لي بالحياة تعلق وتشدد — Ibrahim Tuqan

لي بِالحَياة تَعلق وَتَشدد

وَالعُمر ما بَعدَ المَدى فَسينفد

I am attached to life and cling to it firmly.

And life, however far its span extends, will run out.

نَفسٌ أُردده وَأَعلم أَنَّهُ

لِلمَوت بَينَ جَوانِحي يَتَرَدد

A breath I draw again and again, knowing that it

moves to and fro within my breast for death.

وَيَلمُّ بي أَلم أُخاتله بِما

يَصف الطَبيبُ فَيَستَكين وَيَخمَد

And pain assails me; I outwit it with what

the physician prescribes, so it grows quiet and dies down.

وَيسرني أَني نَجَوتُ مِن الأَذى

وَيلي كَأَني إِن نَجَوت مخلد

And I rejoice that I have escaped harm.

Woe to me—as though, if I escape, I were immortal!

وَكَأَنَّني ضَلّلتُ سَيرَ مَنيتي

إِن الطَريق إِلى الفَناء معبّد

And as though I had led my death's course astray!

Indeed, the road to extinction is paved.

هَيهات لَستُ بِخادع عَينُ الرَدى

عَين الرَدى يَقظى وَعَينك تَرقد

Far from it! I cannot deceive the eye of death.

Death's eye is awake, while your eye sleeps.

أَنا أَنتَ بَعد المَوت لا مُستعبد

حرّاً فَأَحقره وَلا مُستعبَد

After death, I am you: neither an enslaver

of a free man for me to scorn, nor anyone enslaved.

وَرَأَيت خَزاف الحَياة يَذلها

فَيَدوسها وَيعزّها فَينضد

And I saw life's potter abase it,

so he tramples it, and exalts it, arranging it in tiers.

هَل كانَ سَعد كَما علمت مِن الوَرى

فَيَموت كلا إِن سَعدَ لأَوحَد

Was Saad, as you knew, one of humankind,

that he should die? No—Saad is truly unique.

هَبَت عَواصف نَعيه مصريةً

فَإِذا بِها شَرقية تَتَمَرد

The storms of his death tidings rose in Egypt;

then behold, they were the East's, rising in revolt.

وَطَفقت أَسأل يَومه فَإِذا بِهِ

يَومٌ لَعمر المَوت أَبكم أَسوَد

And I began questioning his day, and behold, it was

a day—by Death's life!—mute and black.

وَأَرتبت في الأَقدار لَيلة نَعيه

وَلحدت ريبي يَوم قيل سَيُلحد

And I doubted fate on the night his death was announced;

and buried my doubt the day they said he would be buried.

فُجِعت بَنو مَصر بِفَقد زَعيمها

اللَهُ أَكبر أَي أَروَع تَفقد

Egypt's sons were devastated by the loss of her leader.

God is greatest! What a magnificent man she has lost!

يا سَعد يا ابن النيل رَنَّقَ ماءه

ثكلُ البَنين وَهَل كَسَعدِ يولد

O Saad, O son of the Nile: its waters were clouded

by the loss of sons—and can another like Saad be born?

مصر الَّتي فَقدتك قَلب خافق

وَالشَرق أَضلعه الَّتي تتَوقَد

Egypt, which has lost you, is a beating heart,

and the East its ribs, which burn.

وَكَأَنَّها كَبد يَصرّعها الأَسى

وَكَأَنَّهُ لَمّا تَعلقها يَد

And she is like a liver felled by sorrow,

and it is like a hand when it clutches her.

عَبدتك مصر وَأَنتَ باعث مَجدها

إِن البُطولة مُنذُ كانَت تعبد

Egypt worshipped you, the awakener of her glory.

Indeed, heroism has been worshipped since it first existed.

رَب البُطولة عَبدَها قَذَفت بِهِ

شَمل الخُطوب يَبيدها وَيبدد

Heroism's lord worshipped her; she hurled him

into the mass of calamities, to annihilate and scatter them.

يَلقى الخُطوب وَقَد طَغى تَيارها

فَإِذا بِهِ صَخر هُنالك جَلمد

He meets calamities when their current has surged,

and behold, there he stands, a rock, hard and massive.

وَإِذا بِها لجج تَدافع موجها

فَيصدها فَتحورُ عَنهُ وَيَصمد

And behold, they are deep seas whose waves collide;

he repels them, and they recoil from him, while he stands firm.

وَإِذا بِهِ فَوقَ الأَكُفِّ مُكَلل

بِالغار يَكبره الوَرى وَيمجد

And behold, he is borne above the hands, crowned

with laurel, exalted and glorified by humankind.

وَإِذا بِهِ تَحتَ الصَفيح بِمعبد

وَالكَعبة الغَراء حَيث المَعبد

And behold, he lies beneath the stone slabs in a shrine,

and the radiant Kaaba is where the shrine stands.

