نعد المشرفية والعوالي — Al Mutanabbi

نُعِدُّ المَشرَفِيَّةَ وَالعَوالي

وَتَقتُلُنا المَنونُ بِلا قِتالِ

We ready Mashrafi swords and tall lances,

Yet death kills us without battle.

وَنَرتَبِطُ السَوابِقَ مُقرَباتٍ

وَما يُنجينَ مِن خَبَبِ اللَيالي

We tether fleet steeds, kept close and cherished,

Yet they do not save us from the nights' trot.

وَمَن لَم يَعشَقِ الدُنيا قَديماً

وَلَكِن لا سَبيلَ إِلى الوِصالِ

And who has not long loved this world?

Yet there is no way to union with it.

نَصيبُكَ في حَياتِكَ مِن حَبيبٍ

نَصيبُكَ في مَنامِكَ مِن خَيالِ

Your share of a beloved in your life

Is your share of a dream-image in your sleep.

رَماني الدَهرُ بِالأَرزاءِ حَتّى

فُؤادي في غِشاءٍ مِن نِبالِ

Time has pelted me with calamities until

My heart is wrapped in a sheath of arrows.

فَصِرتُ إِذا أَصابَتني سِهامٌ

تَكَسَّرَتِ النِصالُ عَلى النِصالِ

So I have come to this: whenever arrows strike me,

The arrowheads shatter against the arrowheads.

وَهانَ فَما أُبالي بِالرَزايا

لِأَنّي ما اِنتَفَعتُ بِأَن أُبالي

It grew bearable, so I care nothing for calamities,

Because I gained nothing by caring.

وَهَذا أَوَّلُ الناعينَ طُرّاً

لِأَوَّلِ مَيتَةٍ في ذا الجَلالِ

And this is the first of all heralds of death,

For the first woman to die in such majesty.

كَأَنَّ المَوتَ لَم يَفجَع بِنَفسٍ

وَلَم يَخطُر لِمَخلوقٍ بِبالِ

As though death had never caused grief by taking a soul,

Nor ever crossed any creature's mind.

صَلاةُ اللَهِ خالِقِنا حَنوطٌ

عَلى الوَجهِ المُكَفَّنِ بِالجَمالِ

May the blessing of God, our Creator, be funerary perfume

Upon the face shrouded in beauty,

عَلى المَدفونِ قَبلَ التُربِ صَوناً

وَقَبلَ اللَحدِ في كَرَمِ الخِلالِ

Upon the one buried in guarded seclusion before the earth,

And in noble qualities before the tomb.

فَإِنَّ لَهُ بِبَطنِ الأَرضِ شَخصاً

جَديداً ذِكرُناهُ وَهُوَ بالي

For in the belly of the earth it has a bodily form,

Which we recall as fresh, though it is decaying.

وَما أَحَدٌ يُخَلَّدُ في البَرايا

بَلِ الدُنيا تَؤولُ إِلى زَوالِ

No one among created beings is made immortal;

Rather, the world itself comes to an end.

أَطابَ النَفسَ أَنَّكَ مُتَّ مَوتاً

تَمَنَّتهُ البَواقي وَالخَوالي

It comforted the soul that you died a death

That surviving women and those gone before wished for.

وَزُلتِ وَلَم تَرى يَوماً كَريهاً

يُسَرُّ الروحُ فيهِ بِالزَوالِ

You departed without ever seeing a bitter day

On which the spirit rejoices in departure.

رِواقُ العِزِّ حَولَكِ مُسبَطِرٌّ

وَمُلكُ عَلِيٍّ اِبنِكِ في كَمالِ

The canopy of glory stretched wide around you,

And the rule of Ali, your son, was in its fullness.

سَقى مَثواكَ غادٍ في الغَوادي

نَظيرُ نَوالِ كَفِّكِ في النَوالِ

May a morning cloud among morning clouds water your resting place,

Equal in giving to the bounty of your palm.

لِساحيهِ عَلى الأَجداثِ حَفشٌ

كَأَيدي الخَيلِ أَبصَرَتِ المَخالي

Its sweeping rain beats fiercely upon the graves,

Like horses' forelegs when they see their feedbags.

أُسائِلُ عَنكِ بَعدَكِ كُلَّ مَجدٍ

وَما عَهدي بِمَجدٍ عَنكِ خالي

I ask every glory about you after your passing,

And I have never known a glory devoid of you.

يَمُرُّ بِقَبرِكِ العافي فَيَبكي

وَيَشغَلُهُ البُكاءُ عَنِ السُؤالِ

The seeker of bounty passes by your grave and weeps,

And weeping keeps him from asking.

وَما أَهداكِ لِلجَدوى عَلَيهِ

لَوَ أَنَّكِ تَقدِرينَ عَلى فَعالِ

And how well you would know to bestow bounty on him,

If you were capable of action!

بِعَيشِكِ هَل سَلَوتِ فَإِنَّ قَلبي

وَإِن جانَبتُ أَرضَكِ غَيرُ سالي

By your life, have you found solace? For my heart,

Even though I have left your land, remains unconsoled.

