عبادة الشر ! — Jawahiri

دعِ النُبلَ للعاجز القُعْدَدِ

وما اسطعتَ من مَغنمٍ فازْدَدِ

Leave nobility to the powerless sluggard;

and take more of whatever gain you can obtain.

ولا تُخْدَعَنَّ بقولِ الضِعافِ

من الناس أنّك عَفُّ اليد

And do not be deceived by the claims of the weak

among people, that you are clean-handed,

وأنك في العيش لا تقتفي

خطا الأدنياءِ ولا تقتدي

and that in life you do not follow

the footsteps of the base, nor imitate them.

سفاسفُ تضحك من أمرها

صرامةُ ذي القوةِ الأيّد

Trifles whose very notion draws laughter

from the stern resolve of the strong and mighty.

فلا تغد طوعاً لأمثالها

متى ما تُغرَّرْ بها تَنْقَد

So do not become subject to their like;

whenever you are duped by them, you submit.

ولا تَبْقَ وحدَكَ في حِطّة

ومهما يكن سلّمٌ فاصعد

And do not remain alone in lowliness;

and whatever ladder there may be, climb it.

فانك لو كنت محضَ الاباء

ومحضَ الشهامة والسُّودَد

For even if you were the essence of proud defiance,

and the essence of gallantry and eminence,

وأصْدَقُ في القول من هُدْهُدٍ

وأخشنُ في الحق من جلمد

and truer in speech than a hoopoe,

and more unyielding in truth than a boulder,

وأعطيتَ في الخلق طُهرَ الغمام

وفي الفضل منزلةَ الفرقد

and were granted in character the purity of clouds,

and in excellence the rank of the Farqad star,

شريفاً تشير إليك الأكفُّ

وتُنْعَتُ بالعَلَمِ المُفْرَد

a noble man toward whom hands point,

and were hailed as the peerless luminary,

لما زاد حظُّك من عِيشة

على حظّ ذي العاهةِ المُقْعَد

your share of life would be no greater

than that of someone disabled and unable to walk.

إليكَ النصيحةَ من مُصْطَلٍ

بنار التجارب مُستَحْصِد

Take this counsel from one scorched

in the fire of experience, fully ripened.

ستطلُبُها عند عضّ الخطوب

عليك بأنيابها الحرّد

You will seek it when calamities bite

into you with their furious fangs.

رِدِ العيشَ مزدحمَ الضِفَّتَيْنِ

من الغِشّ ملتحمَ المورد

Approach life, its two banks crowded

with deceit, its watering place packed tight,

ملياً بذي قوة يَسْتقي

وذي عِفّةٍ مستضامٍ صدي

full of the strong who draw water,

and the upright, oppressed and thirsty.

وجُلْ فيه أروغَ من ثعلبٍ

وأشجعَ من ضيغمٍ مُلْبِد

And roam through it, more wily than a fox,

and braver than a crouching lion.

وكن رجلَ الساعةِ المجتبَى

من اليوم ما يرتجى في غد

And be the chosen man of the hour,

already today, what is hoped for tomorrow.

وإلا فإنّك من منكد

من العيش تمشي إلى أنكد

Otherwise, you go from one wretched state

of life, walking toward one still more wretched.

ذليلاً متى تمضِ لا يُبتأسْ

عليك وإن تبقَ لا تُنْشَد

Abased: when you depart, no one grieves

for you; and if you remain, no one seeks you.

وأنت إذا لم تماش الظروفَ

على كل نقص حريبٍ ردي

And if you do not keep pace with circumstances,

you are burdened with every lack, despoiled and wretched.

إذا ما مخضتَ نفوسَ الرجالِ

من الأقربين إلى الأبعد

If you churn the souls of men,

from the nearest to the farthest,

وأوقفتَ نفسك للمدعين

سموّ المقاصدِ بالمرصد

and station yourself to watch those who claim

lofty aims, from your lookout,

تيقنتَ أن الذي يدّعون

من المجد للآن لم يُولَد

you become certain that what they claim

of glory has not yet been born.

هم الناسُ لا يفضُلون الوحوشَ

بغير التحيُّلِ للمقْصِد

They are human, no better than beasts

except in scheming to reach their ends.

