بأي أسى تثنى الدموع الهوامل — Albohtry

بِأَيِّ أَسىً تُثنى الدُموعُ الهَوامِلُ

وَيُرجى زِيالٌ مِن جَوىً لا يُزايَلُ

What consolation can check the freely flowing tears,

And what release be hoped for from anguish that never leaves?

دَعِ المَوتَ يَغتَل مَن أَرادَ فَإِنَّهُ

ثَوى اليَومَ مَن تُخشى عَلَيهِ الغَوائِلُ

Let death steal away whomever it wishes, for

Today lies buried the one for whom calamities were feared.

وَلَم يَبقَ مَرهوبٌ تُخافُ شَذاتُهُ

وَلا مُفضِلٌ تُرجى لَدَيهِ الفَواضِلُ

No fearsome man remains whose onslaught is dreaded,

Nor a benefactor from whom favors may be hoped.

إِذا عاجِلُ الدُنيا أَلَمَّ بِمُفرِحٍ

فَمِن خَلفِهِ فَجعٌ سَيَتلوهُ آجِلُ

When this world's present brings something joyful,

Behind it waits a later grief that will follow.

وَكانَت حَياةُ الحَيِّ سَوقاً إِلى الرَدى

وَأَيّامُهُ دونَ المَماتِ مَراحِلُ

The life of the living is a driving toward death,

And his days before death are stages of the journey.

وَما لَبثُ مَن يَغدو وَفي كُلِّ لَحظَةٍ

لَهُ أَجَلٌ في مُدَّةِ العُمرِ قاتِلُ

How long can one linger, going forth, while at every instant

A deadly appointed end awaits him within life's span?

وَلِلمَرءِ يَومُ لا مَحالَةَ مالَهُ

غَدٌ وَسطَ عامٍ ما لَهُ الدَهرَ قابِلُ

Every man, inevitably, has a day with no

Tomorrow, within a year that never has a successor.

كَفانا اِعتِرافاً بِالفَناءِ وَرِقبَةً

لِمَكروهِهِ أَن لَيسَ لِلخُلدِ آمِلُ

Enough to make us acknowledge mortality and dread

Its horrors is that none hopes for immortality.

سَلا خُفيَةً عَن صاحِبِ الجَيشِ إِنَّهُ

أَقامَ بِظَهرِ الكَرخِ وَالجَيشُ راحِلُ

Ask discreetly, you two, about the army's commander: he

Has remained outside al-Karkh while the army departs.

أَعاقَتهُ عَن ذاكَ العَوائِقُ أَم عَدَت

عَلَيهِ العِدى أَم أَعلَقَتهُ الحَبائِلُ

Did obstacles keep him from that, or did

His foes assail him, or did snares entrap him?

فَكَم جُرُزٍ مِن أَرضِ جُرزانَ فاتَها

تَتابُعُ سَحٍّ مِن يَدَيهِ وَوابِلُ

How many a barren tract in the land of Jurzan has missed

The ceaseless torrents and downpours from his hands!

تَفَرَّغَتِ الأَعداءُ مِنهُ وَرُبَّما

غَدا وَهوَ شُغلٌ لِلمُعادينَ شاغِلُ

His enemies are free of him now, though often

He went forth, an all-consuming concern to his foes.

لَئِن زُلزِلَ الثَغرانِ عِندَ ذَهابِهِ

لَقَد سَكَنَت بِالناطَلوقِ الزَلازِلُ

Though the two frontiers shook at his departure,

The earthquakes in al-Nataluq have indeed fallen still.

فَلا ظَفِرَت تِلكَ الغَزاةُ بِمَغنَمٍ

وَلا قَفَلَت بِالنُجحِ تِلكَ القَوافِلُ

May that expedition gain no booty,

Nor may those caravans return successful!

عَجِبتُ لِهَذا الدَهرِ أَفنى مُحَمَّداً

وَكانَ الَّذي يَسطو بِهِ وَيُصاوِلُ

I marvel at this age: it has destroyed Muhammad,

Though he was the one through whom it struck and fought.

مَضى فَمَضى مَجدٌ تَليدٌ وَسُؤدُدٌ

وَأَودى فَأَودى مِنهُ بَأسٌ وَنائِلُ

He passed away, and ancestral glory and lordship passed away;

He perished, and his valor and bounty perished with him.

وَكانَ سِراجَ الأَرضِ فَالأَرضُ مُظلِمٌ

قَراها وَحَلّى الدَهرَ فَالدَهرُ عاطِلُ

He was the earth's lamp; now the earth is dark

In its villages; he adorned the age, and the age is bare.

سَتَبكيهِ عَينٌ لا تَرى الجودَ بَعدَهُ

إِذا فاضَ مِنها هامِلٌ عادَ هامِلُ

An eye that sees no generosity after him will weep for him;

Whenever one tear-stream flows from it, another follows.

وَتَعلَمُ جُردُ الخَيلِ أَن لَيسَ راكِبٌ

سِواهُ وَسُمرُ الخَطِّ أَن لَيسَ حامِلُ

The sleek horses know there is no rider

But him; the brown spears of al-Khatt know no other bearer.

فَتىً كانَ يَأبى قَدرُهُ أَن يُرى لَهُ

نَظيرٌ مُساوٍ أَو شَبيهٌ مُشاكِلُ

A youth whose stature refused to let him have

An equal peer or a matching counterpart.

فَتىً أَقفَرَت مِنهُ المَعالي وَلَم تَكُن

لِتُقفِرَ مِمَّن بانَ إِلّا المَنازِلُ

A youth who left high honors desolate; yet nothing

But dwellings used to be deserted by those who departed.

