في مثله من طارق الأرزاء — Abn Khafajah

في مِثلِهِ مِن طارِقِ الأَرزاءِ

جادَ الجَمادُ بِعَبرَةٍ حَمراءِ

At such a visitation of calamity,

Even lifeless matter poured forth crimson tears,

مِن كُلِّ قانِيَةٍ تَسيلُ كَأَنَّها

شُهُبٌ تَصَوَّبُ مِن فُروجِ سَماءِ

Deep-red drops streaming as though they were

Shooting stars descending through the rifts of heaven.

تَحمى فَتَغرَقُ مُقلَةٌ في حاجِمٍ

مِنها وَتُحرَقُ وَجنَةٌ في ماءِ

They grow hot: an eye drowns in a brimming pool

Of them, while a cheek is scorched in water.

مَحَتِ الكَرى بَينَ الجُفونِ وَرُبَّما

غَسَلَت سَوادَ المُقلَةِ الكَحلاءِ

They erased sleep from between the eyelids, and perhaps

Washed away the blackness of the kohl-dark eye.

لا تُورِثُ الأَحشاءَ إِلّا غُلَّةً

وَالماءُ يَنقَعُ غُلَّةَ الأَحشاءِ

They leave the breast nothing but a burning thirst,

Though water quenches the thirst within the breast.

أَهوِلِ بِهِ مِن يَومِ رُزءٍ فادِحٍ

سَحَبَ الصَباحُ بِهِ ذُيولَ مَساءِ

How dreadful a day of crushing bereavement,

On which morning dragged the trailing skirts of evening!

مُتَلاطِمُ الأَحشاءِ تَحسِبُ أَنَّهُ

بَحرٌ طَمى مُتَلاطِمَ الأَرجاءِ

With its depths in turmoil, you would think it

A swollen sea, surging on every side.

جَمَعَ الحِدادَ إِلى العَويلِ فَما تَرى

في القَومِ غَيرَ حَمامَةٍ وَرقاءِ

It joined mourning black to wailing, so you see

Among the people nothing but gray doves:

مِن ماسِحٍ عَن وَجنَةٍ مَمطورَةٍ

أَو رافِعٍ مِن زَفرَةٍ صُعَداءِ

One wiping a rain-drenched cheek,

Or another heaving a deep-drawn sigh.

وَكَأَنَّما يَسقي بِما يَبكي ثَرى

ماقَد ذَوى مِن دَوحَةِ العَلياءِ

And it is as though his tears water the soil

Of what has withered from nobility's mighty tree.

وَلَئِن جَزِعتَ لِيَومِ أُمٍّ بَرَّةٍ

نَشَأَت تَطولُ أَكابِرَ الآباءِ

And if you grieve for a virtuous mother's day of loss—

She who grew to tower above the greatest fathers—

تَصِلُ الدُعاءَ إِلى البُكاءِ كَأَنَّما

تَرمي السَماءَ بِمُقلَةٍ مَرهاءِ

Joining supplication to weeping, as though

Casting a tear-bleared eye at heaven,

فَلِمِثلِهِ مِن يَومِ خَطبٍ نازِلٍ

جَمَّت دُموعُ أَفاضِلِ الأَبناءِ

For just such a day of descending calamity

The tears of the noblest sons have welled in plenty.

فَاِسمَح بِأَعلاقِ الدُموعِ فَإِنَّما

تُقنى دُموعُ العَينِ لِلبُرَحاءِ

So give freely of your precious tears, for

The eye's tears are kept for anguish alone.

وَاِهتِف بِما تَشكو إِلَيها لَوعَةً

إِن كانَ يُصغي هالِكٌ لِنِداءِ

And cry aloud to her of the anguish you suffer,

If the dead can listen to a call.

وَاِقرَع لَها بابَ السَماءِ بِدَعوَةٍ

تَستَمطِرُ الخَضراءَ لِلغَبراءِ

And knock for her on heaven's gate with a prayer

That begs rain from the green sky for the dusty earth,

حَتّى تَجودُ بِكُلِّ عارِضِ رَحمَةٍ

تَستَضحِكُ الأَنوارَ لِلأَنواءِ

Until it gives lavishly of every cloud of mercy,

Making the blossoms smile in answer to the rains:

زَجِلِ الرُعودِ كَأَنَّما مَسَحَت بِهِ

كَفُّ الصَبا عَن ناقَةٍ عُشَراءِ

Loud with thunder, as though stroked forth

By the east wind's palm from a she-camel ten months pregnant.

فَبِمِثلِها مِن تُربَةٍ قَد قُدِّسَت

نَثَرَ النَسيمُ قَلائِدَ الأَنداءِ

Upon soil like hers, now sanctified,

The breeze scattered necklaces of dew.

وَسَرى يُمَرِّغُ خَدَّهُ قَمَرُ الدُجى

وَيُذيلُ فَضلَ ضَفيرَةِ الجَوزاءِ

And the night-moon passed, rubbing its cheek in the dust,

And trailing the loose end of al-Jawza's braid.

وَلَئِن صَبَرتَ وَصَبرُ مِثلِكَ حِسبَةٌ

فَلَقَد أَخَذتَ بِشيمَةِ النُبَلاءِ

And if you endure—and one like you endures for God's reward—

You have indeed embraced the character of the noble,

مِن كُلِّ ماضي العَزمِ يُهوي بِالأَسى

عَن هَضبَةٍ مِن صَبرِهِ خَلقاءِ

Of every steadfast man who casts sorrow down

From the smooth-sided crag of his endurance.

كَشَفَت لَهُ الأَيّامُ عَن أَسرارِها

فَرأى جَلِيَّ عَواقِبِ الأَشياءِ

The days unveiled their secrets to him,

And he saw plainly how things end.

