إليك مدير الكأس عني إنني — Abn Nbath

إليكَ مديرَ الكأسِ عنيَ إنني

رأيت دموع الخوف تقطع للصدى

Away from me, passer of the cup, for I

have seen tears of fear put an end to thirst.

وإياك باللمياء يشرقُ خدَّها

فإنيَ لم آنس على ناره هدى

And beware the dark-lipped beauty whose cheek shines,

for I have found no guidance by its fire.

نزعتُ فلا الساقي لديّ براكعٍ

وليستْ أباريقُ المدامةِ سجدا

I have desisted: no cupbearer bows before me,

nor do the wine pitchers prostrate themselves.

وما أنا بالساعي لمحراب طرَّةٍ

على طلعةٍ كانت لعشقيَ مشهدا

Nor do I hasten to the prayer-niche of a forelock

upon a face that was a shrine to my passion.

كفى ما استبنت اليوم لي من جرائمٍ

إذا لم أبدِّلها فيا خجلي غدا

Enough are the sins I have discerned in myself today;

if I do not change them, oh, my shame tomorrow!

إلهيَ قد مدَّ الرجا يدَ قاصدٍ

وَجودُكَ أولى أن تبلغه يدا

My God, hope has stretched out a seeker's hand,

and Your generosity is readier to extend a hand to him.

وقدَّمت آباءً ونسلاً فكيف لي

بباقيةٍ والأصلُ والفرعُ قد غدا

I have sent fathers and offspring ahead; how, then, can I

hope for lasting life, when root and branch have departed?

وفاضَ وليٌّ من دموعي فعله

يكونُ وليًّا للإنابةِ مرشدا

And a following shower has poured from my tears; perhaps it

will become a guardian of repentance, a guide.

بروحي إناساً قبلنا قد تقدموا

ونادوا بنا لو أننا نسمع النِّدا

My soul be ransom for people who went before us,

and called to us—if only we could hear the call!

وسارت بهم سيرَ المطيّ نعوشهم

وبعض أنين القادمين لهم حدا

Their biers bore them away at the pace of riding camels,

and some of the newcomers' moaning sang them onward.

وأمسوا على البيداء ينتظروننا

إلى سفرٍ يقضي بأن نتزوَّدا

They now await us in the wilderness,

for a journey that requires us to take provisions.

فريدون في أجداثهم بفعالهم

وكم منهمُ من ساقَ جنداً مجنَّدا

Alone in their graves with their deeds,

and how many of them once led a mustered army!

تساوَوْا عِدًى تحت الثرى وأحبةً

فلا فرق ما بين الأحبة والعدى

Foes and loved ones have become equal beneath the soil;

there is no difference between loved ones and foes.

سل الدهرَ هل أعفى من الموت شائباً

غداةَ أدارَ الكأس أم ردّ أمردا

Ask Time: did it spare a gray-haired man from death

on the morning it passed the cup—or turn away a beardless youth?

وهل أبقت الأيامُ للعلم والعلى

وبذل الندى ذاكَ المليكَ المؤيدا

And did the days preserve, for learning and glory

and the giving of bounty, that king al-Mu'ayyad?

وهل تركت للسؤدد ابن عليّه

وهل قبلت منا الفِدى لأبي الفِدا

And did they leave Ibn 'Aliyya for lordly eminence?

And did they accept our ransom for Abu al-Fida?

غياث الورى يومي رجاً ومخافةً

شهاب العلى نجم الهدى كوكب الندى

Humanity's succor on the two days of hope and fear,

the meteor of glory, the star of guidance, the planet of bounty.

ألا في سبيل الله نصل عزائم

وعلم غدا في باطن الأرضِ مغمدا

Ah, in God's cause, a blade of resolve

and learning now lies sheathed in the depths of the earth.

على الرّغمِ منا أنْ خبا منه رونقٌ

وجاوَبنا من حولِ تربتهِ الصّدى

Against our wishes, his luster has faded,

and around his grave the echo answered us.

