لا غرو أن رحل الشباب وبانا — Dhafer Al Haddad

لا غَرْوَ أنْ رَحَل الشبابُ وبانا

ما كان أولَ من صَحِبتُ فخانا

No wonder youth has departed and gone away.

It was not the first companion I kept who betrayed me.

فكذا عَهِدتُ الدهرَ منذ عرفتُه

والمالَ والإِخوان والْخُلاّنا

Thus have I known time ever since I knew it,

and wealth, brothers, and intimate friends.

ما كنتُ أَحسَبُ ياشباب زيادتي

بالشيبِ تُوجِب بعدَك النقصانا

I never thought, O youth, that my increase

in gray hair would bring loss after you.

أحسنتَ مبتدِئاً وسُؤْت مُعقِّبا

ببياض شيبٍ ليتَه ما كانا

You did well at the outset, but ill in what followed,

with the whiteness of gray hair—would that it had never been!

قد كنتُ أستجفِي النوائبَ آنفا

والآن أَصعبُها بقربك هانا

I once found calamities harsh,

but now, beside you, their hardest has grown easy.

ما الشيبُ للإِنسان إلا غايةٌ

فيها يَزُمّ اللهوُ عنه عنانا

Gray hair is only a finish line for a man,

where amusement draws its reins away from him.

كم قد جريتُ مع الصِّبا في حَلْبةٍ

ولزمتُ فيها ذلك الميدانا

How often I raced with youth in an arena,

and kept to that racecourse within it,

حتى سبقتُ السابقين لشَأوِها

وحويت أوطارا وحُزْتُ رِهانا

until I outstripped the frontrunners toward its goal,

fulfilled desires, and won the stakes.

وقَنَصتُ مُقْتَنِصِى بمثل نبالِه

حتى تَساوى في الهوى قلبانا

I hunted my hunter with arrows like his,

until our two hearts were equal in love.

غصنٌ على حِقْفٍ فهذا مُخْجِلٌ

يَبْرِينَ حين بدا وذا نَعْمانا

A bough upon a sand dune: the dune puts to shame

Yabrin when revealed, and the bough, Nu'man.

إنْ ماج أسفُله حَقَرْتَ له النَّقا

أو ماس أعلاه حَقَرْتَ البانا

If his lower half undulates, beside it you scorn the sand dune;

or if his upper half sways, you scorn the ban trees.

فكأنما هو صَعْدَةٌ مهزوزة

حَملت من الطرف الضعيفِ سِنانا

He seems a swaying spear-shaft,

bearing a spearhead fashioned from a languid glance.

والحبُّ يأمر والصَّبابةُ بالذي

عنه المروءةُ والتقى تَنْهانا

Love and ardent longing command

what honor and piety forbid us,

إلا حديثاً مثلَ ما سَرتِ الصَّبا

سَحَرا تُنبِّه زاهِرا رَياّنا

save conversation, like the east wind as it drifts

at dawn, awakening a lush blossom.

والطيرُ مُطْرِبةٌ كأنّ حنينَها

سَلَبَ الغَريضَ ومَعْبدَ الألحانا

And the birds sing sweetly, as though their yearning song

had stolen the melodies of al-Gharid and Ma'bad.

يا من مضى فاعتضْتُ عن أيامه

أَوْفى نظامِ المدحِ في مولانا

O you who have gone, I took in exchange for your days

the fullest verse of praise for our lord:

الحافظُ الدينَ الذي غَمَر الورى

عدلا وعَمَّ جميعَهم إحسانا

al-Hafiz, guardian of the faith, who has flooded all creation

with justice and embraced them all with kindness.

هو رحمةُ اللهِ التي أحيا بها الْ

ثَقَليْنِ حتى الجودَ والإيمانا

He is God's mercy, through which He brought to life the

two kinds of beings—humans and jinn—and even generosity and faith.

إنْ قالتِ الشعراءُ فيه فأَفْصحتْ

فالله أنزل مدحَه قرآنا

If poets speak of him and speak eloquently,

God has sent down his praise as Qur'an.

ولئن أطال المادحون فلم يَدَعْ

لهمُ كلامُ اللهِ فيه مكانا

And though the panegyrists speak at length, no room is left

for them by God's word concerning him.

يا حجةَ اللهِ التي أبدتْ لنا

بكمالها الآياتِ والبرهانا

O proof of God, which has made manifest to us

through its perfection the signs and the demonstration,

من كان يلتمس الدليلَ فقد بدتْ

حُجَجٌ مَلأَنَ مَسامِعا وعِيانا

whoever seeks evidence—there have appeared

proofs that have filled both hearing and sight.

أنتَ ابنُ من ركب البُراق إلى العُلا

ليلا يَؤمُّ عيانُها الأعيانا

You are the son of him who rode al-Buraq to the heights

by night, their spectacle guiding the eyes.

وأمامه جبريلُ حتى استفتحا

بابَ السماءِ فجاوزاه وبانا

With Gabriel before him, until the two requested entry

at heaven's gate, passed through it, and departed,

حتى حَوى أقصى مقامٍ ما حَوى

من قبله ملكا ولا إنسانا

until he reached the furthest station, never reached

before him by angel or human being.

ودَنا فكان كقاب قوسَيْ حاجبٍ

في القربِ بل أدنَى هناك قِرانا

He drew near, as close as the span of an eyebrow's two arcs,

in nearness—indeed, closer still in that meeting.

