أَخُو ظَمَأٍ يَمُصُّ حَشاهُ سَبْعٌ
وأَرْبَعَةٌ وكُلُّهُمُ ظِماءُ
A brother, thirsting, sucks his brother's blood,
While four others, all of them are thirsty too,
كَأَنْجُمِ يوسُفٍ عَدَداً ولكِنْ
بِرؤْيَا هَذِهِ بَرِحَ الخَفاءُ
Like Joseph's stars in number, but unlike
His vision here, obscurity withdrew.
خطوبٌ خاطَبَتْهُمْ من دَوَاهٍ
يموتُ الحزمُ فِيهَا والدَّهاءُ
Misfortunes courted them with sufferings
Where wisdom dies, and shrewdness finds its doom,
تراءَتْ بالكواكِبِ وَهْيَ ظُهْرٌ
وآذَنَ فِيهِ بالشَّمْسِ العِشاءُ
The stars appeared at nightfall suddenly
While sunset called for nighttime to resume.
فَهَلْ نَظَرِي تَخَفَّى أَوْ بِصَدْرِي
وضاقَ البَحْرُ عَنْها والفَضَاءُ
Could then my sight keep hidden or my heart
Conceal it, when the sea and space grew less?
وكُلُّهُمُ كَيُوسُفَ إِذْ فَدَاهُ
مِنَ القَتْلِ التَّغَرُّبُ والجَلاءُ
And each of them was Joseph when he was saved
Through exile and estrangement from distress.
وإِنْ سجنٌ حواهُ فكَمْ حواهم
سجونُ الفُلْكِ والقفرُ القَواءُ
If prison kept him, then how many were confined
By ships and deserts - austere, desolate!
وأيَّةُ أُسوةٍ فِي الحسنِ منهُ
لإِحسانِي إِذَا ارْتُخِصَ الشِّراءُ
What fair example of good deeds was he
When buying cheap was my benevolence!
وَفِي باكيهِ من بُعدٍ وصدري
وأَجفانِي بِمَنْ أبكي مِلاءُ
My weeping eyes shed tears abundantly
For those whom I beweep persistently.
وأَوْحَشُ من غروبِ الشمس يوماً
كسوفٌ فِي سَناها وامِّحاءُ
More lonesome than the sun's decline one day
An eclipse occurring, dimming its array.
وأَفلاذُ الفؤادِ أَمَضُّ قَرْحاً
إِذَا رَمَتِ العيونَ بما تُساءُ
My heart's own kin, though wounded, hurt me more
When eyes attempt what they should not assay.
فما كسرورِهِمْ فِي الدهر حُزْنٌ
ولا كشِفائِهم فِي الصدْرِ داءُ
Their joy in life seems but a sadness; none
Can heal within my breast what pains allay.
نَقَائِذُ فتنةٍ وخُلوفُ ذُلٍّ
أَلَذُّ من البقاءِ بِهِ الفَناءُ
Results of ordeals, twists of abjectness
Are sweeter than continuance of decay!
فإِن أَقْوَتْ مغاني العِزِّ منهمْ
فكم عَمِرَتْ بِهِم بِيدٌ خلاءُ
If wantonness of power made them forsake,
How many a desolate abode they array!
وإِنْ ضاقَتْ بِهِم أَرضٌ فأَرضٌ
فما بَكَّتْ لمثلِهِمُ السَّماءُ
If earth constrained them, earth expands; no sky
Has wept as they made weep continually.
وإِنْ نَسِيَ الرَّدى منهم ذَماءً
فأَعْذَرَ زاهِقٌ عنه الذَّماءُ
If tyranny forgot from them all blame,
No faultiness could tyranny gainsay!
فكَمْ تركوا معاهِدَ مُوحشاتٍ
عَفَتْ حَتَّى عفا فِيهَا العفاءُ
How many covenants forsworn they left,
Neglected, until negligence held sway!
فأَظْلَمَ بعدَنا الإِصباحُ فِيهَا
وكم دهرٍ أَضاءَ بِهَا المساءُ
Our morrows after them are dark; how oft
Their light illuminated yesterday!
وجَدَّ بِهَا البِلى فحكتْ وجُوهاً
نأَتْ عنها فَجَدَّ بِهَا البَلاءُ
Ruin aged them, they tell of withered faces -
Remote from them, ruins hold ruin's way.
وَهَوْنُ هَوَانِها فِي كلِّ عَيْنٍ
جديرٌ أن يعِزَّ لَهُ العزاءُ
To lose them lightly hurts each seeing eye,
Sorrow for them is meet to console dismay.
بَسَطْنَ لكلِّ مقبوضٍ يداهُ
فما فِيهِنَّ غيرُ الدَّمْعِ ماءُ
Hands they stretched out to each imprisoned soul,
No tears but only water hands convey.
شُموسٌ غالها ذُعْرٌ وبَيْنٌ
فهُنَّ لكلِّ ضاحيةٍ هَباءُ
Suns that alarms and separation cooled -
To every flourishing place merely spray!
وكم لبسُوا من النُّعمى بُروداً
جلاها عن جسومِهِمُ الجلاءُ
How many robes of happiness they wore
Stripped off by misery uncompensated!
مَلابِسُ بامة لَمْ يَبْقَ منها
لهم إِلّا ابْنُ يَحْيى والحياءُ
Garments of probity which naught remains
Save John's son and propriety's array.
فإِنْ كشفوا لَهُم منه غطاءً
ففيهِ وفيكَ لي ولهم غِطاءُ
If a protection of it they removed
In it and you lies my protection's stay.
شفيعٌ صادِقٌ منه الوفاءُ
ومولىً صادقٌ فِيهِ الرَّجاءُ
A truthful patron wherein hope finds truth,
And intercessor whose troth will not sway.
