أنسيتني يا حادث الصرب ما — أحمد الكاشف

أنسيتَني يا حادثَ الصربِ ما

أَزْعَجَ من أمرٍ وما أَعْجَبا

You have made me forget, O calamity of the Serbs, every

Affair that distressed me and everything that amazed me.

مُمَلَّكٌ يقتلُهُ جندُهُ

ويعتلي بعدَ السريرِ الظُبَى

An enthroned king is slain by his own troops,

And after the throne, he mounts the sword-blades.

وما جنى ذنباً سوى أنه

أحبَّ فاستسهل ما استصعبا

And he committed no sin except that he

Loved, and found easy what he had found hard.

يا معشرَ الصربِ وما مُسمِعٌ

صوتي غَوِيّاً للعَمَى استعذبا

O people of the Serbs! Yet no heed is paid to

My voice by a misguided man who found blindness sweet.

نلتم من الأتراك حريةً

كانت إلى الشر لكم مركبا

You won freedom from the Turks,

Which was your vehicle toward evil,

على يدَيْ جدِّ الصريعِ الذي

أنساكمُ سيِّئُهُ الطيِّبا

At the hands of the grandfather of the slain man whose

Wrongdoing made you forget the good.

قد كان بالرحمة أولى وإن

رأيتموه في الهوى مذنبا

He was indeed more deserving of mercy, even if

You deemed him guilty in love.

نظامكم فوضى وأهواؤكم

شتى وأضحى سعيكم معطبا

Your order is chaos, and your desires

Are divergent, and your striving has become ruinous.

لا يستوي للصرب أمر إلى

أن تمنع الرحمة أو تسلبا

No affair of the Serbs will be set right until

Mercy is withheld or taken away.

القيد والأغلال أولى بمن

جن فآذى أمَّه والأبا

Fetters and shackles are more fitting for one

Who went mad and harmed his mother and father.

فما لمن جرب لا يهتدي

أما كفاه طول ما جربا

So what ails one who has experience, yet finds no guidance?

Has his long experience not been enough for him?