عصر الشبيبة ناضر غض — Ammara Bin Aqeel

عصر الشبيبة ناضِر غض

فيه ينال اللين والخفض

The season of youth is fresh and tender;

in it, ease and comfort are attained.

مثلَ الشبيبة كالربيع إذا

ما جيد فاخضرت له الأرض

Youth's likeness is spring, when

it is watered and the earth grows green for it.

والشيب كالمخل الجماد له

لونان مغبر ومبيض

Gray hair is like a barren, rainless season, with

two colors: dusty gray and white.

بينا الفتى يختال كالغصن

المولي أورق خوطه الغض

While the young man struts like a branch,

watered by following rain, its tender shoot in leaf,

سمح الخطى يهتز في غيد

ترنو إليه الأعين المرض

free of stride, swaying with supple grace,

languid eyes gaze toward him.

سنحت له دهياء من كثب

دانت خطاه وما به أبض

A dark calamity appeared close at hand;

his steps were subdued, though no fetter bound him.

ترك الجديد جديده سملا

لا الصون يرجعه ولا الرحض

Ever-renewing time left his freshness threadbare;

neither safekeeping nor washing restores it.

حتى كأن على الخطوب له

عيناً تجنب جفنها الغمض

Until it is as though he has, over calamities,

an eye whose lid shuns sleep.

ولرب جرار يغص به

طول الفضاء ويشرق العرض

And many a vast army, at whose presence

the length of open space chokes, and its breadth is clogged.

فتعاقب الفتيين يقدح في

صم الصفا فيظل يرفض

For the succession of the two ever-young ones wears into

the hardest rock, until it crumbles away.

أوعظ بشيب قصر لابسه

كرهان وشك الهلك أو حرض

What a warning is gray hair, whose wearer is hemmed in

by two hateful things: impending death or wasting sickness!

فسقى الإله شبيبة درست

أقرضتها فاسترجع القرض

So may God water a youth now effaced,

which I was lent, before He reclaimed the loan.

وعذا فرسدس يعض به

رحل ويشجي النسع والغرض

And a stout, full-toothed camel, bitten by

a saddle, while straps and girths chafe him,

أنضاه نص سرى وهاجرة

حتى تسرى المني والنحض

worn lean by hard-driven night travel and midday heat,

until his vital reserves and flesh ebbed away.

وطوته أرض فانطوى بشوى

نقض عليه شاحب نقض

The land wore him down, leaving him with the limbs

of a spent beast, bearing a pale, spent rider.

متسربل بالليل مدرع

بالآل والرمضاء ترمض

Clothed in night, armored

in mirage, while the burning ground scorches him,

ينفي سراه كراه عنه إذا

ما استوسن النوامة البض

his night travel banishes his sleep when

the soft-skinned sleepyhead grows drowsy.

ويؤم بحراً منبني مطر

لا النزر نائله ولا البرض

He heads toward a sea from the sons of Matar,

whose gifts are neither scant nor mere driblets.

ترد العفاة عليه واثقة

بالري حين يغصها الجرض

Petitioners come to him, confident

of being quenched when anguish chokes them.

وإذا السنون كحلن عن بلل

وألح منها النهس والعض

And when the years are kohl-dark, bereft of moisture,

and their gnawing and biting persist,

وتأرثت للشعريين بها

نار وعز القرض والفرض

and beneath the two Shi'ra stars there blazes within them

a fire, and loans and grants grow scarce,

ورأى المسيم الأرض خاشعة

لا خلة نجمت ولا حمض

and the herdsman sees the land desolate,

with neither sweet pasture sprouting nor salt-loving scrub,

فهو الربيع لها المربع إذا

ضن الربيع وأخلف الومض

he is its pasture-giving spring, when

spring withholds and lightning fails its promise.

وإذا الأمور دجت وضيق بها

ذرع وخيف مزلها الدحض

And when affairs grow dark and exhaust

one's endurance, and their slippery footing is feared,

جلى دجنتها لناظره

رأي له الأبرام والنقض

their darkness is cleared for his gaze by

a judgment that can make firm and unravel.

رأي إذا ناجى الضمير به

وحدين أبرز ضحكه المحض

A judgment which, when he communes with his inward mind through it,

the two alone, reveals its unalloyed smile.

حتى كأن على الخطوب له

عيناً تجنب جفنها الغمض

Until it is as though he has, over calamities,

an eye whose lid shuns sleep.

ولرب جرار يغص به

طول الفضاء ويشرق العرض

And many a vast army, at whose presence

the length of open space chokes, and its breadth is clogged.

تجف القلوب له ويشخصها

عن مستقر قرارها أرض

Hearts pound at it, and are driven

from their settled resting-place by trembling.

