مضى صاحب الصدر الذي حازه الصدر — Abn Alsaati

مضى صاحبُ الصدر الذي حازه الصدر

وفيحُ المغاني منه مقويةٌ قفرِّ

Gone is the lord of high station, whom the heart embraced.

And the spacious dwellings, bereft of him, stand deserted and desolate.

تولى حميداً والصبا في عقيبه

وهل لفؤادٍ ثاكل عنهما صبر

He departed, praised, with youth following in his wake.

Can a bereaved heart endure the loss of both?

ذمتُ به غدر الليالي ولم تكن

بأوَّلِ أنثى من خلائقها الغدر

Because of him I condemned the nights' treachery; they were not

the first female whose traits included treachery.

لقد ذاب ماء الدمع بعد جموده

وما ذاب ماء في اساً قبله جمر

The water of tears has melted after its freezing,

and never before this had embers melted into water in sorrow.

كأني وليدٌ مرضع يوم فقده

وقد عزَّ من ألطافه المهد والدرّ

On the day I lost him, I was like a suckling infant,

and the cradle and milk of his tender care were beyond reach.

ربيع تقضَّى مسَّني الضرُّ بعده

فلولا تقضيه لما مسني الضرّ

A springtime passed; affliction touched me after it.

Had it not passed, affliction would not have touched me.

كأني سارٍ في دياجٍ بهيمةٍ

وقد ذهبتْ بالصبح أيامه الغرُّ

I am like a night traveler amid pitch-black nights,

now that his radiant days have carried away the dawn.

ذليلٌ وعندي عزة النفس والتقى

فقيرٌ وعندي جمة المال والوفر

Abased, though I possess pride of soul and piety;

poor, though I possess abundant wealth and plenty.

ثوى وارثُ المجد النزاري والندى

ولا فضلهُ خافٍ ولا وفرهُ نزْر

He lies buried, heir to Nizari glory and generosity.

His excellence is not hidden, nor his wealth scant.

فتى راح موجوداً بنائله الغنى

كما طاح مفقوداً بأنمله الفقر

A young man whose bounty brought wealth into being,

just as poverty vanished through his fingertips.

فأين اليدُ البيضاء والدهرُ مظلم

وأين النوال الحلو والأنفُ المرُّ

Where is the white hand of generosity, while time is dark?

And where the sweet bounty and the bitter pride?

وتلك العلومُ الزاخراتُ التي طمت

فأبلغُ ذمٍ أن يقال هي البحر

And those brimming sciences that overflowed—

the greatest disparagement would be to call them the sea.

ترى الناس ما دارت سلافةُ لحظِها

كأنَّ بهم سكراً وليس بهم سكر

You see people, whenever the pure wine of beholding them circulates,

as though intoxicated, though they are not drunk.

ومن شبَّ نيران القرى بعد قومه

فما ضلَّ في أحشاء داجيةٍ سفْر

And he who kindled hospitality's fires after his people,

so that no travelers strayed in a dark night's depths.

إذا ذُكرَ افترَّتْ ثغورُ سيوفهم

سروراً وهُزَّت من معاطفها السُّمر

When he was mentioned, the mouths of their swords smiled

with joy, and the brown spears were shaken at their bends.

وفدته أيامٌ تعدُّ كثيرةٌ

تصافح في لباتها النصل والنصر

Many days came to him, reckoned in great number,

in whose breasts blade and victory clasped hands.

تعاقبه جدب الزمان وخصبه

فأحمده العسر المكرر واليسر

Time's drought and plenty alternated upon him,

and repeated hardship and ease found him praiseworthy.

وكانت دموع العين ذخراً لحادثٍ

فأنفقَ في تلك النوى ذلك الذُّخر

The eye's tears had been stored for a calamity,

and that store was spent upon that separation.

بمن يستغيث المستجيرُ من الردى

أذنْ والى من يشتكي الرجل الحرُّ

In whom can one seeking refuge from death call for help,

then, and to whom can a freeborn man complain?

كأنَّ فؤادي منه والحتفُ واقعٌ

فلا شكَّ فيه طائر عزّه وكر

My heart, because of him, with death descending,

is surely a bird whose nest eludes it.

أراه قريباً بالضَّمير وبيننا

ظهور الفيافي الغبر واللجج الخضر

I see him close in my mind, though between us lie

the backs of dusty deserts and green sea-depths.

وذمَّ أناس ثقل ما أنا حامل

وما علموا أنَّ الضلوع لهُ قبر

Some people censured the weight of what I carry,

not knowing that my ribs are its grave.

وفي البوح بالشكوى إلى الناس ذلَّةٌ

وأعظم بمثلي أن يذاع له سرُّ

To voice complaints to people is humiliation.

How grievous for one like me to have his secret spread!

ولكن أبيٌ من فراقٍ وغربةٍ

فليس غريباً أن يضيق به صدر

But a proud man suffering separation and estrangement—

it is no wonder that his breast should tighten.

سددتُ وأن غيظ الحسودُ مكانهُ

وما افلتْ شمسٌ إذا طلع البدر

I filled his place, though the envious man was enraged;

and no sun sets merely because the full moon has risen.

