لا يغضبن لعمرو من له خطر — Abn Rumi

لا يغْضَبنّ لعمرو من له خطرٌ

فليس يرضى بضيمي من له خَطَرُ

Let no man of standing be angered on 'Amr's behalf,

For no man of standing approves of my being wronged.

لاسيما ولقولي فيه منزلةٌ

من سيد مثَّلاهُ الشمس والقمر

Especially since my words about him enjoy esteem

With a lord whose two likenesses are the sun and moon.

لضحكةٌ منه أوْلى أن أُسَرَّ بها

من ضحكة الروض وشَّى بردَهُ الزهرُ

One laugh from him deserves my delight more

Than the garden's smile, its mantle embroidered by flowers.

لو كنت أعلم أن الشرك يُضحكهُ

أشركتُ بالقرد عمروٍ أنه عَبرُ

If I knew that associating partners with God would make him laugh,

I would make the monkey 'Amr God's partner—such a grotesque marvel is he.

فإن تعجّب قومٌ قلت ممتثلاً

قولَ الفرزدق فيما أدَّت السِّيَرُ

And if some people marveled, I would say, echoing

Al-Farazdaq's words, as the chronicles relate:

أيعجب الناس أن أضحكتُ سيدهم

خليفةَ الله يُستسقى به المطر

"Do people marvel that I made their master laugh,

God's caliph, through whom rain is sought?"

وإنني مستعير عرضَ عَمْرِهُمُ

شهراً من الحول كي يُقضَى به وطر

I am merely borrowing their 'Amr's honor

For one month of the year, to fulfill a desire,

كما استعار عليٌّ هامَ شيعته

تحت الظُّبا ساعةً فيما حكى الخبر

Just as 'Ali borrowed his followers' heads

Beneath sword-edges for an hour, as the account relates.

وليس يُغبَن عمرو في إعارته

إياي عِرضاً سيبقى فيه لي أثر

'Amr suffers no loss by lending

Me an honor upon which my mark will remain.

يُعيرنيه دَريساً ثم يأخذهُ

مني جديداً مُوَشّىً كله حِبر

He lends it to me threadbare, then takes it

Back from me new and embroidered, entirely brocade.

يا عمرو لا تمنعنّا ما نُسرُّ به

فإن ذلك لؤم منك أو خور

O 'Amr, do not deny us what delights us:

That would be meanness or weakness on your part.

وقد أعار خيارُ الناس هامَهمُ

إمامَهم ولأهل الفضل مصطبر

The best of men have lent their heads

To their imam; the virtuous have endurance.

دع ذا فأنت حقيقٌ أن تكافئني

لو كنت تدري وأنَّى يفْقه الحجر

Leave that aside: you ought to reward me,

If you understood—but how could a stone understand?

نبّهتُ ذكرَك حتى عاد خاملُهُ

بدراً وكان سِراراً دونه سُتُر

I awakened your fame until its obscurity became

A full moon, having been a dark moon hidden behind veils.

سخرتُ فيك هجائي بعد ما ذَئِرتْ

منك القوافي وقِدْماً عيفت القُذَر

I harnessed my satire against you after the rhymes recoiled

From you; filthy things have long been shunned.

وإن تسخير فكري فيك قافيةً

لسُخْرة منه خفَّت عندها السُّخَر

Indeed, putting my thought to work on a rhyme about you

Is forced labor beside which other forced labors seem light.

فاشكر وهيهات أن تُهدى لشكر يدٍ

وكيف يُهدَى غَويٌّ قَصْرُهُ سَقَر

So give thanks—though far be it that you should learn gratitude for kindness!

How can an errant man whose palace is Saqar be guided?

أستغفر الله لم تُشهرك حادثةٌ

بل أنت قدماً بذاك الأنف مشتهَر

I ask God's forgiveness: no incident made you notorious;

Rather, you were long notorious for that nose.

بل أنت كلك شيء لا نظير لهُ

فيما رأينا وفي أشياءَ تنتظر

Indeed, your whole person is something without parallel

Among what we have seen or things yet to come.

