أطعت النهى في نجدتي وبياني — Alhees Bess

أطْعتُ النُّهى في نجْدتي وبياني

فأصبح سيفي مُغمداً ولساني

I obeyed reason in my valor and my eloquence,

so my sword and my tongue lay sheathed.

وداريْتُ حتى قيلَ جُبْناً وربما

غَدا حازمٌ في أمره كجبانِ

I practiced tact until it was called cowardice; yet often

a resolute man in his affairs appears a coward.

سجية مُنهي النفس عُذراً وناهض

بأعباءِ صرْفِ الدهر والحَدَثان

Such is the nature of one who gives his soul due excuse and shoulders

the burdens of time's reversals and calamities.

يُبيحُ الليالي والرجال تَهامُمي

وفاءً ومنْ لي عندهم بأمانِ

My solicitude gives nights and men free rein,

out of loyalty; but who can assure me safety with them?

إِذا أصبحت مني سجايا مُهَذَّبٍ

غَدا أملي ذا وقفةٍ وحِرانِ

When the traits of a refined man become mine,

my hope comes to a halt and balks.

ويأربَّ عهدٍ حالَ من دون حِفْظه

أذىً ورَدىً في المُلتقي خصمان

And many a pledge, whose preservation was barred by

harm and death—two adversaries at the encounter—

أبانَ نِفاقَ الحيِّ بعد انْتصارهِ

فلم تُلْفِ منهم صادقاً بمكانِ

revealed the clan's hypocrisy after its triumph;

you could find no truthful man among them anywhere.

جشمتُ خِطار الموت دون وفائهِ

أو الفَقْرَ والحالانِ مُستَويانِ

I braved mortal perils to fulfill it,

or poverty—the two conditions being alike.

وصبرٍ تكادُ الشمُّ من حمل بعضه

تكونُ وهاداً وهي ذاتُ قِنانِ

And endurance such that lofty mountains, bearing only part of it, would almost

become lowlands, though crowned with peaks.

نصبت له من رغبة الحمد كاهلاً

نَهوضاً بِعِبءِ المجد ليس بوانِ

For it I set my shoulder, out of longing for praise,

rising to the burden of glory, never flagging.

واني وأبناء العراق أولي الغِنى

لمُجتمعا معنىً ومُفتَرقانِ

I and the wealthy sons of Iraq

are united in one sense, yet stand apart.

أسايرهُمْ ابهى حُليّاً وزيْنةً

ونرْجِعُ والحالانِ مُختلفانِ

I keep pace with them, more splendid in ornaments and adornment,

but we return in differing states:

إِلى صَفِراتٍ من نعيمٍ خماصُها

تُكاثِرُ منْ نَعْمائهم بِبطانِ

to those bereft of comfort, whose hungry bellies

vie in numbers with bellies filled by their bounty.

تُطاردُ حاجاتي اليهم أُبِيَّتي

وتعلو غِناهم همَّتي بِتَغانِ

My needs of them contend with my proud refusal,

and my ambition rises above their wealth in self-sufficiency.

إِذا عَطفتْني نحوهُمْ ألمَعيَّةٌ

وفَهْمٌ لَواني جَوْرهم وثَناني

When keen insight inclines me toward them,

and understanding, their injustice bends me back and turns me away.

يودُّون فَضْلي ما كتمتُ مآربي

فانْ بُحْتُ ماتَ الودُّ بالشَّنآنِ

They love my merit so long as I conceal my wants;

if I reveal them, affection dies in rancor.

ويُصغى له ما لم يكن ذا لُبانَةٍ

فانْ كان لم تُنْصتْ له أذُنانِ

A man is heard so long as he has no request;

but if he does, neither ear will listen to him.

