هريقا دما إن أنفذت عبرة تجري — Abdulsamad Al Abdi

هريقا دماً إنْ أُنفِذَتْ عبرة تجري

أبى الصبر إنّ الرزء جلّ عن الصبرِ

Pour out blood, you two, if the flowing tears are spent.

Patience refuses; indeed, the calamity is beyond patience.

ولا تجمدا عينيّ قد حسن البكا

وفرط الأسى فَقْدُ المغّيب في القمرِ

And do not run dry, my eyes; weeping is now fitting,

and boundless sorrow for the loss of the one hidden in the moon.

لغيركما بالبث أن لست واقفا

من الصبرِ يوماً بعد عمرو على عذرِ

To others than you two I lament that I cannot find

any excuse for patience, even one day after Amr.

سلام وسُقْيا من يد اللّه ثَرَّةٌ

على جسدِ بالٍ بلمّاعة قَفْرِ

Peace and abundant rain from the hand of God

upon a decaying body in a shimmering, barren waste.

جَرَتْ فوقَهُ الأرواحُ أمناً لِجَرْيهِ

وقد كُنَّ حَسْرَى حينَ يَجْري كمَا تَجْري

The winds raced above him, unafraid of his racing,

though they had been exhausted when he ran as they ran.

تَوَلَّى النَّدَى والباسُ والحِلمُ والتقى

فلم يَبْقَ منها بعدَ عمرو سِوَى الذكرِ

Generosity, valor, forbearance, and piety departed;

so nothing remained of them after Amr but remembrance.

فإنْ تطوِهِ الأيامُ لا تَطو بَعْدَهُ

صنائعَ مِنْهُ لا تبيدُ على النّشرِ

If the days fold him away, they cannot fold away after him

his benefactions, which do not perish when unfolded.

متى تَلقَهُ لا تلقَ إلاّ مُمَنّعاً

حِماهُ مَصُونَ العِرْضِ مُبْتَذَلَ الوَفْرِ

Whenever you meet him, you meet only one with a well-defended

domain, safeguarded honor, and freely expended wealth.

وأيُّ مَحَلٍّ لا لكفّيْهِ نِعْمةٌ

على أهلِهِ من أرضِ بَرٍّ ولا بَحْرِ

And what place had no favor from his two hands

bestowed upon its people, whether on land or sea?

وما اختلفتْ حالانِ إلاّ رأيتَهُ

رَكوبَ التي تَسْبي هَيُوبَ التي تُزري

Whenever two circumstances differed, you would see him

eager to ride the one that captivates, wary of the one that disgraces.

ومن تكنِ الأوراقُ والتبرُ ذُخْرَهُ

فما كان غَيْرَ الحَمْدِ يَرغَبُ في ذُخرِ

And while others might have silver coins and raw gold as their treasure,

he desired no treasure other than praise.

كِلاَ حاَلَتْيهِ الجودُ أنَّى تصرَّفَتْ

به دُوَلُ الأيامِ في العُسْرِ واليُسْرِ

Generosity marked both his states, however

the turns of the days carried him through hardship and ease.

وما عُدِمَتْ يوماً لكفّيهِ أَنْعُمٌ

تُضافُ له منها عَوانُ إلى بكرِ

And his hands never lacked favors, even for a day;

among them, mature favors joined maiden ones to his credit.

وما انتَسَبَتْ إلاّ إلَيْهِ صنيعةٌ

وما نَطَقَتْ إلاّ به ألسنُ الفَخْرِ

No benefaction claimed descent from anyone but him,

and the tongues of pride spoke of none but him.

يَرَى غبناً يَوْماً يمرُّ ولَيْلَةً

عليه ولم يكسبْ طريقاً من الشُّكَرِ

He deemed it a loss for a day and a night to pass

over him without his earning a path to gratitude.

تغضّ له الأبصار عند اجتلائه

وليس به إلاّ الجلالةُ من كِبْرِ

Eyes lowered before him at the sight of him,

and there was no pride in him, only majesty.

تَرَى جَهْرَهُ جَهْرَ التقيّ وسِرُّهُ

إذا ما اختبرتَ السِّرَّ أتقى منَ الجهْرِ

You saw his public conduct as a pious man's; his secret life,

if you examined it, was more pious than his public conduct.

ولم يَصْحُ من يَوْمٍ ولم يُمْسِ لَيْلَةً

بَغْيرِ اكتسابِ الحَمْدِ مُشتَغِلَ الفِكْرِ

He never awoke on any day, nor entered any night,

with his thoughts occupied by anything but earning praise.

وكانت تعُمُّ الناسَ نَعماءُ كفّهِ

فعَمّوا عليهِ بالمُصيبةِ والأجرِ

The bounty of his hand had encompassed all people,

so all shared the calamity of his loss and its reward.

تناعاهُ أقطارُ البلادِ تَفَجّعاً

لِمصْرَعِهِ تَبْكيهِ قُطْراً إلى قُطْرِ

The regions of the lands announced his death to one another in anguish,

weeping for him at his fall, from region to region.

