Sol 6.1

  1. لَهانَ على نُعاتِكَ أن نُصابا

    وإن فزِعوا لخطبك حين نابا

    To those who announced your death, our affliction mattered little,

    though they were alarmed at your calamity when it befell.

  2. رموا بصواعقِ الأنباءِ تهوي

    فتلتهبُ البلادُ لها التهابا

    They hurled down thunderbolts of tidings,

    and the land blazes fiercely at them.

  3. إذا غمرت فِجاجَ الأرضِ ناراً

    تَدافعَ موجُها فطوى العُبابا

    When they flood the earth's passes with fire,

    its waves surge onward and engulf the swelling waters.

  4. أَبعدَ الأربعين يُجيب ثاوٍ

    فيحمل عاصفُ الرّيحِ الجوابا

    After forty days, can one lying buried answer,

    and the raging wind carry the reply?

  5. أبا شادي سكتَّ وكنتَ صوتاً

    شديدَ القصفِ يخترقُ السَّحابا

    Abu Shadi, you have fallen silent, though you were a voice

    of thunderous peals that pierced the clouds.

  6. ونْمِتَ عن الحوادثِ وهي يقظى

    تُنازِعُنا المضاجعَ والثّيابا

    You sleep through calamities while they remain awake,

    contending with us for our beds and clothes.

  7. أحِينَ رَمى السّبيلُ بكلّ سارٍ

    رمى عزريلُ فاخترمَ الشّهابا

    Was it when the road cast off every traveler

    that Azrael struck and snatched away the shooting star?

  8. طلبنا كلَّ أروعَ ذي نصابٍ

    فكنتَ أعزَّ مَن ملكَ النّصابا

    We sought every splendid man of noble stock,

    and you were the most esteemed of all who had such lineage.

  9. إذا جئتَ الجِنانَ فَحيِّ عنِّي

    منازلَ فتيةٍ رفعوا القِبابا

    When you reach Paradise's gardens, greet for me

    the dwellings of young men who raised the domes.

  10. حُماةُ النّيلِ ما عرفوه إلا

    حياةً في الممالكِ أو ثوابا

    Defenders of the Nile, they knew it only

    as life among the kingdoms, or as reward.

  11. أبَوْا أن يُعبَدَ الطّاغوتُ فيه

    وأن يتخطّفَ الأرضَ اغتصابا

    They refused to let the tyrant be worshiped there,

    or snatch the land away by force.

  12. رموا ورمى فما جزعوا لخِطبٍ

    ولا وضعوا الجِبِاهَ ولا الرّقابا

    They fired and he fired, yet no calamity made them quail,

    nor did they lower their foreheads or their necks.

  13. مضى عبدُ اللطيفِ فلم تَدَعْهُ

    ولم تَدَعِ الحُداةَ ولا الرِّكابا

    Abd al-Latif passed on, and you did not leave him,

    nor did you leave the camel-drivers or their mounts.

  14. فليتكَ إذ لحقتَ به وشيكاً

    حملتَ إليه من قِبَليِ كتابا

    Would that, when you swiftly followed him,

    you had carried him a letter from me.

  15. بكيتُك للبلادِ تذودُ عنها

    إذا الحَدَثُ الجليلُ بها أهابا

    I wept for you, for the land you defended

    when a grave calamity sounded its alarm there.

  16. وعندي عَبْرةٌ لك لن تراها

    تَخونُ العِلمَ والأدبَ اللُّبابا

    I have a tear for you that you will never see

    betray learning or the purest literature.

  17. وأًخرى يمتريها الوُدُّ صفواً

    كماءِ المُزنِ تَكرهُ أن يُشابا

    And another, which affection draws forth pure,

    like rain-cloud water, unwilling to be tainted.

  18. وأنكدُ ما لبِستَ من الليالي

    مودّةَ معشرٍ لَبِسوا الخِلابا

    And the bitterest thing you wore through your nights

    was friendship with people clothed in deceit,

  19. بأرضٍ تترك الآسادَ صَرْعَى

    وتستبقى الثعالبَ والذئابا

    in a land that leaves lions slain

    and spares the foxes and the wolves.

  20. لقد أنكرتُ دهري منذُ حينٍ

    ونفسي والعشيرةَ والصَّحابا

    For some time now I have found my times strange,

    and myself, my clan, and my companions.

  21. أَمَنْ عَرَفَ اليقينَ فَصحَّ رأياً

    كمن جَهِل الحقائقَ فاسترابا

    Is one who knows certainty and is sound in judgment

    like one ignorant of the truths, who falls into doubt?

  22. وكيف تزيدُني عِلماً حياةٌ

    قرأت كتابها باباً فبابا

    And how can life increase my knowledge,

    when I have read its book, chapter after chapter?

  23. بلادٌ بيعَ سُؤْدُدُها فضاعت

    وشعبٌ هيضَ جانبُه فذابا

    A land whose glory was sold, and so was lost,

    and a people whose flank was broken, who melted away.

