يا ابن ذي المجد من لدن عرف — Al Tijani Youssef Bashir

يا اِبنَ ذِي المَجد مِن لدن عَرف المجـ

ـد وَكانَ الزَمان في عُنفُوانِهِ

O son of the man of glory, since glory first was known,

when time was in its prime.

حَدث الناس عَن طَوافك بِالبَيـ

ـت وَكَيفَ اِستَلَمت مِن أَركانِهِ

Tell the people of your circling of the House,

and how you touched its corners.

مَوقف لِلعُقول فيهِ التِفاتا

ت وَلِلقَلب وَثبة مِن مَكانه

A scene in which minds turn their attention,

and the heart leaps from its place.

سحر الدِين يَوم ذاكَ نُفوساً

طاهِرات رَفَعنَ مِن بُنيانه

Religion enchanted souls that day,

pure souls that raised its edifice.

مَوقف حفت المَلائك جَنبيه

وَصَفت صُفوفَها لِأزدِيانه

A scene whose sides the angels encircled,

arraying their ranks to adorn it.

خَير ما تُبصر العُيون وَأَشهى

ما يُصيب السَميع في آذانه

The finest thing that eyes behold, and the sweetest

that reaches a listener's ears.

ما وَراء الجُموع تَزخَر كَاليم

وَتَحكي العَباب في سَرَيانه

What lies behind the crowds, surging like the sea,

and mirroring the flood in its flow?

ما وَراء الجُموع غَص بِها اللا

حب غَص الشَحيح مِن أَجرانه

What lies behind the crowds that choke the broad road,

as a miser chokes on his grain stores?

وَيحَها ما تُريد أَن عَجيباً

أَن يَضَل الحَليم عَن وُجدانِهِ

Alas for them! What do they seek? How strange

that a sober man should lose his self-possession!

ما تَراها كَأَن وَقع خُطاها

مثل وَخَد القِطار أَو ذَملانه

Do you not see them? Their footfalls seem

like a camel train's brisk stride or its easy trot.

نالَ مِنها السُرور في كُلِ خَطو

ما يَنال السَلاف مِن نَدمانه

At every step, joy took hold of them,

as vintage wine takes hold of its drinking companion.

هَؤلاء الألى اِستفزَهُم العِيـ

ـد غداة اِرتَموه عَلى أَحضانِهِ

These are those whom the feast stirred,

the morning they flung themselves into its embrace.

أَقبَلوا يَحفلون جير بِمَن تَحتَفـ

ـل خَرس الرُبوع في مَهرَجانه

They came celebrating—aye, one whom

even the mute dwellings honor at his festival.

ذَهَبوا حَيث لا الهُدى يَخفي

وَاِنثَنوا حَيث لا النَدى في صوانه

They went where guidance is not hidden,

and returned where generosity is not shut away.

يا خَطير المَكان إِن تَك شَيخاً

فَلأَنتَ المُهيب في أَقرانِهِ

O man of lofty station, if you are a sheikh,

you are indeed the awe-inspiring one among his peers.

حَفل الشَعب يَوم جئت فَما تُبـ

ـصر إِلا الكِرام مِن فِتيانِهِ

The people thronged the day you came; you could see

only the noble among their young men.

وَعَلا الصَخب يَوم أَبَنت فَما تَسـ

ـمَع إِلا الضَجيج مِن صِبيانه

The clamor rose the day you departed; you could hear

only the din of their boys.

نَحنُ فِتيان أُمة عَرَفَت كَيفَ

تَجل القَويّ في سُلطانِهِ

We are the young men of a nation that has learned how

to honor the powerful in his authority.

كَم ضَرَعنا إِلى الَّذي فَرض الـ

ـحَج لِيَرعاكَ مِن صُروف زَمانِهِ

How often we implored Him who ordained

the pilgrimage, to guard you from time's vicissitudes.

وَاِبتَهَلنا إِلَيهِ ملءَ أَيادينـ

ـا وَكُلُ دُعاء بِملء جِنانِهِ

And we entreated Him with hands full of prayer,

each prayer with all its heart.

فَكَأَنَّما إِذا اِرتَحَلت دُعاء

مُرسَل لِلمَسيح مِن رُهبانِهِ

So, when you departed, you were like a prayer

sent to Christ by his monks.

أَو كَأَنّا تَسبيحة في فَم النا

سك تَجري عَلى مُتون لِسانِهِ

Or as though we were a hymn in the ascetic's mouth,

flowing over the surface of his tongue.

