قدني إليك فقد أمنت شماسي — Sharif Al Murtaza

قُدْني إِليك فقد أمِنتَ شماسي

وكُفيتَ منّي اليومَ صدقَ مِراسي

Lead me to you, for you are safe from my unruliness.

And today you are spared the force of my resistance.

ولقيتنِي مُتخشِّعاً لا يُرتَجى

نَفعي ولا يُخشى العشيّةَ باسي

You have found me humbled: no one hopes for

My help, nor fears my might this evening.

أسرِي بلا هادٍ بكلّ مضلّةٍ

وأجوبُ مُظلمةً بلا مقباسِ

I journey by night without a guide through every trackless waste,

And traverse darkness without a firebrand.

وأذودُ عن قلبي الهمومَ كأنّني

أَحمي أسودَ شرىً عنِ الأخياسِ

I fend sorrows from my heart as though

Driving the lions of Shara from their lairs.

وتُدِرُّ لي نُوَبُ الزّمان مصائباً

في كلِّ شارقةٍ بلا إبساسِ

Time's reversals pour calamities upon me

At every sunrise, without a coaxing call.

في أَسْرِ قاصمةٍ أُخادع جِيرتي

عنها وأكتُمُ داءَها جُلّاسي

Captive to a crushing blow, I deceive my neighbors

About it, and hide its sickness from my companions.

فَأَنا الجَريحُ بلا شفارِ صوارمٍ

وأنا الرَّميُّ بغير ما أقواسِ

I am wounded without the edges of cutting swords,

And struck by arrows without any bows.

يا لَلرّجالِ لفَجْعَةٍ جَذَمَتْ يدي

وددتُها ذهبتْ عليّ براسي

Men, come to my aid! A calamity has severed my hand;

I wish it had carried off my head instead.

ما زلتُ أحذر وِرْدَها حتّى أتَتْ

فحسوتُها في بعض ما أنا حاسِ

I kept fearing its arrival until it came,

And I swallowed it among the draughts I drink.

رادَيْتُها فلقيتُ منها صخرةً

صَمَّاءَ من جبلٍ أشمٍّ راسِ

I grappled with it, but found it a rock,

Unyielding, from a lofty, firmly rooted mountain.

ومطلتُها زمناً ولمّا صَمَّمَتْ

لم يَثْنِها مَطْلي وطولُ مِكاسي

I put it off a while, but when it pressed on,

Neither my delays nor lengthy haggling turned it aside.

ومنعتُها دمعي فلمّا لم تجدْ

دمعاً تحدّر أوقَدَتْ أنفاسي

I withheld my tears from it, but when it found no

Tears streaming, it set my very breath aflame.

ومصيبةٍ وَلَجَتْ على سُرُجِ الهدى

آلِ النبيّ حفائرَ الأرْماسِ

And a calamity came upon the lamps of guidance—

The Prophet's family—in the hollows of their graves.

ثُلموا بها بعد التَّمامِ كأنّما

ثُلموا بجَدْعِ الأنفِ يومَ عِطاسِ

Their wholeness was breached by it, as though

Maimed by a nose cut off in the midst of a sneeze.

وتراهُمُ بعد الهدوِّ كأنّهمْ

سِرْبُ الخَمِيلةِ ريِعَ من فِرْناسِ

After their calm, you see them as though

A herd in the thicket, startled by a lion.

يا صاحبِي هَل نابَ سَمْعكَ مِثلما

قَد نابني نبأٌ أطار نُعاسي

My friend, has your hearing been assailed as

I was assailed by news that sent my slumber flying?

لا أَرتضي منهُ وضوحَ يقينِهِ

وأودُّ أنّي منه في إلباسِ

I cannot welcome its clear certainty,

And wish I were in doubt about it.

أنْحى على كَبِدِي بوَشْكِ سَماعِهِ

ناراً تَحزُّ جُنوبَها بمواسي

The instant I heard it, it brought upon my liver

A fire that slits its sides with razors.

وظَنَنْتُهُ مثلَ الرّزايا قبلَه

فإذا به رُزءاً عزيزَ الآسي

I thought it like the calamities before it,

But it proved a loss whose consoler is hard to find.

خطرٌ أَعُطُّ عليه صبري بعدهُ

وأُجِلُّهُ عن أن أعُطَّ لباسي

A mighty loss: after it I rend my patience,

Yet deem it too great for rending my clothes.

