خطاب الرزايا إنه جلل الخطب — Ibn Hamdis

خِطابُ الرَزايا إنّهُ جلل الخَطْبِ

وسَلْمُ المَنايا كالخَديعَةِ في الحربِ

The message of calamities is a grievous matter indeed.

And death's truce is like a ruse in war.

تُريدُ منَ الأَيّام كَفَّ صُروفِها

أَمُنتَقِلٌ طَبْعُ الأفاعي عنِ اللّسبِ

You ask the days to restrain their reversals—

Can the nature of vipers turn away from biting?

وتَلقى المنايا وهيَ في عَرَض المُنى

وكم أجَلٍ للطير في مَلْقَطِ الحَبِّ

And you encounter death amid your wishes;

How many birds meet their end where they pick up grain!

تناوَمَ كلّ الناس عمّا يُصيبُهُم

وهمْ من رزايا دهرهم سَلَمُ العَصْبِ

All people feign sleep, heedless of what befalls them,

Though before their age's calamities they are acacias bound for stripping.

بكأسِ أبِينا آدمٍ شُرْبُنا الّذي

تضَمّنَ سُكرَ الموْت يا لك من شرْبِ

From our father Adam's cup comes our draught, which

Contains death's intoxication—what a draught!

إذا ورث المولودُ عِلّةَ والدٍ

فعدِّ بهِ عنْ حيلةِ البرءِ والطبِّ

If a newborn inherits a father's illness,

Then turn him away from the devices of healing and medicine.

حُتوفٌ على سَرْحِ النّفوسِ مغيرةٌ

فقلْ كيف تغدو وهيَ آمنةُ السّرْبِ

Deaths raid the grazing herd of souls;

So tell me: how can they go forth with their flock secure?

يَسُنّ عليه الذِّمْرُ عذراءَ نثرةً

تَخال بها التَأنيث في الذكر العَضبِ

The warrior pours over himself a virgin coat of mail,

In which you fancy womanhood in the keen-edged man.

على الجِسمِ مِنها الذَوب إن فاضَ سرْدها

كفيضِ أتِيٍّ والجمود على الكَعبِ

It is molten upon the body when its linked rings flow,

Like a torrent's flood, yet solid at the ankle.

ويُصميهِ سهمٌ مُصْرَدٌ ليس يُتّقَى

له في الحشا رامٍ تَسَتّرَ بالخلبِ

Yet a piercing arrow kills him outright, one that cannot be warded off;

Its archer lurks within his entrails, concealed behind the inner membrane.

وليس بمعصومٍ من الموْتِ مُخْدَرٌ

له غَضَبٌ يبدو بحملاقَةِ الغَضْبِ

Nor is a lion in its lair protected from death,

Whose anger shows in the bared whites of its wrathful eyes.

كأنّ سكاكيناً حداداً رؤوسها

مغرّزة في فيهِ في جانِبَيْ وقْبِ

As though knives, their tips sharpened,

Were embedded in its mouth on either side of a hollow.

فكيفَ نَردّ الموْت عَنْ مُهجاتنا

إذا غَلبت منه ضراغمةُ الغلبِ

How then can we ward death from our life's blood,

When even the lions of the thickets are vanquished by it?

وقاطعةٌ طولَ السُّكاكِ وَعَرضه

تُحلّق من بُعْدِ السماءِ على قربِ

And a bird traversing the sky's length and breadth

Circles far up in the sky, yet close at hand.

إِذا بَرقَ الإِصباح هزّ انتفاضَها

من الظلّ أشباهُ العواملِ والقضبِ

When daybreak flashes, her fluttering is stirred

By forms from the shadows like spear-shafts and sword-blades.

مباكرة صيدَ الطيور فما تَرى

طريدتَها إلا مخضخضَةَ القعبِ

Early to hunt birds, and you never see

Her quarry except with its skull battered.

وعَصمٌ إذا استَعصَمن في شاهِقٍ رَقَتْ

إِلَيها بنات الدّهْرِ في المرْتَقَى الصّعبِ

And when mountain goats seek refuge on a lofty peak, up climb

The daughters of time toward them, along the difficult ascent.

عَلى أَنها تنقضّ من رأس نيقها

على كلّ رَوْقٍ عند قرْعِ الصَفا صَلبِ

Though they plunge down from the summit of their crag,

Onto horns each hard when striking the rock.

