حالنا أو في سبيل الحكم — Jawahiri

لقد ساءَني علمي بخُبثِ السرائرِ

وأنّي على تطهيرِها غيرُ قادرِ

It has pained me to know the corruption of innermost thoughts,

and that I am powerless to cleanse them.

وآلمني أني أخيذُ تفكُّرٍ

بكلَّ رخيص النفسِ خِبٍّ مُماكِر

And it pains me that I am captive to pondering

every base-souled, cunning schemer.

تمشَّتْ به سَوءاتُ شعبٍ تلاءَمَت

وسوءاتُه واستُدرِجَتْ بالمظاهر

A people's vices spread through him, harmonizing

with his own vices, and were lured by appearances.

وها أنا بالنيّات سوداً معذَّبٌ

تعاودُني فيهنَّ سودُ الخواطر

And here I am, tormented by black intentions;

black thoughts about them keep returning to me.

وألمحُ في هذي الوجوهِ كوالِحاً

من اللؤم أشباحَ الوحوش الكواسر

And in these faces I glimpse, scowling

with baseness, the specters of ravening beasts.

وتوحِشُني الأوساطُ حتى كأنَّني

أُعاشِرُ ناساً أُنهِضوا من مقابر

And social circles estrange me, until it is as though I

consort with people raised from graves.

تصفَّحتُ أعمالَ الوَرَى فوجدتُها

مخازِيَ غطَّوها بشَتى الستائر

I examined the deeds of humankind and found them

disgraces they had covered with all manner of curtains.

وفتَّشتُ عما استحدَثوا من مناقِبٍ

تُروِّجُ من أطماعهم ومفاخِر

And I searched for the virtues they had invented,

that promote their ambitions and their claims to glory.

فكانت حساناً في المظاهرِ خُدْعة

على أنها كانت قِباحَ المخابر

They were fair in outward appearance—a deception—

though ugly in their inward nature.

مشى الناسُ للغايت شتى حظوظهم

وآمالهم من مستقيم وجائر

People pursued their goals with differing fortunes

and hopes, whether upright or unjust.

وغطَّى على نقصِ الضعيف نجاحُه

وراح القويُّ عرضةً للعواثر

And success covered the weak man's shortcomings,

while the strong man became prey to setbacks.

وقد حوسب الكابي بأوهَى ذنوبِه

ولم يؤخَذِ الناجي بأمّ الكبائر

And the stumbling man was judged for his slightest faults,

while the one who escaped was not held to account for the mother of all grave sins.

وراحت أساليبُ النفاق مَفاخراً

سلاحاً قوياً للضعيف المُفاخر

And the arts of hypocrisy became grounds for pride,

a mighty weapon for the weak man who boasts.

وحُبِّبَ تدليسٌ وذُمَّت صراحةٌ

فلا عيشَ إلاّ عن طريقِ التآمر

And deceit was prized and candor condemned,

so there was no livelihood except through conspiracy.

وألَّفَ بين الضدِ والضدِ مغنمٌ

وفرَّقَتِ الاطماعُ بين النظائر

And gain united opposites,

while greedy ambitions divided those alike.

مُحيطٌ خَوَتْ فيه النفوسُ وأفسِدتْ

طباعُ أهاليه بعدوْى التجاور

A milieu where souls grew hollow, and corruption befell

its people's natures through the contagion of proximity.

هَوَت نبعةُ الأخلاق جراءَ ما اعتَدَتْ

على الشعب أطماعُ السَّراةِ الأكابر

The sapling of morality fell because of the assaults

on the people by the greed of the great notables.

وقد صِيح بالإخلاص نَهبْاً فلا تَرَى

سوى بؤَر التضليلِ جِسراً لعابر

And sincerity was proclaimed fair game, so you see

no bridge for a passerby but hotbeds of deception.

وباتَ نصيبُ المرءَ رَهناً لِما يَرَى

أولو الأمرِ فيه مثلَ لِعبِ المقامر

And a person's lot became hostage to whatever

those in power thought of him, as in a gambler's game.

