يُغني السلوُّ ولا يُغني الفتى الجزَعُ
فما بكاءُ الفتى ما ليس يُرْتَجَعُ
Consolation avails, as a distraught young man’s anguish does not.
What use is a young man’s weeping for what cannot be brought back?
من ماتَ فات تقنعْ فذا مَثَلٌ
فيه لمن عرف الأمثالَ مُقتَنَع
Whoever has died is gone; be content—for this is a proverb
in which one who understands proverbs may find contentment.
ما طار من طائرٍ إلا وأنفُسُنا
ليست بمرتابةٍ في أَنَّهُ يَقَع
No bird has ever taken wing without our souls
being uneasy at the thought that it will fall.
ولا حَلَتْ جُرَعٌ يوماً لشاربها
إلا أمَرَّت عليه بعدَها الجُرَع
No draughts were ever sweet one day to their drinker
without later draughts turning bitter upon him.
لا الحزمُ منْجٍ ولا التفريط مَهلَكةٌ
ولا يليقُ طباعُ العاقلِ الطَّبَعُ
Neither prudence saves, nor does negligence doom;
nor does ingrained character befit the disposition of the wise.
أبا الحسينِ إذا ضاقتْ رزيَّةُ ذي
رزيَّةٍ فلهُ في الصبرِ مُتَّسَع
Abu al-Husayn, when a man’s calamity constricts him
within his own affliction, he has ample room in patience.
نعم الضجيجُ التأسِّي بابنِ حمزةَ فل
يجمعكما في فراشِ الهمِّ مُضْطَجَع
How fine a bedfellow is consolation through Ibn Hamza,
when one couch brings you together upon the bed of grief.
وما سمعتُ بموعوظٍ سواكَ
وَمِنْ تلقائِهِ الوعظُ لا ينفكُّ يُسْتَمَع
Never have I heard of one admonished other than you
from whom admonition itself is ceaselessly heard.
يا أَيُّها المرتقي مِنْ هاشمٍ شَرَفاً
مُذْ سُولَم اليأسُ منه عُودِيَ الطَّمَع
O you who ascend in honor from Hashim,
at whose door despair of asking turns back into renewed hope,
قلِّبْ قلوبَ بني الدنيا فلستَ ترى
فيما يقلَّبُ قلباً ما بِهِ وَجَع
Search through the hearts of all the people of this world—you will not see,
among every heart you search, one free of pain.
الخِلُّ من خِلِّه بالصُّغْرِ مُخْتَلَسٌ
والإِلفُ من إِلْفِهِ بالرَّغْمِ مُنْتزَع
The intimate friend is snatched from his intimate even in youth,
and the companion is torn from his companion against his will.
ما قارعتْ نُوَبُ الأيّامِ ذا جَلَدٍ
إلا وكانتْ لها من دونِهِ القُرَع
Time’s reversals have never assailed a steadfast man
without having others beneath him to strike as well.
هذا كذا وسبيلُ الخلقِ واحدةٌ
فالخلقُ متَّبِعٌ فيها ومتَّبَع
Thus it is: creation has a single path;
along it every creature follows and is followed.
تاللّهِ ما حَملتْ أُنثى ولا وَضَعَتْ
إِلاَّ وللموتِ لا للعيشِ ما تَضَع
By God, no female has ever carried or given birth
save that what she bears is destined for death, not life.
وإِنَّ مُنْتجِعَ التقوى لمنتجعٌ
مرعىً له نُجَعٌ ما بَعْدَها نُجَع
The pasture sought through piety is indeed a worthy resort,
a grazing ground whose nourishment no nourishment surpasses.
فليعتزلْ سُنَنَ الأحزان ذو فطنٍ
سيّان ما سُنَنُ الأحزان والبدَعُ
Let the discerning man keep clear of sorrow’s paths:
the customary ways of grief and its innovations are alike.
إن يُنتزَعْ منك ما أُعطيتَ من أَنس
فهي العطيَّاتُ تُعطى ثم تُنتَزَع
If the companionship once granted you is taken away,
gifts are given—and then the gifts are taken back.
