أيدري الدهر أيم الله أني — Germanus Farhat

أيدري الدهر أيمُ اللَهِ أني

سَبرتُ صروفه بطناً وظهرا

Does Time know—by God—that I

have probed its vicissitudes, inside and out?

فبينا هُوْ يريك المرَّ حلواً

تراه قد أراك الحلو مرّا

For while it shows you bitterness as sweetness,

you see that it has shown you sweetness as bitterness.

فكان حِلاؤه زوراً ومكراً

وكان رِداؤه خُبثاً وغَدرا

So its sweetness was falsehood and deceit,

and its cloak was malice and treachery.

فإن يُدبر فلم أوسعه ذمّاً

وإن يقبل فلم أوسعه شكرا

If it turns away, I have not heaped blame upon it,

and if it approaches, I have not heaped thanks upon it.

فأُعجِزُهُ إذا ما غالبتني

نوائبُه وهل يغلبن حرّا

So I thwart it whenever I am assailed

by its calamities—and can they overcome a free man?

فلا تيأس لدهرٍ مُكفَهِرٍّ

إذا غادرتَ ذنباً مكفهرا

So do not despair at a grim-faced age,

if you have left a grim sin behind.

فبين الدهر والأحرار بَونٌ

فلا تعجب لحرٍّ دام دهرا

For a gulf divides Time from free men,

so do not marvel at a free man who endures an age.

تصان نفوسهم منه فتحيا

كما صينت من العِنِّينِ عَذرا

Their souls are shielded from it and live on,

as a virgin remains untouched by an impotent man.

تدوم مع الإله مؤبَّداتٍ

وتفنَى بعدها الأدهار طرا

They endure with God, everlasting,

and afterward all the ages perish.

علام الإتساع بدار كَسرٍ

وقد بُلِّغتَ ما صنَعَت بكسرى

Why seek spaciousness in a house of ruin,

when you have been told what it did to Kisra?

فلا يُحمَى بها أبداً نزيلٌ

يُريها كسرَهُ فتريه جبرا

No guest is ever protected there

who shows it his brokenness and receives its mending.

فكم أسرت بموردها ملوكاً

وكم قتلت بمصدر ذاك أسرى

How many kings it has captured at its watering place,

and how many captives it has killed at that place's exit!

فضاق البحر عن غرقاه مرسىً

وضاق البر عن قتلاه قبرا

So the sea was too narrow a harbor for its drowned,

and the land too narrow a grave for its slain.

قفا بي صاحبيَّ فأسعداني

بأمرٍ لا أرى لي فيه عُذرا

Halt with me, my two companions, and aid me

in a matter for which I see no excuse for myself,

بيومٍ يقتضي مني سروري

إذا نظر الزمان إلي شَزْرا

on a day that exacts my joy from me,

when Time looks askance at me.

غنيّاً كنتُ في سكري بدهري

فلما أن صحوت أصبت فقرا

I was rich while drunk on my fortune;

but when I sobered, I found poverty.

فهذا السكر عندي كان صحواً

وهذا الصحو عندي كان سكرا

So this drunkenness, to me, was sobriety,

and this sobriety, to me, was drunkenness.

فأين الدار والأحباب فيها

أما بُلِّغتَ أن الدار قفرا

Where, then, is the house, and the loved ones within it?

Have you not been told that the house is desolate?

ديارٌ لا ثبات لساكنيها

فإن تَشكُكْ فسل زيداً وعمرا

Dwellings whose inhabitants have no permanence;

if you doubt, ask Zayd and Amr.

شباب الشاب يستقضيه شيباً

وشَيب الكهلِ يستقضيه عُمرا

The youth of the young man exacts gray hair from him,

and the middle-aged man's gray hair exacts his life.

مصير العالمين إلى فسادٍ

وتُبدَلُ هذه الدنيا بأخرى

The fate of the worlds is decay,

and this world is replaced by another.

وتلك بقاؤها أبداً بقاءٌ

وكلٌّ فعله يقضيه أجرا

And that one's existence endures forever,

and each person's deed pays him his recompense.

