ردوا علي بياني بعد محمود — Hafez Ibrahim

رُدّوا عَلَيَّ بَياني بَعدَ مَحمودِ

إِنّي عَييتُ وَأَعيا الشِعرُ مَجهودي

Restore my eloquence to me after Mahmoud;

I have faltered, and poetry has baffled all my striving.

ما لِلبَلاغَةِ غَضبى لا تُطاوِعُني

وَما لِحَبلِ القَوافي غَيرَ مَمدودِ

Why is eloquence angry, refusing to obey me,

and why does the cord of rhymes lie unstretched?

ظَنَّت سُكوتِيَ صَفحاً عَن مَوَدَّتِهِ

فَأَسلَمَتني إِلى هَمٍّ وَتَسهيدِ

She took my silence as disregard for his friendship,

and surrendered me to sorrow and sleeplessness.

وَلَو دَرَت أَنَّ هَذا الخَطبَ أَفحَمَني

لَأَطلَقَت مِن لِساني كُلَّ مَعقودِ

Had she known that this calamity had struck me speechless,

she would have loosened every knot upon my tongue.

لَبَّيكَ يا مُؤنِسَ المَوتى وَموحِشَنا

يا فارِسَ الشِعرِ وَالهَيجاءِ وَالجودِ

At your service, you who comfort the dead and leave us desolate,

O knight of poetry, battle, and generosity.

مُلكُ القُلوبِ وَأَنتَ المُستَقِلُّ بِهِ

أَبقى عَلى الدَهرِ مِن مُلكِ اِبنِ داوودِ

The kingdom of hearts, which you alone possess,

outlasts through time the kingdom of David's son.

لَقَد نَزَحتَ عَنِ الدُنيا كَما نَزَحَت

عَنها لَياليكَ مِن بيضٍ وَمِن سودِ

You have indeed departed from this world, just as departed

from it your nights, both bright and dark.

أَغمَضتَ عَينَيكَ عَنها وَاِزدَرَيتَ بِها

قَبلَ المَماتِ وَلَم تَحفِل بِمَوجودِ

You closed your eyes to it and held it in contempt

before death, and cared for nothing it contained.

لَبَّيكَ يا شاعِراً ضَنَّ الزَمانُ بِهِ

عَلى النُهى وَالقَوافي وَالأَناشيدِ

At your service, O poet whom time begrudged

to minds, to rhymes, and to songs.

تَجري السَلاسَةُ في أَثناءِ مَنطِقِهِ

تَحتَ الفَصاحَةِ جَريَ الماءِ في العودِ

Fluid ease runs through the folds of his speech,

beneath eloquence, as water runs through a stem.

في كُلِّ بَيتٍ لَهُ ماءٌ يَرِفُّ بِهِ

يَغارُ مِن ذِكرِهِ ماءُ العَناقيدِ

In every verse of his a watery lustre shimmers,

whose mention makes the juice of grape-clusters envious.

لَو حَنَّطوكَ بِشِعرٍ أَنتَ قائِلُهُ

غَنيتَ عَن نَفَحاتِ المِسكِ وَالعودِ

Had they embalmed you with poetry of your own composing,

you would have needed no wafts of musk or aloeswood.

حَلَّيتَهُ بَعدَ أَن هَذَّبتَهُ بِسَنا

عِقدٍ بِمَدحِ رَسولِ اللَهِ مَنضودِ

You adorned it, after refining it, with the radiance

of a necklace strung with praise of God's Messenger.

كَفاكَ زاداً وَزَيناً أَن تَسيرَ إِلى

يَومِ الحِسابِ وَذاكَ العِقدُ في الجيدِ

It is provision and adornment enough for you to journey toward

the Day of Reckoning with that necklace at your throat.

لَبَّيكَ يا خَيرَ مَن هَزَّ اليَراعَ وَمَن

هَزَّ الحُسامَ وَمَن لَبّى وَمَن نودي

At your service, O best of those who wielded the pen, and those who

wielded the sword, and those who answered, and those who were called.

إِن هُدَّ رُكنُكَ مَنكوباً فَقَد رَفَعَت

لَكَ الفَضيلَةُ رُكناً غَيرَ مَهدودِ

If your pillar was toppled in misfortune, there has been raised

for you by virtue a pillar never to be toppled.

إِنَّ المَناصِبَ في عَزلٍ وَتَولِيَةٍ

غَيرُ المَواهِبِ في ذِكرٍ وَتَخليدِ

Offices, subject to dismissal and appointment,

are unlike gifts, preserved in remembrance and immortality.

أَكرِم بِها زَلَّةً في العُمرِ واحِدَةً

إِن صَحَّ أَنَّكَ فيها غَيرُ مَحمودِ

How noble a lapse, the only one in a lifetime,

if it is true that in it you were not praiseworthy.

سَلوا الحِجا هَل قَضَت أَربابُهُ وَطَراً

دونَ المَقاديرِ أَو فازَت بِمَقصودِ

Ask reason: have its masters ever fulfilled a desire

apart from destiny, or attained an intended goal?

كُنتَ الوَزيرَ وَكُنتَ المُستَعانَ بِهِ

وَكانَ هَمُّكَ هَمَّ القادَةِ الصيدِ

You were the minister, and you were the one sought for aid,

and your concern was the concern of proud commanders.

كَم وَقفَةٍ لَكَ وَالأَبطالُ طائِرَةٌ

وَالحَربُ تَضرِبُ صِنديداً بِصِنديدِ

How often you stood firm while heroes scattered in flight,

and war struck one champion against another.

تَقولُ لِلنَفسِ إِن جاشَت إِلَيكَ بِها

هَذا مَجالُكِ سودي فيهِ أَو بيدي

You tell your soul, when battle makes it surge toward you:

This is your arena: rule here, or perish.

