لنعمان هاتيك المراشف صبوتي

وللبان من تلك المعاطف وقفتي

My yearning is for the anemone-red of those lips,

And my lingering, for the bān-trees of those supple forms.

وشكواي لا للدار لكن لمن بها

وما كل من في الدار يعرف علتي

My complaint is not to the dwelling, but to whoever is within it;

Not everyone in the dwelling knows my ailment.

ولكن تبيد السقم منهن كاعبٌ

تعيد برياها الحياة لميت

But among them is a full-breasted maiden who dispels sickness,

Whose fragrance restores life to the dead.

بعيدة مهوى القرط ما رف حجلها

عليه ولا غنت به سمع مقلة

Long is the fall of her earring; her anklet has not fluttered

Upon it, nor sung there to an eye's hearing.

يريك تهادي فرعها فوق ردفها

لواء كثيبٍ أو شراع سفينة

The swaying of her tresses above her rounded hips shows you

A sandhill's banner, or a ship's sail.

إذا فارق المنديل كافور خدها

تورد توريد الغلام المبكَّت

When the kerchief leaves the camphor of her cheek,

It blushes like a boy put to shame.

يكاد نسيم الطيب يحملها لنا

لرقتها لولا اكتناز العجيزة

The perfumed breeze would almost carry her to us,

So delicate she is, were her buttocks not so full.

وتحسبها سكرى إذا هز عطفها

عليك دلال الشادن المتلفت

You would think her drunk when her waist is swayed

Toward you by the coyness of a backward-glancing fawn.

حلاها نجومٌ أشرقت من نهودها

وأقمار تمٍّ في الخدود استقرت

Her ornaments are stars that have risen from her breasts,

And full moons settled upon her cheeks.

وسندسها المعروف والصدق طيبها

وثروتها الإلمام بالألمعية

Kindness is her fine silk, and truthfulness her perfume;

Her wealth is her acquaintance with keen intelligence.

تفاخر آرام الخدور بأربعٍ

بهن تناهى حسن كل غريرة

She rivals the gazelles of secluded chambers in four qualities,

In which every innocent maiden's beauty reaches perfection:

رشاقة أعطافٍ وغنج لواحظٍ

ورقة ألفاظٍ ولين عريكة

Graceful limbs and coquettish glances,

Gentle words and a yielding disposition.

وتفتن أرباب الملاحة والبها

بست خصالٍ تيمت كل أمة

And she enthralls the masters of beauty and splendor

With six qualities that have enslaved every nation:

كمالٌ وظرفٌ وامتثالٌ وطاعةٌ

وصدقٌ ورفقٌ بالشجي المشتت

Perfection, elegance, compliance, obedience,

Truthfulness, and tenderness toward the sorrowful, distracted lover.

لبست هواها قبل خلع تمائمي

وقلت عساها أن تدوم تميمتي

I clothed myself in love for her before removing my childhood amulets,

And said, “May she remain my talisman.”

ففرق جور الدهر بيني وبينها

وغادرني ما بين حيٍّ وميت

But time's injustice parted me from her,

And left me between life and death.

وغادر أفراحي كغلطة كاتب

أشلَّ محاها أو سراب بقيعة

And left my joys like a scribe's mistake,

Which he, palsied, erased—or like a mirage upon a plain.

وقال أناسٌ شتت الله شملهم

وأبعدهم عن كل خير ونعمة

And some people said—may God scatter their company

And keep them far from every good and blessing—

تعالوا نورِّش بين ليلى وبينه

ونقطع بالتوريش عرق المحبة

“Come, let us sow discord between Layla and him,

And through that discord sever the vein of love.”

وكم ورَّش الواشون بيني وبينها

وما نقصوا من حبها وزن حبة

How often the talebearers sowed discord between me and her,

Yet diminished my love for her by not one grain.

فيا رب حتام اللواحي تلومني

على غادةٍ أعطيتها عين ريمة

O Lord, how long will reproachful women blame me

For a tender beauty to whom You gave a white gazelle's eye,

وأسكنت فاها من لماها مدامةً

ترد على الفاني زمان الشبيبة

And lodged in her mouth a wine drawn from her dusky lips,

That restores youth's season to one fading away?

