لقد آن أن يستمرئ النوم ساهد

وأن يستقر الألمعي المجاهد

The time has come for the sleepless one to savor sleep,

and for the brilliant fighter to come to rest.

كأني به لم يقض في العمر ساعة

بلا نصب يضني وهم يعاو

It seems to me he never spent an hour of his life

without exhausting toil and worry that returned.

حياة عناء كلما رقيت بها

إلى الخير نفس صارعتها المناكد

A life of hardship: whenever there rose within it

a soul toward goodness, troubles grappled with it.

برغم المنى أن غيب القبر فرقد

أضاءت بما أضفى عليها الفراقد

Against our hopes, the grave has hidden a Farkad star—

hopes that shone with what the Farkad stars bestowed upon them.

وحجب ميمون النقيبة عن حمى

بكته أدانيه أسى والأباعد

And it concealed a man of blessed nature from a homeland

where those near him and far from him wept in sorrow.

شبيه بقتل موته حتف أنفه

وما ذنبه إلا العلى والمحامد

His death by natural causes was akin to murder;

his only fault was greatness and praiseworthy deeds.

وكنا نرجي أن يطول بقاؤه

فعاجله سهم من الغيب صارد

We had hoped that his life would last long,

but a piercing arrow from the unseen hastened his end.

رمي من وراء الظن راميه عامدا

ومن يرم ختلا فهو جان وعامد

It was shot from beyond expectation, its archer acting deliberately;

whoever shoots treacherously is an offender acting with intent.

إلى من نقاضيه فتنتصف النهى

ويسلم منه الأكرمون الأماجد

To whom can we bring it to trial, so that reason wins redress

and the noblest, most glorious are safe from it?

أيصدق كل الصدق ما هو موعد

ويكذب كل الكذب ما هو واعد

Must everything it threatens prove wholly true,

and everything it promises prove wholly false?

إذا قام في ظلم على الدهر شاهد

فما مثل داود شهيد وشاهد

If a witness rises against Time's injustice,

no martyr and witness is like Dawud.

بقلبي جراح كيف أرجو اندمالها

وفي كل يوم من رفاقي فائد

There are wounds in my heart: how can I hope they will heal,

when every day another of my companions dies?

يعز أساها ما حييت وهذه

مآتمهم لا تنقضي والمشاهد

Their healing remains hard as long as I live, and these

mourning rites and funeral gatherings never cease.

ويأبى لي السلوان ما طفت بالحمى

موائل من آثارهم ومعاهد

Whenever I roam the homeland, consolation is denied me by

refuges bearing their traces and their familiar haunts.

ليعذرني الإخوان إن جف مرقمي

فقد علم الإخوان من أنا فاقد

Let my brethren excuse me if my pen runs dry;

my brethren know whom I have lost.

وجسمين عليل حار فيه طبيبه

وهمي ثقيل قل فيه المساعد

And my body is ailing; its physician is baffled by it.

My burden of care is heavy, with few to help.

ويجهد ذهني شاغل بعد شاغل

فمن أي روح تسمتد القصائد

Concern after concern exhausts my mind:

from what spirit can poems draw sustenance?

حنانيك يا شيخ الصحافة من لها

إذا ما استثير القلب والقلب هامد

Have mercy, O elder of the press: who will stand for it

when the heart is stirred, yet the heart lies lifeless?

شديد عليها أن يزول بناتها

ولم تتمكن أسها والقواعد

It is grievous for it that its builders pass away

before its foundation and bases are firmly established.

فمن يتصدى للشدائد مرهفا

عزائم لا تقوى عليها الشدائد

Who will confront hardships, sharpening

resolves that hardships cannot overcome?

ومن ينبري لا هائبا غير ربه

يحامي بها عن قومه ويجالد

And who will step forward, fearing none but his Lord,

to defend his people through it and do battle?

ومما يضيم الحر شقوة موطن

بنوه نيام عنه والحر ذائد

Among the things that oppress the free man is a homeland's misery:

its sons sleep heedless of it, while the free man defends it.

ظللت تقاسيهن والرأس مطرق

ويثقل رضوى بعض ما أنت واجد

You kept enduring them, your head bowed,

and some of what you bear weighs down Radwa.

تريد من الأحداث ما لا يردنه

فتنحت من قلب وهن جلامد

You demand of events what they do not wish,

so you carve from your heart, while they are solid rocks.

دؤوبا تعني النفس حتى تذيبها

ليصحو معتز وينهض قاعد

Relentlessly you exhaust your soul until you melt it away,

so the proud may awaken and the seated rise.

وهمك هم الشرق حتى إذا بدت

طليعة فوز بددتها المكايد

Your care is the East's care, until, when there appears

a vanguard of victory, intrigues disperse it.

فمن أي خصميه تصون حقوقه

وأعدى له من غاصبيه المفاسد

Against which of its two foes can you safeguard its rights,

when corruption is more hostile to it than its usurpers?

إذا دب خلف موهن في جماعة

أيبلغها أدنى الأماني قائد

If enfeebling discord creeps through a community,

can a leader bring it even to its least aspirations?

سلوا أمما بادت وما تجهلونها

تبصركم أعيانهن البوائد

Ask nations that perished—you are not ignorant of them;

their ruined remains will open your eyes.

لداود كانت في كفاحية خطة

يلاين فيها تارة ويعانا

Dawud had a strategy in his struggle:

at times he was conciliatory, and at times resistant.

