يا بلاء السماء والأرضِ مهلا — أحمد الكاشف

O scourge of heaven and earth, hold back!

What has returned from you has increased my dread.

My crisis, my crisis remains as it was; no one

in charge knows a solution to it.

And the captive of debts is still offered for

sale, priced at his mortgage's value, and even less.

They renewed his contract, but renewed nothing

except confinement for him, a fetter, and a shackle.

And they lengthened his terms, inescapable as they are,

thus prolonging his mounting, wearisome burden.

And they deemed thirty years of forced labor

a blessing from them upon him, and a favor.

The earth takes from his strength, and gives,

while he is more generous in hand, heart, and mind.

Watering its soil with the sweat that

flows from him—the most beneficent water, and the sweetest.

And amid its plenty, he goes hungry and naked;

and amid its plenty, he wastes away and wears out.

How can the earth's vegetation sustain one whose

harvest is not enough to satisfy his creditor?

It cannot pay the debt of the man who wears

it out; if he could, he would abandon it.

And strange that I offer congratulations on the

settlement to the people, though it is a heavier burden.

It passed me by, and I found no means

to any alternative, nor did I see a way.

I was left behind, gaining no benefit,

after wearing myself out over it in toil and work.

I do not know: has the easy become difficult

after this, or has the difficult become easy?

And the martyr to calamities, through distress and worry,

is like the martyr to wars, through captivity and killing.

Who will protect me from one who demands payment

again and again, and takes inability to pay for stalling?

He sets fire to my plantings, yet demands

fruit from those plantings, and shade.

And he who has received my kindness and

my beneficence saw my distress, then fled and turned away.

He felt safe from his companions, so slighted them, and

esteemed his foe, chose him, and exalted him.

Facing the enemy with force is better

than matching him in deceit and guile.

Long did the men among us hunger for

power, until it cast them down and humbled them.

And the adversary who so often sought

their favor now lords it over them.

They gave him power over their fate, though he had

been the watcher looming over the traveler.

And I bore what had been wrought by

fate; the reward was blame and reproach.

So I hid away, while calamities were plain to see,

and I delayed, while events hurried on.

O men of the age, fine indeed is what

you have said—but the age demands action.

And its skies cleared for you, so you feared no

change in goodwill or shift in circumstances.

And you secured peace for the remainder of the five,

directing affairs from their inception to their settlement.

And you united, while some among your foes are

stronger in harming others, and greater in rancor.

Address the debt crisis as you

addressed the political crisis before.

And recover the pledged holdings of the poet-

farmer, so he may regain his former independence.

The country will not relish my poetry unless I

own a house and a field in the country.

I am worthy of good as long as I deem

everyone on earth worthy of good.

And he who experienced calamities as a child

is more entitled to peace of mind in middle age.

I am in my village, confiding my complaint;

and my private words suffice me as letters and messengers.

Renouncing worldly desire, I do not say, 'If only I

had this,' nor do I say, 'Perhaps.'

Forgiving the age for my finding no help

against it, nor any friend within it.

And taking my need to the fire is better

than taking it to the baseborn brute.

All he has are promises, which he throws

to his petitioners, lying and misleading them.

And in his two morning outings, he is more ineffectual,

and in his two afternoon outings, he is more ignorant.

And it is for others when I demand a right,

and for others when I seek justice.

And life's utmost aim is to unite

my people's views, and bring them together.