إلى وفود المشرقين تحية — Jawahiri

حَلَلْتُم مثلما حلّ السحابُ

وطِبتُمْ مثلما طاب الشبابُ

You alighted as the clouds alight,

and were sweet as youth is sweet.

وكنتم دعوةً في كل صدرٍ

عراقي وها هي تُسْتَجاب

You were a prayer in every breast

of Iraq—and behold, it is answered.

وفودَ المشرقينِ وقد تناءتْ

بنا دارٌ، وطال بنا اغتراب

O delegations of the two Easts, though our dwelling

has borne us far away, and long has been our exile,

حنانَيْكُمْ، فهذي الدارُ مِنْكُمْ

ونحن الأهلُ فيكمْ والصِّحاب

your kindness! This home is part of you,

and we are your family and companions.

نُسَرُّ بقربكمْ، ونُساءُ بُعْدا

كأنكمُ المثوبةُ والعِقاب

Your nearness gladdens us; distance saddens us,

as though you were both reward and punishment.

قِفوا مَعَنا نقِفْ معكم، وَيَشْمَخْ

بنا في حُسنِ منطلَقٍ مآب

Stand with us; we shall stand with you, and may there rise

a homecoming that exalts us from a fair beginning.

ونُنْشَرُ كالضياءِ معاً، ونُطوى

كما يُطوى على الروح الإهاب

Together we are spread abroad like light, and folded

as skin is folded around the soul.

حللتم والربيعُ، ومنجزاتٌ

بكم وبِهِنَّ يجمعنا نِصاب

You have arrived with spring and achievements;

you and they bring our gathering to full measure.

مضى عهد يُذَمُّ به الشبابُ

ويُحسد فيه من شاخوا، وشابوا

Gone is an age in which youth was condemned,

and those grown old and gray were envied.

وأُبدِل عنه عهداً ودَّ فيه

رِفاقُ الشيب: لو عاد الشباب

It was replaced by an age in which

the companions of gray hair wished youth would return.

وجئتم، والعراقُ يشق درباً

يُحال إلى الجِنان به التراب

You have come while Iraq cuts a path

by which dust is turned into gardens.

ويعلوه الغُبارُ وأيُّ فخر

لمسعىً لا تتوجُهُ الصِّعاب

Dust rises over it—yet what glory is there

in an endeavor not crowned by hardships?

أقول لخيّرينَ وقد تلاقى

عليهم من شرور الغابِ غاب

I say to good men, against whom has gathered

a jungle of the jungle's evils,

ولفَّهُمُ العَجاجُ كما تحدّى

رفيفَ الروضةِ القَفْرُ اليباب

and whom swirling dust enfolded, just as

barren wasteland defies a garden's fluttering life:

صموداً مثلما صَمَدَتْ وطالت

على الإعصار أدواحٌ صلاب

Stand firm, as there stood firm and towered

above the hurricane great, sturdy trees.

وصبراً ثم تنكشف البلايا

كنُور الشمس يعبُرُهُ الضَّباب

And be patient; calamities will then lift,

like sunlight traversed by fog.

ويفتحُ للمصابِر ألفَ باب

إذا ما سُد في الأزَمَات باب

And a thousand doors are opened to the steadfast

when a door is shut in times of crisis.

نضِجْتُمْ في الصميم من الدواهي

فأنتم من خميرتها لباب

You have ripened at the very heart of calamities;

you are the essence of their leaven.

وأنتم إذ يحِر الخطبُ أدرى

بما يُصفى له وبما يراب

And when crisis burns, you know best

what is clear in it and what is suspect.

تَضِيقُ بِمُتعَبِينَ رؤى المنايا

وتحضُنُهن أفئدةٌ رِحاب

Visions of death are too narrow for the weary,

yet spacious hearts embrace them.

وسُوح المجد تعمرُها الضحايا

وتزحَمُ فوقَها الهامَ الرقاب

The fields of glory are peopled by sacrifices,

and upon them necks jostle heads.

وفودَ الشرقِ إن الشعرَ وجهٌ

طليقٌ، لا يَليقُ به النِّقاب

Delegations of the East, poetry is a face

open and free: no veil befits it.

به من نسمةِ الإصباح عِطرٌ

ومن سَحَرٍ، ومن شَفَقٍ خِضاب

It holds fragrance from the breeze of daybreak,

and dye from predawn and twilight.

على السجع الرتيب ترِفُ دنيا

مسجعةٌ أغانيها رِتاب

Above the measured rhyming flutters a world,

itself rhymed, its songs in steady cadence.

