برغمي أن غاض الندى بكماله — Abn Nbath

برغميَ أن غاض الندى بكماله

فلم يبق إلا زورة من خياله

To my grief, generosity has wholly ebbed away,

so nothing remains but a visitation from his phantom,

وإلا دموع من جفون كأنها

تردّ على مثواه فيض نواله

and tears from eyelids, as though they

were returning to his resting place the flood of his bounty.

أسفت لبدرٍ بانَ عنه محمد

فبان بمعني حسنه وجماله

I grieved for a full moon bereft of Muhammad,

who departed with the essence of its loveliness and beauty.

وولى كما ولى السحاب مودّعاً

وفي كلّ روضٍ نفحة من سجاله

And he departed as clouds depart in farewell,

and in every garden lingered a breath of his showers.

وزال وقد أبقى جواهر بحره

ومات وقد أحيى مناقبَ آله

He passed away, yet left the jewels of his sea,

and died, having brought his family's virtues to life.

ألا في سبيل الله مصرع ماجد

تزيلت العلياء مثل زواله

Ah, in God's cause, the death of a noble man—

lofty glory passed away just as he did.

فقدناه فيّاض المكارم واللهى

يشفّ ضياء المجد بين خلاله

We lost him, overflowing with noble deeds and gifts,

glory's radiance shining through his virtues.

لئن قصرت أيدي المطالب بعده

لعهدي بها موصولة بحباله

Though the hands of aspiration fall short after him,

I well remember them joined to his cords.

لئن بسطت أيدي الحوادث بعده

لعهدي بها مغلولة بنكاله

Though the hands of calamity stretch out after him,

I well remember them shackled by his chastisement.

بروحيَ وضاح الصفات كأنما

طبعن دراري الحسن بعد خصاله

My soul would ransom him, radiant in his qualities, as though

beauty's brilliant stars had been fashioned after his virtues.

أما والذي أنشا أياديه والحيا

لقد فقد الظمآن صفو زلاله

Indeed, by Him who created his benefactions and the rain,

the thirsty have indeed lost his pure, limpid water.

وقد زال من أفق الأثير عن الورَى

سنا كوكبٍ تسهو السها لمناله

And from the ether's horizon, away from humankind, has vanished

the radiance of a star whose height leaves al-Suhā bewildered.

فمن للعلى يهدي سبيل رشادها

ومن للرجا يمحو ظلام ضلاله

Who, then, will guide lofty glory along its right path,

and who will dispel the darkness of hope's wandering?

ومن ليراعٍ قد أفاض مداده

وجرّ من الأطراس ذيل خياله

And who will tend a reed pen that poured forth its ink

and trailed across the pages the hem of its imagination?

ومن لخطوطٍ غاب بدر كمالها

فهلاّ فداه الخط بابن هلاله

And who for scripts whose full moon of perfection has set?

Why, then, did calligraphy not ransom him with its Ibn Hilāl?

ومن لمعانٍ في المهارق تجتلى

بحلي وجوه الخود بين حجاله

And who for meanings unveiled on parchment,

adorned like maidens' faces within his bridal chambers?

إلى الله أشكو يوم فقدك أنه

رمى كلّ عقل ناشطٍ بعقاله

To God I complain of the day I lost you: it

cast its tether over every lively mind,

وقوّس من ثقل الرزية أظهراً

فلا غَرْوَ أن أصمى الحشا بنباله

and bent backs into bows beneath the calamity's weight;

so no wonder it mortally pierced the heart with its arrows.

بكاك فقير رافع لك قصة

نصبت على التمييز كسرة حاله

A poor man wept for you, raising a petition to you,

the brokenness of his plight set in the accusative of specification;

وممتدح لهفان يسألك الغنى

أجزت معاني مدحه بسؤاله

and a yearning praise-poet asking you for wealth,

whose themes of praise you rewarded by granting his plea;

ومطّلب كانَ ارتحالك قبله

فعطلت الأيام شدّ رحاله

and a petitioner whose journey your departure forestalled,

so the days kept him from fastening his saddles;

وعصر حلا جملت مرآه برهةً

وخلّفته ينعي أتمّ رجاله

and an age grown sweet, whose face you graced awhile,

then left it lamenting its most accomplished man.

كأنك لم تنهض بأعباء دولة

تكلف سعي الدهر فوق احتماله

As though you had never shouldered the burdens of a state

that demanded of Time exertions beyond its endurance.

كأنك لم تحمل يراعاً تمرها

وتعضدها في سلمه وصياله

As though you had never borne a reed pen to sustain it,

and support it in that pen's peace and onslaught.

ومن عجب مقدار فرع يراعة

وقد وسع الدنيا بفيء نواله

How wondrous the size of a reed-pen's tip,

when it sheltered the world in the shade of its bounty!

كأنك لم تبسط بنان مؤملٍ

يمين غوادي المزن دون شماله

As though you had never outstretched a benefactor's fingers,

the morning rainclouds' right hand falling short of his left.

وما هي إلا همة لك أنفذت

وصاة رسول الله عند بلاله

And it was only your lofty resolve that carried out

the counsel of God's Messenger to his Bilāl.

فأنفقت ما أحرزت بالبذل ذخره

وما ذخر مال المرء غير ابتذاله

So you spent wealth whose treasure you secured through giving—

for a man's wealth is stored only by spending it freely.

عزاء العلى عن راحل بيد الردى

وكلّ مقيم مؤذن بارتحاله

Let high glory take comfort for one gone at death's hand;

and each who remains gives notice of his departure.

وما الدهر إلا خيط فجر وليله

يجران من شخص الفتى بانتقاله

Time is but dawn's thread and the thread of its night,

both wearing away a man's frame as it passes.

وإني وإن أحسنت سلوة فاقدٍ

لمضمر شجوٍ مثخن بنصاله

And I, though practiced in the solace of the bereaved,

still harbor sorrow, grievously wounded by its blades.

أينفد عني الحزن بعد محمد

وما استنفذت كفي نوافل ماله

Can sorrow run out in me after Muhammad,

when my hand never exhausted his wealth's largesse?

أانسى له في كلّ جدب غمائماً

تحثّ على رغم الحيا ومطاله

Could I forget his clouds in every drought,

urged onward in defiance of the rain and its delay?

أأنسى له في كلّ درج قلائداً

منظمة من رفده ومقاله

Could I forget his necklaces on every scroll,

strung from his bounty and his words?

سأبكيه ما لاح الظلام بظلمه

وأبكيه ما ناح الحمام بضاله

I shall weep for him as long as darkness appears in its gloom,

and weep for him as long as doves lament in their lote trees.

وما أنا إلا بالجميل مطوق

أولى أسى لا كنت إن لم أواله

I am but one encircled by kindness,

granted sorrow—may I cease to be if I do not sustain it.

صدحت له بالمدح عند لقائه

وهذا أوان النوح عند زواله

I sang aloud in his praise when I met him;

and this is the hour of lament at his passing.