فاشكر إلهك لا تشرِك به أحداً

إن كان يُشكَر شيء كلّه شُهَر

So thank your God; associate no one with Him,

If thanks can be given for something made wholly of deformities.

يا عمرو لو قلبت ميمٌ مُسكَّنةٌ

باءً محرَّكةً لم تُخطأ الفُقَر

O 'Amr, if an unvowelled mim were changed

Into a vowelled ba, the pointed phrases would hit home.

فإن ضنِنت بميم كاسْتِ صاحبها

فبدِّل العينَ غيناً أيها الغَمَر

But if you begrudge a mim resembling its owner's anus,

Then change the 'ayn into a ghayn, you ignorant fool.

ولا تميلنَّ عن عمرو إلى عُمَرٍ

فينتضي لك من أكفانه عمر

And never turn from 'Amr to 'Umar,

Lest 'Umar spring unsheathed against you from his shrouds,

ويغضب اللَّه والسبع الطِّباق له

وساكنوهنّ والأبرار والسور

And God and the seven layered heavens grow angry on his behalf,

Along with their inhabitants, the righteous, and the Quranic surahs.

سمَّتك يا عمرو عمراً وهي ظالمةٌ

رِمامُ سوءٍ وقد أودى بها العَفر

She named you 'Amr, O 'Amr, unjustly—

Those vile remains, now destroyed by the dust.

فادعُ الإله عليها غير مُتَّئبٍ

وغيِّر اسمك حلَّت باسمك الغِير

So call upon God against her, without shame,

And change your name: calamities have beset that name.

خيِّم على عَبر واقنع بها سِمةً

فيها لمثلك إن أنصفت مُقتصَر

Settle on 'Abr, and accept it as your designation;

For someone like you, it is enough, if you are fair.

سامح أبا العبر المسكين في ولدٍ

يُعزَى إليه وكُنْه أيها العبر

Oblige poor Abu al-'Ibar with a son

Ascribed to him: be that son, you grotesque.

أصبحت تصلح مصداقاً لكنيته

دعوى شواهدُها أخلاقك العرر

You have become fit to substantiate his father-name,

A claim witnessed by your disgraceful traits.

أنت ابنه غيرَ شكٍّ يا أبا حسنٍ

فاذهبْ ظفرتَ بما لم يأمل الظَّفر

You are his son beyond doubt, O Abu Hasan;

Go, then: you have won what victory never hoped to win.

حَصَّلته هاشمياً لا نظير له

مِلْحاً وظرفاً وإن قال الخنا نفر

You have secured him as a Hashimite without equal

In wit and charm, even if some call it obscenity.

وما أتى بك حياً بل صَدى حُفرٍ

وهكذا تلد الأصداء والحفر

He fathered you not alive, but as an echo from graves;

Thus do echoes and graves give birth.

لو كنت من ولد الأحياء ما اكتسبتْ

يداك دَهْيَاءَ لا تُبقي ولا تَذر

Had you been offspring of the living, your hands would not

Have earned a dark calamity that spares and leaves nothing.

أعجِبْ بناسل عمروٍ وهْو في جدثٍ

وفي الحوادث آيات ومعتبَر

Marvel at 'Amr's begetter, lying in a grave!

In events there are signs and lessons.

وإنّ أعجب من عمروٍ وناسِله

لأنْ غدا وهو محجوج ومُعتمَر

And stranger still than 'Amr and his begetter

Is that he has become an object of pilgrimage and visitation:

جبسٌ يهرُّ على الأحرار حاجبه

وآفةُ الناس أن تستأسِد البقر

A dolt whose doorkeeper snarls at noble men.

People's bane is cattle playing the lion,

وأن يكون له بغلٌ وآلته

وأن يسير وقد حَفَّت به الزمر

And his possessing a mule with its equipment,

And his traveling surrounded by crowds.

