أَشَجَتْكَ منزلةٌ بمَرجَيْ راهِطِ
كلّا ولا دِمنٌ عفتْ بشلاهِط
The shade trees welcomed you in the meadows of Rahat,
Not a whisper was heard in the stillness of Shalahit.
بل معشرٌ وعدتْهُمُ فجراتُهُمْ
بمغابطٍ فإذا هُمُ بمهابِط
A group came and dawn shone on their faces,
As they climbed up the hill joyfully with might.
ظَلُّوا وقدْ أسروا المؤذِّنَ بينهم
وكأنَّما هزموا كتائبَ ناعِط
They surrounded the muezzin and it was as though
They had defeated the regiments of Na'it.
وخَلَوا بِشلوِ ذَبيحهمْ فرأيتهُمْ
من ناتفٍ رِيشاً وآخر مارطِ
They were alone with the sacrifice they had chosen and I saw them
Plucking feathers, one after another without stop.
مُستعملينَ أكُفَّهُمْ في أمرهِ
ببوادرٍ سبقتْ أناةَ السَّامط
They used their palms in the matter
With acts that came before the patience of Al-Samit.
طبخوهُ ثم أتوا به قد أُبرِمتْ
أوْتارُهُ لمنادفٍ وبرابِطِ
They cooked it and then they brought it, trussed,
For the quilt-maker to sew and patch.
متجمِّلاً لدجاجهِ مُتجلِّداً
كتجلُّدِ المجلودِ بين ربائط
It was dressed up for its chicks, actıng
As if it were the quilted one among the patches.
ولقد رمتْه يومَ ذلك قِدْرُهُم
بغُطامطٍ من غَليهما وغُطامِط
That day their pot aimed at it
With boiling rage and boiling foam too.
حملوا عليها كل ماءٍ عِندهُم
وفُراتَ كُوفَتِهم ودِجلةَ واسط
They heaped upon it all the water they had,
The Euphrates of their jugs and the Tigris and Wasit.
واهاً لذاك الدِّيك بين مساقطٍ
منه عهدناها وبين ملاقط
Alas for that rooster among the falling places!
We knew it as a place between meeting points.
قوَّامَ أسحارٍ مؤذِّن حارةٍ
سفَّاد زَوجاتٍ كميَّ مآقط
It was the early-rising caller in the alley,
Husbands of lenient, docile wives.
ينفي مناعِسَهُ بنفسٍ شهْمةٍ
وُيشاهدُ الهيجا بجأشٍ رابط
It puffed out its breath with a fiery spirit
And looked at the disturbance with a bound eye.
وثبَتْ عليه عِصابةٌ كُوفيةٌ
ببوادرٍ من بأسِها وفوارِط
A Kufan gang pounced on it
With acts of violence and bits that pierce.
من ناشِئٍ محض الحُلاقِ وشيخةٍ
شوهاءَ لائطةٍ وشيخ لائط
From an adolescent, a pure barber, an ugly
Old woman, a sticking plaster, and a sticking Sheikh.
يعدو الأصاغرُ والأكابرُ خَلفَهُ
عدْوَ الكلاب على الشَّبوب النَّاشطِ
The little and big ones chased it,
Like the dogs chase the active fox.
قسطوا عليه قُسوطَ غامِطِ نعمةٍ
والموبِقاتُ بمرصدٍ للغامِط
They divided it into ominous portions of blessing
While the total destroyers lay in ambush for the ominous one.
ولربُّ مقسوطٍ عليه بغرَّةٍ
حَلَّتْ بليَّتُهُ برأس القاسِطِ
Many a portion that befell it was covered in shame
And its affliction befell the head of Al-Qasit.
ومن الجرائم ما يكونُ عقابُهُ
نقداً فكمْ نابٍ هُنالك ساقطِ
Among the crimes is one whose punishment
Is cash, so how many teeth fell out there!
أكلُوهُ فانتثرتْ له أسنانُهُم
وتهشَّمتْ أقفاؤهُمْ بالحائط
They ate it and their teeth scattered,
And their molars broke against the wall,
من بين نابٍ إنما هو بَيْرمٌ
عِظَماً وبين ثنيةٍ كالشَاحط
Consisting of a molar that was only bone
And a crease like a cliff.
