ثق إنما الأحزان سبك ضيق — Germanus Farhat

ثق إنما الأحزانُ سبكٌ ضيِّقُ

وبسبكِها يبدو الأمين الأصدقُ

Trust: sorrows are but a constricting refinement,

and through their refining the faithful, most truthful one emerges.

ما بين مشرقها ومغربها ترى

ناراً بها صَدأُ المآثم يُحرَقُ

Between their rising and their setting you see

a fire in which the rust of sins is burned.

كم ليلةٍ قد بت في عرصاتها

متلفِّتاً وأنا وحيدٌ مُملِق

How many nights I have spent in their open grounds,

looking about, alone and destitute!

فكأنني هدفٌ لأسباب الردى

وبنبلها في كل يومٍ أرشَق

As though I were a target for the agents of death,

and with their arrows I am shot each day.

أُمسي وقلبي للبلايا مركزٌ

ماءُ البلى في طيِّه يترقرق

At evening my heart is a center for calamities;

the water of affliction shimmers within its folds.

فكأنه كُرَة المنايا والشقا

وبصولجان همومها يتمزق

As though it were the ball of death and misery,

and torn apart by the mallet of their cares.

أنَّى توجَّهتُ امتثلتُ حِيالَها

ناهيكَ من نارٍ بقلبي تُحدِق

Wherever I turned, I stood before them.

What a fire encircles my heart!

في كل جارحةٍ جراحٌ مُثخِنٌ

وبكل خافقةٍ بلاءٌ يَخفِق

In every limb, a grievous wound;

and in every beating heart, a calamity throbs.

وبكل ناحيةٍ لذلِّي غربةٌ

وبكل سامعةٍ غرابٌ يَنعَق

And in every quarter, estrangement attends my abasement;

and in every ear, a raven croaks.

قالوا خُلقتَ معذَّباً فأجبتهم

عندي العذاب مجمَّعٌ ومفرَّق

They said, “You were created tormented,” and I answered:

“Torment is mine, gathered and dispersed.”

قالوا دُعيتَ إلى الشَقا فاجبتُهم

من يُنكرُ الحقَّ الصراحَ فأحمق

They said, “You were called to misery,” and I answered:

“Whoever denies the plain truth is a fool.”

إني بدهري دونَ أهل عشيرتي

متمزقٌ متحرقٌ متغرِّق

In my time, unlike the people of my clan,

I am torn apart, burning, drowning.

راش العداةُ سهامَهم لمذمَّتي

وسهام أحبابي أدقُّ وأرشق

My enemies fletched their arrows to revile me,

yet my loved ones' arrows are more precise and more piercing.

ضر الصديق أمَرُّ ثم أحَرُّ من

ضُرِّ العدو الأجنبيِّ وأحرَق

A friend's harm is bitterer, and hotter, than

a foreign foe's harm—and more searing.

فانظر لسهمٍ من محبٍّ مُرشَقٍ

واعجب لنارٍ من صديقٍ تَحرِق

Look, then, at an arrow shot by one who loves you,

and marvel at a fire from a friend that burns.

فبكل يومٍ محنةٌ وبليةٌ

وبكل يومٍ عبرةٌ تتدفَّق

Each day brings a trial and an affliction,

and each day a tear streams forth.

فبكل يومٍ فرحةٌ من شامتٍ

وبكل يومٍ حاسدٌ لا يُشفِق

Each day brings the joy of someone gloating,

and each day an envious person shows no pity.

وبكل يومٍ ضربةٌ من ظالمٍ

حتى كأني بالدماء مُخلَّق

And each day brings a blow from a tyrant,

until I seem anointed with blood.

أشكو الأسى والدهر قاضٍ صارمٌ

إن جئتَه فهو العدو الأزرق

I lament my grief; Time is a stern judge.

If you come before him, he is the blue-eyed foe.

تُبدي نوائبُه البشاشةَ خدعةً

وبِطيِّها مكرٌ مغيظٌ مُحنِق

His calamities show cheerfulness as a trick,

while hidden in their folds is infuriating, enraging deceit.

نَثرَت بواترُ صرفهِ نظمَ الورى

فمُمزَّقٌ من بأسه ومُحلَّق

The cutting blades of his vicissitudes scattered mankind's ordered string:

some torn apart by his violence, some shorn.

فالعقل فيه مؤخرٌ ومكذَّبٌ

والجهل فيه مصدَّر ومصدَّق

Reason in him is pushed back and disbelieved,

while ignorance is brought forward and believed.

كثرت بنوه مذ تكاثر حُكمُه

والغصنُ من ريح النجاسة يورق

His sons grew numerous as his sway increased,

and the branch puts forth leaves from the wind of filth.

أضحى عقيماً من سليلٍ عاقلٍ

ونمت بنو العِلّات فيه وأحدَقوا

He has become barren of discerning offspring,

while the sons of ailments grew within him and gathered round.

لا تجهلنْ فالعقل يَعرِف جاهلاً

والجهل يجهله الغبيُّ الأحمق

Do not be ignorant: reason recognizes an ignorant man,

while the dull-witted fool fails to recognize ignorance.

