been morning.

حُبَّ بها إِلْمَامةً مأمونةً

وزَوْرَةً يُزيحُ فيها التُّهما

How lovely a brief visit, safe from harm,

and a visitation in which it dispels suspicion!

وجَدْتُ فيها كلّما أحببتُه

لكنَّ وجداناً يضاهي العَدَما

In it I found all that I loved,

yet it was a finding akin to nothingness.

ما علمتْ نفسي بماذا حُبِيَتْ

ولا الّذي جاد عليها عَلِما

My soul did not know what it had been given,

nor did the one who bestowed it upon my soul know.

عجبتِ يا ظَمْياءُ من شيبٍ غدا

مُنتَشِراً في مَفْرَقي مبتسما

You marveled, O Ẓamyāʾ, at gray hair grown

widespread along my hair-parting, smiling.

لو كان لي حكمٌ يُطاعُ أمرُهُ

حميتُ منه لمّتي واللِّمَما

Had I authority whose command was obeyed,

I would have shielded my locks and tresses from it.

تَهوَيْنَ عن بيضٍ برأسي سُودَه

وعن صباحٍ في العِذارِ الظّلَما

You prefer my head's black hairs to its white,

and darkness to the dawn upon my cheek.

قَليْتِ ظلماً كالثَّغامِ لونُهُ

ولونُ ما تبغين يحكي الفحما

Unjustly you loathed it, white as thughām,

and the color you desire resembles coal.

صِبغُ الدّجى أبعدُ عن فاحشةٍ

ولم يزلْ صبغُ الدُّجى متّهما

The hue of darkness is farther from indecency,

yet the hue of darkness has always been suspected.

مَنْ عاش لم تجنِ عليه نُوَبٌ

شابتْ نواحي رأسه أم هرما

Who has lived without calamities assailing him,

whether his temples grayed or he grew old?

أَما تَرى صاحِ اِلتِماعَ بارقٍ

طالعني وميضُهُ من الحِمى

Do you not see, friend, a flash of lightning,

whose gleam greeted me from the protected pasture?

مُعَصْفَرَ الأرْفاغِ مَوْشِيَّ المَطا

مضرَّجاً إمّا دماً أو عَنْدَما

Its flanks safflower-dyed, its back embroidered,

stained either with blood or with red dye.

لَولا اِختِلاسي في الدّجى لوَمْضِهِ

رأيت منه في صُحارٍ إِضَما

Had I not stolen glimpses of its flash in darkness,

I would have seen Iḍam in Ṣuḥār by its light.

لم أدرِ ما جَدواهُ إلّا أنّه

أذكرني إلمامُهُ ذاتَ اللَّمى

I knew not what benefit it brought, except that

its passing visit recalled her of dusky lips.

عجبتُ من سهمٍ له أقْصَدَني

ولم يَسِلْ لي مقتلٌ منه دما

I marveled at an arrow of its that struck me dead,

yet no vital spot of mine bled from it.

وَعاج مَن أودى الهَوى فؤادَه

بحبّها يعجب ممّن سَلِما

And one whose heart passion had destroyed turned aside,

through love of her, marveling at whoever escaped.

قلْ لبني الحارث خلّوا نَعَمي

فلستُمُ ممّنْ يَشُلّ النّعَما

Tell Banū al-Ḥārith: leave my herds alone;

for you are not among those who drive off herds.

يشلّها كلُّ غلامٍ مُنْتَمٍ

يوم الوغى إلى القنا إنِ اِنتمى

Each youth who claims descent drives them off,

on battle day, to the spears—if he claims descent.

تراه إنْ خِيف الرّدى ضلالةً

صَبّاً بأسبابِ الرّدى متيّما

You see him, when death is feared in folly,

love-struck and enthralled by the means of death.

كتمتُمُ البغضاءَ دهراً بيننا

فالآن قد شاع الّذي تكتّما

Long you concealed the hatred between us;

now what lay concealed has spread abroad.

وخلتمونا شحمةً منبوذَةً

يأخذها مَن شاءَها ملتقما

You thought us a discarded lump of fat,

which anyone who wanted it could take and swallow.

لو كنتُمُ باعدتُمُ شِرارَكمْ

عن يابس العَرْفَجِ ما تضرّما

Had you kept your wicked men

away from dry ʿarfaj, it would not have blazed.

وطالما كنّا وأنتُمْ نُكَّصٌ

نَجْبَهُ إِمّا عاملاً أو لَهْذَما

How often, while you drew back, we

met spearpoint or keen blade head-on.

ضاغمتمونا جَهْلَةً وإنّما

ضاغمتُمُ مَن كان منكمْ أضغما

You traded bites with us in ignorance; yet you only

traded bites with those fiercer of bite than you.

وإنّما طُلتمْ بما جُدْنا به

ولم نَذَرْه عندنا مخيِّما

You rose in stature only through what we bestowed

and did not leave encamped in our keeping.

فعاد ما صُلتم به وطُلْتمُ

قد رَثَّ أو أخلَقَ أو تهدّما

Thus what gave you might and stature has become

tattered, worn out, or fallen into ruin.

فَما الّذي أطعمكمْ ولم تكنْ

أهلاً لأطماعكمُ وما رَمَى

What was it that fed you, though you were not

worthy of your cravings—and at what did it aim?