كالليل أنجمه سناً وظبي

تخفاقهن الهبر والوخض

Like night, its stars are gleams and sword-edges,

their flickering the hewing and the piercing.

ومعابل مسنونة ذرب

يحدو بها شرع لنا نبض

And broad arrowheads, honed and keen,

urged onward by our quivering bowstrings.

قدت الحتوف إليه في لجب

لليم منه اللون والعرض

You led deaths toward it amid a clamorous host,

from which the sea takes its color and breadth.

كقدي جربان وريشة إذ

حشر القضيض عليك والقض

Like [unclear] Jirban and Risha, when

the great and small were mustered against you.

لم يشكروا نعماك إذ غمطوا

نعماك إذ سخطوا ولم يرضوا

They did not thank your favors when they slighted

your favors, when they resented them and would not be content.

وشريت نفسك والقنا قصد

والبيض تحت البيض مرفض

You sold your life while the spears lay shattered,

and helmets beneath bright swords were split and scattered.

وعليك داودية كأضا

ة اللوب ما في سردها حبض

Upon you was Davidic mail, like a pool

among lava fields, its linked weave without flaw.

والسرج فوق أقب تحمله

عوج بناه البسط والقبض

The saddle was upon a lean-bellied horse, borne by

bowed legs; stretching and contracting had built his frame.

كسبيكة العقيان أدمجه

محض وألحق إطله العض

Like an ingot of gold, made compact by

pure milk, his flank drawn tight by dry fodder.

فكأنه فتخاء ملحمة

فرخين طلت وهي ترفض

He was like a broad-winged eagle bringing flesh to

two chicks, appearing above them as she flies swiftly,

حتى ثنى من بين منجدل

أو هارب لم ينجه الركض

until he turned back amid those struck down

or fleeing, whose running had not saved them.

عز الهدى بك بعد ذلته

والكفر ذل فما به نغض

Guidance gained might through you after its abasement,

and unbelief was humbled, with no stirring left in it.

شطران يومك للندى بعض

والمكرمات وللردى بعض

Your day has two halves: one for generosity

and noble deeds, the other for death.

حزت الندى والبأس عن سلف

سنوهما وعليهما حضوا

You acquired generosity and valor from forebears

who established both and urged both.

سبط الأنامل يجذلون إذا

سئلوا ويغتمون إن عضوا

Open-handed, they rejoice when

asked, and grieve if they withhold.

فكأن حل المال عندهم

حجر وحب مصونه بغض

It is as if lawful wealth, to them,

were forbidden, and love of its hoarding were hatred.

كنز المحامد وهي باقية

محمودة لا العين والعرض

Their treasure is praiseworthy deeds, enduring

and praised—not coin and possessions.

أشبهتهم وخلفتهم فهم

باقون ما عمرت لم يمضوا

You resembled them and succeeded them, so they

live on while you live; they have not passed away.

وإذا ربيعة قال فاخرها

واستنبىء الحكماء كي يقضوا

And when Rabi'a's spokesman for its glory says,

and the wise are asked to pronounce judgment,

منا يزيد وخالد خنعت

صيد القروم وأفحم العض

'Yazid and Khalid are ours,' there bow

the proud chieftains, and the cunning disputant is silenced.

ومؤملين بخالد شحطت

بهم البلاد وعاقهم أبض

And men hoping in Khalid, carried far away

by the lands and held back by a fetter,

وفدت عليهم من نداك لهى

تترى فلم يحنوا ولم ينضوا

have great gifts from your bounty come to them

one after another; they neither stoop nor wear themselves out.

لي حرمة بكم تكنفها

أمل وود صادق محض

I have a bond of honor with you, encircled

by hope and sincere, unalloyed affection.

وذريعتي ثقتي وفضلك إذ

شرف الفعال وطهر العرض

My means of approach are my trust and your bounty, since

your deeds are noble and your honor pure.

هنأتني براً ملكت به

شكري وشكرك واجب فرض

You favored me with kindness, thereby winning

my thanks; thanking you is an obligatory duty.

لم تبتذل وجهي ولاشفعت

شفعاء لي في منها هض

You did not abase my face, nor did there intercede

intercessors for me—[unclear wording: 'in ... from it ... crushing'].

ففداك مناعون لو ملكوا

مدد البحار إذن لما بضوا

May the misers be your ransom; if they owned

the supply of the seas, they would not yield a drop.

عضوا شفاههم وأيديهم

حسداً عليك وطالما عضوا

They bit their lips and hands

in envy of you—and often have they bitten!

ولووا معاطسهم على لهب

تحت الكشوح وليتهم رضوا

They twisted their noses over a flame

beneath their flanks; if only they were content.

فهناك أنك منتهى أملي

جاد وراج ما به نهض

May it gladden you that you are my utmost hope:

earnest and hopeful, I have no strength to rise.