سلام من صبا بردى أرق — Ahmed Shawqi

سَلامٌ مِن صَبا بَرَدى أَرَقُّ

وَدَمعٌ لا يُكَفكَفُ يا دِمَشقُ

A greeting gentler than the east breeze of Barada,

and tears that cannot be staunched, O Damascus.

وَمَعذِرَةُ اليَراعَةِ وَالقَوافي

جَلالُ الرُزءِ عَن وَصفٍ يَدِقُّ

And an apology from the reed pen and the rhymes:

the enormity of the calamity eludes description.

وَذِكرى عَن خَواطِرِها لِقَلبي

إِلَيكِ تَلَفُّتٌ أَبَداً وَخَفقُ

And a remembrance, whose stirrings make my heart

forever turn toward you and throb.

وَبي مِمّا رَمَتكِ بِهِ اللَيالي

جِراحاتٌ لَها في القَلبِ عُمقُ

And from what the nights have hurled at you, I bear

wounds deep within my heart.

دَخَلتُكِ وَالأَصيلُ لَهُ اِئتِلاقٌ

وَوَجهُكِ ضاحِكُ القَسَماتِ طَلقُ

I entered you while the late afternoon shone,

and your face was open, with smiling features.

وَتَحتَ جِنانِكِ الأَنهارُ تَجري

وَمِلءُ رُباكِ أَوراقٌ وَوُرقُ

And beneath your gardens the rivers flowed,

and leaves and gray doves filled your hills.

وَحَولي فِتيَةٌ غُرٌّ صِباحٌ

لَهُم في الفَضلِ غاياتٌ وَسَبقُ

And around me were radiant, handsome youths,

with lofty attainments and precedence in excellence.

عَلى لَهَواتِهِم شُعَراءُ لُسنٌ

وَفي أَعطافِهِم خُطَباءُ شُدقُ

In their throats were eloquent poets,

and in their frames, broad-mouthed orators.

رُواةُ قَصائِدي فَاِعجَب لِشِعرٍ

بِكُلِّ مَحَلَّةٍ يَرويهِ خَلقُ

Reciters of my poems—marvel, then, at verse

recited by people in every quarter.

غَمَزتُ إِباءَهُم حَتّى تَلَظَّت

أُنوفُ الأُسدِ وَاِضطَرَمَ المَدَقُّ

I stirred their defiance until fire kindled

in the lions' nostrils, and the battleground blazed.

وَضَجَّ مِنَ الشَكيمَةِ كُلُّ حُرٍّ

أَبِيٍّ مِن أُمَيَّةَ فيهِ عِتقُ

And every free man cried out against the bit,

unyielding, with Umayyah's nobility within him.

لَحاها اللَهُ أَنباءً تَوالَت

عَلى سَمعِ الوَلِيِّ بِما يَشُقُّ

God curse the tidings that came in succession,

upon a friend's ears with what was hard to bear.

يُفَصِّلُها إِلى الدُنيا بَريدٌ

وَيُجمِلُها إِلى الآفاقِ بَرقُ

The post recounts their details to the world,

and the telegraph sums them up across the horizons.

تَكادُ لِرَوعَةِ الأَحداثِ فيها

تُخالُ مِنَ الخُرافَةِ وَهيَ صِدقُ

Such is the horror of the events they contain that they almost

seem a fable, though they are true.

وَقيلَ مَعالِمُ التاريخِ دُكَّت

وَقيلَ أَصابَها تَلَفٌ وَحَرقُ

And it was said: the landmarks of history were leveled;

and it was said: ruin and fire had struck them.

أَلَستِ دِمَشقُ لِلإِسلامِ ظِئراً

وَمُرضِعَةُ الأُبُوَّةِ لا تُعَقُّ

Are you not, Damascus, a foster mother to Islam?

And a nurse with a parent's standing must not be dishonored.

صَلاحُ الدينِ تاجُكَ لَم يُجَمَّل

وَلَم يوسَمَ بِأَزيَنَ مِنهُ فَرقُ

Salah al-Din is your crown; it has never been adorned,

nor any parted crown graced, with anyone fairer than he.

وَكُلُّ حَضارَةٍ في الأَرضِ طالَت

لَها مِن سَرحِكِ العُلوِيِّ عِرقُ

And every civilization that rose high on earth

has a root in your lofty, spreading tree.

