من بعد حمزة يحمي حوزة الأدب — Hifni Nasif

مَن بعدَ حمزة يحمي حوزةَ الأدبِ

ومَن يذود الردى عن ألسن العربِ

Who after Hamza will guard literature's domain,

And who will ward off death from the tongues of the Arabs?

ومن لِقيد شَرودٍ من أوابدها

مِن ساربٍ في مراعيه ومنسربِ

And who will fetter a fugitive among its wild creatures,

Whether roaming in its pastures or slipping away?

وللغرائب تأتي في رسائلهُ

طوعاً وتعنو له في الشعر والخطب

And who will master the rarities that come in his letters

Willingly, and bow to him in poetry and speeches?

إن رامها لمقال مه مرتجلٍ

لبّت وإن تدعُها أقلامهُ تُجب

If he sought them for an impromptu speech,

They answered; and if his pens called them, they replied.

يكسو المعانيَ إن عنَّت له كلماً

كأنما أدخر الألفاظ في عُلبِ

He clothes meanings, whenever they occur to him, in words,

As though he had stored expressions in boxes.

قد جدّ في لغة الإعرابِ من صغرِ

فأوتيَ الحكمَ في الإعرابِ وهو صبي

He labored at the language of inflection from childhood,

And was granted sound judgment in grammar while still a boy.

واستعذب الدأبَ في استيضاحِ غامضها

كأنه عنده ضرْب من الضرَبِ

And found constant toil sweet in clarifying its obscurities,

As though, to him, it were a kind of white honey.

فملكتَّهُ عنانَ الأمرِ وامتزجتْ

لدى كهولتهِ باللحم والعصبِ

So it gave him the reins of command, and mingled

In his mature years with his flesh and sinews.

إذا أحس شُعُوبيًّا يعارضها

في مجدها ملَكتهُ سورةُ الغضبِ

Whenever he sensed a Shu'ubi disputing

Its glory, a surge of anger seized him.

وذاد عن حوضها فوراً بحجته

ذيادَ مَن إن رمى عن قوسهِ يُصِبِ

And at once he defended its watering-place with his argument,

As one who, when he shoots from his bow, hits the mark.

وساق في الحال شتى من محاسنها

لم تعرف العجْم ما فيها من العجبِ

And immediately brought forth many of its beauties,

Whose wonders the non-Arabs had never known.

وقال هات المسمَّى وهو مجتلبٌ

وخذ من اللغة اسماً غير مجتلبِ

And said, "Bring the named thing, though it be imported,

And take from the language a name that is not imported."

ما عابها محدثاتٌ في الصناعةلم

يدْرِالوجودُ بها في ذلك الحقبِ

It was not discredited by new inventions in industry

That the world had not known in that age.

يجيب سائلَه عن كل مقترحٍ

حتى يقرّ له بالفوز الغلَبِ

He answers his questioner on every proposal,

Until he concedes him victory and supremacy.

أودَى فيا شدّ ما جاء النعيّ به

على النفوسِ ويا للوَيل والحربِ

He is gone—oh, how grievous what the death-announcer brought

Upon our souls! Alas for woe and ruin!

لهْفي على بحر فضل غاض زاخره

لهفي على كنز علمٍ غاب في الترَبِ

My grief for a sea of merit whose swelling waters have ebbed away!

My grief for a treasure of learning vanished into the dust!

يا طالما خطَب العلياء مقتعداً

بطنَ السفين وظهر العيس والقتَبِ

Ah, how often he wooed the heights while seated

In ships' bellies, on white camelbacks and saddles!

مصرٌ وتونسُ والسودانُ تعرفهُ

كم سار في صعَدٍ منها وفي صبب

Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan know him;

How often he traveled their uplands and their descents!

وفي السويد بدا الناس سؤددُه

ونال بين أُوربّا منتهى الأربِ

And in Sweden his eminence became apparent to the people,

And in Europe he attained the utmost of his desire.

سعى من الشرقِ يبغي خبر مؤتمر

في الغربِ محتقباً ما شاء من أهَبِ

He journeyed from the East, seeking news of a congress

In the West, carrying whatever gear he wished.

ونحن كنا إذا سرنا نحُفُّ به

كما تحفُ نجوم الليل بالقطُبِ

And whenever we traveled, we would gather around him

As the stars of night gather round the Pole Star.

