Sol 6.1

  1. يُساوِرُني طولُ الدُجى وَأُساوِرُهُ

    مُلالَ وَطَرفي ساهِدُ اللَيلِ ساهِرُه

    The long darkness assails me, and I wrestle with it,

    wearily, my eye sleepless through the night, keeping vigil.

  2. وَلَولا التُقى نادَيتُ يا حَبَّذا الرَدى

    وَقُلتُ مَتى تَلقى إِلَيَّ بَشائِرُه

    Were it not for piety, I would cry, 'How welcome is death!'

    and say, 'When will its glad tidings be brought to me?'

  3. لَعَمرُكَ ما بِالعَيشِ إِربٌ لِعاقِلٍ

    تَوَغَّلَ في عِلمِ الحَقيقَةِ خاطِرُه

    By your life, living has no appeal for a wise man

    whose mind has delved deeply into knowledge of the truth.

  4. تَسَلسُلُ آلامٍ وَتَردادُ مِحنَةٍ

    تُراوِحهُ في كَربِها وَتُباكِرُ

    A succession of pains, and recurring affliction,

    visiting him in its anguish at evening and at dawn;

  5. وَخَيبَةَ آمالٍ وَفَقدُ أَعِزَّةٍ

    وَبُعدُ طِوالِ السِجنِ فَالمَوتُ آخِرُ

    disappointed hopes, and the loss of dear ones,

    and, after long imprisonment, death comes last.

  6. لِيَهنِكَ يا تَيمورِ أَنَّكَ جُزتَها

    إِلى مَلَأٌ لا يَعرِفُ المَوتَ زائِرُ

    May you rejoice, O Taymur, that you have passed beyond it

    to an assembly where no visitor knows death.

  7. وَفارَقتَ داراً لا يَزالُ قَطينُها

    يُفَكِرُّ في الهَولِ الَّذي هُوَ غامِرُه

    And you have left an abode whose resident never ceases

    to ponder the terror that engulfs him.

  8. فَإِن تَكُ عُقبى الدارِ قِسمَةَ فاضِلٍ

    فَأَقصى أَمانيكَ الَّذي أَنتَ صائِرُه

    If the final abode is the lot of the virtuous,

    then your highest hope is what you are bound for.

  9. تَخَطَّتكَ في ذا الخَطبِ داعِيَةَ الرِثا

    وَلَكِنها صارَت إِلى مَن تُغادِرُه

    The call to lamentation has passed you by in this calamity,

    but has fallen instead upon those you leave behind.

  10. جَديرٌ بِأَن يُرثى الَّذينَ تَرَكتَهُم

    يُصابِرُ كُلٌّ مِنهُم ما يُصابِرُه

    Those you left behind are the ones deserving pity,

    each striving to endure what tests his endurance.

  11. يُسائِلُ بَعضاً بَعضَهُم أَينَ أَحمَد

    وَأَحمَدٌ قَد ضَمَّت عَلَيهِ حَفائِرُه

    They ask one another, 'Where is Ahmad?'

    while Ahmad lies enclosed within his grave's hollows.

  12. فَأَنّى لَهُم تِلكَ الخَلائِقُ بَعدَهُ

    وَأَنّى لَهُم مِن ذَلِكَ الوَجهُ ناضِرُ

    How can they find those virtues after him,

    and where can they find the radiance of that face?

  13. وَأَنّى لَهُم تِلكَ السَكينَةُ وَالنُهى

    إِذا عَصَفَت مِن أَيِّ خَطبٍ أُعاصِرُه

    And where can they find that calm and wisdom

    when the whirlwinds of any calamity rage?

  14. يُريدونَ في ذا العَصرِ نَدّاً لِأَحمَد

    وَأَحمَدُ فَذُّ مُفرَدُ الخَلقِ نادِرُه

    They seek in this age a peer for Ahmad,

    yet Ahmad is singular, unique among humankind, a rarity.

  15. يَنوحونَ نَوحَ الثاكِلاتِ فَكُلُّهُم

    تَدَفَّقُ عَن مِثلِ السُيولِ مَحاجِرُه

    They wail like bereaved mothers, and every one of them

    has eyes pouring forth tears like torrents,

  16. عَلى سَيِّدٍ في جَنبِهِ كُلَّ سَيد

    يَظَلُّ ضَئيلاً بادِياتٍ مَفاقِرُه

    for a master beside whom every other master

    remains small, his shortcomings plain.

  17. عَلى مَلَكٍ في صورَةٍ بَشَرِيَّةٍ

    تَعَدَّتهُ مِن هَذا الوَجهِ صَغائِرُه

    For an angel in human form,

    whom the petty failings of this form passed by.

  18. إِذا ما جَرى في أَيَّ نادٍ حَديثُهُ

    تَقولُ فَتَيتُ المِسكَ شَبَّت مَجامِرُه

    Whenever talk of him arises in any gathering,

    you would say that censers of crumbled musk had flared.

  19. حَرِيٌّ بِأَنَّ الشَرقَ يَظلِمُ أُفقَهُ

    لِمَنعاهَ وَالإِسلامُ تَبكي مَنابِرُه

    Well might the East darken its horizon

    at the news of his death, and Islam's pulpits weep;

  20. وَتُنَكَّسُ راياتُ الفَضائِلِ كُلِّها

    عَلَيهِ وَتَرخي لِلكَمالِ سَتائِرُه

    and all the banners of virtue be lowered

    for him, and perfection's curtains be drawn.

