رؤية أربت على الرؤيا بما

لم يكن يوما بظن ليمرا

A sight surpassed the dream with what

had never once crossed anyone's thoughts.

دار فيها طرب مختلف

تارك في مسمع الأحقاب وقرا

Within it swirled a discordant music,

leaving deafness in the ear of ages.

تركض الأم تغني هلعا

وبنوها حولها يبكون ذعرا

The mother runs, singing in panic,

and her sons around her weep in terror.

ويهد الكهل هد الفحل في

غرق والوقد لا يألوه هدرا

The middle-aged man bellows like a male camel in

drowning, while the blaze spares him no roaring.

كاد رحب الجو من حشرجة

وحوافيه الربى يشبه قدرا

The vast air, from all the death-rattling, almost

resembled a cauldron, with hills for its rims,

في اختلاط مرهق سماعه

واختلال مزهق حشدا وحشرا

in a confusion exhausting to hear,

and a deadly disorder, massing and crowding.

سرحات قصفت محضأة

بين منكوسة إكليل وعقرى

Tall trees snapped and set ablaze,

some with crowns overturned, others cut at the root;

رجبة من عوسج محتدم

فنيت ضربن لألاء ووغرا

an enclosure of fiercely blazing thornbush

was consumed; the trees cast radiance and scorching heat.

ضبغ تعوي وذئب ضابح

وصدى يزقو مهيجا مزبئرا

A hyena howls, a wolf yelps,

and an owl screeches, agitated and bristling.

ضيغم من سورة الحمى ومن

ثورة الحمي به يزأر زأرا

A lion, from the fever's fury and

the heat's revolt within him, roars and roars.

طالما زمجر يشكو أسره

فهو يشكو أنه لم يقض أسرا

Long had he growled, lamenting his captivity;

now he laments not having died a captive.

ثعلب يضغو وفهد ضاغب

وغراب ناغب عشرا فعشرا

A fox whines, a cheetah cries,

and a crow caws, ten calls after ten.

ومن الأكلب حامي بركة

مس بعد القر بالحر فهرا

Among the dogs, a guardian of a pond,

struck by heat after cold, began to growl.

ما سموم نفختها سقر

تنسف الدوح وتذوي العشب صقرا

No scorching wind breathed out by Saqar,

uprooting great trees, withering grass with its blaze,

خافتت آنا وآنا عزفت

وتوالى هزقها عزما وفترا

now whispering, now wailing,

its laughter coming in bursts of force and languor,

عندما في مارج من لاعج

بثه بثا وقد ضويق حصرا

when, within a swirling flame of searing heat,

it poured it forth, itself tightly confined—

ما اصطخاب اللج في حيرته

بين تيار ودردور ومجرى

nor the deep's tumult in its bewilderment,

between current, whirlpool, and channel—

كاصطخاب من وطيس هادم

لم يصن تاجا ولم يستثن جذرا

equals the tumult of a demolishing inferno

that spared no crown and exempted no root.

ذاك يا نيرون لحن زاده

طربا مزهرك الرائع نبرا

That, Nero, is a melody enriched

in rapture by the notes of your splendid lute.

جمع الضدين لم يجتمعا

في مزاج يفطر الأكباد فطرا

It joined two opposites never joined before

in a blend that tears livers asunder,

بين أصوات على نكرتها

جعلت وفقهما خفضا وجهرا

among sounds that, despite their strangeness,

made the pair accord in softness and loudness.

هيكل يسقط في قعقعة

وذماء من حشى يصعد زفرا

A temple falls with a clatter;

life's last breath rises groaning from the entrails.

هكذا التصوير أحيا ما يرى

هكذا التطريب مؤتا أو أحرا

Thus depiction brought the visible to life;

thus music is rendered—or, more fittingly,

هز بالإيقاع أفلاكا ولم

يصحب العود به طبلا وزمرا

it shook celestial spheres with rhythm, without

accompanying the lute with drums and pipes.

هكذا الشعر بلا قافية

خف وزنا وجرى بالدم بحرا

Thus poetry, without a rhyme,

grew light in meter and flowed, a sea of blood.

عظمت فتنته من فرط ما

رق فالناس أرقاء وأسرى

Its enchantment grew immense, so utterly

delicate it grew: the people were slaves and captives.

لا كنايات ولا تورية

إنما العاجز من كنى وورى

No allusions, no double meanings;

only the inept resorts to allusion and concealment.

من كنيرون أتى بالرسم لم

يستعر صبغا له أو يجر حبرا

Whoever, like Nero, made a picture did not

borrow its pigment or make ink flow,

مثبتا في ليلة مبصرة

آية يمحو بها قوما ومصرا

fixing, in a night made luminous,

a marvel with which he erased a people and a city.

بينما تنظر ربعا أهله

ملء هذا الكون إذ تلفيه صفرا

While you look upon a district whose inhabitants

fill this whole universe, suddenly you find it empty.

يا لها غر فنون بهرت

ظرفاء الوقت بالإبداع بهرا

Ah, what radiant arts, dazzling

the wits of the age with dazzling invention!

