أَيُّ فَتىً وورِي في التُّربِ
قضى ولم أقضِ به نَحْبي
What youth did I bury in the soil
And yet my sorrow for him is not fulfilled
زوّدني بعد فراقي له
ما شاءتِ الأحزانُ من كربِ
After we parted, he left me with
As much grief as sorrows desired
قلتُ لرَكْبٍ قال لِي إِنّه
ذاق الرّدى أُرجلتَ من رَكْبِ
I said to a group that told me
He tasted misery, you walked away from the group
ولا رَعَتْ عيسُك في منزلٍ
نزلتَه شيئاً من العُشبِ
Your horse did not graze in a dwelling
You stayed in, nor any grass
وَلا يَزلْ فوكَ وقد قال ليْ
ما قال مملوءاً من التربِ
Yet your remembrance remains, and has said to me
What it said, full of soil
قد ضرّني الصّدقُ فمنْ ذا الّذي
يَنفعني يا قومُ بالكذبِ
Honesty has harmed me, so who is it
That will benefit me, O people, with lies?
نعيتَ لا بوعدت من سيَّئٍ
أفضلَ من قلبي إلى قلبي
You blamed one who did no wrong
He is nobler than my heart to my heart
رُمحي الّذي يَفري نُحورَ العِدى
وَفي جلادِي هوَ لِي عَضْبي
My spear that pierces the necks of enemies
And in my hands it is my fang
فكمْ له دونِيَ من موقفٍ
آمنني فيه من الرُّعبِ
How many times did he, instead of me
Save me from fear in battle?
ولم يكن لي وهْوَ في قبضتي
على المُنى شيءٌ من العَتْبِ
When he was in my grip, toward death
I had no bitterness toward him
ما قنعتْ إلّا بِهِ همّتي
وَلَم أَقلْ إِلّا بهِ حَسبي
My ambition was satisfied only by him
And I said none but him was enough
وَعاضَني مِن حَرجٍ ضيّقٍ
عليَّ بالإفساحِ والرُّحْبِ
He relieved me of tight, narrow discomfort
By making space and room
هوَ الرّدى يأخذُ مِن بَيننا
إِذْ هَمّ مَنْ شاء بلا ذنْبِ
Fate takes from between us
When it desires, without crime
وَليسَ يُسطاع دِفاعٌ له
بِالطعنِ بالرُّمْح ولا الضّربِ
And no defense can be made against it
With spear thrusts or blows
إِنْ يَبغِ مَحجوباً فما إنْ له
مِن دونه شيءٌ من الحُجْبِ
If it wants one hidden, nothing can hide him
Beyond it, it has no veils
أو شاءَ أن يَأخُذَ ذا هَضْبةٍ
عاليةٍ فهو بلا هضْبِ
Or if it wants to take one of lofty
And high station, it has no elevation
بزّ اليمانيّين تيجانَهمْ
مِن دونها أَردية العَصْبِ
It stripped the Yemenis of their crowns
Beyond them are the headwraps of the tribe
وَاِستَلَّ من كسرى بإيوانِهِ
أطواقَه الحُمرَ مع القُلبِ
And it pulled from Chosroes and his palace
The red circlets, even the hearts
ولم تزلْ تدخل رُوَّادُهُ
مِن مُضَرٍ شِعْباً إلى شِعْبِ
And its visitors have not ceased
To enter from Mudar, tribe to tribe
وَشرّدتْ أصحابَه بطشةٌ
منه بِهمْ فهْو بلا صَحْبِ
And an oppression among them with its might
Has scattered them, and it has no comrades
وَلفّهمُ لفّا بِأيدي القنا
لفَّ الصّبا للغُصُنِ الرَّطْبِ
It folded them in the hands of time
As the morning folds the soft branch
كأنّهمْ تزهر أجداثهُمْ
ذوائبٌ خرّتْ منَ الشهبِ
As if their corpses were flowering
Tails that fell from the shooting stars
وكم سطا فيهمْ بأُسْدِ الشّرى
ومُطعمِي الأضيافِ في الجَدْبِ
And how often it extended among them
The lions of evil and hospitality's nourishers in barrenness
قُل لاِمرئٍ يَطمع في خُلدِهِ
فهْوَ غَفولٌ آمنُ السِّرْبِ
Say to one who hopes for eternity
That he is heedless, trusting the bier
لَيس كَما قدّرتَه إنّما
خُلقتَ للتّربِ من التُّربِ
It is not as you supposed, rather
You were created from dust, from dust
لا ترجُ أن تَنْجُوَ مشياً وقد
بغاك باغٍ واسعُ الوثْبِ
Do not expect to be saved by walking when
A wilful fate of vast leap desires you
تنال كفّاه إذا مُدَّتا
من كان في بُعدٍ وفى قُرْبِ
Its hands will reach you whether you are
Far away or near
يا نائياً عنّي ومن مُنيتي
