بكَ من معالجةِ الفراقِ عيانُهُ

وبنا الغَداةَ ضرابُهُ وطعانُهُ

In you, the ordeal of separation stands plain to see;

and in us this morning are its blows and spear-thrusts.

إنْ كنتَ تبلُو من خليلكَ صبرَه

فالصبرُ منه بِكْرُهُ وعَوانُهُ

If you would test your friend’s devotion,

his patience will prove both youthful and mature.

تَلقى فُكاهَةَ كلِّ خلْقِ لَهْوَهُ

وفُكاهةُ ابنِ نُباتَةٍ أحزانُهُ

You find every creature’s amusement in its pastime,

but Ibn Nubāta’s amusement lies in his sorrows.

قد فارقَ الأحبابَ قبلَ فِراقِهِ

أهلَ الحِمى وتقطعتْ أقرانُهُ

He had parted from loved ones even before this parting—

the people of the protected encampment—and his companions were severed from him.

لو أنصفَ الدُنْيا محبٌّ ما سختْ

يومَ الوداعِ بقطرةٍ أجفانُهُ

Had a lover dealt fairly with the world,

his eyelids would not have bestowed even one tear on farewell day.

يَبكي على فَقْدِ الأحبةِ إنّما

فقدُ الأحبّةِ أن يبينَ بيانُهُ

He weeps over the loss of loved ones; indeed,

losing loved ones makes the full meaning of loss plain.

أو ما أناخَ بها وما حوباؤه

منها على ثِقَةٍ ولا إخوانُهُ

Has he not merely alighted in this world, though his very soul

places no trust in it, nor do his brethren?

فمُفارقُ الإوانِ فيها رابحٌ

ما لم يُفارقْ روحَهُ جُثمانُهُ

Thus whoever leaves its dwelling is the gainer,

so long as his body does not part from his soul.

لا أشتكي نوبَ الزمانِ ولَيتني

أبقى وبي دونَ الوَرى حِدْثانُهُ

I do not complain of Time’s assaults—if only

I might live, though its disasters struck me instead of all mankind.

شَهّى إليّ جِلادَه وقِراعَه

أنّ الحِمامَ من الخُطوبِ أمانُهُ

Its swordplay and clash have grown sweet to me,

for death is a refuge from calamities.

تَهوى أخاكَ وغيرُ رأيكَ رأيُهُ

فيما هويتَ وغيرُ شأنكَ شأنُهُ

You love your brother, though his judgment differs from yours

in what you love, and his concerns differ from yours.

من لم يذُقْ غُصَصَ التفرّقِ لم يمتْ

الموتُ رمحٌ والفراقُ سِنانُهُ

Whoever has not tasted the choking pangs of separation has not died:

death is a spear, and separation is its point.

ما كنتُ آملُ قبلَ فرقةِ صاعدٍ

أنّي أرى جبلاً تسيرُ رِعانُهُ

Before Ṣāʿid’s departure, I never expected

to see a mountain whose peaks could journey.

يمّمتُ منهُ البدرَ ليلَ تَمامِهِ

لا أسألُ الظّلماءَ أينَ مكانُهُ

In him I sought the full moon on its night of fullness;

I never asked the darkness where it dwelt.

وأقولُ للرجلِ المصغّرِ شأنَهُ

الدهرُ خِنْصرُهُ فكيفَ بَنانُهُ

To anyone who belittles his standing I say:

Time is his little finger—what, then, must all his fingers be?

حتى إذا هطلتْ عليّ سماؤهُ

وأعادَ عودي مورقاً إحسانُهُ

Then, when his sky poured rain upon me

and his beneficence made my branch green again,

ما كدتُ أُعطي الوصلَ ثِنيَ عِنانِهِ

حتى تغيّر بالجَموحِ حِرانُهُ

I had scarcely given reunion a turn of its rein

before its balking changed to headlong flight.

نغترُّ من هذا الزمانِ بصاحبٍ

لا جودُه جودٌ ولا حِرمانُهُ

In this age we are beguiled by a companion

whose giving is no true gift, nor its withholding true deprivation.

ونفارقُ الأحبابَ قبلَ فِراقِهِ

إنّا على أرواحِنا أعوانُهُ

We part from loved ones before Time parts them from us;

we are Time’s helpers against our own souls.

ولقد تلوّنَ بي تلونَ مَفرِقي

وتقلّبتْ بشبيبتي أعيانُهُ

Time changed color with me as the parting of my hair changed,

and throughout my youth its aspects kept changing.

وعجبتُ من شَرَقِ الشجيّ بريقهِ

للمَيْتِ لا تغتالُهُ أكْفانُهُ

I marveled that the grief-stricken man should choke on his own saliva—

for shrouds cannot slay the dead.

فَغَضَضْتُ طَرْفي من مخافةِ جفنِه

أعدى الرجال لفاضلٍ جيرانُهُ

So I lowered my gaze for fear of his eyelid:

a man of excellence finds his fiercest enemies among his neighbors.

إنْ كان يسلمُ من زمانكَ سالمٌ

فالمستريبُ بما تَجنُّ جَنانُهُ

If anyone escapes your age unharmed,

it is the wary man, suspicious even of what his own heart conceals.

بِتْنا نودّعُ بالثنيّةِ ماجداً

يصفُ البلاغةَ عقلهُ وبيانُهُ

At the mountain pass we spent the night bidding farewell to a noble man

whose mind and speech give eloquence its definition.

يُغْنيه عن حملِ المثقفِ طرفُهُ

وعن الحُسامِ المشرفي لسانُهُ

His glance spares him the need to carry the straightened spear;

his tongue spares him the keen Mashrafi sword.

طوبى لشعبٍ حلَّ فيه فإنّه

تندَى رباهُ وتكتسى قِيعانُهُ

Blessed is the valley where he has alighted, for

its uplands grow dewy and its plains are clothed in green.

أتظنُ أنّ الغيثَ من حُسّادِهِ

هيهاتَ أصغَرُ حاسديهِ زمانُهُ

I count the rain among those who envy him—

far from it: Time itself is the least of his enviers.

لازلتَ ترمي مَنْ رَماكَ بجحفلٍ

جَمِّ الصّواهِلِ تمتطى نيرانُهُ

May you never cease to hurl against whoever attacks you an army

dense with neighing steeds, riding forth upon its fires;

بيضُ الصّوارمِ جمرُهُ وشرارُهُ

زُرقُ الأسنةِ والعجاجُ دُخانُهُ

white sabres are its embers and its sparks,

blue spearheads its flame, and battle dust its smoke.

وارَى عدوّكَ في نعيمكَ بؤسَه

حتى تموتَ ولم تمتْ أضغانُهُ

Make your enemy behold his misery within your bliss,

until you die while his rancors have still not died.