Sol 6.1

  1. تعجَّل مولودٌ ليُمْهَل والدُ

    ولا بِدْعَ قد يحمي العشيرةَ واحدُ

    A newborn hastened away so that a father might be spared.

    No wonder: one man may protect an entire clan.

  2. لقد دافع المفقودُ عنك بنفسه

    عُراماً فلا يُحْزنْكَ أنك فاقدُ

    With his own life, the lost one shielded you

    from fierce assaults; do not let your bereavement grieve you.

  3. ومن قبلتْ من الليالي فداءه

    فحُقَّ بأن يَلْقيْنَهُ وهو حامدُ

    Whoever has had his ransom accepted by the nights

    should rightly be met by them while giving thanks.

  4. على أنَّ من قدَّمْتَ عالٍ مكانُه

    بحيث الثريا أو بحيث الفراقدُ

    Yet the one you sent ahead holds an exalted station,

    where the Pleiades are, or where the Farqad stars are.

  5. وما مات منه أسوةَ الناس ميِّتٌ

    بل انقضَّ منه المشتَري أو عطاردُ

    No mere mortal died in him, as with other men;

    rather, a Jupiter or Mercury came plunging down.

  6. وما كان لو خُيِّرْتَ عُرْضَةَ فدية

    ولا ولداً يَشريه بالأجْر والدُ

    Had you been given the choice, he would not have been offered as ransom,

    nor been a son a father would sell for a reward.

  7. وما كان لو حُكِّمْتَ جنة بذله

    ولو حُوذرتْ أنيابُ دهرٍ حدائدُ

    Had the decision been yours, you would not have made his sacrifice a shield,

    even against the dreaded iron fangs of time.

  8. بل النفس تُفْدى بالنفوس وتُشْتَرىَ

    فَتُبْذَلُ منها المنفسات التلائدُ

    Rather, a life is ransomed and bought with other lives,

    and the precious, long-treasured ones among them are surrendered.

  9. وكان أبى إلا افتداءً بنفسه

    لنفسك جادتْهُ الغيوثُ الرواعدُ

    But he insisted on nothing less than ransoming, with his own life,

    your life—may thundering rain clouds shower him.

  10. عظيم وَفَى النُّعْمَى عظيماً وماجد

    فدى ماجداً لا زال يفديه ماجدُ

    A great soul repaid a great soul's kindness; a noble soul

    ransomed a noble soul—may a noble soul always ransom him,

  11. سوى البدر والنجميْن والعِتْرة التي

    نُصالحُ فيها دهرَنا ونُفاسدُ

    other than the full moon, the two stars, and the kindred

    for whose sake we make peace with our time and quarrel with it.

  12. أولئك كانوا قدوة بل مواهباً

    فذاد الرّدى عنهم يدَ الدهر ذائدُ

    Those were exemplars—rather, gifts;

    and a defender drove death—time's hand—away from them.

  13. مضى ابنُك والآمال تكنُفُ نعشَه

    وتبكيه للمعروف وهْيَ حواشِدُ

    Your son departed, with hopes surrounding his bier,

    and weeping for him, for his goodness, gathered in throngs.

  14. ولو عاش عاشتْ في ذَاره وأَورقتْ

    لها من عطاياه غصونٌ موائدُ

    Had he lived, they would have lived in his shelter, and there would have leafed out

    for them, from his gifts, swaying branches.

  15. فما عندنا إلا شؤون حوافل

    تجود عليه أو عيون سواهدُ

    We have nothing but brimming tear-ducts

    pouring tears over him, or sleepless eyes;

  16. وإلا تأَسِّيْنا مراراً وقولُنا

    هو الدهر لا تَبقى عليه الجلامدُ

    and our repeated efforts at consolation, and our saying:

    Such is time: even massive rocks cannot outlast it.

  17. قَرَى ما تَمُجُّ النحْلُ ثم استردَّه

    وأصبح يقْري ما تَمُجُّ الأساوِدُ

    It served what bees disgorge, then took it back,

    and now serves what black snakes spit out.

