نداء الحياة — Abdullah Al Khalili

نبئيه عن شأنه نبئيه

واصدقيه الحديث لا تكذبيه

Tell him of his own condition; tell him.

Tell him the truth; do not lie to him.

وذري هذه المعاذير شهدا

إنها من دسائس التمويه

And leave these honeyed excuses aside;

they are among the intrigues of deception.

إن هذا القرين في الحاضر الوا

عي سواه في الغابر المشدوه

This companion, in the aware present,

is not what he was in the bewildered past.

هو عمرو المضروب أمس ولكن

هو زيد في يومه فاحذريه

He is Amr, beaten yesterday—but

today he is Zayd; beware of him.

لقنته حوادث الدهر درسا

نال منه مرونة التفقية

The events of time taught him a lesson;

from it he gained the suppleness that instruction brings.

إن شعبي يا حادثات الليالي

هو شعبي إن كنت لا تعرفيه

Indeed, my people, O calamities of the nights,

are my people, if you do not know them.

أرغم الأنف من بنياتك السو

د فباتت مذعورة تّتقيه

They rubbed your dark little daughters' noses in the dust,

so those daughters grew terrified, wary of them.

أنت يا حادثات أهون قدراً

أن تسدي طريقه فاتركيه

You, O calamities, are too insignificant

to block their path; leave them alone.

لا تغري بشأنه لو تنزى

ألماً من جراحه في بنيه

Do not be tempted by their condition, even if they writhe

in pain from the wounds they bear in their sons.

فلئن خانه التقدم حينا

لم يخنه وعي النبيل النبيه

For even if progress failed them for a time,

the noble, discerning man's awareness has not failed them.

خطوات تبغي الأمام وعزم

صامد أو ينال ما يبتغيه

Steps seeking the way ahead, and a resolve

steadfast until they gain what they seek.

خطوة العلم خطوة لا تجارى

ويد العلم خير ما يقتنيه

The stride of knowledge is a stride none can match,

and knowledge's hand is the best thing they acquire.

والقويّ الأبي من تخذ العل

م سلاحاً يصول في غاصبيه

The strong, unbowed man is he who takes knowledge

as a weapon, charging against his oppressors.

يا شباب البلاد يا أمل الجي

ل ويا منية الرجاء النزيه

O youth of the land, O hope of the generation,

and O cherished wish of pure hope!

أنتم مطمح البصائر والأبص

ار للشعب نقطة التنويه

You are the focus of insight and sight,

the people's focal point of acclaim.

يا زهور الحياة يا بسمة الده

ر إلى العلم مبعث الترفيه

O flowers of life, O smile of time,

turn to knowledge, the wellspring of well-being!

واسعوا نحوه خطاكم وردوا

فيه رأي الخمول بالتسفيه

And hasten your steps toward it, and rebut

the counsel of idleness concerning it as folly.

وهبوه الإخلاص قولا وفعلا

واركبوا أصعب المكاره فيه

Give it sincerity in word and deed,

and brave the hardest adversities in its cause.

واصحبوه تناصحاً واجتماعا

واخطبوا في الحشود جهراً بفيه

Accompany it with mutual counsel and unity,

and address the crowds openly through its mouth.

وقفوا حوله صفوفاً وقوه

رمية الدهر إنه يرميه

Stand in ranks around it, and shield it

from time's shot, for time shoots at it.

وافتدوه منكم بكل نفيس

فالعزيز العزيز من يفتديه

Ransom it with everything precious you possess,

for honored, truly honored, is he who ransoms it.

وأعيدوا شبابه من جديد

إن يكن شاب عن ذكاء الفقيه

Restore its youth anew,

if it has grown gray through the scholar's intelligence.

واستردوا بعزمه فائت المج

د طموحاً فالمجد في طامحيه

With its resolve reclaim lost glory,

aspiring high, for glory lives in those who aspire to it.

واستعينوا به لكل عظيم

فهو نعم المعين للمصطفيه

Seek its help in every great undertaking,

for it is an excellent helper to whoever chooses it.

واحفظوه أن يستهان فما ها

ن بقوم أو ذللوا لسفيه

Guard it from contempt, for it has never been slighted

among a people without their being humbled before a fool.

ونداء أهاب بي من بعيد

فتمطيت شطره أقتفيه

And a call summoned me from afar,

so I stretched myself toward it, following its trail.

صارخاً في الفضاء يسحب ذيلا

قده الدهر شأنه في بنيه

Crying out in the open, dragging a train

that time had torn—its way with its sons.

