حجبت ولم أحسب سنا البدر يحجب — Abn Nbath

حجبت ولم أحسب سنا البدرِ يحجب

ولا خلتهُ في باطنِ الأرضِ يغرب

You were veiled; I had not thought the full moon's radiance could be veiled,

nor imagined it setting in the depths of the earth.

وأوْرَثتْ عيني جود كفِّكَ فانْبرت

تسحُّ بأنواءِ الغمام وتَسكُب

You bequeathed your palm's generosity to my eye, and it began

gushing with the clouds' rainstorms and pouring forth.

يذَكرْني بدرُ السماءِ سِميّه

فها أنا أرعى كلّ بدرٍ وأرقب

The full moon in heaven reminds me of its namesake;

so here I am, watching every full moon and keeping vigil.

ومذ آثرَت فيكَ الكواكب حكمها

صددت فما يرعى بجفنيَّ كوكب

And since the stars chose to impose their decree upon you,

I turned away; my eyelids no longer watch a star.

يقولون إن الشهب في كبدِ السما

لها أسدٌ يردِي الأنامَ وعقرب

They say the stars in the heart of heaven

have a Lion that slays humankind, and a Scorpion.

دعِ الأسدَ الأفقيّ يفترِسُ الورى

وَدَعْ عقرب الأفلاكِ للخلق يسلب

Let the Lion of the horizon prey upon humankind;

and let the Scorpion of the spheres rob creation.

عليكَ خشيتُ الخطب قبل أوانِهِ

وحاذرتُ صرفَ الدهرِ وهو مغيَّب

For you I feared calamity before its time,

and dreaded time's misfortune while it was still unseen.

وما حسبتُ كفّي نوالك كثرة

ولكنْ المحذورِ الرَّدى كنتُ أحسب

I could not count your gifts in my palm, so abundant were they;

but dreaded death was what I kept reckoning with.

لمن يستجدّ الفكر بعدَك مدحةً

يفضِّضُ في ألفاظها ويذَهب

For whom will thought devise a fresh praise-poem after you,

silvering and gilding its words?

لمن نترجَّى بعد بابك إنَّه

لِبذْلِ الندى بابٌ صحيحٌ مجرب

In whom shall we place hope after your door? Indeed, it

is a dependable, proven door for the bestowal of bounty.

لمن تلتجي العافونَ بعد عوارِفٍ

عوارفَ ما تسعَى إليه وتطلب

To whom shall seekers of bounty turn, after favors

knowing what you seek and ask for?

على شرفِ الأخلاقِ بعدكَ والوفا

سلامٌ كوجه الروض والروضُ معجب

To noble character and fidelity, after you,

a farewell fair as a garden's face—and the garden is delightful.

مضت صدقاتُ السرِّ بعدك وانْقضتْ

فيا أسفاً للسرِّ بالصدرِ يذهب

Secret alms passed away after you and came to an end;

alas for the secret that departs with the breast!

مضى رونقُ الآداب بعد وضوحه

وغيَّب ذاك المنظر المتأدب

The splendor of letters has gone after shining so clearly,

and that cultured presence has been hidden away.

ألا في سبيل الله ساكن مَلْحَدٍ

وأوصافه في الأرضِ تُملي وتكتب

Ah, in God's path lies a dweller in a grave's niche,

while his qualities on earth are dictated and written down.

فتىً كرُمت أنسابهُ وخلالهُ

فآلاؤه إرثٌ لديهِ ومكسب

A young man whose lineage and character were noble;

so his beneficence was both his inheritance and his own attainment.

سرى غير مسبوق ثناهُ وكيف لا

وعنبره في نفحة الذِّكر أشهب

His praise traveled by night, never outpaced—and how could it not,

when his ambergris is pale gray in the breeze of remembrance?

فمن مبلغٍ شيبان يوم ترحلت

عُلاه بأن الأفق بالشهب أشيب

Who, then, will tell Shayban, on the day of the departure

of his glory, that the horizon is gray-haired with stars?

وأنَّ بني الآمال أعوز رعيهم

وضاعوا فلا أمٌّ هناكَ ولا أب

And that the children of hope now lack care,

and are lost, with neither mother there nor father?

فقدناهُ فقدانَ الربيعِ فدهرنا

جمادى وزالَ المستماح المرجب

We lost him as one loses spring; so our time

is Jumada, and the honored giver sought for bounty is gone.

أخا أدبٍ بين المكارمِ والتقى

على شرف الدَّارَيْن يسعى ويدأب

A man of letters, amid noble deeds and piety,

striving and laboring for honor in both abodes.

فلوْ لمْ تجُدْنا غُرّ نعماه جادَنا

بفضل دُعاهُ وابلُ الغيثِ يسكب

Had his radiant favors not showered upon us, we would have been drenched

through the grace of his prayer, by a pouring deluge of rain.

مضى حيث تنأى عنه كلُّ ذميمةٍ

وأعماله بالصالحاتِ تقرّب

He passed to where every blameworthy trait keeps far from him,

and his deeds bring him near through righteousness.

وأيامهُ بدريَّةٌ لا يُضيرُها

بوادِرُ ما تأتي وما تتجنب

His days were Badr-like; they were not harmed

by the sudden impulses of what you undertake and what you avoid.

تجاهدُ فيها النفس والعيش ممكنٌ

وزبرج هذا العيش شيءٌ محبَّب

In them you battle the self, while life's comforts are within reach,

and the glitter of this life is something beloved.

لحى الله دنيا لا تكون مطيَّةً

إلى دَرَكِ الأخرى تزَمُّ وتركب

May God curse a worldly life that is not a mount

for reaching the next life, bridled and ridden.

عجبتُ لمن يرجو الرِّضا وهو مهملٌ

وتسويفنا مع ذلك العلم أعجب

I marvel at one who hopes for divine approval while negligent;

and our procrastination despite that knowledge is more astonishing.

وما هذه الأيامُ إلاَّ مراحلٌ

وأجْدِرْ بها تقضي قريباً وتقضب

These days are nothing but stages of a journey,

and how likely they are to end soon and be cut short!

إن كانت الأنفاسُ للعمرِ كالخُطَا

فإنَّ المدى أدنَى منالاً وأقرب

If breaths are to life as footsteps,

then the end is easier to reach, and nearer.

أساكن جناتِ النعيمِ مهنأً

وتارِكنا في حسرةٍ نتلهَّب

O happy dweller in the gardens of bliss,

and who have left us burning in grief,

سقى عهدكَ الصوبُ الملِثُّ فطالما

سقانَا ملثّ من نوالك صيِّب

may the unceasing downpour water your memory, for so often

a ceaseless rainstorm of your bounty watered us.

ولا أغمدت أيدِي النوائِب غربها

فما في حياةٍ بعدَ موتكَ مرغب

Nor may the hands of misfortune sheathe their keen blade,

for there is nothing desirable in life after your death.