Sol 6.1

  1. لحى الله دهراً لو يميل إلى العُتبى

    لأوسعتُ بعد اليوم مسمعه عَتبا

    May God curse Time! Were it inclined to make amends,

    I would fill its ears with reproach after today.

  2. ولكنَّه والشرُّ حشو إهابه

    على شغبه إن قلتُ مهلاً يزدْ شغبا

    But it—with evil filling its hide—

    grows more unruly if, amid its riot, I say, 'Gently!'

  3. له السوءُ لم يُلبس أخا الفضل نعمةً

    يسرُّ بها إلاَّأعدَّ لها السلبا

    May evil befall it! It never clothed a man of virtue in a blessing

    to gladden him without preparing to strip it away.

  4. على الحرِّ ملآنٌ من الضغن قلبه

    فبالهمِّ منه لم يزلْ ينحت القلبا

    Its heart brims with rancor against the freeborn man,

    so with the sorrow it sends, it never ceases to chisel his heart.

  5. يطلُّ عليه كلّ يوم وليلةٍ

    بقارعةٍ من صرفه تقلع الهضبا

    It looms over him every day and night

    with a blow of its vicissitudes that uproots mountains.

  6. كأنَّ كرامَ الناس في حلقه شجاً

    وإلا قذًى يُدمى لناظره غربا

    As though noble people were a bone lodged in its throat,

    or else a mote that makes its eye weep blood,

  7. فيلفظهم كيما يسيغَ شرابه

    وتطبقُ عيناهُ على هدبه الهدبا

    it spits them out so that it may swallow its drink,

    and its eyes close, lash upon lash.

  8. وحاربهم من غيرِ ذنبٍ لنقصه

    فلستُ أرى غيرَ الكمال له ذنبا

    It wars on them without any fault, because of its own deficiency;

    I see no fault it finds in them except perfection.

  9. كأنَّ له يا أعدم اللهُ ظلَّه

    لديهم تراثاً فهو لا يبرح الحربا

    As though it had—may God blot out its shadow!—

    an inheritance in their keeping, it never leaves off war.

  10. وأصعبُ حربٍ منه يومَ صروفُه

    من الشرف السَّامي ارتقت مرتقًى صعبا

    And its fiercest war was the day its vicissitudes

    climbed a forbidding ascent of exalted nobility.

  11. تخطَّت حمى العلياء حتَّى انتهت به

    إلى حرمٍ للخطبِ يشعره رُعبا

    They crossed the bounds of eminence until their course led them

    to a sanctuary that fills calamity with dread.

  12. فما نهنهت دون الوقوف على خباً

    ضربن المعالي فوق رتبته حجبا

    They did not draw back before halting at a tent

    above whose station the lofty virtues had drawn veils.

  13. ولا صدرت إلاَّ بنفسٍ نجيبةٍ

    عليها مدى الدهر العُلى صرخت غضبى

    Nor did they depart save with a noble soul,

    for whom Eminence cried out in wrath for all time.

  14. أسرَّ لها الناعي المفجَّعُ نعيَها

    فقامت عليها تعلن النوح والندبا

    The grief-stricken herald whispered to Eminence the news of her death,

    and Eminence rose to proclaim wailing and lament for her.

  15. وهوَّن فقدان النساء مؤنّب

    يعيب الأسى لو شئت أوسعته ثلبا

    A reproacher belittled the loss of women,

    finding fault with grief; if I wished, I would heap abuse upon him.

  16. وهوَّن فقدان الرجال وعنده

    على زعمه فيما يرى هوَّن الخطبا

    He belittled the loss of men, and in his mind,

    as he claimed and saw it, he had made calamity light.

  17. وما كلُّ فقدان النساء مؤنّب

    يعيب الأسى لو شئت أوسعته ثلبا

    And not every loss of women ... a reproacher

    finding fault with grief; if I wished, I would heap abuse upon him.

  18. فكم ذات خدرٍ كانَ أولى بها البقا

    وكم رجلٍ أولى بأن يسكن التربا

    For how many a secluded lady was more deserving of life,

    and how many a man more deserving of dwelling in the dust!

  19. وغير ملومٍ من يبيتُ لفقده

    كريمته يستشعر الحزنَ والندبا

    Blameless is he who spends the night, because he has lost

    his cherished daughter, inwardly feeling grief and lament.

  20. فكم من أبٍ زانته عفَّةُ بنته

    وكم ولدٍ قد شانَ والدَه الندبا

    How many a father has been graced by his daughter's chastity,

    and how many a son has shamed his noble father!

  21. فساقت بمأثور الحديث له الثنا

    وساقَ بمأثورِ الملام له السبَّا

    She brought her father praise through oft-told accounts,

    while he brought his father abuse through oft-repeated blame.

  22. بل الخطب فقد الأنجبين ومن له

    بذلك لولا أنَّها تلد النجبا

    Rather, calamity is losing the noblest—and who could have

    such men, did woman not give birth to the noble?

  23. وربَّةُ نسكٍ بضعةٌ من محمدٍ

    مضت ما زهت يوماً ولا اتَّخذت تربا

    And a woman of devotion, a part of Muhammad,

    passed away, never once vain, nor choosing a companion of her own age.