لئن تركت ليلى السهاد لناظري

فكم جلبت ليلى الرقاد لمقلتي

Though Layla has left my eyes sleepless,

How often Layla brought sleep to my eyes!

وبات رضاها منعماً برضابها

يمتعني بالجرعة السكرية

And through the night her favor blessed me with her lips' nectar,

Delighting me with a draught as sweet as sugar,

بيانعةٍ تاهت وباهت بسوسنٍ

وآسٍ ونسرينٍ ووردٍ وكتلة

In a flourishing garden, proud and boastful of lilies,

And myrtle, wild roses, roses, and clustered blooms.

كأن رباها للبهار مجامرٌ

توقد للزوار نار وليمة

As though her hills were censers for oxeye blossoms,

Kindling for visitors the fire of a feast.

كأن مجاريها أنامل خيّرٍ

تمد لراجيها سبائك فضة

As though her watercourses were a generous man's fingers,

Extending silver ingots to those who seek her.

كأن قماريها بنات أكابرٍ

بكين بآداب ونُحنَ بحشمة

As though her turtledoves were the daughters of dignitaries,

Weeping with decorum, lamenting with modest reserve.

تثور عليها كالعداة طيورها

وترتع في أحضانها كالأحبة

Her birds rise against her like enemies,

Yet feed within her embraces like loved ones.

مضى العام فيها والليالي قصيرة

ولا خير إلا في الليالي القصيرة

The year passed there, and the nights were short;

There is no good except in nights that are short.

مررن يسارين البروق سواحباً

على غرر الأزهار كل ضريبة

They passed, keeping nightly pace with lightning, trailing

Every kind of robe over the blossoms' bright brows.

فبلل دمعي ما بللن من الربى

وغادرها في لجة حنظلية

My tears wetted the hills that they had wetted,

And left them in a sea of colocynth bitterness.

وقال سفيه القوم جرعك الهوى ال

هوان ألا تقوى عليه بسلوة

And the people's fool said, “Passion has made you swallow

Humiliation; will you not conquer it through forgetting?”

وأقسم بالرحمن لو مسه الهوى

لسماه عزرائيل آل المحبة

I swear by the Merciful: had love touched him,

He would have called it Azrael of love's people.

فليت سفيه القوم ونَّب سيدي ال

أمير على بري وبر الأحبة

If only the people's fool had reproached my lord, the

Emir, for his kindness to me and to my loved ones,

لعل اليد البيضاء يوماً يوماً تذيقه

سموم الأفاعي السود بالسمهرية

So that his white hand might one day—one day—make him taste

Black vipers' poisons through slender spears.

فما مثل عبد القادر السمح قادرٌ

يعف عن العاني ولا يرحم العتي

For no powerful man is like generous Abd al-Qadir:

He spares the captive, but has no mercy on the insolent.

إذا شاهد الصادي تلقاه بالندى

وإن شارف العادي فبالمشرفية

When he sees the thirsty, he meets them with bounty;

And when he draws near the aggressor, with Mashrafi swords.

يسود على ماضٍ وآتٍ وحاضرٍ

بنصرة مظلومٍ وإسعاف مسنت

He surpasses those past, those to come, and those present,

By championing the wronged and aiding the famine-stricken,

وحلمٍ وإنصافٍ وعلمٍ وغيرةٍ

ولطف وظرفٍ واتضاعٍ ورقة

By forbearance, fairness, knowledge, and zealous honor,

By kindness, grace, humility, and tenderness.

رأى الناس إخواناً فأحيى مواتهم

وعدَّل فيما بينهم بالمبرة

He saw people as brothers and quickened what was lifeless in them,

And dealt justly among them through beneficence.

ونفَّذ في الدنيا أوامر دينه

بطاعة مسنونٍ وعصيان بدعة

He carried out the commands of his faith in the world,

Obeying prescribed tradition and rejecting innovation.

فحكَّمه الباري ببر وفاجر

ودرَّعه بالعدل والأريحية

So the Creator gave him rule over righteous and wicked,

And armored him in justice and magnanimity.

فما هو إلا حكمةٌ سرمديةٌ

مصورةٌ في صورة هاشمية

He is nothing but eternal wisdom,

Embodied in a Hashimite form.