  24. فمن يَأْبَ السرَّابَ فقد أَراني

    أَمُدُّ يديَّ أغترِفُ السّرابا

    Whoever may reject the mirage, I see myself

    stretching out my hands to scoop up the mirage.

  25. ولو أنّي سوايَ ذهبتُ أَبغِي

    إلى وطنٍ سوى مصرَ انتسابا

    Were I other than myself, I would go seeking

    a bond of belonging to a homeland other than Egypt.

  26. ومن حملَ الأمانةَ في بلادٍ

    تَدينُ بغيرها حَملَ العذابا

    And whoever bears the trust in a land

    that owes allegiance elsewhere bears torment.

  27. رُزِئْنا في البقيَّةِ من بنيها

    فصبراً للنّوائبِ واحتسابا

    We have been bereaved of the remnant of her sons;

    so patience in misfortune, and hope of God's reward.

  28. أيبقى من نُصابُ على يديهِ

    ويُمعِنُ مِدْرَهُ القومِ الذَّهابا

    Does the one at whose hands we suffer loss remain,

    while the people's champion goes ever farther away?

  29. أَسَيْتُ له وما بالموتِ نُكرٌ

    إذا نشرَ الأسَى وطوى العِتابا

    I grieved for him, yet there is no wrong in death

    when it unfolds grief and folds reproach away.

  30. فإن يذهبْ بنا وبه اختلافٌ

    فإنَّ لنا إلى الحُسَنى مآبا

    Though disagreement may lead us and him apart,

    we have a homecoming to the best reward.

  31. إذا ما المرءُ كانَ على يقينٍ

    فقد أرضاكَ أخَطأَ أم أصابا

    When a man is firm in his conviction,

    he has pleased you, whether wrong or right.

  32. وللأحزابِ وِجْهتُها فدعها

    إلى أن يقشعَ النُّورُ الضَّبابا

    Each party has its own direction; leave them be

    until the light dispels the fog.

  33. سنذكرُه إذا النكباءُ هبَّتْ

    تلفُّ الشّيبَ منّا والشّبابا

    We shall remember him when the crosswind blows,

    sweeping up our gray-haired and our young.

  34. ونَعرفُه إذا الأَجماتُ ريعَتْ

    فَرُحْنا ننشدُ الأُسْدَ الغِضابا

    And we shall know him when the thickets are alarmed

    and we go forth seeking angry lions.

  35. وكان على العدوِّ أشدَّ ظُفراً

    إذا شَهِدَ الوغى وأحدَّ نابا

    Against the foe, he was strongest of claw,

    when he joined battle, and sharpest of fang.

  36. أأحمدُ هل رأيتَ الموتَ إلا

    أحقَّ الطّبِ بالمرضى رِحابا

    Ahmad, have you seen death as anything but

    the worthiest remedy, with spacious courts for the sick?

  37. إذا كَرِهوا المضاجعَ من حريرٍ

    أحبّوا في مَضاجعهِ التُّرابا

    When they loathe beds of silk,

    they love the dust in his beds.

  38. وإن نَقَموا المشاربَ سائغاتٍ

    رضوا بالصَّابِ من يده شرابا

    And if they reject pleasant drinks,

    they are content with bitter sap from his hand as drink.

  39. إذا بات الهُجوعُ أعزَّ شيءٍ

    أصابوه بِساحتِه نِهابا

    When sleep becomes the rarest thing,

    they find it, free for the taking, in his court.

  40. وكم من غفوةٍ لو قوَّموها

    بملء الأرضِ جاوزتِ الحسابا

    How many a slumber, if they priced it

    by all the earth contains, would exceed all reckoning!

  41. رأيتُ السَّعْيَ أكثرُه ضلالٌ

    ولم أرَ كالطّبيبِ سعَى فخابا

    I have seen that most striving goes astray,

    and I have seen none like the physician, striving only to fail.

  42. عقابُ الدّاءِ من طِبِّ المنايا

    إذا لم يَخْشَ من طبٍّ عقابا

    Punishing disease is one of death's cures,

    when it fears no punishment from medicine.

  43. إليك فتى القريض رثاءَ عانٍ

    يزيدُ الدّاءُ منطقَهُ اضطرابا

    To you, champion of verse, an elegy from a sufferer

    whose speech illness makes ever more unsteady.

  44. كأنَّ ثيابَ قيصرَ أدركتني

    فتلك قُروحُها تَعِدُ التَّبابا

    It is as though Caesar's robes had overtaken me—

    and those sores of theirs promise destruction.

  45. وما أنا وامرؤُ القيس بن حجرٍ

    رعى الحُرُماتِ أم هَتَكَ الحِجابا

    And what have I to do with Imru' al-Qays ibn Hujr,

    whether he honored sacred bounds or tore away the veil?