لا تُنِكرا من فيض دمعِيَ عبرةً

فالدّمعُ خيرُ مساعدٍ ومواسي

Do not, you two, condemn a tear amid my weeping;

For tears are the best helper and consoler.

وإذا سُئِلتُ عن الّذي بِيَ بعدَهُ

فصممتُ عنه فلا تَعِبْ إبلاسي

And if I am asked what ails me after him,

And fall silent, do not fault my despairing silence.

ونعى إليّ وليتَه لم ينعَ لي

عَنَتَ القُرومِ وفاضحَ السّوّاسِ

He brought me death's news—would that he had not—

Of the bane of chieftains, the shamer of rulers,

ومُعثّرَ النُّجَباءِ خلفَ ترابِهِ

ومُعجّز النُّظَراء والأجناسِ

Who left the noblest stumbling behind his dust,

And left his peers and equals unable to match him.

مَن قاد شوسَ الفخر بعد تقاعسٍ

وَاِستاقَ شمّ الذكر بعد شِماسِ

Who led defiant glory after its reluctance,

And drove proud renown after its unruliness.

مَن كانَ مَرْجوّاً لِكلِّ حفيظةٍ

تُدعى وَمَدعوّاً ليومِ عَماسِ

Who was the hope for every defense of honor

Called for, and was summoned on a day of dark strife.

مَن كانَ يأبى فضلُه العالي الذُّرا

مِن أنْ يُقاسَ إلى الورى بقياسِ

Whose excellence, towering at the peaks, refused

To be measured against mankind by any measure.

مَن كان طَلْقَ الوجهِ يومَ طلاقةٍ

ومعبّساً شَرَساً على الأشراسِ

Whose face was open on days for openness,

And frowning, fierce against the fierce.

ذاكَ الّذي جَمع الفخارَ فخارُهُ

سَبْقاً إليه من جميع النّاسِ

He it was whose glory gathered all glory,

Outstripping everyone in attaining it.

إنّ الفضائلَ بعد فقدِ محمّدٍ

دَرَسَتْ معالمُها مع الأدراسِ

After the loss of Muhammad, the virtues

Have had their landmarks effaced among the ruins.

فالآن هنّ كشَنَّةٍ منبوذةٍ

أو حِلْسِ مُستغنٍ عن الأحلاسِ

Now they are like a discarded, worn-out waterskin,

Or the saddlecloth of one who needs no saddlecloths.

واهاً لعُمركَ من قصيرٍ طاهرٍ

ولربَّ عُمْرٍ طال بالأرجاسِ

Alas for your life, so brief, so pure!

Yet many a life lasts long amid defilement.

ولَتُرْبُ قبرِكَ ما حوى من مُنْتَحٍ

جوّابِ أرضٍ في عُلاً دَوّاسِ

Your grave's earth—what a striver it holds,

A roamer of lands, a bold treader of glory's heights!

بِتْنا وأنتَ لآملٍ حيث المُنى

وأتى الصّباحُ وأنتَ عند الياسِ

We passed the night, and you were where the hopeful found their wishes;

Morning came, and you were where despair lies.

يا موتُ كيف أخذتَ نفسِي تاركاً

نفساً عليها جَمّةَ الأنفاسِ

O Death, how did you take my soul while leaving

A soul whose sighs for it are countless?

كَيفَ اِجتَنبتَ سوى الأكارِعِ عامِداً

وأصبتَ حين أصبتَ أُمَّ الرَّاسِ

How did you deliberately avoid all but the shanks,

Yet strike, when you struck, the very crown of the head?

ألّا أخذتَ بمن أخذتَ عصائباً

ليسوا لمَكْرُمةٍ من الأكياسِ

Why did you not take, instead of the one you took, whole bands

With no discernment for any noble deed?

ووقيتَه بِي ما عراهُ فالرَّدى

ممّا يجود به الفتى ويواسي

And shield him with me from what befell him? For death

Is something a man may give generously to succor another.

قُلْ للّذينَ تَشامَتوا في يومِهِ

ما بالرّدى طَرَقَ الفتى من باسِ

Tell those who gloated on his day:

No harm lies in death's visiting the man.

إمّا مَضى وَبَقيتمُ مِن بَعدهِ

فلقد مضى صِفْراً من الأدناسِ

If he has gone, and you remain after him,

He went free of all defilement.

هَل فيكُمُ مِن دافعٍ لحِمامِهِ

في هابطٍ من أرضِهِ أوجاسِ

Can any of you fend off his allotted death,

In a low part of his land or on hard ground?