فإنْ خيراً يسود به فخيراً

وإن شرّاً يسود به فشرا

If he gains eminence through good, then good is his reward;

and if he gains eminence through evil, then evil is his reward.

إذا كان البناء بلا أساسٍ

سيهدم ما تشيِّدُه ويُدرا

If a building has no foundation,

what you erect will be demolished and cast aside.

فكم طوتِ الثرى منا أناساً

وكم محتِ الدنا ذكراً وفخرا

So how many people among us the soil has enfolded,

and how much remembrance and glory the worlds have erased!

وكم هلكت بها جهلاً نفوسٌ

وقد تاهت بمن قد تاه قدرا

How many souls have perished there through ignorance,

while it has gloried in those who gloried in rank.

إلام الإقتصار على مُحالٍ

وأنت بما يشاء الحق أحرى

How long will you limit yourself to the impossible,

when what the True One wills is more fitting for you?

وتدري ما ورا هذا وهذا

وتذهب تائهاً تيهاً وكبرا

You know what lies beyond this and that,

yet go astray in arrogance and pride.

تَخال الأرض والشهواتِ فيها

مؤبدةً وأن بِها المَقرَّا

You suppose the earth and the desires within it

are everlasting, and that your lasting abode is there.

وصَيَّرتَ الشريعة ذاتَ وهمٍ

بنقضك حُكمَها سطراً فسطرا

You have made divine law a thing of illusion,

by overturning its decree, line after line.

أبحت المنكرات فلا نظامٌ

بسعيك إذ أضعت الحق هدرا

You permitted forbidden acts, so no order remains,

through your efforts, since you squandered truth for nothing.

تسير مع الإله كلا إلهٌ

وتعصي شرعَه نهياً وأمرا

You walk with God as though there were no God,

and disobey His law, its prohibitions and commands.

تبيع النفس في الدنيا ببخسٍ

فكيف تباع نفسٌ وهي تُشرَى

You sell the soul in this world for a paltry price;

so how can a soul be sold when it is being bought?

لعمر أبيك إنك في ضلالٍ

إذا أمعنت في الأحوال فِكرا

By your father's life, you are astray,

if you ponder these circumstances deeply.

مساوٍ لو تصدّى كاتبوها

لها جلَّت فلم تُكتَب وتُقرا

Misdeeds—were their chroniclers to turn

to them—would prove too vast to be written down and read.

أطعني واتخذني يا سميري

نصوحاً مخلصاً سرّاً وجهرا

Heed me, and take me, my evening companion,

as a sincere adviser, devoted in secret and openly.

وخذ بيدي إلى مولىً رؤوفٍ

إذا ما جئته أولاك برا

And take me by the hand to a compassionate Lord,

who, whenever you come to Him, grants you kindness.

عسى اللَه العلي ولي رجاءٌ

يمدُّ يداً إلى سُقمي فأبرا

May God Most High—and I have hope—

stretch a hand toward my sickness, so I may recover.

يد اللَه العزيز إذا تولّت

على عبدٍ أرته العسر يسرا

The hand of God the Mighty, when it watches

over a servant, shows him hardship as ease.

وحكمتُه إذا جاءت بضيقٍ

أرتك اليُمنَ في يمنى ويسرى

And His wisdom, when it comes with distress,

shows you good fortune on the right and the left.

ورحمتُه إذا جاءت بلطفٍ

أحالت عدله عفواً وبرا

And His mercy, when it comes with gentleness,

turns His justice into pardon and kindness.

ونعمتُه إذاجاءت تجلت

عليك وأنت بالإنعام أدرى

And His grace, when it comes, shines forth

upon you, and you know bounty all the better.

ونقمتُه إذا حلت بعبدٍ

يسيء فلا مَقرَّ ولا مفرا

And His vengeance, when it falls upon a servant

who does evil, leaves no resting place and no escape.

يُسَرُّ اللَه في عبدٍ نصوحٍ

بتوبته ويُبغِضُ من أصرّا

God is pleased with a sincere servant

for his repentance, and hates whoever persists in sin.