ألا ليس شيبك بالمتزع — Abn Rumi

ألا ليس شيبك بالمُتَّزَعْ

فهل أنت عن غيه مرتَدِعْ

Look: your gray hair cannot be checked.

Will you then desist from its folly?

وهل أنت تارك شكوى الزمان

إذاً لست تشكو إلى مستمعْ

Will you stop complaining of time?

Then you are not complaining to anyone who listens.

عتبتَ على المقرض المقتضي

وما ظَلمَ المُسلفُ المرتجع

You reproached the lender who demands repayment,

yet the lender who takes back his advance has done no wrong.

بلى إن من ظلمه لومَهُ

وما ألأم المعطي المنتزِع

Indeed, blaming him is itself an injustice to him,

and the giver who takes back has not acted ignobly.

وطول البقاء حبيب الفتى

ولكن بأي مَقيتٍ شُفِع

Long life is dear to a young man,

but with what a hateful thing it is paired!

نحب البقاء وفيه الغَنا

ء والعيش متَّصلٌ منقطع

We love survival, and in it lies benefit;

and life is continuous, yet interrupted.

إذا المرء طالت به مدةٌ

علا الشيب مفرقه أو صلع

When a person's years grow long,

gray hair covers his crown, or baldness.

فمحبوبه مع مكروهه

إذا ما اجتنى منه أرياً لُسِع

What he loves comes with what he hates:

whenever he gathers honey from it, he is stung.

وشيخوخة المرء أمنيَّةٌ

متى ما تناهى إليها هَلِع

Old age is a person's wish,

yet whenever he reaches it, he panics.

ألا فعزاءك عما مضى

فليس يؤوب إلى من جزِع

So console yourself for what has passed:

it does not return to those who grieve.

ولا تعذلِ الدهر في غدره

بإخوانه فعليه طُبِع

Do not rebuke time for its treachery

toward its companions: that is its inborn nature.

ألا وازدرع ماجداً مدحة

فإنك حاصد ما تزدرع

Sow a poem of praise in a noble man,

for you will reap what you sow.

ولا تعدونَّ ابن عبد العزي

ز والحكم حكمك إن لم يَرِع

Do not pass over Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz;

the judgment is yours if he yields no crop.

ولم لا يريع لزرَّاعه

كريمٌ أُثيرَ ومدحٌ زُرِع

Why should it not yield for its sowers—

a noble man tilled, and praise sown?

ألا فَامْرِ أخلاف معروفه

فإنك إن تمرها ترتضع

Stroke the teats of his kindness,

for if you stroke them, you will suck milk.

يكنَّى بليلى على أنه

ينوب عن الفلق المنصدع

He takes his byname from Laylā, although he

stands in for the breaking dawn.

وإن كان كالليل في ظله

وفي وسعه كل شيء وسع

Though he is like night in his shade,

everything is encompassed within his breadth.

فتى ضاف بغداذَ يقري اللهى

فكل برَيِّقِهِ مرتَبِع

A young man who came to Baghdad as a guest, serving largesse:

everyone finds spring pasture in his fresh rain.

ولم ير ضيفٌ قرى قبله

مضيفاً ولا كان فيما سُمع

No guest before him was seen entertaining

a host; nor was such a thing ever heard.

فتى لا تزال لسؤَّاله

عطايا على سائل تقترع

A young man for whose petitioners there are always

gifts drawing lots over a supplicant.

تنادت قرائن أمواله

ألا للتفرق ما نجتمع

The paired portions of his wealth called to one another:

"Listen: we gather only to be scattered!"

جواد غدا كل ذي خلة

بما ضر ثروته منتفع

A generous man: every person in need has become

a beneficiary of what diminished his fortune.

جلا عرضه وجلا سيفه

جميعاً فما فيهما من طبِع

He polished his honor and polished his sword,

both alike, with no tarnish on either.

فهذا لزينته آمناً

وذاك لبذلته إن فَزِع

This adorns him when he is secure,

and that is for his use when he is alarmed.

يلاقي القوافيَ في درعه

ويلقى الحروب ولم يدَّرِع

He meets verses clad in his armor,

yet meets wars without putting armor on.

وما يعرف الدرع إلا الندى

أو الصبر في كل يوم مَصِع

He knows no armor but generosity,

or steadfastness on every day of combat.

