يا نجدة الروم في بطارقها — Abn Rumi

يا نجدة الروم في بطارقِها

وحكمة الروم في مهارقِها

O champion of the Romans among their patricians,

And wisdom of the Romans in their writings,

هل فيكما نصرة مؤزرةٌ

لزاهق النفس أو كزاهقها

Is there in you both strong support

For one whose life is departing, or almost departing?

غيب عن عينه مُغافصةٌ

أفضلُ ما اعتدَّه لفاتقها

Suddenly hidden from his sight

Was the best thing he had counted on to mend it.

يا حرَّ صدري على الخطوب وما

تطويه بالغيب من بوائقها

How my breast burns over calamities and what

They conceal unseen of their disasters!

أُخرجتُ من جنتي مفاجأة

آمن ما كنت في حدائقها

I was suddenly driven from my garden

At the moment I felt safest among its groves.

بينا استماعي هديلَ هادلها

إذ راع قلبي نغيق ناغقها

While I listened to the cooing of its dove,

The croak of its crow startled my heart.

فارقني قاسمٌ لِطَيَّته

يا لهف نفسي على مفارقها

Qasim left me for his final journey;

How my soul grieves at his departure!

بان عن العين وهو في فكَري

أدنى إلى النفس من معانقها

He vanished from sight, yet in my thoughts

He is closer to my soul than one embracing it.

وكم أناس مباينين غدوا

ألصق بالنفس من ملاصقها

How many people, though far away, become

Closer to the soul than those beside it.

يا لهف نفسي على موفَّقها

يا لهف نفسي على مُوافقها

How my soul grieves for the one who brought it success!

How my soul grieves for the one who suited it!

كان حياة صفت بعافية

هيهات منها ملال ذائقها

He was a life made clear by well-being;

Its enjoyer was far from ever tiring of it.

هل يخلف البدر وجه سيدنا

كلا ولا الشمس في مشارقها

Can the full moon replace our master's face?

No, nor can the sun at its rising.

أو يخلف البدر نور ضحكته

إذا انجلى الليل عن بوارقها

Can the full moon replace the light of his laughter

When night gives way to its flashes?

أو يخلف الغيث راحتيه لنا

كلا وأخلاقه وخالقها

Can the rain replace his two generous hands for us?

No, nor can it replace his character or its maker.

أو يخلف البحر ما تجيش به

أفكاره تلك من دقائقها

Can the sea replace what surges

In his thoughts, down to their fine subtleties?

فتى إذا ما الشواكل التبست

شق الأباطيل عن حقائقها

A young man who, when difficulties became tangled,

Split falsehoods away from their truths.

ذو شيمة لم تزل مواعدها

في الصدق تجري على موائقها

A man of character whose promises have always

Kept faithfully to their appointed times.

والله لولا تطيُّري سفحت

عيني دم القلب من حمالقها

By God, but for my fear of ill omen,

My eyes would pour my heart's blood from their sockets.

لكن على غيره البكاء ولا

زالت أمانيه طوع سائقها

Yet tears are for another, while his hopes

Remain obedient to their guide.

يرمي به العمر في خوالفه

وحلبة المجد في سوابقها

May life cast him into its later years

While he stays among the leaders in the race for glory.

ويا نداماي لا عدمتكم

يا صفوة النفس من أصادقها

O my drinking companions, may I never lose you,

O my soul's chosen friends!

طلقت من بعدكم مناعم أص

بحت أرجّي رجاع طالقها

After you, I divorced pleasures; now I have

Come to hope for the return of what I divorced.

كأسي مذ غبتمُ معطلة

لم تجر عندي على طرائقها

Since you left, my cup has stood unused;

It has not followed its usual course with me.

غابقها ذاهل وصابحها

عن شأنها ذاهل كغابقها

Its evening drinker is distracted, and its morning drinker

Is as heedless of it as the evening drinker.

والعود والناي صامتان معاً

أو مسعدا عبرةٍ ودافقها

The lute and flute are silent together,

Or accompany a tear and its flowing.

