يا هر فارقتنا ولم تعد

وكنت منا بمنزل الولدِ

O cat, you left us and did not return.

You held among us the place of a child.

وكيف ننفك عن هواك وقد

كنت لنا عدة من العدد

How can we part from loving you, when

You were one of the defenses we could rely on?

تمنع عنا الاذى وتحرسنا

بالغيب من حية ومن جود

You kept harm from us and guarded us,

In our absence, from snakes and [unclear].

وتخرج الفأر من مكامنها

ما بين مفتوحها الى السدد

You drove the mice from their hiding places,

From the open ones to the blocked-up holes.

يلقاك في البيت منهم عدد

وانت تلقاهم بلا عدد

A host of them met you in the house,

And you faced them without weapons.

لا عدد كان منك منفلتا

منهم ولا واحد من العدد

No group ever escaped you,

None of them—not one of their number.

لا ترهب الصيف عند هاجرة

ولا تهاب الشتاء في الجمد

You feared no summer in its midday heat,

Nor dreaded winter amid the ice.

وكان يجري ولا سداد لهم

امرك في بيتنا على سدد

And, with no defense for them, it held sway—

Your rule in our house, on a sound course.

حتى اعتقدت الاذى لجيرتنا

ولم تكن للاذى بمعتقد

Until you resolved to harm our neighbors,

Though you had not been intent on harm.

وحمت حول الردى بظلمهم

ومن يحم حول حوضه يرد

You circled death by wronging them;

Whoever circles its pool will come to drink.

ان الزمان استقاد منك ومن

يسلم لغير الزمان يستقد

Time exacted vengeance from you; whoever

Falls prey to anyone but Time may seek retribution.

فان رماك الردى بحادثة

فما على الحادثات من قود

But if death struck you with a calamity,

There is no blood-revenge against calamities.

وكان قلبي عليك مرتعدا

وانت تنساب غير مرتعد

My heart trembled for you,

While you slipped along without trembling.

تدخل برج الحمام متئد

وتخرج الفرخ غير متئد

You entered the dovecote deliberately,

And carried off the chick without delay.

وتطرح الريش في الطريق لهم

وتبلع اللحم بلع مزدرد

You tossed the feathers onto their path,

And gulped the flesh like a ravenous swallower.

اطعمك الغي لحمها فرأى

قتلك اربابها من الرشد

Folly fed you their flesh; then it seemed

To their owners wise to kill you.

كادوك دهرا فما وقعت وكم

افلت من كيدهم كيد مجتهد

They plotted against you long, yet you never fell; how often

You escaped their plotting—a determined schemer's plotting!

حتى اذا خاتلوك واجتهدوا

وساعد النفس كيد مجتهد

Until, when they deceived you and strove hard,

And a determined schemer's plot aided their resolve,

صادوك غيظا عليك وانتقموا

منك وزادوا ومن يصد يُصد

They trapped you in fury and took vengeance

On you, and went further; whoever hunts is hunted.

فلم تزل للحمام مرتصدا

حتى سقيت الحمام بالرصد

You never ceased lying in wait for the doves,

Until ambush made you drink death.

ثم شفوا بالحديد انفسهم

منك ولم يربعوا على احد

Then, with steel, they appeased themselves

At your expense, showing mercy to no one.

لم يرحموا صوتك الضعيف كما

لم ترث منها لصوتها الغرد

They did not pity your feeble cry, just as

You had not pitied their melodious voices.

فحين كاشفت وانهكت وجا

هرت واسرفت غير مقتصد

So when you openly defied them, ravaged, and

Made no secret of it, exceeding all restraint,

اذاقك الموت من اذاق كما

اذقت اطياره يدا بيد

He who made you taste death did so just as

You made his birds taste it, hand for hand.

كأنهم يقتلون طاغية

كان لطاغوته من العبُد

As though they were killing a tyrant

Who was one of his false god's slaves.

فلو أكبوا على القرامط أو

ما لو على زكرويه لم يزد

Had they fallen upon the Qarmatians, or

Turned upon Zikrawayh, it would have been no greater.

يامن لذيذ الفراخ اوقعه

ويحك هلا قنعت بالقدد

O you brought low by the savor of chicks,

Woe to you! Why not be content with strips of dried meat?

ما كان اغناك عن تسورك ال

برج ولو كان جنة الخلد

How needless it was for you to scale the

Dovecote, even had it been the Garden of Eternity!

