هل ليالي بالمنقى رجوع — Sharif Al Murtaza

هل ليالِيَّ بالمُنَقَّى رجوعُ

مثلما كنّ لِي ونحن جميعُ

Will my nights at al-Munaqqa return,

as they were mine, when we were all together?

زَمنٌ راعني تذكّرُهُ الثّا

وي وإن كان ماضياً لا يَريعُ

An age whose lingering remembrance startled me,

although, being past, it does not itself alarm.

كم إليه لذاكريه حنينٌ

وعليه لناظريه دموعُ

How those who remember it yearn for it,

and those who behold it shed tears over it!

ونزاعٌ ما إنْ يُخاف وإن أك

ثَرَ عذّالَه إليه النُّزوعُ

And longing that need not be feared, even if

yearning for it has multiplied its reproachers.

حبّذا ظلُّه ونحن ومَن نَهْ

وى فريقانِ حافظٌ ومُضيعُ

How lovely its shade, when we and those we love

were two parties: one faithful, one neglectful.

إِذ قَناتي مُمتدّةٌ وَشفيعي

مِن شبابي إلى الحسانِ شفيعُ

When my spear stood tall, and my advocate

drawn from my youth was persuasive with the beauties;

ساحباً بالبقيع من نَشَواتي

فضلَ ثوبِي إذ البقيعُ بقيعُ

Dragging in al-Baqi', in my raptures,

my robe's trailing folds, when al-Baqi' was truly al-Baqi'.

وطنٌ طاب جوّه وثراه

فكأنّ المصيفَ فيه ربيعُ

A homeland whose air and soil were sweet,

so that its summer seemed a spring.

حيث لا تهتدي الخطوب ولا يخ

فِقُ مِن ريبَةِ الحوادث رُوعُ

Where calamities find no path, and no

heart flutters in dread of uncertain events.

لا أُريد الصّديقَ في مشهَدَيْ عَيْ

نِي كليلٌ وفي المغيب قَطوعُ

I want no friend who, in my sight,

is dull-edged, yet cuts sharply in my absence.

حَسَنٌ منه ما بدا وقبيحٌ

كلُّ شيءٍ تُجِنُّ منه الضّلوعُ

His outward appearance is fair, but ugly

is everything his ribs conceal.

وإذا عنّ منظرٌ رائقٌ من

ه لعينيك فالسّرابُ اللَّموعُ

And if a pleasing sight of him appears

before your eyes, it is a glittering mirage.

كلَّ يومٍ له عَوارٌ تغطّي

ه عليه وجانبٌ مرقوعُ

Every day he has a flaw you conceal

for him, and a patched-up side.

وإذا ما نَكِرْتُ أرضاً فإِنِّي

لاِرتِحالٍ عن أهلها مستطيعُ

And if I find a land unwelcoming, I

am able to depart from its people.

بخليلٍ جفا عليَّ خليلٌ

وَربوعٍ نَبَتْ برَحلِي ربوعُ

For a friend who treated me harshly, another friend;

and for quarters that rejected my saddle, other quarters.

وقَرا كلِّ جَسْرَةٍ تحمل الهم

مَ فَتَنجو وما علاها القطيعُ

And the back of every sturdy she-camel that bears ambitions

and races off, with no whip raised above her.

تَصِلُ الوَخْدَ بِالوَجيفِ وسِيّا

ن هجيرٌ في سيرها وهزيعُ

She joins her long strides to a swift trot; alike

in her travels are noonday heat and a watch of night.

يَحسبُ الجاهلُ المضلّلُ أنِّي

إنْ غلا بي البعادُ سوف أضيعُ

The ignorant, deluded man thinks that I,

if separation carries me far, will be lost,

بَعدَ أَنْ سارتِ الرّكاب بذكرٍ

من فَخاري يُذيعه مَن يُذيعُ

after the caravans have carried word

of my glory, spread by whoever spreads it.

