لا تنكري سقمي ولا تسهيدي — Abn Alsaati

لا تُنكري سقَمي ولا تسهيدي

أبلى جديدُ الدهر كل جديدِ

Do not deny my sickness or my sleeplessness.

Time's renewal has worn out every new thing.

أحسبتِ إن جوارحي من جلمدٍ

أو بين جانحتي قلب حديدِ

Did you think my limbs were made of rock,

Or that an iron heart lay between my ribs?

فارقتُ محموداً فما صرف النوى

عندي ولا الحدثانُ بالمحمود

I parted from Mahmoud, and neither separation's turns

Nor time's vicissitudes are praiseworthy to me.

طرقتُهُ حادثةٌ سواءٌ عندها

نفس الجبان ومهجةُ الصنديد

A calamity struck him, to which were equal

The coward's soul and the champion's lifeblood.

تُردي عقابَ الجوِ مثلَ بغائهِ

وتُميت ليثَ الغاب مثل السيدِ

It fells the eagle of the sky like its lowly birds,

And kills the forest's lion like the wolf.

سيَّانِ فيها الضبُّ تحت وهادهِ

والعصمُ فوق ذوائبٍ ونجودِ

Equal before it are the lizard beneath its hollows

And the ibexes upon the peaks and heights.

أخنتْ على لبدء ولقمانٍ وأوقعَ

صرفُها بربيعةٍ ولبيدِ

It destroyed Lubad and Luqman, and its turns

Brought down Rabi'ah and Labid.

وأطاح غيلاناً وأوفى قبلَهُ

ثم أنثنى بطشاً إلى مسعودِ

It felled Ghaylan, and Awfa before him,

Then turned its violence upon Mas'ud.

لا كانت الدنيا فاية عيشةٍ

تصفو من التكدير والتنكيد

May the world be no more! For what life

Is free of disturbance and vexation?

نأسى على المعدوم من أعراضها

والشأنُ لو متعتَ بالموجود

We grieve for its worldly goods that are lacking,

Though what matters is enjoying what is present.

ما أخلُ حالةَ نكبةٍ أو نعمةٍ

من شامتٍ أو غابطٍ وحسود

In calamity or blessing I am never free

Of a gloater, or an admirer and an envier.

فإذا سمحن بمن أودُّ أعضني

عن يوم وصلٍ منه عامَ صدود

Whenever the days grant me someone I love, they repay me

For one day of union with him with a year of estrangement.

ما كان إلا صارماً أغمدنهُ

ويلي لذاك الصَّارم المغمود

He was only a keen sword that they sheathed:

Alas for that sheathed sword!

غصنٌ ذوي روضةٍ من سؤددِ

كم أنبتت للمجد من أملودِ

A branch withered in a garden of nobility,

Which grew so many supple shoots for glory.

وهُلال داجيةٍ يروعك مبدراً

لو سامحت أيامُه بمزيدِ

And a crescent in a dark night, who would have awed you at the full,

Had his days allowed him more time.

أشتاقهُ مع أن سالف عهدهِ

لا بالمعاد لنا ولا المردودِ

I long for him, though our former days together

Will neither return to us nor be brought back.

سكن الثرى فلهو البعيد وشخصهُ

من ناظر الأفكار غيرُ بعيدِ

He dwells in the dust, far away, yet his person

Is not far from the eye of thought.

ويظنُّ حاسديَ السكونَ جلادةً

والقلبُ ذو الحركاتِ غيرُ جليدِ

My envier takes my stillness for fortitude,

But my restless heart is not stout-hearted.

ضاقتْ به سعة البلاد فلم يجد

وجهاً يبلغه إلى مقصودِ

The breadth of the land grew narrow for it, and it found no

Way to reach its desired goal.

كيف الذهاب وأين أين سبيلهُ

والحزن أي جوامعٍ وقيود

How can it depart, and where, where is its path,

When grief is such shackles and fetters?

لله درك من وليدٍ شاهدٍ

بإباء آباء لهُ وجدود

God bless your worth—a child bearing witness

To the proud defiance of his fathers and forefathers.

نطقتْ مخايلهُ بفضل التالد المو

روث قبل الطارف المولود

His bearing proclaimed the excellence of ancestral,

Inherited virtue, before the newly acquired and newly born.

فكأنني شاهدتُه وسمعتُه

يومَ الوغى والمحفل المشهود

It is as though I saw him and heard him

On the day of battle and at the crowded gathering.

كم تحت ذاك الصمت بارق فطنةٍ

لو أمهلت نشرت سحائبَ جود

How many flashes of intelligence lay beneath that silence!

Had it been given time, it would have spread clouds of bounty.

فرعٌ تفضلهُ شهادةُ أصله

والأصل أي أدلةٍ وشهودِ

A branch whose root's testimony proclaims his excellence;

And that root—what proofs and witnesses!

