أشاكر أنا للأيام أم شاك — Alarjani

أشاكرٌ أنا للأيّامِ أمْ شاكِ

فقد أَرى صَرْفَها يا نَفْسُ عَنّاكِ

Am I grateful to the days, or do I complain?

For I see their vicissitudes have wearied you, O soul.

أدناكِ من بلدٍ فيه البَديعُ ومن

لُقياهُ أقصاكِ ظُلْماً حينَ أدْناك

They brought you near a town where al-Badiʿ dwells, yet from

meeting him they unjustly kept you far, even as they brought you near.

فليس عندَكِ من آثارِه أثَرٌ

إلا مقالةَ راوٍ عنه أو حاك

So you have no trace of his deeds,

save a narrator's account of him, or a storyteller's.

ولو غدَوْتِ بهذا منه قانعةً

لما حدا نحوَه الحادي مَطاياك

Had you been content with this much of him,

the camel-driver would not have urged your mounts toward him with song.

بل إنّما أنتِ يا نَفْسي مُقصِّرةٌ

فلِمْ تُطيلينَ للأيّام شَكْواك

Rather, it is you, O my soul, who fall short;

why, then, prolong your complaint against the days?

لِمْ لستِ تَلقَيْنَ قَصْداً مَن على يدِه

أضحَتْ أيادي مُلوكِ الأرضِ تَلْقاك

Why do you not seek out the one through whose hand

the favors of earth's kings have come to you?

وقد رأيتُكِ لمّا مَسَّه ألَمٌ

لم تَكْتَحِل بالكَرى يا عَينُ جَفْناك

And I saw you, when pain touched him:

your two lids, O eye, wore no kohl of sleep.

وقَلَّ منّا لَوَ أنّا مِن مَحبَّتِه

يا وطْأةً في الثّرى منه فدَيْناك

And little would it be from us if, out of love for him,

O footprint of his in the dust, we sacrificed ourselves for you.

حاشاهُ أن تُصبِحَ الأيّامُ خاليةً

منه كما أنتِ يا أيّامُ حاشاك

May he never leave the days bereft

of him; and likewise, O days, may that never be your lot!

وما إخالُكِ يا دُنْيا بمُنكرةٍ

أَن كنتِ من قبلُ عُطْلاً وهْو حَلاّك

Nor do I think you, O world, would deny

that you were once unadorned, and he adorned you.

لمّا غدا عِقْدُ آدابٍ به انْتظمَتْ

أشتاتُها جعلَتْه تاجَ أمْلاكِ

When he became a necklace of learning, upon which were strung

its scattered parts, she made him a crown for kings.

له يَدٌ تُعمِلُ الأفلاكَ دائرةً

فلا اعْتَراها بسُوءٍ دَوُْر أفلاك

He has a hand that sets the celestial spheres revolving;

may no revolution of the spheres afflict it with harm.

كم قد كَساكِ نِطاقَ الشُّهْبِ أنمُلهُ

وكم إذا شاء يا أفلاكُ أعْراك

How often his fingertips have clothed you in a girdle of bright stars,

and how often, when he wished, O spheres, he stripped you bare!

ولم يَشُدَّ بخَصْرٍ منكِ مَنطِقةً

إلاّ لكَي تَخدُمي ما عِشتِ مَوْلاك

And he fastened no belt around your waist

except that you might serve your master as long as you live.

لا تَبْلُ منه بَنانٌ من لَطافتِه

كم قد أجدَّكِ للرّائي وأبْلاك

May his fingertips never wear out, delicate as they are;

how often they have renewed you for the beholder, and worn you out!

له العلومُ لعَمْري والعُلُوُّ معاً

يَحْويهِما خاطِرٌ رقّاهُ إيّاك

His are the sciences and eminence together, by my life;

both held by a mind that has raised him to you.

كم صافحَتْ كفُّه من مَرّة لك يا

كفَّ الثُّريّا وإنْ لم تَرضَ علْياك

How often has his palm clasped yours, O

palm of the Pleiades, though your loftiness did not consent!

