ما قال أوه لفقده واها — Tamim Al Fatimi

ما قال أَوَّهْ لفقده واهَا

كمستريحٍ لقوله آهَا

He did not cry 'Oh!' and 'Alas!' at his loss

like one relieved by uttering 'Ah!'

تَبَرَّمُ النفِس من بلابلها

يُفْسد إقرارَها ودعواها

The soul's impatience with its anxieties

spoils its acknowledgment and its claim.

إن يَحْجُبوا وصلَها فما حجبوا

عنِّي سُرَى طيفها وذكراها

If they bar union with her, they have not barred

from me her phantom's nightly passage and remembrance of her.

بعيدةُ الدّار وهي دانيةٌ

منّي على بعدها ومَنْآها

Her dwelling is far away, yet she is near

to me despite her distance and remoteness.

في ناظر القلب شخصُ مَرْآها

وفي صميم الفؤاد مَثْوَاها

The image of her form is in my heart's eye,

and her dwelling is deep within my heart.

غَرّاء للِّدعْصِ مِلءُ مِئْزَرِها

وللقضيب الرَّطيب أعلاها

Radiant, with a sand-dune filling her waist-wrap,

and a supple bough for her upper body.

أعارِت الراحَ لونَ وجنتها

وطَبْعَ ألحاظها ومعناها

She lent wine the color of her cheek

and the nature of her glances and their meaning.

فالخمرُ لو لم تكن كمقلتها

في الطّبْع ما أسكرتْ نَدَامَاها

For wine, were it not like her eye

in nature, would not intoxicate its drinking companions.

وليلةٍ بتُّها على طَرَبٍ

آخِرُها مُشْبهٌ لأُولاها

And many a night I spent in delight,

its end resembling its beginning.

أُقبِّل البرقَ من تَرائبها

وألْثَمُ الشمسَ من مُحيّاها

I kiss the lightning of her collarbones,

and kiss the sun of her face.

سَقَتْنِيَ الرّاحَ وهي خدّاها

بأكؤس اللّحظ وهي عيناها

She gave me wine, which was her cheeks,

in cups of glances, which were her eyes.

إذا أرادت مزاجها جعلت

بآخر اللحظ في فمي فاها

Whenever she wished to mix it, she placed

at a glance's end, her mouth against mine.

فيا لَها قهوةً معتّقةً

وليس إلاّ الخدودَ مأواها

Oh, what aged wine it was,

with no dwelling except in cheeks.

حَبابُها الثَّغْرُ حين تُمْزَجُ لي

ونَقْلُها اللَّثْمُ حين أُسْقَاها

Its bubbles are her teeth when it is mixed for me,

and its relish is kissing when I am given it to drink.

تخالُها الشمسَ في تَلأْلُئها

لا بل تخالُ الشموس إيّاها

You would take her for the sun in her radiance;

no, rather you would take all suns for her.

سَل الصِّبا والأنامَ عن شِيَمي

والمجدَ عن راحتي وجَدْواها

Ask youth and mankind about my character,

and glory about my palm and its bounty.

ألستُ أُعطِي العُلاَ حقائقها

منّي وأُجرى اللّذّاتِ مُجْراها

Do I not give eminence its true substance

from myself, and let pleasures run their course?

وإن تَدِب الخُطوبُ جامحةً

لَقِيتُها لا أخاف عُقْباها

And if calamities creep forward unbridled,

I meet them, unafraid of their outcome.

ومن عيون الظِّبا تَسْحَرُني

أضعفُها لحظةً وأضناها

And among gazelles' eyes, those that enchant me

are the weakest in glance and the most languid.

ولستُ أَرضَى من الأمور بما

لا أجد المكَرْمُات ترضاها

And in affairs I am not content with what

I do not find the noble virtues approving.

واسمَعْ فعندي من كلّ صالحةٍ

ألطَفُ أسرارِها وأخفاها

And listen: of every worthy thing I possess

the subtlest and most hidden secrets.

لا أدّعي الفضلَ قبل يشهدُ لي

به أداني الدُّنَا وأقصاها

I claim no excellence before it is attested for me

by the world's nearest reaches and its farthest.

ولا أرى لي على الصديق يداً

تُفْسِدُ إنعامَها بنُعماها

Nor do I claim a favor over a friend

that spoils its beneficence with its very bounty.

من أصطفاني بودّه فله

عندي يَدٌ كالجبال صُغراها

Whoever singles me out with his affection has

a claim on me, its smallest mountain-high.

لله أيّامُنا التي سَلَفتْ

بدار حُزْوَى ما كان أحلاها

God bless our days gone by

at the abode of Huzwa—how sweet they were!

فالقَصْرِ من صيرة الملوك إلى

أعلى رُباها إلى مُصلاّها

And at the palace, from the kings' enclosure to

its highest hills and on to its prayer ground.

إذ نَجْتَنِي اللهو من أصائِلها

والعزَّ من فجرها ومَغْداها

When we plucked delight from their late afternoons,

and glory from their dawn and morning outings.

إن عَرَضَتْ لذَّةٌ مَلكاها

أو صَعُبت خُطَّة حَوَيناها

If a pleasure appeared, they both possessed it;

or an undertaking grew difficult, we mastered it;

أو يممَّتْنا تروم نُصْرتنا

صارخةٌ باسمنا حَميْناها

or, seeking our support, there came toward us

a woman crying our name, we protected her.

