هو البرق مما راعها وشجاها — Abdul Ghafar Al Akhras

هو البرق ممَّا راعها وشجاها

فهيَّج منها داءها وأساها

It was the lightning that startled her and grieved her,

And stirred her sickness and her sorrow.

وممَّا جوًى تطوي عليه ضلوعها

بكت بدمٍ قان فطال بكاها

And from a burning grief her ribs enclose,

She wept crimson blood, and long was her weeping.

حكت بلسان الحال حتَّى وددتني

أقبِّل من تلك المطيَّة فاها

Her condition spoke for her, until I wished

To kiss that she-camel's mouth.

جوًى مثل ما بي أو يزيد بزعمها

وهيهات منِّي وجدها وعناها

A burning grief like mine—or greater, so she claims;

Yet how far her passion and anguish are from mine!

فقلتُ لها لا فاتك الوِرد صافياً

ولا حبست عنك السَّماء حياها

I said to her: May clear watering never fail you,

Nor heaven withhold its rain from you.

وروّضت من أكناف نجد رياضها

وحقّ لنفس الحرّ عنك رضاها

May you graze its meadows on the borders of Najd;

A free man's soul has every right to be pleased with you.

سقاها من النجب الكرائم ناقةً

وأكرم منها أُمَّها وأباها

May He water her, a camel of noble thoroughbreds,

And honor, for her sake, her mother and father.

تعاف النمير العذب يمزج بالقذى

وتختار في ريّ الهوان صداها

She disdains sweet, pure water mixed with dirt,

And chooses thirst rather than drink her fill in humiliation.

تجافت عن الدار الَّتي تنبت الأَذى

وها قد نأتْ عن مثلها لسواها

She shunned the abode where harm takes root,

And now has gone far from its like to another.

لقد سرَّها أن لا تساء فأرقلت

إلى حيث مثوى الأَكرمين حماها

Glad not to suffer ill treatment, she sped

To where the noblest men's dwelling is her sanctuary.

فجاوزت البيداء غير مروعة

كأَنَّ المنايا قصدها ومناها

She crossed the desert undismayed,

As though deaths were her destination and desire.

تباعد ما بين الخطا فكأَنَّما

تَبوعُ الفلا أخفاقها بخطاها

She spaces her strides so widely that it seems

Her hooves measure the wastes with her steps.

تهيم بأعلام المحصّب من مِنًى

وآفة نفس المستهام هواها

She wanders lovesick among al-Muhassab's landmarks in Mina;

Love is the ruin of the lovesick soul.

عليها من الفتيان من لا تروعه

مكابدة الأَهوال حين يراها

Upon her rides a youth whom nothing daunts—

Not enduring terrors when he sees them.

رماه إباء الضَّيم في كل مهمة

يروع العفرنى أن يجسَّ ثراها

Refusal to endure injustice cast him into every waste,

Whose soil a mighty lion fears to touch.

من الصيد لا يستصعب الحتف إنْ دنا

ولا باتَ يشكو للخطوب أذاها

One of the proud, he finds death no hardship when it nears,

Nor spends the night complaining to misfortunes of their harm.

ويأنف أنْ يُلقي القياد لنكبة

يرى فرج الله القريب وراها

He scorns to yield the reins to a calamity,

Seeing God's near deliverance beyond it.

إذا همَّ لا تنبو مضارب عزمه

ولا فل أحداث الزَّمان شباها

When he resolves, his purpose's striking edges never glance aside,

Nor have time's blows blunted their points.

تَصَفَّحَ يرتاد المنازل في اللّوى

ويطلب فيها مرتعاً ومياها

He surveyed the dwellings in al-Liwa, seeking a stopping place,

And sought pasture and water there.

ولم ينأ عن دار القلى باختياره

ولكن جَفَتْهُ أهلها فجفاها

He did not leave the abode of hatred by choice,

But its people shunned him, so he shunned it.

قليل ائتلاف الجفن من سنة الكرى

فلو راودته مرَّةً لعصاها

His eyelids rarely meet in sleep's first drowsiness;

Were it to woo him once, he would resist it.

ولا بكثير الالتفات إلى الَّتي

نأى ماضياً عنها فعزَّ عزاها

Nor does he often turn toward the one

He has left far behind, though consolation for her loss is hard.

لقد شامَ برقاً بالحمى غير ممطر

فأعرض عن أنوائها بنواها

He watched lightning in the homeland that brought no rain,

Then turned from its rain-stars, departing far from it.

