على مثله تجري الدموع السواجم — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

على مثله تجري الدُّموعُ السَّواجمُ

وتبكي ديارٌ أُخْلِيَتْ ومعالمُ

For one like him, streaming tears flow,

and emptied abodes and landmarks weep.

ومن بعده لم يبقَ في النَّاس مطمع

لأُنسٍ ولا في هذه النَّاس عالم

After him, no hope remained among people

for companionship, nor a learned man among these people.

لتقضِ المنايا كيف شاءَت فقد وهتْ

قوى الصَّبر وانحلَّت لديها العزائم

Let the fates of death decree as they please, for weakened are

the powers of patience, and before them resolves have unraveled.

وشُقَّتْ قلوبٌ لا جيوبُ وأُدْمِيَتْ

جوانح قد شُدَّت عليها الحيازم

Hearts, not collars, were torn, and bloodied were

breasts over which breastbones had been tightly bound.

تيقَّظ فيها للنوائب نائم

ووافى إلى حرب الزَّمان مسالم

Therein a sleeper awoke to calamities,

and a peaceful man came to war against time.

وكنَّا بما نلهو على حين غفلةٍ

أَمِنَّا هجوم الموت والموت هاجم

And while we amused ourselves in a heedless hour,

we felt safe from death's assault, though death was advancing.

وما ذرفت عينايَ إلاَّ لحادثٍ

ألمَّ بنا فاستعظمته العظائم

My eyes shed tears only for a calamity

that befell us, and even mighty calamities deemed it immense.

وفلَّ قضاء الله شفرة صارم

أُقارع أعدائي به وأُصارم

God's decree blunted the edge of a keen sword

with which I battled my enemies and broke with them,

وسكَّن فعلاً ماضياً من غراره

وما دخلت يوماً عليه الجوازم

and stilled a past-tense verb of its cutting edge,

though no jussive particles had ever come upon it.

وأَصْبَحْتُ لا درعٌ يقيني سهامها

ولا في يميني مرهف الحدّ صارم

I awoke with no shield to protect me from their arrows,

nor a keen-edged sword in my right hand,

غداة رأتْ عيني الأَمين محمَّداً

صريعَ المنايا والمنايا هواجم

on the morning my eye saw al-Amin Muhammad

struck down by the fates of death, those fates assailing.

وقد مِيطَ عَن ذاك الجناب الَّذي أرى

مآزرُ لَمْ تَعْلَق بهنَّ المآثم

And stripped from that noble person whom I behold were

waistcloths to which no sins had clung.

وقد خَلَعَتْ منه المعالي فؤادها

وإنسانُ عين المجد بالدَّمع عائم

Noble virtues had torn their heart out of him,

and the pupil of glory's eye was swimming in tears.

وعهدي به ما لان قطّ لشدَّةٍ

ولا أَخَذَتْ منه الأُمورُ العظائم

I knew him never once to yield to hardship,

nor did momentous affairs diminish him.

على هذه الدُّنيا العَفا بعد سيِّدٍ

به العيش حتَّى فارقَ العيش ناعم

May desolation fall upon this world after a lord

through whom life was pleasant until he departed life.

تكدَّر ذاك المنهل العذب صفوه

فلا حام ظمآناً على الماء حائم

The purity of that sweet watering-place was troubled,

so no thirsty seeker circled about the water.

لتبكِ عليه اليوم أبناءُ هاشم

إذا ما بَكَتْ أبناءهَا الغرّ هاشم

Let the sons of Hashim weep for him today,

when Hashim weeps for her radiant sons.

تَفَرَّعَ عنها مُنْجِبٌ وابنُ منجبٍ

غَذَتْهُ لبانَ العِزِّ منها الفواطمُ

From her branched a noble sire, the son of a noble sire;

her Fatimas nourished him with the milk of honor.

فقام بأَمر الله غير مداهن

لأمر ولَمْ يقعد عن الحقّ قائم

He upheld God's command, making no compromise

in any matter; standing for truth, he never sat idle.

ولا يتَّقي في الله لومة لائم

ولم يثْنِه عن طاعة الله لائم

Nor does he fear a reproacher's reproach in God's cause,

and no reproacher has turned him from obedience to God.

