أغرى سراة الحي بالإطراق — Ibn Zamrak

أغرى سراةَ الحيّ بالإطراقِ

نَبَأً أصمَّ مسامعَ الآفاقِ

The clan's nobles were driven to bow their heads

by tidings that deafened the ears of the horizons.

أمسى به ليلُ الحوادث داجياً

والصبحُ أصبح كاسفَ الإشراقِ

Through them, the night of calamities grew pitch-dark,

and morning dawned with its radiance dimmed.

فُجع الجميع بواحدٍ جمعت له

شتَّى العُلا ومكارم الأخلاقِ

All were bereaved of one in whom were gathered

every kind of eminence and the noblest virtues.

هبوا لحكمِكُمُ الرصين فإِنّه

صرف القضاء فما له من واقِ

Rally to your sound judgment, for this is

fate's stroke, with none to ward it off.

نقش الزمان بصرفه في صفحة

كلُّ اجتماع مؤذنٌ بفراقِ

Time engraved, through its vicissitudes, upon a page:

'Every gathering heralds a parting.'

ماذا ترجي من زمانك بعدما

عَلِقَ الفناءُ بأنفس الأعلاَقِ

What do you hope for from your time, now that

annihilation has fastened upon the most precious treasures?

من تحسدُ السّبعُ الطباقُ علاءهُ

عَالَوْا عليه من الثَّرى بطباقِ

He whose loftiness the seven layered heavens envied—

they heaped layers of earth over him.

إنّ المنايا للبرايا غاية

سبق الكرام لخصها بسباقِ

Death is a finish line for all creatures;

he outstripped the noble, epitomizing it by racing ahead.

لمّا حسبنا أَنْ تُحَوَّلَ أَبْؤُساً

كشفت عوان حروبها عن ساقِ

When we thought hardships would be turned aside,

the seasoned battle among its wars bared its shin.

ما كان إلا البدرَ طالَ سِرارُهُ

حتى رمتهُ يدُ الردى بمحَاقِ

He was nothing but a full moon whose concealment grew long,

until death's hand struck it with total darkening.

أَنفَ المُقامَ مع الفناء نزاهةً

فنوى الرحيلَ إلى مَقام باقِ

In his purity, he disdained dwelling with transience,

so he resolved to depart for an everlasting abode.

عدِمَ الموافق في مرافقة الدنا

فنضى الركاب إلى الرفيق الباقي

He found no congenial companion in this world's company,

so he wore his riding camels thin, bound for the everlasting Companion.

أسفاً على ذاك الجلالِ تقلَّصَت

أفياؤه وعهدْنَ خيرَ رواقِ

Alas for that majesty! Withdrawn are

its shades, once known as the finest canopy.

يا آمري بالصبر عيلَ تَصَبُّري

دعْني فدَتْكَ لواعجُ الأشواقِ

You who bid me be patient, my forbearance is exhausted;

leave me—may the burning pangs of longing ransom you.

وذَر اليراعَ تشي بدمع مدادِها

وشيَ القريض يروق في الأوراقِ

And let the reed pen embroider, with the tears of its ink,

the brocade of poetry that delights upon the pages.

وا حسرتا للعلم أقفر ربعُه

والعدلُ جُرِّدَ أجمل الأطواقِ

Alas for learning, whose dwelling lies deserted,

and justice, stripped of its fairest necklaces.

ركدت رياح المعلوات لفقدها

كسَدَتْ به الآداب بعد نَفاقِ

The winds of lofty achievement fell still at their loss;

letters lost their currency through it, after flourishing.

كم من غوامضَ قد صَدّعْتَ بفهمها

خَفِيَتْ مداركُها على الحذّاقِ

How many obscure matters you laid bare by understanding them,

whose avenues of comprehension eluded the experts!

كم قاعدٍ في البيد بعد قعوده

قعدت به الآمال دون لحاقِ

How many a man sits in the wastes after halting,

his hopes having failed him, short of catching up!

لمن الركائب بعد بعدك تُنتضى

ما بين شامٍ ترتمي وعراقِ

For whom, after your departure, are the riding camels urged forth,

racing between Syria and Iraq?

تفلي الفلا بمناسم مغلولة

تسم الحصى بنجيعها الرقراقِ

They scour the wilderness with fettered hoofpads,

marking the pebbles with their glistening blood.

كانت إذا اشْتَكَتِ الوجى وتوقفت

يهفو نسيم ثنائك الخفاقِ

Whenever they complained of sore feet and stopped,

the fluttering breeze of your praise would stir.

فإذا تنسمتِ الثناءَ أمامها

مدّت لها الأعناق في الإعناقِ

And when they scented the praise ahead of them,

they stretched their necks toward it, speeding onward.

يا مُزْجيَ البُدن القلاص خوافقاً

رفقاً بها فالسعيُ في إخفاقِ

O driver of stout young she-camels, bounding along,

be gentle with them: this striving ends in failure.

مات الذي ورث العلا عن معشر

ورثوا تراث المجد باستحقاقِ

He has died, who inherited eminence from a people

who inherited glory's legacy by right.

رُفعت لهم راياتُ كل جلالة

فتميَّزوا في حلبة السُّبَّاقِ

The banners of every majesty were raised for them,

and they distinguished themselves in the racecourse of the front-runners.

عَلَمُ الهداة وقطب أعلام النهى

حَرَمُ العفاة المجتنى الأرزاقِ

The guides' standard, the pivot of reason's leading lights,

the sanctuary of those seeking bounty, where provisions were gathered.

