يا نعش ما يصنع الفصيح — Haidar Alheli

يا نعش ما يصنع الفصيحُ

لم أدرِ ماذا به يبوحُ

O bier, what can the eloquent speaker do?

I do not know what he can say of it.

وأيُّ معنًى إليه يغدو

في وصفِ معناك أو يروحُ

And what meaning comes to him

in describing your meaning, or goes away?

هل فلكٌ أنتِ من علاه

إليه طرفُ السهى طموحُ

Are you a celestial sphere, so lofty

that al-Suha's gaze strains toward it,

وقد جرت زهرة المعالي

فيه لغربٍ هو الضريحُ

and the Venus of lofty virtues has coursed

within it toward a setting-place—the tomb?

أو أنتِ نعش به مسجًّى

جسمٌ لجسمِ العفاف روحُ

Or are you a bier upon which lies laid out

a body that is the soul of chastity's body?

مناسب الفخر شيعته

والحسبُ الخالص الصريحُ

Glory's noble lineages escorted it,

and pure, unalloyed nobility.

سرى على الأرض حاملوه

وهو بأُفق السما يلوحُ

Its bearers journeyed by night across the earth,

while it gleamed on heaven's horizon.

وخلفه والهٌ ثكولٌ

أمُّ العُلى دمعها سفوحُ

Behind it, distraught and bereaved,

is the mother of lofty virtues, her tears streaming.

تطارحُ الورقَ وهي تدعو

على مَ ورقُ الحمى تنوحُ

She trades laments with the doves, calling:

Why do the sanctuary's doves lament?

ما هي والوجد تدَّعيه

قلبي لا قلبها الجريحُ

What claim has she to the anguish she professes?

Mine, not hers, is the wounded heart.

تضمُّ أضلاعُها حشاها

ولي حشاً ضمَّها الضريحُ

Her ribs enfold her heart,

but I have a heart enfolded by the tomb.

في طلحِها إلفُها وإلفي

عن وطني شخصها طليحُ

Her mate is in her acacia tree, while my beloved—

far from my homeland, her body lies spent.

أصمَّ فيها النعيُ سمعي

مذ جاءَ من فارس يصيحُ

The tidings of her death deafened my hearing

when they came crying out from Persia.

تلك المفداةُ ساورتها

شكيَّةٌ ما لها نزوحُ

That cherished woman was assailed

by an illness that would not depart.

فلم تمرض بذات قربى

لها بشكوى الضنى تبوحُ

So she lay ill with no kinswoman near

to whom she might voice her wasting pain,

حتَّى قضت حيث ما عليها

في غربة البينِ من ينوحُ

until she died where there was no one

to mourn her in the exile of separation.

نعم بكت بقعةٌ تصلِّي

فيها وشهبُ السما جنوحُ

Yes, a place wept: she would pray

there, while heaven's stars inclined toward setting.

وانتحبَ الكاتبان إذ قد

فاتهما وردُها الصحيحُ

And the two recording angels sobbed, for

they had lost her faultless daily devotions.

فليغتد اليوم كلُّ خدرٍ

أعمادُ أسجافه تطيحُ

Let every secluded chamber awaken today,

its curtain-posts collapsing.

فربَّةُ الاحتجاب أضحت

حجابُها اللحد والضريحُ

For the mistress of seclusion has come to this:

her veil is the burial niche and the tomb.

قد غاضَ ماءُ الحياء يندى

به ثرًى نشرُه يفوحُ

The water of modesty has ebbed, bedewing

a soil whose fragrance wafts.

توسدت والعفاف فيه

يضمُّه جيبُها النصيحُ

She made it her pillow; chastity within it

is enfolded by her pure bosom.

شلَّت أكفُّ الزمان ماذا

من حرم المجد يستبيحُ

May Time's hands be palsied! What

part of glory's sanctuary does it violate?

إليه دبَّ الضِراء لمَّا

أبدى بأن جاء يستميحُ

Toward that sanctuary it crept under cover, when

it made a show of coming to seek a gift.