و لولا الوزيرُ الزَّينبيُّ رحلْتُها

تناهبُ تُرْبَ البيدِ بالوخَدانِ

And but for the vizier al-Zaynabi, I would have saddled her,

plundering the deserts' dust in her swift trot,

تُباري نعامَ القفر بُعداً عن الأذى

وتطوي عُقابَ الجوِّ بالطَّيرانِ

racing the wilderness's ostriches to flee harm,

and outstripping the air's eagle in flight.

إِذا ظمئت والوِردُ دانٍ تنكَّبتْ

حِذارَ الثفاتٍ نحوهُم بجِرانِ

When thirsty, with the watering place nearby, she would turn aside,

for fear of turning her neck toward them.

تَمارحُ اِبَّانَ الفِراقِ مِراحَها

بنشْقِ نسيم الشِّيحِ والعَلَجانِ

She would frolic at the time of parting, full of joy,

in breathing the breeze of wormwood and ʿalajān shrubs.

ولكنها شُدَّت من البأس والنَّدى

بأروعَ صفوِ العُنصرين هِجانِ

But she was held fast through valor and generosity,

by an awe-inspiring man, pure in both elements, nobly bred;

بأبيضَ من عُليا قريشٍ مُؤمَّلٍ

بيومِ نوال أو بيومِ طِعانِ

by a fair man of the highest ranks of Quraysh, looked to with hope

on a day of bounty or a day of spear-fighting;

بمُشركِ نفسي بالذي هو واجِدٌ

ولو ساعدتهُ حالةٌ لكَفاني

by one who shares with me whatever he possesses—

and, had fortune aided him, he would have sufficed for me.

كريمُ السَّجايا لا بغُمْرٍ مُضيعٍ

لحزمٍ ولا بالعاجز المُتَواني

Noble in character, no inexperienced fool neglectful

of prudence, nor an incapable, indolent man.

يُباري مجنَّ الشمس نورٌ بوجهه

ويفْضلُ مُنْهَلَّ الحَيا ببَنانِ

A light in his face rivals the sun's shield,

and with his fingertips he surpasses the pouring rain.

يبيح الدجى والمحْل جوداً ونضرة

وقد سَدِكا وهْناً فَينبلِجانِ

He conquers darkness and drought with generosity and radiance;

though both have settled in the night, they give way.

جريءٌ إِذا الهوْجاءُ غيرُ جريئةٍ

رزينٌ إِذا الأحْكامُ غيرُ رزانِ

Bold when even the raging gale is not bold,

steady when judgments themselves are unsteady.

يُناطُ قميصاهُ ويٌلْوى رداؤهُ

على عاصفٍ من زعزعٍ وأبانَ

His two shirts hang, and his cloak is wrapped,

upon a tempest of roaring wind and Aban.

يرى بتظنِّيه عواقبَ أمْرهِ

فأبْعدُها للألمعيَّةِ دانِ

By his conjecture he sees the outcomes of his affairs,

so even the farthest is near to his keen insight.

إِذا ما استجال الرأي في حل مشكلٍ

فاخبارهُ من صحَّةٍ كَعيانِ

When he turns his judgment to unraveling a difficulty,

his report, in its accuracy, is like seeing with one's own eyes.

يُعلِّم سُمْر الطعن والبيض بأسه

إِذا ما التقى في المأزق الفئتانِ

He teaches the brown spears and white swords his valor

when the two hosts meet in the strait of battle.

فيمضي ويجري في النحور وفي الطلى

شَبا غيرِ خَطِّيٍّ وغيرِ يمانِ

Then there drives and courses through chests and throats

a keen edge, neither Khatti nor Yemeni.

وجونٍ من النَّقع المُثارِ دِلاصُه

ولمعُ الظُّبي بًرقانِ يأتلقانِ

And a dark cloud of stirred-up dust—its polished armor

and flashing blades two glittering bolts of lightning—

كثيفٍ يُعيد الجوَّ أرضاً صليبةً

لها الجيشُ داحٍ بالطِّرادِ وبانِ

so dense it turns the air into solid earth,

which the army levels and builds with its charges.