ظعنتم والربيع منصرمٌ

والأرض تبكي على شقائقها

You departed as spring drew to its end,

And the earth weeps for its anemones.

فكان في ظعنكم لها شغل

على كل ما محَّ من روانقها

Your departure gave it cause to mourn

Beyond all the brightness that had faded from it.

ليس لبغداذ غيركم شجنٌ

ولا سوى ذكركم بشائقها

Baghdad has no sorrow but your absence,

Nor anything to long for but your memory.

صبراً جميلاً فإنها بكر ال

عيش ولا بد من ودائقها

Bear it with grace: she is in the first bloom of

Life, though its heat must come.

لكن آصالها مؤمَّلةٌ

آمننا الله من عوائقها

Yet her late afternoons offer hope;

May God keep their obstacles from us.

كأننا بالقيان تسمعنا

مثل المها العين في أبارقها

It is as though the singing women are already singing to us,

Like wide-eyed oryx among the sandhills.

من كل رود إذا تضمَّنت ال

ألحان أربت على مُخارقها

Each graceful one, when she takes up the

Melodies, surpasses their practiced performers.

أمانةَ الله إنها زنةُ ال

غبراء مبسوطها وخالقها

By God's trust, she is worth the weight of the

Earth, all that covers it and its Creator.

إلّا قرأتم على مؤمَّلِنا

سلام صادي الأحشاء خافقها

Do convey to the one in whom we place our hopes

The greeting of one whose parched heart trembles.

وقلتم غير كاذبين له

عن آمل النفس فيه واثقها

And tell him truthfully

Of one whose soul hopes in him and trusts him,

ناشر ذكر إذا التقت عُصَبٌ

حالت به المسكُ في مناشقها

One who spreads his praise whenever groups meet;

Through him, musk has filled their nostrils.

أليةً يا أبا الحسين بآ

لائك إني لغيرُ ماحقها

I swear, Abu al-Husayn, by your

Favors, I am no one who effaces them.

إن يكنِ الظلم منك يرهقها

فظلم مولاك غيرُ راهقها

If injustice from you should burden my soul,

My master's injustice does not overwhelm it.

كم نعمة منك لا يقر بها

ينطق عنها ذرورُ شارقها

How many favors of yours, though he will not acknowledge them,

Are proclaimed by the dust their radiance raises!

يا سارق الغر من صنائعه

مولاك ما عاش غيرُ سارقها

O you who steal the finest of his deeds,

Your master, while he lives, is no thief of them.

وفائق الحال حشوه شيمٌ

يعلمه الله غير فائقها

One who claims a lofty station, though his inner self holds virtues

That God knows he does not surpass.

أضحى يرومُ العُلا فقلتُ له

دع رائقاتِ العُلا لرائقها

He began seeking eminence, and I said to him:

Leave the splendors of eminence to the one worthy of them.

يا من يُحب العلا منافقة

هيهات أعيت على منافقها

O you who profess love of eminence in hypocrisy,

It is far beyond the hypocrite's reach.

فلا تحاول خداع كيِّسةٍ

تضنُّ بالصفو عن مُماذقها

Do not try to deceive a discerning woman

Who withholds her pure favor from one who dilutes it.

ولا تخل أنها مُصادقةٌ

أخرى الليالي سوى مُصادقها

Do not imagine that she will befriend

Anyone in times to come but her true friend.

لن يجمع المال والعلا مقة

بل وامق المال غير وامقها

Love will never join wealth and eminence;

The lover of wealth is no lover of her.

فكِل إلى قاسمٍ ولايتها

وخل معشوقة لعاشقها

Entrust her guardianship to Qasim,

And leave the beloved to her lover.

ذاك الذي لم تزل شمائله

أحلى من الهيف في مناطقها

He whose qualities have always been

Sweeter than slender waists within their belts.

خذها كدرِّ الفتاة منتظماً

أو عِتَر المسك في مخانقها

Take these verses like a maiden's pearls strung together,

Or grains of musk in necklaces.

