Salawaat Sent: 15,713

Qaṣīdat al-Burdah · Chapter 1

Nostalgic Rhapsody and Love Complaint

الْفَصْلُ الْأَوَّلُ فِي الْغَزَلِ وَشَكْوَى الْغَرَامِ

Love, longing and the signs of a heart awakened by remembrance.

VERSE 1
أَمِنْ تَذَكُّرِ جِيرَانٍ بِذِي سَلَمِ
مَزَجْتَ دَمْعًا جَرَى مِنْ مُقْلَةٍ بِدَمِ
English translation

Is it a reminder of neighbors in Dhul Salam
You mixed tears that flowed from a pan with blood?

VERSE 2
أَمْ هَبَّتِ الرِّيحُ مِنْ تِلْقَاءِ كَاظِمَةٍ
وَأَوْمَضَ البَرْقُ فِي الظَّلْمَاءِ مِنْ إِضَمِ
English translation

Or did the wind blow at the direction of Kazma
and the lightning flashed in the darkness from Idham?

VERSE 3
فَمَا لِعَيْنَيْكَ إِنْ قُلْتَ اكْفُفَا هَمَتَا
وَمَا لِقَلْبِكَ إِنْ قُلْتَ اسْتَفِقْ يَهِمِ
English translation

What is the matter with your eyes if you say, “Stop worrying”? And what is the matter with your heart if you say, “Wake up?”

VERSE 4
أَيَحْسَبُ الصَّبُّ أَنَّ الحُبَّ مُنْكَتِمٌ
مَا بَيْنَ مُنْسَجِمٍ مِنْهُ وَمُضْطَرِمِ
English translation

Does the boy think that love is mixed
somewhere between it being harmonious and turbulent?

VERSE 5
لَوْلاَ الهَوَى لَمْ تَرِقْ دَمْعًا عَلَى طَلَلٍ
وَلاَ أَرِقْتَ لِذِكْرِ البَانِ وَالْعَلَمِ
English translation

Were it not for passion, you would not have shed tears over a raindrop, nor would you have shed tears at the remembrance of enlightenment and knowledge.

VERSE 6
فَكَيْفَ تُنْكِرُ حُبًّا بَعْدَمَا شَهِدَتْ
بِهِ عَلَيْكَ عُدُولُ الدَّمْعِ وَالسَّقَمِ
English translation

So how can you deny love after the calamity of tears and sickness bore witness to it?

VERSE 7
وَأَثْبَتَ الوَجْدُ خَطَّيْ عَبْرَةٍ وَضَنىً
مِثْلَ البَهَارِ عَلَى خَدَّيْكَ وَالعَنَمِ
English translation

And the feeling has proven two lines of lesson and thought
like the spice on your cheeks and the grapes

VERSE 8
نَعَمْ سَرَى طَيْفُ مَنْ أَهْوَى فَأَرَّقَنِي
وَالحُبُّ يَعْتَرِضُ اللَّذَّاتِ بِالأَلَمِ
English translation

Yes, the shadow of the one I love passed through and made me anxious
And love opposes pleasures with pain

VERSE 9
يَا لاَئِمِي فِي الهَوَى العُذْرِيِّ مَعْذِرَةً
مِنِّي إِلَيْكَ وَلَوْ أَنْصَفْتَ لَمْ تَلُمِ
English translation

O you who blame me in virginal passion, excuse me
from me to you, and if you were fair, you would not be blamed

VERSE 10
عَدَتْكَ حَالِي لاَ سِرِّي بِمُسْتَتِرٍ
عَنِ الْوُشَاةِ وَلاَ دَائِي بِمُنْحَسِمِ
English translation

I have prepared for you my condition, neither my secret is hidden
from informants nor my disease is hidden
from informers

VERSE 11
مَحَّضْتَنِي النُصْحَ لَكِنْ لَسْتُ أَسْمَعُهُ
إِنَّ المُحِبَّ عَنْ العُذَّالِ فِي صَمَمِ
English translation

You have given me advice, but I do not listen to it
Indeed, the one who loves the humiliated is in a deaf state

VERSE 12
إِنِّي اتَّهَمْتُ نَصِيحَ الشَّيْبِ فِي عَذَليِ
وَالشَّيْبُ أَبْعَدُ فِي نُصْحِ عَنِ التُّهَمِ
English translation

I have been accused of the advice of gray hair in my grief
and gray hair is farther from advice than accusations.