وبين فواصلِ منه جِراحٌ

وآفاقٌ، وأَطماحٌ رغاب

Between its pauses there are wounds,

and horizons, and great aspirations.

ويخفقُ في مقاطعِهِ ضميرٌ

جريءٌ، لا يلينُ، ولا يَهاب

Within its passages beats a conscience,

bold, unbending, and unafraid.

وفودَ الشرق إن الداء فينا

ونحن الملزَمونَ بما نُصاب

Delegations of the East, the sickness is within us,

and we are accountable for what afflicts us.

غُزينا عَنوةً في عُقر دار

عفاءٍ، كلُّ ما فيها يَباب

We were invaded by force in the heart of a home

laid waste, with all within it desolate.

وأعرافٌ مُرِثّاتٌ قِباحٌ

رَزاحٌ فرطَ ما امتُطِيت، لِغاب

And ugly customs, tattered and worn,

sagging, weary from being ridden too often,

تَعَبَّدُنا ولم يخفُقْ علينا

بها وحيٌ، ولم ينزِلْ كتاب

enslave us, though no revelation has fluttered over us

through them, nor has any scripture descended.

فنُورُ الفكر يحجُبُهُ احتجازٌ

ونور الشمس يحجِزه حجاب

The light of thought is veiled by confinement,

and the light of the sun is blocked by a veil.

ومجتمعٌ يُشَلّ النصفُ منه

ويُعفى النصف . مجتمعٌ خراب

A society with half of it paralyzed

and half excused is a society in ruins.

وَنصَّبْنا صدورا عاريات

إلى المستعمرين وهم حِراب

We have presented naked breasts

to the colonizers, who are spears.

ورُحنا يستُر العوراتِ منا

نسيجُ الحق في دَغَل يشاب

We went on, our nakedness concealed

by a fabric of truth adulterated with deceit.

نُعرِّيهمْ ونَحسبُ أن كُسينا

بعُرْيتهمْ . وضوعفت الثياب

We strip them bare and think we are clothed

by their nakedness, our garments doubled.

نحملُ سمَ " عقربةَ " الذنابى

ولولاها لما كان الذِّناب

We bear the venom of the tail's scorpion;

without it there would be no tail.

وفودَ المشرقين وعن ضلال

يُثاب ، وعن مَساءات يُتاب

Delegations of the two Easts—from error

one can return, and from wrongdoing repent.

لنا ظُفْرٌ على جُرحٍ دَوِيٍ

وللمستعمرينَ عليه ناب

We have a fingernail upon a festering wound,

and the colonizers have a fang upon it.

بلاءُ الشرقِ أصنامٌ تُسمّى

سيوفَ الله يحرسها " الكتاب "

The East's affliction is idols called

Swords of God, guarded by the Book.

عفت شَفَراتُهن فهمْ كَهامٌ

صديءُ الحد، زُخْرُفُه القُراب

Their blades have worn away; they are blunt,

rusty-edged, with a scabbard for adornment.

لهم فصلُ الخطاب بحدِ سيفٍ

وليس لمبتلٍ بِهِمُ خِطاب

Theirs is the decisive word, by a sword's edge;

those afflicted with them have no say.

ويكتنزون من سُحت حراءٍ

وحولَهم ملايينٌ سِغاب

They hoard Hira's ill-gotten wealth,

while millions hunger all around them.

وكان التمرُ نعبُدُهُ إلهاً

يُساغُ به طعامٌ أو شراب

Once we worshipped dates as a god

through which food or drink could be enjoyed.

فليت لنا بِهِمْ شِبَعاً ورِيّاً

ومما زاد تمتلئُ العِياب

Would that they gave us food and drink enough,

and our bags filled with whatever remained.

لقد شِبنا وشبَّ بنو بنينا

وما شبَّ البقيعُ ولا السراب

We have grown gray, and our sons' sons have grown up,

yet neither al-Baqi nor the mirage has grown young.

ولا شَلَّتْ حلاقيمٌ رِطابٌ

تجولُ بِهِنَّ أَلسنةٌ كِذاب

Nor have moist throats been stilled,

where lying tongues roam,

تساقَطُ ما تشاءُ ولا تبالي

على ما لاَ يعاب بما يُعاب

raining down whatever they please, heedless,

pelting what is blameless with blame.

