كفاني حزنا أن أضر بي الهجر — Ibn Malik Al Hamwi

كفاني حزنا أن أضرّ بي الهجرُ

ولم يحل لي عيش ولم يبق لي صبر

It is grief enough that estrangement has harmed me,

and life has lost its sweetness for me, and no patience remains.

وما كنت ادري قبل بينهم وقد

جنيت نار الوصل ان النوى مر

Before their separation I did not know, though

I had reaped union's fire, that parting is bitter.

وكنت أظن الدهر قد كان غافلا

فليت بنا لا كان قد فطن الدهر

I had thought that Time had been heedless;

would that Time had never taken notice of us.

فما كان قبل اليوم أحلى لياليا

لنا بلذيذ العيش مرت وما مروا

How sweet, before this day, were the nights

that passed for us in life's delight, while they had not departed.

الا انما الايام غدر بأهلها

وان سالمت يوما فمن شأنها الغدر

Lo, the days are only treachery toward their people;

even if they make peace one day, treachery is their way.

وليس على حال تدوم وما قضى

بها موطرا زيد لعمري ولا عمرو

They endure in no single state, and neither

Zayd nor Amr, by my life, has fulfilled his wish through them.

فلا تطلبن منها وفاء فانها

كثيرة مطل والوفاء بها نزر

Do not seek faithfulness from them, for they are

full of delays, and faithfulness in them is scarce.

الا يا بني الآمال قد اظلم الدجى

ومن فلك العلياء قد خسف البدر

O sons of hope, the darkness has deepened,

and the full moon of eminence's firmament has been eclipsed.

وناح عليها المرعد والسحب عددت

وعبس وجه الغيم حين بكى القطر

The thunderer wailed over it, and the clouds recounted its virtues;

the face of the clouds frowned when the rain wept.

وشق عليه الليل للذيل جيبه

وغيظا عليه انشق وانفلق الفجر

Night tore its collar down to the hem for him,

and in rage over him, dawn split and cleft apart.

وأصبح حزفا يلطم النهر خده

فليس لعين لم ترق دمعها عذر

And in grief the river began slapping its cheek;

no eye that has not shed its tears has any excuse.

ولا مقلة الا وفرحها البكا

تجارت وقد اضحت تسابقها الحمر

And no eye has any joy but weeping;

tears raced, and crimson tears now strove to outpace them.

الا في سبيل الله ما صنع النوى

باكبادنا الحرا وما فعل الهجر

Ah, for God's sake, what separation has done

to our burning livers, and what estrangement has wrought!

فقد غاب ليث الغاب واغتاله الردى

وافرده من بين اشباله الدهر

The lion of the forest has vanished, and death has slain him,

and Time singled him out from among his cubs.

امسى غريبا للصعيد مجاورا

وما برحت تبكي على فقده مصر

He has become a stranger, a neighbor of the earth,

and Egypt has never ceased weeping for his loss.

ولا عجب ان غاب في الترب شخصه

فقد يتوارى في معادنه التبر

No wonder that his person has vanished into dust:

for raw gold may lie hidden in its deposits.

لقد كان فردا قطب دائرة العلا

رفيع الذرى لله في مجده سر

He was truly peerless, the axis of the circle of eminence,

lofty of peaks; in his glory God has a secret.

وكان بنا برا وللجود منهلا

وما ذاك الا انه البر والبحر

He was kind to us, and a watering place for generosity;

and that was only because he was both land and sea.

وقد كان من بيت تسامت طباقه

لنا في الورى يحلو به النظم والنثر

He came from a house whose tiers rose high;

through him, among mankind, verse and prose grew sweet to us.

امام لانواع المحامد جامع

وفي حرم العليا وصبح الندى وتر

An imam who gathered every kind of excellence,

and peerless in eminence's sanctuary and bounty's dawn.

وفي الجود يروى عن سماحته عطا

وفي البذل يروي عن طلاقته بشر

In generosity, Ata ('Giving') narrates from his munificence;

and in giving, Bishr ('Gladness') narrates from his cheerful grace.

وكم حاز راجيه علوا وسؤددا

وقدرا سما مجدا او يكفيك ذا القدر

How often those who hoped in him gained elevation and lordship,

and a rank that rose in glory—or is this measure enough for you?

مناقبه لم يحص في العقل عدها

ولس لها حد وليس لها حصر

Reason could not tally the number of his virtues;

they have no limit and no reckoning.

واقسم بالشمس المنبرة ما له

نظير ولا يأتي بمثل له العصر

I swear by the radiant sun that he has no

equal, nor will the age produce his like.

