أتستقبل الدهر مستبشرا — Hamza Al Malik Tumbal

أتستقبل الدهر مستبشراً

ومن شيمة الدهر أن يغدرَا

Do you welcome time with gladness,

though it is time's nature to betray?

فإن أقبلت غر أيامه

تراه على الفور قد أدبرا

For if its bright days draw near,

you see it turn away at once.

يسوق حوادثه جمة

لمن شاء في الناس أن يبصرا

It drives forth its many calamities

for whoever among mankind wishes to see.

فإن سالموه تصدى لهم

وإن نظموا شملهم بعثرا

For if they make peace with it, it confronts them;

and if they unite their ranks, it scatters them.

رمى نصب أعيننا فارساً

يفوق بجرأته القسورا

It struck down before our eyes a knight

whose courage surpasses the lion's.

فكم رفع الصوت مستنجداً

لقومي وللحق مستنصرا

And how often he raised his voice, calling for aid

for my people, and seeking support for truth!

ومن هز للحق أقلامه

كمن هز من أجله الأسمرا

And he who brandishes his pens for truth

is like one who brandishes the brown-shafted spear for its sake.

فقدنا بفقدانه سيدا

لخدمة أوطانه شمرا

With his loss, we lost a noble man

who devoted himself to serving his homelands.

وإنّا لنشعر من فقده

بكسر من الصعب أن يجبرا

And through his loss we truly feel

a fracture that is hard to mend.

فما همة الحر أو نفسه

تباع على الأرض أو تشترى

For neither a free man's resolve nor his soul

can be sold or bought on earth.

فيا لهف نفسي على مجلس

على الكره من شخصه أقفرا

Oh, my soul's grief for a gathering-place

left desolate, unwillingly bereft of his presence.

وما هو في الظعن كي ننبري

نعد لأوبته الأشهرا

And he is not away on a journey, that we might set about

counting the months until his return.

فيا ليت من جل مقداره

تكون منيته كالكرى

Oh, if only one of such great worth

could have a death like slumber.

ولو كان للمرء أن يثأرا

من الموت ما عز أن نثأرا

And if a man could take revenge

on death, it would not be hard for us to take vengeance.

ويدهشني أنه يمهل ال

شقي ويستعجل الخيرا

And it astonishes me that it grants respite to the

wretch, yet hastens the good man's death.

ألا فاغنموا الخير إن الفتى

سيلقى المنون وإن عمرا

Take heed: seize the chance to do good, for a man

will meet death, however long he lives.

ومهما تسامى بألقابه

اذا لم يكن عاملا يزدرى

However high he rises through his titles,

if he is not a man of action, he is despised.

ولكن جلائل أعماله

تسامى به لرفيع الذرى

But his great deeds

raise him to lofty summits.

وكم راح غر بألقابه

ضميرا بجوف الثرى مضمرا

And how many a man, deluded by his titles, has passed away,

a hidden self, concealed in the belly of the earth.

بإنجاب مثلك في قرية

تتيه على الحاضرات القرى

By bringing forth one like you in a village,

the villages vaunt themselves above the cities.

فنم في هدوء وفي غبطة

فجهدك في حينه أثمرا

So sleep in tranquility and joy;

for your effort bore fruit in its time.

لقد عاقني الحزن عن أن أجيد

فيك القصائد أو أنثرا

Grief has indeed kept me from writing fine

poems about you, or composing prose.

فعذراً لمثلي إذا قصرا

فمثلي جدير بأن يعذرا

So pardon one like me if he falls short;

for one like me deserves to be excused.

هو الحزن فرض على مثله

ولكن من الدين أن نصبرا

Grief for one like him is a duty,

yet faith requires that we be patient.

وماذا عسى المرء أن يقدرا

وقد نفذ الله ما قدرا

And what could a man possibly do,

when God has carried out what He decreed?

وهل من عزاء على فقده

سوى أن هذا مصير الورى

And is there any solace for his loss

except that this is the fate of all mankind,

وأنا سنذكره فاضلا

على الجبن والملق استكبرا

and that we shall remember him as a virtuous man

who held himself above cowardice and flattery?

سنذكره ما حيينا فان

قضينا سيذكره من درى

We shall remember him as long as we live; and if

we die, whoever knows of him will remember him.