نعاك النعاة وحم القدر — Hafez Ibrahim

نَعاكَ النُعاةُ وَحُمَّ القَدَر

وَلَم يُغنِ عَنّا وَعَنكَ الحَذَر

The death-announcers proclaimed your passing, and fate was sealed;

and caution did not avail us or you.

طَوَت ذَبحَةُ الصَدرِ صَدرَ النَدِيِّ

فَلَم تَطوِ إِلّا سِجِلَّ العِبَر

Angina laid low the foremost man of the gathering,

and closed nothing but a chronicle of lessons.

فَأَمسَيتَ تُذكَرُ في الغابِرينَ

وَإِن قَلَّ مِثلُكَ فيمَن غَبَر

So now you are remembered among those gone before,

though few like you were among those who passed.

إِذا ذُكِرَت سِيَرُ النابِهينَ

فَسيرَةُ صَبري تَجُبُّ السِيَر

When the lives of eminent men are recalled,

then Sabri's life-story eclipses the rest.

لَقَد كُنتَ بَرّاً بِظِلِّ الشَبابِ

فَلَمّا تَقَلَّصَ كُنتَ الأَبَرّ

Indeed, you were virtuous in the shade of youth;

and when it shrank, you were more virtuous still.

فَلَم تَستَبِق نَزوَةً في الصِبا

وَلَم تَستَبِح هَفوَةً في الكِبَر

You harbored no rash impulse in youth,

and deemed no lapse permissible in old age.

أُهَنّي الثَرى أَم أُعَزّي الوَرى

لَقَد فازَ هَذا وَهَذا خَسِر

Should I congratulate the earth or console humankind?

The one has gained, and the other has lost.

أَأَوَّلَ يَومٍ لِعَهدِ الرَبيعِ

تَجِفُّ الرِياضُ وَيَذوي الزَهَر

Is it on the very first day of spring

that gardens dry up and flowers wither,

وَيَذبُلُ زَهرُ القَريضِ الثَرِيِّ

وَيُقفِرُ رَوضَ القَوافي الغُرَر

that the bloom of rich verse droops,

and the garden of radiant rhymes grows barren?

لِيَهدَأ عُمانُ فَغَوّاصُهُ

أُصيبَ وَأَمسى رَهينَ الحُفَر

Let Oman grow calm, for its diver

was stricken and became a prisoner of the graves.

فَقَد كانَ يَعتادُهُ دائِباً

بَكوراً رَؤوحاً لِنَهبِ الدُرَر

For he would frequent it tirelessly,

early and late, to plunder pearls.

يَقولُ فَيُرخِصُ دُرَّ النُحورِ

وَيُغلي جُمانَ بَناتِ الفِكَرِ

He would speak, making the pearls on throats seem cheap,

and raising the worth of the pearls of thought's daughters.

يَسوقُ القِصارَ فَيَأبى العِثارِ

وَكَم مِن مُطيلٍ مُمِلٍّ عَثَر

He brought forth brief poems and refused to stumble,

while many a tedious, long-winded poet stumbled.

قِصارٌ وَحَسبُ النُهى أَنَّها

لَها مُعجِزاتٌ قِصارِ السُوَر

Brief—and discerning minds need only know that they

possess the miracles of the short surahs.

رُحِمتَ فَقَد كُنتَ حُلوَ اللِسانِ

جَلِيَّ البَيانِ صَدوقَ الخَبَر

May mercy be granted you, for you were sweet of tongue,

clear in expression, truthful in report,

قَليلَ التَعَجُّبِ جَمَّ الأَناةِ

حَكيمَ الوُرودِ حَكيمَ الصَدَر

seldom astonished, rich in composure,

wise in approaching, wise in withdrawing.

شَمائِلُكَ الغُرُّ هُنَّ الرِياضُ

رَوى عَن شَذاها نَسيمُ السَحَر

Your radiant qualities are gardens;

the predawn breeze recounted their fragrance.

لَها مِثلُ رَوحِ الدُعاءِ اِستُجيبَ

فَعافى وَآوى وَأَغنى وَسَرّ

They have the solace of a prayer answered,

that healed, sheltered, enriched, and gladdened.

إِذا ما وَرَدتَ لَها مَنهَلاً

وَرَدتَ نَميراً لَذيذَ الخَصَر

Whenever you reach one of their watering places,

you reach pure water, deliciously cool.

وَفِكرُكَ في خِصبِهِ ثَروَةٌ

لِفِكرِ الأَديبِ إِذا ما اِفتَقَر

And your thought, in its fertility, is wealth

for the writer's mind whenever it grows poor.