سَماؤُكِ مِن حُلى الماضي كِتابٌ

وَأَرضُكِ مِن حُلى التاريخِ رِقُّ

Your sky is a book of the past's adornments,

and your earth a parchment of history's ornaments.

بَنَيتِ الدَولَةَ الكُبرى وَمُلكاً

غُبارُ حَضارَتَيهِ لا يُشَقُّ

You built the great state and an empire

whose two civilizations raised dust no rival could pierce.

لَهُ بِالشامِ أَعلامٌ وَعُرسٌ

بَشائِرُهُ بِأَندَلُسٍ تَدُقُّ

It has banners and a wedding celebration in al-Sham,

whose glad tidings resound in al-Andalus.

رُباعُ الخلدِ وَيحَكِ ما دَهاها

أَحَقٌّ أَنَّها دَرَسَت أَحَقُّ

The abodes of eternity—alas for you, what has befallen them?

Is it true they have vanished—is it true?

وَهَل غُرَفُ الجِنانِ مُنَضَّداتٌ

وَهَل لِنَعيمِهِنَّ كَأَمسِ نَسقُ

And are the garden chambers still arrayed in tiers?

And does their bliss retain its order as yesterday?

وَأَينَ دُمى المَقاصِرِ مِن حِجالٍ

مُهَتَّكَةٍ وَأَستارٍ تُشَقُّ

And where are the doll-like beauties of secluded rooms, with bridal canopies

torn open and curtains being rent?

بَرَزنَ وَفي نَواحي الأَيكِ نارٌ

وَخَلفَ الأَيكِ أَفراخٌ تُزَقُّ

They emerged, with fire around the grove,

and behind the grove, fledglings being fed beak to beak.

إِذا رُمنَ السَلامَةَ مِن طَريقٍ

أَتَت مِن دونِهِ لِلمَوتِ طُرقُ

If they sought safety by one path,

paths to death arose before they could reach it.

بِلَيلٍ لِلقَذائِفِ وَالمَنايا

وَراءَ سَمائِهِ خَطفٌ وَصَعقُ

In a night when shells and deadly fates

flashed and thundered beyond its sky.

إِذا عَصَفَ الحَديدُ اِحمَرَّ أُفقٌ

عَلى جَنَباتِهِ وَاِسوَدَّ أُفقُ

When iron stormed, one horizon reddened

along its edges, and another horizon blackened.

سَلي مَن راعَ غيدَكِ بَعدَ وَهنٍ

أَبَينَ فُؤادِهِ وَالصَخرِ فَرقُ

Ask whoever terrified your graceful women late at night:

is there any difference between his heart and stone?

وَلِلمُستَعمِرينَ وَإِن أَلانو

قُلوبٌ كَالحِجارَةِ لا تَرِقُّ

And the colonizers, even if they act gently,

have hearts like stones that never soften.

رَماكِ بِطَيشِهِ وَرَمى فَرَنسا

أَخو حَربٍ بِهِ صَلَفٌ وَحُمقُ

He struck you with his recklessness, and struck France,

a man of war with arrogance and folly in him.

إِذا ماجاءَهُ طُلّابُ حَقٍّ

يَقولُ عِصابَةٌ خَرَجوا وَشَقّوا

Whenever seekers of a right came to him,

he said, 'A gang—they rebelled and broke ranks.'

دَمُ الثُوّارِ تَعرِفُهُ فَرَنسا

وَتَعلَمُ أَنَّهُ نورٌ وَحَقُّ

France knows the blood of revolutionaries,

and knows that it is light and truth.

جَرى في أَرضِها فيهِ حَياةٌ

كَمُنهَلِّ السَماءِ وَفيهِ رِزقُ

It flowed upon her soil, bearing life,

like the sky's pouring rain, bearing sustenance.

بِلادٌ ماتَ فِتيَتُها لِتَحيا

وَزالوا دونَ قَومِهِمُ لِيَبقوا

A land whose young men died so it might live,

and perished defending their people, so their people might survive.

وَحُرِّرَتِ الشُعوبُ عَلى قَناها

فَكَيفَ عَلى قَناها تُستَرَقُّ

And peoples were freed at her spearpoints—

how, then, are they enslaved at her spearpoints?

بَني سورِيَّةَ اِطَّرِحوا الأَماني

وَأَلقوا عَنكُمُ الأَحلامَ أَلقوا

Sons of Syria, cast aside wishful hopes,

and throw off your dreams—throw them off!

