ساد الغصون قوامها الريان — Suleiman Al Sawla

ساد الغصونَ قوامها الريانُ

وسما البلابل حِجلها الرنّانُ

Her lush figure surpassed the branches,

and her ringing anklet surpassed the nightingales.

بدويةٌ لعب الدلال بعطفها

فتلاعبت بعقولنا الأشجان

A Bedouin woman: coquetry played with her flank,

so love's sorrows toyed with our minds.

لو حاولت بشميم آس وشامها ال

أرواح ما بخلت بها الأبدان

Had she sought, with the myrtle-scent of her tattoo, the—

souls, bodies would not have begrudged them.

في خدها للجلنار حديقةٌ

وبثغرها للأقحوان جنان

In her cheek is a garden for pomegranate blossoms,

and in her mouth are gardens for daisies.

ما لي وللبستان أطلب زهره

وبكل جارحةٍ لها بستان

What need have I of the garden, seeking its flowers,

when every limb of hers contains a garden?

الخد وردٌ واللواحظ نرجس

والشعر آس والمعاطف بان

The cheek is a rose, the glances narcissus,

the hair myrtle, and the curves ban-trees.

والخال من ظل العذيب وبارقٍ

لجنان فيها المشتهى جنّان

And her beauty mark, from the shade of al-ʿUdhayb and Bāriq,

is a gardener for gardens containing all one desires.

ري الجوانح صيفه وشتاؤه

وربيعه وخريفه جذلان

Its summer and winter refresh the heart,

and its spring and autumn are joyous.

لو نال يوسف حبةً من حَبِّهِ

قدت جيوب قميصه الأشجان

Had Joseph obtained a single grain of its seed,

love's sorrows would have torn his shirt's openings,

وبنت له بين الضلوع منازلاً

لا الصبر يدخلها ولا السلوان

and built him dwellings between his ribs,

which neither patience nor solace could enter.

إني لأعجب كيف يفتن حجلها

وتحبه وعدوها الفتان

I truly marvel at how her anklet enchants,

and she loves it, though the seducer is her enemy.

وتذم ضنّان اليدين بماله

وثغيرها برضابه ضنّان

She censures the man whose hands begrudge his wealth,

yet her little mouth begrudges its saliva.

لم أنسها كالبدر تحت وقايةٍ

سوداء ورَّد لونَها اللمعان

I have not forgotten her, like the full moon beneath a veil,

black, its hue made rosy by the radiance.

تسعى ويمنعها السُرى كفلٌ به

وبقلب كل متيمٍ خفقان

She walks, but her haunches hinder her night travel; in them,

and in every love-stricken heart, there is a throbbing.

ورقيق خنصرها يجانس خصرها

وبراحتيها الراح والريحان

And her slender little finger matches her waist,

and in her palms are wine and sweet basil.

قالت وقد رأت احمرار مدامعي

عنمُ الدموع على الهوى عنوان

She said, having seen the redness of my tears:

Tears red as ʿanam are a sign of passion.

ما كنت في زمن الشبيبة جاهلاً

فعلامَ تجهل والمشيب عنان

You were not foolish in the days of youth,

so why act foolishly, when gray hair is a bridle?

واللَه ما كان الشباب بمانعي

عما براه بصدرها الرحمن

By God, youth did not keep me

from what the Merciful fashioned on her breast.

بل كان رمان الترائب يافعاً

فصبرت حتى أدرك الرمان

Rather, the pomegranates of her bosom were still young,

so I waited until the pomegranates ripened.

واليوم لولا أن بارق ثغرها

نارٌ وشيب عوارضي كتّان

And today, were it not that the lightning of her mouth

is fire, and the gray of my side-whiskers is flax,

لتناولت شفتي رحيق رضابها

وتحدثت بجراءتي الجيران

my lip would have tasted the nectar of her saliva,

and the neighbors would have spoken of my boldness.

ووهبت من جود الأمير لجيدها

درراً بغير يد الأمير تصان

And from the emir's bounty I would have bestowed upon her neck

pearls kept safe by a hand other than the emir's.

ملكٌ بدعوته وجود يمينه

يحيا الرميم ويورق الصوّان

A king, through whose prayer and right hand's bounty

decayed bones live, and flint puts forth leaves.

لو أن شهراً صام صام لوجهه

شهر الصيام وقبله شعبان

Were a month to fast, for his sake would fast

the month of fasting, and Shaʿban before it.

عج نحوه تجد المكرام عرست

في حلةٍ يحتلها الإيمان

Turn toward him: you will find noble deeds encamped

in an encampment inhabited by faith.

يوليكها قبل السؤال متوجٌ

في راحتيه الحسن والإحسان

A crowned man grants them to you before you ask,

in whose palms are beauty and benevolence.

لو تسأل اللَه النجاة به نجت

أصحاب نوح وفاتها الطوفان

Had you asked God for deliverance through him, saved would have been

Noah's companions, and the Flood would have passed them by.