أضحيتُ مجروحَ الفؤاد ولم أزل

بسهام ثلبك كل يومٍ أُرشَق

I have become wounded in heart, and have never ceased

to be shot each day with the arrows of your defamation.

لم تَبقَ جارحةٌ بنفسٍ عِفتُها

إلّا وفيها منك سَهمٌ مُرشَق

Not one limb remains in the self I loathe

without an arrow from you shot into it.

رفقاً بخلٍّ قد خُلِقتَ لذمِّه

لكنْ لحبل ودادِكم لا يُخلِق

Be gentle with a friend you were created to revile,

yet who will not let your affection's cord wear out.

لو كنت تخلَقُ في الورى لمديحه

لرضيتَ أنك في الورى لا تُخلَق

Had you been created among mankind to praise him,

you would have preferred not to be created among mankind.

ما كان ضرَّك لو رضيتَ عن الذي

أضحى بكم دون الملا يترفق

What harm would it have done you to be pleased with one

who shows kindness to you alone among all people?

أنفقت في سوق الوفاء مودتي

فيكم وعمري في مديحك أُنفِق

I spent my affection in the marketplace of fidelity

on you, and spend my life in praising you.

فاعصِ اللسانَ ولا تطع هذيانَهُ

إن اللسانَ هو العدوُّ المُقلق

So disobey the tongue, and do not obey its rambling:

the tongue itself is the unsettling enemy.

شتان بين العندليب وشدوِه ال

مشجي وبين غراب بينٍ يَنعَق

What a gulf between the nightingale with its song—

so plaintive—and a raven of parting that croaks!

إن الحمار الغُمرَ يُعرَفُ نوعُهُ

بين الجياد الوُرْدِ لمَّا يَنهَق

The witless ass is recognized for its kind

among the bay steeds when it brays.

هذا هو الواشي المعيبُ بكذبه

لما وثقتَ به كخلٍّ يَصدِق

This is the tale-bearer, tainted by his lying,

whom you trusted as a friend who speaks the truth.

أطغاك بل أغواك عن حبي وعن

مدحي وهوْ يرضيهِ أنك تَقلَق

He made you transgress—nay, led you astray from my love and from

my praise; it pleases him that you are troubled.

فجزاكَ عني محبَّةٌ ما بعتُها

برخيص ذمِّك والجزاءُ محقَّق

So your recompense from me is love I never sold

for your cheap abuse; the recompense is assured.

فثناكَ عني ريحُ ماءٍ آسنٍ

وثنايَ عنكَ نسيمُ مِسكٍ يَعبَق

Your praise of me is the reek of stagnant water,

while my praise of you is a breeze of fragrant musk.

فاللَه يأمر والرسول مؤكّدٌ

فيه وإنجيلُ المسيحِ يُحقّق

For God commands, and the apostle affirms

it, and Christ's Gospel confirms:

ألا تكافوا الشرَّ شرّاً مثلَه

بل أكرموا الأعدا وجودوا وارفُقوا

that you not repay evil with evil like it,

but honor enemies, be generous, and show kindness.

فاذهب فأنت طليق ربٍّ شرعُه

قد فل غَربَ لسانِ هجوٍ يَزهَق

Go, then: you are the freedman of a Lord whose law

has blunted the edge of a satirical tongue that dies away.

جهالُه سادت علي عُقّالِه

والشمس يحجبها الغمام المُطبِق

His fools have ruled over his wise men,

and the enveloping clouds conceal the sun.

حتى أُسرتُ به فأَطلقَ عبرتي

من جوره فأنا الأسيرُ المُطلَق

Until I was imprisoned by him, and he set loose my tears

through his tyranny: I am the captive set free.

وبليتُ منه ومن بنيه بظالمٍ

قلقٍ وقلبي من عَناه أقلق

And I was afflicted, by him and his sons, with a tyrant,

restless; my heart is more restless from his torment.

ناجاه قلبي فوق طور وداده

حتى ثناه فخرَّ منه يُصعَق

My heart communed with him atop the mount of his affection,

until he turned it away, and it fell from him, thunderstruck.

أعيت هواجسه فؤادي مثلما

أعيا الرخاخَ وفِرْزَهنَّ البَيذَق

His troubling thoughts exhausted my heart, just as

a pawn exhausted the rooks and their vizier.

فكأن أفكاري إذا ما اغتالَها

ضَرَبَتهمُ أيدي سبا فتفرقوا

As though my thoughts, whenever he waylaid them,

were struck by the hands of Saba, and scattered.

أمسى يعاقدني الودادَ وودُّه

عني يغرِّبُ تارةً ويشرِّق

He came to pledge friendship to me, yet his affection

strays westward from me at times, and eastward.

يا ناسياً حبي القديمَ وموحشاً

أنسي الحديث وظالماً يتألَّق

O you who forget my old love and make desolate

my recent intimacy, a tyrant who glitters!

قد شِنتَ حُسنَ محبتي ونُضورَها

ظلماً كما شان النُضارَ الزيبق

You have marred the beauty and freshness of my love

unjustly, as mercury mars pure gold.