ما كنت بالشاكي نواك إلى الردى

لو أنَّ ناري فيك ذات خمود

I would not complain to death of your departure,

Were my fire for you capable of dying down.

لفحٌ أذابَ تصبُّري ومدامعي

من بعد طول قساوةٍ وجمود

A scorching blast melted my self-restraint and tears

After long hardness and frozen stillness.

زودتني وأنا المقيم كآبةً

ما كان أغناني عن التزويدِ

You provisioned me, though I remained behind, with sorrow:

How little need I had of such provisions!

لو عشتَ لم تكن الحياةُ ذميمةً

ولكان حظي منك غير زهيد

Had you lived, life would not have been blameworthy,

And my share in you would not have been meager.

ولقد سكنتَ جوانحاً خفاقةً

من بعد لين أسرة ومهود

You have indeed inhabited throbbing breasts

After the softness of beds and cradles.

فوجئتَ بالمعهود إلا أنني

عاينتُ وجداً ليس بالمعهودِ

You were suddenly struck by what is familiar, yet I

Witnessed grief that was not familiar.

أسلو لحكم اليأس فيك وتارة

أبكي بكاءَ الهائم المعمود

I find solace under despair's decree concerning you, and at times

I weep like a distraught, love-stricken wanderer.

وأخادع اللوام فيكَ وظاهرٌ

نفسُ الشجي وأنه المفؤودِ

I deceive those who reproach me over you, yet evident are

The mourner's sigh and the heart-stricken man's moan.

أسفي ووهنُ الموتِ يُغمض جفنَهُ

من بعد ذاك الجهد والتسهيد

Alas, as death's weakness closes his eyelid

After all that struggle and sleeplessness,

ويدي تجولُ على بضاضةِ جسمهِ

جولان دمعي فوق كلِ صعيدِ

And my hand moves over the tenderness of his body,

As my tears wander over every patch of ground.

قلقاً لذاتك الراحل الماضي

ودهشتُه لذاك النازل الموعود

Restless for your departed, vanished self,

And his bewilderment at that promised arrival.

لألفته إلفَ الصبا فسلبتهُ

سلبَ المحبِّ دُمى الحسان الغيد

I had loved him with youth's affection, then was robbed of him,

As a lover is robbed of fair, graceful, idol-like maidens.

طلقتُ غادات النسيب لليلةٍ

أنستْ ليالي عالج وزرود

I divorced the maidens of love poetry for a night

That made me forget the nights of 'Alij and Zarud.

ولربما أنسى الخُمار وخطبَهُ

نشواتُ لبك بابنة العنقود

Often the hangover and its distress were made forgotten

By your mind's raptures with the daughter of the grape-cluster.

والموت أفنى قبلُ طسماً وأختها

وأباد عاداً متبعاً بثمودِ

Death had previously destroyed Tasm and its sister people,

And annihilated 'Ad, following it with Thamud.

كم غادر الحيانِ من بئرٍ معطَّلـ

ـة ومن قصرٍ هناك مشيد

How many abandoned wells those two peoples left,

And how many lofty palaces there!

لا فرقَ في شرع المنية ظاهرٌ

بين الشقي الجدِ والمسعودِ

No evident distinction exists in death's law

Between the ill-fated and the fortunate.

أخذت يد الطوفاة من كره الهدى

وعد الحمامُ على نزيل الجودي

The flood's hand seized those who rejected guidance,

And death assailed the dweller on al-Judi.

وأطاع فرعوناً وموسى بعدما

نوجي وخصص بالكلام ونودي

It felled Pharaoh and Moses, after

He was spoken to privately, singled out for speech, and called.

وأتى على الأسباط حتى لم يجزْ

عن شاهدٍ منهم ولا مشهودِ

It destroyed the tribes, passing over

Neither any witness among them nor anyone witnessed.

أردى سليماناً وأبكى أهله

مُبكي سليمان على داوود

It laid Solomon low and made his family weep—

The same that made Solomon weep for David.

وخطابُ جنس الطير أيةُ آيةٍ

لم تغنِ والثقلان أي جنود

Speech with the race of birds—what a sign!—

Availed nothing; nor the two races of men and jinn—what armies!

والوحش والريح الرخاء وجرده

تختال تحت دلاصهِ المسرود

Nor wild beasts, the gentle wind, or his sleek horses,

Prancing beneath his closely linked armor.

أين القنا الخطي حيث يخفُّ بالكر

سي فوق بساهِ الممدودِ

Where are the spears of al-Khatt, as he moves swiftly on the

Throne above his outspread carpet?

هيهات أن تُنجي الشجاعةُ والغنى

من بطش ذاك اليوم نفس فقيد

Far be it that courage and wealth should save

A doomed soul from that day's assault.

