أيا دمع عيني لا تكن بعد إخواني — Ibn Sanaa Almalk

أيا دمعَ عَيْني لا تكُنْ بَعْدَ إِخْوَاني

وقَدْ نَزَحُوا لاَ بالضَّعيفِ ولا الواني

O tears of my eye, after my brothers, do not be,

now that they have gone far, weak or weary.

أَبنْ حُسْنَ عَهْدي إِن عهدي تُبِينه

جُفُوني بماءٍ لا فؤَادِي بِنيرانِ

Show the beauty of my faithfulness, for my faithfulness is revealed

by my eyelids with water, not my heart with fires.

وعذرُ فؤادِي لا كعُذْرِك واضحٌ

فأَنت طليقٌ والفؤادُ هو العَانِي

My heart's excuse, unlike yours, is clear:

for you are free, while the heart is the captive.

وحاشاك من أَن لا تفي يا مَدَامَعي

لوافٍ وقِدْمَاً كم وَفيْتِ لخَوَّان

Far be it from you to fail in faithfulness, O my tears,

to a faithful one—how often before you kept faith with a betrayer!

ويا عينُ إِن أَبصرتِ في الناس غيرَهم

فما أَنْتَ يا إِنسانُها قَطُّ إِنْسَاني

O eye, if you behold among the people anyone but them,

then you, O its pupil, are no pupil of mine at all.

وما بالُ عيني تبصرُ الناسَ بَعْدَهم

وقد عَدِمَتْ مِنِّي عُيُوني وأَعْوَاني

Why does my eye behold people after them,

when it has lost my eyes and my helpers?

طوى الدَّهرُ عنِّي مَعْشَرِي وأَحبَّتي

وأَهَلْي وجيراني وأُسْدي وغُزْلاَني

Time has folded away my companions and my loved ones,

my family, my neighbors, my lions, and my gazelles,

ومن كان يُسْمي طَاعَة اللهِ طَاعتي

كما عِنْدَهُ عصيانُه كَان عِصْيَاني

and whoever called obedience to God obedience to me,

just as, in his eyes, disobedience to Him was disobedience to me,

من السَّابقين الأَولين إِلى الذي

يلائمُني والتَّابعِين بإِحْسَانِ

among the earliest forerunners toward what

suited me, and those who followed in goodness.

وكم إِلفِ إِلفِ كَان أَضْحَكَ نَاجِذِي

زماني به لكنَّه اليومَ أَبْكَاني

How many a dear, familiar companion—my back tooth was made to laugh

by my time with him; yet today it has made me weep.

وكَمْ سرَّني دَهْرِي بِه ثُمَّ ساءَني

ونَعَّمني دهراً به ثم أَشْقَاني

How often my time gladdened me through him, then grieved me,

and blessed me with him for an age, then made me wretched.

كرامٌ سُقُوا كَأسَ المنيةِ والرَّدى

فيا ليت من أَسْقَاهم كَانَ أَسْقَاني

Noble souls were given the cup of death and destruction;

if only the one who gave them drink had given it to me!

وما حَكمَتْ فيهم فشُلَّتْ يدُ البلى

فيا ليت من أَبلاهمُ أَبلاني

And for what it decreed against them, may decay's hand be paralyzed!

If only the one who wore them away had worn me away!

قبورٌ لُهمْ مثلُ الكواكب تَهْتدِي

بها لفؤادي نارُ قلبي وأَشْجَاني

Their graves are like stars, by which

my heart's fire and my sorrows are guided to my heart.

على أَنَّني بَعْضُ المقابِر فيهمُ

فسكَّانُ هاتيكَ المقابِر سُكَّاني

Yet I am one of the graves among them,

for the inhabitants of those graves inhabit me.

ذَوتْ في الثَّرى أَغصانُهم وَهْي غَضَّةٌ

فيا تُرْبُ ما أَنصفْتَ نُضْرَة أَغْصَان

Their branches withered in the earth while still tender;

O dust, you did not do justice to the freshness of those branches!

