أي فتى ووري في الترب — Sharif Al Murtaza

أَيُّ فَتىً وورِي في التُّربِ

قضى ولم أقضِ به نَحْبي

What a young man was buried in the dust!

He died, yet I did not meet my end with him.

زوّدني بعد فراقي له

ما شاءتِ الأحزانُ من كربِ

He provisioned me, after my parting from him,

with whatever anguish sorrows wished.

قلتُ لرَكْبٍ قال لِي إِنّه

ذاق الرّدى أُرجلتَ من رَكْبِ

I said to a caravan that told me he

had tasted death: "May you be left on foot, you riders!

ولا رَعَتْ عيسُك في منزلٍ

نزلتَه شيئاً من العُشبِ

And may your pale camels never graze, in any camp

where you alight, so much as a blade of grass.

وَلا يَزلْ فوكَ وقد قال ليْ

ما قال مملوءاً من التربِ

And may your mouth, having told me

what it told, remain filled with dust forever."

قد ضرّني الصّدقُ فمنْ ذا الّذي

يَنفعني يا قومُ بالكذبِ

Truth has harmed me; who, then,

will help me, O people, with lies?

نعيتَ لا بوعدت من سيَّئٍ

أفضلَ من قلبي إلى قلبي

You announced the death—may you never be spared harm—

of one dearer to my heart than my heart itself.

رُمحي الّذي يَفري نُحورَ العِدى

وَفي جلادِي هوَ لِي عَضْبي

My spear, which cleaves the throats of foes,

and in my combat he is my keen sword.

فكمْ له دونِيَ من موقفٍ

آمنني فيه من الرُّعبِ

How many a stand he took in my defense,

where he kept me safe from terror!

ولم يكن لي وهْوَ في قبضتي

على المُنى شيءٌ من العَتْبِ

And while he was in my grasp, I had

no cause to reproach my hopes.

ما قنعتْ إلّا بِهِ همّتي

وَلَم أَقلْ إِلّا بهِ حَسبي

My ambition was content with none but him,

and only with him did I say, "I have enough."

وَعاضَني مِن حَرجٍ ضيّقٍ

عليَّ بالإفساحِ والرُّحْبِ

And he gave me, in place of narrow straits

that pressed upon me, spaciousness and ample room.

هوَ الرّدى يأخذُ مِن بَيننا

إِذْ هَمّ مَنْ شاء بلا ذنْبِ

It is death that takes from among us,

when it resolves, whomever it wishes, though guiltless.

وَليسَ يُسطاع دِفاعٌ له

بِالطعنِ بالرُّمْح ولا الضّربِ

And no defense against it is possible,

by thrusting with a spear or by striking.

إِنْ يَبغِ مَحجوباً فما إنْ له

مِن دونه شيءٌ من الحُجْبِ

If it seeks someone screened away, he has no

barrier whatsoever against it.

أو شاءَ أن يَأخُذَ ذا هَضْبةٍ

عاليةٍ فهو بلا هضْبِ

Or if it wishes to take one with a hill,

lofty though it be, he is left without hills.

بزّ اليمانيّين تيجانَهمْ

مِن دونها أَردية العَصْبِ

It stripped the Yemenis of their crowns,

beneath which were robes of striped cloth.

وَاِستَلَّ من كسرى بإيوانِهِ

أطواقَه الحُمرَ مع القُلبِ

And from Kisra, in his palace hall, it snatched

his red neck-rings, along with his bracelets.

ولم تزلْ تدخل رُوَّادُهُ

مِن مُضَرٍ شِعْباً إلى شِعْبِ

And its scouts have never ceased to enter

ravine after ravine among Mudar.

وَشرّدتْ أصحابَه بطشةٌ

منه بِهمْ فهْو بلا صَحْبِ

And a violent stroke scattered his companions,

dealt them by it; he is left without companions.

وَلفّهمُ لفّا بِأيدي القنا

لفَّ الصّبا للغُصُنِ الرَّطْبِ

And it twisted them in the hands of spears,

as the east wind twists a supple branch.

كأنّهمْ تزهر أجداثهُمْ

ذوائبٌ خرّتْ منَ الشهبِ

As if, with their graves aglow, they were

tresses fallen from the shooting stars.

وكم سطا فيهمْ بأُسْدِ الشّرى

ومُطعمِي الأضيافِ في الجَدْبِ

And how often it seized among them the lions of al-Shara,

and those who fed guests through drought!

قُل لاِمرئٍ يَطمع في خُلدِهِ

فهْوَ غَفولٌ آمنُ السِّرْبِ

Tell a man who longs for his own immortality,

for he is heedless, secure in his person:

لَيس كَما قدّرتَه إنّما

خُلقتَ للتّربِ من التُّربِ

"It is not as you imagined; you were only

created for dust, from dust.

لا ترجُ أن تَنْجُوَ مشياً وقد

بغاك باغٍ واسعُ الوثْبِ

Do not hope to escape at a walk, when

a long-leaping pursuer is hunting you.