وطواحنٍ قد خُرِّقتْ جنباتُها
فكأن أنكَلَها سِلاحُ مرابط
And mills whose sides were torn
As if a weapon of the watchman had ravaged them.
وكأن وقع مشارطٍ من ريشه
في تِلكُمُ الأحناكِ وقعُ مشارط
It was as if the impact of feathers
Had fallen on those cheeks—the impact of feathers.
ما زال يشرطُهُمْ فمنه شرطةٌ
ومن العكوفِ عليه ضرطةُ ضارط
It kept hitting them, so it was a hitting
And, from insisting on it, an officer of the guards.
سَقياً لمنتصرٍ هُناكَ لنفسه
يفْري فَرِيَّ مُزايلٍ ومُخالط
It watered a victor there, overflowing
And socializing and mixing too.
لقي الأنامِلَ والمراضع مُقدِماً
لم يَنهزمْ عنها بأجرٍ حابط
It met fingers and pacifiers without
Fleeing from them for any stopping payment.
وغدتْ تصيحُ عظامُه وعُروقُهُ
ليُفيقَ ذو جزعٍ عليه فارط
Its bones and veins began to scream
To wake one who had abandoned it.
لا تبكينّ على قتادة خارطٍ
وابكِ الدماء على بنانِ الخارط
Do not cry over the loss of Khatad the unlucky one,
But cry blood over the daughters of Al-Khatit.
وغدتْ مشايخُهُمْ وقد كتَبوا لنا
بنواصح التَوبات كُتب شرائط
Their sheikhs wrote us words of repentance,
Papers of strips.
أكلوا مؤذِّنَهُم فأضحوا كُلُّهُمْ
قد عُوجلوا بعقاب ربٍّ ساخطِ
They ate their muezzin so they all
Were punished by the wrath of an angry Lord.
يتزحَّرون بأنفسٍ مجهودةٍ
تبكي وتندرُ ندرةً في الغائطِ
They sniffle with exhausted souls
That cry and mock in the toilet.
أبصارهُم نحو السماءِ كأنما
بَصَروا بها تُطوى بكفَّيْ كاشِطِ
Their eyes are to the sky as though
They saw it folded in the two hands of Al-Kashit,
من باسطٍ كفَّ الدُّعاءِ وقابضٍ
كفّ الدواءِ حِذار موتٍ ذاعط
Of one who extends the palm of supplication and one who
Grasps the palm of remedy, fearing a compression death.
عَسُرتْ عليه لظلمه أنفاسُهُ
فكأنَّهُ في لحدِ قبرٍ ضاغِطِ
His breath grew difficult for him due to his injustice,
As if he were in the narrowness of a pressing grave.
يدعُو بِنِيَّةِ قانطٍ لا شُفِّعَتْ
من دعوةٍ وُصلت بنِيَّة قانط
He prays with the intention of a desperate one; no
Prayer was accepted with the intention of a desperate one.
يتنفَّسون لكل ضرطةِ ضارطٍ
أسفاً لها ولكل ثلطةِ ثالط
They gasp at every sniff of the guard
Regretfully and at every sip of the sipper.
يا لهفَ أنفسهِمْ على ضرطاتِهمْ
بالأمس من ذاك السُّلاح الواخط
Oh how their souls yearn for their farts
Yesterday from that formidable weapon!
لو أنها وُهبت لهم في يَومِهم
أضحوا وهم من رَوْحها بمغابط
If only they had been granted to them on their day,
They would have become intoxicated with its breath.
بُعداً لهم بُعداً لهم بُعداً لهم
من قابض كفَّاً وآخر باسِط
Away, away, away with them!
Away with the grasper and away with the extender!
سخطُوا مودَّتَهُم وخانُوا جارَهُم
لا فارقَ الأَوداجَ مُدْيةُ ساحط
They were angry with their friendship and betrayed their neighbor.
The intestines did not part from the disemboweler.
ديكٌ تناوحتِ الديوكُ لفقدِهِ
ما زال شيخَ عشائرٍ وأراهِط
It was a rooster whose likes the roosters lament
For it remained a sheikh of clans and groups.
ومن العجائبِ أنهم ورِطوا به
في المُهلكاتِ أشدّ ورطةِ وارِط
Among the wonders is that they were implicated with it
In the deadly sins, the strongest implication.
