لا در درك جعفر يا جعفر

دعني بغي ضلالتي أتعثر

May your milk never flow, Ja'far, O Ja'far!

Leave me to stumble in the waywardness of my error.

وإذا فقيه القوم أسهب واعظاً

وبه اهتدى غيري فدعني أكفر

And if the people's jurist preaches at length,

And through him others find guidance, let me disbelieve.

وأنخ على باب الصراحة ناقتي

حتى يموت بغيظه المتذمر

And make my she-camel kneel at candor's door,

Till the grumbler dies of his own rage.

واضرب به وبفقهه وبوعظه

عرض الجدار فذا بذلك أجدر

And dash him, his jurisprudence, and his preaching

Against the wall, for that befits him better.

عبود قال فمالنا ومقاله

السكر في نظر الشريعة منكر

Abbud has spoken—what have we to do with his words?

Drunkenness is reprehensible in the eyes of religious law;

والخمر رجس والكؤوس برأس من

شربوا بها يوم الحساب تكسر

And wine is filth, and the cups, upon the heads of those

Who drank from them, will be smashed on Judgment Day.

إن الأله الحق جل جلاله

من أن يقول بقول شيخك أكبر

Indeed, the true God—exalted is His majesty—

Is too great to speak as your sheikh does.

فهلم نشربها فلون حبابها

ذهب كشعر الشركسية أَشقر

So come, let us drink it: the color of its bubbles

Is blond gold, like a Circassian woman's hair.

وتعال عند المنتشين بطبعهم

من حان أَلحان الربابة نسمر

And come, among those intoxicated by nature,

From the tavern of the rababa's melodies, let us converse by night.

الطامعين وليس من أمل لهم

والقانطين وكلهم مستبشر

Those who aspire, though they have no hope,

And the despairing, yet all of them cheerful;

الآخذين من الحياة بصفوها

والتاركين لغيرهم ما يكدر

Who take from life what is clear,

And leave to others whatever clouds it.

نور نسميهم ونحن بعرفهم

منهم وفي عين الحقيقة أَنور

We call them Nawar, and by their reckoning we

Are of them—and in the eyes of truth, more Nawar still.

أو لم تر العرفاء كيف تهودوا

أو لم تر المتعلمين تنصروا

Have you not seen how the learned turned Jewish?

Have you not seen the educated turn Christian?

والبائعين بلاد هم بقلامة

قد أقدموا والمخلصين تقهقروا

And those who sell their country for a nail-paring

Have advanced, while the loyal have fallen back.

باعوا العقائد بالقلائد وانبرى

منهم لبيع تراث يعرب أزعر

They sold their creeds for necklaces, and out stepped

A lout from among them to sell Ya'rub's heritage.

وتوهم التعساء سؤددهم كما

ظنوا ومثلك بالحقيقة أخبر

And the wretches imagined their own eminence, as

They supposed—but one like you knows the truth better.

هيهات لو تغني الظواهر ربها

أسداً لكان الثعلب المتنمر

Far from it! If appearances availed their possessor,

The fox playing tiger would be a lion.

فدع الرصانة والرزانة والحجا

برءوس عبدان الفلوس تنقر

So leave solemnity, composure, and reason

To peck at the heads of money's slaves.

وهلم عند الضاربين بطبلهم

للناس أمثلة الصراحة نسمر

And come, among those who beat out on their drum

Examples of candor for people, let us converse by night.

الراقصين على حبال جدودهم

رقصاً كرقص الأمس لا يتغير

Who dance upon their forefathers' ropes,

A dance like yesterday's, unchanged;

الثابتين على مباديء قومهم

الحافظين ذمام من لا يخفر

Who stand firm upon their people's principles,

Who honor the pledge of one who never breaks faith.

نور لئن كانوا فإن وفاءهم

مما يحار بأمره المتبصر

Nawar though they may be, their loyalty

Is something that bewilders the discerning.

لا يكذبون ولا تبور فعالهم

ولقلما ظهروا بما لم يضمروا

They do not lie, nor do their deeds come to nothing,

And seldom show what they do not harbor within.

ما زال من كنا نؤمل خيرهم

قد أصبحوا عن راي وزمن يصدروا

Those from whom we kept hoping for good

Now act at the behest of Ray and Zaman.

يا هبر شعبك بالحياة من أمتي

أضحي الأَحق وبالكرامة أجدر

O Habr, your people, more than my nation,

Have become entitled to life, and worthier of dignity.

يا هبر هات لي الربابه وانطلق

بي حيث قومك اسهلوا أم أصحروا

O Habr, bring me the rababa, and set off

With me wherever your people have gone, to plains or desert.

أنا مثلكم أصبحت لا أرض ولا

أهل ولا دار ولا لي معشر

Like you, I have come to have no land, no

Kin, no home, and no community of my own.

ولقائل لك بالعراق وملكه

واق يعيذك ما تخاف وتجذر

And one might say: In Iraq and its king you have

A protector who shelters you from what you fear and dread.

فهناك لا بلفور يزعج وعده

أحداً وليس هناك من يتبلفر

For there is no Balfour whose promise troubles

Anyone, nor anyone there who plays Balfour.

وهناك لا بيك تخاف جنوده

يوماً ولا ككس هناك وهوبر

And there is no Peake whose troops you fear

Ever, nor any Cox or Hooper there.

وهناك لا أو هل هناك دساكر

يا شيخ بالهيف المرنح تزخر

And there, no—or are there hamlets there,

O sheikh, brimming with slender, swaying beauties,

وعيون ما ينفك يزعم أنها

عيناه في نظراتهن الجؤذر

And eyes forever claimed

As its own, in their glances, by the wild-ox calf?

هيهات ما بعد الصريح وأهلها

للحصن لا شرقي سال مغير

Far from it! Nothing beyond al-Sarih and its people—

Toward al-Husn—no, east of Sal, Mughayyir!

ما في العراق ورب زمزم أَعين

إلا ومن خلف الزجاجة تنظر

In Iraq, by the Lord of Zamzam, there are no eyes

That do not look from behind glass.

عمص ويحسبها السخيف لأَنها

سقيت بدجلة بابلية تسحر

Rheumy—yet the fool thinks them, because

The Tigris watered them, Babylonian eyes that bewitch.

فأقم بأربد لا تغادر ساحها

إلا إلى القبر الذي به تقبر

So stay in Irbid; do not leave its precincts

Except for the grave in which you will be buried.