أنْ بِعْتُ بُعدي منه بالقُربِ
O you far from me, yet my death
Has brought me near to you through nearness
كم لك عندي من أيادٍ مضتْ
بيضاً وإن كنتَ من الشُّحْبِ
How many kind acts of yours have passed
White, even if you are from the dusty ghost
واللّيل كالصّبحِ لنفع الورى
والسُّمرُ كالبيضِ لدَى الحربِ
The night is like the dawn for the good of creation
And the brown like the white in war
وما جرى في النّاس شيءٌ لهمْ
مَجرى سَوادِ العينِ والقلبِ
And nothing has happened to people
Except what the blackness of eye and heart has undergone
وَالقزُّ في الصُّفرةِ مخلوقةً
خيرٌ لباغيهِ من العُطبِ
And quince in yellowness is created
Better for its owner than sweet apple
فَاِفخرْ على القومِ الأُلى سُوِّدوا
في الشّرق إِنْ شئتَ وفي الغربِ
So boast to the wretched people who have been blackened
In the east, if you will, or in the west
فليس فيهمْ كلِّهمْ واحدٌ
سادَ جميعَ العُجْمِ والعُرْبِ
Among them all there is not one
Who ruled the non-Arabs and Arabs entirely
لم تألفِ السُّوءَ ولا بتَّ في
ناحيةِ القذفِ ولا الثَّلْبِ
You were not accustomed to evil nor stayed in
The region of slander or theft
ولم تعُجْ باللّهوِ في خلوَةٍ
ولا مزجتَ الجِدَّ باللّعبِ
And you were not impressed by vanity in solitude
Nor mixed jest with seriousness
وكلّما نِلْتَ بها رُتبةً
حَمَيْتَ فيها جانِبَ الجُنبِ
And whenever you attained a position through it
You protected the vulnerable in it
كم كنتَ للأملاكِ كهفاً وكمْ
حَمَيتهُمْ بالمُلك من خَطْبِ
How many times were you a cave for the kings
And how you protected them through kingship from adversity
وكم تلافيتَ بتفكيرةٍ
صافيةٍ شَعْباً من الشَّعْبِ
And how many crooked ways you corrected
With pure deliberation, tribe by tribe
كانوا ومن رأيك آراؤهُمْ
مثلَ رَحى دارتْ على قُطْبِ
They were, and from your view their opinions
Were like a millstone rotating on a pole
قد دَرّت الدّنيا لهمْ مرّةً
وأيُّ درٍّ ليس بالحَلْبِ
The world turned for them one time
And what revolution is without turmoil?
كَم ذا تَداركتَ اِعوِجاجاً لهمْ
على ظهورِ الضُّمَّرِ القُبِّ
How much deviation did you restrain for them
On the backs of obstinate camels
يَطوينَ يَحملنَ الرّدى للعِدى
سَهْباً من الأرضِ إلى سَهْبِ
Bearing, carrying fate for the enemies
A plain from earth to plain
وَكُلّما زاحَمْنَ في غَمرةٍ
شوكَ القنا السّمر على إِرْبِ
And whenever they struggled in a darkness
The thorn bushes, the brown on the hillside
كُسِينَ أَجلالاً بِنسجِ القَنا
مِنَ النجيعِ الأَحمرِ العَصْبِ
They were clothed in the weaving of time
From the red fleece, the tribe
سَقى الّذي أَصبَحتَ رَهناً بهِ
مِنَ الثَّرى أنديةُ السُّحْبِ
He who you became pledged to
Watered from the land the valleys of clouds
وَلا سَمِعنا لِخريقٍ بهِ
صوتاً ولا زَعزَعَةَ النُّكْبِ
And we heard no gurgling in it
Of a voice, nor the disturbance of sinking
ولا يزلْ تُنضحُ حافاتُهُ
من الحَيا بالباردِ العَذْبِ
And its edges continue dripping
With the pure, cool water
حتّى يُرى من بين أجداثِهمْ
ريّانَ مَلآْنَ من الخِصْبِ
Until there appears among their corpses
Exuberant, filled with fertility
فليس مُلْقىً في الثَّرى ميّتاً
موسّدَ الكفِّ على الجنْبِ
He is not cast in the soil dead
Pillowing his palm on his side
مَنْ طار في الآفاق ذكرٌ لهُ
وسار بالأقلامِ في الكتبِ
One whose mention flew into the horizons
And traveled in books and writings
فَاِلحَقْ بِمَن سمّى لنا نفسَه
بأنّه يعفو عن الذّنبِ
So join one who named himself for us
As the Forgiver of sins
فما أتت كفّاكَ من سيّئٍ
يضيقُ عنهُ كرمُ الربِّ
For no evil has reached your hands
Too narrow for the Benevolence of the Lord