وما كان للدنيا مريدا ولو بها

اراد جزيل المال كان له وفر

He did not desire this world; had he in it

desired abundant wealth, he would have had plenty.

وان يك قد ولى وايامه انطوت

فعرف نداه بالثناء له نشر

Though he has departed and his days have folded away,

the fragrance of his bounty spreads through praise of him.

وما كنت ادري قبل ان صار في الثرى

رهينا بان الترب يسكنه الدر

I did not know, before he lay in the earth

as a captive, that pearls could dwell in dust.

ولا قلت ان الارض حين ثوى بها

تغيب بها الشمس المنيرة والبدر

Nor did I think that, when he settled in the earth,

the radiant sun and the full moon would vanish there.

ولا قلت ان البحر يحمل سائرا

لى ظهر لوح او يحيط به قبر

Nor did I think the sea could be borne along

on a plank's back, or encompassed by a grave.

فو اسفا قد غاب بدر سمائها

وولى ومنه الارض مظلمة قفر

Alas, the full moon of its sky has vanished;

he has departed, leaving the earth dark and desolate.

فمن للفتاوي والمسائل بعده

ومن يوضح المعنى اذا اشكل الامر

Who will attend to legal rulings and questions after him?

Who will clarify the meaning when the matter is obscure?

ومن يمنح الراجين من فيض جوده

اذا ما زمان الجود اجدبه الفقر

Who will grant those who hope a share of his overflowing bounty

when poverty renders the season of generosity barren?

كأن لم يكن للطالبين مسلكا

ولم يسد مما حاكه لهم الفكر

It is as though he had never been a path for seekers,

nor bestowed what thought had woven for them;

ولا كان حبرا في العلوم مصدرا

يسر بمرآه وينشرح الصدر

as though he had never been a learned master, a source in the sciences,

at whose sight one rejoiced and the breast expanded;

ولا كان ذو عسر اله اذا أتى

فيثرى ومن يمناه يعتاده اليسر

nor had a man in hardship, whenever he came to him,

grown rich, with ease visiting him from his right hand;

ولا كان قد جادت اياديه بالوفا

ولا كان منها ابحر قد جرت عشر

nor had his hands ever lavished faithfulness,

nor had ten seas flowed from them.

الا يا بنيه ما قضى الله قد مضى

وما مات من بالمكرمات له ذكر

O his sons, what God decreed has come to pass;

he whose noble deeds keep his name alive has not died.

وان يكن العمري قد غاب عنكم

فما غاب عنكم جود نائله الغمر

Though al-Umari has vanished from among you,

the largesse of his abundant gifts has not vanished from you.

وان كانت العلياء غاب شهابها

فانتم بحمد الله انجمها الزهر

Though eminence has lost its blazing star,

you, praise be to God, are its radiant stars.

فعظم فيه الله ربي اجوركم

والهمكم صبرا به يعظم الاجر

May God, my Lord, magnify your rewards for his loss,

and inspire you with patience through which reward is magnified.

ولا ذقتم رزا مدى الدهر بعدها

ولا نالكم سوء ولا نالكم مكر

May you never taste another calamity for all time after this,

nor may harm touch you, nor deceit reach you.

يعز علينا ان نعزيكم به

وما هي إلا سنة ضمنها الصبر

It weighs heavily on us to offer you condolences for him,

yet this is only the customary way, with patience at its heart.

سقى الله تربا ضمه وابل الحيا

وجاد علينا من سحائبه القطر

May God water the soil that holds him with a downpour of rain,

and may rain from His clouds shower generously upon us.

وعوضه عن هذه الدار جنة

يقوم له عن كل در بها قصر

And grant him a garden in exchange for this abode,

where for every pearl a palace rises for him.

ولا زال في درا النعيم مجاورا

شفيع البرايا ذخر من لا له ذخر

May he forever dwell in the abode of bliss beside

the intercessor for creation, the treasure of those who have no treasure,

نبيق سما فخرا ولولاه لم تكن

سماء ولا أرض وهذا هو الفخر

a Prophet exalted in glory; without him there would be

no heaven and no earth—and this is glory.

وكم آية في المهد قد ظهرت له

بها تشهد الآيات والبيت والحجر

How many a sign appeared for him in the cradle,

to which the verses, the House, and the Stone bear witness.

عليك صلاة الله ثم سلامه

صلاة بها ننجو إذا ضمنا الحشر

Upon you be God's blessing, and then His peace—

a blessing through which we are saved when the Gathering enfolds us;

وآل وصحب كلما لاح بارقٌ

وما أشرقت شمس وما طلع الفجر

and upon your family and companions, whenever lightning gleams,

and whenever the sun shines and whenever dawn breaks.