استنفد الدمع إن الوجد قد فقدا — Al Tutili

استنفدِ الدمعَ إنَّ الوَجْدَ قد فُقِدَا

لا يُحْسِنُ الدَّهْرُ رُزْءاً مِثْلَهُ أبَدا

Exhaust your tears, for love has been lost.

Time will never fashion a loss like this.

وَقُلْ لِصَرْفِ الزمانِ اختلْ على ثِقَةٍ

من السّباقِ فقد أحْرَزْتَ كلَّ مَدَى

And tell Time's vicissitudes: swagger, confident

of victory in the race, for you have reached every goal.

اليومَ حينَ لففتَ المجدَ في كَفَنٍ

نفسي الفداءُ على أنْ لاتَ حين فِدَا

Today, when you wrapped glory in a shroud,

my soul would be the ransom—though this is no time for ransom.

يا حسرةً نَشَأَتْ بين الضُّلوعِ جَوىً

ما ضرَّ لاعِجَها أنْ لا يكونَ ردى

O sorrow that arose between my ribs as burning anguish,

its searing pain loses nothing by not being death.

في ذمَّةِ الله قَبْرٌ ما مَرَرْتُ به

إلا اختُلِسْت أسىً إنْ لم أمُتْ كمدا

A grave is in God's keeping; never have I passed it

without being carried away by sorrow, if not dying of grief.

تَضَمَّنَ الدينَ والدُّنْيا بأَسرِهمَا

والعزمَ والحزمَ والإيمانَ والرَّشدا

It enclosed religion and the world in their entirety,

resolve, prudence, faith, and right guidance,

والسؤددَ الضخمَ مضروباً سُرادِقُه

قد ودَّتِ الشمسُ لو كانتْ له عمدا

and mighty nobility, its pavilion pitched:

the sun wished that she could be its pillars.

ملء القلوب جلالاً والعيونِ سناً

والحرب بأساً وأكناف النديِّ ندى

He filled hearts with majesty and eyes with radiance,

war with valor, and the council's precincts with bounty:

منْ لا يُقدِّمُ في غير العلا قدماً

ولا يمدُّ لغير المكرماتِ يدا

one who never advanced a foot except toward greatness,

nor extended a hand except for noble deeds.

أوْدى الزمانُ وكيف اسطاعَهُ بفتىً

قد طالَ ما راحَ في أتباعه وغدا

Time destroyed a young man—how could it overpower him?—

whom it had long followed, evening and morning.

كأنَّه كان ثأراً باتَ يَطْلُبُهُ

حتّى رآه فلم يَعْدِلْ به أحدا

As though he were a blood-debt it spent the night pursuing,

until it saw him and would accept no one in his place.

يا يوْمَ مَنْعَى عبيد الله أيُّ أسىً

بينَ الجوانحِ يأبى أن يُجيبَ ندا

O day of the death-tidings of ʿUbayd Allāh, what sorrow

within the ribs refuses to answer a call!

وأي غرب مصاب لا يكو كفه

دمعي الهتون ولا أنفاسي الصعدا

And what sharp edge of affliction cannot be blunted

by my streaming tears or my deep-drawn sighs,

ولا البلابلُ مِنْ مثنى وواحدةٍ

باتَتْ تُسلُّ سُيوفاً أو تُسنُّ مُدى

nor by troubles, in pairs and singly,

that spent the night being drawn as swords or sharpened as knives,

ولا الهمومُ وقد أعْيت طوارقها

كأنما بِتنَ لي أوْ للدُّجَى رصدا

nor by cares whose nightly visitations have exhausted me,

as though they lay in ambush for me—or for the darkness!

ألاَ لِتَبْكِ قَنَاةُ الدِّينِ حَطْمَتَها

لماجدٍ لم يَدَعْ في مَتْنِهَا أوَدَا

Let the spear of religion weep for its breaking,

for a noble man who left no crookedness in its shaft.

مُهَذَّبٌ لم يهزَّ الحمدُ مِعْطَفَهُ

إلا تَهَلَّلَ مجداً واستهلَّ جدا

A refined man: never did praise stir his mantle

but he beamed with glory and poured forth bounty.

تودُّ بيضُ الأماني كلَّما سَنَحتْ

لو حاسَنَ الحَلْيَ في أجيادها غَيدَا

Bright hopes wish, whenever they appear,

that he might rival the jewels at their necks, like graceful maidens.