وَإِذا بِهِ عَينُ الخُلود وَسره

تَعنو لَهُ حر الوجوه وَتَسجد

And behold, he is immortality's essence and its secret;

noble faces bow before him and prostrate themselves.

يا سَعد شَأنك وَالبُطولَةَ أَنَّها

تَجثو لَديك وَأَنتَ أَنتَ السَيد

O Saad, such is your standing with heroism: she

kneels before you, and you—you are the master.

اللَهُ في سَبع وَستين اِنطَوت

وَالمَوت مَضاء العَزيمة يَطرد

God! Through sixty-seven years that folded away,

death, unyielding in resolve, kept pursuing.

نَصب الحَبائل جمة فَتَقَطَعَت

وَعهدته يَرمي السِهام فَيقصد

He set countless snares, but they broke apart;

and I had known him to loose arrows and strike true.

ما كانَ في المَنفى بِأَخفق مِنهُ في

مصر يَريشُ سِهامه وَيسدد

He was no more unsuccessful in exile than in

Egypt, feathering his arrows and taking aim.

وَرَأى بطولتك الَّتي صَمدت لَهُ

وَكَأَنَّها درع عَليك مسرَّد

And he saw your heroism, which stood firm against him,

as though it were tightly linked armor upon you.

فَرَمى حَبائِله وَحَطم قَوسه

وَأَتى سَريرك خائِفاً يَتَرصَد

So he cast away his snares and shattered his bow,

and came to your bed, afraid, lying in wait.

فَسَقاك خَمرةَ كَأسِهِ فَعَرفتها

وَجرعتها وَأَنا اِنتَهَيت تردد

Then he gave you the wine of his cup, and you recognized it,

and swallowed it, repeating, 'I am finished.'

نعم اِنتَهيتَ وَإِنما تِلكَ القوى

نور يَفيض وَجذوة لا تَهمد

Yes, you have ended; yet those powers

are light that pours forth and an ember that never dies.

فَهَدت سَبيل الشَرق في ظَلماته

فَجَرى يَغوّر في الحياة وَينجد

So they guided the East on its path through its darkness,

and it sped through life, descending to lowlands and climbing highlands.

وَهَوَت بِكلكلها عَلى أَعدائِها

وَتَفَرَغَت مَصرٌ لِمَن يَتَنَمرَد

And she bore down with her breast upon her enemies,

and Egypt turned her full attention to whoever plays the tyrant.

الفرقد الهادي يحجبّه الثَرى

فَمَتى يَؤوب وَأَينَ يَطَلَع فَرقد

Farqad, the guiding star, is hidden by the earth;

so when will it return, and where will a Farqad rise?

يا حَسرَتاه عَلى البِلاد يَقيمها

غَدر المَنية بِالرَئيس وَيَقعد

Alas for the land, made to rise

and sit by death's treachery against its leader!

زَفراتها زَفَراتُ مَصر تَصدَعَت

مِن هولهن قُلوبنا وَالأَكبد

Her sighs—the sighs of Egypt—have shattered

our hearts and livers with their horror.

عيبال مُنذ تَزَلزَلَت أَركانَه

ما اِنفَك يَسعده نَداك وَيَسعد

Ebal, ever since its foundations were shaken,

your bounty has never ceased to gladden it, and it rejoices.

عَزَّيته بِمصابه وَوَصلته

حَسبي عَزاؤك نَعمةً لا تَجحد

You consoled it in its affliction and gave it aid.

Your consolation is enough for me, a blessing not to be denied.

جود خَتَمت بِهِ الحَياة وَإِنَّهُ

لختام أَلف صَنيعة لَكَ تَحمد

An act of generosity with which you sealed your life; indeed, it

is the seal of a thousand praiseworthy kindnesses of yours.

وَلَقَد نَعيت لَهُ فَباتَ وَحُزنه

عَين تَسيل بِهِ وَعَين تَجمد

And indeed your death was announced to it; it spent the night, its grief

an eye streaming within it, and another eye frozen.

هَذا ثَرى مَصرَ الَّتي أَحببتها

نَم هادِئاً يا سَعدُ طابَ المرقد

This is the soil of Egypt, which you loved.

Sleep peacefully, O Saad; sweet is the resting place.

تَفديك أَفئِدَة تَود لَو أَنَّها

أَمسَت هِيَ الرَمس الَّذي تَتَوسد

Hearts would ransom you, wishing that they

had become the very grave on which you rest your head.

وَتَود لَو أَن الأَزاهير الَّتي

قَد كَللوك بِها عُيون تَسهد

And they wish that the flowers with which

they have crowned you were eyes that keep vigil.

الروح وَالريحان خَير تَحية

وَالسَلسَبيل وَلَست تَظمأ مَورد

Repose and sweet basil are the finest greeting,

and Salsabil—though you do not thirst—is your spring.

لَم يَخل مِنكَ الذكر في وَطَن وَما

بَرِحَت لِذكرك لَوعة تَتَجَدَد

No homeland has been without remembrance of you, and

the anguish of remembering you has never ceased to be renewed.