وحَثْحَثَها واللَّيل يبدي ظلامه

إلى عين هادي من يضلّ عماها

He urged her onward as night revealed its darkness,

Toward the very guide of those its blindness leads astray.

وسارَ بها إذ ذاك في كلِّ مهمه

وليسَ إلى غير العلاء سراها

He traveled with her then through every trackless waste;

Her night journey was toward nothing but eminence.

يذكّرها بالرقمتين منازلاً

مراتعها أعلامها ورباها

He reminds her of dwellings at ar-Raqmatayn,

Their pastures, their landmarks, and their hills.

رعتْ من خزاماها وفازت بمائها

سقاها شآبيب الحيا ورعاها

She grazed their lavender and gained their water;

May He water them with rain's downpours and guard them.

هلُمِّي بنا يا ناق نذكر ما مضى

ونبكي شؤوناً لا يفيد بكاها

Come, she-camel, let us recall what has passed,

And weep for matters that weeping cannot mend,

وأيَّامنا في الربع والربع آهل

فواهاً لتلك الماضيات وآها

And for our days in the dwelling, when it was peopled.

Ah, for those bygone days! Alas!

مضى وانقضى عهد الأَحبَّة في القنا

وقد نفرت أسرابها ومهاها

The lovers' time at al-Qana has passed and ended,

And its herds and oryx have scattered.

فكيف إذنْ يا ناق ترجع جيرة

يقرُّ لعيني أنْ يلُوح سناها

How then, she-camel, can those neighbors return,

Whose gleaming light would gladden my eyes?

بعيشك هل تدرين من أنا طالبٌ

ولم تدرِ في ماذا يكون حداها

By your life, do you know whom I seek?

Yet she knew not for what her driving-song was sung.

أرومُ ربوعاً يهتدى لبيوتها

بنور محيَّاها ونار قراها

I seek dwellings whose houses are found

By their radiant countenance and their fires of hospitality.

وما افتقرت في النَّاس من أحدٍ يدٌ

إذا كانَ من عبد الغنيّ غناها

No man's hand among mankind has ever been impoverished

When its wealth has come from Abd al-Ghani.

له الخير مجبول على الخير كلّه

وخير الورى من لم يزل لرجاها

All good be his—he is fashioned wholly for goodness—

And the best of mankind is ever there for their hopes.

قلم يبقَ من أكرومة ما أجادها

ومنقبةٍ ما حازها وحواها

No noble deed remains that he has not perfected,

Nor any virtue he has not attained and possessed.

مباني الكرام الأَوَّلين تهدَّمت

فأَعلى مبانيها وشادَ بناها

The structures of the generous men of old had crumbled;

He raised their edifices high and rebuilt them.

عزيزٌ عزيز النَّفس إنْ ضيمَ جاره

فداها إذَنْ في نفسه ووقاها

Mighty and proud of soul, if his neighbor suffers wrong,

He ransoms and shields the wronged soul with his own life.

له الفتكات البكرُ تشهَدُ أنَّه

عصاميُّها المعروف وابنُ جلاها

His unprecedented onslaughts bear witness that he is

Their renowned self-made hero, their unmistakable champion.

تقلَّد عزماً مثلَ إفرندِ عضبه

إذا اعترضته النائبات براها

He girds on resolve like the fine steel of his keen blade;

When calamities bar his path, he hews them away.

هو الغيث يوم الجود واللَّيث في الوغى

فغيث نداها كفَّ ليث وغاها

He is rain on the day of giving, a lion in battle;

So bounty's rain has stayed the lion of battle.

إذا كانَ كجد كانَ منه عماده

وإن كانَ حربٌ كلن قطب رحاها

When there is glory, he is its pillar;

And when there is war, he is the axle of its mill.

متى شاءَ أوراها وأثقبَ زندها

وشبَّت بفرسان الرِّجال لظاها

Whenever he wills, he kindles it and sparks its fire-stick,

And its blaze flares up, feeding on mounted warriors.

أحلي بذكراه القوافي أصوغها

ألا إنَّما ذكر الكرام حُلاها

I adorn with his remembrance the rhymes I fashion;

Indeed, remembrance of the noble is their ornament.

تأرج في النَّادي بذكر جميله

وإنْ كانَ ندي النسيم شذاها

Fragrance spreads through the assembly at mention of his fine deeds,

Even if their scent is the dew of the breeze.

