عظم النعي فكثري أو قللي

هي مزنة الباكي ونار المصطلي

Grievous are the death-tidings: lament much or little.

It is the weeper's raincloud and the fire of one seeking warmth.

جل المصاب عن الدموع وسفحها

وأقل ما في وسع دمع المعول

The calamity is beyond tears and their shedding,

and meager is all a wailer's tears can offer.

غاض الندى الكعبي بعد جمامه

وثوت نشيدة ذي النداء المعجل

Al-Kaʿbi's bounty ebbed after its abundance,

and the urgent caller's hope lay buried.

ود النسيم لفقده فأظنه

للحزن خدش صف خد المنهل

The breeze longed at his loss; I think it

in grief scratched a line on the watering-place's cheek.

فسقى مضاجعه أخو يده الحيا

وحدت قلاص المزن ريح الشمال

May rain, brother to his giving hand, water his resting places,

and may the north wind urge on the rainclouds' young she-camels.

ومشت بساحته الخدود خواضعاً

فالمسك كيف تدوسه بالأرجل

May cheeks tread his courtyard, bowed low—

for how can musk be trampled underfoot?

سملت بنان الخطب ناظرة العلى

وأصاب سهم الموت عين المقتل

Disaster's fingertips put out the eye of glory,

and death's arrow struck the very fatal spot.

وتشعبت عصى الهدى من بعـ

ـد جامعها فبين مشتت ومضلل

The staff of guidance splintered after

its unifier: some scattered, others led astray.

قد كان أسرع في الندى من برق غا

دية وأثبت في الحجى من يذبل

He was swifter in generosity than the lightning of a morning

raincloud, and firmer in wisdom than Yadhbul.

أهان لمزن يمينه المنهل وصيـ

ـيبه وبرق جبينه المتهلل

Alas [uncertain reading] for the pouring cloud of his right hand and its

downpour, and the lightning of his radiant brow,

ولمنية القلب الطموح ومفحم الـ

ـخصم الجموح وبهجة المتأمل

and for the aspiring heart's desire, the silencer of

the headstrong adversary, and the beholder's delight.

تجلو قناع الشك منه بلفظة

وتصيب شاكلة الخفي المشكل

You lift the veil of doubt from him with a word,

and strike the flank of the hidden and perplexing.

ولو أن مكرمة تطور بها الظبى

لمشى إليها فوق حد المنصل

Even if sword-edges circled a noble deed,

he would walk to it over a blade's edge.

بشمائل غيد الذ من الصبا

وخلائق مثل الزلال السلسل

With supple graces sweeter than the east breeze,

and traits like limpid, smoothly flowing water,

وحياء وجه رد أوجه وفده

بحيائها والعام ليس بمقبل

and a modest face that sent his visitors' faces away

with their modesty intact, though the year was unkind.

أسفي لمنتجع وعاف عائل

ومشيت ناء وشاك مرمل

My sorrow for the seeker of bounty and the needy suppliant,

and I walked far away; and a penniless complainant [text unclear].

ولواثق بالدهر فيه

وأي ذي ثقة لم يخجل

And for one whose trust in time lay in him—

and what trusting man has not been put to shame?

من للجدال ومن لفظ النص والـ

ـفتيا وآيات الكتاب المنزل

Who is left for debate, and who for the wording of the text and

legal rulings and the verses of the revealed Book?

ومن الذي إن شام سيف مضارب

عنه مضى فأصاب حد المفصل

Who, when he drew a fighter's sword,

had it speed forth from him to strike the very joint?

وكأنما فتق الحداة بوصفه

فارات مسك أو نسيم قرنفل

As though the camel-drivers, chanting his praise, opened

pods of musk, or a breeze scented with cloves.

جاوزت حدك يا حمام فحنة

وظلمت نفسك يا زمان فأعول

You have exceeded your bounds, O death: show mercy!

You have wronged yourself, O time: wail!

مهلاً على الدين الحنيف وأهله

إن لم يكن يد مجمل فتجمل

Be gentle with the upright faith and its people;

if there is no gracious hand, then act graciously.

قد كان جابر كسرك المرجو في الـ

ـجلى وناصرك الذي لم يخذل

He was the mender of your brokenness, your hope in

great calamity, your champion who never failed you.

تعساً لجدك لا تزال موقراً

نفس اللئيم وفاتكاً بالفضل

Cursed be your fortune! You forever honor

the base man's soul and strike down excellence.

نهدي إليك النصح وهو مضيع

وإذا هديت لصالح لم تقبل

We offer you counsel, but it is wasted;

when guided toward good, you do not accept.

وإذا مضي المعذول في غلوائه

لا ينثني فكأنه لم يعذل

When the reproached man persists in his excess,

never turning back, it is as though he was never reproached.

أقذيت مقلة كل مجد شامخ

وفدحت حتى في قلوب الجندل

You have put grit in the eye of every lofty glory,

and weighed heavily even within the hearts of stones,

بالزاهد الأواب والمتورع

الأواه والمتخشع المتبتل

through the loss of the ascetic, ever repentant and scrupulous,

the devoutly sighing, the humble, the wholly devoted,

الأحنفي الحلم طا

ئشة الحبى والقلبي الحول

Ahnaf-like in forbearance amid flying

knee-bands, quick-witted and resourceful [text uncertain],

معها ولما تبخل

................

with it—and you have not yet withheld.