فكم يوم جودٍ كنت بشراً بوجهه

ولا خيرَ في وجهٍ إذا لم يكن بشر

How many a day of bounty had me as the smile on its face!

There is no good in a face that has no gladness.

وكم ليلةٍ دهماءَ تزهو بغرّةٍ

من البرق وافانا بتحجيلها الفجر

And how many a pitch-black night, proud of a forehead-blaze

of lightning—dawn met us with its white stockings.

كأن ابتسام الومض والأفقُ عابسٌ

صحائفُ بيضٌ في جوانبها حبر

As though lightning's smile, with the horizon frowning,

were white pages with ink along their edges.

خفى كحسامٍ طلَّ فيها دم الحيا

ألم يك مسلولاً مضاربه حمر

It vanished like a sword; the rain's blood was shed there unavenged.

Was it not unsheathed, its striking edges red?

وإلاَّ فَلِمْ هزَّ السّماك قناته

ودوّم في عليا مطالعهِ النَّسر

Otherwise, why did al-Simak shake his spear,

and the Eagle circle in the highest reaches of its rising?

سريت ومتن الغرب كالوجه كالحٌ

شتيمٌ وصدر الشّرق كالثغر يفترُ

I traveled by night, while the back of the west was grim as a face,

ill-favored, and the breast of the east smiled like a mouth.

تغذُّ المطايا والكواعب أعين

لها كيف ما لاحظتها نظرٌ شرر

The mounts press on, and the maidens are all eyes;

however you glance at them, their gaze is sparks.

فهل حسبتْ أنَّ المجرّة منهلٌ

وأن النجوم الزّهر من حوله زهر

Did they think the Milky Way a watering-place,

and the bright stars around it flowers?

وما كلُّ من يسعى إلى المجد بالغٌ

مبالغ عزمي حيث يشتبه الأمر

Not everyone who strives for glory reaches

the heights of my resolve when the matter grows uncertain.

أيسلم لم تحطم عوامل قومه

ولا فلّلت فيها المهنَّدة البتر

Can he be safe, when his people's spearheads have not been shattered,

nor their keen Indian swords notched in battle,

ولا خضبت زرق النصال وعفّرت

على الأرض حمراَ مثل ما بدر الجمر

nor the blue blades dyed and dust-covered

on the ground, crimson like scattered embers,

بحيث رماح الخطّ حول دروعهم

تثني غصون سال من تحتها نهر

where the spears of al-Khatt around their armor

bend—branches beneath which a river flows—

ولا نظمتْ جزع سلوكها

وطارَ سقيطاً دونها الزّرد النثر

nor strung the onyx beads of their wires,

and scattered mail-rings flew beneath them in fragments,

ولا حمل البيضَ الفليق نجيعهم

كعقد حبابٍ شفَّ من تحته خمر

nor their blood borne the split helmets

like a necklace of bubbles with wine showing beneath,

غداة الفلاةُ الطّرسُ والرمحُ ناقطٌ

وللمرهفات الشّكل والفيلق السّطر

on a morning when the desert was a page and the spear a dot-maker,

the keen blades supplied the vowel-marks, and the army the line?

لمن تدخر الرُّعف السوابغ والظبي

وجرد المذاكي القبُّ والعدد الدّثر

For whom do you store the blood-dripping spears, full-length mail and sword-edges,

and sleek, lean, mature warhorses and abundant gear,

وكل همام زان مرّة عنفه

كما زان أجسام المهنّدة الأثر

and every valiant man whose fierceness adorns his strength,

as patterned grain adorns the bodies of Indian swords?

على رغم قيسٍ لن يباح لرّبها

ذمارٌ منيعٌ لم يقم دونه ذمر

Despite Qays, its lord shall not be granted

an inviolable domain with no champion standing to defend it,

عشيّة غاض البحر بين ظهورها

وعهدي بها يحمى بأسيافها القطر

on the evening when the sea sank away in their midst;

yet I had known the land to be defended by their swords.

بكتهُ نساءُ الحيّ كلُّ خريدةٍ

هي الغصن في أطرافها الورق الخضر

The women of the clan wept for him, every secluded maiden,

each a branch with green leaves upon her fingertips.

محا الدمعُ آثار الخضاب ووسمه

فأنملها منه ومن غيره صفر

Tears erased the traces and marks of henna,

so her fingertips are bare of it and of anything else.

سوافر لا من ريبةٍ وتبرجٍ

وقد وضعت عنها البراقع والخمر

Unveiled, not from suspicion or a wish to display themselves,

they had laid aside their face-veils and head-coverings.

أبت أن تمسّ الطيب طيّ برودها

وقد أقسمتْ أن لا يكون لها نشر

She refused to touch perfume within her robes' folds,

and swore she would have no fragrance.

عدادها الغمام الجودُ والعام ماحلٌ

ووجهُ الربيع الطّلقُ والعام مغبرُّ

Numbered among them is the bounteous raincloud, though the year is barren,

and spring's smiling face, though the year is dust-laden.

هو المرء ما في عين إحسانه قذى

يشين ولا في آذان نعمائه وقر

He is the man: in the eye of his kindness there is no mote

to mar it, nor deafness in the ears of his favors.