ورأوا بقيَّتَهُ أصحَّ معاذةٍ
للطِّفل بين موازجٍ وقوامِط
And they saw its remainder as protection
For the child among rubbers and pacifiers.
فمتى اشتكتْ أطفالُهم من جِنَّةٍ
دلفُوا لهم من مائِهِ بمساعِط
Whenever their children complained of jinn,
They turned to it for water with ladles.
ومتى رأوْا دِيكاً ولو من فرْسخٍ
أبصرتَهُم يعْدُونَ عدوَ مُبالط
Whenever they saw a rooster even from a parasang,
You saw them running like meeting and conversing.
لا مُقبلينَ إليه لكن هُرَّباً
منه حِذار معاطبٍ ومَوارِط
Neither going near it—rather, fleeing
From it for fear of addressing and bitterness.
فهُمُ لغوغاءِ القبيلةِ لعبةٌ
في عسكرٍ متضاحكٍ مُتضارطِ
For they are the rabble of the tribe, a plaything
For a laughing, jesting army.
ودَّت حديثَهُمُ الولاةُ فربَّما
نفذتْ به في اليوم عشرُ خرائِطِ
The governors circulated their talk so perhaps
Ten papers would be issued about it in a day.
ما كان ديكاً بل حديداً بارداً
ولربَّ شيءٍ للظنونِ مُغالط
It was not a rooster! Nay, it was cold iron.
Many a thing is mistaken for what it is not!
لاقى هنالك كلَّ ذلك لم يخم
عنه وهمْ من ضارطٍ أو ناحط
It met there everything that does not protect
From a guard or porter.
وأقولُ موعظةً لرائد منزلٍ
تَهديه معرفةٌ وآخَر خابط
And I say by way of advice to the leader of an abode
That guidance and warning guide him:
لا تنزلنَّ بمنزلٍ مُتكوِّفٍ
وتنحَّ عنه إلى المحَلِّ الشَّاحط
"Do not camp in a place with palm fiber roofs!"
And avoid it for the filthy place.
إن الغوائل في المقاحِط جمَّةٌ
فتوقَّ غائلةَ المرادِ القاحط
For calamities in the public dumps are many,
So avoid the calamity of the filthy goal!
واعمَدْ إذا شئتَ الجِوار إلى الذُرى
إن المكاره أولعتْ بالهابط
And if you wish for neighborliness, go to the chaste ones.
For troubles are enamored with the fallen ones.
جاورت في كُوفان شرَّ عصابة
من صامتٍ عيَّاً وآخرَ لاغِطِ
I dwelled in Kufan—the evilest of gangs
From a silent groaner and another babbler too.
دقّوا فلو أولجْتَهم لتولَّجوا
من دقَّةٍ في سَمِّ إبرة خائطِ
They were so precise that if you had made them drink they would have filtered
The poison in the eye of a sewing needle when sifted!
دلفوا لجارِهمُ بشرٍّ لازمٍ
وتجانفوا عنه بخيرٍ مائطِ
They turned to their neighbor with lasting harm
And turned away from him with fleeting good.
ألفيتُهُم من شرِّ قنيةِ مقتنٍ
للمقتنين وشرِّ لقطةِ لاقط
I found them to have the evils of a hoarder,
Grasping from the graspers, and the evils of a picker-upper too!
وثبوا عليّ سفاهةً فوسْمتُهُم
وسمَ المسطِّع بعد وسم العالط
They ignorantly attacked me so I branded them—
Both the brand of a deformity and the earlier brand!
قوم يبيتُ الرشدُ فيهم ضائِعاً
والغيُّ بين دواهنٍ ومواشِط
A people among whom sanity wanders lost
And madness wanders between skirts and pillows.
المشترين فياشلاً لنسائهم
بدراهمٍ ووظائفاً بقرارط
Buyers of trash for their women
With dirhams and jobs for farthings.
ما شئتَ من عقل ضعيفٍ واهنٍ
فيهم ومن خبلٍ شديد ضابطِ
Whatever weakness of intellect you wished for
And whatever intense idiocy controlling.
لو أنَّ لؤم الناس قيس بلؤمِهم
ما كان فيه قيسُ نقطةِ ناقط
If the vileness of people were measured by their vileness
There would not be in it the measurement of a dot!
