يا ثاويا خلف الرتاج المطبق — Sharif Al Murtaza

يا ثاوِياً خَلفَ الرّتاجِ المُطْبقِ

أَعزز عليَّ بِأنّنا لا نلتقي

O you who dwell behind the tightly shut gate,

how grievous to me that we do not meet.

دخل الزّمانُ كما كرهنا بيننا

وَرمَى اِجتِماعاً بيننا بتفرّقِ

Time came between us, as we dreaded,

and struck our union with separation.

وودِدْتُ لمّا قلتُ قد فارقتُهُ

تحتَ الجَنادل أنّنِي لم أصدقِ

I wished, when I said, 'I have parted from him

beneath the stones,' that I had not spoken truth.

وطرحتُه متسربلاً نَسْجَ الثّرى

في قعر مُسودّ الجوانبِ ضيّقِ

I laid him down, clad in the earth's woven shroud,

in a narrow pit with blackened sides.

وفعلتُ فيه وإنّنِي شَفِقٌ به

لمّا يئستُ فِعالَ غيرِ المشفقِ

Though I cared tenderly for him, I did to him,

when I despaired, the deeds of one without compassion.

ورجعتُ عنه كأنّنِي لم ألقه

وكأنّنِي بنسيمه لم أعْبَقِ

I turned away from him as though I had never met him,

as though his breeze had never steeped me in fragrance.

أبكي وليس يردّ ميتاً ماضياً

جَزَعي عليه ولا طويلُ تحرُّقي

I weep, yet no departed dead man is brought back

by my anguish for him or my long, burning grief.

وسَرقتُه مِنْ بين مَنْ حرّمته

ففقدتُه فوددتُ أنْ لم أسرِقِ

I stole him away from those to whom I had denied him;

then lost him, and wished I had never stolen.

أَينَ الّذينَ بَنوا رفيعاتِ البنا

مِن بارقٍ وسَدِيرِه وخَوَرْنَقِ

Where are those who built the towering structures

of Bariq, its Sadir, and Khawarnaq?

ومَنِ اِبتني الهَرَمين ثمَّ علاهما

بالعَصْب والدّيباج والإستبرقِ

And he who built the two pyramids, then covered them

with striped cloth, brocade, and heavy silk?

أم أين مَن أعلا بنا إيوانِهِ

عزّاً كَنجمٍ في السّماءِ محلّقِ

Or where is he who raised his vaulted hall's structure

in glory, like a star soaring in the sky?

وَتَرى اللّيالي بكرةً وعشيّةً

خَضِلَ الأصائلِ منه غضَّ الرَّونَقِ

And through the nights, at dawn and dusk, you see

its late afternoons dewy, its splendor fresh.

كانت تفتّحُ للثّرا أبوابُه

فثناه مصرعُه ببابٍ مُغلَقِ

His gates once opened to riches;

then his death turned him back at a closed gate.

وَلَكَمْ تَوسّد في القِلالِ نمارقاً

فالآن نوسدُه صَعيدَ الأبرقِ

How often he rested on cushions in the heights;

now we pillow him on the soil of the stony plain.

ومتوّجٍ بمرصّعٍ من عَسْجَدٍ

بوغاؤه في اللحْدِ تاجُ المَفْرَقِ

And many a man crowned with a jeweled circlet of gold

has fine dust in the grave as the crown upon his head.

تَهتَزّ فوق شَواتِه في حفرةٍ

من بعد ألْوِيَةٍ غُصونُ العِشْرِقِ

Above his scalp, within a pit, now sway

branches of the 'ishriq shrub where banners once waved.

سوَّى الرّدى بين الرّجال فباسلٌ

كمجبّنٍ ومُمَوَّلٍ كالمُمْلِقِ

Death has made all men equal: a brave man

is like a coward, and a wealthy man like a pauper.

وَإِذا مَضوا حِزَقاً إلى حُكمِ البِلى

نُبذوا إلى كَفّي سفيهٍ أَخْرَقِ

And when they pass in bands to decay's dominion,

they are cast into the hands of a foolish, clumsy wretch.

فجلودُهمْ ببنانِ كلِّ ممزِّقٍ

وعظامهمْ في ماضِغَيْ متعرِّقِ

Their skins lie beneath the fingers of every shredder,

their bones between the jaws of one who gnaws them bare.

كانوا الحلولَ بكلِّ قصرٍ شاهقٍ

فهمُ الحلولُ بكلّ قفرٍ سَمْلَقِ

They once dwelt in every towering palace;

now they dwell in every flat and barren wilderness.

وكأنّ فارسَهمْ لِطِرْفٍ ما علا

وخطيبَهمْ في مَحفلٍ لم ينطقِ

It is as though their horseman never mounted a noble steed,

and their orator never spoke in an assembly.

قُل للّذي كَنز الكنوزَ لغيره

جَهلاً وجمّع ماله لمفرّقِ

Tell him who hoarded treasures for another,

in ignorance, and amassed his wealth for one who would scatter it:

إِنْ كنتَ ما أنفقتَه ضنّاً به

أضحى برغمك في أناملِ مُنفقِ

If you did not spend it, being miserly with it,

it passes, against your will, into a spender's fingers.

وإذا البخيل حمى لضنٍّ نفسه

من رزقه فكأنّه لم يُرزَقِ

And if a miser, through stinginess, denies himself

his sustenance, it is as though he were never provided for.

وَنعى إليَّ الشُّمسيَّ مُخْبِّرٌ

فوددتُ أنّ لسانَه لم يُخلَقِ

A messenger announced al-Shumsi's death to me,

and I wished his tongue had never been created.

