ولي ولم يشعر به أحد — Khalil Shayboub

ولي ولم يشعر به أحدُ

عامٌ كأمس مضى به الأبدُ

It passed away, and no one noticed it—

a year, like yesterday, borne away by eternity.

اليومُ أَطولُ منكَ ضائقةً

بالوجد مثل الجمر يتَّقد

Today stretches longer than you in anguish,

burning with grief like glowing coals.

لما أَذنتَ بفرقةٍ بقيت

فينا المصائبُ عنك والكمد

When you signaled your departure, there remained

among us, in your wake, calamities and sorrow.

حتى م يُغرينا الزمانُ ولا

سلوى تجيءُ بما يجيءُ غَدُ

How long will time beguile us, with no

solace coming in what tomorrow brings?

تتعاقب السنواتُ تاليةً

والعمر لا يألو به الجهد

The years follow one another in succession,

and toil never relents in wearing life down.

والنفس ترغب والمنى عِدةٌ

والدهر ليس يفي بما يعد

The soul desires, and hopes are promises,

yet time does not fulfill what it promises.

دنيا تبكينا وتضحكنا

منا وجامعة النهى بدد

A world that makes us weep and makes us laugh

at ourselves, while reason's unity lies shattered.

يا عامُ ما نصل الظلامُ ولا

غنّى الصباحَ البلبلُ الغرد

O year, the darkness has not faded, nor

has the melodious nightingale sung of dawn.

جلَّت حوادثك الطوالُ كما

جلَّ الأسى والبؤسُ والنكد

Your prolonged calamities grew grave, just as

sorrow, misery, and distress grew grave.

والدهر أجفل منك تذعره

تلك الجيوشُ وهذه العُدد

And time recoiled from you, terrified by

those armies and these armaments.

الأرضُ توقد للورى حمماً

تفني الرجال بكل ما وقدوا

The earth kindles burning coals for humankind,

annihilating men with all they have kindled.

طال القتالُ وتلك مجزرةٌ

فيها يضل العقلُ والرشد

The fighting has dragged on; that is a massacre

in which reason and sound judgment go astray.

يشكو الثرى شُربَ الدماء وقد

هدرت ولا ديةٌ ولا قود

The soil laments drinking blood; it has

been shed without redress—no blood money, no retribution.

إن أبطأ النصرُ الذي طلبوا

وتباعد الذي قصدوا

If the victory they sought is slow to come,

and what they aimed for grows distant,

لا بد من يومٍ يحقُّ لهم

نصرُ الإله وعيشةٌ رغد

a day must come when they rightfully gain

God's victory and a life of ease.

ما في الحجى سلمٌ تعود على

هذا الورى حرباً فتطَّرد

No peace is wise that returns upon

this human race as war and runs unchecked.

ودفاعهم فتح الإله لهم

قاموا به للحق واجتهدوا

And their defense is a victory God has granted them;

they undertook it for justice and strove.

لا يتباح حمى له خفرٌ

ويموت دون عرينه الأسد

No sanctuary under protection is open to violation,

and the lion dies defending his lair.

رَحِّب بأعظم دولةٍ نهضت

للعدل تعدله فلا أود

Welcome the greatest state that has risen

for justice, setting it straight so no crookedness remains:

نَبتِ الزمانِ جديدةٍ جملت

تيهاً بها أثوابها الجدد

a fresh growth of time; beautiful are

her new robes, in their pride in her.

للعلم في ساحاتها عملٌ

يمشي بها فهما بها أحد

Science has work within her fields,

that walks through her; there the two are one.

أخذوا القديم وجدَّدوه بما

اخترعوا وزادوا فيه وانتقدوا

They took the old and renewed it with what

they invented, added to it, and critiqued.

بنشاط مضمون النجاح له

من علمه ونشاطه سند

with vigor assured of success, sustained

by its knowledge and vigor.

ولسانه وفؤاده شَرَعٌ

فكأنما هذا لذا عضد

And its tongue and its heart are alike,

as though the one were the other's supporting arm.

أَغنى الأنامِ فكل ما ملكوا

بذلوا انتصارَ الحق واعتمدوا

The wealthiest of humankind: all that they owned

they gave for justice's triumph, and relied on it.

قل لعدوِّ غداً تصبحكم

بنتُ البحار ببأسها تفد

Tell the enemy: tomorrow at dawn she comes to you—

the daughter of the seas, arriving with her might.

جيشٌ يضيق البر منه فما

لرجاله وخيوله عَدَد

An army crowds the land; there is no

counting its men and horses.