................

والأرض ساكنة

النهى وعلام لم تتزلزل

And the earth lies still—

reason ... and why has it not quaked?

لو كان يمكن رد ما كائن

للويت عنه يد القضاء المرسل

If it were possible to avert what is to be,

I would have turned fate's unleashed hand away from him;

ولدافع لمقدار عنه عصابة

شم الأنوف من الطراز الأول

and a band would have fought fate off on his behalf,

proud-nosed men of the foremost rank.

ولعاد وجه الصبح أقتم كالح الـ

ـقسمات من ليل العجاج الأليل

Morning's face would have turned dust-dark, grim of

feature, beneath the blackest night of battle-dust.

ولضوعفت وأرسلت

مزن السهام يد السحاب المرسل

And doubled and sent forth would have been

clouds of arrows—the hand of the unleashed raincloud.

فالسمر ضامرة الكعوب عواسل

والبيض تخطف في ظلام القسطل

Then slender-jointed brown spears would sway,

and white blades flash in the darkness of battle-dust.

والخيل ساهمة الوجوه كأنما

سقيت فوارسها نقيع الحنظل

And the horses, their faces drawn, as though

their riders had drunk an infusion of bitter colocynth.

من كان خفاق اللواء مؤيد العزمات

في الأزمات رحب المنزل

He whose banner fluttered, whose resolves were upheld

in crises, whose dwelling was spacious,

يلقي الكماة من السنان بجذوة

ومن الحسام المشرفي بجدول

casts at armored warriors a firebrand from his spearpoint,

and a stream from his keen Mashrafi sword.

ولكنه الأجل الذي ما هذه الـ

ـأجسام للأرواح منه بمعقل

Yet it is the appointed end: against it these

bodies offer souls no refuge.

ما زغفنا زغف لديه ولا الظبي

بظبي ولا ذيل الرماح بذبل

Before it our mail is no mail, nor sword-edges

true sword-edges, nor spear-tails true slender shafts.

فالبدر مطلعه قضى بخسوفه

والسيف منمله بنان الصقيل

For the full moon's rising decreed its eclipse,

and the sword is nicked by the polisher's fingers [reading uncertain].

يا محيي الدين الحنيف وقاتل الشـ

ـــــك المخيف

O Muhyi al-Din, reviver of the upright faith and slayer of

terrifying doubt!

غبرت في وجه الأفاضل آخراً

ودفعت في صدر الزمان الأول

You cast dust in the faces of the eminent, coming last,

and thrust back the breast of the earliest age.

وبلغت ما فات الكرام من الـ

ـحجى المستقبل

You attained what eluded the noble of

wisdom yet to come.

أبكي بكاء أخي وفاء ذاكر

ما طوقت يد منعم متطول

I weep as a faithful man, remembering

what a lavish benefactor's hand hung about my neck,

من غير ما سبب بباذل

به ولا متوسل

without any tie to a giver [text unclear],

through it, nor anyone seeking intercession.

ولموعد أسلفته شكر الولي لمثـ

ـله شكر الرياض يد الولي

And for a promise you once made, a friend gives such thanks

as gardens give the hand of the following rain.

وإذا وعدت وكان بشرك ضامناً

فلك الثناء فعلت أو لم تفعل

Whenever you promised, your cheerful face stood surety;

praise was yours, whether you acted or did not.

يا خيبة الباغين مثلك في بني الدنـ

ـيا ويا سغب الضيوف النزل

O disappointment of those seeking your like among the sons of this

world! O hunger of the guests who come to stay!

أمسوا لفقدك مدقعين وإنما

شبم السحائب غنية المتعلل

At your loss they became destitute; and only

the clouds' coolness suffices one seeking solace.

فالدهر مثل الغمد غير مصاحب

نصلاً وإلا الخيس ليس بمشبل

Time is like a scabbard containing no

blade—or a lion's thicket with no cub.

قلت بك الأحياء وهي كثيرة

فالمدن بعدك كالفضاء المجهل

Through your loss the living grew few, though they are many;

the cities after you are like a trackless wilderness.

تالله ما فاز الحمام بمثلها

ألا خيبة قاصد ومؤمل

By God, death has never gained its like!

Ah, the disappointment of the seeker and the hopeful!

ولرب مسألة تفاقم أمرها

جداً وعدت في القبيل المهمل

And many a question grew difficult,

exceedingly so, and was counted among neglected matters,

حتى حضرت فقال كل مفوه

ها سلموا أمر الهدي إلى الولي

until you arrived, and every eloquent speaker said:

'Look—entrust the work of guidance to its guardian.'

وصنيعة لك والحوادث ليلة

كالصبح واضحة وقولة فيصل

And a kindness of yours, when calamities were night,

was clear as dawn; and a decisive pronouncement.

ومزلة جاوزتها متثبتاً

يهماء مذهلة ولما تذهل

And a slippery place you crossed with sure footing,

trackless and bewildering, yet you did not lose your wits,

ببديهة كالماء ناقعة الصدى

وقريحة مثل الحريق المشعل

with quick wit like water, quenching thirst,

and a native genius like a blazing fire.

لا سار بعدك في حشى ظلما

ئه نجم ولا وضح النهار لمجتلي

After you, may there move within the heart of its dark—

—ness no star, nor daylight shine for a beholder.