على أي شىء يكون الحسد — Ibn Nabata Al Saadi

على أَيِّ شَىءٍ يكونُ الحَسَدْ

وكلُّهم للمَنَايا رَصَدْ

What is there to envy,

when all are prey to death?

ولو كنتُ أَحْسُدُ شيئاً حَسَدْتُ

على فلكِ الميلِ شمسَ الأَبدْ

If I envied anything, I would envy

the sun of eternity upon the inclined sphere.

اذاً لَحَسَدْتُ على ضَوئِها

وبُعد المنالِ لها والخُلُدْ

Then I would envy it for its radiance,

its inaccessibility, and its immortality.

يقولون لي لو مدحتَ الرجا

لَ نِلْتَ الذي لم يَنَلْهُ أَحدْ

They tell me, 'If you praised men,

you would gain what no one else has gained.'

أُعالج دَهْراً به جُنَّةٌ

اذا صَلُحَ الشيءُ فيه فَسَدْ

I contend with an age afflicted with madness:

if anything comes right in it, it goes wrong.

يُغارُ بهِ المرءُ حوباءَ ه

ولا خيرَ في غارةٍ تُستَردْ

In it a man is lent his soul,

and no good lies in a loan recalled,

ولا لذَّةٍ تَسْتكِدُّ القُوى

وصحةِ روحٍ تُمِلُّ الجَسَدْ

nor in pleasure that exhausts one's strength,

nor in health of spirit that wearies the body.

وللهِ راضٍ يميُسورهِ

اذا قامَ للرزقِ قَومٌ قَعَدْ

God bless the man content with his means,

who sits still when others rise to seek a livelihood.

مُصَابُ بَني مَزْيَدٍ في الهِيا

جِ بالحَازمِ العَازمِ المستَبِدْ

Banu Mazyad were stricken in battle

by losing the prudent, resolute, self-reliant man.

فَخُذْ يا ابنَ حمدٍ بها روعةً

نصيبَكَ من حربها والنَّكدْ

So take, O son of Hamd, a shudder from it—

your share of its warfare and misery.

وقل للأميرِ على نأْيِهِ

سَقَى ربعَكَ الوابلُ المُحْتَشِدْ

And tell the emir, despite his remoteness:

May the gathering downpour water your dwelling!

يَعِزُّ عليَّ بمن رُزْؤُهُ

شَجىً في لهَاتِكَ ما يُزْدَرَدْ

I grieve for one whose loss

is a bone lodged in your throat that cannot be swallowed.

وكيفَ أَغَّرَتْكَ عن صَاحبٍ

وَجَدت بمصرعهِ ما تَجِدْ

And how did it deceive you about a companion

whose death has brought you the grief you feel?

ونحنُ الى أَسدٍ تَدَّعي

الى والدٍ وتميمٌ أَسَدْ

We trace our descent to Asad,

as to a father—and Tamim is a lion,

رَحَى مُضرٍ تَمشي الرِّيا

حُ فيها وركنُ مَعَدِّ الأَشَدْ

Mudar's millstone—the winds pass

through it—and Ma'add's strongest pillar.

دَعا يالعوفٍ فلم يأْتِه

سِوى قُلَلٍ في العَدَدْ

He called, 'O Awf!' But none came to him

save a scant few.

وأَجفلتِ الخيلُ عن فارسٍ

تُكسِّرُ فيه العَوالي قِصَدْ

The horses fled from a horseman

against whom lances shattered into splinters.

ولو شَاءَ نجاه طافي الخَيا

رِ يمعجُ كالأَخدرِي الوَخِدْ

Had he wished, a lofty, choice steed would have saved him,

racing like a swift-stepping Akhdari wild ass.

ولكن رأَى الصبرَ أَولى به

فكرَّ وهل للردى من مَرّدْ

But he deemed steadfastness more fitting for him,

so he wheeled to charge—can death ever be turned back?

فما دفع الموتَ مَنْ غابَ عن

هُ يومَ الطِّرادِ ولا مَنْ شَهِدْ

Death was not warded off by those absent from

him on the day of combat, nor by those present;

ولا صارمٌ مُغْرَمٌ بالكما

ةِ يَندِفُ أَوصالَها والزَّردْ

nor by a keen blade enamored of armored warriors,

carding apart their limbs and chainmail;

ولا ذاتُ مُعْجَمَةٍ سَرْدُهَا

كَنَمْنَمَةِ الجَدولِ المُطَّرِدْ

nor by a coat of close-linked mail whose weave

was like the fine tracery of a steadily flowing brook.

وكل امريءٍ فرَّ من يومهِ

سيسلُكُ نهجَ الطريقِ الجَدَدْ

And every man who flees his appointed day

will follow the course of the open, level road.

فمن للطِّعانِ اذا خَبَا

وَحَرِّ الضِّرابِ اذا ما بَرَدْ

Who will rekindle spear-fighting when it dies down,

and the heat of sword-blows when it cools?

وَمَنْ للضيوفِ وشقِ الضيوفِ

وعقدِ الحبالِ وحلِّ العُقَدْ

And who will see to guests and the toil they bring,

to tying cords and untying knots?

ومن ذا يُنَهنِهُ ريعانَها

وقد جئنَ من كل أَوبٍ بَدَدْ

And who will check their first wild rush,

when they come scattered from every quarter,

أَبابيلَ كالطيرِ مَزؤدة

تُصَبُّ عليها السّباطُ القِدَدْ

in flocks like birds, panic-stricken,

with long, supple leather thongs raining down upon them?

أَبا حسنٍ اِنَّها لوعةٌ

متى سُدَّ موردُها لم تَرِدْ

O Abu Hasan, it is a burning grief:

when its watering-place is barred, it cannot come,

وانْ هي كانت على قُربها

وعيشكَ موجعةَ للكبدْ

though, still so fresh, it is—

by your life—an agony to the liver.

فيا سندَ العُربِ لِمْ لا تكونُ

لقومكَ فيما جنوهُ سَنَدْ

O support of the Arabs, why will you not be

a support to your people in the wrong they have done?

تغمد ذُنُوبَ بني مالكٍ

فلولا تغمّدُها لم تَسُدْ

Overlook the sins of Banu Malik;

without overlooking them, you would not be chief.

وثَاركَ اِنْ رُمتَ ادراكه

فلا تَغْلُ منه ولا تَقْتَصِدْ

As for your blood-vengeance, if you seek to attain it,

do not go to excess in it, nor stint.

وانْ أَمكنتكَ فلا ترمِهَا

ولا تسعَ في عزِّها المُضْطَهِدْ

If they come within your power, do not cast them aside,

nor strive to subdue them oppressively.

ودعها تكونُ اذا ما اصطَلَي

تَ نارَ الحروبِ جَنَاحاً وَيَدْ

And let them be, when you burn

in the fire of wars, a wing and a hand.

هُمُ الضاربونَ غَدَاة الصيا

حِ حُجْراً على شَأنِهِ والكَتَدْ

They are the men who struck, on the morning of the battle-cry,

Hujr upon his skull's sutures and upper back.

حَنَانَكَ واستبقِهم للقِرى

وللجارِ والزائرِ المُعْتَمَدْ

Have mercy; spare them for hospitality,

for the neighbor and the trusted visitor.

فَقَد بَذَلوا الألفَ عن واحدٍ

وفي الألفِ اِنْ لم يُضاموا قَوَدْ

For they have offered a thousand for one;

in a thousand, if they are not wronged, lies blood-requital.