أو أعرضت لو شاء حاملة اللظى

عن قوم لوط وباءت النيران

Or, had he wished, the bearer of blazing fire would have turned away

from Lot's people, and the flames would have retreated.

فهو الولي الصادق المتصدق ال

بر الرؤوف المحسن المنان

For he is the saint, the truthful almsgiver, the—

righteous one, compassionate, beneficent, and bountiful.

وهو الذي أمر الإله بحبه

وعلى أبيه تنزل الفرقان

And he is the one whom God commanded to be loved,

and upon his forefather the Criterion descended.

وعنت لطاعته العصاة فعرَّست

بحدائقٍ ثمراتها الغفران

The disobedient bowed to obey him, then encamped

in gardens whose fruits are forgiveness.

واستقبلت عيس العفاة رحابه

فأعادها وحمولها العقيان

The petitioners' pale camels approached his courtyards,

and he sent them back with loads of pure gold.

أسدٌ يغلس للوغي بنعامةٍ

حمراء من حسادها العقبان

A lion who sets out for battle before dawn on an ostrich,

a red one whom eagles envy.

وبكفه قبس يمجُّ على العدا

ناراً وفي عسّاله ثعبان

In his palm is a firebrand that spits upon his foes

flame; and in his quivering spear is a serpent.

يسعى وساعي الموت تحت ركابه

والسائسان النمر والسرحان

He advances, with Death's messenger beneath his stirrups,

and his two grooms are the leopard and the wolf.

فإذا سطا فقراهما الفرسان

وإذا عفا فالطير والحملان

When he strikes, their feast is the horsemen;

and when he pardons, birds and lambs.

إن كنت ما جئت الجزائر أو خلت

أذناك مما قالت الركبان

If you have not visited Algeria, or have yet to hear

with your ears what the riders have told,

سل سيفه ودع العداة فما لمن

عادى صوارمه فمٌ ولسان

ask his sword and leave his foes alone: whoever

opposes his blades has neither mouth nor tongue.

وسل الأسنة إنها النوب التي

سقطت بها الأنياب والأسنان

And ask the spearheads: they are the calamities

by which fangs and teeth have fallen out.

فكلومهن كلامهن وإنها

لشاهدةٌ يرضى بها الرحمن

For their wounds are their words, and they

are indeed a witness pleasing to the Merciful.

ما أملح الدنيا به وبغيره

قد تقبح الأيام والأزمان

How lovely the world is with him! Without him,

days and ages may grow ugly.

سبحان خالقه من النور الذي

خلقت لتعرف فضله الأكوان

Glory to Him who created him from the light

whose excellence the worlds were created to know.

وعنت لمشرق شمسه الأملاك وال

أفلاك والأرواح والأبدان

And to the rising of his sun bowed the angels and the—

heavenly spheres, the spirits, and the bodies.

يتصوّر الإغراق في مدحي له

ويقول فيها للغلو مكان

One imagines exaggeration in my praise of him,

and says, 'Hyperbole has a place in it.'

وإذا وزنت به العوالم كلها

شالت ورجَّح ذاتَه الميزان

Yet if you weigh all the worlds against him,

they rise, while the balance tips toward his own self.

أفصار قول الحق يحسب مدحةً

يا شبلَ من مُدِحَت به عدنان

Has speaking the truth, then, come to count as praise,

O cub of him through whom ʿAdnan was praised?

اللَه يشهد أن فضلك فوق ما

تتصور الألباب والأذهان

God bears witness that your excellence surpasses what

intellects and minds can conceive.

أنت الذي يهوى الممات بسيفه

من شاء يسلم ذكره ويزان

You are the one by whose sword death is desired

by whoever wishes his name unblemished and adorned.

لولاك ما عاش الفقير بجلقٍ

لما جفاها العارض الهتان

But for you, the poor would not have lived in Jilliq

when the pouring raincloud deserted it.

وبغير بأسك ما ارعوت أبطالها

لما استقر بحجرها العصيان

Without your might, its champions would not have desisted

when rebellion settled in its lap.

لي في سواك قصائدٌ ما قلتها

إلّا وكذبني بها الحرمان

I have poems for others than you; never did I utter them

but deprivation proved me false in them.

أبعدتها عني ببكرٍ كفرت

زللي فحلَّ بحلتي الغفران

I put them away from me with a maiden ode that expiated

my errors; so forgiveness settled in my abode.

غزل الولا غزلي لها واقتادها

لملاذ عبد القادر الإذعان

Loyalty spun my love-verse for her; and she was led

by submission to the refuge of ʿAbd al-Qadir.

فاسلم لنا ولها وعيِّد آمناً

يا من تعايدنا به الأزمان

So remain safe for us and for her, and celebrate the feast securely,

O you through whom the ages greet us at each feast.

لا زالت الدنيا بجودك جنةً

ثمراتها المعروف والإحسان

May the world, through your bounty, never cease to be a garden

whose fruits are kindness and benevolence.

وبقيت ما فلق الدجى بعموده

فلق الصباح وغرَّد الورشان

And may you endure as long as darkness is cleft by the shaft

of daybreak, and the wood-pigeon sings.