فكأنني حلبٌ برقَّةِ لينها

وكأن طبعك في الغلاظة جلَّق

So I am like Aleppo in its delicate softness,

while your nature, in its coarseness, is like Jilliq.

يا ليت قومي يعلمون بأنني

أمسيت فيك بدمع عيني أشرق

If only my people knew that I

have come, because of you, to choke on my tears!

فَتهنَّ في عيشٍ رغيدٍ واسعٍ

مذ بِتُّ فيك ورَبعُ عيشي ضيق

Enjoy, then, a comfortable, spacious life,

since I spend my nights on your account, my life's dwelling cramped.

لولاه كان الهجو فيك موفَّقاً

والهجوُ طبعاً في اللئام موفَّق

Were it not for him, satire against you would have succeeded,

and satire naturally succeeds against the base.

إني ليقنعني وسمعي سامعٌ

صوتُ المسيح على الصليب يُشوِّق

Indeed, what persuades me, while my ears listen,

is Christ's voice upon the cross, stirring longing:

اغفر لهم أبتاه هم لم يعلموا

ما يعملون وإن رأوا ما صدَّقوا

“Forgive them, Father; they do not know

what they do; though they saw, they did not believe.”

حسبي أراه على الصليب ورأسُه

عن كبريا أهل التكبر مُطرق

It is enough for me to see him on the cross, his head

bowed away from the pride of the proud.

أمَرَ السنانَ المُرَّ يفتق جيبَه

وبفتقه لجراح آدم يَرتق

He bade the bitter spearhead rend his bosom,

and by its rending he mends Adam's wounds.

هذا الذي جعل العدو صديقه

وصديقه بدم العدو مخلَّق

This is he who made the enemy his friend,

while his friend is anointed with the enemy's blood.

وجعلتُ فيه دمع عيني مَغرِباً

لما أضاها منه ذاك المشرق

And in him I made my eye's tears a place of sunset,

when that sunrise from him illumined it.

وخفضت رايات العداوة عندما

أبصرت رايات السلامة تَخفُق

And I lowered the banners of hostility when

I saw the banners of safety fluttering.

وخلعت فيه عذار عذري مذ غدا

لَبِقاً ولكن مدحُ مريم ألبق

And for him I cast off the bridle of my excuse, since it became

fitting; yet praise of Mary is more fitting.

ولبست في مدح البتولة مريمٍ

ثوبَ الرجا فكأنه الإستبرق

And in praising Mary the Virgin, I put on

the robe of hope, as though it were rich silk brocade.

يسمو بها سِعري وشعري في الورى

يزهو كأني بها الفصيح المُفلق

Through her my worth rises, and my verse among mankind

flourishes, as though through her I were eloquent and masterful.

ورفعت فيها لواءَ مدحي ظاهراً

في الخافقين كأن مدحي سَنجق

And for her I raised the banner of my praise, displayed

across East and West, as though my praise were a standard.

قد حصَّنتني من عدوٍّ ماردٍ

بجوارها فكأن حصني الجَوسق

She has fortified me against a rebellious foe

by her protection, as though my fortress were a fortified palace.

حتى غرقتُ بمدحها وبحمدها

وغريقُها بجهنّمٍ لا يغرق

Until I drowned in praising and thanking her;

and one drowned in her does not drown in Hell.

فترى العدو لمدحها متشوِّقاً

وإلى مناقب فضلها يتشوق

Thus you see the enemy yearning to praise her,

and yearning for the glories of her excellence.

شهدت لها الأعداء والفضلُ العليْ

ما قد أقر به العدوُّ وصدَّقوا

Enemies have borne witness for her; exalted merit

is what the foe has admitted and they have affirmed.

لا تلحقُ الآفات يوماً عبدَها

ومن المحال طلاب ما لا يُلحَق

No calamities ever overtake her servant,

and seeking what cannot be overtaken is impossible.

فكأنه من بأسها في معقلٍ

وكأنها لحماه سورٌ محدِق

As though through her might he were in a stronghold,

and she were an encircling wall about his refuge.

أدعوكِ يا سلطانةً ما حوربت

إلا وأحزابُ العداة تمزقوا

I call on you, O sovereign lady, never attacked

without the factions of the foes being torn apart.

قومي لنصري إن عزمك وحده

عند العدا جيش مخيفٌ فيلق

Rise to my aid: your resolve alone

is to the foes a fearsome army, a legion.

خفقت بنودُ النصر منك فمذ رأت

أعلامَك الأعداءُ طرّاً أخفقوا

Your banners of victory fluttered; as soon as they saw

your standards, the enemies failed, every one.

فسواكِ يُغلق بابَ جود نوالِه

لكن جودك بابُه لا يغلق

Others close the door to their generous gifts,

but the door of your generosity is never shut.

ولقد سهرت على مديحك ليلةً

حلف الصباحُ بأنه لا يشرق

Indeed, I kept vigil in your praise through a night;

the morning swore that it would not rise.

وأرِقتُ حتى قال شوقي نحوكم

أَرَقٌ على أرقٍ ومثلي يأرق

And I lay sleepless until my longing for you declared:

“Sleeplessness upon sleeplessness—and one like me lies sleepless.”