مخبَّل الخَلق في أوصاله حَوَل

كأنّ خِلْقته ثوب به شَطَر

Malformed in body, with crookedness in his limbs,

As though his frame were a garment cut askew,

أو شكل ميزان قتٍّ جانبٌ صَعَدٌ

وجانب ثقَّلوه فهو منحدر

Or fodder-scales, with one side raised

And the other weighted down and sinking.

للعين في وجه عمرو مقبِلاً طِيَرٌ

وفي قَفاه لها مستدبراً عبر

For the eye, 'Amr's approaching face holds ill omens;

His retreating nape holds lessons for it.

فإن تطاوَحَ فيه طرفُها صُعُداً

أضحى له ولها في طولها سفر

And if its gaze ranges upward over him,

For him and it, that long reach becomes a journey.

قالت مقابحُ عمروٍ عند موقعه

في أمه ما لمثلي افتُضّت العُذر

'Amr's ugliness said when he was implanted

In his mother: "Hymens were not broken for the likes of me."

أنَّى يكون لنفسٍ حرة سَكَناً

وليس فيه لكلب جائع جَزَر

How could he comfort a noble soul,

When there is not even meat in him for a hungry dog?

إني لأحسب عمراً من طفاستِه

يُضحي وفي بعضه عن بعضه زَوَر

Indeed, I think 'Amr, in his foulness,

Comes to have one part of himself recoiling from another.

يا ابن الوزير الذي جَلَّت وزارتُهُ

أنَّى يُراح إلى عمرو ويبتكر

O son of the vizier whose vizierate was exalted,

How can 'Amr be visited evening and morning?

قد أنكر الحزمُ أنّا كلَّ شارقةٍ

تُضحى بعمرو لنا ذنبٌ ومعتذَر

Prudence has objected that, at every sunrise,

'Amr should leave us a fault and an apology.

يُزري علينا به قوم فيجشِمنا

تمويهُ عذر وبعض العذر معتسَر

Some people disparage us because of him, burdening us

With dressing up an excuse—and some excuses are hard to devise.

ولا يني مُستخِفّاً بامرئٍ وجبتْ

عليك بالميل والزلفى له أُجَر

He never ceases belittling a man to whom

Your affection and closeness have made recompenses due.

منها الكرامة وهي الفرض توجبهُ

وعند طولك أنفال له أُخَر

Among them is honor, the duty you make binding;

Within your bounty are other, additional gifts for him.

وما دعاه إلى استخفافه درَكٌ

لكن دعاه إليه الجهل والبطر

No superior attainment prompted his contempt;

Rather, ignorance and arrogance prompted it.

وليس تخطئ ذا الخرطوم واحدةٌ

من اثنتين إذا ما حُصحِص النظر

The man with the snout cannot escape one

Of two charges, when scrutiny is thorough:

جهالة وتعدٍّ في إهانته

مولاك والذنب في هاتيك مغتفر

Ignorance and aggression in his insulting

Your client—a fault pardonable in that case.

لكن عَتاد أبي الخرطوم سيدنا

كبيرة صغُرت في جنبها الكُبر

But Father Snout's action against our master [word unclear]

Is a grave sin beside which great sins seem small.

قد امتطى القردُ في إتيانها غَرَراً

يا واحد الناس فليعثُر به الغرر

The monkey has ridden peril in committing it;

O peerless man, let peril trip him!

أما رآك وقد أكرمتني طرفاً

من النهار أما كانت له ذِكر

Did he not see you honoring me for part

Of the day? Was there no reminder for him?

أما درى أن ما عظَّمت قيمتهُ

فهو العظيم وما حَقَّرت محتقر

Did he not know that whatever you exalt in worth

Is great, and whatever you belittle is contemptible?

لشدّ ما أقدمتْ بالأمس عزمتُهُ

على التي أعوزتْ أنصارها العِذر

How boldly his resolve charged yesterday

Upon a deed that denied its defenders any excuse!

