لا مرية في الردى ولا جدل — Sardar

لا مِرَيةٌ في الردَى ولا جدَلُ

العمر دَيْنٌ قضاؤه ألأجلُ

There is no doubt about death, nor any dispute.

Life is a debt; its repayment is the appointed end.

للمرء في حتفِ أنِفه شُغُلٌ

فما تريد السيوف والأسلُ

A man has enough to face in dying a natural death;

what, then, do swords and spears seek?

يَفرِى الدجىَ والضّحى بأسلحةٍ

سِيّانِ فيها الدروعُ والحُلَلُ

It cleaves darkness and daylight with weapons

against which armor and robes are alike.

فأنجمُ الليل كالأسنةِ والصُّ

بحُ حسامٌ له الورى خِلَلُ

Thus the stars of night are like spearheads, and the

morning is a sword, with humankind as its scabbards.

يا ليت عمرَ الفتى يُمَدُّ له

ما امتدّ منه الرجاءُ والأملُ

Would that a young man's life were prolonged for him

as long as his hopes and aspirations extend.

مواردٌ هذه الحياةُ وما

نصدُرُ عنها إلاّ بنا غُلَلُ

This life consists of watering places, and we do not

leave them except with thirst still within us.

نكرَعُ في حَوضها ونحن كما

تُذاد من بَعد خمسها الإبلُ

We drink from its pool, yet we are like

camels driven away after their five-day watering interval.

كأسٌ أدرَّت على لذاذتها

عُدّل فيها الزُّعافُ والعسلُ

A cup that pours freely, for all its sweetness:

deadly poison and honey are balanced equally within it.

كلٌّ إلى غايةٍ يصير ولا

تمييزَ إلا الإسراعُ والمَهَلُ

Everyone comes to an end, and there is no

distinction except haste and delay.

والناسُ ركبٌ يَهووْن حثَّهمُ

ولا يُسَرُّون أنّهم نزلوا

People are a caravan who love being urged onward,

yet are not glad when they have dismounted.

وسوفَ تُطوَى مسافةٌ ذَمَلتْ

بقاطعيها ركائبٌ ذُلُلُ

And soon a distance will be folded away, along which have trotted

docile mounts bearing those who traverse it.

كيف يَعُدُّ الدنيا له وطنا

من هو ينأَى عنها وينتقلُ

How can he regard this world as his homeland,

who draws away from it and departs?

نسْخوا بأعمارنا ونبخل بال

مال فتَبَّ السخاءُ والبَخَلُ

We are lavish with our lives, yet miserly with

wealth—perish both generosity and stinginess!

ونبتغى البرءَ من يُسرع السُّ

قمُ إليه وتَصرعَ العِللُ

We seek healing from one toward whom

sickness hastens, and whom ailments strike down.

أضاع راقي الداءِ العضالِ كما

ضُيِّع في سمعِ عاشقٍ عذَلُ

The incantation-healer of incurable disease wastes his efforts,

as reproach is wasted on a lover's ear.

ولو نجا الهائبُ الجبانُ من ال

حتف تحامىَ إقدامَه البطلُ

And if the fearful coward could escape

death, the hero would shun his daring.

ما أسلموا هذه النفوسَ إلى ال

أجداث إلا إذ ضاقت الحيلُ

They did not surrender these souls to the

graves until all stratagems failed.

ضرورةٌ ذلَّت القُرومُ لها

وقد تقودُ المَصاعبَ الجُدُلُ

An inevitability before which mighty chiefs have bowed;

and braided ropes can lead even unruly camels.

وخفَّف الخطبَ بعد شدّته

أَنْ كُلُّ حىّ لأمِّه الهَبَلُ

What lightened the calamity after its severity

was that every living being's mother faces bereavement.

ومن حِذارٍ تبوّأَ الكُديْةَ الض

بُّ وأوفىَ في الشاهقِ الوَعِلُ

And from fear, the rocky knoll became home to the

lizard, and the ibex climbed the towering height.

لا الجوّ يُنجِى الشغواءَ حائمةً

ولا سبوحٌ في لُجّةٍ يئلُ

The sky cannot save the circling, hooked-beaked eagle,

nor can a strong swimmer find refuge in the deep.

