إن كنتَ يوماً مبارزاً فابرزْ
ليس سوى الموتِ حاجزٌ يُحْجِزْ
If you're ever a challenger, come out
Nothing but death holds one back
تعالَ فالبسْ معي وألْبَسُ من
نسجِ السكاكين حُلَّتَيْ قِرْمِز
Come dress me in the robes
Of interwoven daggers, crimson
وذا الفتى الرافقيُّ فهو أخي
والرافقيون أَمْرُهُمْ مُعْجِز
This lad accompanying me is my brother
The Rāfiqīs, their affair is a miracle
شبْلُهُمُ الليثُ في فُتُوَّتِهِ
حين تَفَاتى وَفَرْخُهُمْ كُرَّز
Their cubs are lions in their prime
When they're weaned, their chicks hawks
فَسِرْ إليه عقداً يَسِرْ بلداً
أما تراهُ غضبانَ مُسْتَوفِز
So travel to him a necklace that makes a land happy
Don't you see he's angry and provoked?
مَنِ الجُلَنْدَى وأنو شروانَ مَن
شَاهَبُورُ مَنْ هرمز
Who's Jullanar and Anūshirwān? Who's
Shāhpuhr? Who's Hormuz?
هذا هو الموتُ حين يوجِزُ في
قبضِ جميعِ النفوسِ أو أوجز
This is death when it's concise in
Grasping all souls, or more concise
مَنْ غيرُ ذا زاحَمَ الجبالَ ومن
زَلْزَلَ أركانها وَمَنْ هَزْهَز
Who other than He made mountains collide
And made their pillars quake and shake?
مَنْ في بحار العذابِ يُعْجَنُ مذ
كان وَمَنْ في يحريقِهِ يُخْبَز
Who in the seas of torment is kneaded
Since he was, and who in its blaze is baked?
مَنْ ضربةُ السيفِ حين تَضْرِبُهُ
في وَجْهِهِ غَرْزُ إِبرةٍ تُغْرَز
The stroke of a sword when it strikes him
On his face is the stab of a needle stabbed
فتى إذا مَرَّ مَرَّ مرتدياً
رداءَ بزٍّ بالشرِّ قد طُرِّز
A lad, when he passed, passed wearing
A coat of mail interwoven with evil
قد حَزَّ ثِقْلُ الحديدِ في جَسَدٍ
منه بوخزِ السياطِ قد خُزِّز
The weight of iron has sunk into a body
From which, by the whip's blow, blood oozed
مُكرَّهٌ لو دعا الحِمامَ إلى ال
برازِ خافَ الحِمامُ أَنْ يَبْرُز
A prisoner, if he called a dove to fight
The dove would fear to come out
يا جائزَ الأمرِ في السجونِ كما
يجوزُ أَمْرُ الأميرِ أو أَجْوَز
O you whose command in prisons is allowed
As the prince's command is allowed, or more
قُطْبُ رحى الفتكِ أنت بَرَّزْتَ في ال
فتكِ وذا الفتكُ قيلَ قد برَّز
Hub of the millstone of death, you brought out
Death, and that death, they say, brought out
بحقِّ مَنْ أحرزَ الفتوّة أو
أحرزها عنه بعضُ مَنْ أحرز
By the right of the one who attained gallantry
Or who attained it through one who attained
مِنْ مُطْلَقٍ جامزٍ بخنجرِهِ
أو مُوثَقٍ في قيودِهِ يَجْمُز
A freedman, lethal with his dagger
Or a chained man, his chains squeezing
مقارفٍ كلَّ مَنْ يقارفُهُ
سكِّينُهُ من قِرابها تَقْفِز
Assailant, all whom his knife assails
From its sheath it jumps to assail
شأنَكَ فانظرْ ماذا لقيتُ وما
ألقاه من ذا المؤاجرِ المُنْتَز
Your status, so see what I have met
And what he has met from this solicitor
مؤاجرٌ يدّعي إِليَّ فكم
أُهْمَزُ من أَجله وكم أَلمز
A solicitor claims damages from me, so how
I'm blamed because of him and squeezed
نَفَّقَ بي نَفْسَهُ ألستَ ترى
بأَيِّ إِشفَا إِجارَةٍ يُخْرَز
He wasted himself on me, don't you see
With what healing the damages are patched?
يا أَسَدُ الشيءُ أنت تملكُهُ
فاذهبْ فبدِّدْ إِن شئتَ أو أَحْرِز
O lion, you own the affair
So go and disperse it if you wish, or keep it
لستَ غلامي فأيّما وَتدٍ
أردتَ قفزاً عليه قُمْ فاقفز
You're not my slave, so whichever peg
You wanted to jump on, go ahead and jump
تعالَ حتى تبيعَ في حلبٍ
إن كنت تشكو الكسادَ في كِلِّز
Come sell in Aleppo
If you complain of stagnation in Kiliz
في تحسبنَّ الهوى بحالته
طارَ جرادُ الهوى وما غَرَّز
You reckon passion in its state
Flew off. The locusts of passion didn't alight.