فإما مُكَّبٌ للحضيض بوجهه

على أنه سامي الذرى في المفاخر

Either he is hurled face-first into the depths,

though his achievements reach the loftiest peaks,

وإما إلى أوجٍ من المجد مُرتَقٍ

على سُلَّمٍ من موبقاتٍ فواجر

or he rises to the pinnacle of glory

on a ladder of wicked, ruinous sins.

ولم يبقَ معنى للمناصب عندنا

سوى أنها ملكُ القريبِ المصاهِر

And offices among us have come to mean nothing

except that they belong to the relative by marriage.

وإن ثيابَ الناس زُرَّت جميعُها

على عاهةٍ إلاّ ثيابَ المؤازر

And people's garments, every one, are buttoned

over a defect—except the supporter's garments.

تُسنُّ ذيولٌ للقوانين يُبتَغى

بها جَلْبُ قوم " الكراسي " الشواغِر

Addenda to laws are enacted, with the aim

of procuring the vacant 'chairs' for certain people.

وقد يُضحِكُ الثكلى تناقضُ شارع

قوانينُه مأخوذةٌ بالتناحر

A lawgiver's contradictions might make even a bereaved mother laugh,

his laws gripped by strife with one another.

أُهينَتْ فلم تُنتَجْ قريحةُ شاعرٍ

وضيِمَتْ فلم تَنشَ ط يراعةُ ناثر

A poet's inspiration was humiliated, and ceased to create;

a prose writer's reed pen was oppressed, and ceased to stir.

وهيمَنَ إرهابٌ على كل خَطرةٍ

تَرَدَّدُ ما بين اللَّهى والحناجر

And terror ruled over every thought

that hovered between uvulas and throats.

لقد ملَّ هذا الشعبُ أوضاع ثُلَّةٍ

غدت بينه مثلَ الحروفِ النوافر

This people has grown weary of the ways of a clique

that became among them like discordant letters.

وما ضرَّ أهلَ الحكم أنْ كان ظلُّهم

ثقيلاً على أهل النُهى والبصائر

Nor did it harm the rulers that their shadow

lay heavy on people of reason and insight.

فحسبُهمُ هذي الجماهيرُ تقتَفِي

خُطى كل مقتادٍ لها : من مناصر

For these crowds are enough for them, following

the footsteps of any supporter who leads them.

وحسبُهمُ أن يستجدُّوا " دعاية "

تُعدِّدُ ما لم يعرفوا من مآثر

And enough for them is to renew 'propaganda'

that lists glorious deeds they have never known.

وأوجع ما تَلقَى النفوس نكايةً

مَعِزّةُ أفرادٍ بذُلِّ أكاثر

And the most painful hurt that souls endure

is the exaltation of a few through the humiliation of the many.

لكي ينعُمَ الساداتُ بالحكم ترتوي

بقاعٌ ظِماءٌ من دماءٍ طَواهر

So that the masters may delight in rule, quenched are

thirsty lands with pure blood.

وكي لا ترى عينٌ على البَغي شاهداً

تُغيرُ عمداً ناطقاتُ المحاضر

And so no eye may see a witness to oppression,

the records' testimony is deliberately altered.

وأهوِنْ بأرواح البريئين أُزهِقَت

وأموالِهم طارت هباً من خسائر

And how cheaply innocent lives are snuffed out,

and their wealth scatters as dust through losses!

وكانت طباعٌ للعشائر ترتجى

فقد لُوِّثَت حتى طباعُ العشائر

The tribes once had qualities that inspired hope,

but even the tribes' qualities have been sullied.

وكان لنا منهم سلاحٌ فأصبحوا

سلاحاً علينا بين حين وآخر

We once had a weapon in them; they have become

a weapon against us, from time to time.

وإنك من هذي الشنائعِ ناظرٌ

إلى مُخزياتٍ هن شوكٌ لناظر

And among these atrocities you look

upon disgraces that are thorns to the eye.

