كم طوى الدهر عليها أمما — Rashid Ayoub

كم طوى الدهرُ عليها أُمما

ومحاها من سجلّ الكائنات

How many nations has Time folded away upon her,

And erased them from the register of existence!

هكذا يطوي ويمحو طالَما

سنواتٌ فيه تَتلو سنوَات

Thus it folds away and erases, as long as

Years within it follow years.

دوَلٌ في دورها قد لعِبَت

ثمّ بادت وبدت أخرى تدول

States have played their parts in turn,

Then perished, and others appeared to take their turn.

وبهذا الكون أسرارٌ خَبَت

نحت مكنوناتها نار العقول

And in this universe are mysteries; quenched

Beneath their hidden depths is the fire of minds.

ومطايا الفكر فيها قد كَبَت

حائراتٍ لا تَعي كيف تجول

And the mounts of thought have stumbled there,

Bewildered, not knowing how to roam.

بَينَما المَرءُ يُرى مُبتسما

ولهُ الأيام تبدو زاهرات

While a man is seen smiling,

And the days appear radiant to him,

إذ ترَاهُ يذرف الدمع دما

شَرقاً من حزنِه بالعبَرَات

Suddenly you see him shedding tears of blood,

Choking with grief on his tears.

هذِه الدنيَا وما فيها غرور

عبَثاً ترجو من الدنيا السّلام

This world and all within it are delusion.

In vain you hope for peace from this world.

أرضعَتنَا ثَديَ أنسٍ وسرور

وسَقَتنا المرّ من بَعد الفطام

She suckled us at the breast of comfort and joy,

And gave us bitterness to drink after weaning.

فإلامَ هذه الدّنيَا تجور

إِنّ هذا ليس من شأنِ الأنام

So how long will this world act unjustly?

Indeed, this is not within the province of mortals.

حكمَ الله بنا ما حَكَما

فاقصرِ البحث بهذي الغامضات

God has decreed concerning us what He has decreed;

So curtail your inquiry into these mysteries,

وبحبلِ الله كُن مُعتَصِما

لا تَسل عمّا بطيّ الخافيات

And hold fast to God's rope.

Do not ask what lies enfolded in hidden things.

عندما سلطانة البحر سَرَت

لَيلَةً تزهو بأبهَى الحلَلِ

When the queen of the sea sailed

One night, resplendent in the loveliest robes,

كعرُوسٍ في الدّجى قد خطرت

وهيَ بكرٌ بالشقا لم تَحفلِ

Like a bride gliding through the darkness,

And she was a virgin, heedless of misery,

وعقول الناس منها سُحِرَت

عَجَباً لمّا رأوهَا تَنجَلي

And people's minds were enchanted by her,

In wonder when they saw her emerge.

كشهابٍ نورُها شَقّ السّما

أو غَدت إحدى النجوم السابحات

Like a meteor, her light cleft the sky,

Or she became one of the swimming stars.

ليتَ شعري في الوَرَى من علما

أنها خُطَّت بسفر الحادثات

Would that I knew who among mankind knew

That she was inscribed in the book of calamities.

فدَعوها تَتَباهى عن رضى

مَا لَها في السيرِ من مُنتَقِدِ

So they gladly let her flaunt herself,

With no one to fault her course.

حسَدتها رُبّما زُهرُ الفَضَا

فَأصابَتها بِعَينش الحَسِدِ

Perhaps the bright stars of space envied her,

And struck her with the eye of envy.

أو هوَ الناموس في حكم القضا

لم يدَعهَا تَتَباهى لِغَدِ

Or it was the law within fate's decree

That would not let her flaunt herself till tomorrow.

صَدَمَت طودَ جَلِيدٍ قد سَما

لم يُعِيرُوه اعتِنَاءً والتِفَات

She struck a towering mountain of ice,

To which they had paid no heed or attention.

إنّما لما بها الخطبُ طمى

علِموا كيفَ اصطِدام الرّاسيات

Only when disaster surged over her

Did they learn what collision with immovable masses meant.

صيحَة لله لمّا ازدَحَمُوا

قامَ موجُ البحرِ منها وقَعَد

A cry to God, when they crowded together,

At which the sea's waves rose and fell.

آهِ لَو للبَحر عَقلٌ وَدَم

كان لَما عَاينَ الخطب جَمَد

Ah, if the sea had reason and blood,

It would have frozen when it saw the disaster.

كم عرُوسٍ عن عريسٍ فصَمُوا

مثلما تُفصمُ رُوحٌ عَن جَسَد

How many brides they tore from their bridegrooms,

As a soul is torn from a body.

تَقرَعُ السنّ عَلَيهِ نَدمَا

وَتُنَاجي رَبّهَا بالحَسرَات

She gnashes her teeth in regret for him,

And confides in her Lord with sighs:

ربّ إِني عِفتُ روحي ألَما

لَيتَني ما كنتُ في هذي الحياة

Lord, in anguish I have come to loathe my soul;

Would that I had never been in this life.

طَيَّرُوا البَرقَ بأرجَاءِ الأثير

فَغَدا فِيهِ يصِيحُ المَدَدا

They sent lightning flying through the reaches of the ether,

And there it began to cry, 'Help!'

في فضَاءٍ عندهُ عَزّ النّصير

وبحورٍ جَرّدَت سيفَ الرّدى

In a vastness where a helper was scarce,

And seas that had unsheathed the sword of death.