وحمرةُ خدِّي بالدُّموع عَلَيْهمُ

فخدِّيَ لا خدُّ الحبيبِ هو القَاني

My cheek is red with tears shed for them;

my cheek, not the beloved's, is the crimson one.

عَبَرْتُ غريباً بينهم غيرَ آلفٍ

لغيرهمُ يا غُرْبَتي بَين أَوطَاني

I passed among them as a stranger, feeling no attachment

to any but them—oh, my estrangement among my homelands!

وعُدْتُ فقيراً بعدهم غيرَ واجدٍ

لِمثْلِهمُ يا خُلَّتي بعد خلاَّني

I became poor again after them, finding none

to match them—oh, my destitution after my friends!

وقد تُنْشِئُ الدنيا سواهُم وربَّما

وقد أَنشأَتْ لكن سَحَائبَ أَجفاني

The world may bring forth others than them—perhaps;

it has indeed brought forth, but only the clouds of my eyelids.

وفيهم أَخٌ لي كان رُوحِي وراحتي

كما أَنه قد كان رَوْحِي وَرَيحَاني

Among them was a brother of mine, my soul and my rest,

just as he was my solace and my sweet basil.

برغميَ أَوْدَعْتُ الثَّرى منه مُهْجَةً

معظَّمَةَ المقدارِ عاليةَ الشان

Against my will I entrusted his soul to the earth,

exalted in worth and lofty in standing.

شقيقي ولكنِّي شَقَقْتُ له الثَّرى

ووسَّدتُه ما بين صَبْري وسُلْوَاني

My full brother—yet I split the earth for him,

and pillowed him between my patience and my consolation.

على الرَّغم منِّي إِذ أَقمتُ وقَدْ مضَى

وبالرغمِ منه كيفَ رَاحَ وخَلاَّني

Against my will I stayed, while he departed,

and against his will—how could he go and leave me?

تلاءَمت فيه حين ماتَ ولم أَمُتْ

ورُحْت بأَثوابٍ وراحَ بأَكْفَانِ

I acted basely toward him when he died and I did not,

and I went in clothes while he went in shrouds.

ويا ويحَ قَلبي كيف يأْوِي لأَضْلعي

وأَفٍّ لنَفْسِي كيف تَسْكُنُ جثماني

Alas for my heart! How can it shelter among my ribs?

Shame on my soul! How can it inhabit my body?

وكم رمتُ قَتْلَ النَّفس فيكم فَصدَّني

وصبَّرني عن قتلِ نفسِيَ إِيماني

How often I sought to kill myself for you, but I was restrained

and given patience against killing myself by my faith,

وخوفي أَنْ أَمْضِي إِلى عند مالك

فيَغْتَمَّ منه قَلْبُه عند رِضْوَان

and my fear of going into Malik's presence,

so that his heart beside Ridwan would grieve over it.

به ظَهَرَتْ في الحالِ منِّي زيادتي

ومذ بان عَنِّي بان للحَالِ نُقْصَاني

Through him my increase was immediately plain;

when he parted from me, my decrease was plain at once.

وكم كنْتُ أَجفُوهُ وكان يُحبني

وأُغضبُه لكنَّه يَترضَّاني

How often I treated him coldly, though he loved me,

and angered him, though he sought to please me.

وهيهات أَن أَنساهُ ما هبَّت الصَّبا

وأَحْسَبُه في قبره ليْسَ يَنْساني

Never shall I forget him while the east wind blows;

I think that in his grave he does not forget me.

وكَمْ زرتُ منه قبرَه فرأَيتُه

بعَيْنِ ضميرِي قَائِماً يَتَلقَّاني

How often I visited his grave and saw him,

with my mind's eye, standing to welcome me.

يَكَادُ إِذا ما جئتُه أَن يضمَّني

ويُمْسِكُنِي عِنْد الرَّواح بأَرْداني

Whenever I come to him, he all but embraces me

and holds me by my sleeves when I leave.

فعيني عينٌ بعد قومٍ عدمتُهم

ولَيْليَ مِنْ بَعْدِ الأَحبَّةِ ليْلانِ

My eye is a spring after the people I have lost,

and my night after my loved ones is two nights.