اذا ما أجَلْتَ الطَرْف حولَك وانجلت

بعينيك يوماً مُخَبئاتُ الضمائر

When you cast your gaze around you, and there are revealed

before your eyes one day the secrets hidden in consciences,

وكشفت عن هذي النفوس غطاءها

وأبرزتَها مثل الاماءِ الحواسِر

and strip these souls of their covering,

and expose them like unveiled slave women,

وفتَّشتَ عما في زوايا الدوائر

وغربَلْتَ ما ضمَّت بطونُ الدفاتر

and search what lies in the corners of offices,

and sift what the bellies of the ledgers contain,

رجعتَ بعينٍ رقرَقَ الحزنُ ماءَها

وأُبْتَ بقلب شاردِ اللُبِّ حائر

you return with an eye whose tears grief has set rippling,

and come back with a bewildered heart, its reason astray.

وأيقنتَ أنّ الحالَ حالٌ تعسَّرَت

على كلِّ طَبٍّ بالطبائع ماهر

And you know for certain that the condition has proved intractable

to every physician skilled in human nature.

وقد يملأُ الحرَّ المفكرَ حرقةً

تفكُّرُه يوماً بعُقبى المصاير

And the free, thinking man may be filled with anguish

by his pondering, one day, how destinies will end.

ولا أملٌ إلاّ على يدِ مُصلحٍ

حَقودٍ على هذا التدهوُرِ ثائر

There is no hope except at the hands of a reformer

who loathes this decline and rises in revolt.

وإن عيوباً جلْبَبَ الكِذبُ كُنْهَها

فغَطَينَ أضعافَ العيوبِ السوافِر

And faults whose true nature falsehood has cloaked

have concealed many times as many faults as those laid bare.

ولا تحسبنَّ الشعرَ سهلاً مهبُّه

بهذي المساوي بين بادٍ وحاضر

Nor think poetry's wind has an easy course

through these evils, among nomads and townsmen.

فإن عظيماً أن يخلِّدَ شاعرٌ

مخازيَ جيل بالقوافي السوائر

For it is a grave thing for a poet to immortalize

a generation's disgraces in far-traveling rhymes.

سنُضحكُ قرّاءَ التواريخ بعدنا

ونبدو لهم فيهن إحدى النوادر

We shall make readers of the chronicles laugh after our time,

and appear to them there as one of the curiosities.

وسوف نُريهم للمهازل مَرسَحاً

نَروح ونغدو فيه هُزأةَ ساخر

And we shall show them a stage for farces,

where we go at evening and morning, a mocker's laughingstock.

فإن ترني أُذكي القوافي بنَفثَةٍ

أُراني على كِتمانها غيرَ صابر

So if you see me kindle rhymes with a breath

that I find myself unable to bear withholding,

فإني برغم العاصفات التي ترى

أُقاسي رُكوداً لا يَليق بشاعر

it is because, despite the storms you see,

I endure a stagnation unworthy of a poet.

رجعتُ لنفسي أستثيرُ اهتمامَها

وأُلزِمُها ذنبَ الصريح المجاهر

I turned back to my soul to stir its concern,

and make it bear the guilt of the frank, outspoken man.

وأُثقلها بالعَتْب أن كان لي غنى

عن الشرِّ لولا حبُّها للمَخاطر

And I weigh it down with reproach, for I had no need

of evil, were it not for its love of dangers.

وساءلتُها عما تُريد من التي

تُرشِّحها للمُهلكات الجوائر

And I asked it what it wanted from the one

it nominates for deadly, unjust ordeals:

أأنتِ بعَورات النفوس زعيمةٌ

مُوَكَّلة عنها بِعَدِّ الجرائر

Are you answerable for the shameful flaws of souls,

commissioned on their behalf to count their offenses?

وما أنتِ والغرمَ الذي راح مَغنَماً

لقد غامر الاقوامُ فيه فغامري

What have you to do with loss that has become profit?

Others have ventured into it, so venture too.

خذي وِجهةً في العيش يُرضيك غيُّها

ولا تستطيبي منه قِعدَة خائر

Take a course in life whose waywardness pleases you,

and do not relish in it a faintheart's idleness.

وإن شذوذاً أن تُثيري وتصدَعي

شَذاةَ مُحيط بالمدجاة زاخر

And it is an aberration for you to stir and split

the skiff of a sea brimming with dissimulation.

وأحسن مما تدَّعين صلابةً

سماحُ المحابي وانتهازُ المساير

And better than the firmness you claim

are the indulgence of the man who plays favorites and the conformist's opportunism.