هِيَ لِلعُود وَالبَداءة ما تَنفـ

ـك عوداً وَبَدأة مِن بَنانه

It is for repetition and beginning, never ceasing

to repeat and begin anew from his fingertips.

وَكَأَن البِلاد إِذ غِبت عَنها

لَفتات الصِبى مِن تَحنانه

And the land, when you were absent from it, seemed

childhood's glances, born of its longing.

في سَبيل الإِلَه ادلاجك السَير

وَما تَبتَغي سِوى غُفرانه

Your night journeying is in the path of God,

and you seek nothing but His forgiveness.

حَبَذا البَيت بَيت مَن هُوَ يا مَن

حَي وَنعم المَطاف في أَركانِهِ

How lovely the House, His House—O You who

live! How fine the circling at its corners.

بَلَد بَعضُهُ يُنازع بَعضاً

فيكَ يَوم اِقتَرَبت مِن كُثبانِهِ

A land whose parts competed with one another

over you, the day you drew near its dunes.

كَم رقاع تَطاوَلَت لَكَ لَما

أَشرَفَ الرَكب آخِذاً مِن عِنانه

How many tracts rose toward you when

the caravan appeared, drawing on its reins.

إِن صَقعاً تَحل فيهِ رِكاباً

حَل فيهِ العَزيز في إِيمانِهِ

Indeed, a region where you settle with your mounts

has received one mighty in his faith.

كُنت بَينَ الحَجيج فَرداً فَلَما

قَفل الرَكب كُنت فَرد زَمانِهِ

You were one man among the pilgrims, but when

the caravan returned, you were the peerless man of your age.

ينفق الحَج في البِلاد إِذا كا

نَ سراة البِلاد مِن أَعوانه

The pilgrimage flourishes in the land when

the land's nobles are among its supporters.

كُل ما يَبتَغي يَسير وَما المَر

ء بصعب عَلَيهِ اِصلاح شانه

All that he seeks is easy; for a man,

setting his affairs right is no hardship.

يا سَبيل الكِرام مِن بَطن طَيء

وَاِبن بَيت السَماح مِن كَردَفانه

O path of the noble from the clan of Tayyi',

and son of generosity's house, from his Kordofan.

كَم خَطير مِن المَناصب قَلد

ت فَلم تَأل دائِباً في صِيانه

How many weighty offices you were invested with,

never sparing your tireless efforts to preserve them.

لا الأَراجيف تَطبيك وَلا قَلـ

ـت مَقالاً عَدَوت عَن رجحانه

Rumors do not lure you, nor have you

said a word that strayed from sound judgment.

قَد بَنى اللَه في الثَرى لَكَ مَجداً

قاحِماً لِلسَماء في بُنيانه

God has built you glory upon the earth,

whose edifice thrusts into the sky.

وَتَقلبت في مَدارج ذَلِكَ المَجد

حَتّى جَلَست بَينَ رعانه

And you moved along the ascending paths of that glory,

until you sat among its mountain peaks.

مُشرِفات لَكَ النُجوم وَأَنتَ المَر

ء يَدنو هُناكَ مِن زبرقانه

The stars look down upon you, and you are the man

who there draws near his full moon.

أَنتَ اِشعاع ذَلِكَ القَبَس المَلـ

ـقي ضِياء الهُدى عَلى سودانه

You are the radiance of that flame, shedding

the light of guidance over its Sudan.

أَنتَ سلسال تِلكم الديم اللا

تي اِنتَظَمنَ الثَرى إِلى ضَمآنِهِ

You are the sweet stream of those steady rains

that encompassed the earth, reaching its thirsty soil.

أَنتَ مَن كانَت القُلوب مَراقيـ

ـه وَحُب القُلوب مَرقى حَنانه

You are he whose ascending steps were hearts,

and the hearts' love is the stairway of his tenderness.

أَنتَ مَن تذكر البِلاد أَياديه

وَتَنسى الصَنيع مِن أَخدانِهِ

You are he whose favors the land remembers,

forgetting the good deeds of his companions.

جير مَولاي كَم لَكُم مِن أَيادٍ

فَوقَ سح الرباب أَو تَهتانه

Aye, my lord, how many favors you have bestowed,

surpassing the clouds' downpour or gentle showers.

مُورِقات أَكفها مِثلَما يَو

رق جثل النَبات مِن أَفنانه

Their palms put forth leaves, just as

luxuriant growth leafs out from its branches.