محيطا بأطوار السياسة ساعيا

برفق إلى إدراك ما هو ناشد

Versed in the turns of politics, striving

gently to attain what he sought;

عليما بما يخشاه وهو مقارب

عليما بما يرجوه وهو مباعد

aware of what he feared while drawing near,

aware of what he hoped for while keeping his distance.

وألين ما تلفيه وهو مخالف

وأثبت ما تلفيه وهو معاهد

You found him gentlest when he disagreed,

and most steadfast when bound by a pact.

وما فكره في نهضة العصر جامد

وما حسه في موطن البر جامد

His thought was not rigid amid the age's awakening,

nor was his feeling unresponsive in the realm of goodness.

سماحة نفس تلتقي في مجالها

على الرحب آراء الورى والعقائد

A generosity of soul, within whose realm meet,

in spacious welcome, humanity's opinions and creeds.

لها شرعة في كل حال نقية

مصادرها محمودة والموارد

It has a pure path in every circumstance,

its sources and destinations alike praiseworthy.

غذاها البيان العذب تهمي سحابه

وتروي البهى أنهاره والسواعد

Sweet eloquence nourished it, its clouds pouring down,

its rivers and tributaries watering beauty.

فصول على تنويعها اجتمعت بها

إلى طرف من كل ضرب فوائد

Essays, for all their variety, gathered within them

useful lessons alongside delights of every kind.

فلا زعم إلا أيدته أدلة

ولا حكم إلا وطدته شواهد

No assertion lacked supporting proofs,

and no judgment lacked confirming evidence.

قليل لداود الذي قلد النهى

حلى لا تباهى أن تصاغ القلائد

This is little for Dawud, who adorned reason

with jewels no fashioned necklaces can rival.

تعدد ما تهوى العلى في خصاله

فمن حيث تبغي وصفه فهو فارد

All that greatness loves was manifold in his qualities;

however you seek to describe him, he is peerless.

ينمي لمواليه ولم يتعاقدا

كما ينفذ الصك الأمين المعاقد

He fosters his allies' good, though they have made no pact,

as a trustworthy contracting party fulfills the deed.

ويغفر للخدن المجافي جفاءه

ولو أن ذاك الخدن للفضل جاحد

He forgives an aloof companion his coldness,

even if that companion denies his kindness.

فإن ير شيئا فهو للعذر قابل

وإن ير زينا فهو جذلان حامد

If he sees something amiss, he accepts an excuse;

if he sees virtue, he rejoices and praises it.

ولا يتعدى الحد في نقد زائف

إذا ما تعدى ذلك الحد ناقد

He never oversteps the bounds in criticizing falsehood,

even when a critic oversteps those bounds.

ويرعى ذوي القربي رعاية والد

فأبناؤه كثر وما هو والد

He cares for his kin with a father's care;

his children are many, though he is not a father.

ويدرك أقصى الآملين بجوده

كأن له وجدا وما هو واجد

His generosity reaches the remotest of those who hope,

as though he had riches, though he is not wealthy.

رئيس ويأبى طبعه أن يكونه

فتلقى على كره إليه المقالد

A leader, though his nature refuses that he be one;

so the reins of authority are cast to him against his will.

فذلك داود الحليم وربما

تنكر معروف ونكب قاصد

Such is forbearing Dawud; yet sometimes

a familiar man turns unrecognizable, and one on course turns aside.

إذا سامه خسفا عتي ومارد

ثناه إلى المثلى عتي ومارد

If a defiant rebel sought to humiliate him,

he, defiant and rebellious in turn, bent him toward the better way.

يلأليء تحت الحاجب الجثل لحظه

كما شب تحت الغيهب النار واقد

His glance sparkles beneath his thick brow,

as a kindler lights a fire beneath the darkness.

وتبدو منه غضبة جبلية

لها جؤجؤ يوم الحفاظ وساعد

An innate surge of anger appears in him,

with a breast and an arm when honor must be defended.

بني بركات إن جزعتم فرزؤكم

تعاف له الدنيا وتجفى الوسائا

Sons of Barakat, if you grieve, your loss is one

for which the world is loathed and pillows forsaken.

ولكن أسا آسي القلوب جراحكم

بما لا يواريه طريف وتالد

But the healer of hearts has healed your wounds

with what neither new nor inherited wealth can overshadow.

شجا ما شجاكم أمة الضاد كلها

فقيسون مهتز ولبنان مائد

What grieved you has grieved the whole nation of ḍād;

so Qaysun trembles and Lebanon sways.

ومر الفرات العذب وارتاع دجلة

وشجت كأجفان الكظيم الروافد

The sweet Euphrates has turned bitter, and the Tigris takes fright;

the tributaries intertwine like the eyelids of one stifling grief.

وفي مصر شعب مائج في رحابكم

تقاطر يتلو وافدا منه وافد

And in Egypt a throng surges through your courtyards,

streaming in, newcomer following newcomer.

دعاه الوفاء المحض والكرم الذي

تعوده فيه مسود وسائد

Pure loyalty summoned it, and the generosity which

the led and their leaders had come to know in him.

مواكب سارت بالجنازة لم تسق

إليها ولم يغلظ عليها مناشد

Processions accompanied the funeral bier, not driven

to it, nor harshly pressed by any summoner.

مقاصر عنها طرف كل مشاهد

وطالت فلم يدرك مداها مشاهد

Every spectator's gaze fell short of taking them in;

they stretched so far that no spectator could see their end.

كفى سلوة أن شاطر الشرق حزنكم

على أن من تبكون حي وخالد

It is solace enough that the East has shared your grief,

though the one you mourn is alive and immortal.