وَشِعرُكَ كَالماءِ في صَفوِهِ

عَلى صَفحَتَيهِ تَراءى الصُوَر

And your poetry is like water in its clarity;

on its two surfaces images appear.

عُيونُ القَصائِدِ مِثلُ العُيونِ

وَشِعرُكَ فيهِنَّ مِثلُ الحَوَر

The finest poems are like eyes,

and your poetry among them is like their vivid black-and-white contrast.

وَكَم لَكَ شَكوى هَوىً أَو أَسىً

لَها نَفَثاتٌ تُذيبُ الحَجَر

How many a lament of yours for love or sorrow

has sighs that melt stone!

هَتَفتَ بِها مَرَّةً في الهَجيرِ

فَكادَ يَدِبُّ إِلَيكَ الشَجَر

Once you cried it out in the midday heat,

and the trees almost crept toward you.

وَكَم كُنتَ تُشعِلُ فَحمَ الدُجى

بِأَنفاسِ صَبٍّ طَويلِ السَهَر

How often you set alight the charcoal of darkness

with the breaths of a lover long awake!

فَيا وَيحَ قَلبِكَ ماذا أَلَح

حَ عَلَيهِ مِنَ الداءِ حَتّى اِنفَطَر

Ah, alas for your heart! What relentless

illness beset it until it broke?

أَيَخفِقُ تَحتَ الدُجى وَحدَهُ

لِذِكرى أَليفٍ سَلا أَو هَجَر

Does it beat alone beneath the darkness

at the memory of a beloved who ceased to care or deserted you?

إِذا قيلَ صَبري ذَكَرتُ الوَليدَ

وَمَرَّت بِنَفسِيَ ذِكرى عُمَر

When 'Sabri' is spoken, I remember al-Walid,

and the memory of Umar passes through my soul.

يَزينُ تَواضُعُهُ نَفسَهُ

كَما زانَ حُسنَ المِلاحِ الخَفَر

His humility adorns his soul,

as modesty adorned the beauty of the fair.

زَكِيُّ المَشاعِرِ عَفُّ الهَوى

شَهِيُّ الأَحاديثِ حُلوُ السَمَر

Pure in feeling, chaste in love,

delightful in conversation, sweet in evening talk.

لَقَد كُنتُ أَغشاهُ في دارِهِ

وَناديهِ فيها زَها وَاِزدَهَر

I used to visit him in his home,

and his salon there blossomed and flourished.

وَأَعرِضُ شِعري عَلى مَسمَعٍ

لَطيفٍ يُحِسُّ نُبُوَّ الوَتَر

And I would offer my poetry to an ear

so sensitive it sensed the string's discord,

عَلى سَمعِ باقِعَةٍ حاضِرٍ

يَميزُ القَديمَ مِنَ المُبتَكَر

to the hearing of an alert, discerning master

who distinguished the old from the new.

فَيَصقُلُ لَفظِيَ صَقلَ الجُمانِ

وَيَكسوهُ رِقَّةَ أَهلِ الحَضَر

He would polish my phrasing as pearls are polished,

and clothe it in the refinement of city folk.

يُرَقرِقُ فيهِ عَبيرَ الجِنانِ

فَتَستافُ مِنهُ النُهى وَالفِكَر

He made the gardens' perfume ripple through it,

so minds and thoughts breathed in its scent.

كَذَلِكَ كانَ عَلَيهِ السَلامُ

إِماماً لِكُلِّ أَديبٍ شَعَر

Such was he—peace be upon him—

a guide to every man of letters who composed poetry.

فَكُنّا الجَداوِلَ نُروي الظِماءَ

ظِماءَ العُقولِ وَكانَ النَهَر

So we were the streams, giving drink to the thirsty—

the thirsty minds—and he was the river.

زَهِدتَ عَلى شُهرَةٍ طَبَّقَت

وَجاهٍ أَظَلَّ وَفَضلٍ بَهَر

You lived detached, despite fame that spread everywhere,

and rank that cast its shade, and merit that dazzled.

خَلَعتَ الشَبابَ فَلَم تَبكِهِ

وَساءَكَ أَنَّكَ لَم تُختَضَر

You shed your youth and did not mourn it,

and it saddened you that you had not died young.

وَقَد ذُقتَ طَعمَ الرَدى عِندَما

أُصيبَ قِطارُكَ يَومَ السَفَر

You had tasted the flavor of death when

your train was stricken on the day you traveled.