رُزِقْتَ يا نجمُ منه لَمسةً عَرَضتْ

وكنتَ كَفَّ دُجىً سَوداءَ إذْ ذاك

You were granted, O star, a chance touch from him,

and you were then a black palm of darkness.

فما أَظُنُّكَ إلاّ أنّه كَرماً

بالنُّورِ من يَدِه البَيْضاءِ أعْداك

So I can only suppose that, out of generosity,

he infected you with light from his white hand.

يا مَن يُلاقي جُيوشَ اللّيلِ طارِقةً

إذا غزا بسِلاحِ للنُّهَى شاك

O you who confront the armies of night as they approach,

when you wage war, armed with the intellect's weapon,

أعِنْ على مَشْهدٍ أصبحْتَ ثانيَه

جُوداً بمُسْعدِ عُبّادٍ ونُسّاك

aid a shrine whose peer you have become

in generosity, with a helper for worshippers and ascetics:

ذي جزعَةٍ سِلْكُها ماءٌ إذا انخَرطَتْ

فيهِ تَتابعَ مَوْصولاً بأَسْلاك

one with an onyx bead whose thread is water; when it is threaded

into it, the water flows on, linked by threads.

يَبكي بدَمعٍ مُعارٍ وهْو مِن كَرَمٍ

يُعيرُ مَن شاءَ طَرْفَ السّاهرِ الباكي

It weeps with borrowed tears, yet out of generosity

it lends whoever wishes the eye of a wakeful weeper.

ولا يُرى قائلاً إلاّ وفي فَمِه

ماءٌ مقالَ صَدوقٍ غيرِ أَفّاك

Nor is it seen speaking unless in its mouth

is water—its speech that of a truth-teller, no liar.

يَنوبُ عن كلِّ شَمسٍ إنْ هي احتجَبتْ

مَنابَ ذي ناظرٍ للحُجْبِ هَتّاك

It stands in for every sun, if it is veiled,

taking the place of one whose eye rends veils.

مُلْقىً بأرضٍ وأخبارُ السّماءِ له

إن لم يَزُغْ مُدْرَكاتٌ أيَّ إدْراك

Lying upon the earth, it has the tidings of heaven

fully within its grasp, if it does not deviate.

خِلْوٌ إذا اللّيلُ من تحتِ النّجومِ بَدا

كَسُودِ أغْرِبةٍ في بيضِ أشْراك

It is untroubled when night appears from beneath the stars

like black ravens in white snares.

لكنْ يَبيتُ أخا شَجْوٍ إذا انتقَبَتْ

بعارِضٍ مُسبَلٍ للدَّمْع سَفّاك

But it spends the night a brother of sorrow when they veil themselves

with a trailing cloud that lavishly sheds tears.

فحُزْ مَحامِدَ تَبقَى في الزَّمانِ به

فأنت من مَعشَرٍ للحَمْدِ مُلاّك

So win through it praises that endure through time,

for you are of a people to whom praise belongs.

ما كنتُ تارِكَ شُكْري وحدَه كرَماً

فلستُ للأجرِ معْ شُكري بتَرّاك

Out of generosity, I would not leave my thanks to stand alone;

for I shall not omit payment alongside my thanks.

إن كنتُ قِستُكَ بالأقوامِ في خُلُقٍ

فإنّما قِستُ تَوحيداً بإشراك

If I have compared you with other men in character,

then I have merely compared monotheism with polytheism.

فاصْبِرْ على كُلَفِ الإخوانِ إن سَنَحَتْ

كَصبرِ أَرْوعَ بالأقرانِ فَتّاك

So bear your brothers' demands, should they arise,

with the endurance of a gallant man, deadly to his opponents.

لا تَحسبَنّ اجْتناءَ المجدِ مُحتقَراً

إنّ العُلا وَردُه ما بَينَ أَشْواك

Do not think the plucking of glory a trivial matter;

for the roses of high honor lie among thorns.

إنّ الجِنانَ هَدِيٌّ أنت خاطبُها

ومَهْرُها عَمَلٌ من عامِلٍ زاك

Indeed, the gardens of Paradise are a bride, and you her suitor;

and her dower is the work of a righteous worker.