وإنِّي لأهديها إلى خير ماجدٍ

نعم إنَّه مصباحها وهداها

I offer them to the finest noble man;

Yes, he is their lamp and their guide.

إلى الغاية القصوى وأيَّة غاية

علا مستطيلاً شأوها وذراها

To the utmost goal—and what a goal!—

He rose, outstripping its reach and its summits.

سما غير ممنوع إلى كلِّ سؤددٍ

فلو رامَ أنْ يرقى السَّماء رقاها

Unhindered, he ascended to every eminence;

Had he wished to climb the sky, he would have climbed it.

إلى أينَ تبغي بالأُبوَّة والعلى

بنفس جميع النَّاس دون علاها

How far do you aspire in ancestry and exaltedness,

With a soul beneath whose height all mankind stands?

تعاليت حتَّى انحطَّ من دونك الورى

فكنت ثرياها وشمسُ ضحاها

You rose so high that all mankind sank below you;

You became their Pleiades and their morning sun.

فداؤك عبدٌ أنتَ مالكُ رقِّهِ

بأيدي كريمٍ يستفاض نداها

May a slave whose bondage you own be your ransom,

In the hands of a noble man whose bounty is sought in abundance.

فشكراً لما أوليت من نعمة بها

توليتُ مالاً من نداك وجاها

Thanks for the favor you bestowed, through which

I gained wealth and standing from your bounty.

وَجَدْتُ على دنياً أضاعت عوارفي

وما انتاش أبناءَ الزَّمان لقاها

I grieved over a world that squandered my kindnesses;

Meeting it has not rescued the children of the age.

ووجدي على هذا الزَّمان سفاهةً

وعتبي على القوم اللّئام سفاها

My grief over this age is foolishness,

And my reproach of base men is folly.

ولو كانت الأيام تعقل ما أتتْ

إذَنْ لنهاها عقلها ونُهاها

Had the days understood what they had done,

Their reason and judgment would have restrained them.

لها الحظّ من مثلي وجودي بمثلها

وحظِّي منها هجرها وقلاها

It benefits from men like me and my generosity to its kind;

My share of it is abandonment and hatred.

إليك أبا محمود أشكو حوادثاً

كثيراً على الحرِّ الكريم أذاها

To you, Abu Mahmud, I complain of misfortunes

Whose harm weighs heavily on a free and noble man.

أمنِّي بها النفس الأَماني ضَلَّةً

وتمنعني من عودها وجناها

Deluded, I feed my soul hopes in it,

While it denies me its bough and its fruit.

وتلسعني فيها أفاعٍ قوارعٌ

وما عرف الرَّاقون كيف رقاها

Within it, striking serpents sting me,

And charmers do not know how to charm them.

أرى هذه الدُّنيا لمن ذلّ أصبحَتْ

ذَلولاً ولو كانَ الأَبيُّ أباها

I see this world has become, for those who humble themselves,

Submissive—even if the proud man were its father.

تسنّمها من كانَ من دون خفّها

وكنَّا نراه تحتها فعلاها

One who stood below its hoof has mounted its hump;

We used to see him beneath it, but he rose above it.

وما بحتُ بالشكوى وفيَّ بقيَّةٌ

من الصَّبر إلاَّ وانتهت وتناهى

I never voiced complaint while any remnant remained in me

Of patience—only when it was spent and patience exhausted.

وعلمك بي يخبرك عنِّي فما الَّذي

أقول بأحوالي وأنْتَ تراها

Your knowledge of me tells you of me; what, then,

Can I say of my condition when you see it?

وما هي إلاَّ مهجة شفَّها الصَّدى

إذا هي تستسقي نداك سقاها

It is only a soul worn thin by thirst;

When it asks your bounty for drink, your bounty waters it.

وإلاّ تلافاني بلطفك لم تكد

بوادر حظِّي أن تروح تجاها

Unless you rescue me with your kindness, scarcely will

The first signs of my fortune ever come my way.

جزتك جوازي الخير من متفضِّلٍ

دَعَته الأَماني فاستجاب دعاها

May the rewards of goodness repay you, a benefactor

Whom hopes called, and who answered their call.

فأنت بعصرٍ لا خلت منك أهله

خليق السَّجايا بالجميل خلاها

You, in an age—may its people never lack you—

Threadbare in character, emptied of goodness [wording uncertain],

نَشَرْت به صُحفَ المكارم والنَّدى

ومن بعد ما قد لفَّها وطواها

Have spread within it the pages of noble deeds and bounty,

And that after it had wrapped and folded them away.