لَم يَثنِ في السَرّاءِ مِن تيهٍ بِها

أَعطافَهُ فَيَخورُ في الضَرّاءِ

He did not, in pride at his good fortune, bend

His flanks in swagger, then weaken in adversity.

ما اِرتابَ أَنَّ سُرورَهُ لِكَآبَةٍ

يَوماً وَأَنَّ بَقاءَهُ لَفَناءِ

He never doubted that his joy was bound for sorrow

One day, and that his life was bound for extinction.

فَكَأَنَّهُ وَالعيسُ تَبسُطُ خَطوَهُ

قَد بانَ مُرتَحِلاً عَنِ الأَحياءِ

It is as though, while pale camels lengthen his stride,

He has already departed, traveling away from the living.

فَلَرُبَّ رَكبٍ لِلرَدى تَحتَ السُرى

ضَرَبوا قِبابَهُم بِها لِثَواءِ

For many a death-bound caravan, traveling by night,

Pitched their domed tents there to stay,

مُتَوَسِّدينَ بِها التُرابَ كَأَنّهُم

لَم يَرتَعوا في زَهرَةِ النَعماءِ

Pillowing their heads there on dust, as though

They had never grazed amid the bloom of bliss.

صَرعى فَلا قَلبٌ لِغَيرِ صَبابَةٍ

يُذكى وَلا عَينٌ لِغَيرِ بُكاءِ

They lie fallen: no heart, save with longing,

Is kindled, and no eye is for anything but weeping.

ما شِئتَ مِن قُرَناءِ خَيرٍ أَعصَفَت

ريحُ الرَدى بِهِم وَمِن قُرَباءِ

So many good companions have been swept away

By death's wind, and so many kinsmen.

مُلِئَت بِهِم عَيني دُموعاً كُلَّما

مُلِئَت عُيونُهُمُ مِنَ الإِغفاءِ

My eye filled with tears for them whenever

Their eyes filled with slumber.

وَكَفى أَسىً وَصَبابَةً أَن أُنزِلوا

وَهُمُ الأَقارِبُ مَنزِلَ البُعَداءِ

It is grief and longing enough that they were lodged—

Though close kin—in the abode of those far away,

بَدَداً بِمَسرى كُلِّ ريحٍ عاصِفٍ

وَمَصابِ كُلِّ غَمامَةٍ هَطلاءِ

Scattered in the path of every raging wind,

And where every rain-laden cloud pours down.

أَلوى بِهِم وَلِكُلِّ جَنبٍ مَصرَعٌ

داءٌ عَياءٌ عَزَّ كُلَّ دَواءِ

They were swept away—and every flank has its place to fall—

By an incurable disease that defied every remedy.

وَطَوى القُرونَ بِحَيثُ صُمَّت عَنهُمُ

أُذُنُ المُصيخِ وَكُلِّ طَرفُ الرائي

And folded generations away, where deaf to them was

The listener's ear, and the beholder's gaze grew weary.

وَلَئِن سَطا وَالفاصِلاتُ كَثيرَةٌ

فَلَقَد سَطا بِقَليلَةِ النُظَراءِ

And though it struck—and sundering blows are many—

It struck, indeed, a woman with few equals,

وَنَجيبَةٍ جاءَت بِأَوحَدِ أَمجَدٍ

قَد فاتَ طَولاً أَيدِيَ النُجَباءِ

A noble woman who bore a peerless, most glorious son,

Whose bounty surpassed the reach of noble hands.

مُتَقَلِّبٌ في اللَهِ بَينَ بَشاشَةٍ

يَندى الهَشيمُ بِها وَبَيَن مَضاءِ

In God's service, he moves between a smiling warmth

That moistens dry brushwood, and a cutting resolve:

لَدِنٌ كَمَطلولِ النَسيمِ وَتارَةً

خَشِنٌ كَصَدرِ الصُعدَةِ السَمراءِ

Soft as the dew-damp breeze, and at times

Harsh as the point of a brown spear.

في مَقعَدٍ وَسِعَ الأَنامَ عَدالَةً

وَسَما فَزاحَمَ مَنكِبَ الخَضراءِ

In a seat that embraced humankind with justice,

And rose to jostle the shoulder of the green sky.

يَستَنزِلُ الأَروى هُناكَ سَكينَةً

وَيَروعُ قَلبَ الصَخرَةِ الصَمّاءِ

There he brings the mountain goats down in tranquility,

And strikes terror into the heart of solid rock.

عَدلٌ يَظَلُّ بِظِلِّهِ ذِئبُ الغَضا

جاراً هُناكَ لِظَبيَةِ الوَعساءِ

A just man: in his shade the wolf of the ghada scrub dwells

As neighbor there to the gazelle of the soft sands.

وَكَفاهُما أَن يَخلوا بِأَراكَةٍ

عِندَ المَقيلِ وَيَشرَبا مِن ماءِ

And it suffices them both to be alone beneath an arak tree

At noonday rest, and drink from the same water.

وَإِلَيكَ مِن حُرِّ الكَلامِ عَقيلَةً

قَصَرَت خُطاها خَجلَةُ العُذَراءِ

And here, for you, is a highborn maiden of noble speech,

Whose steps a virgin's bashfulness has shortened.

نَشَأَت وَشُقرٌ دارُها فَكَأَنَّما

وَرَدَتكَ زائِرَةً مِنَ الزَوراءِ

She grew up with Shuqr as her home, yet it is as though

She has come visiting you from al-Zawra.

رَقَّت وَقَد عَلِمَت بِمَوضِعِ حُسنِها

فَأَتَتكَ تَمشي مِشيَةَ الخُيَلاءِ

She grew refined, knowing where her beauty lay,

So she came to you walking with a proud gait.