ووراءَهم في البحر ما خرةٌ

هَضَباتُ عزٍّ سيرُها وخد

And behind them at sea, plowing the waves,

are hills of might, whose pace is a swift stride.

وعليهم سربُ النسور إذا

ما أبرقت نيرانهم رعدوا

Above them is a flock of eagles; whenever

their fires flash like lightning, they thunder.

هل عندكم مدد وقد وصلوا

يصلونكم سقراً وهم مدد

Have you reinforcements? They have arrived,

making you burn in Saqar, themselves reinforcements.

يا عام رَوَّعك الزمان وقد

أودى بملك وهو منتضد

O year, time has terrified you, having

brought ruin upon a kingdom that stood well ordered.

عرشان في الدنيا بربهما

سقطا وقد خانتهما العمد

Two thrones in the world, together with their lord,

fell, their pillars having betrayed them.

صَغُر الذي خان العمودَ فلم

يخلعه إلا الأبيضُ الحرد

Small was he who betrayed the pillar; none

deposed him but the wrathful white blade,

في جنب أكرم هامةٍ رفعت

للَه يرفعها فيقتصد

in comparison with the noblest head raised

to God: he lifts it, yet keeps due measure.

رب الديانة في رعيته

بعد الإله لذكره سجدوا

Lord of religion among his subjects,

after God, they bowed at the mention of him.

يوليهم شرّاً إذا كفروا

وينيلهم خيراً إذا حمدوا

He deals them evil if they disbelieve,

and grants them good if they give praise.

رب الولاية والهدى بهم

قد كاد يعبد في الذي عبدوا

Lord of sovereignty and guidance among them,

he was almost worshipped among all they worshipped.

رب الجيوش كأنَّ مربضها

موجُ البحار حديدُها الزبد

Lord of armies, as though their resting place were

the waves of the seas, their steel the foam.

رب المعالي لو يمد يداً

لَمَسَت سماءَ اللَه منه يد

Lord of lofty heights: if he stretched out a hand,

a hand of his would touch God's heaven.

قد حُطَّ عنه التاجُ منعقداً

اليوم لا تاجٌ فينعقد

The crown once fastened on him has been removed;

today no crown remains to be fastened.

واليوم قد كفروا به وهم

في الدين قد نسخوا الذي اعتقدوا

And today they have renounced him, and they

have abrogated in religion what they believed.

واليوم قد دفعوا مواهبه

عنهم وبعد الشكر قد جحدوا

And today they have thrust his gifts

away from themselves; after thanks, they have denied them.

واليوم في الدركات أنزله

صببُ القضاءِ فما له صعد

And today he has been brought down into the depths

by fate's steep descent; for him there is no ascent.

عظةُ الليالي أنها اِتَّأَدَت

بالخلق لو في الخلق متَّئِد

The lesson of the nights is their unhurried course

with humankind—if only any human were unhurried.

يا عامُ والأيامُ ذاهبةٌ

هلا توقَّف دونك الأمد

O year, while the days pass away,

why did time's course not stop short of you?

تمضي وما بردت لوعجُنا

صبراً ولا شفيت لنا كبد

You pass, though our burning anguish has not cooled

through patience, nor has our liver been healed.

إنّا وردنا العمر فيك فما

في العمر فيك على البلا نرد

We entered life in you, yet

amid life's decay, in you we are not brought back.

أما الحياة فبارقٌ وعلى

أكنافها الظلماتُ ترتعد

As for life, it is a lightning flash, and on

its fringes the darkness trembles.

والناس فوضى في الحياة ولا

يألو اجتهاداً فيهم الحسد

And people are in chaos in life, and never

does envy slacken its striving among them.

يمشي الفَناءُ بهم وجاذبه

رَغَباتُهم والروحُ والجسد

Annihilation carries them along; what draws it is

their desires, the spirit, and the body,

حتى يُقرَّهم بخاويةٍ

فيها تساوى الشيخ والولد

until it settles them in a desolate place

where the old man and the child have become equal.

ويجيءُ يومٌ لا السنون لها

معنى ولا رقمٌ ولا عدد

And a day will come when the years have no

meaning, no numeral, and no count.

والكون يمسي ليس تعمره

إلا زعازعُ فيه تطَّرد

And the universe will be inhabited by nothing

but gales that sweep through it without cease.

تفني الحياةُ وكل ذي نسمٍ

فيه ويبقى الواحد الصمد

Life will perish, and every breathing being

within it; the One, the Eternal Refuge, remains.