لله ما أمُّ شِبْلَيك الملمُّ بها
ما ليس منه لأهلِ المنع ممتَنَع
By God, what a calamity has befallen the mother of your two cubs—
one that even those able to ward things off cannot ward away.
يُصارعان الأسى من دونِ مَصرَعِها
ويهلعان وماذا ينفعُ الهلَع
The two wrestle with grief before the place where she fell,
and they panic—yet what benefit can panic bring?
إذا تَقَطَّع دَمْعٌ في خدودِهما
ظِلْنا وَأنْفُسُنَا من حَسْرَةٍ قِطَع
When tears break and stream upon their cheeks,
we and our very souls remain cut to pieces by sorrow.
كريمةٌ ضُمِّنَتْها بُقعَةٌ كَرُمَتْ
أَكْرِمْ بها بُقْعَةً تشتاقُها البُقَع
A noble woman whom a noble patch of earth now encloses—
how noble that patch of earth, for which all other lands yearn.
تلك التي شيَّعتها من خلائِقِها
إلى البِلى شِيَعٌ ما مثلُها شِيَع
She whose own virtues formed her funeral escort
toward decay, in companies whose like none can escort.
ناحتْ على البِرِّ والتقوى نوائِحُها
وكُفِّنَ الزُّهْدُ في الأَكفانِ والورع
Her mourners lamented goodness and piety for her,
and asceticism and scrupulous righteousness were shrouded in her grave-clothes.
سَقَتْ ثراها الثريّا سَقْيَ مُنْدَفع
إذا مضت دُفَعٌ منه أَتَتْ دُفَع
May the Pleiades water her resting place with a pouring rain:
whenever one downpour passes, let another downpour come—
حتى تُعايِنَ ذاك الربعُ أعينُنا
وفيه للعينِ مُصْطافٌ ومُرْتَبَع
until our eyes behold that dwelling-place,
where the eye finds both a summer home and a spring pasture.
لتخدعِ النفسَ كي تلتذُّ عيشتَها
إن اللذاذاتِ في الدنيا هي الخُدَع
Beguile the soul, that it may savor its life—
for all pleasures in this world are deceptions.
وليأخذِ المرءُ من أيامه مُتَعاً
قَبْلَ التي ليس فيها لأمرئِ مُتَع
Let a person take some pleasures from his days
before the time in which no pleasure remains for anyone.
تمضي الشهورُ عليه والسنونَ ولا
يدري وتنصرمُ الأيامُ والجُمَع
Months and years pass over him while he
knows nothing, and the days and Fridays slip away.
يا جامعَ الفضلِ في بدوٍ وفي حَضَرٍ
فضلاً عليك لأهْلِ الفضلِ مُجْتَمِع
O gatherer of excellence in nomad life and settled life,
in you excellence is gathered for every person of excellence.
في ابنيكَ ما إِن سَيُسني فَقَد أمِّهما
إذ فيهما للعلى مرأىً ومُستَمع
In your two sons lies what will surely make their mother’s loss forgotten,
for in them lofty glory has both a sight and a hearing.
المرءُ يسطو بسيفٍ واحدٍ فإذا
سطا بسيفين فالدنيا له تَبَع
A man strikes with a single sword; but when
he strikes with two swords, the whole world follows him.
وأنت أنت وإن نابَتْكَ نائبةٌ
فالعَودُ يحملُ ما لا يحملُ الرُّبَع
Yet you remain yourself even when calamity visits you:
the mature camel bears what the young one cannot bear.
يَبقى لنا الأمنَ حيّاً ما بقيتَ لنا
على الليالي ويقضي نَحبَه الفَزَع
Safety remains alive for us as long as you remain ours
against the nights, while fear itself meets its death.
وقد مضى ليَ وعظٌ لا خفاءَ به
وعظٌ يظلُّ بسمع القلب يُستَمَعُ
An unmistakable admonition has already come to me—
an admonition that lingers, heard within the heart.
والوعظُ ذو أثَرٍ فيمن يلينُ له
كما يلينُ بِخَتْمِ الخاتمِ الشَّمِع
Admonition leaves its mark upon whoever yields to it,
as sealing wax yields beneath the signet’s stamp.
