الله جارك إن دمعي جاري — Abn Nbath

الله جارك إنَّ دمعيَ جاري

يا موحشَ الأوطان والأوطار

May God be your protector; my tears are flowing,

O you who leave homelands and hopes desolate!

لما سكنت من التراب حديقة

فاضت عليك العينُ بالأنهار

When you took up dwelling in a garden of earth,

the eye overflowed over you in rivers.

شتان ما حالي وحالك أنت في

غرفِ الجنان ومهجتي في النار

How far apart are my state and yours! You are in

the chambers of Paradise, while my heart is in the fire.

خفّ النجا بك يا بنيّ إلى السرى

فسبقتني وثقلتُ بالأوزار

Swift passage bore you lightly, my little son, into the night journey,

so you preceded me, while I grew heavy with sins.

ليت الرّدى إذ لم يدعك أهاب بي

حتى ندوم معاً على مضمار

Would that death, when it would not spare you, had called to me,

so that we might remain together on one racecourse.

ليت القضا الجاري تمهل وِرده

حتى حسبت عواقب الإصدار

Would that flowing fate had delayed its approach to water,

until I had reckoned the consequences of leaving the water.

ما كنت إلا مثل لمحة بارق

ولى وأغرى الجفن بالإمطار

You were only like a flash of lightning

that vanished and urged the eyelid to rain.

أبكيك ما بكت الحمامُ هديلها

وأحنّ ما حنت إلى الأوكار

I weep for you as long as doves mourn their chick,

and yearn as long as they yearn for their nests.

أبكي بمحمرِّ الدّموع وإنما

تبكي العيون نظيرها بنضار

I weep with reddened tears; yet

eyes weep for their equal only with pure gold.

قالوا صغيراً قلت إنَّ وربما

كانت به الحسرات غير صغار

They said, 'A little one.' I said, 'Yes; yet often

the griefs over him were far from little.'

وأحقّ بالأحزان ماض لم يسيء

بيدٍ ولا لسنٍ ول إضمار

And most deserving of sorrow is one departed who did no wrong

by hand, by tongue, or in hidden thought.

نائي اللقا وحماه أقرب مطرحاً

يا بعد مجتمع وقرب مزار

Far beyond meeting, though his resting-place lies close at hand—

how distant a reunion, how near a place of visitation!

لهفي لغصن راقني بنباته

لو أمهلته التربُ للإثمار

Alas for a branch whose growth delighted me,

if only the earth had given it time to bear fruit!

لهفي لجوهرةٍ خفت فكأنني

حجبتها من أدمعي ببحار

Alas for a jewel that vanished; it is as though I

had veiled it with seas made from my tears.

لهفي لسار حار فيه تجلدي

وا حيرتي بالكوكب السيَّار

Alas for a night-traveler who has baffled my fortitude;

oh, my bewilderment at that wandering star!

سكن الثرى فكأنه سكن الحشا

من فرط ما شغلت به أفكاري

He dwelt in the earth, yet seems to dwell within my breast,

so deeply are my thoughts engrossed in him.

أعزِز عليّ بأن ضيف مسامعي

لم يحظَ من ذاك اللسان بقاري

How grievous to me that the guest of my hearing

found no host in that tongue.

أعزز عليّ بأن رحلت ولم تخض

أقدام فكرك أبحر الأشعار

How grievous to me that you departed before

the feet of your thought had waded through the seas of poetry.

أعزز عليّ بأن رفقت على الردى

وعليك من دمعي كدّر نثار

How grievous to me that you went gently into death,

while clouded tears of mine were scattered over you.

أبنيّ إن تكسَ التراب فإنه

غايات أجمعنا وليس بعار

My little son, if you are clothed in earth, it is

the destination of us all, and is no shame.

ما في زمانك ما يسّر مؤملاً

فاذهب كما ذهب الخيال الساري

There is nothing in your age to gladden one who hopes,

so go, as the night-wandering vision has gone.

لو أن أخباري إليك توصلت

لبكيتَ في الجنات من أخباري

If news of me could reach you,

you would weep in Paradise's gardens at my tidings:

أحزان مدّكرٍ ووحشةُ مفردٍ

ومقام مضيعة وذلّ جوار

the griefs of one who remembers, the loneliness of one left alone,

a dwelling in neglect, and the humiliation of dependence.

أبنيّ إني قد كنزتك في الثرى

فانفع أباك بساعة الإقتار

My little son, I have stored you as treasure in the earth;

then help your father in the hour of poverty.

أبنيّ قد وقفت عليّ حوادثٌ

فوقفنَ من طلل على آثار

My little son, calamities have come to stand over me,

and stood over the remnants of a ruined dwelling.

ومضى البياض من الحياة وطيبها

لكنها أبقته فوق عذاري

Life's brightness and sweetness have passed away,

yet life has left that whiteness upon my sideburns.

نمْ وادعاً فلقد تقرح ناظري

سهراً ونامت أعينُ السمار

Sleep peacefully; my eye has grown sore

from sleeplessness, while the night-talkers' eyes have slept.

أرعى الدّجى وكأنَّ ذيل ظلامه

متشبثٌ بالنجم في مسمار

I keep watch over the dark, as though the hem of its darkness

were hooked to a star as to a nail.