وقالوا أَوْثَقَ الخَصْمانِ ضَرْعَا

وشدّا منه، وامتلأ الوطاب

They said: The two foes bound an udder fast

and pulled at it, and the milk-skins filled;

وعاد النفطُ يُحلَبُ من جديدٍ

ولا " عنزٌ " تُدِر، ولا احتلاب

oil was milked anew,

though no goat yielded milk, nor was there milking.

فقلت أجل: بناتُ الدهر مِنّا

ومنها نحن، والدنيا عُجاب

I said: Yes, time's daughters are of us,

and we of them; the world is wondrous.

تعالى الصلحُ !! أفئدةٌ تلاقى

بأفئدةٍ، ففيم الاحتراب ؟

Exalted be peace! Hearts meet

with hearts—why, then, wage war?

وفيمَ الضَيْرُ أن يغشى حِوارٌ

مناجاةَ الأحبة، أو عتاب ؟

And what harm if dialogue embraces

lovers' whispered converse, or reproach?

وفيم الحربُ، والأحقادُ شؤمٌ

وتصطلحُ الحمامةُ والغُراب ؟

Why war, when hatreds are ill fortune

and dove and raven make their peace?

وتصطلُح " الضرائرُ " من قديم

كذلك كن " زينبُ " و " الرَّباب "

Co-wives have made peace since ancient times;

such were Zaynab and al-Rabab.

وَهَبْنا نستديرُ كما استدارت

على الأُمّات أفرخةٌ زِغاب

Suppose we wheel around, as have wheeled

downy chicks around their mothers.

تعالى الصلح في " التَلْمود " منه

أعد لكل مسألة جواب

Exalted be peace! From it, in the Talmud,

an answer is prepared for every question.

عراةٌ في الخِيام لهم سَماءٌ

وأرضٌ، واصطبارٌ، وارتقاب

Naked in tents, they have a sky,

and earth, and endurance, and waiting.

وهبْ طال العذابُ فليس شيءٌ

بباقٍ، لا النعيمُ، ولا العذاب

Suppose the torment lasts; nothing

endures, neither bliss nor torment.

وما يدعى " فلسطينا " مَراحٌ

متى شئنا، وشاءت مستطاب

What is called Palestine is a resting-ground,

pleasant whenever we wish and she wishes.

وهل هي غيرُ أرضٍ واستُبِيحَتْ ؟

فأرضُ الله واسعةٌ نِهاب

Is she anything but land that has been violated?

God's earth is vast, open to plunder.

وبيت القدس ليس سوى مزارٍ

يُرادُ الأجرُ فيه، والثّواب !

Jerusalem is nothing but a shrine,

where merit and reward are sought!

وهل " سيناءُ " غيرُ مهيلِ رملٍ

تَعِيثُ بهِ الأفاعي والذئاب ؟

Is Sinai anything but a heap of sand,

where vipers and wolves run wild?

وفي الجَوْلانِ من دمِ كل حرٍّ

يباع ويشترى مسكٌ مَلاب

And in the Golan, from every free man's blood

comes fragrant musk, bought and sold.

وشطئانُ الخضليج " مدوراتٍ "

نقاسمها كما اقتسمت كِعاب !

And the Gulf's shores, rounded counters,

we divide as dice are divided!

كفاها ألفُ عام أن يُدوّي

بها العربيُّ والخيلُ العِرابُ !

A thousand years were enough for them to echo

with the Arab and purebred Arabian horses!

دَعُوْها تنفتحْ لدمٍ وثانٍ

فخيرُ دم الشعوبِ دمٌ ضِراب !

Let them open to a bloodline—and another;

the finest blood of peoples is crossbred blood!

مساخرُ لا لأعيادٍ ولكنْ

حِدادٌ فيه تُصْطَبَغُ الثياب !

Mockeries—not for festivals, but

for mourning in which garments are dyed!

وفودَ الشرقِ: إن غداً رعيبا

نَحِنُّ له كما حَنَّتْ سِقاب

Delegations of the East, a terrible tomorrow

we yearn for, as camel calves yearn,

ويوماً مثلَ يومِ الحشرِ فيه

يطول لكل ذي وِزْرٍ حساب

and a day like the Day of Gathering, when

the reckoning runs long for every bearer of sin.

سيحرِث عالما، ويجِد زَرْعا

وتَستَصْفى القشورَ به اللباب

It will plow a world and find a crop,

and through it the kernels will purge away the husks.

وعن حِقَبٍ ذليلاتٍ ستأتي

لتمحوَ عارَها حِقَبٌ غِضاب

In place of abject eras there will come,

to erase their shame, wrathful eras.

