ما كنت أول حافظ لمضيع — Sibt Ibn Altaawithy

ما كُنتُ أَوَّلَ حافِظٍ لِمُضَيَّعٍ

وَالغَدرُ مِن حَسناءَ غَيرُ بَديعِ

I was not the first to preserve what was neglected,

nor is treachery from a beauty anything new.

ماذا عَلى الأَيّامِ أَيّامِ الصِبى

لَو أَنَّها سَمَحَت لَنا بِرُجوعِ

What harm would it do the days—the days of youth—

if they allowed us to return?

وَعَلى اللَيالي لَو تَكُرُّ مُعيدَةً

ما فَرَّقَت مِن شَملِنا المَجموعِ

And the nights, if they returned, restoring

what they scattered of our gathered company?

وَعَلى شَموسٍ في الخُدورِ غَوارِبٍ

لَو أَذَّنَت بَعدَ النَوى بِطُلوعِ

And suns setting within curtained chambers,

if, after separation, they announced their rising?

لَم تَبكِ يَومَ فِراقِكُم عَيني دَماً

إِلا وَقَد نَزَحَ البُكاءُ دُموعي

My eye did not weep blood on the day you parted

until weeping had drained away my tears.

وَدَّعتُ عيسَهُمُ فَيا لِلَّهِ ما

صَنَعَت بِقَلبي ساعَةَ التَوديعِ

I bade farewell to their pale camels—by God, what

they did to my heart at the moment of farewell!

بانوا بِسَكرى اللَحظِ صاحٍ قَلبُها

مِمّا تُجِنُّ جَوانِحي وَضُلوعي

They departed with one drunk of gaze, her heart not intoxicated

by what my breast and ribs conceal.

لَحظٍ بِهِ يَدوى الصَحيحُ فَليتَها

أَبقَت عَلى قَلبٍ بِها مَصدوعِ

A glance that makes the healthy ill—would that she

had spared a heart shattered by her.

قالَت أَتَقنَعُ أَن أَزورَكَ في الكَرى

فَتَبيتَ في حُكمِ المَنامِ ضَجيعي

She said: Will you be content if I visit you in sleep,

and spend the night my bedfellow under dreaming's rule?

وَأَبيكَ ما سَمُحَت بِطَيفِ خَيالِها

إِلّا وَقَد مَلَكَت عَلَيَّ هُجوعي

By your father, she did not grant her phantom's visit

until she had already seized control of my slumber.

يا سَلمَ إِنَّ الحُبَّ أَسلَمَني إِلى

شُغلَينِ مِن وَجدٍ بِكُم وَوُلوعِ

O Salma, love has delivered me into

two preoccupations: longing for you and passionate devotion.

وَهَواكِ يا ذاتَ اللِما المَعسولِ غا

دَرَني أَبيتُ بِلَيلَةِ المَلسوعِ

And love of you, O lady of honeyed dark lips, has left

me spending the night like one stung.

يا قارِعاً بِالعَذلِ سَمعي بَعدَ ما

عَلِقَ الفُؤادُ دَعَوتَ غَيرَ سَميعِ

O you who hammer my hearing with rebuke, after

my heart became attached, you called to one who will not listen.

أَنا في الغَرامِ بِها وَمَجدُ الدينِ في

حُبِّ النَدى لِلعَذلِ غَيرَ مُطيعِ

I in my passion for her, and Majd al-Din in

his love of generosity, heed no reproach.

مَلِكٌ أَنافَ عَلى المُلوكِ بِسودَدٍ

عالٍ وَبيتٍ في الأَنامِ رَفيعِ

A king who towers above kings with a sovereignty

lofty, and a house exalted among mankind.

فَالعِزُّ تَحتَ رِواقِهِ المَرفوعِ وَال

تَأيِيدُ فَوقَ سَريرِهِ المَوضوعِ

For glory lies beneath his uplifted canopy, and

support above his throne set in place.

تَغنى بِهِ إِن شِمتَ بَرقَ سَمائِهِ

عَن كُلِّ خَلّابِ البُروقِ لَموعِ

Through him, if you glimpse his sky's lightning, you have no need

of any dazzling one whose lightning deceives.