  21. فَمَن بَعدَهُ لِلعِلمِ تَنَشَّقَ حَجبَهُ

    وَيُسلِسُ عاصيهِ وَيَسهُلُ واعِرُه

    For whom, after him, will the veils of knowledge part,

    its unruly ways grow tame, and its rugged paths grow easy?

  22. وَلِلُغَةِ الفُصحى يَصونُ ذِمارُها

    وَتَملَأُ فيها الخافِقينَ مَآثِرُه

    And who will guard the honor of eloquent Arabic,

    his achievements in it filling east and west?

  23. صَباباتِهِ في حُسنِها وَسُهّادِهِ

    وَمَن كَتَبَها أَعلاقِهِ وَذَخائِرُه

    His longings and sleepless vigils were for its beauty,

    and among its books were his precious possessions and treasures.

  24. وَذَوقٌ جَناها غَبقَهُ وَصَبوحُهُ

    وَجَوبَ فَلاها رَوضُهُ وَأَزاهِرُه

    Tasting its fruit was his evening drink and morning draught,

    and roaming its deserts was his garden and his flowers.

  25. أَوابِدُها طَراً لَدَيهِ أَوانِسٌ

    وَشُرَّدَها مِن كُلِّ فَنٍ مَعاشِرُه

    All its wild creatures were familiar companions to him,

    and its strays from every art were his intimates.

  26. أَقامَ لِسانَ العُربِ مِمّا هَوى بِهِ

    وَلَولاهُ حَتماً ما أُقيلَت عَواثِرُه

    He raised the tongue of the Arabs from what had brought it low,

    and without him its stumbles surely would not have been set right.

  27. وَلَو كانَ في عَصرِ المُؤلِفِ لَم يَكُن

    لَدَيهِ اِبنُ مَنظورٍ بِكُفءٍ يُناظِرُه

    Had he lived in the compiler's age, he would not have found

    in Ibn Manzur an equal to rival him.

  28. وَلَو أَنَّهُ وافى الصِحاحَ مُصَحِّحاً

    غَلَت فَوقَ عَهدِ الجَوهَرِيِّ جَواهِرُه

    Had he come to al-Sihah as its corrector,

    its jewels would have risen in worth beyond al-Jawhari's day.

  29. وَكانَ كِتابُ العَينِ قَد غابَ جُملَةً

    عَنِ العَينِ لَو أَنَّ الخَليلَ مُعاصِرُه

    And Kitab al-'Ayn would have vanished altogether

    from sight, had al-Khalil been his contemporary.

  30. وَلَو كانَ في القاموسِ لَجَّجَ ما طَما

    وَما كانَ إِلّا كَالرَقارِقِ زَاخِرُه

    Even had al-Qamus held deep seas, it would not have swelled,

    and its surging waters would have been mere shallow pools.

  31. وَلَو أَنَّ رَبَّ التاجِ عاشَ بِعَصرِهِ

    لَحَلَّ مِنَ التاجِ الَّذي هُوَ ضافِرُه

    Had the master of al-Taj lived in his age,

    he would have unraveled the crown he himself had woven.

  32. وَلَو شَمِلَ المِصباحُ يَوماً بِنَقدِهِ

    لِخِلاهُ مَلقى لَيسَ يُزهِرُ زاهِرُه

    Had he one day subjected al-Misbah to his criticism,

    he would have left it cast aside, its radiance no longer shining.

  33. مَدى لَيسَ فيهِ مَن يَشَقُّ غُبارَهُ

    وَطائِلَةً ما إِن بِها مَن يُجاوِرُه

    A reach where none could pierce the dust he raised,

    and an eminence where none could stand beside him.

  34. فَقَد غُيِّبَت تِلكَ الفَضائِلُ كُلَّها

    وَدارَت عَلى ذاكَ النُبوغُ دَوائِرُه

    Now all those virtues have been laid away,

    and the circles of misfortune have closed upon that genius.

  35. وَباتَ يُبَكّي كُلَّ صابٍ إِلى العُلى

    وَكانَ حَرىً أَن لا تَجَفَّ بِوادِرُه

    And now he brings every aspirant to the heights to tears,

    and fittingly, his tears should never dry.

  36. أَأَحمَدَ لا تُبعِدُ فَفي كُلِّ مُهجَةً

    وَلاؤُكَ عَقدَ مُحكَماتٍ أَواصِرُه

    O Ahmad, be not far away: in every heart

    devotion to you is a knot whose bonds are firmly tied.

  37. دَخَلتَ إِلى الدارِ الَّتي أَنتَ أَهلَها

    مَكانَكَ فيها مُشرِقُ الوَجهِ سافِرُه

    You have entered the abode for which you are worthy,

    in your place there, with a radiant, unveiled face.

  38. وَلا بَأسَ مِن هَولِ الحِسابِ عَلى اِمرِئٍ

    لَهُ زَردٌ مِن نَسجِ أَيديهِ ناصِرُه

    No man need fear the terror of the Reckoning

    who has chainmail woven by his own hands to defend him.

  39. عَلَيكَ سَلامُ الَهِ ما لاحَ بارِقٌ

    وَجادَ ثَراكَ الغَيثَ ما سَحَّ ماطِرُه

    God's peace be upon you as long as lightning flashes,

    and may rain drench your grave-soil whenever its rain-cloud pours.

  40. عَلى الناسِ دَينٌ مِن ثَنائِكَ لازِمُ

    يُؤَدّونَهُ ما يَذكُرُ الحَقَّ ذاكِرُه

    People owe you a binding debt of praise,

    which they shall repay as long as anyone remembers what is right.