الفضل فضلك زائرا ومزورا — Ahmed Al Kashef

الفضل فضلك زائراً ومزورا

فأعد صنيعك ذاكراً مذكورا

The generosity is yours, as visitor and host.

So repeat your kindness, remembering and remembered.

وتعهَّدِ الغرسَ الذي استحييتَه

حتى تبسَّم كالرجاء نضيرا

And tend the sapling you kept alive

until it smiled, verdant as hope,

متخيِّراً غرر السنين مواعداً

بنعيمهنَّ وسعدهنَّ بشيرا

choosing the years' bright beginnings as meeting times,

a herald of their bliss and good fortune.

لاقتك في الثاني لقاءك أولاً

أمَّ القرى وتلا الضحى التبكيرا

In the second, you were greeted as when you first met

the Mother of Towns; late morning followed early dawn.

ذا موسمُ الأكفاء في مجدٍ وفي

مالٍ فخلد موسمي المشهورا

This is the season of peers in glory and in

wealth; make my renowned season everlasting.

ولقد عرفتك في بعادك راجياً

أن لا أرى أمداً إليك عسيرا

I knew you even in your absence, hoping

never to find the distance to you hard to cross.

ولبثتُ حتى زرتني في موضعي

فكأنني بالغيب كنت بصيرا

And I waited until you visited me where I was,

as though I had sight of the unseen.

شرفتني في قريتي فكأنني

ملك أسوس مدائناً وثغورا

You honored me in my village, as though I were

a king governing cities and frontier strongholds,

يقضي ويقدر ما استعان بعسكر

فيما يشاء ولا استشار وزيرا

judging and decreeing, seeking no army's aid

in what he wills, nor consulting a minister.

للّه يوم لقيتَني متجمِّلاً

متهللاً بتحيتي مسرورا

How splendid the day you met me, finely arrayed,

beaming, delighted by my greeting!

يومٌ أطلتَ به الحياةَ ومحفلٌ

فيه امتلكت خورنقاً وسديرا

A day through which you lengthened life, a gathering

in which I possessed Khawarnaq and Sadir.

للدين والدنيا هديتك التي

توحي إليِّ الشعر والتصويرا

For faith and worldly life alike is your gift,

which inspires in me poetry and imagery.

لم تُهدِ طنفسة إليَّ وإنما

أهديت تاجاً غالياً وسريرا

You did not give me a carpet; rather,

you gave a precious crown and a throne.

شاهدت حذق الفرس فيها معجباً

وأطلت في إبداعها التفكيرا

In it, amazed, I saw the Persians' skill,

and pondered long upon its artistry,

متعلماً من وشيها وطرازها

لرسائلي التدبيج والتحبيرا

learning from its embroidery and designs

how to embellish and adorn my letters.

شرفت بها القوقازُ حيث عشيرتي ال

أولى كما سرَّت بمصر عشيرا

The Caucasus was honored by it, home of my

first clan, as it gladdened a kinsman in Egypt.

وسألت ربي أن تكون أريكتي

في الخلد أسترعي عليها الحورا

And I asked my Lord that it might be my couch

in Paradise, where I would have houris attend me upon it.

قمبيز مهما روعت آثاره

أضحى لأجلك ذنبه مغفورا

Cambyses, however terrifying his deeds,

has his sin forgiven now for your sake.

هل أنت إلا صفوة القوم الألى

نصروا العلوم ومدَّنوا المعمورا

Are you anything but the choicest of those who

championed the sciences and civilized the inhabited world?

لم يسمعوا القرآن أول مرة

حتى أجادوا الشرح والتفسيرا

No sooner had they first heard the Quran

than they mastered exposition and interpretation.

وتجمَّعوا للنفع حين تنازع ال

عرب الولاة خليفة وأميرا

And they united for the common good, while the

Arab rulers quarreled, caliph and emir.

يا ذا البيانُ يرى الحسام وأهله

إن اليراع أجل منه أمورا

O you, eloquence shows the sword and its wielders

that the pen is of greater consequence than it.

لم يدرِ قارئه أينظر دولة

مفتوحة أم محكماً مسطورا

Its reader could not tell whether he beheld a realm

conquered, or a masterfully written text.

ما كرَّم الشعراءَ أنّك شاعرٌ

حتى أجلتك الملوك سفيرا

No sooner had your being a poet honored poets

than kings exalted you as an ambassador.

لك عند كسرى ما لذي قرباه أو

أعلى وحسبك ما ترى تقديرا

With Kisra you have the standing of his kin, or

higher; the esteem you see is enough for you.

ناداك باللَّقب الذي أغنيتَه

عن أن يرى لك في الكرام نظيرا

He called you by the title with which you spared him

the need to seek your equal among the noble.