فافهم القومَ أن العلم طِلْبتنا

وأن شمس العلا في مصرَ لم تغِبِ

So he made the people understand that knowledge was our quest,

And that the sun of eminence in Egypt had not set.

ما كان أملأَ للعينينِ طلعتُه

إذا بدا في حُلَى أثوابهُ القشبِ

How fully his presence filled both eyes

When he appeared in the finery of his fresh garments!

كم في فينَّا وفي استكهلمَ صورَّه

مصورو القوم عن بعدٍ وعن كثبِ

How often, in Vienna and Stockholm, he was photographed

By their photographers, from afar and from close by!

وكم أحاط بنا خلْقٌ تسائلنا

من كل منجذبٍ في إثْر منجذبِ

And how often crowds surrounded us, questioning us,

Each captivated onlooker following another:

مليك أي بلاد ذاك قلت لهم

هذا الإمام مليكُ العلم والأدبِ

"Of which country is that man king?" I told them,

"This imam is king of knowledge and literature."

لم أنسَ إذ زرتهُ في البيت منفرداً

يوماً لأدعوَه للمجمع العربي

I have not forgotten when I visited him alone at home

One day, to invite him to the Arab academy.

فقلت أدعوكَ للجليَّ فأنت لها

أهلٌ وأحوَزُنا في السبق للقصبِ

I said, "I invite you to the great undertaking, for you are

Worthy of it, and likeliest among us to win the victor's reed."

فقال ينكر مني ما أحاوله

لمن تجدّ وجُل الناس في لعبِ

He said, disapproving of what I was attempting:

"For whom do you labor, while most people are at play?"

فقلت مولاي قد خرّجتَ نابتةً

فيما مضى يا لهم من فتيةٍ نُجبِ

I said, "My master, you have trained a budding generation

In days gone by—oh, what noble young men!

نهضتَ بالعلم فيهم نهضةً عجباً

حاشا يضيع الذي كابدتَ من تعبِ

You advanced learning among them in a wondrous rise;

Far be it that the toil you endured should be wasted."

فابرنشَق الشيخ من قولي وقال نعم

لكنه منصِبٌ يحتاج للنصَبِ

The elder brightened at my words and said, "Yes,

But it is a post that calls for toil.

طال المسير وقد مسَّ العيونَ قذىً

من القديح ونضوي ناءَ من لغَبِ

The journey has grown long, and grit has touched the eyes

From the dregs; my gaunt mount is bowed with fatigue.

خليفتي أنت فانهض باللغَى معهم

وأدأب فإنكَ مطبوع على الدأبِ

You are my successor: uphold the languages with them,

And persevere, for you are fashioned for perseverance."

فقلت مَن عجم الأعوادِ مختبراً

أحوالها ماز بين النبع والغرَبِ

I said, "Whoever tests the sticks, examining

Their qualities, distinguishes nabʿ wood from willow."

فكان أصعبَ شيءٍ أن رجعت لهم

وقلت إنيَ قد أخفقت في طلبي

So the hardest thing was that I returned to them

And said, "I have failed in my request."

لو ساعد الحظُ والأستاذُ أسعفنا

كنا غنِينا عن التنقيب في الكتُبِ

Had fortune helped, and the master come to our aid,

We would have had no need to search through books.

فالمجمعُ الآن يبكي حسرةً وأسىً

ويشتكي حُرَقَ الأحزانِ والوصبِ

So the academy now weeps in regret and sorrow,

And laments grief's burnings and pain.

لكن سنصبر للبلوى على مضضٍ

ونستعيذُ من الأرزاء والنُوَبِ

But we shall endure the affliction, bitter though it is,

And seek refuge from calamities and reversals.

ونسأل الله توفيقاً يحركنا

فيما عُنينا به للأخذ بالسبب

And ask God for success to set us in motion

In what concerns us, to take hold of the means.

نمشي الهُوَيْنَى على مقدار طاقتنا

ومن تيمّم وجهَ الله لم يخبِ

We walk gently, according to the measure of our strength,

And whoever seeks God's face will not fail.

سقى ثراه من الوسميَّ مهمرٌ

وجادَ مضجعَه غادٍ من السحبِ

May a downpour of early autumn rain water his dust,

And a morning cloud rain generously on his resting-place.

وعوض الله مصراً عن خسارتها

خيراً كثيراً ونجاها من الكربِ

And may God compensate Egypt for her loss

With abundant good, and deliver her from distress.