حميت لواء الملك فارتد طالبه — Ahmad Muharram

حَميت لِواءَ المُلكِ فارتدَّ طالِبُهْ

وَصُنتَ ذِمارَ الحَقِّ فاعتزَّ جانبُهْ

You defended the banner of kingship, and its seeker recoiled.

You safeguarded the sanctity of right, and its flank grew mighty.

وَأَدركت نَصراً ما رَمَت ساحَةُ الوَغى

بِأَمواجها حَتّى رَمَتها غَوارِبُهْ

And you won a victory: no sooner had the battlefield hurled forth

Its waves than victory's towering crests struck it.

تَضِجُّ العِدى غَرقى وَيَنسابُ زاخِراً

تَعُبُّ عَواديهِ وَتَطغى مَعاطِبُهْ

The foes cry out, drowning, while it flows on in flood,

Its ravaging waves gulp them down, and its deadly perils overflow.

إِذا النَصرُ عادى في الوَغى جُندَ مُدبرٍ

فَجندُكَ مَولاهُ وَسَيفُكَ صاحِبُهْ

If victory opposes a retreating host in battle,

Your army is its ally, and your sword its companion.

أَبَت أُمَّةُ اليُونانِ أَن تسكنَ الظُبى

فَهبَّ الرَدى فيها تَلظّى مَضارِبُهْ

The nation of Greece refused to let the sword-edges rest,

So death arose within her, its striking edges aflame.

بَعَثتَ عَلَيها مِن جُنودِكَ عاصِفاً

تَضيقُ بِهِ الآجالُ إِن جَدَّ دائِبُهْ

You sent against her a tempest from your troops,

Death's appointed hours cannot contain it when its tireless fighter presses on.

تَرامى بِها فَالبَرُّ حَيرى فِجاجُهُ

مُروَّعَةً وَالبَحرُ حَرّى مَسارِبُهْ

It raged across her; the land's passes stood bewildered,

Terrified, while the sea's channels burned.

إِذا التمسَت في غَمرةِ الهَولِ مَهرباً

تَطلَّعَ عادِي المَوتِ وَانقضَّ وَاثبُهْ

Whenever she sought escape in terror's depths,

Death's assailant loomed, and its leaper swooped down.

مَنايا تُوزَّعنَ النُفوسَ بِمعطبٍ

دَعا السَيفُ فيهِ فاستجابَت نَوادِبُهْ

Dooms parceling out souls upon a killing ground,

Where the sword called and its mourning women answered.

إِذا انهلَّ مَسفوكٌ مِن الدَمِ أَعولت

وَراحَت تُرِيقُ الدَمعَ يَنهلُّ ساكِبُهْ

Whenever spilled blood poured forth, they wailed,

And went on shedding tears, their streams pouring down.

وَإِن ضَجَّ ما بَين القَواضبِ هالكٌ

أَرنَّت وَراءَ الخَيلِ شُعثاً تُجاوِبُهْ

And if a dying man cried out amid the cutting swords,

They keened behind the horses, disheveled, answering him.

مآتمُ أَمسى الملكُ ممّا تَتابعت

وَأَعراسُه ما تَنقضي وَمَواكبُهْ

Funeral rites came in such succession that the sovereign had

Wedding feasts and processions without end.

تجلّت هُمومٌ كُنَّ بِالأَمسِ حَولَهُ

كَما اسودَّ لَيلٌ ما تَفرّى غَياهبُهْ

Worries have cleared that yesterday surrounded him

Like a night grown black, its darkness unbroken.

أَهاب بِها النَصرُ الحَميديُّ فارعوت

وَأَقبلَ وَضّاحاً تُضِيءُ كَواكبُهْ

Hamidian victory called out at them, and they drew back,

And it came radiant, its stars shining.

تَبيتُ مُنيفاتُ المَآذنِ هُتَّفاً

بِأَنبائِهِ وَالبَغيُ يَنعَقُ ناعِبُهْ

The lofty minarets spend the night proclaiming

Its tidings, while oppression's raven croaks.

بَريدٌ مِن المُختارِ يَعبَقُ طِيبُه

وَبَرقٌ مِن الأَنصارِ يَسطَعُ ثاقِبُهْ

A dispatch from the Chosen One, its fragrance wafting,

And lightning from the Ansar, its piercing flash shining.

سَنا الوَحي أَسطارٌ فَإِن كُنتَ قارِئاً

فَهَذا كِتابُ الحَقِّ وَاللَهُ كاتِبُهْ

Revelation's radiance in written lines—if you can read,

This is the book of truth, and God its writer.

أَفي معقل الإِسلامِ تَطمَعُ أُمَّةٌ

تَبيتُ مَناياها حَيارى تُراقبُهْ

Does a nation covet the stronghold of Islam,

While her dooms keep watch upon it all night, bewildered?

إِذا لَمحت إِيماءَةً مِنهُ أَجلبت

عَلى القَومِ حَتّى يَسأمَ الشَرَّ جالِبُهْ

At a glimpse of its gesture, they surge

Against the people, until evil's bringer tires of evil.

كَتائِبُ مِن أَقوامِنا خالديَّةٌ

وَما الحَربُ إِلّا خالدٌ وَكتائِبُهْ

Battalions from our peoples, in Khalid's mold—

And what is war but Khalid and his battalions?

مَشَت تَأخذُ الأَعداءَ وَاللَهُ قائِمٌ

عَلَيها وَدينُ اللَهِ يَعتزُّ غالِبُهْ

They advanced, seizing the foes, with God standing guard

Over them; the champion of God's faith grows mighty.