وإنني ملحق بها فِقَراً

سوابق الشعر من لواحقها

And I shall add further passages to them,

Joining later verses to earlier ones.

لا يخطئ السالكون قصدهم

ميلاً إلى فتنة وناعقها

May travelers never miss their intended way

By turning toward sedition and its crier.

وليعدل الجائرون عن قُحمٍ

بمن أتاها مَحيقُ حائقها

And let those who stray turn from reckless ventures;

Whoever enters them meets ruin at their hands.

خلافة الله في ملوك بني ال

عباس من خير رزق رازقها

God's caliphate among the kings of the sons of

Abbas is among the best gifts its Giver bestowed.

قبيلة لستَ عادماً رشداً

في كهلها لا ولا مراهقها

A house in whose members you never lack sound judgment,

Whether in its mature men or its youths.

فالحلم والعلم في أشائبها

والجود والبأس في غرانقها

For forbearance and learning dwell among its elders,

And generosity and courage among its young nobles.

يكفيك أن أصبحت خلافتهم

وابنُ سليمان حبلُ عاتقها

It is enough that their caliphate now has

The son of Sulayman as its sustaining bond,

وأن إفضاله ونائله

لطالبي الفضل من مرافقها

And that his favor and gifts

Help those who seek distinction.

يا لك من نحلة معسَّلة

وحية منه في سُرادقها

What a honeyed bee you have in him,

And what a snake he is within its pavilion!

به استقامت أمور مملكة

عوجاء واستوسقت لواسقها

Through him, the affairs of a kingdom were set straight

After crookedness, and its bonds were drawn together.

كأن تصريفه الخطوب لها

نتق جبال عنت لناتقها

His handling of its crises seems like

Uprooting mountains that resist the one who pulls them.

جلّت هناك الخطوب وارتفعت

شاهاتها الصيد عن بياذقها

There the crises grew great, and their

Proud chess kings rose above their pawns.

تُعدُّ منه لحربها قلماً

يُفرِجُ للرمح في مضايقها

In its war, his pen is reckoned

To clear a path for the spear in narrow places.

ويهتدي عامِهُ السيوف به

من هام قوم إلى مفارقها

Through him, the bewildered wielder of swords finds his way

From men's heads to the parts in their hair.

أحصن من سور كل عالية ال

سور حفاظاً ومن خنادقها

In his protection he is stronger than the wall of any lofty

Walled city, and stronger than its trenches.

كم نوبة يذعر الزمان لها

يُعدُّه أهله لطارقها

How many turns of fortune make time itself take fright

Yet find its people preparing him to meet them!

ورشدةٍ كان من مَفاتحها

وغيَّةٍ كان من مغالقها

How often he has opened a path to right guidance

And closed the way to error!

يلقى دهاءُ الرجال حيلتَه

أملأ بالضعف من أحامقها

Men's cunning meets his stratagem

And seems feebler than the simplest fool.

يترك بالحول حول حُوَّلِها

وهو سواء وموق مائقها

With his resourcefulness he leaves the resourceful man

No different from a witless simpleton.

يرمي بدهياء من فلائقه

في وجه دهياء من فلائقها

He hurls a great stratagem of his own making

Against a great stratagem of theirs.

كم زاحم الدهر فوق مدحضة

زلج فما زل عن زحالقها

How often he has challenged fate on slippery ground

And never slipped from its treacherous footing!

كم أنشأ المزن من ندىً وردىً

لمعتفي دولة وفاسقها

How often he has raised clouds of bounty and destruction

For the seeker of a state's favor and for its transgressor!

فأمطر البَرَّ من مَغاوثها

وفاجِرَ القومِ من صواعقها

Then he rains rescue on the righteous

And thunderbolts on the people's wicked.

يا آل وهب سمت بكم رتبٌ

يقصِّر السؤل عن سوامقها

O family of Wahb, through you ranks have risen

So high that desire falls short of their heights.

يا عترة لم تزل ممدَّحة

ينكِّبُ الطعن عن خلائقها

O house whose members have always won praise,

Reproach turns aside from their characters.