ويقدم للأَمر الَّذي يعد الرَّدى

وقد أَحْجَمَتْ عنه الأُسودُ الضراغم

He advances toward a task that promises death,

though fierce lions have shrunk back from it.

ويرضيه ما يرضى به الله وحده

وإنْ غَضِبَ القوم الطغاة وخاصموا

What God alone approves is what pleases him,

even if the tyrannical people grow angry and quarrel.

فرُحنا نواري في الثرى قَمر الدُّجى

فلا فجَّ إلاَّ وهو أسْوَدُ فاحم

So we went to conceal in the earth the moon of darkness,

and not a pass remained but was black as coal.

ونحثو على الضرغام أكرمَ تربةٍ

ثوى في ثراها الأَنجبون الأَكارم

Over the lion we scattered the noblest earth,

in whose soil the noblest, most generous men had lain.

وطافت به أملاكها وتنزلَتْ

من الملأ الأَعلى عليه عوالم

Its angels circled him, and there descended

from the assembly on high, worlds of beings upon him.

وقلنا لقد غاضَ الوفاء وأَقْلَعَتْ

بوابل منهلّ القطار الغمائم

We said: fidelity has ebbed away, and withdrawn are

the clouds with their downpour of streaming rain.

وهل تبلُغ الآمال ما مُنِيَتْ به

وقد فُجِعَتْ بالأَكرمين المكارم

Can hopes encompass what has befallen them,

when noble virtues have been bereaved of the most noble?

هنالك لم تُحبَس لعَينيَّ عبرةٌ

عليه ولم تثبت لصبر قوائم

There, not a tear of my eyes was withheld

for him, nor did patience's supports stand firm.

ومن عجبٍ نبكيه وهو منعم

ونعبس ممَّا قد دهى وهو باسم

How strange that we weep for him while he is blessed,

and frown at what has struck us while he smiles.

سقاك الحيا المنهلُّ كلَّ عشيَّةٍ

وحيَّاك منه العارض المتراكم

May streaming rain water you every evening,

and may its gathered cloud greet you.

نأَيْتَ فودَّعْنا الفضائل كلَّها

فيا نائياً بالله هلْ أنتَ قادم

You went far away, and we bade all virtues farewell;

O departed one, by God, will you return?

ويا صخرة الوادي الَّتي قد تصدَّعَتْ

وكانَ لعمري يتَّقيها المزاحم

O rock of the valley that has split apart,

which, by my life, the contender once shunned!

لئنْ كانَ أُنسي فيك أُنساً ملازماً

فحُزني عليك اليوم حزن ملازم

If my delight in you was an abiding delight,

then my grief for you today is abiding grief.

بمن أَتَسلَّى عنك والنَّاس كلُّها

وحاشاك إلاَّ من عرفت بهائم

With whom can I console myself for you, when all people—

you excepted, and those I have known—are beasts?

بمن أتَّقي حرَّ الزَّمان وبرْده

ويعصمني ممَّا سوى الله عاصم

With whom can I ward off time's heat and cold,

and what protector besides God can shield me from them?

وفيمن تراني أستظلُّ بظلِّه

إذا نَفَحَتْ تشوي الوجوهَ سمائم

In whom do you see me finding shelter in his shade

when scorching winds blow, roasting faces?

قَضَيتُ بك الأَيَّام إلاَّ قلائلاً

وإنِّي على ما فاتني منك نادم

I spent my days with you, except a few,

and I regret whatever I missed of you.

أُشَنِّفُ سمعي منك باللؤلؤ الَّذي

يَروقُ ولم ينظِمْه في السِّلْكِ ناظِمُ

I adorn my hearing with the pearls from you

that delight, though no stringer has strung them on a thread.

برغميَ فارقتُ الذين أُحبّهم

ولي فيهمُ قلبٌ من الوجد هائم

Against my will I parted from those I love,

and among them is my heart, wandering with longing.

وقاطَعَني لا عن تقالٍ مقاطعٌ

وصارمني لا عن جفاءٍ مصارم

He who broke with me did so not from mutual aversion,

and he who cut me off did so not from coldness.