لا بارك الله في الطعام اذا

كان هلاك النفوس في المعد

May God not bless food when

The ruin of lives lies in bellies.

كم اكلة داخلت حشا شرة

فأخرجت روحه من الجسد

How many a morsel entered a glutton's belly,

Only to drive his soul out of his body!

اردت ان تأكل الفراخ ولا

يأكلك الدهر أكل مضطهر

You wished to eat the chicks, yet not

Have Time devour you as a ruthless oppressor does.

هذا بعيد من القياس وما

اعزه في الدنو والبعد

That is far from reason; and how

Rare it is, near at hand or far away!

ولم تكن لي بمن دهاك يد

تقوى على دفعه بد الابد

Against the one who struck you, I had no hand

Strong enough to ward him off, for all eternity.

ولا تبين حشو جلدك عن

د الذبح من طاقة ومن جلد

Nor did the flesh within your skin display, at

Slaughter, any strength or endurance.

كأن حبلا حوى بحوزته

جيدك للذبح كان من مسد

As though the rope that held in its grasp

Your neck for slaughter were of palm fiber.

كأن عيني تراك مضطربا

فيه وفي فيك رغوة الزبد

It is as though my eye sees you struggling

In it, with foam frothing in your mouth.

وقد طلبت الخلاص منه فلم

تقدر على حيلة ولم تجد

You sought release from it, but could not

Manage any stratagem, nor find one.

فجدت بالنفس والبخيل بها

كنت ومن لم يجد بها يجد

So you gave your life, though miserly with it

You had been; whoever will not give it must give it.

عشت حريصاً يقوده طمع

ومتَّ ذا قاتل بلا قود

You lived grasping, driven by greed,

And died with a killer who faced no blood-revenge.

فما سمعنا بمثل موتك اذ

مت ولا مثل عيشك النكد

We have heard of no death like yours, when

You died, nor any life like your wretched one.

عشنا بخير وكنت تكلؤنا

ومات جيراننا من الحسد

We lived well, and you kept watch over us,

While our neighbors died of envy.

ثم تقلبت في فراخهم

وانقلب الحاسدون بالكمد

Then you prowled among their chicks,

And the envious turned to anguish.

قد انفردنا بمأتم ولهم

بعدك بالعروس أي منفرد

We alone are left with mourning; theirs,

After you, is wedding joy all their own.

قد كنت في نعمة وفي سعة

من المليك الميهمن الصمد

You had lived in blessing and abundance,

From the Sovereign, the Guardian, the Self-Sufficient.

تأكل من فأر بيتنا رغدا

واين بالشاكرين الرغد

Eating plentifully of the mice in our house;

Yet where is plenty among the thankful?

قد كنت بددت شملهم زمنا

فاجتمعوا بعد ذلك البدد

You had long scattered their company,

But they gathered after that dispersal.

وفتتوا الخبز في السلال فكم

تفتت للعيال من كبد

They crumbled the bread in the baskets; how many

A liver was shattered for the family's sake!

فلم يبقوا لنا على سبد

في جوف ابياتنا ولا لبد

They spared us not a hair

Inside our houses, nor a scrap of wool.

وفرغوا قعرها وما تركوا

ما علقته يد على وتد

They emptied their depths, leaving nothing,

Not even what a hand had hung upon a peg.

ومزقوا من ثيابنا جددا

فكلنا في مصائب جدد

They tore our new garments,

And so we all face new misfortunes.

فاذهب من البيت خير مفتقد

واذهب من البرج شر مفتقد

Go, best of those our house has lost;

Go, worst of those the dovecote has lost.

الم تخف وثبة الزمان وقد

وثبت في البرج وثبة الاسد

Did you not fear Time's leap, when

You leapt into the dovecote like a lion?

اخنى على الدار فيه بالامس

ومن قبلها على لبد

It ravaged the dwelling there yesterday,

And, before that, Lubad.

ولم يدع في عراصها احداً

ما بين عليائها الى السند

It left no one in its courtyards,

From its heights to the mountain slope.

عاقبة البغي لا تسأم وان

تأخرت مدة من المدد

The consequence of wrongdoing never tires, even if

It is delayed for some stretch of time.

من لم يمت يومه يمت غده

او لا يمت في غد فبعد غد

Whoever does not die today dies tomorrow,

Or, if not tomorrow, then the day after.

والحمد لله لا شريك له

فكل شيء يرى الى امد

Praise be to God, who has no partner;

Everything seen has its appointed end.