وإن رَمتْنا الخُطوبَ عن عُرُضٍ

فاضَ نزارٌ فَجلاّها

And if calamities struck us from the side,

Nizar surged forth and dispelled them.

المُطْفئ الحرب كلّما أضطرمتْ

وفارسُ الخيل حين يَلقاها

He who quenches war whenever it blazes,

and the champion of horsemen when he meets them.

كأنّما الدهرُ من مخافته

يُعَلّ بالخَمر أو حُمَيّاها

As though Time, from fear of him,

were plied with wine or its fiery potency.

بذَّ الملوكَ الألى فغادَرها

تَذُمّ سلطانَها وعَلْياها

He surpassed the kings of old, leaving them

to scorn their power and their high station.

قَصّر عنه اقتدارُ قيصرها

وجاز سَابُورَها وكِسْرَاها

Their Caesar's might fell short of him,

and he surpassed their Shapur and their Kisra,

وفات فَيْرُوزَها ورُسْتَمَها

وزاد عزًّا على جُلُنْدَاها

and outstripped their Firuz and their Rustam,

and exceeded their Julanda in glory.

لكلّ مَلْكٍ من الورَى شَبَهٌ

وما أرى للعزيز أشْباها

Every king among mankind has a likeness,

but I see no equals for al-Aziz.

أقول يا مالكَ الملوك ولا

أقول في مدحه شَهِنْشاها

I say, 'O master of kings,' and do not

say 'Shahanshah' in his praise.

سعى وطال النجومَ مَبتَدِئاً

بهمّةٍ يَستقلّ مَسْعاها

He strove and reached the stars at his very outset,

with an ambition whose striving he deems small.

نفسٌ كأنّ السماءَ مسكنُها

وهِمّةٌ كالزمان أدناها

A soul as though the sky were its dwelling,

and an ambition whose lowest reach is like Time.

لم يَسَعِ الدّهرُ حين حلّ به

صُغْرَى عُلاَه فكيف كُبْرَاها

Time could not contain, when he settled within it,

the least of his glories—how then the greatest?

خلافةٌ أصبح الزمانُ لها

مسْتخَدم السَّعْي مذ تولاّها

A caliphate for which Time became

a servant in its striving since he assumed it.

تَنْهاهُ عن بطشه وتأمرُه

وليس يَسْطِيعها فيَنْهاها

It restrains Time from its violence and commands it,

while Time cannot overpower it and so forbid it.

يا مَلِيكاً يفخَر الفَخَارُ به

منَّا على حيّها ومَوْتاها

O king in whom pride itself takes pride,

one of our own, above their living and their dead.

وتستقِلّ الملوك عِزّتَها

إذا رأتْ عزّة ودنياها

And kings deem their own might slight

when they see his might, even its lowest degree.

ولو تبدّت لها سجيّتُه

ما حمَدتْ بعده سَجَاياها

And if his character were revealed to them,

they would not praise their own qualities after his.

لو أمَّهُ من عُفاته أحَدٌ

يقول هَبْ لي عُلاكَ أعطاها

If one of his petitioners came to him,

saying, 'Give me your glory,' he would give it.

ليست بناسٍ لَوعْدِه وإذا

جاد بنُعماه فهو ينساها

He does not forget his promise; and when

he bestows his bounty, he forgets it.

إن أخلف الغيثُ بات نائلهُ

يَخْلُف أنواءه وسُقْيَاها

If rain fails, his bounty spends the night

taking the place of its rain-stars and their showers.

مُفْترِقُ الحالتين مُجْتمِعُ ال

آراء في سَلْمها وهَيْجاها

Distinct in his two states, yet united in

judgment, in peace and in warfare.

دانت له الأرضُ والعبادُ معاً

والوحشُ في وَعْرها وصحْرَاها

The earth and mankind submitted to him together,

and wild beasts in its rugged terrain and desert.

فهو لسان التُّقَى ومقلتُه

وهو يمين العُلا ويُسَراها

He is piety's tongue and its eye,

and he is glory's right hand and its left.

صُور من جوهر النبوّة إذ

كان الورى طينةً وأمواها

He was fashioned from the essence of prophethood when

mankind were clay and water.

فَمنْ يُطِعْه يفُزْ بطاعته

ومن عصاه فقد عَصَى اللهَ

So whoever obeys him triumphs through obeying him,

and whoever disobeys him has disobeyed God.

خُذْها تُباهِي بها الملوكَ فما

جاء بها مالكٌ ولا بَاهَى

Take it and boast of it before kings, for no

sovereign has brought its like or boasted of it.

لا سيّما من أخي مُحافَظةٍ

حاز بها المَكْرُماتِ والجاها

Especially from a man of steadfast loyalty

who has gained noble honors and standing through it.

هذا ولم تَحْوِ من مَناقبك الغرْ

رِ سوى بعض عُشْر أجزاها

All this, though it contains of your radiant virtues

only a portion of a tenth of their parts.

مجدك يَستغرِق الثناءَ ولو

كان الورى ألْسُناً وأفواها

Your glory exhausts all praise, even if

mankind were all tongues and mouths.