أبا نزار تفسد القوم النعم — Alsharif Alradi

أَبا نِزارٍ تُفسِدُ القَومَ النِعَم

غَفَّلَكَ الوَجدُ وَزَكّاني العَدَم

O Abu Nizar, blessings corrupt men.

Wealth made you heedless, while poverty purified me.

تُرَمِّمُ المالَ وَبِالقَرضِ ثُلَم

إِنّي إِذا راحَت عَلى الحَيِّ النَعَم

You patch up wealth, yet verse leaves breaches.

For me, when livestock returns to the clan at dusk,

راحَ عَلى بَيتي الثَناءُ وَالكَرَم

لا سَلِمَ المالُ إِذا العِرضُ سَلِم

praise and generosity come home to my house.

Let wealth perish, provided honor survives.

قَد كُنتُ نادَيتُكَ وَالأَمرُ أَمَم

أَما تَرى خَلفُ عَقابيلَ الظُلُم

I had already called to you while the matter was still manageable.

Do you not see, behind the lingering darkness,

لَوثُ خِمارِ الصُبحِ في رَأسِ العَلَم

نَفسَكَ إِنَّ الخَيلَ بِالقَومِ زِيَم

dawn's veil wound round the mountain's crest?

Save yourself: the horses bear the men in scattered bands.

اِنجُ فَعَن لَفتَتِكَ الرُمحُ الأَصَم

ناشَذتُكَ اللَهَ وَتَحنانَ الرَحِم

Flee—the unyielding spear lies a turn away.

I adjured you by God and the tenderness of kinship,

وَقُلتُ حِد عَن مَنهَجٍ غَيرِ لَقَم

فَلَم تُطِعني رُبَّ رَأيٍ مُتَّهَم

and said, 'Turn aside from a path that is no broad highway.'

But you did not heed me—many a counsel is distrusted.

سَمعُكَ واعٍ وَبِعَقلِكَ الصَمَمَ

حَتّى لَقيتَ خَطفَةَ البازي الضَرِم

Your hearing is receptive, but your mind is deaf,

until you met the ravenous hawk's snatch—

أُمَّ الدُهَيمِ حامِلاً بِنتَ الرَقَم

أَمَرَّها المِقدارُ إِمرارَ الوَذَم

Umm al-Duhaym, bearing Bint al-Raqam.

Fate twisted it tight, as bucket-straps are twisted.

أُفلِتَّ مِنها بَعدَ إِنشابِ القَدَم

وَبَعدَما ضاقَ عَلَيكَ المُزدَحَم

You were freed from it after your foot had been caught,

and after the press had closed in on you,

مُنفَلِتَ الأُظفورِ مِن شَقِّ الجَلَم

أَقسَمتُ بِالبَيتِ الحَرامِ وَالحُرُم

like a fingernail slipping clear of the shears' jaws.

I swore by the Sacred House and the consecrated pilgrims,

وَبِالمُلَبّينَ غَدَوا شُعثَ اللِمَم

عَلى رَذايا مِن وَجىً وَمِن سَأَم

and by those chanting 'Here I am,' setting out with unkempt locks,

on camels worn down by sore feet and fatigue.

يَطلَعنَ مِن أَجبالِ رَضوى وَخِيَم

بِها وَقارٌ بَعدَما كانَ لَمَم

They emerge from the mountains of Radwa and Khiyam;

there is calm in them now, where once was frenzy.

وَما جَرى بِالخَيفِ مِن دَمعٍ وَدَم

يَومَ يَطيرُ الناسُ غِربانَ الجُمَم

And by the tears and blood that flowed at al-Khayf,

on the day people fly about like crows with flowing locks,

حَيثُ تَرى تِلكَ المَجالي وَالقِمَم

يُمسينَ غِرباناً وَيَغدونَ رَخَم

where you see those bare foreheads and crowns,

crows by evening and vultures by morning.

وَالمُستَجارُ بَعدَ ذا وَالمُلتَزَم

تَلقى بِهِ لِأُمَمٍ بَعدَ أُمَم

And, after that, by al-Mustajar and al-Multazam,

where, for nation after nation, you find

مُفتَرِقاً لا عَن قِلىً وَمُصطَدَم

صَكَّ المُجيلِ زَلَماً بَعدَ زَلَم

a parting without hatred, and a jostling,

like a lot-caster knocking arrow after arrow.