أَرَجٌ لا يضيعُ بين رِجالٍ

حاولوا طَيَّهُ ولكنْ يضوعُ

A fragrance that is not lost among men

who tried to conceal it, yet it wafts abroad.

وَاللّيالي يَعلمن أنّ صنيعي

ساطعٌ في سوادهنّ صَديعُ

And the nights know that my handiwork

is a shining dawn amid their blackness.

وَلَقد أعضَلَ اِمرءاً جحد البَدْ

رَ أوِ الشّمسَ مشرقٌ وطُلوعُ

Indeed, the man who denies the full moon

or the sun is confounded by their appearance and rising.

سائل العاجزَ الجبانَ إِذا ما

أيقظتْكَ الأوتار كيف الهجوعُ

Ask the helpless coward, when

blood feuds rouse you, how sleep is possible.

ولماذا أسمو بنفسي إِذا ما

راعها في زماننا ما يروعُ

And why should I exalt my soul, if

the terrors of our time frighten it?

لو نجا خائفٌ بفَرْطِ توقّي

ه لما فارق الحياةَ الهَلوعُ

If a fearful man could be saved by his excessive caution,

the panic-stricken would never depart this life.

ضَلّ مَن يَبتغي الحَياةَ بذلٍّ

فَلَشرٌّ من المماتِ الخُشوعُ

Astray is he who seeks life through humiliation,

for subservience is surely worse than death.

وقديماً حبُّ الحياةِ لَعوبٌ

بعقول الرّجالِ منّا خدوعُ

For ages, love of life has toyed

with the minds of our men, ever deceiving.

إنّما الفخرُ أن تَوَلَّجَ أمراً

كلُّ قومٍ عن بابه مدفوعُ

True glory is to enter an undertaking

from whose door all peoples are driven back.

وتجوبَ الدّجى لفُرصةِ أمرٍ

وطيورُ الرّجاء عنها وقوعُ

and traverse the darkness for a chance at a venture,

while the birds of hope fall short of it.

وبنفسي فتىً وقلّتْ له نَفْ

سِي خَروجٌ من الخطوب طَلوعُ

I would ransom a youth with my life—too little for him—

ever escaping calamities, ever rising above them.

يشهد الحربَ حاسراً ثمّ يأتي

وعليه من النَّجيعِ دُروعُ

He enters battle unarmored, then returns

wearing coats of mail of fresh blood.

وتراه القَصِيَّ إنْ سِيمَ ضيماً

وهو في كلّ ما أَرَغْتَ مطيعُ

You find him unapproachable if subjected to humiliation,

yet obedient in everything you seek.

وبطيءٌ عن القبيحِ ثقيلٌ

وخفيفٌ إلى الجميلِ سريعُ

And he hangs back from baseness, slow and heavy,

but light and swift toward what is noble.

وإذا شِيمَ بارقٌ من نداهُ

فغمامٌ دانِي الرَّبابِ هَموعُ

And if a lightning flash of his bounty is glimpsed,

there is a cloud, its banks hanging low, pouring rain.

نحنُ قومٌ تحلو لنا جُرَعُ المَوْ

تِ إذا كان في الدّعاءِ الخضوعُ

We are a people for whom draughts of death are sweet

when pleading entails submission.

وَالّذي نَبتَنيهِ في عَرَصاتٍ

للمعالي هو البناءُ الرّفيعُ

And what we build in the arenas

of noble pursuits is the lofty edifice.

ولنا يعلمُ الأنام قناةٌ

ليس فيها لعاجميها صُدوعُ

And we have—as mankind knows—a spear

whose testers find no cracks in it.

وصَفاةٌ يزِلُّ أيَّ زليلٍ

عن علوق بها المقالُ الشّنيعُ

And a smooth rock, off which utterly slips

vile speech, unable to cling to it.

ونثاً لم يخُنْهُ فينا عيانٌ

وأُصولٌ ما كذّبتْها فُروعُ

And a reputation that witnessing us has not belied,

and roots the branches have never belied.