قَد تَوَفَرَت لِلسَماح وَما شـ

ـل يَد الشَيخ مثل حَد سِنانه

They have devoted themselves to generosity; the sheikh's hand has never

gone limp, like the keen point of his spear.

كَم غَلى مرجل المُروءة في صَد

رك لَما اِستَثَرت مِن بُركانه

How often the cauldron of noble virtue boiled in your breast,

when you roused its volcano.

وَاَنَرت الطَريق لِلنَشء إِذ كا

نَ حَماس الشَباب في طُغيانه

And you lit the path for the rising generation when

youthful zeal was running wild.

ازهري البَيان ماذا يَقول

الشعر عَنكُم وَحيل دُون بَيانه

O Azhari of eloquence, what can

poetry say of you, when its expression is barred?

هبه مَولاي ما تعاوره الأَفلا

س أَوهبه مُشرِفا مِن مَكانه

Suppose, my lord, that poverty had not assailed it,

or suppose it stood high in its station.

لَم يُغادره قَومه في يَد العا

ئث فيهِ المَجد دُون اِمتِهانه

Its people had not left it in the hand of one

ravaging the glory within it, without debasing it.

أَتَرانا نَجيد فيكَ مَقالاً

أَم تَرانا نَشط عَن اِتقانه

Do you think we can speak well of you,

or think we stray far from perfecting our words?

قبر الشعر حِنيئذ قَبر الرا

قد بَينَ العَراء مِن نعمانه

Poetry's grave then was the grave of the sleeper

in the open ground of his Nu'man.

قَبر الشعر مِن لدن حقب مَرَ

ت وَماتَ القَريض في حسانه

Poetry has been buried for long ages

past, and verse died in its Hassan.

نَحنُ نَشكو إِلَيكَ عَصراً تَباهى

بِأَقَل بَينَنا عَلى سُحبانه

We complain to you of an age that vaunts

the least among us above its Suhban.

نَحنُ نَشكو إِلَيكَ زائف اشعا

ر مراها الزَمان مِن شبانه

We complain to you of spurious verses

that time has milked from its young men.

كُل ذي لَوثة تَحس رؤولا

بَينَ شدقيهِ أَو عَلى أَذقانِهِ

Every addled fellow—you sense drool

between his jowls or upon his chins—

ذاكَ رَب القَريض رَب قَوافيه

أَمير البَيان في حُسبانه

is lord of verse, lord of its rhymes,

prince of eloquence, in his own reckoning.

أَنا وَحدي أَستَصرخ العَدل فيكُم

وَأَحيي القَضاء في إِنسانه

I alone cry out to the justice in you,

and salute judgment in its human embodiment.

ما إِلى الرَفد قَد مَدَحت وَما

مثل قَناتي تَلين مِن لَمعانه

I have not praised for largesse, nor does

a spear-shaft like mine bend at its glitter.

عمر مَولاي ما أَطباني سحر

المال يَوماً لِرَغبة في اِختِزانه

Umar, my lord, I was never lured by the magic

of money out of any wish to hoard it.

وَأَنا المَرء مَن عَرَفت أَباء

وَعزوفاً عَن ذله وَهَوانه

I am the man you know for proud refusal,

and for shunning abasement and humiliation.

لَكَ يا صاحب الفَضيلة آيا

ت قَصيدي وَمُرسَلات رهانه

For you, O man of virtue, are the verses

of my poem, and the coursers sent forth in its contest.

لَستُ أَرمي عَلى عَواهنه القَو

ل وَلَست الحصور في تِبيانه

I do not cast my words forth carelessly,

nor am I tongue-tied in expressing them.

لِي في الشعر كَفة لَم تَشَل قَط

وَغَيري الشؤول في مِيزانه

In poetry I have a scale-pan that has never gone limp,

while another rises in its balance.

أَنا إِن عشت قَد ضفرت لَـ

ـكُم غاراً كَغار الرَشيد بغدانه

If I live, I shall have braided for

you a laurel like al-Rashid's in his Baghdad.

لَم تُتَوَج بِهِ قَياصرة الرُو

مان فيما اِنتَقيت مِن أَلوانه

The emperors of Rome were never crowned with it,

in the hues I have chosen for it.

لِيَكاد اليَراع يَهتَز مِن شَو

ق فَيُملي عَلي وَحيّ جِنانه

Indeed, the reed pen almost trembles with longing,

and dictates to me the inspiration of its heart.

إِن قدساً يَفيض مِنكَ حَري

إِن يَبُث الحَياة بَينَ كِيانه

Indeed, a holiness flowing from you is worthy

to breathe life throughout its being.