فلا تأتِ ساحةَ هذي الذئابِ

تُنازِلُها بفمٍ أدرد

So do not enter these wolves' arena

to fight them with a toothless mouth.

وخذ مخلباً لك من غَدْرَةٍ

وناباً من الكِذْبِ فاستأسد

And take for yourself a claw of treachery,

and a fang of lies; then become a lion.

ولا تتديَّنْ بغير الرّياءِ

وغَيْرَ النفاق فلا تعبُد

And profess no faith but pious ostentation,

and worship nothing but hypocrisy.

وصلِّ على سائرِ الموبقاتِ

صلاةَ المُحالِفِ للمسجد

And pray over all the deadly sins

with the prayer of one bound to the mosque.

وما اسطعت فاقطع يد المُعْتَدَي

عليه وقبّلْ يدَ المُعتَدي

And, as far as you can, cut off the hand of the one set

upon, and kiss the aggressor's hand.

ومجّدْ وضيعاً بهذي الهِنات

تحدّى مكانهَ ذي المَحتِد

And glorify a base man who, through these vices,

challenged the well-born man's standing.

ونفسَك في النفع لا تبلُها

وعَقْلَكَ في الخير لا تُجهِد

And do not put yourself to the test in being useful,

and do not strain your mind in doing good.

يغطّي على شَرَفِ المنتَمى

ويسحق من عزّة المَوْلِد

The honor of one's descent is obscured,

and the pride of birth is crushed,

ويقضي على مُطْرِفِ المكرُمات

ويأتي على الحَسَب المُتلد

and newly won honors are obliterated,

and ancestral nobility is laid waste,

مهارشةَ الواغلِ المدّعي

وتهويشةَ المُغْرِضِ المُفسِد

by the snarling of the intruding pretender

and the clamor of the malicious corrupter.

أقول لنفسي وقد عربدتْ

رجالٌ لغاياتها : عربدي

I say to my soul, amid the riotous excesses

of men pursuing their ends: 'Run riot!'

ولا تَحْسَبينيَ في مأزِقٍ

قليلَ الغَنا ضيِّقَ المَنْفْد

And do not think me, in a tight corner,

ineffectual, with scant means of escape.

وهيهاتَ لا تدركين المنى

بسيرِ أخي مَهَلٍ مُقْصِد

Far from it! You will not attain your desires

at the measured pace of an unhurried man.

وإنكِ إن لم تواني الحياةَ

بنفس المخُاطِرِ تُستْعْبَدي

And if you do not meet life

with a risk-taker's spirit, you will be enslaved.

ولا بدّ أن تقحمي مقحماً

وإلا فلا بد أن تُطْرَدي

And you must plunge into a hazardous venture,

or else you must be driven out.

فحِصّةُ مستحفزٍ مجرمٍ

لأشرفُ من حِصّةِ المجتدي

For the share of an eager criminal

is indeed nobler than a beggar's share.

رأيت المغامر في موقف

به يفْتََدي نفسَهُ المفتدي

I saw the adventurer in a plight

where one would pay ransom to save oneself.

تناوَلُهُ الألْسُنُ المُقْذِعات

ويعصِفُ بالشتم منه الندى

Abusive tongues assailed him,

and the gathering raged against him with insults.

وحيداً كذي جَرَبٍ مزدَرىً

يروح هضيماً كما يغتدي

Alone, scorned like a man with scabies,

he returned at dusk as wronged as when he set out at dawn.

ولم يَطُلِ العهدُ حتى انجلت

كوارثُ ما هنّ بالسرمد

And it was not long before they cleared—

calamities that were not everlasting.

فكان الأميرَ وكان الزعيمَ

وكان مثالَ الفتى السّيد

Then he was the prince, and he was the leader,

and he was the model of the noble young man.

وكان المبَّجلَ عند المغيب

وكان المقَدَّمَ في المشهد

And he was revered in his absence,

and he was given precedence in the gathering.

يَلَذُّ لكلِ فمٍ ذكْرُهُ

متى يجْرِ في مَحْفِلٍ يُحْمَد

His mention delights every mouth;

whenever it flows through a gathering, he is praised.

وكان وأمثالُه عبرةً

على ضوئها يهتدي المهتدي

And he and his like became a lesson

by whose light the seeker of guidance finds his way.