وكبير القَومِ فِيهِم كالصّغير

لمَلاكِ المَوتِ كُلٌّ سَجَدا

And the great among them were like the small;

All prostrated themselves before the angel of death.

فانشَنَت كرباثيا من بعد ما

مَزّقَ البرقُ أَديمَ السّمَوَات

Then Carpathia sped forth, after

Lightning tore the skin of the heavens.

وَجَرَت تَوّاً تَشُقّ الظُّلَمَا

نحوَ مَن ضاقَت بهم سبلُ النجاة

And at once she raced, cleaving the darkness,

Toward those whose paths to safety had narrowed.

لم يكن للخيل في الحربِ صَهيل

لا ولا فيها صَلِيلٌ للسيوف

There was no neighing of horses in the battle,

No, nor any clanging of swords within it.

مُهَجٌ في لَججٍ باتت تسِيل

جَزَعاً من مشرَفيّاتِ الحتوف

Souls flowed all night amid the deep waves,

In terror of death's Mashrafi swords.

وسَرَاةُ القومِ كم منهُم قتِيل

كانَ لو يحيَا به تَحيَا ألوف

And how many a noble of the people lay slain,

Who, had he lived, would have kept thousands alive.

كم شجاعٍ قد عَنَا مستسلما

وهو لا يعنو لحدّ المرهفات

How many a brave man bowed in surrender,

Though he would not yield to the edge of whetted swords.

وأبيّ النفس أودى كَرَما

كَفِداءٍ عن نفوس السيّدات

And a proud-spirited man perished nobly,

As a sacrifice for the lives of ladies.

يا لَهُ ليلاً تَجَنّى واعتَدى

رَاخياً مِنهُ عَلى الصّبحِ سِتار

Oh, what a night that wronged and ravaged,

Letting down its curtain over the dawn.

مَأتَمٌ للنّاسِ فيه قَد غَدا

وهو عرسٌ عند حيتانِ البِحَار

For the people, it had become a scene of mourning,

While it was a wedding feast for the whales of the seas.

كم كميٍ سيفه قد أَغمدا

وشجاعٍ حيثُ سارَ القَومُ سار

How many an armored warrior had sheathed his sword,

And a brave man went wherever the people went.

صَبّتِ الدّنيَا عليهِم نِقَما

وبهم قد ضَاقَتِ المُنفرجات

The world poured punishments upon them,

And even open spaces grew cramped around them.

وغَدا مَن كانَ يرَعى الذمما

مثل من كانوا لدى الحقّ جُناة

And he who had kept his pledges became

Like those who were guilty before justice.

وَتَلَوا لمّا دنا وقتُ الوَدَاع

رَبّنَا إنّا إِلَيكَ أَقرَبُ

And when the hour of farewell drew near, they recited:

Our Lord, we are nearer to You.

عَلَلُوا أنفسهُم بالإجتِمَاع

عَل مُرّ الموتِ فِيهِ يَعذُبُ

They consoled themselves by gathering together,

Perhaps death's bitterness might turn sweet in it.

وَهوَوا في قاعِ بحرٍ أيّ قاع

مَاؤهُ هَيهات فِيهِ ينضبُ

And they plunged to the bottom of a sea—what a depth!

Its water could never, ever run dry.

فَاحفَظَن يا بحر تلكَ الرّمَمَا

إنها تُعزَى لأًبطالٍ كُمَاة

So guard, O sea, those mortal remains;

They belong to heroes, mighty warriors.

ليس للدُّرّ الذي فيكَ كَمَا

لرُفاتٍ مثل هذي حَسَنَات

The pearls within you have no virtues like

Those of mortal remains such as these.

يا نُجوماً رَافَقَت هذا الوُجُود

من دُهورٍ وبِها الله عليم

O stars that have accompanied this existence

Through ages known to God,

بلغت كرباثيا ذاكَ المَقَام

حيثُ أشباحُ الرّدى تَزدَحِمُ

Carpathia reached that place

Where the specters of death thronged.

خَطفَت من مخلبِ الموتِ الزّؤام

كلّ مَن في البحرِ حَيّاً منهُمُ

She snatched from the claw of violent death

Every one of them still alive in the sea.

وبهم جاءَت إِلى هذا الحِمى

فَأحَلّوهَا مَكَانَ النّيرَات

And brought them to this refuge,

So they set her among the radiant stars.

ليتَ ذا الدهر بهذا خَتَما

وَكَفانَا شَرَّهُ والنّائِبَات

Would that Time had ended with this,

And spared us its evil and calamities.

لم يكُن للخَطبِ إِلاّكِ شُهود

فوق ذاك البحر في الليل البهيم

None but you witnessed the disaster

Above that sea in the pitch-dark night.

كيفَ حال القوم في دار الخلود

يا تُرَى هم في نعيمٍ أم جحيم

How fare the people in the abode of eternity?

I wonder: are they in bliss or in hell?

فَلَعَمري ليسَ إِلاّ حُلُما

ذلك الفِردَوس قَصّتهُ الرّوَاة

For, by my life, it is nothing but a dream,

That paradise the storytellers recounted.

وجحيم القَومِ أمسى عِندَما

خبطوا في لجّجٍ في ظُلُمات

And the people's hell was when

They floundered in deep waves amid darkness.

سلّ سيف الصبحِ من غمد الظلام

وتَوَارَت في الفضاءِ الأنجُمُ

The sword of dawn was drawn from the scabbard of darkness,

And the stars vanished into space.