يا أهلَ بيتِ الوحيِ أما مدحُكم

معْ فرطِ دُرْبتنا فقد أعيانا

O household of revelation, as for praising you,

despite all our skill, it has baffled us.

تتنافسُ الفصحاءُ فيه وفضلُكم

أَحْلى وأفصحُ مِقْوَلا ولسانا

The eloquent compete in it, yet your excellence

is sweeter and more eloquent in speech and tongue.

سِيما أبو الميمون إنّ صفاتِه

أَعْيَيْنَ قُسَّ وأفحمتْ سَحْبانا

Especially Abu al-Maymun: his qualities

have baffled Quss and left Sahban speechless.

أخلاقُه نبوية عَلَويّة

حُسَنِيّة أعظِمْ بها مِن شانا

His virtues are prophetic, Alid,

Hasanid—how exalted their standing!

حسناتُ منظرِه كمَخْبرِه فقد

ساوتْ مَحاسنُ سِرِّه الإعلانا

The beauties of his appearance match those within, for

the beauties of his inward self have matched his outward show.

يا بْنَ البَتولِ لقد سَما بك منصبٌ

في المجد فاق تُرابُه كَيْوانا

O son of al-Batul, a rank has borne you high

in glory, its very dust surpassing Kaywan.

وَدَّ النجومُ على مَعاليها بأنْ

تَضْحَى لأخْفِض رِجْلِه جيرانا

The stars, despite their lofty stations, wish

to become neighbors to the lowest part of its foot.

أغليتَ سعرَ الشعرِ بل أَعليتَه

لما بذلتَ لأهله الأثمانا

You raised poetry's price—rather, exalted it,

when you bestowed rewards upon its people.

أَجرتْ لُهاك بفَيْضِها لهَواتِنا

مدحا فكلٌّ قد حَوى طوفانا

Your gifts, in their abundance, have set our throats flowing

with praise, so each has held a flood.

وكأنّ جودَك دِيمةٌ ومديحنا

نَشْر ونحن الزَّهْر حين سقانا

And your generosity is like a steady rain, while our praise

is fragrance, and we are the flowers when it waters us.

من فضل مدحى فيك أنّ مَقالتي

يُذْكِي العقول وتَفْتح الأذهانا

One merit of my praise of you is that my utterance

kindles intellects and opens minds.

لو لم نَقُلْه لَقام فضلُك ناظما

يكسو القوافي حكمةً وبيانا

Had we not uttered it, your excellence would have risen as a poet,

clothing the rhymes in wisdom and eloquence.

يا شمسَ أفلاكِ الجلالِ لقد جَلَتْ

أنوارُك الظلماتِ والأشجانا

O sun of the spheres of majesty, truly dispelled are

darkness and sorrows by your lights.

وبدتْ كواكبُك المُنيرةُ في العُلى

والبدرُ يملأ ناظِرا وعيانا

And your shining stars have appeared in the heights,

while the full moon fills the eye and the field of vision.

ودعوتَه بوَليَّ عهدِك فاغتدَى

قلبُ العدو يُكابد الخَفَقانا

You proclaimed him your heir apparent, and so

the enemy's heart began to suffer palpitations.

واستسلمتْ صِيدُ الملوكِ وأيقنتْ

إنْ لم تُطِعْه أطاعَت الخِرصانا

The haughty kings surrendered and realized

that, if they did not obey him, they would obey the spears.

واهتزتِ البيضُ الرِّقاق لكفه

شوقا فكادت ترفض الأجفانا

And the slender white swords quivered for his hand,

with longing, almost casting off their sheaths.

وتَأطَّرتْ سُمْرُ العَوالي واغتدتْ

جُرْدُ المَذاكِي تَجذِب الأرسانا

And the brown, tall spears bent, and now

the sleek, mature steeds tugged at their halters.

لا زلتَ أصلا وهْو فرع يستِقي

منك الحياةَ ومنكما سُقْيانا

May you ever remain a root, while he is a branch drawing

life from you, and from you both comes our watering,

حتى يعمَّ الأرضَ مُلْككُما فلا

يبقَى عليها موضعٌ ما دانا

until your rule embraces the earth, with no

place remaining upon it that has not submitted.

ها قد مضى رجبٌ وودّع وجهَك ال

باقي وقد هَنّى به شعبانا

Behold, Rajab has passed and bid farewell to your face—

everlasting—and has congratulated Sha'ban on it.

شهرٌ له ولنا الهَناءُ بنظرةٍ

لضياءِ غُرَّتك الذي يَغْشانا

A month with joy for it and for us in a glimpse

of the radiance of your brow, which envelops us,

في موقفِ فَخَر الملوكُ بأنها

أبدا تُعَفرِّ عندَه التِّيجانا

at a station where kings boasted that they

always rub their crowns in the dust before it.

فاسلمْ وعِشْ مسقبِلا ومُودِّعا

والدهرُ يطلب من يديك أمانا

So be safe, and live on, welcoming and bidding farewell,

while time seeks safety from your hands.

أنت الحياةُ وفي يديك مَقرُّها

ونَداك يُحْيِي منهما الحيوانا

You are life itself, and in your hands it dwells,

and your bounty from them both brings living creatures to life.