سَينسفُ أمْرُ اللّهِ شمَّ جبالها

كما تَنْسِف الأرواحُ مُنْهالةَ الكثبِ

God's command will scatter their towering mountains,

As the winds scatter the loose heaps of dunes.

لكلٍّ حياةٌ ثمَّ موتٌ ومبعثٌ

إِذا ما التقى الخَصمانِ بين يَدَيْ ربِّي

For each there is life, then death and resurrection,

When the two adversaries meet before my Lord.

وتُستوقَف الأفلاك عَن حَركاتِها

ويسقُط دريّ النجوم عن القطب

And the celestial spheres are halted in their motions,

And the pearl-bright stars fall from the celestial pole.

ألم تأتِ أهلَ الشرقِ صرخةُ نائحٍ

يُفيِض غروبَ الدمع من بلدِ الغربِ

Has a mourner's cry not reached the people of the East,

Who pours streams of tears from the land of the West?

سَقى اللَّه قَبراً ثائراً بسفاقسٍ

سواجمَ يَرْضى الترب فيها عنِ السحبِ

May God water a grave heaped up in Sfax

With downpours in which the dust is pleased with the clouds.

فقد عَمّهُ الإعْظامُ منْ قَبْرِ عَمّةٍ

أنوحُ عليها بالنحيب إلى النّحْبِ

For reverence has encompassed it, being the grave of an aunt

Whom I mourn with sobbing until death.

بدمع يمدّ البحرُ في السَّيْفِ نحوه

إذا الحزن منه واصل السَكبَ بالسَكبِ

With tears toward which the sea reaches along the shore,

When grief joins their pouring to still more pouring.

ولو آمنُ الإغراقَ أضْعَفْتُ سَحّهُ

ولكنّ قلبي الرطبَ رَقّ على قلبي

Were I safe from drowning, I would double their downpour,

But my tender heart took pity on my heart.

برغمي نَعَتْها ألْسُنُ الركب للعلى

فكيف أرُدّ النّعْيَ في ألسُنِ الرَكبِ

Against my will, travelers' tongues announced her death to glory;

How can I turn back the death-tidings on the travelers' tongues?

غريبةُ قبرٍ عن قبور بأَرضها

مجاورةٌ في خطّة الطعْنِ والضّربِ

A stranger in her grave, far from the graves in her homeland,

Dwelling in a region of spear-thrusts and blows.

كريمةُ تقوى في صلاة تقيمها

وصومٍ يَحُطّ الجسمُ منه عَلى الجَدبِ

Noble in piety, in the prayer she performs,

And fasting from which the body descends into barrenness.

زَكَتْ في فروعِ المَكرماتِ فروعُها

وأَنجبتِ الدُنْيا بآبائها النُّجبِ

Her branches flourished among the branches of noble deeds,

And the world bore noble offspring in her noble forefathers.

ولَما عَدمنا من بهاليلِ قَومها

مَآتِم تَبكيها بَكَينا مع الشُهبِ

And when we lacked, among the eminent men of her people,

Mourning gatherings to weep for her, we wept with the stars.

حَمَدنا بُكاءَ الزُّهْرِ بنتَ محمّد

وهَل نَدبت إلّا ابنةَ السيد الندبِ

We praised the radiant stars' weeping for Muhammad's daughter;

And did they lament any but the gallant master's daughter?

مضَتْ ولها ذِكْرٌ منَ الدينِ والتّقى

تفسّرُهُ للعُجم ألسِنةُ العُربِ

She passed away, leaving a remembrance of religion and piety

Which Arab tongues explain to non-Arabs.

أَيُصبحُ قلبي بالأَسى غيرَ ذائبٍ

وقلبُ الثَرى قاسٍ على قلبها الرّطبِ

Can my heart remain unmelted by grief,

While the heart of the earth is hard upon her tender heart?

وكنتُ إذا ما ضاق صدري بحادثٍ

فزعتُ بنجواه إلى صدرِها الرَحبِ

And whenever a misfortune constricted my breast,

I would seek refuge with its secret tale in her spacious breast.

وتُذْهِبُ عنّي همّ نفسي كأنّها

شَفَتْ غُلّةَ الظَمآنِ بالبارِدِ العذبِ

And she would remove my soul's care, as though she

Had quenched a thirsty one's burning thirst with cool, sweet water.