لَأَصدَعَن عِرضَكَ صَدعاً لا يُلَم

عَطّاً كَما عَطَّ الفَزارِيُّ الأَدَم

I shall rend your honor with a tear that cannot be mended,

ripping it as the Fazari ripped the hides,

دَبيبُ نارِ القَينِ طارَت في الفَحَم

أَقرَعُ فيهِ بِشَبا طَعنٍ وَذَم

like the smith's fire creeping and flaring through charcoal.

I batter it with the sharp points of attack and blame,

نَهزُ الدِلاءِ تَلتَقي وَالماءُ جَم

وَيلٌ إِذاً يَومَ النِطاحِ لِلأَجَم

like the dipping of buckets that meet where water is plentiful.

Woe, then, on the day of butting, to the hornless!

كَم يَلبَثُ الأَصلُ عَلى ضَربِ القُدُم

عُرِّضتَ مِنّي لِبَصيرٍ بِالقِيَم

How long can a root endure the adzes' blows?

In me you face a keen judge of worth,

حامي الأُوارِ مُنضِجٌ إِذا وَسَم

آسي الحَفيظاتِ إِذا الداءُ أَلَم

fierce in heat, searing deep when he brands,

a healer of affronted pride when disease strikes,

عاجَلَ أَدواءِ العُروقِ فَحَسَم

حَثحَثَةَ الذِئبِ عَوى مِنَ القَرَم

who swiftly attacked the veins' ailments and cauterized them,

like the restless haste of a wolf howling for flesh.

آنَسَ وَهناً نَسمَ ريحٍ فَنَسَم

ماضٍ عَلى اللَيلِ إِذا لَم يَرَ شَم

It sensed late at night a breath of wind, then sniffed,

pressing through the night: if it cannot see, it scents.

مَن أَسقَمَ الناسَ رَمَوهُ بِالسَقَم

وَمَن رُمِي بِالموقِظاتِ لَم يَنَم

Whoever sickens people, they strike him with sickness.

And whoever is struck by things that rouse him does not sleep.

كَم ضافَ رَحلي مِنكُمُ طارِقَ هَم

بِتُّ لَهُ أَخطِمُ دائي وَأَزُم

How often has grief from you visited my camp by night!

For it I spent the night bridling my ailment and reining it in,

تَوَجُّسَ اللَيثِ اِستَرابَ بِالأَجَم

أَهدُرُ عَن شِقشِقَةِ العَودِ القَطِم

with a lion's wariness when it grows suspicious in the thickets.

I bellow from the throat-sac of an old rutting camel,

حَتّى رُميتُ رُبَّ نَبلٍ عَن كَلِم

إِنَّ هُمومَ القلَبِ أَعوانُ الهِمَم

until I was struck—many an arrow flies from words.

Indeed, the heart's sorrows are helpers of resolve.

قَد يَقدَعُ المَرءُ وَإِن كانَ اِبنَ عَم

وَيَقطَعُ العُضوَ الكَريمَ لِلأَلَم

A man may rebuff another, even if he is a cousin,

and sever a cherished limb because of pain.

لَأُلزِمن إِن لَم يُغَيِّبَكَ الرَجَم

لِهزِمَتَيكَ عاقِراً مِنَ اللُجُم

I shall surely fasten—unless the grave conceals you—

to both your jaws a wounding bridle.

يَسيلُ ذِفراكَ دَماً وَما ظَلَم

مَوارِدَ الجَهلِ مَصادِرُ النَدَم

Your two ear-roots will stream blood; it will have done no wrong.

Folly's watering places are regret's points of departure.

نَفحَةَ عارٍ مِثلُها نَفثَةُ سَم

تَشُمُّها بِمارِنٍ غَيرِ أَشَم

A gust of disgrace, like a spurt of venom,

you smell it with a nose-tip that is not loftily raised.

إِذا وَعاها ضاحِكُ القَومِ وَجَم

يَخافُها وَما جَنى وَلا جَرَم

When the laughing man of the company hears it, he falls silent;

he fears it, though he has neither offended nor sinned.

خُذها حُروباً كَأَهاضيبِ الدِيَم

لا عَزَّ مِنّا اليَومَ مَن أَلقى السَلَم

Take it as warfare, like the downpours of ceaseless rain.

May none of us who offers peace gain honor today.

إِن كُنتَ حُرّاً غَيرَ مَغموزِ الشِيَم

فَقُل لَنا مَنِ العَبيدِ وَالقَزَم

If you are freeborn, your character beyond reproach,

then tell us who the slaves and the baseborn are.

جاءَت بِهِ مِخداجَةٌ غَيرَ مُتَم

لَها الرَزايا وَلِبَطنِها العَقَم

A miscarriage-prone woman bore him without carrying to term.

Calamities upon her, and barrenness upon her womb!