يُقتادُ في عزِّه الخُبَعْثِنةُ الض

ارِى ويُدهَى في ذلّه الجُعَلُ

Led away in all its might is the lion, the

predator; and the dung beetle is stricken in its lowliness.

والحافظو عَورِة العشيرةِ للدّ

هر إذا شنَّ غارةً عُزُلُ

And the defenders of the clan's vulnerable flank, against

Time when it launches a raid, are unarmed.

أيّ ديارٍ تُحمَى وقد راع تا

جَ الدِّين خطبٌ أنيابهُ عُصُلُ

What dwelling can be defended, when Taj

al-Din has been terrified by a calamity with crooked fangs,

مستلِبا من يديه لؤلؤةَ ال

غوّاصِ أدنَى أصدافِها الكِلَلُ

snatching from his hands the pearl of the

diver, whose humblest shells are curtained canopies?

ما كان يُدرَى من قبلِ ما غرَبتْ

أنَّ الثريّا إلى الثرى تصِلُ

Before she set, it had not been known

that the Pleiades could reach the dust.

يا بؤس للنائبات كيفَ أرت

أُخوّة الفرقديْنِ تنفصلُ

Woe to calamities! How they have shown

the kinship of the two Farqad stars breaking apart!

وإن عجِبنا منها فلا عجبٌ

للشمسِ وارَى جبينَها الطَّفَلُ

And if we marvel at it, there is nothing strange

in dusk veiling the brow of the sun.

لم يرتد المجدُ إذ أصيبَ بها

ولا مشى العزُّ وهو منتعلُ

Glory wore no cloak when stricken by her loss,

nor did honor walk with shoes on.

سليلَةٌ من سوابق دَرَجوا

أمامَها فاستخفَّها العجَلُ

A descendant of forerunners who passed away

before her, so haste swept her along,

من الخدورِ التي بها احتجبوا

إلى القبور التي بها نزلوا

from the curtained chambers where they secluded themselves

to the graves where they came to dwell.

تُنحرُ في مكّة العِشارُ ولا

تُنحرُ إلا عليهم المُقَلُ

In Mecca the pregnant she-camels are slaughtered, but

eyes are slaughtered only in mourning for them.

مهلا فما يربح الحزينُ ولا

يخشرُ إلا غناءَه الجَذِلُ

Gently: the grieving one gains nothing, nor

does the joyful one lose anything but his song.

وهل يُردُّ الأحبابَ إن رحلوا

على محبٍّ أن يُندَب الطَلُل

Can loved ones, once they have departed, be brought back

to a lover by mourning the deserted campsite?

حُوشيتَ من جلسةِ العزاءِ وأن

يُضربَ في أسوةٍ لك المثلُ

May you be spared the condolence gathering, and

having your case cited as an example to console others.

كم قد هَوَى من سمائكم قمرٌ

وغار في الأرضِ منكُمُ جبلُ

How many a moon has fallen from your sky,

and how many a mountain of yours has sunk into the earth!

فما سكبتم له ذنَوبا من الد

مع ونارُ الأحزان تشتعلُ

Yet for him you poured no bucketful of

tears, while the fire of sorrows blazed.

ودّعتُموه كأنكم شُمُتُ

أو العِدَى عنكُمُ قد ارتحلوا

You bade him farewell as though you were gloating,

or as though your enemies had departed from you.

إذا مَراثى أحبابكم تُليتْ

سمعتموها كأنها غَزلُ

When elegies for your loved ones are recited,

you hear them as though they were love poetry.

فليس ندرِى من صخرةٍ نُحتتْ

قلوبُكم أم دموعُكم وَشَلُ

So we cannot tell whether from a rock were carved

your hearts, or whether your tears are only a trickle.

وأنتمُ هَجْمَة تقاربتِ ال

أسنانُ فيها فكلُّها بُزُلُ

And you are a great herd, close together in

age, all of them full-grown camels.

فظاعنٌ عنكُمُ له خَلَفٌ

وذاهبٌ منكُمُ له بدلُ

Thus whoever departs from you has a successor,

and whoever goes from among you has a replacement.

للدهر نُعمى ومنَّةٌ ويدٌ

ما قام في الناس منْكُمُ رجلُ

Time grants blessing, favor, and a helping hand,

so long as a man of yours stands among the people.