أَموالُهُ نَهبُ العُفاةِ وَجارُهُ

في مُشمَخِرٍّ مِن سُطاهُ مَنيعِ

His wealth is plunder for petitioners, and his protected neighbor

is in a towering, impregnable stronghold of his might.

نيطَت أُمورُ المُلكِ مِن آرائِهِ

بِقَوٍ أَشَمِّ المَنكِبَينِ ضَليعِ

The kingdom's affairs were entrusted to one of his judgments,

strong, lofty-shouldered, and powerfully built.

رُدَّت إِلى تَدَبيرِهِ فَاِنتاشَها

مِن قَبضَةِ الإِهمالِ وَالتَضيِيعِ

They were handed to his governance, so he rescued them

from the grip of neglect and waste.

أَفضَت وَقَد نَزَلَت بِساحَتِهِ إِلى

صَدرٍ كَمُنخَرِقِ الفَضاءِ وَسيعِ

Having alighted in his courtyard, they came to

a breast wide as the open reaches of space.

كَم ذَبَّ عَنهُ مُصالِتاً كَيدَ العِدى

بِذُبابِ ما ضي الشَفرَتَينِ صَنيعِ

How often, sword drawn, he warded enemies' plots away from it

with the point of a well-wrought blade, keen on both edges.

مِن مَعشَرٍ لَهُمُ إِلى أَمَدِ العُلى

سَعيٌ يَفوقُ نَجاءَ كُلِّ سَريعِ

He is of a people whose advance toward glory's farthest goal

outstrips the speed of every swift runner.

غُرٌّ هُجانٌ كَالسُيوفِ أَعِزَّةٌ

ما هُيِّجوا لِمُلِمَّةٍ بِخُضوعِ

Bright-browed, pure-bred, like swords, proud and mighty,

never roused to face calamity in submission.

طارَت بِهِم في ذُروَةِ العَلياءِ وَال

أَحسابِ بَينَ مَشَقَّةٍ وَوُقوعِ

They were borne aloft to the summit of glory and

noble lineage, between hardship and falling.

وَسَموا جِباهَ الدَهرِ مِن أَيّامِهِم

بِجَميلِ آثارٍ وَحُسنِ صَنيعِ

They branded the brows of time, through their days,

with beautiful legacies and fine deeds.

بُعِثوا لَنا وَالجودُ قَد نُسِخَت شَرا

ئِعُهُ بِدينٍ في النَدى مَشروعِ

They were sent to us when generosity's laws had been abrogated,

with a faith ordained in bounty.

ما عَيبَ تالِدُهُم بِطارِفِهِم وَلا

خَجِلَت أُصولٌ مِنهُمُ بِفُروعِ

Their inherited glory was not disgraced by their newly won glory, nor

were their roots ashamed of their branches.

شُمُّ الأُنوفِ إِذا اِنتَدوا فَإِذا دُعوا

لِمُلِمَّةٍ نَهَضوا طِوالَ البوعِ

Proud of nose in council; then, when called

to calamity, they rise with long-reaching arms.

فَلّوا الأَسِنَّةِ وَالدُروعَ حَواسِراً

بِأَسِنَّةٍ مِن رَأيِهِم وَدُروعِ

They shattered spearheads and armor, bareheaded,

with the spearheads and armor of their judgment.

بِالصاحِبِ اِبنِ الصاحِبِ التَأَمَت وَما

كانَت بِطَبعِ الإِلتِيامِ ضُلوعي

Through al-Sahib, son of al-Sahib, they knit, although

my ribs were not naturally inclined to mend.

زالَت شِكاياتي بِهِ وَكَأَنَّني

أَنزَلتُها مِنهُ بِبَختيشوعِ

Through him my ailments vanished, as though I

had laid them before a Bakhtishu embodied in him.

وَعَلِقتُ مِنهُ بِحَبلِ مَرهوبِ السُطى

وَالبَأسِ ضَرّارِ اليَدَينِ نَفوعِ

And I clung to the rope of one feared for his assaults

and might, whose hands can greatly harm or help.

وَرَبَعتُ مِن مَعروفِهِ وَحِبائِهِ

في مُمرِعٍ خَضِلِ النَباتِ مَريعِ

And through his kindness and gifts, I encamped

in a fertile meadow of lush, abundant growth.