كأن لم يكن صلباً على العجم عوده

إذا طرقت صمّاء لأنَ لها الصخر

As though his wood had not been hard under the test of biting,

when a deaf calamity struck, before which even rock would soften;

ولم تدعه فحلاً دعاءَ حقيقةٍ

وقد نزلت بالقوم داهيةٌ نكر

nor had it truly summoned him as a stallion,

when an appalling disaster befell the people;

ولا ابتسمت نيرانه في دجنةٍ

فأضحكت الساري وقد قطب القرُّ

nor had his fires smiled in darkness

and made the night traveler smile while the cold frowned.

وما ضاع مالٌ اكسب المرَْ هلكهُ

خلودَ ثناءٍ أو أفيد به أجر

No wealth is wasted whose loss earns a man

immortal praise, or through which reward is gained.

فلا يمنع المعروف منك ابتداؤهُ

تمام حجودٍ من نزيل ولا كفر

Let no good deed initiated by you be checked by

a guest's utter denial or ingratitude.

فليست يد الأنواء أسمح جائداً

سوى أنها يشفى بها السهل والوعر

The hand of the rain-stars is no more open-handed in giving,

save that through it both plain and rugged land are healed.

عليك سلام الله دعوةُ شاكرٍ

منيبٍ وكم نعماءَ قيّدها الشكر

Upon you be God's peace—a thankful one's prayer,

a penitent's; how many a blessing gratitude has bound fast!

وحلَّت مطايا الغاديات نسوعها

وإن حلَّ ركبَ المزن في تربك العقر

May the mounts of the morning rainclouds loosen their girths,

even if the cloud-caravan is hamstrung upon your soil.

ومجت ثنايا البرق مشمول ظلمها

فأصبح ثغراً ضاحكاً ذلك الثغر

And may lightning's teeth spit out their cool, lustrous moisture,

so that that mouth becomes a laughing mouth.

تخايل في الأنداء أجياد زهره

كما اختال من عذراء في جيدها نحر

The necks of its flowers sway proudly amid the dews,

as a maiden's throat bears itself proudly upon her neck.

وزارتك أنفاس الخزامى كأنها

ثناؤك فينا أو خلائقكُ الزهر

May the breaths of lavender visit you, as though they were

our praise of you, or your radiant qualities.

ودّبج متنَ الأرض نسجُ سمائها

فغودر وجهاً كلّه ذلك المظهر

And may the weaving of its sky embroider the earth's back,

leaving that entire expanse a single face.

كان الثرى أذنٌ لبثي سميعةٌ

لها صيغ ذاك اللؤلؤ الرطب والشذر

The soil was an ear attentive to my sorrow,

for which those moist pearls and loose gems were fashioned.

وما تبلغ الأنواءُ أقصر حقّه

ولو سال فيه سيلَ نائلك النّهر

The rain-stars cannot meet the least of his due,

even were the river to flow over him like the torrent of your bounty.

وليس مطالي بالزيارة سلوةً

وكم من مريد لا يساعده الدهر

My delay in visiting is no forgetting;

how many a willing man time fails to help.

فربّ دنّو كان آخرهُ نوى

ووصل لديه كان أوّلهُ هجر

Many an approach has ended in separation,

and a union with him began in estrangement.

وسكنّ علمي بعضَ ما أنا واجدٌ

بأنّا أناس من خلائقنا الصبر

My knowledge has quieted some of what I feel:

we are a people whose qualities include patience.

وما عاقني عنك العقوق ولا نبتْ

ركابي عن مصرٍ ثويتَ به مصر

It was not disloyalty that kept me from you, nor did

my mounts turn away from the city where you lie—Egypt.

وإن كان جسمي عنك يحبسه النوى

فإن فؤادي فيك يبعثهُ البرُّ

Though separation holds my body back from you,

devotion sends my heart forth to you.

ولا بد من قصر الخطا كلها على

مزارك أن أمهلتَ أو مدَّ لي العمر

I must direct all my steps solely toward

your resting-place, if I am granted respite or my life prolonged,

وزفي إلى علياك كلَّ خريدة

من النظم بكرٍ ضاق عن كتمها الخدر

and escort to your eminence every secluded maiden

of verse, a virgin whose bower is too narrow to conceal her.

متى ما أديرت في نديٍّ بيوتها

يقلْ صاحب التقوى متى حلّت بالخمر

Whenever her verses are passed around in an assembly,

the pious man asks, 'When was it dissolved in wine?'

كان عصا موسى يراعي وحاسدي

على نظمها فرعونُ والكلم السحر

My reed pen was Moses' staff, and my envier,

in the matter of its verse, Pharaoh; the words were magic.

لها فلق البحر الخضم نفاسةً

وأخفى رؤوساً بين أصدافه الدرّ

For its precious worth, the vast sea split open,

and pearls hid their heads among its shells.

ومن كان مثلي ثمَّ كنتَ له أباً

وقصّر عن شأوٍ فليس له عذر

Whoever is like me, and then has you as a father,

yet falls short of the goal, has no excuse.