وثوتْ قرونٌ بين ذاك كثيرةٌ

جلَّت مصارعها عن التعديد

Many generations lay fallen between those times;

Their deaths were too vast to be counted.

ولكل حي أسوة بمحمد

ومحمد ذو الموقف المحمود

Every living person has an example in Muhammad,

And Muhammad possesses the praiseworthy station.

كم في مصارع آله من عبرةٍ

سوداء عوها من التسويد

How many lessons lie in the deaths of his family—

Dark lessons: heed them from the blackened writing.

فتأسَّ بالمأموم والمسموم والـ

ـمقتول والمجلوب نحو يزيد

Take solace in the head-wounded, the poisoned, and the

Slain, and the one brought before Yazid.

والمشرفية من شقيقٍ أحمرٍ

والجوُّ أكلفُ في مسوحٍ سودِ

The Mashrafi swords seemed made of scarlet anemones,

And the sky was dusky, in black sackcloth.

قد كان في ملكٍ حواهُ غيطةٌ

لو خلد النعمانُ بعد عبيدِ

There would have been joy in the kingdom he possessed,

Had al-Nu'man lived forever after 'Ubayd.

سل عن زياد وابنه وارجع إلى

عمروٍ فسل هل عاش بعد سعيد

Ask about Ziyad and his son, and turn to

'Amr: ask whether he lived after Sa'id.

أجرى فتى مروان مهجةً نفسه

نكثاً لإيمانٍ له وعهودِ

The young man of Marwan spilled his soul's lifeblood,

In breach of his faith and pledges.

واستلَّ روحي مصعب وشقيقه

في طاعة الأحقاد لا المعبودِ

He plucked out the souls of Mus'ab and his brother,

In obedience to hatreds, not to the One worshiped.

وجنى على أسماء فيهِ جنايةً

صدعت فؤاد الصخرة الصيخودِ

Against Asma' he committed, through him, a wrong

That split the heart of solid rock.

ووهى فمات وكاد يبسط عذره

لو عاش بعد الهالكِ المفقودِ

He weakened and died, almost setting forth his excuse,

Had he lived after the lost, departed one.

لم يخلُ يومٌ كان أو هو كائنٌ

من مبدئ للنائبات معيد

No day that has been, or now exists, has lacked

One who begins disasters and brings them back.

فجأ الخورنق والسدير كما دهى

أصحاب يوم الرس والأخدودِ

It surprised al-Khawarnaq and al-Sadir, as it afflicted

The people of the day of al-Rass and the Trench.

ونحا بني العباس منهُ مفرقٌ

ما جمعوا من عدةٍ وعديدِ

A scatterer from it assailed the sons of al-'Abbas,

Scattering the equipment and numbers they had gathered.

فأتى على السفاح والمنصور والمهد

ي والهادي وكلِّ رشيدِ

It swept away al-Saffah, al-Mansur, and al-Mahdi,

And al-Hadi, and every Rashid.

دهم الحليمَ مع السفيهِ ولم يخم

عن والدٍ منهم ولا مولودِ

It overwhelmed the forbearing and the foolish, and did not recoil

From any father among them, nor any child.

هي شيمة الأيام في أبنائها

من قائمٍ ذي مهلةٍ وحصيدِ

Such is the days' habit toward their children,

Whether standing with time remaining, or already reaped.

بزَّت بني ساسان واطدملكهم

ورمتْ نظامَ القومِ بالتبديد

They stripped the sons of Sasan of their firmly founded kingdom,

And struck their people's order with dispersal.

فكأنهم ما أبرقوا بيضَ الظبي

في قطر نبلٍ أو غمام بنودِ

As though they had never flashed their white blades

Amid a rain of arrows or a cloud of banners.

ولربَّ عامٍ غيثَ من آلائهم

بسحاب جودٍ أو بحار وجودِ

How many a year was watered by their favors,

With clouds of bounty or seas of abundance.

هذا أنو شروان آخرُ قومه

نجلُ العلى وأخو الملوك الصيدِ

Here is Anushirwan, the last of his people,

The offspring of eminence and brother of proud kings.

نزعته من أبوابه وقصوره

وتحكمت في تاجهِ المعقودِ

They tore him from his gates and palaces,

And took control of his fastened crown.

وبها جنانٌ كالجنان يحلّها

لو أن هذي الدارَ دارُ خلودِ

Within them are gardens like Paradise, which he would inhabit,

If this abode were an abode of immortality.

من جدول يسعى وغصن أراكةٍ

يُثنى ونغمة طائرٍ غريدِ

With a running stream, and a branch of an arak tree

Swaying, and the song of a warbling bird.

ولديهِ كل جريدةٍ خمصانةٍ

ترضيك في التصويب والتصعيدِ

Beside him is every slender-waisted palm-frond maiden,

Pleasing you in her downward and upward sway.