قلْ للدُّجَى وقد التفَّتْ غَيَاهِبُهَا

فلو تَصَوَّبَ فيها الماءُ ما اطَّردا

Tell the darkness, whose glooms have gathered so thickly

that, were water to pour into them, it would not flow:

إنَّ الشّهابَ الذي كُنَّا نجوبُ به

أجوازَهخا قد خبا في التُّرْبِ أو خَمدا

the shooting star by which we used to traverse

its expanses has dimmed in the dust, or gone out.

لهفي ولهف المعالي جار بي وبها

صَرْفُ الرَّددى وأرانا أيَّةً قَصَدا

Alas for me, and alas for noble deeds! Against me and them

death's vicissitude dealt unjustly, showing us which one it sought.

يا صاحبيَّ ولا يحبسْكُما ظمأٌ

طال الهُيَامُ وهذي أدْمُعي فَرِدا

O my two companions, let no thirst detain you:

the burning thirst has lasted long; here are my tears—come drink.

وحدِّثانيْ عن العَلْيا وقد رُزِئَتْ

مسنونَها اللدنَ أو مصقولَها الفَرِدَا

And tell me of glory, now that it has been bereft

of its sharpened, supple spear, or its polished, peerless sword.

أجِدَّها قد عداها بعد أوْبتِهِ

عن أنْ تهيمَ بذكراه وأن تَجِدَا

Has anything truly, since his return, kept it

from pining over his memory and grieving?

واهاً وُتِرَتْهُ ثم قد عَلِمَتْ

أن لا تنالَ به عَقْلاً ولا قَوَدا

Alas, it has been robbed of him, yet it knows

that for him it can obtain neither blood-money nor vengeance,

ولم تزلْ حولها للحربِ أوديةٌ

تموجُ بالخيلِ فوْضى والقنا قِصَدا

though valleys of war have never ceased to surround it,

surging with horses in disorder and spears in broken pieces.

هل نافعي والأماني كلُّها خُدَعٌ

قولي له اليومَ لا تَبْعَدْ وقد بَعُدا

Will it help me—all hopes are deceptions—

to tell him today, 'Be not far away,' when he is already far away?

وهل أتاهُ وليست داره صَدَداً

أنّي أُداري عليه لوعةً صَدَدا

And has word reached him—though his dwelling is not nearby—

that I nurse for him a burning grief always before me?

وهل تَذَمَّمَ هذا الرزءُ من قَلَقٍ

قام المصابُ به أضْعافَ ما قعدا

And has this bereavement felt any shame at a restlessness

that makes the stricken man rise many times more than he sits?

أما ويَوْمش عبيدِ الله وهو اسى

لقد تخيّرَ هذا الموتُ وانْتَقدا

Indeed, by the day of ʿUbayd Allāh—a day of sorrow—

this death has chosen carefully and selected the best.

يا ماجداً أنجزَ العلياءَ مَوْعِدَها

أَليومَ انجزَ فيكَ الموتُ ما وعدا

O noble man who fulfilled glory's promise,

today death has fulfilled in you what it promised.

إن الفؤادَ الذي مازلت تَعْمُرُهُ

قد رِيعَ بَعْدَكَ حتى صار مُفتأَدا

The heart you never ceased to inhabit

has been terrified since you left, until it became scorched.

غادرتَ عينيَّ ملآوينِ من عِبَر

لا تَرْقُدَانِ ولا بؤسَى لِمنْ رَقَدا

You left my two eyes full of tears:

they cannot sleep; may misery spare the one who sleeps.

شمسَ المعالي وقِدماً كنتَ شامتَهَا

فكمْ غضِبْتَ لها من أن تَظلْ سُدى

The sun of noble deeds—you had long watched for it—

how often you were angered for it, lest it remain neglected!

إيذَنْ بجدواكَ تُدْرِكْنا وكيفَ با

وقد ضَمِنْتَ لنا أن لا نموتَ صدا

Let your bounty reach us—but how ... [Text incomplete.]

Yet you had pledged to us that we would not die of thirst.

هيهاتِ صَرَّحَ فيك الموتُ عنْ نبأٍ

كَنَى الزمانُ به عن نَقْضِ ما عَهِدَا

Far beyond reach! Death has made plain in you a message

by which Time hinted at breaking its pledge.

إذا وَنَتْ فيكَ خَيْلُ الدَّمْعِ جَدَّ بها

مُجْرٍ من الشَّوقِ لم يَحْدُدْ لها أمَدا

Whenever the horses of tears grow weary over you, they are urged onward

by a driver of longing who sets no limit to their course.

