أمانا لقلب طال فيه اعتناؤه — Germanus Farhat

أماناً لقلبٍ طال فيه اعتناؤهُ

وتبّاً لعقلٍ زال عنه اتقاؤهُ

Safety to a heart whose concern has long endured;

and ruin to a mind whose caution has departed.

ورعياً لمرءٍ ظن دنياه إنَّها

منكَّرَةٌ والنقصُ فيها جزاؤه

And protection for one who thinks his earthly world is

unfriendly, and his recompense within it is loss.

فإن سمحت يوماً بنعمة مُفرطٍ

فكان كما نَسْخَ الصباحَ مساؤه

For if one day it grants a prodigal's bounty,

it is as when its evening effaced the morning.

فلا خير في حظٍّ يكون مؤجَّلاً

كتأجيل عُمرٍ آن منه انقضاؤه

There is no good in fortune that is deferred,

like delaying a life whose ending is already due.

ذرِ الدهرَ لا تحفل به فهو ماكرٌ

ولن يخدع الإنسان إلّا صداؤه

Leave time; pay it no heed, for it is cunning.

Nothing will deceive a man but his own rust.

ولا تعمُرَنْ في الدهر داراً فإنها

عفاءٌ وهل ميتٌ يرجَّى شفاؤه

Do not build a dwelling in this world, for it is

desolation; can one hope for a dead man's healing?

وزحزحَ جِرمَ القلب عن شمس إفكها

فمركزُها دوماً يحولُ لواؤه

And shift the heart's sphere away from the sun of its falsehood;

for its center's banner is forever changing.

كفى حشدُك الأموالَ إن طريفَها

وتالدَها يغدو ويفنى بقاؤه

Enough of hoarding wealth: its new acquisitions

and its inherited stores pass away, and their continuance ends.

وأصغ لما أبديه عقلاً وناظراً

ووَجِّهْ سماعاً لا يضيق وِعاؤه

And heed what I reveal, with reason and sight;

and offer a hearing whose vessel is not narrow.

ونُط نفثاتِ الدرّ في جيد حازمٍ

وناهيك من درٍّ يزين حِلاؤه

And hang pearl-like utterances upon a prudent man's neck;

and enough for you are pearls whose ornaments lend beauty.

فمن كان معواناً على الدهر إنه

أخو ثقةٍ والحرُّ يزهو بَهاؤه

For whoever gives aid against time is indeed

a man of trust; the noble man's splendor shines.

ومن يك جوَّاداً بكل نفسيةٍ

سوى العرض لا يخشى الإلهَ لقاؤه

And whoever is generous with every cherished possession,

save his honor, does not fear meeting God.

ومن يك ذا سلمٍ يعشْ وهو سالمٌ

من الدهر إن الدهر يكدُرُ ماؤه

And whoever is peaceable will live unharmed

by time; indeed, time's water grows murky.

ومن يك ذا عقلٍ رصينٍ فإنه

عن البؤس في حصن مكينٍ علاؤه

And whoever possesses a sound mind is

away from misery, in a fortress whose height is secure.

ومن يك طمّاحاً إلى الفحش طرفه

يُغَضَّ على شوكٍ أليمٍ قَذاؤه

And whoever's eye strains eagerly toward obscenity

will have it lowered onto thorns whose grit brings pain.

ومن يختلط بالناس يشمله بؤسُهم

كما يهلك اليعقوبَ يوماً مُكاؤه

Whoever mingles with people is encompassed by their misery,

as a male partridge is one day destroyed by its whistling.

ومن يأمن الأشرار يوماً فإنه

يبيت له قلبٌ تُشَبُّ لَظاؤه

And whoever one day trusts the wicked

will indeed pass the night with a heart whose blaze is kindled.

وكن طَلِقاً فالبِشرُ في الوجه يا أخي

دليلٌ كما قد دل عنه جفاؤه

Be cheerful: gladness in the face, my brother,

is a sign, just as a man's harshness has revealed him.

ولا تعجلن فيما تروم صنيعَه

وسر في طريق شفَّ فيه صفاؤه

Do not hurry in doing what you intend;

and walk a road whose clarity shines through.

ولا تغترر بالحظِّ عند وروده

فكم غادرٍ وافى يهُبُّّ رخاؤه

Do not be deceived by fortune when it arrives;

for many a traitor has arrived, his prosperity blowing in.

وقابل ببشر حين تلمحُ ناظراً

عدوَّك ذا وجهٍ يَهِلُّ ضياؤه

And greet with cheer when you catch sight of

your enemy, with a face whose radiance shines forth.

ومن يَسبُرِ الإخوان يلق أجلَّهم

خؤوناً وأي الناس بادٍ خفاؤه

Whoever tests his friends will find their most esteemed

treacherous—and whose hidden nature is plain to see?

وصن حُرَّ ماء الوجه منك صيانةً

فلا خير في وجهٍ يُرقرَقُ ماؤه

And carefully guard the pure water of your face;

for no good lies in a face whose water is spilled.

ومُدَّ لبذل الجود كفّاً ومعصماً

وحسبُك جودٌ لاح منك ذكاؤه

And extend a hand and wrist to give generously;

and enough for you is generosity whose radiance shines from you.