تنال كفّاه إذا مُدَّتا

من كان في بُعدٍ وفى قُرْبِ

Its two hands, when outstretched, reach

whoever is far away and whoever is near."

يا نائياً عنّي ومن مُنيتي

أنْ بِعْتُ بُعدي منه بالقُربِ

O you far from me, it is my wish

to trade my distance from him for nearness.

كم لك عندي من أيادٍ مضتْ

بيضاً وإن كنتَ من الشُّحْبِ

How many favors of yours I have received,

white, though you were of sallow complexion!

واللّيل كالصّبحِ لنفع الورى

والسُّمرُ كالبيضِ لدَى الحربِ

And night is like dawn in benefiting humankind,

and brown spears are like white swords in battle.

وما جرى في النّاس شيءٌ لهمْ

مَجرى سَوادِ العينِ والقلبِ

And nothing among people has served them

as the blackness of eye and heart does.

وَالقزُّ في الصُّفرةِ مخلوقةً

خيرٌ لباغيهِ من العُطبِ

And silk, yellow by nature,

is better for its seeker than cotton.

فَاِفخرْ على القومِ الأُلى سُوِّدوا

في الشّرق إِنْ شئتَ وفي الغربِ

So boast over those made leaders,

in the East, if you wish, and in the West.

فليس فيهمْ كلِّهمْ واحدٌ

سادَ جميعَ العُجْمِ والعُرْبِ

For not one among them all

has surpassed all non-Arabs and Arabs.

لم تألفِ السُّوءَ ولا بتَّ في

ناحيةِ القذفِ ولا الثَّلْبِ

You never took to evil, nor spent the night in

the domain of slander or disparagement.

ولم تعُجْ باللّهوِ في خلوَةٍ

ولا مزجتَ الجِدَّ باللّعبِ

Nor did you turn to idle amusement in private,

or mix earnestness with play.

وكلّما نِلْتَ بها رُتبةً

حَمَيْتَ فيها جانِبَ الجُنبِ

And whenever you attained a rank in it,

you guarded the stranger's side there.

كم كنتَ للأملاكِ كهفاً وكمْ

حَمَيتهُمْ بالمُلك من خَطْبِ

How often you were a sheltering cave for kings, and how often

you shielded them through sovereignty from calamity!

وكم تلافيتَ بتفكيرةٍ

صافيةٍ شَعْباً من الشَّعْبِ

And how often you repaired, with a thought

clear, a rift born of division!

كانوا ومن رأيك آراؤهُمْ

مثلَ رَحى دارتْ على قُطْبِ

They were, their judgments drawn from yours,

like a millstone revolving on a spindle.

قد دَرّت الدّنيا لهمْ مرّةً

وأيُّ درٍّ ليس بالحَلْبِ

The world once yielded milk for them;

and what milk flows without milking?

كَم ذا تَداركتَ اِعوِجاجاً لهمْ

على ظهورِ الضُّمَّرِ القُبِّ

How often you set crooked matters straight for them,

on the backs of lean, hollow-bellied steeds!

يَطوينَ يَحملنَ الرّدى للعِدى

سَهْباً من الأرضِ إلى سَهْبِ

They cover, bearing death to the foes,

one plain of the earth after another.

وَكُلّما زاحَمْنَ في غَمرةٍ

شوكَ القنا السّمر على إِرْبِ

And whenever they pressed, in battle's tumult,

against the thorns of brown spears, intent on their aim,

كُسِينَ أَجلالاً بِنسجِ القَنا

مِنَ النجيعِ الأَحمرِ العَصْبِ

they were clad in trappings woven by spears

from gore of deepest crimson.

سَقى الّذي أَصبَحتَ رَهناً بهِ

مِنَ الثَّرى أنديةُ السُّحْبِ

May that which now holds you captive be watered,

that soil, by the dews of the clouds.

وَلا سَمِعنا لِخريقٍ بهِ

صوتاً ولا زَعزَعَةَ النُّكْبِ

And may we hear there no gale's

sound, nor the buffeting of crosswinds.

ولا يزلْ تُنضحُ حافاتُهُ

من الحَيا بالباردِ العَذْبِ

And may its edges never cease to be sprinkled

by rain with cool, sweet water,

حتّى يُرى من بين أجداثِهمْ

ريّانَ مَلآْنَ من الخِصْبِ

until it is seen amid their graves,

well-watered and full of fertility.

فليس مُلْقىً في الثَّرى ميّتاً

موسّدَ الكفِّ على الجنْبِ

For no one lies dead, cast into the soil,

head pillowed on his hand, lying on his side,

مَنْ طار في الآفاق ذكرٌ لهُ

وسار بالأقلامِ في الكتبِ

whose renown has flown across the horizons

and traveled by pens through books.

فَاِلحَقْ بِمَن سمّى لنا نفسَه

بأنّه يعفو عن الذّنبِ

So join Him who has described Himself to us

as One who pardons sin.

فما أتت كفّاكَ من سيّئٍ

يضيقُ عنهُ كرمُ الربِّ

For no wrong your hands have committed

is too great for the Lord's generosity.