مستغيثاً يكاد يعجزه النط

ق وحتى إشارة التنبيه

Crying for help, scarcely able to speak,

or even make a gesture of warning.

يا نداء الحياة أنت حيي

والهوى فيك صادق التوجيه

O call of life, you are shy,

and the passion within you is true in its direction.

قم فعبر عما تريد لعلي

أركب الصعب دون ما تتقيه

Rise and express what you want, that perhaps I

may brave hardship in the face of what you fear.

إن يكن سامك الزمان عذاباً

فقديماً كم سام من يبتليه

If time has subjected you to torment,

for long ago, how often it tormented those it tests!

إن هذا الزمان أقتل للح

ر وأقسى من نفثة ابن أبيه

This age is deadlier to the free man

and harsher than a puff of Ibn Abihi's breath.

والكمي الكمي من لبس الده

ر على مرّه وما يشتهيه

And the warrior, the true warrior, is he who wears time

with its bitterness and what he relishes in it.

واللبيب اللبيب من عرف الح

ق فوفى لخصمه وأخيه

And the wise man, the truly wise, is he who knows the truth

and fulfills his duty to his foe and his brother.

وصباح رأيته يفلق اللي

ل بسيف من ضوئه ينتضيه

And a morning I saw cleaving the night

with a sword of its light that it draws,

ضاحك في جديده يوهم النا

س وأين الجديد من آمليه

laughing in its newness, beguiling people—

and where is newness for those who hope for it?

حسرة ما مضى عليك وهمّ

أو هناء ما حل أو ترتجيه

Regret for what has passed over you, and worry,

or joy in what has come, or what you hope for.

وانقلاب الزمان حوراً وكورا

خلق طالما دهى عاقليه

And time's reversals, unwinding and winding,

are a habit that has often afflicted those who understand it.

أنت يا صبح كم بعثت لقلبي

أملا في إرادتي أجتليه

O morning, how often you have stirred in my heart

a hope I contemplate within my will.

فتمشيت ناشطاً فإذا ما

أتمناه غير ما تمليه

So I walked eagerly, only to find that what

I wish for is other than what you dictate.

كنت بالأمس والشباب نضير

فإذا بالمشيب نحوي يليه

Yesterday I lived while youth was fresh,

then suddenly gray hair followed it toward me.

وأنا ما فرغت مما أعاني

ه وما زلت دون ما أدعيه

And I have not finished with what I suffer,

and I still fall short of what I profess.

أستلذ الحياة يوماً فيوما

وهي تقضي عليّ ما تقضيه

I savor life day after day,

while it decrees against me whatever it decrees.

أمل فارغ ووهم مليء

وزمان كم جار في مترفيه

An empty hope and a brimming illusion,

and time—how often it wronged its pampered ones!

ونوايا أقض مضجعها الده

ر وكانت لجهلها تزدريه

And intentions whose bed was troubled by time,

though in their ignorance they had scorned it.

طلع الفجر قبلنا في البرايا

وأتى الليل إثره يقتفيه

Dawn rose among creation before us,

and night came after it, following its trail,

مستبدين يقضيان على الكو

ن ولا يفنيان في فانيه

two tyrants passing sentence upon the universe,

yet neither perishes among its perishing beings.

يبليان الوجود جيلا فجيلا

وهما دائماً جديدان فيه

They wear existence away, generation after generation,

while they remain forever new within it.

يتساوى لديهما الناس عدلا

رغم جور الإنسان فيمن يليه

People are equal before them, justly,

despite man's injustice toward those in his charge.

جد في هذه الحياة بنوها

باختلاف في رأيهم تلفيه

The sons of this life have striven within it,

with disagreement that you find in their views.

والقليل الذي أعين بتوفي

ق وأين التوفيق من طالبيه

And few are those aided by success—

and where is success for those who seek it?

لو أصاب الجميع منه مناهم

لم تجد غير سيد ونبيه

Had everyone obtained from it all they wished,

you would find only leaders and people of distinction.

يبلغ المرء في القليل من العم

ر به غاية الذي يبتغيه

A person, in a small part of life, attains

through it the utmost of what he seeks.

هو ناموس ذي الحياة متى كا

نت وإن يختلف لدى قاسميه

It is the law of this life, whenever it exists,

though it varies among those who apportion it.

رب توفيقك الذي نتمنى

في ابتداء وفي ختام نزيه

Lord, Your gift of success is what we desire,

at the outset and at an unsullied end.