  24. غداة قضى عن أهلها الدهر بعدها

    وأوحشها من لا ترى ذوي القربى

    On the morning Time decreed her separation from her family,

    and left her desolate through no longer seeing her kin,

  25. وأخرجها من عالم الكون مثلما

    له دخلت لم تقترف أبداً ذنبا

    it took her from the world of being just as

    she had entered it, never having committed a sin.

  26. أحبَّ إلهُ العالمين جوارها

    له فقضى بالموت منه لها قربا

    The God of all worlds desired her companionship

    beside Him, and through death decreed her nearness to Himself.

  27. حليفةُ زهدٍ ما تصدَّت لزينةٍ

    ولا عرفتْ في الدهر لهواً ولا لعبا

    An ally of asceticism, she never sought adornment,

    nor knew amusement or play throughout her life.

  28. وخبَّأها فرطُ الحياءِ فلم تكن

    تصافحُ وجهَ الأرضِ أذيالها سحبا

    Her boundless modesty hid her away; never did

    her trailing hems brush the face of the earth.

  29. فلو أنَّ عين الشمس تقسمُ أنَّها

    لها ما رأت شخصاً لما حلفت كذبا

    So if the sun's eye were to swear that

    it had never seen her form, it would not have sworn falsely.

  30. وغيرَ حجاب الخدر والقبر ما رأتْ

    ولا شاهدت شرقاً لدنيا ولا غربا

    She saw nothing but the veil of her chamber and the grave,

    nor witnessed this world's east or west.

  31. فلم تُدر إلاَّ بالسماع حياتُها

    وجاءَ سماعاً أنَّها قضت النحبا

    So her life was known only by hearsay,

    and word came by hearsay that she had fulfilled her allotted span.

  32. وأما هي العنقاء قلتَ فصادقٌ

    ولكن مقام الاحترام لها يأبى

    Were you to say, 'She is the phoenix,' you would speak truly,

    but the reverence owed her forbids it.

  33. وما هي إلاَّ بضعةٌ من محمدٍ

    أجلُّ بني الدنيا وأعلاهم كعبا

    And she is nothing but a part of Muhammad,

    the noblest of the world's sons, the highest in standing,

  34. وأرحبهم بيتاً وأوسعهم قِرًى

    وأطولهم باعاً وأرجحهم لبَّا

    the most spacious in home, the most bountiful in hospitality,

    the longest of reach, the weightiest in wisdom.

  35. رطيب ثرًى منه تحيي وفودُه

    محيًّا بأنداء الحيا لم يزل رطبا

    Moist is his soil; his visitors greet in him

    a face forever fresh with the dews of rain,

  36. وتلمسُ منه أنملاً هنَّ للندى

    سحائب فيها علَّم المطرُ السحبا

    and touch his fingers, which, in their bounty, are

    clouds through which the rain has schooled the clouds.

  37. ولو نُسبتْ شهبُ السماء بأنها

    بنوه إذن تاهتْ بنسبتها عجبا

    If heaven's bright stars were said to be

    his sons, they would glory in that kinship, filled with pride.

  38. غدا مركزاً للفضلِ ما لفضيلةٍ

    جرى فلكٌ إلاَّ وكانَ له قطبا

    He became the center of excellence; no virtue

    had a sphere revolve save with him as its pole.

  39. له حبَّبتْ كسبَ الثناء سجيَّةٌ

    بها وهو طفلٌ نفسه شغفت حبَّا

    An innate disposition endeared the winning of praise to him,

    one his soul had passionately loved since he was a child.

  40. وأحرزها عبدُ الكريم شقيقه

    فأصبح في كسب الثنا مغرماً صبَّا

    His brother Abd al-Karim possessed it too,

    and became an ardent lover of winning praise.

  41. على أنَّه البحرُ المحيطُ وولده

    جداول جودٍ كانَ موردُها عذبا

    Yet he is the encircling ocean, and his sons

    are streams of bounty whose source has ever been sweet:

  42. رضا الفخر هادي المكرمات ومصطفى

    جميع بني العلياء ندبٌ حكى ندبا

    Rida of glory, Hadi of noble deeds, and Mustafa—

    all sons of eminence, each noble man echoing another.

  43. غطارفةٌ زهرُ الوجوه لو أنَّهم

    بها قابلوا شهب السما أطفأوا الشهبا

    Noble lords, bright of face—if they

    faced heaven's stars with those faces, they would extinguish the stars.

  44. بني المصطفى أنتم معادن للتقى

    وأرجح أرباب النهى والحجى لبَّا

    Sons of the Chosen One, you are mines of piety,

    and the weightiest in intellect among men of reason and wisdom.

  45. رقي صبركم أفعى الخطوب فلم تكن

    لتضجركم يوماً ولو أوجعت لسبا

    Your patience charmed the serpent of calamities, so it could not

    ever distress you, however painful its bite.

  46. فلا طرقتكم نكبةٌ بعد هذه

    ولا ساور التبريحُ يوماً لكم قلبا

    So may no calamity visit you by night after this,

    and may anguish never assail a heart of yours.