أين منها شأن مفني عمره

يتقرى الخلق أو يقرأ سفرا

What beside these is the worth of one who spends his life

examining creation or reading a book,

ليراه بعد جهد محسنا

إن شدا أو متقنا إن خط سطرا

only to be deemed, after toil, accomplished

if he sings, or skilled if he writes a line?

دمرت حاضرة الدنيا ولم

يجد الناجون في ذلك نكرا

The world's metropolis was destroyed, yet

the survivors found nothing outrageous in that.

أوشكوا أن يجمعوا رأيا على

أن في الغيب لذاك الهول سرا

They almost reached unanimous agreement

that this horror held a secret in the unseen.

لست محزونا على القوم وهل

كبد تلقى على الأنذال حرى

I do not grieve for those people; is there

a liver aflame with grief for the base?

غير أني لي على إبداعه

عتب فن وهو بالإبداع أدرى

Yet I have, concerning his creation,

an artistic grievance—and he knows creation best.

فلقد أغرق في إيقاعه

وغلا رسما وزاد النظم نثرا

For he went too far in his rhythm,

exceeded bounds in drawing, and added prose to verse.

ولعل الهفوة الأخرى له

أنه لم يعتدل نقشا وحفرا

Perhaps his other lapse was

that he lacked balance in engraving and carving.

ذاك همي ليس همي بلدا

باد خنقا أو توى حرقا وثبرا

That is my concern, not a land

destroyed by suffocation or dead through burning and ruin.

ما علينا من غريم غارم

إن أزرى الخلق شعب مات صبرا

What is a debtor burdened with debt to us?

The basest of creatures is a people that dies submissively.

ليس بالكفؤ لعيش طيب

كل من شق عليه العيش حرا

None deserves a pleasant life

who finds it hard to live free.

إن روما جعلت نيرونها

وهو شر القوم مما كان شرا

Indeed, Rome made its Nero—

the worst among them—worse than he had been.

بلغته الملك عفوا فبغى

كل ملك جاء عفوا راح هدرا

It granted him kingship unearned, and he tyrannized;

every kingship gained for nothing is squandered.

يقدر الشيء معاني كسبه

فإذا ما هان كسبا هان خسرا

The manner of its gaining gives a thing its value;

if it costs little to gain, losing it matters little.

عاث فيها مستبدا مسرفا

دائب الإجرام عوادا مصرا

He ravaged it, despotic and extravagant,

tireless in crime, repeating it, unrepentant.

لا يمنحها من باله

غير هم الخطر المكسوب قمرا

He gave it none of his attention

beyond concern for a stake won by gambling.

ليس في تشنيعه من بدعة

إن للخامل عند الذكر ثأرا

There is nothing novel in his atrocities;

the obscure has a score to settle with renown.

لا ولا في ظلمه من عجب

إن للظالم عند العدل وترا

No, nor is there anything strange in his injustice;

the tyrant has a grievance against justice.

بم غر القوم حتى غفروا

ذلك الذنب له ما شاء غفرا

How did he beguile the people until they forgave

that sin of his as fully as he pleased?

بل قضوا أن يمحنوه حمدهم

حيث لا يجدر أن يبلغ عذرا

Indeed, they decreed that they should grant him their praise

where he did not deserve even an excuse.

ذاك أن أتهم ظلما منهم

معشرا مستضعف الجانب نزرا

That was because he unjustly accused, among them,

a small community, vulnerable and few.

فرمى ملة عيسى بالذي

كان منه ملحقا الوزر وزرا

He charged the faith of Jesus with

what he himself had done, adding guilt to guilt,

زاعما أن النصارى قارفو

ذنبه ما كان أنآهم وأبرا

claiming the Christians were the perpetrators

of his sin—how far removed and innocent they were!

والنصارى فئة يومئذ

لم تكن فيهم من المعشار عشرا

The Christians at that time were a group

not even a tenth of a tenth of their number.

ما بها حول ولا طول ولا

تقتني جاها ولا تملك وفرا

It had neither strength nor might, nor

possessed rank or owned abundant wealth.

لا تبالي دون من تعبده

جهد ما تمنى به خسفا وعسرا

It cared for none besides the One it worshipped,

however much it was tried by humiliation and hardship.

دينها في فجره والسحب قد

تحجب النور ولا تعتاق فجرا

Its faith was at its dawn, and clouds may

hide the light, but cannot hold back a dawn.

عن للغاشم أن يطعمها

لجياع الوحش في الملعب جهرا

It occurred to the oppressor to feed it

openly to the hungry beasts in the arena.

وبهذا يترضى شعبه

فرط ما الشعب بذاك اللهو مغزى

By this he would placate his people,

so passionately were the people drawn to that diversion.

فيظل البطل فيه عاليا

ويظل الحق عنه مستسرا

Thus falsehood would remain exalted among them,

and truth would remain concealed from them.

أمر الطاغي بها فاحتشدت

في مقام زاخر بالخلق زخرا

The tyrant summoned them, and they assembled

in a place surging with throngs of people.

ورماهم بالضواري قرمت

فارتمت مجنونة وثبا وجأرا

He loosed upon them beasts craving flesh,

which flung themselves madly, leaping and roaring.