نَسَختَ يَومَ كَريدٍ كُلَّ ما نَقَلوا

في يَومِ ذي قارَ عَن هاني بنِ مَسعودِ

On the day of Crete you eclipsed all they recounted

of Hani ibn Mas'ud on the day of Dhu Qar.

نَظَمتَ أَعداكَ في سِلكِ الفَناءِ بِهِ

عَلى رَوِيٍّ وَلَكِن غَيرُ مَعهودِ

There you strung your foes upon the thread of annihilation,

to a rhyme-letter, but an unfamiliar one,

كَأَنَّهُم كَلِمٌ وَالمَوتُ قافِيَةٌ

يَرمي بِهِ عَرَبِيٌّ غَيرُ رِعديدِ

as though they were words and death their rhyme,

hurled by an Arab who was no coward.

أَودى المَعَرّي تَقِيُّ الشِعرِ مُؤمِنُهُ

فَكادَ صَرحُ المَعالي بَعدَهُ يودي

Al-Ma'arri perished, poetry's pious one, its believer,

and the edifice of lofty deeds nearly perished after him.

وَأَوحَشَ الشَرقُ مِن فَضلٍ وَمِن أَدَبٍ

وَأَقفَرَ الرَوضُ مِن شَدوٍ وَتَغريدِ

The East grew desolate of excellence and letters,

and the garden lay barren of song and birdsong.

وَأَصبَحَ الشِعرُ وَالأَسماعُ تَنبِذُهُ

كَأَنَّهُ دَسَمٌ في جَوفِ مَمعودِ

Poetry became, with ears rejecting it,

like grease in the belly of one with an ailing stomach.

أَلوى بِهِ الضَعفُ وَاِستَرخَت أَعِنَّتُهُ

فَراحَ يَعثُرُ في حَشوٍ وَتَعقيدِ

Weakness twisted it, and its reins grew slack,

so it stumbled through padding and tangled expression.

وَأَنكَرَت نَسَماتُ الشَوقِ مَربَعَهُ

تُثيرُها خَطَراتُ الخُرَّدِ الخودِ

The breezes of longing no longer recognized its meadow,

stirred by the graceful movements of shy, lovely maidens.

لَو أَنصَفوا أَودَعوهُ جَوفَ لُؤلُؤَةٍ

مِن كَنزِ حِكمَتِهِ لا جَوفَ أُخدودِ

Had they been just, they would have laid him inside a pearl

from the treasure of his wisdom, not inside a trench,

وَكَفَّنوهُ بِدَرجٍ مِن صَحائِفِهِ

أَو واضِحٍ مِن قَميصِ الصُبحِ مَقدودِ

and shrouded him in a scroll of his own pages,

or a bright piece cut from dawn's shirt,

وَأَنزَلوهُ بِأُفقٍ مِن مَطالِعِهِ

فَوقَ الكَواكِبِ لا تَحتَ الجَلاميدِ

and set him on a horizon of his own risings,

above the stars, not beneath the boulders,

وَناشَدوا الشَمسَ أَن تَنعي مَحاسِنَهُ

لِلشَرقِ وَالغَربِ وَالأَمصارِ وَالبيدِ

and implored the sun to mourn his virtues

to East and West, to cities and deserts.

أَقولُ لِلمَلَإِ الغادي بِمَوكِبِهِ

وَالناسُ ما بَينَ مَكبودٍ وَمَفؤودِ

I say to the gathering going forth with his procession,

while the people are stricken in liver or in heart:

غُضّوا العُيونَ فَإِنَّ الروحَ يَصحَبُكُم

مَعَ المَلائِكِ تَكريماً لِمَحمودِ

Lower your eyes, for the Spirit accompanies you

with the angels, in honor of Mahmoud.

يا وَيحَ لِلقَبرِ قَد أَخفى سَنا قَمَرٍ

مُقَسَّمِ الوَجهِ مَحسودِ التَجاليدِ

Alas for the grave: it has hidden the radiance of a moon,

finely formed of face, envied for his bodily form.

يا وَيحَهُ حَلَّ فيهِ ذو قَريحَتُهُ

لَها بِخِدرِ المَعالي أَلفُ مَولودِ

Alas for it! There lies one whose poetic gift

has a thousand offspring in the chamber of lofty deeds:

فَرائِدٌ خُرَّدٌ لَو شاءَ أَودَعَها

مُحصي الجَديدِ سِجِلّاتِ المَواليدِ

rare jewels, bashful maidens—had he wished, they would have been entered

by the recorder of new life into the registers of births.

كَأَنَّها وَهيَ بِالأَلفاظِ كاسِيَةٌ

وَحُسنُها بَينَ مَشهودٍ وَمَحسودِ

As though, while clothed in words,

with their beauty both witnessed and envied,

لَآلِئٌ خَلفَ بَلّورٍ قَدِ اِتَسَقَت

في بَيتِ دُهقانَ تَستَهوي نُهى الغيدِ

they were pearls arrayed behind crystal,

in a landholder's house, captivating the minds of graceful maidens.

مَحمودُ إِنّي لَأَستَحييكَ في كَلِمي

حَيّاً وَمَيتاً وَإِن أَبدَعتُ تَقصيدي

Mahmoud, I am truly abashed before you in my words,

living or dead, even if I excel in composing my ode.

فَاِعذِر قَريضِيَ وَاِعذِر فيكَ قائِلَهُ

كِلاهُما بَينَ مَضعوفٍ وَمَحدودِ

So forgive my verse, and forgive its speaker in writing of you;

both lie between weakness and limitation.