تركتُمُ أعراضَكمْ مبذولةً

وصُنتمُ دينارَكمْ والدِّرهما

You left your honor exposed,

but guarded your dinar and dirham.

وقلتمُ إنّ النِّجارَ واحدٌ

كم من أديمٍ فاق فضلاً أُدُما

You said, 'We are of the same stock';

how many a hide surpasses other hides in worth!

في كلّ يومٍ ليَ منكم صاحبٌ

أضاء في وداده وأظلما

Each day I have among you a companion

whose affection shines and then grows dark.

أقسَمَ أنْ يَفْضُلني وطالما

في مفخرٍ أحنثتُ منه قسما

He swore to surpass me, though often

in matters of glory I have proved his oath false.

وذو اِعوجاجٍ كلّما محّصني

صادفَ منّي صاحباً مقوِّما

And a crooked man, whenever he tested me,

found in me a companion who set him straight.

فإنْ فخرتمْ بذوي تنعّمٍ

فقومُنا لم يعرفوا التَّنَعّما

If you boast of men of luxury,

our people never knew luxury.

باتوا قياماً في الدّجى وبِتُّمُ

من بعد سوْآتٍ مضين نُوَّما

They stood through the night in darkness, while you

slept after shameful deeds had passed.

ولم يكونوا في ضُحىً وأنتُمُ

في كِظَّةِ الإكثارِ إلّا صُوَّما

And at forenoon they were—while you

were bloated with excess—nothing but fasting men.

لا تَأمنوا اللّيثَ على إطْراقِهِ

قد يعزم اللّيثُ إذا ما أرزما

Do not trust the lion because his head is bowed;

the lion may resolve to act when he growls low.

وحاذروا عازمَ قومٍ آده

فوتُ المُنى ففاعلٌ من عزما

Beware a people's resolute man, burdened

by frustrated hopes: whoever resolves will act.

إلى متى أنتَ على سَمْتِ الأذى

تَكظِم داءً قد أبى أنْ يُكظَما

How long will you stay upon the path of harm,

suppressing an ailment that refuses suppression?

هل نِلتَ إنْ نِلْتَ الأمانِيَّ الّتي

تَروم إلّا مَشرباً أو مطعما

Have you gained, if you gain the wishes that

you seek, anything but drink or food?

إنّا مقيمون بدار ذلّةٍ

نُسقى بها في كلِّ يومٍ علْقما

We dwell in an abode of humiliation,

where daily we are given colocynth to drink.

ومُهْمَلون لا يُجازى محسنٌ

ولا يَخاف جرمَه من أجرما

Neglected, where no doer of good is rewarded,

and no wrongdoer feels fear for his crime.

نَهْضاً إلى العزّ فمن عاف القَذى

ولم يَهبْ وِرْدَ الحِمام أقدما

Rise toward honor! Whoever loathes tainted water

and does not fear death's watering-place advances.

كأنّني بهنّ أعجاز السُّرى

يلُكْن عن لَوْكِ العَلِيق اللُّجُما

I seem to see them at the end of the night-march,

chewing bridles instead of chewing fodder.

يخبطن غِبَّ الضّرب والطّعنِ وقد

سَئِمْنَ إمّا لِمَّةً أو أعظما

They trample after blows and spear-thrusts, now

weary of locks of hair or bones.

وَفَوقهنّ كلّ مرهوبِ الشّذا

إِذا همَى اِنهلّ وإن زاد طما

Upon them rides each man of dreaded fierceness:

when he rains, he pours; if he swells, he overflows.

مِن مَعشرٍ إنْ حاربوا أو غالبوا

لم يعرفوا مَلالةً أو سَأَما

From a people who, whether fighting or contending,

have never known weariness or tedium.

أَهِلَّةُ النّادي وآسادٌ إذا

كان القنا في الرَّوْع منهم أَجَما

Crescent moons in council, and lions when

their spears become thickets in battle's terror.

هُمْ طَردوا الإِمْلاقَ عن دِيارهمْ

وأمطروا في المُعتَفين النِّعَما

They drove poverty from their dwellings,

and showered blessings on those seeking gifts.

دَعْ شَجرَ القاعِ لمن يَخبِطُهُ

يَخْبِطُ إمّا نَشَماً أو سَلَمَا

Leave the plain's trees to whoever beats their branches;

he beats either nasham or salam trees.

فَما الفتى كلُّ الفتى إلّا اِمرُؤٌ

زمَّ خياشِيمَ الهوى أو خطما

The true man, the man in full, is only one

who reins desire's nostrils or puts a halter on it.

والرّزق يأتيك ولم تبسط له

كفّاً ولم تَسْعَ إليه قدما

And sustenance comes to you though you have stretched out no

hand for it, nor moved a foot toward it.

لا نزل الرّزقُ على مستمطرٍ

لِرزقه من المخازي دِيَما

May sustenance never fall upon one who calls down,

for his livelihood, steady showers of disgrace.

ولا ثوى اليُسْرُ بدارِ باخلٍ

متى يُسَلْ بذل اليَسارِ جَمْجَما

Nor may prosperity dwell in a miser's house,

who mutters evasively whenever asked to give of his wealth.

ولا رعى اللَّهُ أخا مَكْرُمَةٍ

أوسعها من بعد فوْتٍ نَدَما

Nor may God protect the doer of a noble deed

who heaps regret upon it once it has passed.