أَو فائتٍ يوماً وقَد بلغَ المَدا

لَهَواتِ ذاك الفاغِرِ الفَرَّاسِ

Or ever escape, once the full span is reached

By the jaws of that gaping, ravening beast?

يا ساقيَيّ مِنَ المحاذِر شَرْبةً

ما ذُقتما لا ذقتما في كاسي

You two who made me drink a draught of terrors,

You have not tasted it—may you never taste it—in my cup.

ما دار ما أَدْوَيتُما قلبي به

من قبلُ في فكري ولا إيجاسي

What you two made my heart sick with had never passed

Before through my thoughts or my forebodings.

ها فَاِنظُرا منِّي الدّموعَ غزيرةً

وتعجّبا لخشوعِ قلبٍ قاسِ

Here, look at the copious tears I shed,

And marvel at a hard heart's submission.

وتعلّما أنّ الّذي بِي كلّما

رقد المسلَّمُ هاجَ لي وسواسي

And know, you two, that in my plight, whenever

The untroubled man sleeps, my anxious thoughts awaken.

لَو كانَ مَن يرمي سوادي بادياً

لَتَقَيتُهُ وحميتُ منه أناسي

Were the one who strikes my person visible,

I would ward him off and shield my people from him.

لكنّه يخفى عليَّ مكانُهُ

ويَدِقّ عن بصري وعن إحساسي

But his whereabouts are hidden from me,

And he eludes my sight and my perception.

كيف النّجاء ولا نجا من جاثِمٍ

فيما يَشاءُ مِنَ الفَتى خنّاسِ

How can one escape—none has escaped—from one who crouches

Wherever he wills within a man, then hides away?

يَلِجُ البيوتَ مَنيعةً لا تُرتَقى

وَتضِلُّ عَنهُ أعينُ الحُرَّاسِ

He enters impregnable houses none can scale,

And the watchmen's eyes lose track of him.

إِنْ شاءَ كان مواصلاً لمرائِري

أو شاء كان معطّلاً أمراسي

If he wills, he keeps my twisted cords joined;

Or, if he wills, he renders my ropes useless.

صَلّى الإلهُ على ضَريحك وَاِرتوى

من كلّ مُنْهَمِرِ الحيَا بجّاسِ

May God bless your tomb, and may it drink its fill

Of every downpour of gushing rain,

صَخِبِ الرّعودِ كأنّ جَرْسَ غمامِهِ

جَزْلاً أُعِينَ بسائر الأجراسِ

Loud with thunder, as though its clouds' peal,

Deep-toned, were aided by all the other peals.

وَكأنّما رُكّامَهُ متلبِّداً

عِيسٌ مُعَقَّلَةٌ إلى أعياسِ

As though its piled-up clouds, massed together,

Were pale camels hobbled beside other pale camels.

وَرَمَتْ رِياحُ الجوّ تُربَك كلَّما

رمتِ الثّرى بالنّاعم الميّاسِ

May the winds of heaven shower your dust whenever

They shower the earth with soft, swaying growth,

حتّى يُرى خَضِلاً تَعانق حولَهُ

قُضُبُ الأقاحي ماثلاً للآسِ

Until it appears lush, embraced all around

By daisy stems, standing before the myrtle.

مَنْ مبلغٌ فخرَ الملوك بأنّنِي

للفضل من نعماهُ لستُ بناسِ

Who will tell Fakhr al-Muluk that I

Do not forget the kindness of his bounty?

شرّدتَ عنّى كَرْبَهَا من غُمَّةٍ

وعدلتَ لِي الإيحاشَ بالإيناسِ

You drove from me the anguish of that dark affliction,

And offset my desolation with companionship.

وخلستَنِي منها وقد ضمّتْ على

جلدي الرّواجبَ أيَّ يومِ خِلاسِ

You snatched me from it when it had clenched

Its knuckles upon my skin—what a day of deliverance!

إِن كانَ فَرعي قد مضى وبقيتَ لِي

فالفرعُ مسدولٌ على الآساسِ

If my branch has passed away, while you remain to me,

Then the branch hangs down upon the foundations.

ولَئِنْ رُزِئتُ فقد محوتَ رزيّتي

بيديك مَحْوَ النِّقْس من قِرطاسِ

Though I have been bereaved, you have erased my bereavement

With your own hands, as ink is wiped from paper.