خلع الصباح على المجرة سجفه

أم قسمت شمس النهار دراري

Has morning draped its curtain over the Milky Way,

or has the sun of day been divided into shining stars?

أم غاب مع طفل أخيرُ دجنتي

لا كوكبي فيها ولا أسحاري

Or did the end of my darkness vanish with a child?

Neither my star nor my predawn hours are there.

تبًّا لعاديةِ الزمان على الفتى

فلقد حذرت وما أفاد حذاري

Perdition to time's assault upon a young man!

I took precautions, but my caution did no good.

وحويت ديناراً لوجهك فانتحى

صرف الزمان فراح بالدينار

I treasured a dinar in your face; then

time's vicissitude took aim and carried off the dinar.

أبنيّ إن تبعد فإنَّ مدى اللقا

بيني وبينك مسرِعُ التيار

My little son, though you are far away, the span until reunion

between me and you is a swift-flowing current.

إن تسقني في الحشر شربة كوثرٍ

فلقد سقتك مدامعي بغزار

If at the Gathering you give me a draught of Kawthar,

my tears have already watered you abundantly.

كيف الحياة وقد دفنت جوانحي

ما بين أنجادٍ إلى أغوار

How can I live, when I have buried my ribs

across the space from uplands to lowlands?

وحوى نبيّ تراب مصر وجلق

كالغيم مرتكناً على أقمار

And the soil of Egypt and Jilliq enclosed a prophet [as written],

like a cloud resting upon moons.

طرقت على تلك النفوس طوارق

وطرت على تلك الجسوم طواري

Calamities came by night upon those souls,

and sudden afflictions befell those bodies.

وبدت لدى البيدا مطي قبورهم

علماً بأنهمُ على أسفار

And in the desert their graves appeared as riding-beasts,

a sign that they were on journeys.

قسماً بمن جعل الفناء مسافة

إنا على خطرٍ من الأخطار

I swear by Him who made passing away a distance to traverse:

we are exposed to a peril among perils.

قل للذين تقدمت أمثالهم

أين الفرار ولات حين فرار

Say to those whose like have gone before them:

'Where is escape?' This is no time for escape.

ما بين أشهبَ للظلام معاود

ركضاً وأدهم للدجى كرار

Between a gray steed returning to darkness

at a gallop, and a black steed charging back into night,

يطأ الصغير ومن يعمر يلتحق

وعليه من شيبٍ كنقع غبار

it tramples the young; whoever lives long joins them,

with gray hair upon him like a cloud of dust.

مالي وعتب الشهب في تقديرها

ولقد تصاب الشهب بالأقدار

What have I to do with blaming the stars for their decrees,

when even the stars are struck by fate?

لا عقرب الفلك اللسوب من الردى

ينجو ولا أسد البروج الضاري

Neither the sky's stinging Scorpion escapes death,

nor the zodiac's ravening Lion.

يرمي الهلال بقوسه أرواحنا

ولقد يصاب القوس بالأوتار

The crescent shoots at our souls with its bow,

yet the bow itself can be struck by bowstrings.

كتب الفناء على الشواهد حجة

غنيت عن الإقرار والإنكار

Mortality has written on the gravestones a proof

that has no need of acknowledgment or denial.

فلتظهر الفطن الثواقب عجزها

فظهوره سر من الأسرار

Let piercing minds then reveal their helplessness,

for its manifestation is a secret among secrets.

وليصطبر متفجع فلربما

فقد المنى ومثوبة الصبَّار

And let the bereaved endure, for he may well

lose both his hopes and the reward of the steadfast.

أين الملوك الرافلون إلى العلى

عثروا إلى الأجداث أيّ عثار

Where are the kings who strode in splendor toward the heights?

They stumbled into the graves—what a fall!

كانوا جبالاً لا ترام فأصبحوا

بيد الردى حفنات تربٍ هار

They were mountains beyond assault, but became,

in death's hand, handfuls of crumbling earth.

أينَ الكماةُ إذ العجاجة أظلمت

قدَحوا القسيّ وناضلوا بشرار

Where are the armored warriors who, when the dust cloud darkened,

struck fire from their bows and fought with sparks?

سلموا على عطب الوغى ودجى بهم

داجي المنون إلى محل بوار

They survived battle's ruin, but around them darkened

death's gloom, bearing them to a place of destruction.

أين الأصاغر في المهود كأنما

ضمت كمائمها على أزهار

Where are the little ones in their cradles, as though

their bud-sheaths had closed around flowers?

خلط الحمام عظامهم ولحومهم

حتى تساوى الدّرّ بالأحجار

Death mixed their bones and their flesh,

until pearls became equal to stones.

فلئن صبرت ففي الأولى متصبرٌ

ولئن بدا جزعي فعن أعذار

If I endure, those who went before offer grounds for endurance;

and if my anguish shows, it has its reasons.

درّت عليك من الغمام مراضعٌ

وتكنفتك من النجوم جوار

May wet nurses from the clouds pour their milk upon you,

and maidens from among the stars surround you,

تسقي ثراك وليس ذاك بنافعي

لكن أغالط مهجتي وأداري

watering your earth—though that does me no good;

yet I beguile my heart and soothe it.