تشابه فيه وحْشُه وجيادُه

فسِيانِ فرطُ الركض والعَسلان

Within it, its wild beasts and its steeds look alike,

so headlong galloping and loping are the same.

وزاحمتِ الجُرْد المَذاكي ركابه

فكلُّ زمامٍ عاثرٍ بِعنانٍ

Its riding camels jostle the sleek, full-grown steeds,

so every nose-rein trips against a bridle.

يُظلُّ كُماةً في الدروعِ كأنما

تخُبُّ السَّعالي تحتهم برعانِ

It shades champions in armor, as though

she-ghouls were trotting beneath them along mountain spurs.

مساعيرُ لا يستكرهونَ منيَّةً

إِذا صرَّحتْ في المأزقِ المتَداني

Kindlers of war, they do not shrink from death

when it reveals itself in the close-pressed battleground.

أوانسُ بالحرب العَوان نفوسهمْ

كأنَّ رضاعاً بينهم بلِبانِ

Their souls are at home with seasoned war,

as though milk-kinship lay between them.

أعاروا نسيم اليوم حَرَّ ذُحولهم

فأخْصَرهُ الرمْضاءُ في الجولانِ

They lent the day's breeze the heat of their blood-feuds,

so the scorching ground chilled it as it swept about.

وطارت بهم نحو اللقاء عزيمةٌ

تعلّم منها السَّبق كلُّ حِصانِ

A resolve flew with them toward the encounter,

from which every stallion learned to race.

كشفت برأيٍ ذي صوابٍ ونجدةٍ

اليك بحمل المجدِ يصطحبانِ

You dispelled it with sound judgment and valor,

the two together bearing glory to you.

وهْبت دماء القوم للتَّرب والثَّرى

لأوجُههم عن سابقٍ وسِنانِ

You gave the men's blood to dust, and the soil

to their faces, by a swift steed and a spearhead.

فأبلجُ من عَفْر المصارع أغْبرٌ

وأحْمَرُ من ماء الحناجر قانِ

So the fair-faced became dust-grey with the dust of the killing grounds,

and the ruddy became crimson with the blood of throats.

حوى شرف الدين المعالي وحلَّقت

به همَّةٌ لم تُفْتَرعْ لِمُدانِ

Sharaf al-Din attained the heights of honor, and was borne aloft

by an ambition no man of low estate had ever scaled.

فأصبح مأوى المُسْتجير وثروةَ ال

فقيرِ بِامْحالٍ وجَوْرِ زَمانِ

So he became the supplicant's refuge, and the wealth of the

poor in drought and the tyranny of time,

من المالئي اُفْقِ السماء عشيَّةً

وصُبحاً بنقْعٍ ساطعٍ ودُخانِ

one of those who fill the sky's horizon at evening

and morning with rising dust and smoke.

مُوكَّلةٌ في سعيهمْ عَز مَاتُهمْ

بتفريغِ أجْفانٍ ومِلءِ جِفانِ

Their resolves are charged, in their endeavors,

with emptying sword-sheaths and filling platters.

قلوبُ أعاديهمْ تباري بنودهُمْ

إِذا نُهدوا للغزو في الخَفَقانِ

Their enemies' hearts compete with their banners

in fluttering, when they rise for war.

مصابيحُ ظلماء الدُّجى وأئمَّةُ ال

هُدى ودُعاةٌ قادةٌ لجِنانِ

Lamps in the darkness of night, and leaders of

guidance, and heralds who lead to Paradise's gardens.

أتوا بك مُلفى آملٍ يبتغي الغنى

وعِصْمَةَ مذْعورٍ ومنشطَ عانِ

They brought you as a haven for the hopeful seeker of wealth,

a safeguard for the terrified, and a liberator of captives.

فهُنِّيتَ بالعيدِ الّذي أنت أوَّلٌ

لنا من سرورٍ وهو بعدك ثانِ

May you be blessed at the feast, for you are first

in our joy, and it comes second after you.