فتلقاها النصارى وهم

لم يضق إيمانهم بالضيم حجرا

The Christians faced them, while

oppression had not narrowed their faith's embrace.

سجد شادون سام طرفهم

ضاحكو الآمال ما الخطب اكفهرا

Prostrate, singing, their gaze raised high,

their hopes smiling, however dark the ordeal.

بربرت تلك الضواري دونهم

ثم شدت وهي لا ترحم شفرا

Those beasts snarled before them,

then charged, sparing not an eyelash.

هشمت وانتهشت وافترست

ما اشتهت نهمتها علما وهبرا

They crushed, tore, and devoured

all their greed desired, gashing and hacking flesh.

ثم كلت شبعا وافترقت

في الزوايا تتوخى مستقرا

Then, sated, they tired and dispersed

into corners, seeking a resting place.

سكر الأشهاد إعجابا بها

وهوت مملوءة بالدم سكرا

The spectators grew drunk with admiration for them,

while they sank down, blood-filled and drunk.

ذاك ما رام به نيرون أن

يتلافى إثمه الأول سترا

That was what Nero sought, so as

to remedy his first sin by concealment.

وإذا ما أسعد الجهل غلا

آثم في الإثم لا يرهب عزرا

When ignorance lends its aid, still further goes

a sinner in sin, fearing no chastisement.

شيمة الموغل في إجرامه

كلما ازداد انطلاقا زاد حضرا

Such is the habit of one steeped in crime:

the more freedom he gains, the faster he gallops.

شاد للإلهاء ذاك المنتدى

قبل أن يبني للإيواء جدرا

He raised that assembly place for distraction

before building walls for shelter.

والأولى زالت مغانيهم بما

شيد للألعاب محبورون حبرا

Those whose dwellings had vanished were, at what

he built for games, utterly delighted.

بطء يوم فيه إيداء بهم

وهو يقضي في بناء اللهو شهرا

A day's delay would mean their destruction,

yet he spends a month building for amusement.

خاب من خال النصارى هلكوا

حين راح الموت فيهم مستحرا

Mistaken was whoever thought the Christians perished

when death raged fiercely among them.

فالذي أولده الفتك بهم

أنهم قل غدوا بالقتل كثرا

For what the slaughter of them brought forth

was that, once few, through killing they became many.

ثم أضحى ملك روما ملكهم

ومولاهم على الأحبار حبرا

Then Rome's dominion became theirs,

and their lord a pontiff above the pontiffs.

هكذا الفكرة من أرهقها

كمنت ثم علت وثبا فطفرا

Thus an idea, when someone oppresses it,

lies hidden, then rises, leaping and springing.

درت الأمة من ظالمها

كلما جر عليها الظلم دفرا

The nation learned from its tyrant

each time he dragged oppression's stench upon it.

وعلى ذاك تغابت مرة

بعد أخرى وتمادى مستشرا

Despite that, it feigned ignorance time

after time, and he persisted, growing more vicious.

لو أراد القسط لم يكفؤ له

أو تصدى للوغى لم يحم ثغرا

Had he wished for justice, he was not equal to it;

nor, facing war, could he have defended a frontier.

فاته في نفسه السر الذي

يمنح الدائل مجدا مستمرا

Within himself he lacked the secret that

grants the victor lasting glory.

فتوخى الفخر من سخرية

مثل الدهر بها هزءا وهزرا

So he sought glory in a farce

through which Time made him a mockery and a jest.

لاهيا بالناس قتالا لمن

شاء فعالا لما استحسن جبرا

Toying with people, killing whomever

he wished, imposing whatever pleased him by force,

لاعبا حتى إذا ضاق به

ملعب الدنيا تخطاه ومرا

playing until, when it grew too narrow for him,

he left the world's arena behind and passed on.

فقضى حين اقتضى منتحرا

بيدي مستأجر أوسع برا

So, when the moment required, he died a suicide

by the hands of a hireling he had richly favored,

راكبا متن النوى لما نوى

ضاربا بين غد والأمس سترا

riding departure's back when he chose to depart,

drawing a veil between tomorrow and yesterday,

ملقيا جسما إلى أمته

خشيت حرمانه دفنا وقبرا

casting his body to his nation,

which feared depriving him of burial and a grave,

سرفا في الذل حتى إنها

لم تكن تدري لما تفعل قدرا

so excessive in abasement that it

did not know the measure of what it did.

من يلم نيرون إني لائم

أمة لو كهرته ارتد كهرا

Whoever blames Nero, I blame

a nation—had it rebuked him, he would have recoiled, cowed;

أمة لو ناهضته ساعة

لانتهى عنها وشيكا واثبجرا

a nation that, had it resisted him for an hour,

he would soon have desisted and shrunk back.

فاز بالأولى عليها وله

دونها معذرة التاريخ أخرى

He won the first victory over it; and he has,

unlike it, another: history's excuse.

كل قوم خالقو نيرونهم

قيصر قيل له أم قيل كسرى

Every people creates its own Nero,

whether he is called Caesar or Kisra.