مقتُّ حياتي بعدهم ولو أَنَّ لي

بها مالَ قارون ومُلْك سُليْمَان

I loathed my life after them, even if I possessed

within it Qarun's wealth and Sulayman's kingdom.

ولا بدَّ لي أَن أَمتطي ظهرَ عزمةٍ

مقرِّبةِ النَّائي مُبَعِّدةِ الدَّاني

I must mount the back of a resolve

that draws the distant near and drives the near far away,

وأَفْلُو كما شاء السُّرى لممَ الفلا

بأَدهم ريَّانٍ من الزُّهْرِ ملآنِ

and comb the desert's tresses as night travel wills,

on a black steed, brimming full of bright stars.

به غرَّةٌ من يوم وصل قد انْفرَى

عليها إِهابٌ قُدَّ من ليل هِجْران

He bears a blaze from a day of union; split open

above it is a hide cut from a night of separation.

ترى فرْد لونٍ لونَه فإِذا جَرى

أَتاكَ مِنَ الجَرْي الغريبِ بأَلوان

You see his coat as one color, but when he runs,

he brings you many colors of wondrous running.

يكُفُّ ككفِّي طائعاً إِن كفَفْتُه

ويطغى إِذا أَرسلتُه مِثلَ طُغْيَان

He stops as obediently as my hand when I rein him in,

and surges when I let him loose, like wild excess.

إِذا شئْتُ رَكْضاً كنْتُ في ظهر طائرٍ

وإِن شئتُ مشياً كنت في ظَهْرِ سِرْحَان

If I wish to gallop, I am on a bird's back;

if I wish to walk, I am on a wolf's back.

وما يتندَّى قَطُّ من رُحَضَائِه

على أَنَّه بالرَّكض جاءَ بطوفان

Never does he grow damp with sweat,

though by galloping he brings a flood.

وأَعلو على الأَطوادِ منه بمثْلِها

كما يلتقي الصَّوانُ منه بصَوَّانِ

On him, a mountain's equal, I ascend the mountains,

as his flint meets flint.

يسوِّي شنَاخِيبَ الذُّرى ويُدكُّها

فيركُضُ في أَعْلَى رُبَاهَا بميْدان

He levels the crags of the peaks and pounds them flat,

then gallops over their highest hills as on a racecourse.

وتسمع أُذْنَا قَلْبِه ما نَقُولُه

بذِي قَوْلٍ سرٍّ كان أَو قَولِ إِعْلاَن

The two ears of his heart hear what we say,

in words, whether secret or proclaimed.

عَسَى قولُه أَنْ أَلْحَقَ الحظَّ إِنَّه

مضى هَارِباً في الجهرِ عنِّي وعنَّاني

Perhaps his words are: 'May I catch fortune, for it

has fled openly from me and wearied me.'

وإِنِّي حظُ الحظِّ لو كَانَ عاقِلاً

لقد أَخطأَ الحظُّ الَّذي يَتَخَطَّاني

I am fortune's good fortune, if only it had sense;

the fortune that passes me by has surely erred.

ويا عَوْرَةَ الحظِّ الذي صَارَ غُرَّةً

بقومٍ خِسَاسٍ قد كَسَاهُمْ وعرَّاني

O shame of fortune, which has become a shining blaze

upon base people, clothing them and stripping me bare!

وعَارَ فُحُولَ الخَلْقِ لما كساهمُ

ثيابَ رجالٍ فَوْقَ أَعْضَاءِ نِسْوان

It shamed the virile men of creation when it dressed those people

in men's garments over women's limbs.

لهم ما أَرادوا من نحافَةِ أَنفسٍ

كما لا أَرَدْنا من ضَخَامَةِ أَبْدَانِ

They have the meager souls they desired,

just as we have the bulky bodies we did not desire.

وزِنْتُ وهُمْ فانظر إِلينا وقد عَلَوْا

لخفَّتهمْ لمَّا انْحَطَطْتُ لرُجْحَاني

I was weighed against them: look at us—they rose

through their lightness, while I sank through my greater weight.