فإن هم عُذروا بالجهل صاحبها

فليس في رفض أعمى القلبِ مؤتمر

But if they excuse its perpetrator for ignorance,

No deliberation is needed to reject the blind of heart:

ممن يرى أن رزء العِرْض مُجتَبرٌ

ولا يرى أن رزء المال يجتبر

One who thinks the loss of honor reparable,

But does not think the loss of wealth can be repaired.

وما الصواب سوى استقصاء نعمتهِ

وكلُّ نعمى على أمثاله هدر

The only right course is to withdraw every favor from him;

Every favor bestowed on his like is wasted,

كيما يكونَ لأقوام به أدبٌ

وفي النَّكال عن الزلات مزدجَر

So that others may learn discipline through him;

Exemplary punishment deters missteps.

والحمد للَّه شكراً لا شريك لهُ

على الأمور التي يجري بها القدر

And praise be to God, in gratitude—He has no partner—

For the affairs brought about by fate.

وسائل لي ما عمرو وموضعه

أأعوزتْ رأيَ ذاك السيدِ الخِيَر

Someone asked me: "What is 'Amr, and what is his standing?

Have better choices eluded that master's judgment?"

فقلت كلّا ولكن طوله عجبٌ

بمثله شُغِل السُّمار والسمر

I said: "Not at all; but his generosity is a marvel,

The like of which occupies evening talkers and their conversation.

ما زال ذا مِننٍ تُهدَى إلى شبحٍ

ما فيه مَسْدىً لعُرف حين يختبر

He has never ceased bestowing favors upon a mere shape

That, when tested, offers no warp on which kindness can be woven,

محاوِلاً فعلَ عرف لا يخالطهُ

شوبٌ سواه وذاك الصفو لا الكدر

Seeking to perform a kindness unmixed

With anything else: that is purity, not turbidity.

وللصنائع والآلاء تصفيةٌ

عند الكرام تراها تلكمُ الفِطر

Benefactions and bounties undergo purification

Among the noble; such natures recognize it.

خِرْقٌ تراه بفعل الغيث مقتدياً

والغيثُ يُنعِم حتى يُعشِب المَدَر

A generous man whom you see emulating the rain's deeds;

Rain gives bounty until even clods grow grass.

فلن تراه وفي عرفٍ يجود به

ترشيح شكر وهل للغيث مُتَّجر

You will never see, in a kindness he bestows,

Any cultivation of thanks—does rain conduct trade?

كافٍ كسى الناسَ طراً من فواضله

ما ليس في ثوبه ضيقٌ ولا قِصر

An able man who has clothed everyone from his surplus bounty

In a garment neither tight nor short.

كالغيث يصبح مغموراً بنائله

أفاضلُ القوم والأنعام والشجر

Like rain, his bounty comes to immerse

The best of the people, livestock, and trees.

هذا على أن فيه فضلَ تكرمةٍ

للأفضلين ولِمْ لا تُمسَح الغرر

Yet he reserves an extra measure of honor

For the best—and why should white forehead-blazes not be stroked?

مثل الفراسيِّ والنحوي صاحبهُ

وكالملقَّب فهو الغُنج والحور

Such as al-Firasi and his companion the grammarian,

And the man known by his sobriquet—coquetry and lovely eyes embodied.

ذاك الذي لم يزل ظرفاً ونادرةً

كأن مَحْضَره الأصداغ والطُّرر

That man who has always been wit and a rare jest,

As though his presence were temple-locks and forelocks.

وكالطبيب أبى إسحاقَ إن لهُ

نفعاً مبيناً إذا ما أجحف الضرر

And the physician Abu Ishaq, who indeed brings

Manifest benefit when harm grows severe.

وما نسيتُ أبا إسحاقَ مائرنا

تلك الفكاهات سِيقتْ نحوه المِير

Nor have I forgotten Abu Ishaq, our purveyor

Of those pleasantries—may provisions be brought his way!

بحر المعاني ثِقافُ اللفظ قيِّمهُ

إذا تَعاجَم فيه البدو والحضر

A sea of meanings, diction's straightener and guardian,

When desert folk and townsfolk alike find it obscure.