  18. ومن ذاك ذَمَّ الصالحون أمورَهُ

    وقالوا جميعاً صالحُ الدهر فاسدُ

    For this the righteous condemned its dealings,

    and said as one: 'Even time's good is corrupt.'

  19. ومن ذاك ما أَولاكه وهو بادئٌ

    ومن ذاك ما أَبلاكه وهو عائدُ

    Among such things is what it bestowed on you at first,

    and what it afflicted you with when it returned.

  20. وبيناهُ من فرْط الموالاة قابلٌ

    إذا هو من فرط المعاداة عاندُ

    No sooner is it welcoming in its excessive friendship

    than it turns hostile in excessive enmity.

  21. ومن عَقْده عند العطايا ارتجاعُه

    وأن يُنْقَضَ العقْدُ الذي هو عاقدُ

    Among its terms when giving is to take back,

    and to undo the bond it itself has made.

  22. وما ابنك إلا من بني النَّشْء والبلىَ

    لكلٍّ على حوض المنون مواردُ

    Your son was but a child of growth and decay;

    all have their paths to the pool of death.

  23. وما ابنك إلا مُستعارٌ رَدَدْتَهُ

    وكلُّ عَواريِّ الزمان رَدائدُ

    Your son was only a loan that you have returned;

    all the loans of time must be given back.

  24. وما ابنك إلا وافد نحو ربه

    ومن أوفدتْه عزْمةُ الله وافدُ

    Your son is but a visitor on his way to his Lord;

    and whoever God's decree dispatches must arrive.

  25. فإمَّا اشتراه الله منك فما اشترى

    ضَنِينٌ بإرغاب ولا باع زاهدُ

    If, then, God has bought him from you, the buyer was no

    miser in his offer, nor was the seller indifferent.

  26. فصبراً فإنَّ الصبر خَيْرٌ مغبَّةً

    وهل من مَحِيْدٍ عنه إن حاد حائدُ

    So be patient: patience brings the best outcome;

    is there any escape from it, though one try to evade it?

  27. وقد فُزْتَ أن أصبحت عبداً مُسلِّماً

    لما أوْجبتهُ في الرقاب القلائدُ

    You have triumphed in becoming a submissive servant,

    accepting what the collars upon men's necks have made binding.

  28. لك الأجر تعويضاً من اللَّه وحده

    ومنْ خلْقه حُسْنُ الثنا والمحامدُ

    From God alone comes reward to compensate you,

    and from His creatures, fine praise and commendation.

  29. وللَّه لطْفٌ في العزاء لعبده

    وإن مسّه جَهْدٌ من الحزن جاهدُ

    God has gentleness in consoling His servant,

    even when an exhausting burden of grief afflicts him.

  30. هو الجارح الآسي ولا شك أنه

    سيشفى الحشا المجروحُ ممَّا يكابدُ

    He is the wounder and the healer, and there is no doubt

    the wounded heart will be healed of what it endures.

  31. ويحبوك بالعمر الطويل مُتابعاً

    لك الرِّفْدَ والمبْتزُّ إن شاء رافدُ

    And He will favor you with long life, continually renewing

    His bounty to you; the taker, if He wills, is a giver.

  32. أخا العلم والحلم اللذين كلاهما

    يؤازرُه في أمره ويُعاضدُ

    O man of knowledge and forbearance, each of which

    supports you in your affairs and lends you strength.

  33. ألم تك من هذا المصاب بمنظر

    لياليَ كان ابن النُّذور يجاهدُ

    Did you not have this calamity in view

    on those nights when the son of vows was struggling?

  34. ولا تحسبن الرُّزْء لم يك واقعاً

    ولا تعتقدْه طارفاً فهو تالدُ

    Do not think bereavement had never happened before;

    nor deem it new: it is an ancient inheritance.

  35. ونحن بذور الدهرِ والدهرُ زارع

    ونحن زروع الدهر والدهرُ حاصدُ

    We are time's seeds, and time is the sower;

    we are time's crops, and time is the reaper.