إذا قيل عافيه عافٍ أُنِي

ل قلت لهم بل جناب ربع

If they say his supplicant is a seeker who has been

given bounty, I tell them: rather, a spring-watered domain.

إذا امتيح جَمَّ لممتاحِهِ

ويأبى صفاه إذا ما قُرِع

When drawn from, he wells up abundantly for his drawer;

but his rock resists when struck.

قريب النوال بعيد المنا

ل يقرب في شرفٍ مرتفع

His gifts are near, but he is far to reach,

drawing near in exalted nobility.

كمثل السحاب نأى شخصُهُ

ولم ينأ منه صبيبٌ هَمِع

Like clouds whose mass is distant,

though their copiously pouring rain is not.

ولا عيب فيه سوى نائل

يلاقي السؤال بخدٍّ ضَرِع

He has no flaw except a gift

that meets begging with a submissive cheek.

على أنه قد كفى السائلي

ن فاتَّرَعوا وهو لا يتَّرِع

Although he has provided for the petitioners,

they are filled to the brim, while he never is.

أعفَّ العُفاةَ فقد أصبحت

عطاياه تنتجع المنتجِع

He spared supplicants the need to beg, for now

his gifts seek pasture with the pasture-seeker.

فسائله شامخٌ باذخٌ

ونائله خاشع منقمع

His petitioner is lofty and proud,

while his gift is humble and subdued.

تولت سماحته أمره

وفيها خلال الخليع الورِع

His generosity took charge of his affairs,

and it has the traits of a pious wastrel.

فخانته واقتطعت ماله

ألا حبذا الخائن المقتطع

It betrayed him and took away his wealth:

how welcome that betrayer and taker!

ولكنها وفرت عرضه

وصانته عن كل قيل قَذِع

But it preserved his honor

and protected it from every abusive utterance.

ولم تضطلع باختزان الثرا

ء لكنها بالعلا تضطلع

It did not undertake the hoarding of wealth,

but it does undertake glory.

أطاع السماحة في ماله

فأي الثناء له لم يطع

He obeyed generosity concerning his wealth:

what praise, then, has not obeyed him?

فلا يعجب الناس من مقول

غدا في مدائحه ينزرع

Let people not marvel at a tongue

that comes to be planted in his praises.

وحسب الكريم إذا ما حبا

وحسب اللئيم إذا ما شبع

Giving is enough for the noble man,

and eating his fill is enough for the base.

يرى المال يعطى كمثل القذا

أميط وليس كأنفٍ جُدِع

He regards money given away as a mote

removed—not as a nose cut off.

متى ينخدع لك عن ماله

فليس عن المجد بالمنخدع

Whenever he is beguiled out of his wealth for you,

he is not beguiled out of glory.

يميت الرياء ويحيي الندى

فيعطي ويخفي الذي يصطنع

He kills ostentation and revives generosity,

giving while concealing what he does.

على أنه المسك يأبى نثا

ه إلا انتشاراً وإن لم يَمِع

Yet he is musk: its fragrance refuses

anything but spreading, even when it has not melted.

يسر العطايا وآلاؤه

يَرينَ إذاعة ما لم يُذِع

He keeps his gifts secret, yet his favors

choose to proclaim what he has not proclaimed.

ومن فعل الخير مستخفياً

أشاعت مساعيه ما لم يُشِع

Whoever does good in secret,

his endeavors publicize what he has not publicized.

أبا ليلة البدر خذها إلي

ك تصدق فيك ولا تخترع

Father of the full moon's night, take it:

it speaks truly of you and invents nothing.

مهذبة مثل ممدوحها

من الخلع اللائي لا تُختلَع

Refined, like the man it praises,

it is among those robes of honor never stripped away.

هي الدهر تاج على ربها

وقرطان في أُذُنَيْ مستمع

Forever it is a crown upon its master,

and two earrings in a listener's ears.

يقول الوعاة إذا أنشدت

أألصخرُ يقتلع المقتلع

The discerning say, when it is recited:

"Can an uprooter uproot solid rock?"

أتيت نوالك من بابه

ولستُ الخدوع ولستَ الخَدِع

I approached your bounty through its door:

I am not deceitful, and you are not gullible.

وما ساءني فوت ما فاتني

وإن كان كالعضو مني نُزِع

Losing what I missed did not distress me,

though it was like a limb torn from me.

لأني على ثقة أنني

متى رمت رفدك لم يمتنع

For I am confident that

whenever I seek your support, it will not be withheld.

