يا مربعا لك في فؤادي مربع — Ibn Alwardi

يا مربعاً لك في فؤادي مربعُ

أتذلُّ بعدَ ابنِ الضياءِ وتخضعُ

O dwelling, you have a dwelling in my heart.

Will you be humbled after Ibn al-Diya' and submit?

حاشاكَ منْ ذلٍّ فشمسُ كمالِهِ

كانَتْ علينا منْ سمائِكَ تطلعُ

Far be humiliation from you: the sun of his excellence

used to rise upon us from your sky.

أصلٌ وفرعٌ في ثلاثةِ أشهرٍ

ذَوَيَا فَحُقَّ لكلِّ عينٍ تدمعُ

A root and a branch, within three months,

both withered; so every eye has cause to weep.

منْ ذا يطيقُ يرى خليليهِ معاً

في التربِ قدْ رُمِيا بما لا يُدفعُ

Who can bear to see his two dear friends together,

cast into the dust by what cannot be averted?

أمودِّعانِ معاً وقلبي واحدٌ

فالدمعُ بينهما عصيٌّ طيِّعُ

Are two taking leave together, while my heart is one?

Thus tears between them are defiant and yielding.

حلبٌ على رغمي أقلُّ سعادةٍ

مِنْ أنْ يعيشَ لها الكمالُ الأورعُ

Aleppo, to my dismay, is not fortunate enough

for the most devout al-Kamal to live on for her.

الأمرُ للهِ الذي مهما يشا

يفعلُ فلمْ يكُ للتعرُّضِ موضعُ

The command belongs to God, who, whatever He wills,

does; there was no room, then, for objection.

بكتِ الأجانبُ يومَ ماتَ وأهلُهُ

منهمْ ضحوكٌ في المسرَّةِ يرتعُ

Strangers wept the day he died, while his own kin—

among them was one laughing, reveling in delight.

لبسوا النقا وازدادَ عيشُهُمْ صفا

ومضى الحمى إذْ فارقوه ولعلعُ

They donned purity, and their life grew serene;

and the sanctuary, al-Hima, vanished when they left it, and La'la' too.

وغدوتُ أجرعُ منْ محصِّب عبرتي

مثلَ العقيقِ أسى ودمعي ينبعُ

And I came to gulp from the gravel-bed of my tears,

like carnelian, in grief, while my tears well up.

قالوا نظنُّ ديارَهُ مملوءَةً

ذهباً فماتَ وكلُّ دارٍ بلقعُ

They said, "We think his homes are filled

with gold"; then he died, and every house lay desolate.

تاللهِ قدْ نقضوا بفضلِ كمالهم

لو انصفوا لتألَّموا وتوجعوا

By God, their Kamal's excellence has indeed proved them wrong;

had they been fair, they would have grieved and felt pain.

لهفي عليه وليسَ لهفي نافعاً

قدْ كانَ تاجاً بالعلومِ يُرَصَّعُ

My grief for him—and my grief is of no use!

He was indeed a crown jeweled with learning.

إنْ كانَ قدْ ماتَ الكمالُ فذكرُهُ

باقٍ ونشرُ علومِهِ يتضوَّعُ

If al-Kamal has indeed died, his memory

endures, and the fragrance of his learning wafts abroad.

أوْ فاضَ دمعي مِنْ يتامى ولْدِهِ

فالدرُّ يُوصَفُ باليتيمِ فيُرْفَعُ

Or should my tears overflow for his orphaned children,

then the pearl is called "orphan" and thereby exalted.

تتصرَّمُ الدنيا وتأتي بعدَهُ

أممٌ وأنتَ بمثلِهِ لا تسمعُ

The world wears away, and after him will come

peoples, yet you will hear of no one like him.

أسفي على حلبٍ وَقَدْ عدمَتْ فتىً

يقظانَ كانَ إلى العلى يتطلَّعُ

My sorrow for Aleppo, which has lost a young man,

alert, who used to aspire to the heights.

لو لمْ أكنْ أقسى الورى قلباً لما

أصبحتُ أودِّعُهُ الترابَ وأرجعُ

Had I not been the hardest-hearted of humankind, I would not

have come to bid him farewell in the dust and return.

يا وافياً سكنَ الجنانَ إلى متى

قلبي لفقدِكَ في جحيمٍ تلذعُ

O faithful one dwelling in Paradise, how long

must my heart, for loss of you, burn in a scorching hell?

لم يبقَ بعدَكَ للمدارِسِ بهجةٌ

والعلمُ بعدَكَ يا حفيظُ مضيَّعُ

No joy remains for the schools after you,

and learning after you, O guardian, lies neglected.

يا مؤنسي في غربتي ومشاركي

في العلمِ أَسمعُهُ وطوراً أُسْمِعُ

O my companion in my exile, and my partner

in learning—I would hear him, and at times make myself heard.

كم قدْ قطعْنا ليلةً في وصلِنا

نظر العلومِ لغيرنا لا يقطعُ

How many a night we passed in continuing

our study of the sciences—a night others would not pass so.

واللهِ إنَّ قبيلةً فَقَدَتْكَ قدْ

زالت مزايا السعد عنها أجمعُ

By God, a tribe that has lost you has indeed

seen every blessing of good fortune depart from it.

لو يُدفَعُ المقدورُ عنكَ دفعتُهُ

جهدي ولكنَّ القضا لا يُدفعُ

If destiny could be warded off from you, I would ward it off

with all my strength; but fate cannot be averted.

فارقتَ منزلكَ المنيفَ وقصركَ ال

عالي ورحتَ إلى المقابرِ تُسرِعُ

You left your lofty dwelling and your palace—

towering—and went hastening to the graves.

ونزعتَ أثوابَ الشبابِ جديدةً

لهفي عليها عنْ جمالِكَ تُنزعُ

And you took off the robes of youth while still new;

alas for them, stripped from your beauty!

وتركتني وَجِعَاً وأنتَ بمعزلٍ

عني فلا تشكو ولا تتوَجَّعُ

You left me in pain, while you are apart

from me, neither complaining nor suffering.

لم تسكنِ الأعداءُ مِنْ خوفٍ بهم

حتى سكنْتَ فليتهم لا مُتِّعوا

The enemies found no calm from the fear within them

until you came to rest—may they never be granted joy!

أغضبْتَهُمْ لمَّا رثيتُكَ فاغتدى

كلٌّ لهُ في العتْبِ سمٌّ منقعُ

You angered them when I elegized you, and so

each had in his reproach a potent poison.

لكَ يا صديقَ الصدقِ مني أنَّةٌ

لا تنقضي وكآبةٌ لا تقلِعُ

For you, O true friend, from me comes a groan

that never ceases, and a gloom that never lifts.

ما سُنَّتي رفضُ الودادِ لصاحبٍ

ولكلِّ مَنْ رفضَ المودةَ مصرَعُ

It is not my way to renounce affection for a friend;

and for everyone who rejects affection there is a fatal fall.

فعلى ثرى أمسيتَ فيهِ سحائبٌ

تهمي كما شاءَ الربيعُ وتهمعُ

So upon the earth where you came to rest, may clouds

pour as spring wills, and rain in torrents.