في الموت ما أعيا وفي أسبابه — Ahmed Shawqi

في المَوتِ ما أَعيا وَفي أَسبابِهِ

كُلُّ اِمرِئٍ رَهنٌ بِطَيِّ كِتابِهِ

In death, and in its causes, lies what baffles;

every person is hostage to the closing of his book.

أَسَدٌ لَعَمرُكَ مَن يَموتُ بِظُفرِهِ

عِندَ اللِقاءِ كَمَن يَموتُ بِنابِهِ

It is a lion, by your life: one who dies by its claw

at the encounter is like one who dies by its fang.

إِن نامَ عَنكَ فَكُلُّ طِبٍّ نافِعٌ

أَو لَم يَنَم فَالطِبُّ مِن أَذنابِهِ

If it sleeps, leaving you alone, every medicine works;

or, if it does not sleep, medicine is among its minions.

داءُ النُفوسِ وَكُلُّ داءٍ قَبلَهُ

هَمٌّ نَسينَ مَجيئَهُ بِذَهابِهِ

The sickness of souls—and every sickness before it

is a care whose coming they forgot with its passing.

النَفسُ حَربُ المَوتِ إِلّا أَنَّها

أَتَتِ الحَياةَ وَشُغلَها مِن بابِهِ

The soul is death's foe, yet

it entered life and its labors through death's gate.

تَسَعُ الحَياةَ عَلى طَويلِ بَلائِها

وَتَضيقُ عَنهُ عَلى قَصيرِ عَذابِهِ

It makes room for life despite its long affliction,

yet has none for death despite its brief torment.

هُوَ مَنزِلُ الساري وَراحَةُ رائِحٍ

كَثُرَ النَهارُ عَلَيهِ في إِنعابِهِ

It is the night traveler's lodging, the evening traveler's rest,

for whom the day grew long with his hurried journeying.

وَشَفاءُ هَذي الروحِ مِن آلامِها

وَدَواءُ هَذا الجِسمِ مِن أَوصابِهِ

And the healing of this spirit from its pains,

and this body's cure for its ailments.

مَن سَرَّهُ أَلّا يَموتَ فَبِالعُلا

خَلُدَ الرِجالُ وَبِالفِعالِ النابِهِ

Whoever would rejoice not to die—through greatness

men have lived forever, and through illustrious deeds.

ما ماتَ مَن حازَ الثَرى آثارَهُ

وَاِستَولَتِ الدُنيا عَلى آدابِهِ

He is not dead whose traces the earth has gathered,

and whose writings the world has made its own.

قُل لِلمُدِلِّ بِمالِهِ وَبِجاهِهِ

وَبِما يُجِلُّ الناسُ مِن أَنسابِهِ

Tell the man who vaunts his wealth and rank,

and the lineages of his that people esteem:

هَذا الأَديمُ يَصُدُّ عَن حُضّارِهِ

وَيَنامُ مِلءَ الجَفنِ عَن غُيّابِهِ

This earthly surface turns away from those present upon it,

and sleeps its eyelids' fill, heedless of those absent from it,

إِلّا فَنىً يَمشي عَلَيهِ مُجَدِّداً

ديباجَتَيهِ مُعَمِّراً بِخَرابِهِ

except a youth who walks upon it, renewing

its two brocaded cheeks, building it up through his own ruin.

صادَت بِقارِعَةِ الصَعيدِ بَعوضَةٌ

في الجَوِّ صائِدَ بازِهِ وَعُقابِهِ

A mosquito hunted down, on Upper Egypt's open road,

the hunter of its hawk and eagle in the air.

وَأَصابَ خُرطومُ الذُبابَةِ صَفحَةً

خُلِقَت لِسَيفِ الهِندِ أَو لِذُبابِهِ

And the fly's proboscis struck a cheek

made for India's sword, or for its point.

طارَت بِخافِيَةِ القَضاءِ وَرَأرَأَت

بِكَريمَتَيهِ وَلامَسَت بِلُعابِهِ

It flew with fate's covert feather, and looked about

with its two precious eyes, and touched with its saliva.

لا تَسمَعَنَّ لِعُصبَةِ الأَرواحِ ما

قالوا بِباطِلِ عِلمِهِم وَكِذابِهِ

Do not ever listen to the band of spiritualists, to what

they said through their false science and its lies.

الروحُ لِلرَحمَنِ جَلَّ جَلالُهُ

هِيَ مِن ضَنائِنِ عِلمِهِ وَغِيابِهِ

The spirit belongs to the All-Merciful—exalted is His majesty;

it is among the guarded treasures of His knowledge and His unseen mysteries.