تُزَعْزِعُ من جذورٍ طالحاتٍ

فلا صُم الصخور ، ولا التراب

They will wrench out rotten roots,

leaving neither solid rock nor earth,

وتَفْجِرُ في الدم العربي نَبْعا

كنبعِ الزيت يُعوِزُهُ ثِقاب

and make a spring gush within Arab blood,

like a spring of oil that needs a match.

ويا غُرَفَ الجِنانِ مُشَعْشَعاتٍ

على " الزابينِ " تُرْقِصها القِباب

O chambers of paradise, shining bright

along the two Zabs, set dancing by the domes,

وتحضِنها الفوارعُ شامخاتٍ

يُحَوِّمُ دون ذِروتها العُقاب

embraced by towering heights,

below whose summits the eagle circles:

سقى صوبُ العِهادِ لديك رَبْعا

حرامٌ بالدمِ الغالي يُصاب

may returning rains pour upon a dwelling beside you,

inviolable, not to be stained with precious blood.

قَطَعْنا شوطَنا خمسينَ عاماً

تُوَحِدُنا المَسرةُ والمُصاب

We have run our course for fifty years,

united by joy and affliction.

يُراوحُ بينَ كفَّينا عِنانٌ

ويجمعُ بين رِجْلَيْنا رِكاب

A rein passes back and forth between our two palms,

and a stirrup joins our two feet.

رَضاعُ أخوّة عِشنا عليه

يمازج دَرَّهُ عسلٌ وصاب

We have lived on the milk of brotherhood,

its flow mingled with honey and bitter sap.

يرِن صدى المناحةِ في بطاحٍ

من " الأهوار " ما ناحت " هِضاب "

The echo of lamentation rings across plains

of the marshes whenever the highlands mourn.

أفالآنَ النكوصُ وقد توشّى

ربيعُ الأرض، واخضر الْجَناب

Shall we retreat now, when spring has spread its embroidery

over the earth, and the countryside has turned green?

ولوَّحَ فجرُ آذارٍ وجلّى

به لبيان ( آذارٍ ) شِهاب

The dawn of March has beckoned, and brightly

a meteor of the March Declaration has shone within it.

ولاح غدٌ سهِرناه طُيوفاً

تُدَغْدِغُهَنَّ أحلام عِذاب

A tomorrow has appeared, for which we kept vigil amid visions

tickled by sweet dreams.

نَشَدْتكُمُ القرابةَ والضحايا

وما شدَّ العُرى مِنّا كِتاب

I adjure you by kinship and the fallen,

and by the bonds a Book has bound between us,

وما غَنَّتْ لكُمْ منا قوافٍ

يرقرقُ نَسْجَها دمعٌ مذاب

and by the rhymes of ours that sang for you,

their weave made shimmering by melted tears,

وما ضمَّ الثرى إلا حَقَنْتُمْ

دماً يُشجِي المصيبَ به المصاب

and by all the earth has embraced: spare

blood whose victim makes the striker grieve.

دَعُوْنا نحتكمْ بعضٌ لبعضٍ

فللجُرْفينِ يَحْتَكِمُ العُباب

Let us submit to one another's judgment,

for the surging flood submits to its two banks.

فإن وراءنا ذئبا خبيثاً

يحاول أن يكون له الغِلاب

For behind us lurks a wicked wolf,

trying to win the upper hand.

سينهَشُ منكم كَتِفاً، ومنّا

وما يبقى ستَنْهَشُه ذئاب

It will tear a shoulder from you, and from us,

and wolves will tear apart whatever remains.

ويا فرسان معتركٍ وسَلْم

ورهطَ محبةٍ طابت وطابوا

O knights of battle and peace,

and band of love—fine is that love, and fine its people!

سيخلُفُ عن وَداعِكُمُ لقاءٌ

ويثأرُ من ذَهابكم الإياب

A meeting will succeed your farewell,

and return will avenge your departure.

سيبقى الرافدان مصبَّ خمر

يساقيكم، و ( خابور ) و ( زابُ )

The Two Rivers will remain an outpouring of wine,

offering you drink, with Khabur and Zab.

نُساقيكم وأكؤسُنا قلوبٌ

وذوبُ عواطفٍ فيها شَراب

We drink with you, our goblets hearts,

and molten feeling the drink within them.

حللتم مثلمَا حل السَّحابُ

وطِبْتُم مثلَما طابَ الشبابُ

You alighted as the clouds alight,

and were sweet as youth is sweet.