سبقت بأشياء أسديتَها

وأنت المخيلة لا تنقشع

You have forestalled me with favors you bestowed,

and you are a rain-promising cloud that never disperses.

ومدت وسائل أُعدمتُها

وأنت الوسيلة لا تنقطع

Means I had lacked have been extended,

and you are the means that is never severed.

فما فاتني فكأن لم يفت

وما ضاع لي فكأن لم يضع

Whatever I missed is as though I never missed it,

and whatever I lost is as though it were never lost.

وأقسم بالله أن لم أهب

نصيبيَ منك وأن لم أبع

I swear by God that I have not given away

my share in you, nor have I sold it.

ولكنني في يدَي علة

وأرجو بيمنك أن تتَّزع

But I am in the grip of an illness,

which I hope, by your good fortune, will be checked.

وإن يك لي سبب قاطع

فما أملي فيك بالمنقطع

Though I have a severing impediment,

my hope in you is not severed.

ومن يعترض مثلكم لا يقف

ومن يقتحم مثلكم لا يكع

Whoever approaches your like does not halt,

and whoever ventures toward your like does not flinch.

وكم من مسيءٍ أتى سابقاً

ويا رب محسن قوم تَبِع

Many a wrongdoer has come first,

and many a people's benefactor has followed behind.

ومن حاربته الليالي اشتكى

ومن سالمته الليالي فُجع

Those whom the nights wage war against complain,

and those with whom the nights make peace are bereaved.

ومسبعة الدهر مشحونة

ومن حل بين سباع سُبِع

Time's den of beasts is crowded,

and whoever dwells among beasts is mauled.

فلا تحرمنِّي على علتي

فأحظى بحظَّيْ لهيفٍ وَجِع

Do not deprive me because of my illness,

leaving me the twin lots of anguish and pain.

جرى الشعراء لكي يبدعوا

فلم يجدوا غير ما تصطنع

The poets raced to create something new,

but found nothing beyond what you do.

وحاولتَ إبداعَ أكرومةٍ

على أوَّليكَ فلم تستطع

You tried to create a noble deed

surpassing your predecessors, but could not.

فأصبحتم قد تكافأتمُ

ولا بدع حاولتمُ ممتنع

So you have proved equal to one another,

and no novel feat you attempt is impossible.

فلا تطلبوا بعدها بدعةً

وكونوا كسائر من يتبع

Seek no innovation after that,

and be like all the others who follow.

أقول وقد أرهنوك الأمي

ر لا بالذميم ولا بالجَدِع

I say, now that they have pledged you to the prince,

not as a base man or a stunted one,

ولا بالهِدان ولا بالددا

ن كلّا ولا بالجبان الهلع

nor a sluggard, nor an ineffectual man,

certainly not a coward, panicked,

ولا بالقليل ولا بالذلي

ل كلّا ولا بالبخيل الجشع

nor insignificant, nor abject,

certainly not a miser, greedy:

وفى للأمير أناسٌ غدا

رهينتهم كل مرعىً مَرِع

A people kept faith with the prince; now

their pledge is every verdant pasture.

وفي للأمير أناس غدا

رهينتهم كل طود فرع

A people kept faith with the prince; now

their pledge is every towering mountain.

فأنى يخيس أناس غدت

رهينتهم كل خير جمع

How could a people break faith, when

their pledge has become all goodness gathered together?

وفى حاجبٌ راهناً قوسَه

وراقب فيها الحديث الشنِع

Ḥājib kept faith, pledging his bow,

and feared scandalous talk concerning it.

وقومك أحنى على رهنهم

وما البدر من عود نبع فُرِع

Your people are more tender toward their pledge,

and the full moon was not cut from a branch of nabʿ wood.

وآل أبى دُلَفٍ معشرٌ

يرون المكارم ديناً شرع

The house of Abū Dulaf are a people

who deem noble deeds a prescribed religion.

إذا أُبدِئَ الطول منهم أُعي

دَ أو أُوتِر العرف فيهم شفع

When bounty begins with them, it is

repeated; or if kindness is single, among them it is doubled.

ترى في ذراهم غنى المجتدي

وعز الذليل وأمنَ الفزع

In their heights you see the supplicant's wealth,

the abject man's dignity, and the frightened man's safety.

وفيهم مذاقان للذائقي

ن حلوٌ لذيذٌ ومرٌّ بشِع

In them are two tastes for those who

taste: sweet and delicious, and bitter and repulsive.