  36. وتاللَّه ما موْلىً لمولاه خالد

    ولا الحزن من مولى لمولاه خالدُ

    By God, no friend lives forever for his friend,

    nor does one friend's grief for another last forever.

  37. غدا الموت والسُّلْوان حتماً على الورى

    كِلا ذا وهذا للفريقين راصدُ

    Death and consolation are decreed for all humankind;

    this and that alike lie waiting for the two groups.

  38. فلا تجعلنَّ الموت نُكراً فإنما

    حياةُ الفتى سَيْرٌ إلى الموت قاصدُ

    Do not treat death as something strange, for

    a man's life is a journey heading straight toward death.

  39. ولا تحسبنَّ الحزن يبقى فإنه

    شهاب حريقٍ واقدٌ ثم خامدُ

    Nor think that sorrow lasts, for it is

    a flame of fire, blazing and then dying out.

  40. ستألفُ فقدان الذي قد فقدته

    كإلْفكَ وجْدان الذي أنت واجدُ

    You will grow used to losing the one you have lost,

    just as you are used to having the one you now have.

  41. على أنه لا بدّ من لذْع لوعةٍ

    تهبُّ أحايينا كما هبَّ راقدُ

    Yet there is no escaping the sting of burning grief

    that awakens at times as a sleeper wakes.

  42. ومن لم يزل يرعَى الشدائد فكره

    على مهلٍ هانت عليه الشدائدُ

    For one whose mind keeps attending to hardships

    with calm deliberation, hardships become light.

  43. وللشرّ إقلاعٌ وللهمِّ فَرْجَةٌ

    وللخير بعد المُؤيسات عوائدُ

    Evil relents, and worry finds release;

    and good returns after events that bring despair.

  44. وكم أعقبت بعد البلايا مواهبٌ

    وكم أعقبت بعد الرزايا فوائدُ

    How often have gifts followed trials,

    and benefits followed calamities!

  45. وكم سِّيئٍ يوماً سيقْفوه صالحٌ

    وكم شامت يوماً سيقفوه حاسدُ

    How many a bad turn will someday be followed by a good one,

    and how many a gloater will someday be followed by an envier!

  46. تَعزَّ حِجاً قبل السُّلُوِّ على المدى

    فمثلك للحسنى من الأمر عامدُ

    Find solace through reason before time brings forgetting,

    for one like you deliberately chooses the noblest course.

  47. وما أنت بالمرء المعلَّم رشدَه

    لعمري ولكن قد يذكَّر راشدُ

    You are not a man who needs to be taught right judgment,

    by my life; yet even a wise man may be reminded.

  48. وعِش في نماءٍ والوزير كلاكما

    وكلُّكم والدهرُ طَوْعٌ مساعدُ

    May you and the vizier both live in growing prosperity,

    and all of you, with time compliant and helpful,

  49. ترودون منه بين حظَّيْ سعادة

    لكم حاصلٌ منها عتيد وواعدُ

    ranging between two portions of the happiness it gives:

    one already yours and ready, the other full of promise.

  50. وجَدُّ الذي يَبْغيكُمْ الشرَّ هابطٌ

    وجَدُّ الذي يبغيكُم الخيرَ صاعدُ

    May the fortune of whoever wishes you evil decline,

    and the fortune of whoever wishes you good rise.

  51. وزَارتكُمُ بالمدْح كلُّ قصيدةٍ

    ولا قصدتكم بالمراثي القصائدُ

    May every poem visit you with praise,

    and may poems never seek you with elegies.

  52. أرى كلَّ مدحٍ قيل فيمن سواكمُ

    فليست له إلا البيوتَ مَناشدُ

    I see that all praise uttered for anyone but you

    has only houses as its places of recitation;

  53. وكلّ مديحٍ قيل فيكم فإنَّما

    مَناشده دون البقاع المساجدُ

    but every song of praise uttered for you

    has mosques, rather than other places, for its recitation.

  54. وما أنكرت تلك المشاهدُ فضلَكم

    وهل يُنْكر المعروف تلك المشاهدُ

    Those sacred places have not denied your excellence;

    could those sacred places deny acknowledged virtue?