غنينا زماناً في ظلالِ نواله

فلله ما أغنى زماناً وأرْغدا

We prospered for a time in the shade of his bounty;

God be praised—how he enriched an age and made it prosperous!

نزورُ حمًى ما لامسَ الخطبُ جارَه

ونجني عطاً ما رَدَّ من لامسٍ يدا

We would visit a sanctuary whose neighbor calamity never touched,

and gather bounty that never rebuffed a reaching hand,

ونمدح معتاد المديح وإنما

لكل امرئٍ من دهره ما تعودا

and praise one accustomed to praise; indeed,

each man gets from his age only what he has grown used to.

إلى أن قضى الدنيا سعيداً مؤملاً

وعاد إلى الأخرى شهيداً ممجدا

Until he completed his worldly life, happy and a source of hope,

and returned to the next life, a martyr, glorified.

وخلّف إسماعيل أركانَ بيته

مؤسسةً يدعو إليها محمدا

And Isma'il left the pillars of his house

firmly founded, calling Muhammad to them.

مليكٌ حوى في الملكِ أفضل وصفه

فيا حبَّذا نعتاً ونفساً ومحتدا

A king who embodies kingship's finest quality—

how splendid in epithet, soul, and lineage!

له همةٌ توَّاقةٌ شادَويةٌ

إذا صعدت تاقت لأشرف مصعدا

His is an ever-yearning, Shadawi ambition:

whenever it rises, it longs for a nobler ascent.

إذا بلغت في الملك دار نعيمه

أبى عزمه إلا النعيم مخلَّدا

When it reaches the abode of royal bliss,

his resolve refuses all but everlasting bliss.

فكم هاجدٍ تحت الثرى ومحمدٌ

أخو الملك أمسى ساهداً متهجدا

How many a sleeper lies beneath the earth, while Muhammad,

brother to kingship, spends the night wakeful in prayer.

تزَهَّد حيثُ العمرُ والملكُ مقبلٌ

وقد قلّ من لاقاهما متزهدا

He became ascetic while life and kingship were advancing toward him,

and few have met them both as ascetics.

فديناهُ مهدياً لحالٍ رشيدةٍ

وقلّ لذاك الفضل بالأنفسِ الفدى

We would ransom him, one guided to an upright state,

yet the ransom of lives is little for such excellence.

رعى ليَ في الملكِ المؤيد ذمةً

ولم ينس لي فيه قصيداً ومقصدا

He respected my bond with King al-Mu'ayyad,

nor forgot my poetry concerning him, or my purpose,

وأشهدني عهدَ الشهيدِ بأنعمٍ

أبى عطفها أن لا يكون مؤكدا

and through favors he made me witness the martyr's days,

whose repeated kindness could only reaffirm those days.

أيا ملكاً ندعوه للسلمِ والوغى

وللدين والدّنيا وللجدِّ والجدا

O king whom we call upon for peace and battle,

for religion and this world, for earnest endeavor and bounty,

أيا سالكَ التقوى طريقاً منيرةً

ويا بانيَ المعروف حصناً مشيدا

O you who take piety as a luminous path,

and O builder of benevolence as a lofty fortress,

ويا واضعاً في كفهِ السيف لم يضر

علاه بوضع السيف في موضع الندى

and O one who sets the sword in his palm, without harming

his eminence by placing the sword where bounty belongs.

على أبركِ الأوقاتِ تسري لمقصدٍ

وترجع موفور العلى متزيدا

At the most blessed of times you travel by night toward a goal,

and return abounding in glory, gaining still more.

عوائدُ لطفِ الله فيكَ جميلةٌ

فلا تدفع الرجوى ولا تحذر العدى

God's recurring kindnesses toward you are beautiful;

so neither reject hope nor fear your foes.

فكم سرتَ محمودَ المسيرِ مهنأً

وعدتَ فكان العودُ أهنى وأحمدا

For how often you set out, praised for your journey and congratulated,

and returned, your return still happier and more praiseworthy!