أمل لا يزال فوق المرام

فهو وهم كسائر الأوهام

A hope still beyond attainment,

For he is a delusion like all other delusions.

شابت الأرض وانحنى كاهل الدهر

وسر الصديق طيّ المعامي

The earth has grown gray, and time's back has bowed,

And the friend's secret lies folded in mysteries.

فهو ما زال كالأساطير حلم

حائر في الشفاه والأقلام

For he remains, like the legends, a dream

Lost among lips and pens.

غير أن الخيال أسعد قوما

فأضافوا في وصفه بالتسامى

Yet imagination made some people happy,

So they added loftiness to their description of him.

والخيالات كالحياة حظوظ

والأماني وليدة الآلام

And fancies, like life, are matters of luck,

And wishes are the offspring of pain.

وضحايا السراب والمثل العليا

يضيعون في ضجيج الزحام

And victims of the mirage and lofty ideals

Are lost in the clamor of the crowd.

حدّثوا أنّ من معانيه لو كا

ن حنان الندى وطهر الغمام

They said his qualities—if he existed—

Would include dew's tenderness and the purity of clouds,

وجمال الصباح تتلو عليه الطي

ر ما ألهمته روح الظلام

And morning's beauty, to which the birds recite

What the spirit of darkness inspired in them,

وانعطاف الغصون رنّحها الشو

ق إلى دافق من النور هام

And the bending of boughs, swayed by longing

Toward a gushing stream of light, love-struck,

ومراح العبير يفضى إلى الرو

ض بأسرار قلبه المستهام

And fragrance's frolic, confiding to the meadow

The secrets of its love-stricken heart,

وانطلاق النسيم يحبو إلى الزه

ر حيّ الخطا عفيف الغرام

And the breeze's coursing, creeping toward the flowers,

Lively of step and chaste in love,

وصفاء الأصيل تنسجم الألو

ان في راحتيه أيّ انسجام

And the serenity of late afternoon, its colors blending

In its palms in such harmony,

وجلال الدجى ترفّه حتى

ليحسّ النماء في الأكمام

And the majesty of night, so deeply at ease

That it senses growth within the buds.

حدّثوا أنّ من معانيه معنى

جلّ هذا المعنى عن الإعظام

They said that among his qualities was one

So sublime as to lie beyond all veneration:

فهو إن أخلص الأخوّة والحبّ

سما عن أخوّة الأرحام

For if he is sincere in brotherhood and love,

He rises above the brotherhood of the womb.

وإذا حقق الوفاء تجلّت

رحمة الله في قلوب الأنام

And when he embodies fidelity,

God's mercy is revealed in human hearts.

صدقوا وصفه ولم يصدق الدهر

مناهم فضاع سحر الكلام

They spoke truly of him, but time did not fulfill

Their hopes; so the magic of words was lost.

وجرينا خلف السراب وعدنا

بعد حين بالأمنيات روامي

And we ran after the mirage and returned

After a while, casting our wishes away.

ذهب الصدق والصديق فدنيا النا

س دنيا الذئاب والأغنام

Truth and the friend are gone; the human world

Is a world of wolves and sheep.

كم صديق محّضته الودّ صرفا

كان أقسى عليّ من أيّامي

How many a friend to whom I gave pure affection

Was crueler to me than my days!

وصديق سقيته من حناني

فسقاني كؤوس عيش زؤام

And a friend I watered with my tenderness

Then made me drink cups of deadly life.

وصديق جعلت نفسي فداه

ذائداً عن حياضه بسهامي

And a friend for whom I made myself a sacrifice,

Defending his watering pools with my arrows;

ثم مال الزمان يوما بحظّي

فإذاه في الروع أول رام

Then one day time turned against my fortune,

And there he was, amid the terror, the first to shoot.

وصديق حميته من ضياع

فبنى صرح مجده بحطامي

And a friend I protected from ruin

Built the edifice of his glory from my wreckage.

وصديق جعلته أهلي له

أهلا وعطفى لأهله وسلامي

And a friend for whom I made my family

His family, and gave his kin my affection and greetings.

وجعلت الوجود جنّة قلبي

ن يعيشان في ظلال الوئام

And I made existence a paradise for two hearts

Living in the shade of harmony.

فحياتي حياته في المعاني

الآدميّات والوجود السامي

So my life was his in the values

Of humanity and in sublime existence.

كان بيتي مقامه ومتاعي

في يديه وزاده من طعامي

My house was his dwelling, and my possessions

Were in his hands, his provisions from my food.

لم أخنه بالغيب بل خنت نفسي

وهدمت البناء قبل التمام

I did not betray him in his absence; rather, I betrayed myself,

And demolished the building before its completion,

حين أطلعته على كل سر

غاب إلا عن ربيّ العلّام

When I revealed to him every secret

Hidden from all but my all-knowing Lord.

كان يرضى فتستحيل حياتي

فرحة عبقريّة الأنغام

When he was pleased, my life would become

A joy of inspired melodies.

فإذا ما بكى ففي ذمّة

النسيان أحلى الأفكار والأحلام

Then whenever he wept, into the keeping

Of oblivion went the sweetest thoughts and dreams.

ثم ولى فلا تسل كيف ولّى

وسل الدهر عن ضحايا اللئام

Then he turned away; do not ask how he turned away,

And ask time about the victims of the vile.

وإذا ما سألتني من صديقي

بعد طول التجريب والإحكام

And if you ask me who my friend is,

After long testing and painstaking scrutiny,

فهو من لم أطعمه زادي ولم

ألبسه ثوبي ولم أقاسمه جامي

He is one whom I have not fed my provisions, nor

Clothed in my garment, nor shared my cup with.

وهو من لم أبحه سرى ولم أع

لمه أمرى في ثورتي ونظامي

And he is one to whom I have not divulged my secret, nor made

My affairs known, in my rebellion and my order.

وهو من لم أهبه حبي ولم اس

كنه قلبي ولم أعره اهتمامي

And he is one whom I have not given my love to, nor

Lodged in my heart, nor lent my attention to.

وهو حلم كهذه الأحلام

وهو وهم كسائر الأوهام

And he is a dream like these dreams,

And he is a delusion like all other delusions.

شابت الأرض وانحنى كاهل الدهر

وسر الصديق طيّ المعامي

The earth has grown gray, and time's back has bowed,

And the friend's secret lies folded in mysteries.

وستفنى الدنيا وتجري النهايا

ت وتطوى صحائف الأيام

And the world will perish, and endings will run their course,

And the pages of days will be folded away,

وهو ما زال كالأساطير لفظ

حائر في الشفاه والأقلام

And he is still, like the legends, a word

Lost among lips and pens.

والأحاديث عن وجود صديق

كالأحاديث عن وجود السلام

And talk of a friend's existence

Is like talk of the existence of peace.