غُلِبوا عَلى أَعصابِهِم فَتَوَهَّموا

أَوهامَ مَغلوبٍ عَلى أَعصابِهِ

They lost command of their nerves, and imagined

the delusions of one who has lost command of his nerves.

ما آبَ جَبّارُ القُرونِ وَإِنَّما

يَومُ الحِسابِ يَكونُ يَومَ إِيابِهِ

The tyrant of the ages has not returned; rather,

the Day of Reckoning will be the day of his return.

فَذَروهُ في بَلَدِ العَجائِبِ مُغمَداً

لا تَشهَروهُ كَأَمسِ فَوقَ رِقابِهِ

So leave him sheathed in the land of wonders;

do not brandish him over its people's necks as of old.

المُستَبِدُّ يُطاقُ في ناووسِهِ

لا تَحتَ تاجَيهِ وَفَوقَ وِثابِهِ

The despot can be borne in his sarcophagus,

not beneath his two crowns and upon his couch.

وَالفَردُ يُؤمَنُ شَرُّهُ في قَبرِهِ

كَالسَيفِ نامَ الشَرُّ خَلفَ قِرابِهِ

And in his grave one is safe from an autocrat's evil,

like a sword: evil sleeps behind its sheath.

هَل كانَ توتَنخٌ تَقَمَّصُ روحُهُ

قُمُصَ البَعوضِ وَمُستَخَسَّ إِهابِهِ

Did Tutankh's spirit put on

the mosquitoes' shirts and their contemptible skin?

أَو كانَ يَجزيكَ الرَدى عَن صُحبَةٍ

وَهوَ القَديمُ وَفاؤُهُ لِصِحابِهِ

Or would he repay you with death for companionship,

when his loyalty to his companions is long-established?

تَاللَهِ لَو أَهدى لَكَ الهَرَمَينِ مِن

ذَهَبٍ لَكانَ أَقَلَّ ما تُجزى بِهِ

By God, had he given you the two pyramids made of

gold, that would have been the least reward for you.

أَنتَ البَشيرُ بِهِ وَقَيِّمُ قَصرِهِ

وَمُقَدِّمُ النُبَلاءِ مِن حُجّابِهِ

You are his herald and the keeper of his palace,

and the nobles' usher among his chamberlains.

أَعلَمتَ أَقوامَ الزَمانِ مَكانَهُ

وَحَشَدتَهُم في ساحِهِ وَرِحابِهِ

You told the peoples of the age where he lay,

and gathered them in his courtyard and spacious precincts.

لولا بَنانُكَ في طَلاسِمِ تُربِهِ

ما زادَ في شَرَفٍ عَلى أَترابِهِ

Without your fingers amid the cryptic signs of his soil,

he would not have surpassed his peers in honor.

أَخنى الحِمامُ عَلى اِبنِ هِمَّةِ نَفسِهِ

في المَجدِ وَالباني عَلى أَحسابِهِ

Death laid low the son of his own resolve

in glory, and the builder upon his inherited honors,

الجائِبُ الصَخرَ العَتيدَ بِحاجِرٍ

دَبَّ الزَمانُ وَشَبَّ في أَسرابِهِ

who hewed the solid rock in a stony hollow

where time crept and grew up within its tunnels.

لَو زايَلَ المَوتى مَحاجِرَهُم بِهِ

وَتَلَفَّتوا لَتَحَيَّروا كَضَبابِهِ

Had the dead left their stone chambers there

and looked around, they would have been bewildered like its lizards.

لَم يَألُهُ صَبراً وَلَم يَنِ هِمَّةً

حَتّى اِنثَنى بِكُنوزِهِ وَرِغابِهِ

He did not stint his patience for it, nor slacken in resolve,

until he returned with its treasures and prized riches.

أَفضى إِلى خَتمِ الزَمانِ فَفَضَّهُ

وَحَبا إِلى التاريخِ في مِحرابِهِ

He reached time's seal and broke it open,

and crawled toward history in its sanctuary.

وَطَوى القُرونَ القَهقَرى حَتّى أَتى

فِرعَونَ بَينَ طَعامِهِ وَشَرابِهِ

And he folded the centuries backward until he reached

Pharaoh amid his food and drink.

المَندَلُ الفَيّاحُ عودُ سَريرِهِ

وَاللُؤلُؤُ اللَمّاحُ وَشيُ ثِيابِهِ

Fragrant aloeswood is the timber of his bed,

and glinting pearls the embroidery of his clothes.

وَكَأَنَّ راحَ القاطِفينَ فَرَغنَ مِن

أَثمارِهِ صُبحاً وَمِن أَرطابِهِ

And it is as though the pickers' palms had finished with

his fruits this morning, and his fresh dates.