وَثاوٍ بَكَتهُ المَكرُماتُ وَإِنَّما

تُبَكّي عَلى الثاوي النِساءُ الثَواكِلُ

And one laid to rest whom noble deeds mourned, though only

Bereaved women weep over one laid to rest.

سَقى اللَهُ قَبراً لَو يَشاءُ تُرابُهُ

إِذا سُقِيَت مِنهُ الغُيومُ الهَواطِلُ

May God water a grave whose dust, if it wished,

Would itself water the clouds that pour down rain.

نَأى رَبُّهُ عَنّا وَأَعرَضَ دونَهُ

عَلى كُرهِنا عَرضُ الثَرى وَالجَنادِلُ

Its master has gone far from us; between us and him stretches,

Against our will, the breadth of soil and boulders.

حَيا الأَرضِ أَلقَت فَوقَهُ الأَرضُ ثِقلَها

وَهَولُ الأَعادي حَولُهُ التُربُ هائِلُ

The earth's life-giving rain—the earth cast its weight upon him;

The terror of his enemies—around him the soil lies heaped.

أَما وَأَبي كَهلانَ يَومَ مُصابِهِ

لَقَد أُثقِلَت بِالرُزءِ مِنها الكَواهِلُ

Indeed, by Kahlan's father, on the day of his loss,

Its shoulders were indeed weighed down by bereavement.

رَأَوا شَمسَهُم في يَومِهِم وَهيَ ظُلمَةٌ

وَبَدرُهُمُ في لَيلِهِم وَهوَ آفِلُ

They saw their sun by day, yet it was darkness,

And their full moon by night, yet it was setting.

فَشاموا سُيوفاً ما لَهُنَّ مَضارِبٌ

وَأَلقَوا رِماحاً ما لَهُنَّ عَوامِلُ

So they sheathed swords that had no striking edges,

And threw down spears that had no points.

فَقَدناكَ فِقدانَ الحَياةِ وَأَقبَلَت

تُلاحِظُنا خُزراً إِلَينا القَبائِلُ

We lost you as life itself is lost, and now

The tribes turn hostile sidelong glances toward us.

وَلَولا اِبنُكَ المَرجُوُّ فينا لَأَصبَحَت

أَعالي الرُبى مِنها وَهُنَّ أَسافِلُ

But for your son, our hope among us, they would have become

The loftiest hills, lowlands though they are.

رَدَدنا إِلَيهِ الأَمرَ طَوعاً وَلَم نَقُل

لَهُ في الَّذي يَأتيهِ ما أَنتَ فاعِلُ

We willingly entrusted him with command, and did not say

To him about what he undertakes, 'What are you doing?'

بِهِ جُمِعَ الشَملُ الشَتيتُ وَفُرِّقَت

عَباديدَ في القَومِ اللُهى وَالنَوافِلُ

Through him the scattered company was reunited, and distributed

Far and wide among the people were lavish gifts and bounties.

تَخَطّى إِلَيهِ الرُزءُ مِن كُلِّ وِجهَةٍ

حَريمَ نَداً لا تَختَطيهِ العَواذِلُ

To reach him, bereavement crossed, from every side,

The sanctuary of bounty that reproachers cannot cross.

وَمَن يَرَ جَدوى يوسُفَ بنِ مُحَمَّدٍ

يَرَ البَحرَ لَم يَجمَع نَواحيهِ ساحِلُ

Whoever sees the generosity of Yusuf son of Muhammad

Sees a sea whose reaches no shore contains.

أَغَرُّ إِذا عُدَّت مَناقِبُ فِعلِهِ

تَوَهَّمتَ أَنَّ الحَقَّ مِنهُنَّ باطِلُ

Radiant and noble: when the merits of his deeds are counted,

You imagine what is true of them must be false.

إِذا ما نَحا مِن مَجلِسِ المُلكِ رُتبَةً

تَحَلحَلَ عَنها الأَحوَذِيُّ الحُلاحِلُ

Whenever he seeks a rank in the royal council,

The resourceful, mighty chief yields it to him.

تَطاطا الخُدودُ الزورُ تَحتَ سُكوتِهِ

وَتَنتَظِرُ الأَسماعُ ما هُوَ قائِلُ

Haughty cheeks bow before his silence,

And ears await what he will say.

وَكانَ وَراءَ المَدحِ إِذ هُوَ زائِدُ ال

يَدَينِ فَكَيفَ الآنَ إِذ هُوَ كامِلُ

He was beyond praise even as a child with untried

Hands; how much more now, when he is full-grown?

وَقَد حُقِّقَت فيهِ الظُنونُ وَصُدِّقَت

عَلى ماحَكَت مِن قَبلُ فيهِ الدَلائِلُ

Expectations of him have been fulfilled, and confirmed

Are the signs in what they foretold of him before.

وَلا عَجَبٌ أَن رَجَّمَ الغَيبَ عالِمٌ

فَقَبلَ الغُيوثِ ما تَكونُ المَخايِلُ

No wonder a knowing man guesses at the unseen:

For clouds that promise rain appear before the downpours.

وَإِن جاءَنا يَحكي أَباهُ فَلَم تَزَل

لَهُ مِن أَبيهِم شِيمَةٌ وَشَمائِلُ

And if he has come to us resembling his father, there have always been

In him a disposition and qualities inherited from their father.

هُما شَرَعٌ في المَكرُماتِ فَهَذِهِ

أَواخِرُ أَخلاقٍ وَتِلكَ أَوائِلُ

They are equal in noble deeds: these

Are the last of their virtues, and those the first.