هل بعد خطبِك أستفيق فأنشد — أحمد الكاشف

هل بعد خطبِك أستفيق فأنشدُ

لأهيم وجداً أو تعود محمدُ

Can I recover after the calamity of your loss and sing?

I shall wander in longing until you return, Muhammad.

فارقت قومك والليالي صارمٌ

دانٍ إلى أعناقهم يتهدد

You left your people, while the nights were a sharp sword,

near their necks, menacing them.

وتركتهم في الخطوة الأولى إلى

ما كنت تأمل فالقطيع مشرَّد

And you left them at the first step toward

what you hoped for; the flock is scattered.

أين الضياء لهديهم أين الزلا

ل لريِّهم لمساقهم أين اليد

Where is the light to guide them? Where is the clear

water to quench their thirst? Where is the hand to lead them?

يا ويحهم والبر قفر شائك

متزلزل والبحر مرغٍ مزبد

Alas for them! The land is a thorny waste,

quaking, and the sea is frothing and foaming.

كنت الإمام ومت مكبوداً فما

يذوي من الأحياء إلا الأكبد

You were the leader and died with a stricken liver; for none

among the living withers but the liver-stricken.

ما كنت تخشى عائقاً غير الردى

لك في سبيل اللّه عما تقصد

You feared no obstacle but death

that might turn you from your purpose in the path of God.

تفتي بدافعهم إلى نفّاعهم

فتعينك الفتوى عليه وتسعد

You issued rulings to spur them toward what most benefits them,

and those rulings helped you in that and brought success.

وتكون عدتهم ليوم جهادهم

إن خانهم هذا الزمان الأنكد

And you were their provision for the day of their struggle,

if this ill-starred age betrayed them.

وتفسر القرآن تسترعي به

أبناء دينك عصرهم وتزود

You interpreted the Quran, using it to call

the sons of your faith to heed their age, and to equip them.

وتجادل البلغاء عنهم بينما

يخشى الجريء ويهمد المتوقد

You debated the eloquent on their behalf, while

the bold grew fearful and the ardent fell still.

وتروِّج اللغة الصحيحة فيهمُ

من بعد ما عشقوا الركيك فأكسدوا

You promoted sound language among them,

after they had loved feeble speech and left the sound unsought.

وتقوم بالشورى إذا طاشت بها ال

أحلام توترها لهم وتُسدِّد

You upheld consultation when it was thrown off course by the

minds, stringing its bow for them and aiming true.

وتؤلف الكتب الثمينة للورى

تجلو قرائحهم بها وتجدد

You composed precious books for humankind,

polishing their intellects with them and renewing them.

ما كنت ترضى في الحكومة منصباً

إلا لتظهر كيف يقضي السيد

You accepted no position in government

except to show how a noble leader judges.

من للرئاسة والسياسة والعلى

إن كان فيها ذو التجارب يزهد

Who is there for leadership, politics, and eminence,

if the man of experience shuns them?

لم تعطك الألقاب إلا همة

ملء الوجود وأنعم لا تنفد

Titles gave you only lofty resolve

filling all existence, and bounties that never run out.

فأريت أهل الشرق أن صلاحهم

بنفوسهم لا بالملوك مؤكَّد

You showed the people of the East that their betterment

is assured by their own selves, not by kings.

وأبنت للمغلوب علة عجزه

ومراس غالبه فهمّ يقلد

You explained to the vanquished the cause of his weakness

and his conqueror's practiced skill; he resolved to emulate him,

من بعد ما أمضى الليالي خائفاً

مترقباً أو ذا شكاة يحقد

after he had spent the nights afraid,

anxiously watchful, or full of complaint and rancor.

وأضله نفرٌ يرون نجاته

في أن يسبُّوا من بغى ويعربدوا

A group misled him, seeing his salvation

in cursing the oppressor and making an uproar.

وفَّقت بينهما فذو غرس كما

ترجو وذو رزق يطيع ويحصد

You reconciled the two: one with plantings, as

you hoped, and one with a livelihood, obeying and reaping.

ذكروا نصيحتك التي لو صانها

زعماؤهم من قبل لم يستأسدوا

They remembered your counsel, which, had

their leaders preserved it before, they would not have grown fierce as lions.

لولاك لاتَّبعوا العناد فقاتلوا

واستهدفوا أو أذعنوا فاستعبدوا

Without you, they would have followed defiance and fought,

making themselves targets—or submitted and been enslaved.

فلو احتذى منهم مثالَك خمسةٌ

عاد الفخار إليهمُ والسؤدد

Had five among them followed your example,

glory and eminence would have returned to them.

يتطلب الدستورَ أقوامٌ ولو

وليت حكم شعوب قيصر أخلدوا

Some peoples demand a constitution; yet had

you assumed rule over Caesar's peoples, they would have rested content.