وماهو إلا الغيث في كل بلدةٍ

وما هو إلا الليث في كل بقعة

He is nothing but rain in every town,

And nothing but a lion in every place.

سحابٌ إذا أعطى ونارٌ إذا سطا

وحَبرٌ إذا أفتى وبحرٌ إذا فتي

A cloud when he gives, a fire when he strikes,

And a scholar when he gives rulings, an ocean when he shows chivalry.

وديعٌ بريعٌ صادق القول صالحٌ

رقيق حواشي الطبع تام المروءة

Gentle, accomplished, truthful in speech, righteous,

Tender in disposition, perfect in manly virtue.

تجمل بالإحسان والعدل والتقى

وجمل بالإيمان جيد الفتوة

He adorned himself with beneficence, justice, and piety,

And adorned the neck of chivalry with faith.

إذا ابتهل الجاني به يوم حشره

يثاب ولو من أمةٍ مانوية

If a sinner pleads through him on his day of gathering,

He is rewarded, even if from a Manichaean people.

وإن سأل اللَه الفقير به الغنى

يسود على قارون بالعسجدية

And if a poor man asks God for wealth through him,

He surpasses Qarun in gold.

أتاني كتابٌ منه لما قرأته

قرأت المعاني والبيان بلحظة

A letter from him came to me; when I read it,

I read meanings and eloquence in a single glance.

وظلت قرير العين أحسب منعتي

بهامة نسرٍ لا يحاذر من عتي

And I remained at ease, imagining my protection

At an eagle's crown, fearing no tyrant.

وقلت أحلمٌ ما أرى لحقارتي

وعزة مولانا إمام الأئمة

And I said, “Is what I see a dream, given my lowliness

And the eminence of our master, imam of imams?”

وما أنا بالناسي تواضع سيدي ال

أمير ولكني بليت بدهشة

I have not forgotten the humility of my lord, the

Emir, but I was overcome with wonder.

وطاب فؤادي يا ابن ساكن طيبة

به وتناسى علتي بتعلتي

My heart was soothed, O descendant of the dweller in Tayba,

By it, and forgot my ailment in its consolation.

بعيشك إن أرسلت طيفك بعده

تقول لعيني بالرقاد تقوتي

By your life, if you send your phantom after it,

You tell my eyes, “Take your sustenance in sleep.”

فما أنا من يسري المحال بباله

فيطمع أن يلقى الخيال بيقظة

For I am not one whose mind entertains impossibilities,

Hoping to meet a phantom while awake.

نسيت يميني إن نسيتك ساعةً

وصم صدى شعري وطال تشتتي

May my right hand forget its skill if I forget you for an hour,

And may my verse's echo fall deaf, and my distraction endure.

ولا خطرت في خاطري بنت ليلة

إن التمست نفسي سواك ابن حرة

Nor may a daughter of the night cross my mind,

If my soul seeks any freeborn son other than you.

فأنت الذي ثقلت بالجود كاهلي

ونسيتني بالبر شعبي وشعبتي

For you are the one whose generosity has weighed down my shoulders,

And whose kindness made me forget my people and my clan.

وأبعدت عني الضر بالدر والعنا

بنيل المنى والجهل بالأريحية

You drove harm from me with pearls, and hardship

By fulfilling my wishes, and ignorance through magnanimity.

وأزكيت مصباحي وزكيت حكمتي

وجددت أفراحي وجودت منحتي

You kindled my lamp and purified my wisdom,

Renewed my joys and enriched my gift.

فلا زالت الدنيا بجاهك جنةً

تروِّح أرواح الكماة الأعزة

May the world remain, through your standing, a paradise

Refreshing the souls of mighty warriors.

ولا زلت ما دارت رحى الحرب ضيغماً

وما ضمك المحراب شحرور بيعة

And may you remain, while war's mill turns, a lion,

And, whenever the prayer niche embraces you, a church's blackbird.

ودمت لنا ما دام للسيف قائمٌ

إماماً هماماً قائماً بالأدلة

And remain for us, as long as a sword has a hilt,

A valiant imam, standing firm upon proofs.