نَزَلتِ عَلى الكَراهَةِ في مَكانٍ

بَعُدتِ عَنِ النُعامى وَالشَمالِ

You settled, against your will, in a place

Far from the south wind and the north wind.

تُحَجَّبُ عَنكِ رائِحَةُ الخُزامى

وَتُمنَعُ مِنكِ أَنداءُ الطِلالِ

The scent of lavender is screened from you,

And the moisture of light rains is withheld from you.

بِدارٍ كُلُّ ساكِنِها غَريبٌ

طَويلُ الهَجرِ مُنبَتُّ الحِبالِ

In an abode where every dweller is a stranger,

Long estranged, with his cords severed.

حَصانٌ مِثلُ ماءِ المُزنِ فيهِ

كَتومُ السِرِّ صادِقَةُ المَقالِ

A chaste woman, like the water of rainclouds, lies there,

A keeper of secrets, truthful in speech.

يُعَلِّلُها نِطاسِيُّ الشَكايا

وَواحِدُها نِطاسِيُّ المَعالي

A master physician of ailments tended her,

And her peerless son is a master physician of lofty deeds.

إِذا وَصَفوا لَهُ داءً بِثَغرٍ

سَقاهُ أَسِنَّةَ الأَسلِ الطِوالِ

When they describe to him an ailment at a frontier,

He makes it drink the points of long lances.

وَلَيسَت كَالإِناثِ وَلا اللَواتي

تُعَدُّ لَها القُبورُ مِنَ الحِجالِ

She is not like other women, nor those

For whom graves are reckoned as bridal chambers,

وَلا مَن في جَنازَتِها تِجارٌ

يَكونُ وَداعُها نَفضَ النِعالِ

Nor one whose funeral is attended by merchants,

Whose farewell is the shaking of sandals.

مَشى الأُمَراءُ حَولَيها حُفاةً

كَأَنَّ المَروَ مِن زِفِّ الرِئالِ

The princes walked barefoot around her,

As though the flint were down from ostrich chicks.

وَأَبرَزَتِ الخُدورُ مُخَبَّآتٍ

يَضَعنَ النَقسَ أَمكِنَةَ الغَوالي

And the curtained chambers brought forth secluded women

Who put ink in place of precious perfumes.

أَتَتهُنَّ المُصيبَةُ غافِلاتٍ

فَدَمعُ الحُزنِ في دَمعِ الدَلالِ

The calamity came upon them unawares,

So tears of grief mingle with tears of coquetry.

وَلَو كانَ النِساءُ كَمَن فَقَدنا

لَفُضِّلَتِ النِساءُ عَلى الرِجالِ

And if women were like the one we have lost,

Women would surely be deemed superior to men.

وَما التَأنيثُ لِاِسمِ الشَمسِ عَيبٌ

وَلا التَذكيرُ فَخرٌ لِلهِلالِ

The feminine gender of the sun's name is no flaw,

Nor is masculine gender a source of pride for the crescent.

وَأَفجَعُ مَن فَقَدنا مَن وَجَدنا

قُبَيلَ الفَقدِ مَفقودَ المِثالِ

And most grievous among those we lost is one we found

Just before the loss to have no equal.

يُدَفِّنُ بَعضُنا بَعضاً وَتَمشي

أَواخِرُنا عَلى هامِ الأَوالي

Some of us bury others, and

Our later generations walk upon the skulls of the earlier.

وَكَم عَينٍ مُقَبَّلَةِ النَواحي

كَحيلٌ بِالجَنادِلِ وَالرِمالِ

And many an eye whose corners were kissed

Is lined with stones and sand for kohl.

وَمُغضٍ كانَ لا يُغدي لِخِطبٍ

وَبالٍ كانَ يُفكِرُ في الهُزالِ

And one with lowered eyes who never lowered them before calamity,

And a decaying body that once worried about thinness.

أَسَيفَ الدَولَةِ اِستَنجِد بِصَبرٍ

وَكَيفَ بِمِثلِ صَبرِكَ لِلجِبالِ

O Sayf al-Dawla, seek aid in patience;

Yet how could the mountains have patience like yours?

فَأَنتَ تُعَلِّمُ الناسَ التَعَزّي

وَخَوضَ المَوتِ في الحَربِ السِجالِ

For you teach people to find consolation

And to wade into death in war of shifting fortunes.

وَحالاتُ الزَمانِ عَلَيكَ شَتّى

وَحالُكَ واحِدٌ في كُلِّ حالِ

The circumstances time brings upon you are varied,

Yet your state is the same in every circumstance.

فَلا غيضَت بِحارُكَ يا جَموماً

عَلى عَلَلِ الغَرائِبِ وَالدِخالِ

May your seas never be depleted, O ever-brimming one,

Despite strange camels' second draughts and repeated admissions to drink.

رَأَيتُكَ في الَّذينَ أَرى مُلوكاً

كَأَنَّكَ مُستَقيمٌ في مُحالِ

I have seen you among those whom I deem kings,

As though you were sound reason amid absurdity.

فَإِن تَفُقِ الأَنامَ وَأَنتَ مِنهُم

فَإِنَّ المِسكَ بَعضُ دَمِ الغَزالِ

For if you surpass humankind, though you are one of them,

Then musk is a portion of the gazelle's blood.