بنوا في الجبال جبال العلا

فتلك الجبال لها تختشع

They built mountains of glory among the mountains,

and those mountains bow humbly before them.

وما امتنعوا من عدوٍّ بها

ولكنها بهمُ تمتنع

They did not seek protection from an enemy in those mountains;

rather, the mountains are protected by them.

سمت بجدودهم رتبةٌ

جدودُ الملوك لها تصطرع

With their forefathers rose a rank

for which the forefathers of kings contend.

هم المبدعون بديع العلا

إذا كان غيرهم المتَّبِع

They create unprecedented glory,

when others are followers.

وما الدين إلا مع التابعي

ن لكنما المجدُ للمبتدع

Religion belongs only with those who

follow; but glory belongs to the innovator.

يضيق على مادحي غيرهم

مقالٌ لمدّاحهم يتسع

For those praising others, there is too little

scope for speech; for their panegyrists, it is abundant.

هم يبسطون لسان العيي

ي مجداً يُصَنِّعُ غير الصَنِع

They loosen the tongue of the tongue-tied

with glory that makes the unskilled skillful.

وهم يقطعون لسان البلي

غ جوداً يقنِّع غير القنِع

They cut short the tongue of the eloquent

with generosity that satisfies the discontented.

يفوِّهُ مدّاحهم أنهم

يمدونهم من إناء ترِع

What gives their panegyrists a voice is that they

supply them from a brimming vessel.

ويسكت مدّاحهم أنهم

يجودونهم من نجاء همِع

What silences their panegyrists is that they

shower them from a pouring raincloud.

فكم بسطوا من لسان امرئ

فأسرف في الطول حتى ذُرِع

How many a man's tongue have they loosened,

till it stretched extravagantly and was measured in cubits!

وكم قطعوا من لسان امرئ

وإن كان لم يَدمَ لما قطع

How many a man's tongue have they cut off,

though it did not bleed when cut!

هم غضبوا للعلا فاشتروا

مدائح بيعت فلم تستبع

They were indignant for glory, and bought

praises offered for sale, though never solicited.

سموا فاشتروها بأحسابهم

ولم يشتروها لوهي رقِع

They rose high and bought them with their noble lineages,

not as patches for weakness.

وكم راقع حسباً واهياً

بمدح وإن كان لا يرتقع

Many a man patches a frail pedigree

with praise, though it cannot be patched.

ولم يُعلِهم جودهم بل علوا

فجاءوا بكل نوال منع

Their generosity did not raise them; rather, they rose,

and brought every gift once withheld.

علوا فسقوا كل من تحتهم

فكم من غليل بهم قد نقع

They rose and gave water to everyone beneath them:

how much burning thirst has been quenched through them!

كسقف السماء أغاث العبا

د شكراً لرافعه إذ رفع

Like heaven's roof, which succored the servants,

in thanks to its raiser when he raised it.

وحق العلو على المعتلي

حنوٌّ وعطف على المتضع

The obligation of height upon the exalted

is tenderness and compassion toward the lowly.

كأنكم يا بني قاسم

كواكب من قمرٍ تنقلع

You, sons of Qāsim, are as though

stars breaking away from a moon.

هو البدر أدّاكم أنجماً

تواضَعُ في فلَكٍ يرتفع

He is the full moon, who brought you forth as stars

that humble themselves in a rising orbit.

كساكم أبو دلف خيمَه

فكلٌّ بسكَّتِهِ منطبع

Abū Dulaf clothed you in his character,

so each is stamped with his die.

وكنتم أناساً لكم شيمة

قد استشعر اليأس منها الطمع

You were a people endowed with a disposition

before which ambition has wrapped itself in despair.

وفي الناس مما خصصتم به

تفاريق لكن متى تجتمع

Among other people, the qualities reserved for you

are scattered fragments—but when will they come together?

وما بات عانيكم كانعاً

ولا هَمُّ جارِكمُ مكتنِع

Your captive has never spent a night abased,

nor has distress closed in upon your neighbor.

وقدماً وددتم وعوديتمُ

وهيهات من ضُرَّ ممن نُفع

Long ago you were loved, and you were opposed:

far apart are those harmed and those helped.

فليس يعافُكُمُ ذائقٌ

وليس يُسيغكمُ مبتلع

No one who tastes you finds you distasteful;

no one who swallows you can get you down.