رقّت سجاياه وراقت مجتلّى

كالشمس في بعد وفي إشراقِ

His qualities were gentle and lovely to behold,

like the sun in remoteness and radiance;

كالزَهر في لألائه والبدر في

عليائه والزُّهر في الإِبْراقِ

like flowers in his gleam, and the full moon in

his loftiness, and the bright stars in brilliance.

مهما مدحتُ سواهُ قَيَّدَ وصفَه

وصفاتهِ حمدٌ على الإطلاقِ

Whenever I praise another, his description is bounded;

while this man's qualities merit praise without limit.

يا وارثاً نسب النبوة جامعاً

في العلم والأخلاق والأعراقِ

O heir to prophetic lineage, all-encompassing

in knowledge, character, and ancestry!

يا ابن الرسول وإنّها لوسيلة

يرقى بها أوجَ المصاعد راقي

O son of the Messenger! That is indeed a means

by which a climber scales the peak of all ascents.

ورد الكتاب بفضلكم وكمالكم

فكفى ثناء الواحد الخلاّقِ

The Book came proclaiming your excellence and perfection;

the praise of the One, the Creator, is enough.

مولاي إنّي في عُلاك مقصِّر

قد ضاق عن حصر النجوم نطاقي

My lord, I fall short in speaking of your eminence;

my compass is too narrow to encompass the stars.

ومن الذي يحصي مناقبَ مجدكم

عدُّ الحصى والرمل غير مُطاقِ

Who could enumerate the merits of your glory?

Counting pebbles and sand is beyond endurance.

يهني قبوراً زرتها فلقد ثوتْ

منا مصونَ جوانحٍ وحِداقِ

Happy are the graves you visited, for there lay

what we guarded within our hearts and eyes.

خط الردى منها سطوراً نصها

لا بدّ أنك للفَناء مُلاقِ

Death traced from them lines whose wording was:

'You must surely meet annihilation.'

ولحقت ترجمة الكتاب وصدرَه

وفوائد المكتوب في الإلحاقِ

And you joined the book's heading and its opening,

and the written wisdom in the appendix.

كم من سَراةٍ في القبور كأنهم

في بطنها دُرٌّ ثوى بحقاقِ

How many nobles lie in graves, as though they were

pearls resting in caskets within their depths!

قل للسحاب اسحب ذيولك نحوه

والعبْ بصارم برقك الخفَّاقِ

Tell the clouds: 'Trail your skirts toward him,

and play with the flashing sword of your lightning.'

أودى الذي غيث العباد بكفه

يُزري بواكف غيثك الغيداقِ

Gone is he whose hand's rain for the people

put the streaming downpour of your abundant rain to shame.

إن كان صوتك بالمياه فدرُّها

دَرٌّ يُروْض ما حل الإملاقِ

If your voice comes with the waters, then their flow

is an outpouring that tames poverty wherever it settles.

بشرٌ كثير قد نُعوا لمَّا نُعِي

قاضيّ القضاة وغاب في الأطباقِ

Many people were mourned when the death was announced

of the chief judge, who vanished beneath the layers of earth.

ألبستهم ثوب الكرامة ضافياً

وأرحتَ من كدِّ ومن إرهاقِ

You clothed them in an ample robe of dignity,

and gave them relief from toil and exhaustion.

يتفيّأون ظلالَ جاهك كلما

لفحت سَموم الخطب بالإحراقِ

They sought shelter in the shade of your standing whenever

the scorching wind of calamity seared them.

عدموا المرافق في فراقك وانطوى

عنهم بساط الرفق والإرفاقِ

They lost their companion at your parting, and folded up

from them was the carpet of kindness and aid.

رفعوا سريرك خافضين رؤوسَهم

ما منهُمُ إلا حليف سياقِ

They lifted your bier with bowed heads,

each of them gripped by the throes of death.

لكنْ مصيرُك للنعيم مخلّداً

كان الذي أبقى على الأَرْماقِ

Yet your passage into bliss, to dwell there forever,

was what spared their last breaths of life.

ومن العجائب أن يُرى بحرُ الندى

طودُ الهدى يسري على الأعناقِ

Among the wonders is that the sea of generosity should be seen,

the mountain of guidance, traveling upon necks.

إن يحملوك على الكواهل طالما

قد كنت محمولاً على الأحداقِ

If they carry you upon their shoulders, how often

you had been carried upon their eyes!

أو يرفعوك على العواتق طالما

رُفِّعْتَ ظهر منابر وعِتاقِ

Or if they lift you upon their shoulder tops, how often

you were raised high atop pulpits and noble steeds!

ولئن رحلت إلى الجنان فإننا

نصلى بنار الوجد والأشواقِ

Though you have departed for Paradise, we

burn in the fire of grief and longing.

لو كنت تشهد حزنَ من خلّفته

لثنى عِنانك كثرة الإشفاقِ

If you could witness the sorrow of the one you left behind,

the abundance of your compassion would turn back your reins.

إن جَنَّ ليل جُنَّ من فرط الأسى

وسوى كلامك ما له من راقِ

When night darkens, he is driven mad by overwhelming grief,

and apart from your words, he has no healer.

فابعث خيالك في الكرى يُبعثْ به

ميْتُ السّرور لثاكلٍ مشتاقِ

So send your apparition into sleep, that through it may be revived

the dead joy of a bereaved man who yearns.

أغليتَ يا رُزْءُ التصبُّرَ مثلما

أَرْخصْتَ دُرَّ الدمعِ في الآماقِ

You have made forbearance costly, O calamity, just as

you made the pearls of tears cheap in the corners of the eyes.

إن يخلُفِ الأرضَ الغمامُ فإِنّني

أَسقي الضريحَ بدمعيَ المُهَراقِ

If the clouds fail the earth, I shall

water the tomb with my poured-out tears.