وغداً يود غلاته وحماته

لو أطلقوا لك أمرهم وتقيدوا

Tomorrow, its zealots and defenders will wish

they had given you free rein over their affairs and bound themselves,

وقضيت فيهم مستبداً عادلاً

فجمعت شملهم وأنت المفرد

and you had ruled among them as a just autocrat,

uniting their ranks, though you were one man alone.

وكسبت ما لا يكسبنَّ متوَّجٌ

صعب الشكيمة بالجيوش مؤيد

You won what no crowned ruler could ever win,

hard to bridle and backed by armies.

ولقد تغالى الناس في الشهوات لا

يعنيهمُ في الكون إلا العسجد

People have indeed gone to excess in their desires; nothing

in the universe matters to them except gold.

رانت على ألبابهم شبهاتهم

في الدين فاتهموا اليقين وفنّدوا

Their doubts had laid a crust over their minds

concerning religion; they impugned certainty and called it folly.

وتوهموه مُقعِداً للناس عن

علم وعن مدنية وتشددوا

They imagined it held people back from

knowledge and civilization, and grew obstinate.

وجروا سراعاً في فسيح ظنونهم

وشكوكهم متخبطين فألحدوا

They raced through the wide expanse of their conjectures

and doubts, floundering, and fell into unbelief.

حتى إذا بلغوا المدى جادلتهم

فأعدتهم مستسلمين فوحدوا

Until, when they reached the limit, you debated them

and brought them back in submission, and they affirmed God's oneness.

هل بعد ما حكَّمت عقلك فيهم

يبقى من العقلاء من يتردد

After you made your reason the arbiter among them,

does any person of reason remain in doubt?

أنصفت حتى ما يُسِرُّ لمسلمٍ

متنصرٌ حقداً ولا متهود

You were so fair that no one secretly harbors toward a Muslim

rancor—neither a convert to Christianity nor a convert to Judaism.

ما قمت بالإصلاح إلا بعد ما

قدَّرت قوة من يكيد ويفسد

You did not undertake reform until

you had assessed the strength of those who scheme and corrupt.

وجعلت عفوك عن عداتك سنة

للقادرين بها إليهم تعهد

You made pardoning your enemies a practice

for those with power, charging them to follow it.

ما الحرب تقتيل العدى لكنها

نزع الحكيم من الورى ما عودوا

War is not the slaughter of enemies, but rather

the sage's stripping people of what they had grown used to.

ما أنت في الهيجاء خصماً فاتكاً

تسقي المنية كل من يتمرد

You were no murderous adversary in battle,

making every rebel drink death.

ما عذر ذي الثقة الكبيرة نفسه

إن لم يجد عذراً لديه الحُسَّد

What excuse has one with such great confidence in himself,

if the envious find no excuse in his eyes?

وبأي طب يستطاع علاج من

يستنكر البرهان وهو مجسد

With what medicine can one be treated who

rejects the proof, though it stands embodied,

ويرى التنقل في الممالك بدعة

حين ارتحالك ناقداً تتفقد

and regards travel among kingdoms as an innovation,

when you journeyed as a critical observer, inspecting?

من بات غيرك والخطوب محيطة

بالمغرب الأقصى رقيباً يرصد

Who but you kept vigil, while calamities surrounded

the Far Maghreb, a sentinel keeping watch?

لو طال عمرك حقبة وصنعت ما

أزمعت صنت ولاية تتبدد

Had your life lasted another span, and had you done what

you resolved upon, you would have preserved a realm falling apart.

أتهمُّ بالأعباء عنهم ثم لا

يرضيهمُ إلا الخمول المقعد

Do you take up their burdens, yet

nothing pleases them but paralyzing inactivity?

ماذا يضرك إن أبيت النفع لو

حجبتك دار عنهم أو مسجد

What harm would it do you to withhold your help, if

a house or a mosque hid you from them?

ما كان يبرد غلهم يا سيفهم

حتى تبيت وأنت فيهم مغمد

Their rancor would not cool, O their sword,

until you lay sheathed in their midst.

ونطقت بالشعر الصراح مودعاً

فتركته وهو الأجل الأمجد

You spoke in candid verse, bidding farewell,

and left it the most exalted, the most glorious.

أيضيعه أحد وتلك وصية

لذويه بالحق الذي لا يجحد

Would anyone squander it, when it is a testament

to his own people, enjoining the truth that cannot be denied?

هذي حياة الجد في القوم الأُلَى

هزلوا وجد سواهمُ يتصيد

Such is a life of earnest endeavor among a people who

trifled, while others worked earnestly, hunting for prey.

يا مكبرين محمداً سيروا على

آثاره إن الطريق ممهد

O you who exalt Muhammad, walk in

his footsteps; the path is smoothed.

اليوم يجلو الشعر عبرة أمسكم

فاستجمعوا لغد يكن لكم الغد

Today poetry reveals the lesson of your yesterday;

so muster your strength for tomorrow, and tomorrow shall be yours.