ألقى عليك محبة وأمانة

فاسلك سبيل الظافرين جسورا

He bestowed on you love and a trust,

so boldly follow the path of the victorious.

وتوعدنَّ عدوَّه بعدوِّه

حتى يبيت على الجميع قديرا

And threaten his enemy with that enemy's foe,

until he holds power over them all.

وإذا دعوت إلى السلام فقبله

مكِّن لحرصك حول أرضك سورا

And when you call for peace, first

raise a firm wall around your land as a precaution.

أرأيت قيصر كيف خادع نفسه

والناس لما طيَّر المنشورا

Have you seen how the Tsar deceived himself

and the people when he sent the proclamation flying,

وألان منطقه ليقسو قلبه

ثم استكان ليعتدي ويجورا

and softened his speech so his heart could harden,

then grew meek in order to attack and oppress?

أيرد قيصر أن يسود وإنَّ من

أعداء قيصر أجبلاً وبحورا

Does the Tsar wish to rule, though among

the Tsar's enemies are mountains and seas?

ويصيد ملء اللجِّ حيتاناً ومل

ء الفجِّ أسداً والسماء نسورا

And hunt the deep's fill of whales, and the

mountain pass's fill of lions, and the sky's eagles?

ويحاول التغليب في سهل ولم

يثبت وقد تخذ الجبال ظهيرا

And seek supremacy on a plain, though he could not

stand firm even with the mountains at his back?

وأقل أعذار الحصون مثارها

إذ أسلمت للحاصر المحصورا

And the forts' least excuse is their shattered remains,

when they surrendered the besieged to the besieger.

أسفي على جندٍ هنالك مسلمٍ

يؤذي ويؤذى مرغماً مقهورا

Alas for the Muslim troops there,

harming and harmed, coerced and overpowered.

يا ليتني بين الألى ظفروا عسى

أأسو جريحاً أو أفك أسيرا

Would that I were among those who triumphed, that perhaps

I might heal a wounded man or free a captive.

فالشعر أبلغ من سيوف الروس في

أكبادهم وقلوبهم تأثيرا

For poetry strikes deeper than Russian swords into

their livers and their hearts.

أصديقَ قيصرَ عنه حدِّثنا فما

نلقى شبيهَك بالأمور خبيرا

O friend of the Tsar, tell us of him, for

we meet none like you in understanding affairs.

أنصحتَه مستيئساً من نصره

فعساه يغمد سيفه المكسورا

Have you counseled him, despairing of his victory?

Then perhaps he will sheathe his broken sword.

الروس لا يبغون فتحاً مثلما

يتطلَّبون لروسيا الدستورا

The Russians do not seek conquest so much as

they seek a constitution for Russia.

إني أرى نصح الملوك وإن قسا

إلا عليك محرَّماً محظورا

I deem counsel to kings, however harsh,

forbidden and barred to all but you.

لو آثر السلم العباد ليسلموا

كنت المحكَّم فيهمُ المشكورا

Had mankind chosen peace so they might be safe,

you would have been their arbiter, and thanked for it.

أو كان للإشفاق فيهم موضعٌ

وعت القلوب قصيدك المأثورا

Or had compassion any place among them,

their hearts would have absorbed your memorable verse.

فلقد وصفتَ الحرب حتى خلتُني

فيها أرى التقتيل والتدميرا

For you described war until I imagined myself

within it, seeing slaughter and destruction.

أيريد سلماً في البرية راحمٌ

ما دام كلٌّ ثائراً مثئورا

Does a merciful man desire peace among mankind

while each is avenger and vengeance's target?

مولاي حسبي من ودادك أنّه

لم يبق تيّاهاً عليَّ فخورا

My lord, your affection suffices me in that it

has left none to swagger and boast over me.

وعليَّ حقك لا أوفّيه وإن

أملأ طريقك لؤلؤاً منثورا

And I owe you a debt I cannot repay, even if

I fill your path with scattered pearls.

أحليت بالدمع الكريم فمي كما

عطرت أنفاسي به تعطيرا

You sweetened my mouth with noble tears, as

you perfumed my breaths with them so richly.

لو مازج القزوين بعض مذاقتي

لجرى شراباً للأنام طهورا

Were a little of my mouth's savor mixed into the Caspian,

it would flow as a pure drink for mankind.

وكفى بهذا الشعر حولي موكباً

وكفى بنفسي وحدها جمهورا

And this poetry is procession enough around me,

and my own self alone is audience enough.

فلئن وصلت فقد وصلت مهذباً

وإذا نصرت فقد نصرت غيورا

If you have befriended me, you have befriended a refined man;

and if you have supported me, you have supported a zealous man.

لو عاد للأشعار فردوسيُّها

لقضى الرضى أني أرق شعورا

Were poetry's Ferdowsi to return,

he would gladly judge me more tender in feeling.