إِذا لَمست حِصناً هَوَت شُرُفاتُهُ

وَإِن لَمحت طَوداً تَداعَت مَناكِبُهْ

When they touched a fortress, its battlements fell;

And if they glimpsed a mountain, its shoulders crumbled.

تَعلَّمتِ الهَيجاءَ شَتّى فُنُونُها

وَتمّت لَها من كُلِّ فَنٍّ عَجائِبُهْ

They learned warfare in its manifold arts,

And the marvels of every art became theirs in full.

لَها في أَعاصيرِ القِتالِ وَقائِعٌ

هِيَ السحرُ لَولا أَن يُزيَّف كاذِبُهْ

In battle's hurricanes, they have deeds

That are magic—except that magic's deceiver is unmasked.

أَلمّت بلاريسّا فَحلَّ رُبوعَها

عَذابٌ إِذا ما استَصرخت لَجَّ واصِبُهْ

They descended on Larissa, and upon her quarters fell

A torment whose ceaseless pain grew fiercer whenever she cried for aid.

رَمَتها بِوَبلٍ مِن حَديدٍ وَأُسرُبٍ

تَتابَعَ يَجري مِن يَد اللَهِ صائِبُهْ

They pelted her with a downpour of iron and lead,

In unbroken succession, its unerring shots streaming from God's hand.

تُقلِّبُ في فَرسالةَ العَينَ هَل تَرى

عَلى اليَأسِ فيها من سَميعٍ تُخاطِبُهْ

She turns her gaze toward Pharsala: can she see,

Despite despair, a listener there whom she can address?

تُديران نَجوى جارَتينِ اِعتراهُما

عَلى الضَعفِ هَمٌّ يَصدعُ الصَخرَ ناصِبُهْ

The two exchange whispers, neighbors both beset

In their weakness by a grief whose torment splits rock.

إِذا صاحتا بِالجَيشِ تَستَنجِدانهِ

تَنصّلَ مُورِيهِ وَأَجفلَ هارِبُهْ

When both cry to the army, begging its aid,

Its instigator disavows responsibility, and its fugitive bolts.

بِكُلّ مَكانٍ مُدبِرٍ مِن فُلولهم

تَضِلُّ مَناحيهِ وَتَعمى مَذاهِبُهْ

A fugitive from their shattered ranks is found everywhere;

His bearings are lost, and his paths grow blind.

يُجانِبُ حَرَّ البَأسِ وَالأَرضُ كُلُّها

دَمٌ وَسَعيرٌ مُطبِقٌ ما يُجانِبُهْ

He shuns the heat of combat, though all the earth

Is blood and an engulfing blaze that will not leave his side.

وَمَن يَلتَمس لحمَ الضَوارِي لَهُ قِرىً

فَتلكَ مَقارِيه وَهذي مَآدبُهْ

And whoever seeks the flesh of beasts of prey as his welcome feast,

Those, then, are his serving bowls, and these his banquets.

هُمُ أُطعِمُوا المَوتَ الزُؤامَ وَعُلِّموا

جُنونَ السُكارى ما تَكونُ عَواقِبُهْ

They were fed a swift and deadly doom, and taught

What the consequences of drunken madness are.

تَساقَوا أَفاويقَ الغُرورِ فَما نَجَوا

وَلَيسَ بِناجٍ مِن أَذى السُمِّ شارِبُهْ

They plied each other with draughts of delusion, and did not escape,

And poison's drinker cannot escape its harm.

أَجارَتنا ما أَكرَم الجَيشَ لَو وَفى

وَما أَحسَنَ الأُسطولَ لَو جَدَّ لاعِبُهْ

O our neighbor, how noble the army—had it kept faith!

And how splendid the fleet—had its trifler grown earnest!

إِلَيكُم بَني هومِيرَ هل من قصيدةٍ

تُغنّي ضَوارينا بِها وَثعالِبُهْ

Over to you, sons of Homer: is there a poem

For our beasts of prey and his foxes to sing?

دَعوا شَيخَكُم إِنّي عَلى الشعرِ قائِمٌ

فَما يَبتَغي غَيري عَلى الدَهرِ طالِبُهْ

Leave your elder aside; I stand as poetry's guardian,

For through all time its seeker seeks none but me.

أَسيِّرُهُ فيكُم حَديثاً مُردَّداً

لَنا مَجدُهُ الأَعلى وَفيكُم مَثالبُهْ

I send it among you, a tale told and retold:

Its highest glory is ours; its reproaches fall on you.

لَنا مِن بَني عُثمان سَيفٌ إِذا انتَمى

تَسامَت بِهِ أَعراقُهُ وَمَناسبُهْ

We have a sword from the House of Osman; when it declares its lineage,

Its ancestry and kinship ties soar high with it.

لِحَمزَةَ حَدٌّ مِنهٌ غَيرُ مُكذَّبٍ

وَحدٌّ لِسَيفِ اللَهِ شَتّى مَناقِبُهْ

One of its edges is Hamza's, never found wanting,

And one is the Sword of God's, whose noble deeds are manifold.

إِذا ما دَعا الشُمَّ الأُباةَ لغارةٍ

دَعا البَيتُ فيهِ وَاستَجابَت أخاشبُهْ

When it summons the proud, unbowing men to a raid,

The Sacred House calls through it, and its rugged mountains answer.

قَضيتُ لَهُم في اللَهِ واجبَ حَقِّهِ

وَكَيفَ بحقِّ اللَهِ إِن ضاعَ وَاجِبُهْ

For them, in God's cause, I have fulfilled the duty owed to Him;

And what of God's right, if its obligation is neglected?