تباشَرَ بَطْنُ الأرضِ أُنْساً بقُرِبِهِ

وأضحتْ عليه وَهْي خاشعةُ الظُهرِ

The earth's belly rejoiced in the comfort of his nearness,

and lay over him with its back bowed in humility.

ولم تَكُ تُسقى الأرضُ إلاّ بسَيْبهِ

إذا ما جَفا أقطارَها سبلُ القَطْرِ

And the earth was watered only by his bounty

when the streaming rain forsook its regions.

إذا نَشَأتْ يوماً لكفّيهِ مُزْنَةٌ

أُدِيلَ الغِنَى في كلّ فجّ من القَفْرِ

If ever a rain cloud rose from his two hands,

prosperity prevailed in every pass of the wilderness.

هَوى جَبَلُ اللّهِ الذي كانَ مَعْقِلاً

وعزّاً لدينِ اللّهِ ذُلاًّ على الكُفْرِ

God's mountain fell, which had been a stronghold

and might for God's faith, humiliation for unbelief.

عَجِبْتُ لأيدي الحَتْف كيفَ تَغَلْغَلَتْ

إليكَ وبينَ النّسْرِ بَيْتُك والنّسْرِ

I marveled at death's hands: how did they penetrate

to you, with your dwelling between the two Eagles?

وما كُنْتَ بالمُغْضِي لدهرٍ على القذى

ولا لَيّنٍ للحادثاتِ على القَسْرِ

You were never one to tolerate time's grit in your eyes,

nor one to yield to calamities under compulsion.

ولو دَفَعَ العِزُّ الحِمامَ عن امرىءٍ

لما نال عمراً للحِمامِ شَبَا ظُفَرِ

Had might warded death off from a man,

no point of death's claw would have reached Amr.

ألم تَكُ أسبابُ الرَّدَى طَوعَ كفّهِ

تُبينُ لصَرْفَي ما يَريشُ وما يَبْرِي

Were not the means of death obedient to his hand,

revealing the two workings of what feathers and what pares?

إذا صاح داعي الرَّوْعِ سارَ أمامَهُ

لواءانِ مَعْقودانِ بالفَتْحِ والنّصرِ

When the herald of terror cried, there marched before him

two banners bound to conquest and victory.

يُقَاسمُ آجالَ العِدَى عزمُ بأسِهِ

بهندّيةٍ بيضٍ وخطّيَةٍ سُمْرِ

His valor's resolve claimed its share of his foes' allotted lives

with white Indian blades and brown Khatt spears.

وما ذبّ إلاّ عن حمى الدين سيفُهُ

ولا قاد خيلَ اللّه إلاّ إلى ثغرِ

His sword defended only the sanctuary of the faith,

and he led God's cavalry only to a frontier.

وقد كان يَقرِي الحَتْفَ أعداءَ سِلْمهِ

فأضحى قرى ما كان أعداءَهُ يَقْري

He had served death as a feast to the foes of his peace;

and became a feast for what he once served his enemies.

تولى أبو عمرو فقلنا لنا عمرو

كَفَانا طُلوعُ البدرِ غَيْبوبَةَ البدرِ

Abu Amr departed, and we said, 'We still have Amr';

the rising of one full moon made up for the setting of another.

وكَان أبو عمرو مُعَاراً حياتُهُ

بعمرو فلما ماتَ ماتَ أبو عمرو

And Abu Amr had been lent his life

through Amr; when Amr died, Abu Amr died.

وكنّا عليه نحذرُ الدّهرَ وحدَهُ

فلم يَبْقَ ما يُخشَى عليه من الدَهرِ

We had feared time alone on his behalf,

so nothing remained to fear for him from time.

وهَوّنَ وَجْدِي أنّ من عاش بَعدَهُ

يُلاقي الذي لاقى وإن مُدَّ في العمرِ

And my grief was eased by knowing that whoever lived after him

would meet what he met, even if his life were prolonged.

وهوّنَ وَجْدِي أنِّنِي لا أرَى امرءاً

من الناس إلاّ وهو مُغضٍ على وَتْرِ

And my grief was eased because I saw no man

among the people who was not closing his eyes upon an unavenged loss.

رَمَتْنَا الليالي فيكَ يا عمرو بَعْدَمَا

حَمِدْنَا بكَ الدّنيا بقاصمةِ الظهرِ

The nights struck us in your loss, O Amr—after

we had praised the world because of you—with a back-breaking blow.

سأجْزِيك شكري ما حَييت فإن أمتْ

أُبقِّ ثناءً فيكَ يَبْقى إلى الحَشرِ

I will repay you with my gratitude as long as I live; if I die,

I will leave praise of you enduring until the Gathering.

وأُوثِرُ حُزني فيكَ دُونَ تجلّدي

وإسبالَ دَمْعٍ لا بكيء ولا نزرِ

And I prefer my grief for you over my fortitude,

and the pouring of tears, neither scant-flowing nor meager.