لك في الأرض والسماء مآتم — Ahmed Shawqi

لَكَ في الأَرضِ وَالسَماءِ مَآتِم

قامَ فيها أَبو المَلائِكِ هاشِم

There are mourning assemblies for you on earth and in heaven.

Hashim, father of the angels, rose among them.

قَعدَ الآلُ لِلعَزاءِ وَقامَت

باكِياتٍ عَلى الحُسَينِ الفَواطِم

The family sat to mourn, and there arose

the Fatimas, weeping over Husayn.

يا أَبا العِليَةِ البَهاليلِ سَل آ

باءَكَ الزُهرَ هَل مِنَ المَوتِ عاصِم

O father of the noble and illustrious, ask your

radiant fathers: is there any protector from death?

المَنايا نَوازِلُ الشَعَرِ الأَب

يَضِ جاراتُ كُلِّ أَسوَدَ فاحِم

Death alights upon white

hair, and dwells beside every coal-black strand.

ما اللَيالي إِلّا قِصارٌ وَلا الدُن

يا سِوى ما رَأَيتَ أَحلامَ نائِم

The nights are only brief, and the world is nothing

but what you have seen: a sleeper's dreams.

اِنحِسارُ الشِفاهِ عَن سِنِّ جَذلا

نَ وَراءَ الكَرى إِلى سِنِّ نادِم

Lips part to bare a joyful man's tooth,

then, beyond slumber, a remorseful man's tooth.

سَنَةٌ أَفرَحَت وَأُخرى أَساءَت

لَم يَدُم في النَعيمِ وَالكَربِ حالِم

One year brought joy, and another brought grief;

no dreamer stayed forever in bliss or anguish.

المَناحاتُ في مَمالِكِ أَبنا

ئِكَ بَدرِيَّةُ العَزاءِ قَوائِم

The lamentations in the kingdoms of your

sons stand, Badr-like in their mourning.

تِلكَ بَغدادُ في الدُموعِ وَعَمّا

نُ وَراءَ السَوادِ وَالشامُ واجِم

There is Baghdad in tears, and Amman

behind mourning black, while Syria is struck silent.

وَالحِجازُ النَبيلُ رَبعٌ مُصَلٍّ

مِن رُبوعِ الهُدى وَآخَرُ صائِم

And noble Hijaz: one abode is praying,

among the homes of guidance, and another fasting.

وَاِشتَرَكنا فَمِصرُ عَبرى وَلُبنا

نُ سَكوبُ العُيونِ باكي الحَمائِم

We too have joined: Egypt is tearful, and Lebanon

has streaming eyes and weeping doves.

قُم تَأَمَّل بَنيكَ في الشَرقِ زَينُ ال

تاجِ مِلءُ السَريرِ نورُ العَواصِم

Rise, behold your sons in the East: adornment of the

crown, filling the throne, light of the capitals.

الزَكِيّونَ عُنصُراً مِثلَ إِبرا

هيمَ وَالطَيِّبونَ مِثلَ القاسِم

Pure in lineage, like

Ibrahim, and virtuous like al-Qasim.

وَعَلَيهِم إِذا العُيونُ رَمَتهُم

عُوَذٌ مِن مُحَمَّدٍ وَتَمائِم

And upon them, when eyes assail them,

are protective invocations from Muhammad and amulets.

قَد بَنى اللَهُ بَيتَهُم فَهوَ باقٍ

ما بَنى اللَهُ ما لَهُ مِن هادِم

God has built their house, so it endures;

what God has built has no destroyer.

دَبَّروا المُلكَ في العِراقِ وَفي الشا

مِ فَسَنّوا الهُدى وَرَدّوا المَظالِم

They governed the kingdom in Iraq and in

Syria, establishing guidance and redressing wrongs.

أَمِنَ الناسُ في ذَراهُم وَطابَت

عَرَبُ الأَرضِ تَحتَهُم وَالأَعاجِم

The people were safe in their shelter, and content were

the Arabs of the earth beneath them, and the non-Arabs.

وَبَنوا دَولَةً وَراءَ فِلَسطي

نَ كَعابَ الهُدى فَتاةَ العَزائِم

And they built a state beyond

Palestine—a budding maiden of guidance, a young woman of resolve.

ساسَها بِالأَناةِ أَروَعُ كَالدا

خِلِ ماضي الجِنانِ يَقظانُ حازِم

A noble man governed it with deliberation, like

al-Dakhil: resolute of heart, vigilant, decisive.

قُبرُصٌ كانَتِ الحَديدَ وَقَد تَن

زِلُ قُضبانَهُ اللُيوثُ الضَراغِم

Cyprus was iron, and sometimes

mighty lions alight within its bars.

كَرِهَ الدَهرُ أَن يَقومَ لِواءٌ

تُحشَرُ البيدُ تَحتَهُ وَالعَمائِم

Time would not suffer a banner to rise

beneath which deserts and turbans gathered.

قُم تَحَدَّث أَبا عَلِيٍّ إِلَينا

كَيفَ غامَرتَ في جِوارِ الأَراقِم

Rise, speak to us, Abu Ali:

how did you venture among the vipers?

لَم تُبالِ النُيوبَ في الهامِ خُشناً

وَتَعَلَّقَت بِالحَواشي النَواعِم

You paid no heed to the rough fangs in their heads,

and clung to the gentle fringes.

هاتِ حَدِّث عَنِ العَوانِ وَصِفها

لا تُرَع في التُرابِ ما أَنا لائِم

Come, tell of the renewed war, and describe it;

do not be frightened in the dust; I am not reproaching you.

كُلُّنا وارِدُ السَرابِ وَكُلٌّ

حَمَلٌ في وَليمَةِ الذِئبِ طاعِم

We all come to drink at the mirage, and each is

a lamb eating at the wolf's feast.