حَتّى غَدَت مُبيَضَّةً مُخضَرَّةً

بِنَدى يَديهِ مَطالِبي وَرُبوعي

Until they became white and green,

through the generous dew of his hands—my aims and my dwellings.

فَكَأَنَّما جاوَرَتَ مِن أَخلاقِهِ

تَيّارَ بَحرٍ أَو رِياضَ رَبيعٍ

So it is as though, in his character, you dwelt beside

a sea's surging current or the gardens of spring.

وَأَمِنتُ رائِعَةَ الخُطوبِ بِهِ وَجا

رُ مُؤَيِّدِ الإِسلامِ غَيرُ مَروعِ

Through him I was safe from calamities' terror; and the neighbor

of Mu'ayyid al-Islam has nothing to fear.

قارَعتُهُنَّ بِمُحسِنٍ لا تُحسِنُ ال

أَيّامُ أَن تَأتي لَهُ بِقَريعِ

I battled them with a benefactor whose peer the

days do not know how to bring forth.

ذي المَورِدِ المَشفوهِ تَحمَدُهُ إِذا

يَمَّمتَهُ وَالنائِلِ المَشفوعِ

Whose thronged watering-place you praise when

you seek it, and whose gifts are doubled.

يا مُنصِفي مِن جَورِ دَهرِ قاسِطٍ

وَأَجِلُّهُ مِن أَن أَقولَ شَفيعي

O you who grant me justice against an unjust age's wrongs,

and I hold him too high to call him my intercessor.

إِن أَقتَرَت كَفّي فَأَنتَ ذَخيرَتي

أَو أَجدَبَت أَرضي فَأَنتَ رَبيعي

If my hand grows poor, you are my reserve;

or if my land grows barren, you are my spring.

وَعِطاشُ آمالي وَهُنَّ حَوائِمٌ

لَولاكُمُ ما ذُقنَ يَومَ شُروعِ

And my thirsty hopes, hovering in circles,

but for you, would never have tasted a day of drinking.

سَمعاً أَبا الفَضلِ الجَوادَ لِشاعِرٍ

يُدلي إِلَيكَ بِشِعرِهِ المَطبوعِ

Give ear, generous Abu al-Fadl, to a poet

who proffers you his unforced verse.

وافاكَ مِنهُ بِدُرَّةٍ قَذفَت بِها

أَصدافُها مِن زاخِرٍ يَنبوعِ

He has brought you from it a pearl, cast forth

by its shells from a brimming wellspring.

مِثلِ العَروسِ يَفوحُ مِن أَردانِها

أَرَجٌ بِطيبِ ثَنائِكَ المَسموعِ

Like a bride, from whose sleeves there wafts

a fragrance sweet with the praise of you that is heard.

جاءَتكَ حالِيَةً تَرائِبُها مِنَ ال

تَجنيسِ وَالتَطبيقِ وَالتَرصيعِ

It came to you, its breast adorned with

wordplay, antithesis, and rhymed parallelism.

جَمَعَت عَفافَ حَسيبَةٍ في قَومِها

وَحَياءَ ناهِدَةٍ وَدَلَّ شَموعِ

It combines the chastity of a woman noble among her people,

and the modesty of a maiden with budding breasts and a playful woman's coquetry.

فَتَمَلَّ مُلكاً أَنتَ جامِعُ أَمرِهِ

في ظِلِّ شَملٍ بِالبَقاءِ جَميعِ

So long enjoy a kingdom whose affairs you unite,

in the shade of a union enduring and whole.

وَاِحكُم عَلى الدُنيا مُطاعَ الأَمرِ مُت

تَبَعَ المَراسِمِ نافِذَ التَوقيعِ

And rule the world, your command obeyed,

your decrees followed and your signature carrying force,

ما بَشَّرَت بِالخِصبِ أُمُّ بَوارِقٍ

تَفتَرُّ عَن واري الزِنادِ لَموعِ

as long as a mother of lightning-flashes heralds abundance,

smiling to reveal a bright flash whose fire-strikers blaze,

وَأَضاءَ بَدرٌ مِن سُجوفِ غَمامَةٍ

وَاِستَلَّ فَجرٌ مِن قِرابِ هَزيعِ

and a full moon shines through a cloud's curtains,

and dawn slips from the scabbard of a watch of night.