فاتت فما ذمُّنا بلاحقها

كلا ولا مدحنا بسابقها

They have gone so far that our blame cannot catch them;

Nor, indeed, can our praise get ahead of them.

يكرم مخبوركم على محنٍ

من الليالي ومن صوافقها

Your tested worth proves noble amid the trials

Of the nights and their crushing blows.

كأنكم أنصلٌ مهندةٌ

يبدي لنا الصقل عن سفاسقها

You are like finely tempered blades

Whose polish reveals their finest qualities.

أضحى نثا الملك والملوك بكم

أذكى من المسك في مفارقها

Through you, the renown of kingship and kings

Has become more fragrant than musk in parted hair.

وفات صنديدكم بسابقةٍ

طالبها الدهر غير لاحقها

Your champion outstripped the age in a race

That time itself pursues without catching him.

وازَت عُراها ملوك مِلَّتنا

فكنتمُ ثمَّ من وثائقها

The kings of our community drew alongside its bonds;

There you stood among its firm supports.

فعولت منكم هناك على

فاتِقِ أحوالها وراتقها

Thus, from among you, it relied

On one who could open its affairs and bind them together.

واستحفظته قوام دولتها

وما يلي ذاك من علائقها

It entrusted him with preserving the order of its state

And all the duties connected with it.

وكفَّلته برفد يابسها

ووكَّلته بكيدِ مارقها

It charged him with supporting its barren lands

And entrusted him with outwitting its rebel.

فحطَّت الفقر عن عواتقنا

وحطت الهم عن عواتقها

So he lifted poverty from our shoulders

And lifted worry from the state's shoulders.

وبيَّنَ الجريُ من صواهلها

خلاف ما كان من نواهقها

The running distinguished its neighing horses

From those that had only brayed.

فلا تخافوا أمنتم أبداً

ما أينع الطلع في بواسقها

Have no fear; you will remain secure

So long as fruit ripens on tall palms.

جعلتمُ عُرفَكم معاقلكم

من الليالي ومن طوارقها

You have made your generosity your fortresses

Against the nights and their sudden blows.

وجاعل العرف من معاقله

أنجى من العصم في شواهقها

One who makes generosity his fortress

Is safer than mountain goats on their high peaks.

نعماؤكم في الأنام قد طرفت

عين من الله عينَ رامقها

Your favors among the people have caught

God's watchful eye as it watches those who observe them.

وعصبة يحذقون مدحكمُ

من مجدكم جاء حذق حاذقها

And a company skilled at praising you

Owes its skill to your glory.

لو مدحت غيركم فحولُهمُ

لقصر اللوم عن شقاشقها

If their master poets praised anyone else,

Blame would stop short of their eloquent tongues.

كم مدحة لو عدتكمُ خرست

كنتم سبيلاً لنطق ناطقها

How many praises would fall silent if they passed you by!

You have given their speakers reason to speak.

ومدحة لو عدتكم كذبت

كنتم سبيلاً لصدق صادقها

And how many praises would be lies if they passed you by!

You have given their speakers reason to speak truth.

وكيف لا تبرز العقول لكم

وصائف الشعر في قراطقها

How could minds fail to bring forth for you

Poetry's serving girls in their tunics?

وفي سواكم كساد كاسدها

وفي ذراكم نفاق نافقها

With others, even what sells lies unsold;

Under your protection, what languishes finds a market.

لكنني قائل لبارقة

منكم لغيري صبيب وادقها

Yet I must speak of a flash

From you whose rain has poured on another.

عدلك يا مزنةً هجرتُ كرى

عينيَّ قدماً لِشَيم بارقها

Your justice, O rain cloud, whose lightning I have long

Watched while sleep forsook my eyes!

أأتقي الدهر ذا الهنات بكم

وأعظمي طعمة لعارقها

Shall I seek your shelter against the age's injuries

While my bones become food for one who gnaws them?

تالله ما عزتي لهاضمها

فيكم ولا هيبتي لخارقها

By God, my honor is not there to be crushed

Among you, nor my dignity to be breached.