أهاتفَةً باسمي عليّ تَعَطّفاً

حنينَ عطوفٍ شقّ سامِعَتيْ سَقْبِ

O you who called my name, in tenderness toward me,

With a loving she-camel's yearning cry that pierced her calf's two ears.

أبوكِ الذي من غرسه طالتِ العُلى

وأُسْنِدَ عامُ المحْل فيِه إِلى الخِصبِ

Your father, from whose planting high honor grew tall,

And in whom the year of drought leaned upon abundance,

تَنَسّكَ في بِرٍّ ثمانينَ حِجّةً

فيا طولَ عُمْرٍ فيه فرَّ إلى الرّبِ

Lived devoutly in righteousness for eighty years—

What a long life in which he fled to the Lord!

ضَمَمْتُ إلى صَدري بكفّيّ جسمَهُ

وأسندتُ مخضرّ الجَنابِ إلى الجَنبِ

With both my hands I clasped his body to my breast,

And leaned him, whose precincts were verdant, against my side.

تبرّكَتِ الأيدي بتَسوِيَةِ الثرَى

على جَبَلٍ راسي الأناةِ على هَضْبِ

Hands sought blessing in leveling the earth

Over a mountain, steadfast in forbearance, upon a hill.

أغارَ لهم ماءُ الجَموم بعبرة

أمِ انبَتّ في أيديهمُ كَرَبُ الغَرْبِ

Did the brimming well's water sink away for them in a tear,

Or did the great bucket's rope snap in their hands?

فَيا لَيتَني شاهدتُ نَعشَكِ إذ مَشى

حواليه لا أهلي حفاةً ولا صَحبي

If only I had seen your bier as it passed,

With neither my family nor my companions barefoot around it;

ودَفْنَكِ بالأيدي الغريبةِ والْتَقَتْ

مع المَوتِ في إِخفاءِ شَخصِك في حدبِ

And your burial by strangers' hands, as they joined

With death to conceal your person in a mound.

فأَبسطَ خَدّي فوق لَحدِكَ رحمةً

وتُسْفي عليه التربَ عينايَ بالهدبِ

Then I would lay my cheek above your grave in tenderness,

And my eyes would scatter dust upon it with their lashes.

أرى جسمك المرموسَ من روحه عفا

وأصبحَ معموراً به جَدَثُ التربِ

I see your buried body deserted by its soul,

And the earthen tomb now inhabited by it.

فلو أنّ روحي كان كسبي وهبتُهُ

لجسمك لكن ليس روحِيَ من كسبي

If my soul were something I had earned, I would give it

To your body, but my soul is not something I earned.

ولَوْ تُنظم الأحساب يوماً قَلائِداً

لقلد منها جَوْهَرُ الحسبِ اللّبِ

If noble lineages were ever strung into necklaces,

The jewel of pure lineage would be garlanded with them.

أبا الحسن الأيامُ تَصْرَعُ بالغِنى

وتُعْقِبُ بالبلوى وتخدَع بالحبِّ

Abu al-Hasan, the days strike down through wealth,

And follow it with affliction, deceiving through love.

مَصابُكَ فيها من مصابي وجدتُه

وحزنُك من حُزني وكَربك من كَربي

I have found your loss in her part of my own loss,

And your sorrow part of my sorrow, your anguish part of my anguish.

فَصَبْراً فَلَيْسَ الأجرُ إلّا لِصابرٍ

على الدهر إن الدهر لم يَخلُ من خطبِ

So be patient: reward is only for one who endures

Time, for time has never been free of calamity.

ألم ترَ أنّا في نوىً مُستمرّةٍ

نَروحُ ونَغدو كالمُصرّ على الذّنْبِ

Do you not see that we are in unceasing separation,

Going at evening and at dawn like one persisting in sin?

فَلا وَصلَ إلّا بَينَ أسمائنا الّتي

تسافرُ منّا في مُعَنْوَنَةِ الكتبِ

No union remains except between our names, which

Travel from us in the superscriptions of letters.

فَدائِمَة السقيا سماءُ مدامعي

لخدي وأرض الخدّ دائِمةُ الشربِ

Thus the sky of my tears is ever watering

My cheek, and the earth of that cheek is ever drinking.