وكيف أنسى امرأً يحيي محاسنهُ

ذكراه عندي إذا ما ماتت الذِّكَر

How could I forget a man whose virtues

Are revived within me by his memory when other memories die?

وكالنّطيف نزيف إنه لهبٌ

ذاكٍ له حركات كلها شَرَر

And like al-Nutayf, Nazif: he is a flame,

Blazing, with movements that are all sparks.

ذاك الذي لم يزل طيباً ومنفعةً

كأن مشهده الآصال والبُكر

That man who has always been pleasantness and benefit,

As though his presence were late afternoons and early mornings.

أقسمت لو لم تحصِّنا حرارتُهُ

من برد عمرو لقد أودتْ بنا القِرر

I swear, had his warmth not shielded us

From 'Amr's coldness, bitter chills would have destroyed us.

ولي إلى ابن فراس عودة وجبتْ

له عليّ بحق إنه وَزَر

And I owe Ibn Firas a return, a duty

Rightfully due to him from me, for he is a refuge.

ذو مخبر بارعٍ في منظرٍ حسنٍ

فيه لذي الفخر بالخدّام مُفتخَر

Possessing excellent inward character within a handsome exterior,

In him, one who boasts of servants has a source of pride.

كأنه حين يجري في كتابته

له طريق إلى العلياء مختصر

As though, when he runs through his writing,

He has a shortcut to eminence.

صَفّاه من كل عيب أنه رجلٌ

ما إنْ يزال له من عائب حذر

What has purified him of every fault is that he is a man

Who never ceases to beware a fault-finder.

سيفٌ محلّىً تروق العين حليتُهُ

وصارمٌ حين يتلو حده ذَكر

An adorned sword whose ornament delights the eye,

And a keen blade, steel-edged when he recites.

ولا يخونُك في سرٍ ولا علنٍ

أمانةً أو يخون السمع والبصر

He will not betray you in secret or in public

In any trust—unless hearing and sight themselves betray.

ليست مثانيه من نبعٍ لعاطفه

ولا مكاسِرهُ للمعتدِي عُشَرُ

His yielding parts are not hard nab'-wood to an affectionate friend,

Nor his breaking-points soft 'ushar-wood to an aggressor.

تطرّفت شِرَرٌ منهُ حباهُ بها

شرخُ الشباب ولم تنقض له مِرَر

Stray sparks have flashed from him, bestowed on him

By youth's prime, while his strands of strength remain unfrayed.

وربّما نفختْ في ناره هَنَةٌ

فاستوقدتْ شرراً ما مثلها شرر

Sometimes a little thing has blown upon his fire

And kindled sparks unlike any sparks.

حامٍ بحزم حمى السلطان في كرمٍ

رامٍ بعزم إذا عنَّت له الفُقَر

Generously guarding the sultan's domain with prudence,

Shooting resolutely when grave difficulties confront him.

يُثني السهامَ عن المرمى وآونةً

يُمضي السهام إذا لاحت له الثُّغَر

He turns arrows from their target, and at other times

Sends them flying when openings appear to him.

لا يورد الأمر أو تبدو مصادرهُ

ولا يرى الوردَ ما لم يمكن الصَّدَر

He does not enter an affair until its exits are plain,

Nor contemplate watering unless departure is possible.

أضحتْ كتابتهُ بيضاءَ تشبههُ

يُجبَى بها الحمد للسلطان والبِدَر

His secretarial work has grown radiant, resembling him;

Through it, praise and money-purses are gathered for the sultan.

وكلُّ ما قلته فيه فسيدنا

أولَى به وهو من حقت له الأُثَر

And all I have said of him—our master

Deserves still more; to him preferment rightly belongs.

وللعروق ثمارُ الفرع تمنحها

أغصانُهُ وللبِّ الهامة الشعر

The roots receive the branch's fruits, bestowed

By its boughs; and the skull's hair belongs to its core.