كثبانُ رملٍ وهي فعم روادفٍ

وغصون بانٍ وهي هيف قدودِ

Sand dunes, in the fullness of their hips;

Boughs of ban trees, in the slenderness of their forms.

وإذا شكت أحشاؤه ظمأ الجوى

علَّته من عذبِ المذاق برود

Whenever his inward parts complained of love's thirst,

Cool refreshment slaked him with sweetness of taste.

فكأنها لم تغنَ منه بساكنٍ

دهراً ولم تشهد لومٍ وفودِ

As though those palaces had never housed him as a dweller

For an age, nor witnessed a day of visiting delegations.

كلا ولا حفّن به وزراؤهُ

لبيان مشكلةٍ وحلِّ عقودِ

No indeed—nor had his ministers gathered around him

To explain a difficulty and untie knots.

والأرض ترقص بالصواهل مثلما

رقصت متونُ سحائبٍ برعودِ

The earth danced with neighing steeds, just as

The backs of clouds danced with thunder.

نسختْ محاسنهُ وآيةَ عدله

بقطائع التشتيت والتشريد

They effaced his virtues and the sign of his justice

With the severing blows of dispersion and exile.

ولقد يكون وليس يجهل قدره

مأوى الطريد وعصرة المنجودِ

Yet he had been, his worth not unknown,

A refuge for the banished and succor for the distressed,

ومحطّ رحل الآملين وملتقى

ساري فيوج بشائرٍ وبريد

A place for hopeful men to lay their saddles, a meeting place

For night-traveling messengers of good tidings and couriers.

لو كنتَ شاهدَ يومه لعلمتَ ألـ

ـلا فرقَ بين قواضبٍ وغمودِ

Had you witnessed his day, you would have known

That there was no difference between cutting swords and sheaths.

ورأيت هاتيك الجيوشَ قليلةً

مع أنها ملأت صدور البيد

You would have seen those armies as few,

Although they filled the breasts of the deserts.

ولو أنهم قدروا على دفع الردى

لثنتهُ أي سواعد وسعود

Had they been able to ward off death,

What mighty arms and good fortune would have turned it back!

وبحدٍ كل صفيحةٍ هنديةٍ

ما في خدودهم من التوريدِ

On the edge of every Indian blade

Was the rosy tint of their cheeks.

وكأن كل غدير ماء رايقٍ

لبسوهُ وهو مضافُ التجعيدِ

As though every pool of clear water

Had been worn by them, with added rippling folds.

لكنهُ القدر الذي ما لامرئٍ

مندوحة عن حوضه المورودِ

But it is fate: no person has

Any escape from its pool, to which all must come.

فاذهب كما ذهب الشباب مودعاً

بلطائف التسليم والتحميدِ

So go, as youth departed, bid farewell

With gentle words of surrender and praise.

ولطالما فنّدتُ جهلاً فيكما

لو أنني أصغى إلى التفنيدِ

How often I was reproached as foolish over you both,

If only I were more heedful of reproach.

وسقى ثراك ملثُّ كل سحابةٍ

دمعاً يخضر وجنةَ الجلمودِ

May the lingering rain of every cloud water your dust

With tears that green the cheek of solid stone.

يختالُ منه كل تربٍ عاطلٍ

للنور تحت قلائدٍ وعقودِ

From it may every unadorned patch of earth strut

In bloom, beneath necklaces and strings of gems.

محمودة القطرات غير ذميمةٍ

ولربَّ غيثٍ وهو غير حميدِ

Its drops praiseworthy, never blameworthy—

For many a rain is far from praiseworthy.

فكأنَّ كل خميلةٍ مطولةٍ

تثني إليك لمى المهاة الرودِ

As though every tall, luxuriant thicket

Bent toward you the dusky lips of a tender oryx.

ولقد نثرت عليك نظمَ مدامعي

ويقلُّ أن لو كان نظم فريدِ

I have scattered over you the strung beads of my tears,

And that is little, even were they a string of rare pearls.

وإذا مررت على ضريحك ساءني

مني عولي عنك ثاني جيدِ

Whenever I pass your tomb, it pains me

That I turn away from you, averting my neck.

صبراً وتسليماً فربَّ إرادةٍ

جاءت بما لم ترضِ نفسَ مريدِ

Patience and surrender! Many a wish

Has brought what the wisher's soul did not approve.

ولقد شفى نفسي وسكّن روعها

ثقتي بعفو الله والتوحيدِ

What healed my soul and calmed its fear was

My trust in God's pardon and in His oneness,

وبأنَّ باب الله ليس بمغلقٍ

في وجه قاصدهِ ولا مسدودِ

And that God's door is neither closed

In the face of one seeking Him, nor barred.