وإِنْ دَجَتِ الخُطوبُ بِهِم عَلَيْهِ
فأَنْتَ لكُلِّ داجيةٍ ضِياءُ
If darkness pressed on them, you are the light
Illuming every pressing darkness' way.
وإِنْ طَوَتِ الرَّزايا من سَناهُمْ
فلحظُكَ منه يتَّضِحُ الخَفاءُ
If miseries from their chanting thronged around,
Your glance makes evident obscurities' gray.
وإِنْ أَخفى نِداءهُم التَّنائِي
فسمعُكَ منه يُستمعُ النِّداءُ
If their remote cry faintly made its plaint,
Your hearing makes the faintest cry obey.
وإِنْ وَرَدُوا قليبَ الجود عُطْلاً
فأَنت الدَّلْوُ فِيهَا والرِّشاءُ
If they a dried-up spring of favor sought,
You are the bucket and the rain that day.
وَقَدْ شاءَ الإِلَهُ بأَنَّ أندى
بحارِ الأَرضِ يَسقي من تشاءُ
God willed that the most generous of lands
Should water those you wish to irrigate.
فَنَبِّهْ فادِيَ الأَسْرى عَلَيْهِمْ
نفوسُهُمُ لَهُ ولَكَ الفِداءُ
Awaken then redeemer of prisoners
Their souls for you and ransom make their way.
غصونٌ عندَ بحرِ نداهُ أَوْفَتْ
بِهَا كَحْلٌ وَقَدْ شَذَبَ اللِّحاءُ
Branches meeting seas of bounty, blooming, trimmed
By separation - bonds did not waylay.
وآواها الرَّبيعُ وكلَّ حين
يعيثُ القيظُ فِيهَا والشتاءُ
The spring made them its own and every time
Heat scorched them or the winter held its sway.
وجاوَرَتِ الصَّبا فَغَدَتْ وأَمْسَتْ
تُجَرْجِرُ فِي حَشاها الجِرْبِياءُ
The zephyr neighbored them; morn's budding radiance
Made gnats in plenty round their thickets stray.
رَمَتْ بِهِمُ الحوادثُ نحوَ مولىً
حواها الرِّقُّ منه والولاءُ
Misfortune flung them to a lord whose bonds
Were their devotion and unswerving fealty.
وقادَهُمُ الكتابُ إِلَى مليكٍ
تقاضاهُمْ ليمناه القضاءُ
The book led them to a king whose decree
Demanded them - that fate make them its prey.
فكم عسفوا إِلَيْهِ لُجَّ بحرٍ
تَلاقَى الماءُ فِيهِ والسَّماءُ
How many times the angry seas they crossed,
Where waters joined with heaven in boundless way!
وجابوا نحوَهُ من لُجِّ قفرٍ
يجاوبُ جِنَّهُ فِيهِ الحُداءُ
How many times across a barren waste
Whose very jinn the howling wind obey!
وكم ناجَتْ نفوسَهُمُ المنايا
فَلأْياً مَا نجا بِهِم النَّجاءُ
How many times from death their souls escaped
Where no escape from death made hopeful way!
وكم بارَوْا هُوِيَّ النجْم تهوي
بِهِم فِي البِيدِ أَفئدةٌ هواءُ
How many times the swooping of the star
In wilderness made hearts for it make way!
وكمْ صَحِبُوا نُجُومَ اللَّيْلِ حَتَّى
جَلاها فِي عُيُونِهِمُ الضَّحَاءُ
How many times they accompanied night's stars
Till daybreak's very brilliance paled their ray!
وَرَاعَوْها وَمَا ليَ غَيْرُ جَفْني
وأَجْفانِي لِسِرْبِهِمُ رِعاءُ
They minded them while I had none but eyes -
Those eyes of mine their flock's sole shepherd's stay.
هُدىً لَهُمُ إِلَى الآفاقِ حَتَّى
سَرَتْ وَلَهَا بِسَيْرِهِمُ اهْتِداءُ
Guiding them on horizons limitless
They journeyed guided, it with them made way.
فما ظَفِرُوا بِمِثْلِكَ نَجْمَ سَعْدٍ
بِهِ لَهُمُ إِلَى الأَمَلِ انْتِهاءُ
No star of fortune like you they obtained,
With you, for them hope found its culminating way.
ولكِنْ عَدَّلُوا مِنْها حِساباً
لَهُ فِيما دَعَوْكَ لَهُ قَضاءُ
But from it they made calculations, fate
Called you for what they summoned you to sway.
كما زَجَرُوا مِن اسْمِ أَبِيكَ فَأْلاً
فَرُدَّتْ فِيهِ قَبْلَ الزَّايِ رَاءُ
As they rejected from your father's name
Before the "Z" an "R" refuted stay.
وخَوَّلَ فَأْلُهُمْ بِكَ فَانْتَحاهمْ
بِهِ أُكُلٌ وظِلٌّ واجْتِنَاءُ
Its crescent they deputized you with providing
Shade, shelter, gathering secure from fray.
فَذَكِّرْ وَادَّكِرْ جِيرانَ بَيْتٍ
بِبَيْتٍ فِيهِ للكَرَمِ اقْتِداءُ
Remind and mention nearby dwellers in
An abode where generousness led the way,
وفيهِ للنُّهى حَكَمٌ وحُكْمٌ
وللنُّعمى قضاءٌ واقْتِضاءُ
Where wisdom rules forbiddance, governance,
Fulfilling wants, needs answered without delay.
إِذَا نَزلَ الشتاءُ بِجارِ بَيْتٍ
تَجَنَّبَ جارَ بَيْتِهِمُ الشِّتاءُ
When winter strikes a neighbor, neighborly
Avoiding what makes hardship hold its sway.