وضاقت عليَّ الأرض حتَّى كأَنَّها

من الضِّيق حتَّى يأذن الله خاتم

The earth grew so narrow for me that it seemed,

from its narrowness, a ring—until God gives leave.

لقد كُسِفَتْ تلك الشُّموس وأُغْمِدَتْ

ببطن الثَّرى تلك السُّيوف الصَّوارم

Those suns have indeed been eclipsed, and sheathed

in the earth's belly are those keen swords.

وكم ليلةٍ من بعده قد سَهِرْتُها

أُسامِرُ ذكراه بها وأُنادم

How many a night after him I have stayed awake,

talking through it with his memory and keeping it company.

وأذكر عهد الودّ بيني وبينه

وهيهات يُنسى عهدهُ المتقادم

I recall the bond of affection between me and him—

far be it that his long-standing bond should be forgotten.

وقد كنتُ أهوى أن أكونَ له الفدا

فألقى الرَّدى من دونه وهو سالم

I had wished to be his ransom,

to meet death in his stead while he remained safe.

ولكنْ أراد الله إنفاذَ أَمرهِ

ليحكم فينا بالجهالة حاكم

But God willed to carry out His decree,

so that a ruler would rule over us in ignorance,

وتبقى أُمورُ الدِّين من بعده سدًى

ويُرغم أَنف الفضل للنقض راغم

and the affairs of religion would remain untended after him,

and a humiliator would force virtue's nose into dust, to undo it.

تبيت القوافي بالرّثاء وغيره

تنوح كما ناحتْ عليه الحمائم

The rhymes spend the night, in elegy and otherwise,

lamenting as the doves lamented him.

تقلّص ذاك الظلّ عنَّا ولم يدمْ

علينا وما شيء سوى الله دائم

That shade withdrew from us and did not endure

over us; nothing but God endures.

فيا مُرَّ ما لاقيتُ منه بفقده

على أنَّه الحلوُ اللَّذيذُ الملائم

Oh, how bitter was what I suffered from him through his loss,

though he was sweet, delightful, and congenial.

ويا واعظاً حيًّا وميتاً وكلُّه

مواعظ تشفي أنفساً ومكارم

O admonisher in life and death, whose whole being is

admonitions that heal souls, and noble virtues.

خرجتَ من الدُّنيا إلى الله لائذاً

برحمته والله للعبد راحم

You left this world for God, seeking refuge

in His mercy; God is merciful to His servant.

وأَعرَضْتَ عن دنياكَ حزماً وعفَّةً

وما اغترَّ في الدُّنيا الدنيَّة حازم

You turned away from your world with resolve and chastity,

and no resolute man was deceived in this lowly world.

وما عَرَفَ القومُ الذين نبذتهم

وراءَكَ ما مقدار ما أنتَ عالم

And the people never knew—those whom you had cast

behind you—the measure of your knowledge.

فوالهفي إنْ كانَ يجدي تلهُّفي

على عَرَبِيٍّ ضيَّعَته الأَعاجم

Alas for me, if my lamentation can avail,

for an Arab whom the non-Arabs neglected.

وقد أعوزَتْني بعده بلّة الصَّدى

فمن لي ببحرٍ موجُهُ متلاطم

After him I lacked even moisture to soothe my thirst,

so who will give me a sea whose waves clash?

ونَكَّسْتُ رأسي للزَّمان وخطبه

فلا وُضعت فوقَ الرُّؤوس العمائم

I bowed my head before time and its calamity;

may no turbans be set atop heads!

وما زالَ قولي غير راضٍ وإنَّما

لِشدَّة ما تعدو الخطوب الأَداهم

My speech remains displeased, and this is only

because of how fiercely the black calamities charge.

لكلِّ اجتماع لا أباً لك فرقة

وكلُّ بناءٍ سوفَ يلقاه هادم

Every gathering—no father be yours!—has a parting,

and every structure will meet a destroyer.

يعيد عليَّ العيدُ حزناً مجدّداً

وما هذه الأَعياد إلاَّ مآتم

The festival brings back to me a grief renewed,

and these festivals are nothing but mourning assemblies.