وجَهَدتُ كلَّ الجهْدِ وهو مُحقّقٌ

لمقاله أنْ كان غيرَ محقَّقِ

I strove with all my strength—though he was certain

of his account—to have it prove untrue.

فبليتُ من نجواه لا ناجى بها

بمسهِّدٍ طولَ الدُّجى ومؤرّقِ

His whispered news afflicted me—may he never whisper it!—

with what keeps me awake through the darkness and robs me of sleep.

وسُلبتُ منه كلَّ خُلْقٍ مُعجِبٍ

وفَقدتُ منه كلَّ شيءٍ مونِقِ

I was robbed of every admirable trait in him,

and lost every delightful thing about him.

وطلبتُه بين الرّجالِ فلم يكنْ

ولربّ مطلوبٍ بنا لم يلحقِ

I sought him among men, but he was not there;

and many a thing we seek remains beyond our reach.

وكأنّنِي من بعده ذو قفرةٍ

صَفِرَتْ إداوتُهُ كليلُ الأنيُقِ

After him, I am like a man in a wilderness,

his waterskin empty, his she-camels worn out.

ولقد محا آدابَه وعلومَه

منّا الرّدى بالرّغْمِ مَحْوَ المُهْرَقِ

His literary learning and his sciences were indeed erased

from us by death, against our will, as a written page is wiped clean.

فَكَأنّنا لِكلامِهِ لم نستمعْ

وكأنّنا لعبيره لم ننشَقِ

As though we had never listened to his speech,

as though we had never breathed his fragrance.

ولوِ الرّدى ممّا يدافعه الفتى

لدفعتُ عنه بكلّ غالٍ أرْوَقِ

If death were something a man could ward off,

I would have defended him with every costly, long-pointed spear,

وبكلّ خوّارِ المهزّةِ باترٍ

عَضْبٍ رقيقِ الشَّفْرَتين مُذَلَّقِ

and every cleaving blade, supple when brandished,

keen, thin on both edges, sharpened to a point.

وحطمتُ في دفعي رداك أسنَّةً

فوق الجياد الضُّمَّراتِ السُّبَّقِ

I would have shattered spearheads in warding off your death,

astride lean, fleet steeds,

حتّى ألفَّ مثلّماً بمثلَّمٍ

ومن الوشيج مدقّقاً بمدقَّقِ

until I tangled nicked blade with nicked blade,

and splintered shaft with splintered shaft,

في غُلْمَةٍ متسرّعين إلى الرّدى

متهجّمين على المقامِ الضيّقِ

among youths rushing toward death,

charging into the narrow field of battle.

من كلّ وضّاح الجبين كأنّه

قمرٌ وممتدِّ القناةِ عَشَنَّقِ

Each with a radiant brow, as though he were

a moon, and each long-speared warrior tall and lean.

مُتزاحمين فَمنْسِرٌ في مَنْسِرٍ

أو فَيْلَقٍ بضرابه في فيلقِ

Crowding together, one raiding troop plunging into another,

or one army into another with its blows.

لم يشربوا إلّا كؤوسَ قِسِيّهِمْ

أَو يَطعموا إلّا لحومَ المأْزقِ

They drank nothing but the cups of their bows,

nor ate anything but the flesh of the battle's crush.

لِقناهُمُ بين الأضالعِ في الوغى

زَجَلٌ ولا زجلُ الأَباءِ المُحْرَقِ

Their spear-shafts, among the ribs in battle, had

a clamor no crackling of burning reeds could match.

وإِذا هُمُ طعنوا تريبَ مُجَرَّدٍ

أضحى بنسجِ نقيعه في فَيلقِ

And when they pierced an unarmored man's breast,

he wore armor woven from his own pooled blood.

وَصحبتنِي وأنا اِمرؤٌ متدرِّعٌ

درعَ الشّبابِ وبُرْدَةً لم تَخلُقِ

You accompanied me when I was a man clad

in the armor of youth and a mantle not yet threadbare.

لم تُمحَ مِنّي جِدَّتي ونضارتي

كلّا ولا نَضُبَتْ غضارةُ رونقي

My freshness and bloom had not been effaced,

no, nor had the lushness of my splendor ebbed.

جادتْ عليك سحائبٌ مُنهلَّةٌ

من كلِّ منفتِقِ الكُلى متخرِّقِ

May pouring clouds rain generously upon you,

each burst open at the loins, rent wide apart,

صَخْبِ الرُّعودِ له زماجرُ أخجلتْ

باللّيلِ زَمْجَرَةَ الهِزَبْرِ المُحنَقِ

loud with thunder, whose roars put to shame

by night the growling of an enraged lion.

وَكأنّه متراكماً صُمٌّ هَوَتْ

من شاهقٍ أو جِلّةٌ من دَرْدَقِ

Heaped high, it seems like solid rocks fallen

from a height, or full-grown camels among young ones.

وسقاك ربُّك ليس ما يسقي به

بمُصَرَّدٍ كلّا ولا بمرنَّقِ

And may your Lord give you drink, His draught neither

stinted—no—nor muddied.

ورثيتُ منك أخا فضائلَ لم تزلْ

كالشّمسِ أو كالكوكبِ المتألّقِ

I mourned in you a man whose virtues have always been

like the sun or a gleaming star.

عجزتْ يدي عن أنْ تَبَرَّكَ ميّتاً

فخذ المبرَّةَ كلّها من منطقي

My hand was powerless to show you kindness in death;

so take all that kindness from my words.