واغتالَ محجوبة بخدرٍ

يحوطها السؤددُ الصريحُ

And it slew by stealth a woman secluded in a chamber,

guarded by pure nobility,

والعزُّ عنه يذبُّ ما لا

يذبّه الفارس المشيحُ

while honor wards from it what not even

a battle-ready horseman can repel.

ومن أبي المصطفى حماه

في منعة ما لها مبيحُ

And through Abu al-Mustafa its sanctuary stands

in protection no violator can breach.

ذاك الذي راحتاه كلٌّ

على الورى ديمةٌ دلوحُ

That man whose two palms are each

a heavy-laden, steady raincloud over humankind.

بالطبع مستحلبٌ نداه

إن حلب الغاديات ريحُ

By nature his bounty yields its milk,

though wind milks the morning rainclouds.

كأنَّ منها البنانَ ضئرٌ

يرتضعُ الدهرُ ما تميحُ

As though their fingertips were a wet nurse,

Time suckles whatever she bestows.

مستعذَبٌ جودُه المرجَّى

مباركٌ وجهه الصبيحُ

Sweet is his hoped-for generosity;

blessed is his radiant face.

تقرأ في الوجه منه هذا

خاتم أهل الندى المنوحُ

You read upon his face: 'This is

the munificent seal of the people of bounty.'

لا يشتري الحمدَ بالعطايا

إذ كانَ من حقِّه المديحُ

He does not buy praise with gifts,

for praise is his rightful due.

لكنَّه مذ نشا إلى أن

من شيبه استكمل الوضوحُ

Yet, from when he first grew up until

the brightness of his gray hair was complete,

يتاجر اللهَ كلَّ يومٍ

بما حوتْ كفُّه السموحُ

he has traded with God every day

with what his generous hand contains,

حتَّى لقالَ الورى جميعاً

هذا هو المتجرُ الربيحُ

until all humankind proclaimed:

'This is the profitable trade.'

كم ريضَ للناسِ فيه أمرٌ

صعبٌ على غيره جموحُ

How many a matter was tamed for people through him,

hard and unruly for anyone else!

ينشقُ طيب الفخار محضاً

من عطف عليائه يفوحُ

The pure fragrance of glory is breathed in,

wafting from the side of his eminence.

أغرُّ يلقى الوفودَ طلقاً

والعامُ في وجهه كلوحُ

Radiant, he greets delegations with a cheerful face,

while the year scowls in his face.

إن ناضلَ الخصمَ ردَّ فاه

مع أنَّه الناطقُ الفصيحُ

If he debates an opponent, he silences his mouth,

though the man is an eloquent speaker:

لسانه ميِّتٌ مسجًّى

والفمُ منه له ضريحُ

his tongue lies dead and laid out,

and his mouth is its tomb.

ما هو إلاَّ خضمُّ علمٍ

منه ذوو العلم تستميحُ

He is nothing but an ocean of knowledge,

from whom the learned seek bounty.

بل هو عنوانُ كلّ فضلٍ

وهم جميعاً له شروحُ

Rather, he is the title of every excellence,

and they are all commentaries upon him.

ونيِّرٌ في سماءِ مجدٍ

بنوه شهبٌ به تلوحُ

And a luminary in a heaven of glory,

his sons are stars shining through him.

يا من غدا ربعهم وفيه

أمُّ الردى منتجٌ لقوحُ

O you whose dwelling has come to harbor

the mother of death, bearing young and pregnant,

ومن صفات الوقار تمَّت

فيهم ومنها الحجى الرجيحُ

and you whose qualities of dignity are perfected

within you, including sound judgment:

تلك التي عنكم استقلَّت

عيسُ المنايا بها تسيحُ

That woman, carried away from you,

with whom death's pale camels wander—

طوبى لها جاورت ضريحاً

عن جاره ربُّه صفوحُ

blessed is she: she has become a neighbor of a tomb

whose lord is forgiving toward its neighbor.

واضطجعت في حمى ضجيعٍ

حميّه آدمٌ ونوحُ

And she lay down in the sanctuary of a fellow sleeper,

under whose protection are Adam and Noah.