جَدَثٌ حَوى ما ضاقَ غُمدانٌ بِهِ

مِن هالَةِ المُلكِ الجَسيمِ وَغابِهِ

A tomb held what Ghumdan could not contain

of mighty kingship's halo and its forest.

بُنيانُ عُمرانٍ وَصَرحُ حَضارَةٍ

في القَبرِ يَلتَقِيانِ في أَطنابِهِ

The edifice of settled life and the monument of civilization

meet in the grave within the span of its tent-ropes.

فَتَرى الزَمانَ هُناكَ عِندَ مَشيبِهِ

مِثلَ الزَمانِ اليَومَ بَعدَ شَبابِهِ

So there you see time in its gray old age,

like time today, after its youth.

وَتُحِسُّ ثَمَّ العِلمَ عِندَ عُبابِهِ

تَحتَ الثَرى وَالفَنُّ عِندَ عُجابِهِ

And there you sense knowledge at its surging height,

beneath the earth, and art at its most wondrous.

يا صاحِبَ الأُخرى بَلَغتَ مَحَلَّةً

هِيَ مِن أَخي الدُنيا مُناخُ رِكابِهِ

O dweller of the other world, you have reached an abode

that is the halting-place for the mounts of this world's brother.

نُزُلٌ أَفاقَ بِجانِبَيهِ مِنَ الهَوى

مَن لا يُفيقُ وَجَدَّ مِن تَلعابِهِ

An inn at whose sides awakens from passion

one who never awakens, and grows earnest after his games.

نامَ العَدُوُّ لَدَيهِ عَن أَحقادِهِ

وَسَلا الصَديقُ بِهِ هَوى أَحبابِهِ

The enemy sleeps there, heedless of his grudges,

and the friend there forgets his love for his loved ones.

الراحَةُ الكُبرى مِلاكُ أَديمِهِ

وَالسَلوَةُ الطولى قِوامُ تُرابِهِ

Supreme rest is the essence of its surface,

and the longest solace the substance of its soil.

وادي المُلوكِ بَكَت عَلَيكَ عُيونُهُ

بِمُرَقرَقٍ كَالمُزنِ في تَسكابِهِ

The eyes of the Valley of the Kings wept for you,

with shimmering tears, like rainclouds in their downpour.

أَلقى بَياضَ الغَيمِ عَن أَعطافِهِ

حُزناً وَأَقبَلَ في سَوادِ سَحابِهِ

It cast the clouds' whiteness from its flanks

in grief, and came in the blackness of its clouds.

يَأسى عَلى حَرباءِ شَمسِ نَهارِهِ

وَنَزيلُ قيعَتِهِ وَجارُ سَرابِهِ

It mourns the chameleon of its daytime sun,

and the dweller in its plain, and the neighbor of its mirage.

وَيَوَدُّ لَو أُلبِستَ مِن بَردِيَّهِ

بُردَينِ ثُمَّ دُفِنتَ بَينَ شِعابِهِ

And it wishes that, from its papyrus, you had been clothed

in two cloaks, then buried among its ravines.

نَوَّهتَ في الدُنيا بِهِ وَرَفَعتَهُ

فَوقَ الأَديمِ بِطاحِهِ وَهِضابِهِ

You made it renowned in the world, and raised it—

its broad plains and hills—above the earth's surface.

أَخرَجتَ مِن قَبرٍ كِتابَ حَضارَةٍ

الفَنُّ وَالإِعجازُ مِن أَبوابِهِ

You brought from a grave a book of civilization,

with art and wonder among its chapters.

فَصَّلتَهُ فَالبَرقُ في إيجازِهِ

يُبنى البَريدُ عَلَيهِ في إِطنابِهِ

You expounded it: the telegraph, in its brevity,

and the post, in its fullness, are based upon it.

طَلَعا عَلى لَوزانَ وَالدُنيا بِها

وَعَلى المُحيطِ ما وَراءَ عُبابِهِ

Both appeared in Lausanne, with the world there,

and across the ocean, beyond its surging waters.

جِئتَ الشُعوبَ المُحسِنينَ بِشافِعٍ

مِن مِثلِ مُتقَنِ فَنِّهِم وَلُبابِهِ

You came to the accomplished peoples with an advocate,

akin to their own perfected art and its very essence.

فَرَفَعتَ رُكناً لِلقَضِيَّةِ لَم يَكُن

سَحبانُ يَرفَعُهُ بِسِحرِ خِطابِهِ

So you raised a pillar for the cause which

Sahban could not have raised with the magic of his oratory.