فلا البَسطُ مفنيه ولا القبض جامعٌ

لأشتاته والمالُ شينٌ ثواؤه

Neither opening the hand exhausts it, nor does closing it gather

its scattered parts; keeping wealth is a blemish.

وإن بني الدنيا تميل لموسرٍ

وتعرضُ عن خلٍّ أُذيعَ شقاؤه

The sons of this world incline toward a wealthy man

and turn away from a friend whose misery has been made known.

فسَحبانُها في العسر باقلُ عصرِه

وباقِلُها في اليسر بادٍ رُواؤه

So its Sahban, in hardship, is the Baqil of his age,

and its Baqil, in ease, displays a handsome bearing.

ولا تنظمِ الأسرارَ في غير سلكها

ونُطها بشخصٍ جل فيه ذَكاؤه

Do not string secrets on any thread but their own;

and attach them to someone whose intelligence is great.

وإن كان نوع الخلق في الخلق واحداً

فإن ذكي العقل عَسْرٌ لقاؤه

And though humankind is one kind in creation,

one of keen intellect is hard to find.

فما كل برقٍ لاحَ بالغيث هاملٌ

ولا كل ماءٍ راق منه صفاؤه

For not every lightning flash that appears pours down rain,

nor does every water have pleasing clarity.

ولا تخدشنَّّ البرَّ منك بمطله

فكم ماطلٍ قد عيبَ منه نَداؤه

Do not mar your kindness by delaying it;

for many a procrastinator's generosity has been reproached.

ولا تستشر في الخطب إلّا مهذَّباً

خبيراً بما يقضيه يَقْظاً حِجاؤه

Consult in grave affairs only a refined man,

experienced in what he resolves, with an alert mind.

وإرْضَ بنزر العيش واقنع ببَرْضِه

فكم نَهِمٍ قد أهلكته مِعاؤه

Be content with a scant livelihood, and satisfied with its little share;

for many a glutton has been destroyed by his gut.

ولا ترض يا هذا بجهلٍ يحطُّه

أخو الرأي عن قدرٍ رفيعٍ ذُراؤه

Do not, O man, accept ignorance for which one is lowered

by a discerning man from a rank whose summits are lofty.

وإن كنت مظلوماً فربك عادلٌ

وإن كنت ظلّاماً عليك بلاؤه

And if you are wronged, your Lord is just;

and if you are an oppressor, His affliction is upon you.

سرورك يا هذا بأنك مقلعٌ

عن الخطأ المذموم منك جَناؤه

Your joy, O man, is that you desist

from the wrongdoing you are blamed for committing.

فنفس الفتى تزهو بتوبةِ ناصحٍ

متى شامها العقل استهلَّ بكاؤه

For a young man's soul shines through sincere repentance;

whenever reason beholds it, its weeping bursts forth.

ونهنهَ عنه عبءَ إثمٍ أقلَّهُ

لقد كان يوهيه أسىً إقواؤه

And it lifts from him the burden of a sin he bore;

his desolation had indeed been weakening him with sorrow.

ويا لابساً بُرْدَ الشباب بزهوةٍ

فبُردُك يا هذا يَرِثُّ بهاؤه

And O you who wear the mantle of youth with pride,

your mantle's splendor, O man, grows threadbare.

عساك تُعبِّي في الشبيبة أنعماً

تقيك إذا ما العمر حان ذَواؤه

May you store up blessings in your youth

that protect you when life's withering comes due.

فما عذرُ شيبٍ لاح في لمَّةِ الفتى

فحوَّلها بيضاً فملَّّ قِواؤه

Then what excuse has gray hair that appears in a young man's locks

and turns them white, so that his strength grows weary?

وأرفع أعمال الفتى في حياته

أمانته والوُدُّ ثم رجاؤه

And a young man's loftiest deeds in his lifetime

are his trustworthiness and love, and then his hope.

وكن ماسكاً في حبل دينِ ابن مريمٍ

ومذهبِه المرفوعِ يوماً لواؤه

And hold fast to the rope of the faith of Mary's son,

and to his doctrine, whose banner was raised one day.

وخذ بالذي أنشاه أنصارُهُ وما

أيِمَّتُهُ نصّوه لا خُصماؤه

And adopt what his supporters established, and what

his leaders prescribed—not his opponents.

مقرّاً بأربعة المجامع أنها

محققةٌ والحق هم شهداؤه

Acknowledging the four councils, that they are

established as true, and that they are witnesses to the truth;

وثامنِها المنبثِّ في الأرض ذكرُه

فسَقياً لمرءٍ كان فيه اعتناؤه

and their eighth, whose renown has spread across the earth;

so may rain refresh a man who has given it his care.

أخي وابن عمي هاك مني نصيحةً

مهذبةً والنصح يعلو علاؤه

My brother and cousin, take from me advice,

refined, for counsel's eminence rises high.

فما ضرها والإثم غلَّلَ ربَّها

إذاً لن يَعيبَ الدرَّ يوماً وِعاؤه

For what harm does it suffer, though sin has shackled its master?

Thus its vessel will never blemish the pearl.