وَمَا لي على نُعْماهُمُ قَلْبٌ حاسدٍ

ولكن عَلَى علياهمُ قَلْبُ غَيْرَانِ

I have no envious heart toward their blessings,

but toward their high rank my heart is jealous.

وإِنِّي لأَدري أَيَّ أَمر لأَجْلِه

عَداني زماني بالجميل وعَادَاني

I know well for what reason

my time passed me by with favors and turned against me:

لأَنِّي مصونُ العِرْضِ منتَهبُ الغِنى

وأَنِّي مَوْلَى حُسَّدِي عِنْدَ ضِيفَاني

because my honor is protected while my wealth is plundered,

and I am master of my enviers before my guests.

وإِنِّي لأَقْني الحمدَ لا أَقْتَني الثَّرى

فأَرغبُ في الباقي وأَزهَدُ في الْفَاني

I acquire praise, not dust,

desiring what endures and renouncing what passes away.

وإِنِّي على قول الخَنَا أَيُّ مبطِىءِ

وإِنِّي إِلى بذلِ اللُّهى أَيُّ عجلان

How slow I am to speak obscenity,

and how swift I am to bestow gifts!

وإِني إِذا قابلتُ خَصْماً مُمَاحْكَا

كَبَا باطلٌ منه وأَشرقَ بُرْهَاني

When I face a quarrelsome adversary,

his falsehood stumbles and my proof shines.

وإِن قُمتُ في قومِي خطيباً فَما هُمُ

وإِيَّايَ إِلاَّ وائلٌ حول سَحْبَان

When I rise as orator among my people, they

and I are Wa'il gathered around Sahban.

وأَطعَنُ بالرأْي الذي هو عَامِلٌ

وما كلُّ نقَّالِ الرِّماحِ بطعَّان

I thrust with judgment that is a spearhead;

not every bearer of spears is skilled at thrusting.

وكل كتابٍ لي يَفُضُّ كتيبةً

ويهزِمُها من قبل فضٍّ لعُنْوَان

Every letter of mine scatters a battalion,

and defeats it before its heading is unsealed.

وبي يهتدي النَّجم الذي يُهْتَدى بِه

ومِنْ عَجَبٍ كَيْفَ اهتَديْتُ بَحَيران

By me the star that guides others finds its way;

how strange that I found my way by one bewildered!

ولا يُتَعَجَّبْ من نَفاذِي فإِنَّني

بسلطان عِلمي قد نفَذْتُ بسُلْطَاني

Do not marvel at my passage, for

by the authority of my knowledge I have passed through with my own power.

فضائلُ غِيظ الدَّهْرُ منها فكَادَني

كما أَنَّه قد مرّ منها فأَرْدَانِي

Virtues that enraged time, so it plotted against me,

and made it bitter, so it struck me down.

فلا تحسبَنَّ الدّهرَ عني وأَهلَه

فما لي منهُم غَيرُ بَهْتٍ وبُهْتَان

Do not reckon time and its people on my side;

from them I get nothing but lies and slander.

وقل لابنةِ العشرينَ عنكِ وأَبْصِري

بعينَيك هدَّ الأَربعينَ لأَركاني

Tell the girl of twenty: 'Away with you! Look

with your own eyes at how forty years have shattered my pillars.'

وما كنتُ في أَمْر الصِّبَا طائعَ الهوى

ولا سيما والآنَ قد ريعَ رَيْعَاني

Even in the affairs of youth, I never obeyed desire,

least of all now, when my youthful bloom has been shaken.

ويا ساقيَ الرّاح الذي يَسْتفزُّني

بجامد ماءٍ فيه ذائب عقْيَان

O pourer of wine, who stirs me

with solid water holding molten gold,

إِليكَ فما كأْسِي بكأْسِي ولا الهَوى

هوايَ ولا نُدمانيَ اليوم نُدْمَاني

away with you! My cup is not my cup, nor is desire

my desire, nor are my drinking companions today my companions.

وإِنك والكأْسَ التي حَمَّلْتَها

لشُغِلي ولكِنْ قد تنسَّك شيطاني

You and the cup you have laden

are indeed my preoccupation, but my devil has turned ascetic.