قَد رَجَونا مِنَ المَغانِمِ حَظّاً

وَوَرَدنا الوَغى فَكُنّا الغَنائِم

We had hoped for a share of the spoils,

and entered the fray, only to become the spoils.

قَد بَعَثتَ القَضِيَّةَ اليَومَ مَيتاً

رُبَّ عَظمٍ أَتى الأُمورَ العَظائِم

Today, dead, you have revived the cause;

many a bone has wrought mighty deeds.

أَنتَ كَالحَقِّ أَلَّفَ الناسَ يَقظا

نَ وَزادَ اِئتِلافَهُم وَهوَ نائِم

You are like Truth, which united people while awake,

and increased their concord while asleep.

إِنَّما الهِمَّةُ البَعيدَةُ غَرسٌ

مُتَأَنّي الجَنى بَطيءُ الكَمائِم

Far-reaching ambition is but a planting,

slow to bear fruit, slow to bud.

رُبَّما غابَ عَن يَدٍ غَرَسَتهُ

وَحَوَتهُ عَلى المَدى يَدُ قادِم

It may elude the hand that planted it,

and, in time, the hand of one yet to come holds it.

حَبَّذا مَوقِفٌ غُلِبتَ عَلَيهِ

لَم يَقِفهُ لِلعُربِ قَبلَكَ خادِم

How noble the stand in which you were overcome!

No servant of the Arabs before you had taken it:

ذائِداً عَن مَمالِكٍ وَشُعوبٍ

نُقِلَت في الأكُفِّ نَقلَ الدَراهِم

defending kingdoms and peoples

passed from palm to palm like dirhams.

كُلُّ ماءٍ لَهُم وَكُلُّ سَماءٍ

مَوطِئُ الخَيلِ أَو مَطارُ القَشاعِم

Every water of theirs, and every sky,

is ground for horses' hooves, or a flight-ground for aged vultures.

لِمَ لَم تَدعُهُم إِلى الهِمَّةِ الشَم

ماءِ وَالعِلمِ وَالطِماحِ المُزاحِم

Why did you not summon them to towering

resolve, to knowledge, and to competitive ambition,

وَرُكوبِ اللِجاجِ وَهيَ طَواغٍ

وَالسَمَواتِ وَهيَ هوجُ الشَكائِم

and to riding the deep seas while they rage,

and the heavens, wild of bridle;

وَإِلى القُطبِ وَالجَليدُ عَلَيهِ

وَالصَحاري وَما بِها مِن حَمائِم

and to the Pole, with ice upon it,

and the deserts, with all their scorching heat?

اِغسُلوهُ بِطَيِّبٍ مِن وَضوءِ ال

رُسلِ كَالوَردِ في رُباهُ البَواسِم

Wash him with fragrant water from the ablutions of the

messengers, like the rose upon its smiling hills.

وَخُذوا مِن وِسادِهِم في المُصَلّى

رُقعَةً كَفِّنوا بِها فَرعَ هاشِم

And take from their pillow in the prayer-place

a piece of cloth; shroud Hashim's scion in it.

وَاِستَعيروا لِنَعشِهِ مِن ذُرى المِن

بَرِ عوداً وَمِن شَريفِ القَوائِم

And borrow for his bier, from the heights of the

pulpit, a timber, and from its noble supports.

وَاِحمُلوهُ عَلى البُراقِ إِنِ اِسطَع

تُم فَقَد جَلَّ عَن ظُهورِ الرَواسِم

And carry him upon al-Buraq, if you

can, for he is too exalted for the backs of swift camels.

وَأَديروا إِلى العَتيقِ حُسَيناً

يَبتَهِل رُكنُهُ وَتَدعو الدَعائِم

And turn Husayn toward the Ancient House:

its corner beseeches, and its pillars pray.

وَاِذكُروا لِلأَميرِ مَكَّةَ وَالقَص

رَ وَعَهدَ الصَفا وَطيبَ المَواسِم

And recall for the prince Mecca and the

palace, the days of al-Safa, and the sweetness of the pilgrimage seasons.

ظَمِئَ الحُرُّ لِلدِيارِ وَإِن كا

نَ عَلى مَنهَلٍ مِنَ الخُلدِ دائِم

The free man thirsted for his homeland, even though he

was at an everlasting spring of immortality.

نَقِّلوا النَعشَ ساعَةً في رُبا الفَت

حِ وَطوفوا بِرَبِّهِ في المَعالِم

Move the bier for an hour through the hills of

conquest, and bear its master around the landmarks.

وَقِفوا ساعَةً بِهِ في ثَرى الأَق

مارِ مِن قَومِهِ وَتُربَ الغَمائِم

And pause an hour with him upon the dust of the

moons among his people, and the soil of the clouds.

وَاِدفُنوهُ في القُدسِ بَينَ سُلَيما

نَ وَداوُدَ وَالمُلوكِ الأَكارِم

And bury him in Jerusalem, between

Sulayman and Dawud and the noble kings.

إِنَّما القُدسُ مَنزِلُ الوَحيِ مَغنى

كُلِّ حَبرٍ مِنَ الأَوائِلِ عالِم

Jerusalem is the dwelling of revelation, the home

of every learned sage among the ancients.

كُنِّفَت بِالغُيوبِ فَالأَرضُ أَسرا

رٌ مَدى الدَهرِ وَالسَماءُ طَلاسِم

It has been enfolded in the unseen; its earth is

secrets for all time, and its sky is talismans.

وَتَحَلَّت مِنَ البُراقِ بِطُغَرا

ءَ وَمِن حافِرِ البُراقِ بِخاتِم

And it adorned itself with a royal monogram from al-Buraq,

and with a seal from al-Buraq's hoof.