يا للنَّصارى لما جنى أسَدٌ
هو ابنُ يعقوبَ ذلك الجُرْبُز
O you Christians, when a lion abstracted
He's Jacob's son, that scabies-covered one
أما لأسقُفِّكِمْ وَبَطْرَكِكُمْ
فيمن جَنى مثلَ ما جَنى مَغْمَز
As for your bishop and patriarch
Among those from whom it abstracted like one abstracted
جامُوس ذبحٍ جمَّ المعالِف قد
صُيِّرَ للذبحِ ثم قد لُزِّز
Sheep for slaughter, the sacrificial altars filled
Made for slaughter, then squeezed
أخْشَنُ من قُنْفُذٍ وأخنزُ من
تيسٍ فبعداً للأَخْشَنِ الأخْنَز
More adder-like than a hedgehog and more billy-goat-like than a goat, so shame on the adder-like billy goat
As if a black-haired female goat donated her outfit to him
كأَنما اصّدَّقَتْ بحلتها
عليه عَنْزٌ سوادءُ أو أعْنُز
He's an expert in shearing, so if his years are reckoned
He's mature, but then didn't twist
قد حَذِقَ النَّتْفَ فهو إِنْ حُسِبَتْ
سِنُوهُ كَهْلٌ وبعدُ ما لَوَّز
His forehead is his shield. His brains
Are focused on piercing flesh with a spear embedded in his shield.
فَقْحَتُهُ تُرْسُهُ فهمَّتُهُ
في رمحِ لحمٍ في تُرْسِهِ يُرْكَز
Ask about the corridors and trenches—how many
A trench in his lifetime and how many corridors?
سلِ الدهاليزَ والخنادقَ كم
خنْدَقَ في دْهرِهِ وكم دَهْلَز
How many slaughterhouses have you seen their destruction in?
And how many kitchens and bakeries?
كم مجزرٍ قد رأَيتًَ مصْرَعَه
فيه وكم مطبخٍ وكم مَخْبَز
Defective but raised on him, so how much
He's patched up, my brothers, and how much squeezed!
شَكْزٌ ولكن نشَا عليه فكم
يُشكَزُ يا إخوتي وكم يُلْكَز
I have not seen his like, so how can I see
A treasure of an heir lodged inside him?
لم أر شِبْهاً له وكيف أرى
كنزَ أيورٍ في جَوْفِهِ يكنز
When he descends to the rug sprawled out
He measures himself from paunch to paunch
إذا هوى للبساطِ منبسطاً
قدَّرَ من بروزٍ إلى بروز
His touch is like a boulder's surface
Pelted above with smooth pebbles
فهو كصخرِ اللُّكامِ ملْمسُهُ
قد ذُرَّ من فوقه الحصى الأمعز
If an elephant stomped on him a year
It wouldn't sense the elephant stomping
لو رهزَ الفيلُ فوقه سنةً
لم يدرِ بالفيلِ أنه يرهز
God isn't incapable—just the opinion of my father
Uthman about him. His opinion is the most incapable.
لا أَعجز اللهُ غير رأي أبي
عثمانَ فيه فرأيه الأعجز
What's wrong with him? He sold a blessing for misery.
Doesn't he know how? And he didn't distinguish.
ما بالهُ باع نعمةً بشقا
أمَا درى كيفَ ذا ولا مَيَّز
Marwan's son slipped in a way that disgraced
So the secret's symbol in him was exposed by one who encoded secrets.
زلَّ ابنُ مروانَ زلَّةً علنت
فأعلنَ الرمزَ فيه منْ أرمز
So where is that well-bucket made of palm fronds
Cured of its illness? It protruded.
فأينَ ذاكَ الإِبريزُ من خشَبٍ
دوويَ من دائهِ فقد برز
And he recovered until it was as if he
When gone didn't survive on broth and fodder.
وصحَّ حتى كأنه هو ما
إن زال يُغْذى بالقِدِّ والعِلهِز
When you hear his pronunciation
You hear in the Bedouin a pompous braggart
فهو إذا ما سمعتَ لهجته
سمعتَ في البدوِ راجزاً يَرْجُز
He refers to bread as millet, just as
One refers to the name of melon as gourd.
يكني عن الخبزِ بالهبيدِ كما
يُكْنى عن اسمِ البطيخِ بالخِرْبِز
To him, all flowers are basil,
Wormwood, and all of them common.
كلُّ الرياحينِ عنده حبَقٌ
وضَيْمرانٌ وكلها عَنْقَز
His neighbor is a boulder on Uhud
But even boulders are squeezed while he is not squeezed
وجارُهُ صخرةٌ على أُحُدٍ
بل تُغْمَزُ الصخرُ وهو لا يُغْمز
So I wonder who engraved the thumb
Of this lad who engraved?
فليت شعري إبهامه هوَ في
رَزَّةِ هذا الغلامِ مَنْ رَزَّز
My pact with him was the sorrowful angel. O life
Why did you transform him and twist him?
عهدي به المالكُ الحزين فيا
دهرُ لماذا مَسَخْتَهُ وَزْوَز
He was excessive in our matter which he was excessive in
The ignorant one doesn't know the one who makes him
ها هو ذا المنتمي الصدوق وإن
جَوَّزَ في أمرنا الذي جوَّز
Out to be the son of al-Dimashqi—what an evil thing he claimed!
O you who in the morning directed
لا درَّ درُّ الذي ينبِّزُهُ
بابنِ الدِّمَقْرى فبئسَ ما نبَّز
The matter of Sa'id with evil when you directed
You came at a time tearing up what
يا من إلينا الغداةَ أوعزَ في
أمرِ سعيدٍ بالسوءِ إذ أَوْعَز
He patched up in his life and tailored
أتيتَ في ساعةٍ تُمّزِّقُ ما
رقَّعَ في عمره وما دَرَّز