وإنْ تراءى لها السُّلوانُ طَالَعَها

ضَنْكٌ من العيشِ سلَّ الروحَ والجسدا

And if solace appears before them, they are confronted

by a hardship of living that strips away soul and body.

يا ليت شعري وهل يَثني الرّدى جَزَعٌ

عاد التبلُّدُ في سَوْراته وَبَدَا

Would that I knew—can anguish turn death back?—

stupor has returned amid its surges and appeared anew.

وهل يعودُ على الماضي بعائدةٍ

إذ لا تجلُّدَ للباقي ولا جَلَدا

And does it bring any benefit to the departed,

when the survivor has neither endurance nor strength?

متى تَكاثَرُ لوعاتُ الغرام به

يهَنيه إنْ ربمَّا كانتْ لها مَدَادا

Whenever the burning pangs of love multiply because of him,

it gladdens him—if, perhaps, it was their sustenance. [Wording unclear.]

يا غادياً لم يكن شيءٌ يقومُ له

إما تَوَقَّاكَ صَرْفُ الدهرِ حين عدا

O departing one whom nothing could withstand,

if only Time's vicissitude had passed you by when it struck!

تبكي عليكَ ولا عارٌ ولا حَرجٌ

هدايةٌ كنتَ من إعلامِهَا وهدى

Weeping for you—without shame or reproach—

is guidance: you were among its beacons, and a guide.

أبا الحسينِ ولا ادعو سوى وَزَرٍ

قد طال ما غاثَ أحباباً وغاظَ عِدَا

O Abū al-Ḥusayn, I invoke none but a refuge

that long succored friends and enraged foes.

ويا أبا الحَكَمِ السَّامِي بهمَّتِهِ

إلى المكارمِ لا نِكْساً ولا جَمِدَا

And O Abū al-Ḥakam, whose aspiration soars

toward noble deeds, neither a weakling nor sluggish,

ويا أبا القاسمِ الميمون طائرُهُ

في كلِّ ما ذمّ منه الدهرُ أو حَمَدا

and O Abū al-Qāsim, whose omen is auspicious

in all that Time has blamed or praised in him:

عزاءَكم إنَّما الدنيا وزينَتُها

بحرٌ طَفوْنا على آذيهِ زَبَدا

take consolation: this world and its adornment

are a sea upon whose waves we float as foam.

واستشعرِوا الصبرَ عنه فارساً نَدِساً

لا تستطيعُ الليالي حلّ ما عَقَدا

In his stead, embrace patience as a discerning horseman

whose knots the nights cannot undo.

رزءٌ تداري المعالي فيه أنْفُسها

عن لوعةٍ ملأت أحشاءَها زُؤدا

A bereavement in which noble deeds shield themselves

from a burning sorrow that has filled their entrails with terror.

جادتْ ثراهُ فروّتهُ مجلجلةٌ

تكادُ تروي صداهُ العيشةَ الرغدا

May a thundering cloud pour upon his grave's earth and drench it,

almost refreshing his thirsty shade with a life of ease,

منْ كلِّ غاديةٍ ما باشرَتْ بلداً

إلا ترنَّحَ ضاحي تُرْبِهِ وشدا

from every morning raincloud that touches no land

without its open soil swaying and singing.

سَلِ المنايا على علمٍ وتَجْرِبَةٍ

في أيِّ شيءٍ بغى الإنسان أو حسدا

Ask the fates of death, with knowledge and experience,

for what a human being has transgressed or envied.

تَنافَسَ الناسُ في الدنيا وقد علموا

أن سوف تقتلُهُمْ لذّاتُهُمْ بددا

People compete for this world, though they know

that their pleasures will kill them, one by one.

تبادَرُوها وقد آدَنْهُم فَشلاً

وكاثرُوها وقد أحصتهمُ عددا

They race to win it, though it has warned them of failure,

and vie to outnumber it, though it has counted them all.

قلْ للمحدِّثِ عنْ لقمانَ أو لُبَدٍ

لم يتركِ الدهرُ لقماناً ولا لبدا

Tell the teller of Luqmān or Lubad:

'Time spared neither Luqmān nor Lubad.'

وَللَّذي هَمُّهُ البنيانُ يَرْفَعُهُ

إنّ الردى لم يغادرْ في الشَّرَى أَسَدا

And tell the man whose concern is the building he raises:

'Death has left not even a lion in al-Sharā.'

ما لابنِ آدمَ لا تَفْنَى مَطَالِبُهُ

يَرْجُو غداً وعسى أنْ لا يعيشَ غدا

What ails Adam's son, that his desires never end?

He hopes for tomorrow, though he may not live tomorrow.