فَمِن خِدَعِ السِياسَةِ أَن تُغَرّوا

بِأَلقابِ الإِمارَةِ وَهيَ رِقُّ

For one of politics' deceits is that you are beguiled

by titles of princely rule, though it is bondage.

وَكَم صَيَدٍ بَدا لَكَ مِن ذَليلٍ

كَما مالَت مِنَ المَصلوبِ عُنقُ

And how often a haughty neck-tilt has appeared to you in a servile man,

as the neck of a crucified man tilts.

فُتوقُ المُلكِ تَحدُثُ ثُمَّ تَمضي

وَلا يَمضي لِمُختَلِفينَ فَتقُ

Rifts in a realm arise and then pass,

but no rift passes for a divided people.

نَصَحتُ وَنَحنُ مُختَلِفونَ داراً

وَلَكِن كُلُّنا في الهَمِّ شَرقُ

I have counseled you, though we dwell in different lands,

yet in sorrow we are all one East.

وَيَجمَعُنا إِذا اِختَلَفَت بِلادٌ

بَيانٌ غَيرُ مُختَلِفٍ وَنُطقُ

And when our lands differ, we are brought together

by an eloquence that does not differ, and a common tongue.

وَقَفتُم بَينَ مَوتٍ أَو حَياةٍ

فَإِن رُمتُم نَعيمَ الدَهرِ فَاِشقوا

You stand between death and life;

so if you seek a lifetime's bliss, endure hardship.

وَلِلأَوطانِ في دَمِ كُلِّ حُرٍّ

يَدٌ سَلَفَت وَدَينٌ مُستَحِقُّ

And homelands have, in every free man's blood,

a favor once bestowed and a debt now due.

وَمَن يَسقى وَيَشرَبُ بِالمَنايا

إِذا الأَحرارُ لَم يُسقوا وَيَسقوا

And who will serve death as drink and drink it,

if free men are not given it to drink, and do not serve it?

وَلا يَبني المَمالِكَ كَالضَحايا

وَلا يُدني الحُقوقَ وَلا يُحِقُّ

And nothing builds kingdoms like sacrifices,

or brings rights closer, or secures them.

فَفي القَتلى لِأَجيالٍ حَياةٌ

وَفي الأَسرى فِدىً لَهُمو وَعِتقُ

For in the slain there is life for generations,

and in the captives, ransom and freedom for them.

وَلِلحُرِّيَّةِ الحَمراءِ بابٌ

بِكُلِّ يَدٍ مُضَرَّجَةٍ يُدَقُّ

And blood-red freedom has a door,

knocked upon by every blood-stained hand.

جَزاكُم ذو الجَلالِ بَني دِمَشقٍ

وَعِزُّ الشَرقِ أَوَّلُهُ دِمَشقُ

May the Lord of Majesty reward you, sons of Damascus,

and the East's glory begins in Damascus.

نَصَرتُم يَومَ مِحنَتِهِ أَخاكُم

وَكُلُّ أَخٍ بِنَصرِ أَخيهِ حَقُّ

You aided your brother on the day of his ordeal,

and every brother deserves his brother's aid.

وَما كانَ الدُروزُ قَبيلَ شَرٍّ

وَإِن أُخِذوا بِما لَم يَستَحِقّوا

The Druze were no tribe of evil,

though they suffered punishment they did not deserve.

وَلَكِن ذادَةٌ وَقُراةُ ضَيفٍ

كَيَنبوعِ الصَفا خَشُنوا وَرَقّوا

Rather, they are defenders and welcoming hosts to guests,

like a spring from hard rock: rugged and gentle.

لَهُم جَبَلٌ أَشَمُّ لَهُ شَعافٌ

مَوارِدُ في السَحابِ الجونِ بُلقُ

They have a lofty mountain, with summits

that are watering places amid dark clouds, mottled black and white.

لِكُلِّ لَبوءَةٍ وَلِكُلِّ شِبلٍ

نِضالٌ دونَ غايَتِهِ وَرَشقُ

For every lioness and every cub,

there is combat in defense of its summit, and volleys of arrows.

كَأَنَّ مِنَ السَمَوأَلِ فيهِ شَيئاً

فَكُلُّ جِهاتِهِ شَرَفٌ وَخَلقُ

It is as though something of al-Samaw'al were within it,

for all its sides are honor and noble character.