فَأَقسَمتَ أَنَّكَ أَلفَيتَهُ

لَذيذَ المَذاقَةِ إِذ تُحتَضَر

You swore that you had found it

sweet to the taste as you lay dying.

تَمَنَّيتَ أَن لَم تَعُد لِلحَياةِ

وَلَكِن أَباها عَلَيكَ القَدَر

You wished you had not returned to life,

but fate denied you that wish.

وَكَم ساعَةٍ بَينَ ساعِ الحَياةِ

سَقَتكَ المُرارَ بِكَأسِ الضَجَر

How many an hour among life's hours

gave you bitterness to drink from the cup of weariness!

فَرُحتَ إِلى أُختِها شاكِياً

أَذاتَكَ مِنها فَكانَت أَمَر

Then you went to its sister, complaining

of the hurt it caused you—but she was more bitter.

فَفَتَّشتَ أَثناءَها جاهِداً

بِعَينَي بَصيرٍ بَعيدِ النَظَر

So you searched through its folds, striving hard,

with the eyes of a discerning, far-seeing man.

فَلَم تَرَ فيها عَلى طولِها

هُنَيهَةَ صَفوٍ خَلَت مِن كَدَر

But throughout its long span you never saw

a brief spell of serenity unclouded by distress.

وَما زِلتَ تَشكو إِلى أَن أَتَت

كَما تَشتَهي ساعَةٌ لَم تَذَر

You kept lamenting until there came,

just as you wished, an hour that spared nothing.

فَلا صَدَّ تَخشاهُ بَعدَ الوِصالِ

وَلا ضَعفَ تَشكوهُ بَعدَ الأَشَر

So no rejection need you fear after union,

nor weakness bewail after exuberance.

أُريحَ فُؤادُكَ مِمّا ضَناهُ

وَصَدرُكَ مِمّا عَلَيهِ اِنكَدَر

Your heart was relieved of what had wasted it,

and your breast of what had descended upon it.

تَمَنَّيتَها خُطوَةً لِلمَماتِ

تُفَرِّجُ عَنكَ كُروبَ الغِيَر

You wished for it—a step toward death

that would relieve you of the anguish of reversals.

وَها قَد خَطاها وَنِلتَ المُنى

فَهَل في المَماتِ بُلوغُ الوَطَر

And now it has taken that step, and you have attained your wishes;

is desire, then, fulfilled in death?

صَدَقتَ فَفي المَوتِ نَصرُ الأَبِيِّ

عَلى الدَهرِ إِن هُوَ يَوماً غَدَر

You spoke truly: in death the unbowed man finds victory

over time, should it one day betray him.

مَلِلتَ الثَواءَ بِدارِ الزَوالِ

فَماذا رَأَيتَ بِدارِ المَقَرّ

You tired of dwelling in the abode of transience;

what have you seen in the abode of permanence?

أَتَحتَ التُرابِ يُضامُ الكَريمُ

وَيَشقى الحَليمُ وَيَخفى القَمَر

Beneath the earth, is the noble man wronged,

does the forbearing suffer, and is the moon hidden,

وَيُهضَمُ حَقُّ الأَديبِ الأَريبِ

وَيُطمَسُ فَضلُ النَبيهِ الأَغَرّ

is the discerning man of letters denied his due,

and is the merit of the eminent, radiant man effaced?

أَتَحتَ التُرابِ تُساقُ الشُعوبُ

بِسَوطِ العُبودَةِ سَوقَ البَقَر

Beneath the earth, are peoples driven

with the whip of bondage, as cattle are driven?

وَيُعقَدُ مُؤتَمَرٌ لِلسَلامِ

فَنَخرُجُ مِنهُ إِلى مُؤتَمَر

And is a conference convened for peace,

only for us to emerge from it into another conference?

فَإِن كانَ ما عِندَنا عِندَكُم

فَلَيسَ لَنا مِن شَقاءٍ مَفَرّ

If what we have here is also there with you,

then we have no escape from misery.

خِضَمُّ الحَياةِ بَعيدُ النَجاةِ

فَطوبى لِراكِبِهِ إِن عَبَر

On life's vast sea, safety is far away;

blessed is its voyager if he makes the crossing.

فَعُد سالِماً غانِماً لِلتُرابِ

كَرَأيِكَ في المَوتِ وَاِهنَأ وَقَرّ

So return to the dust, safe and triumphant,

in keeping with your view of death; be content, and rest.