لو هاج مثل الفضل خاطر شاعر — Shakib Arslan

لَو هاجَ مِثلُ الفَضلِ خاطِرَ شاعِرٍ

أَلقَيتَ بَينَ يَدَي سِواكَ بَواكِري

Had the like of excellence stirred a poet's mind,

You would have laid my first fruits before someone other than you.

أَو لَو وَجَدَت بِمِثلِ فَضلِكَ عاذِلاً

كانَ الكَمالُ إِذا سَلَوتُكَ عاذِري

Or had they found a reproacher with excellence like yours,

Perfection would have excused me had I forgotten you.

لَكِن سَطَوتُ عَلى القَريضِ بِأَسرِهِ

وَغَدَوتُ أَعذَبَ مَنهَلٍ لِلخاطِرِ

Yet I took command of poetry in its entirety,

And became the sweetest wellspring for the mind;

فَزَهَوتُ بَينَ مَدارِكٍ وَمَشاهِدٍ

وَسَمَوتُ بَينَ بَصائِرٍ وَبَواصِرِ

So I shone among perceptions and sights,

And rose among insights and discerning eyes.

أَو كَيفَ لا تَسمو وَمِثلُكَ مَن حَوى

بِأَعَزِّ نَفسٍ كُلِّ خَلقٍ باهِرِ

Or how could you fail to rise, when one like you has gathered

In a most noble soul every dazzling trait?

عَلَمٌ عَلى عَمَلٍ عَلى قَلَمٍ غَدا

في الخَطبِ يَهزَأُ بِالحُسامِ الباتِرِ

A master of deeds, of a pen that has come

To mock the cleaving sword in times of crisis;

وَفَضائِلٌ تَستَنطِقُ الأَفواهُ مِن

كُلِّ البَرِيَّةِ بِالثَناءِ العاطِرِ

And virtues that make mouths speak

Throughout creation, with fragrant praise.

عَلامَةَ العُلَماءِ وَالبَحرِ الَّذي

لا يَنتَهي مِثلَ البِحارِ لِآخِرِ

O master scholar among scholars, and sea that

Does not, like other seas, reach an end.

يا أَيُّها العِلمُ الَّذي أَوصافُهُ

أَضحَت رِياضَ قَرائِحٍ وَضَمائِرِ

O knowledge, whose qualities

Have become gardens for creative minds and hearts.

شَهِدَ الزَمانُ لَنا بِأَنَّكَ فَردُهُ

مِن كُلِّ بادٍ في الأَنامِ وَحاضِرِ

Time has testified to us that you are its peerless one,

Among humankind, nomad and townsman alike.

يا أَوحَدَ العَصرِ الَّذي عَقَدَت عَلى

تَقديمِهِ في الفَضلِ خَيرُ خَناصِرِ

O peerless one of the age, for whose

Precedence in virtue the finest little fingers have curled.

لا غَروَ أَن أُهدي إِلَيكَ رَقائِقي

وَأَنا رَقيقُ فَضائِلٍ وَمَآثِرِ

No wonder that I offer you my delicate verses,

For I am a slave to virtues and noble deeds.

لَيسَ القَريضُ سِوى تَأَثُّرُ خاطِرٍ

مِمّا بِهِ لِلمَرءِ قُرَّةُ ناظِرِ

Poetry is nothing but the stirring of a mind

By what brings delight to a person's eye.

تُمسي المَحاسِنُ وَهيَ فيهِ بِواعِثٌ

لِلشِعرِ بَينَ مُسَبِّبٍ وَمُباشِرِ

Beauties become, within that mind, impulses

For poetry, through causes both indirect and direct.

غُرَرٌ عَلى الأَيّامِ لَولاها لَما

لاحَت وُجوهُ الدَهرِ غَيرَ بَواسِرِ

Bright blazes upon the days—were it not for them,

Time's faces would appear only scowling.

لَم تُبرِحِ الشُعَراءُ صَرعى نَشوَةٍ

بِرَحيقِها مِن سالِفٍ وَمَحاصِرِ

Poets have remained felled by intoxication

By their nectar, the bygone and the besieging alike.

فَإِذا اِنجَلَت في مِثلِ ذاتِكَ مَرَّةً

كُنتُ أُلاحِقُ بِكُلِّ مَقولٍ شاكِرِ

So whenever they shine forth in someone like you,

I would pursue them with every grateful utterance.

يا مَن غَدا بِعَوارِفٍ وَمَعارِفٍ

يُزري عَلى لَجَجِ العُبابِ الزاخِرِ

O you who, through favors and learning, have come

To put the depths of the brimming, surging sea to shame.

أُهديكَ بَعضاً مِن عَقيقِ قَريحَتي

يا بَحرُ لَكِن لا أَقولُ جَواهِري

I offer you some agate from my poetic gift,

O sea—but I do not call it my jewels.

أَبياتُ إِحسانٍ وَلَيسَ جَميعُها

مِن كُلِّ بَيتٍ بِالمَحاسِنِ عامِرِ

Verses of goodwill, though not all of them

Are verses filled with beauties.

قَد جادَها صَوبَ الصِبا وَبِنَشرِها

نَمَّ الصِبا عَن كُلِّ عُرفٍ زافِرِ

Youth's showers have watered them, and through their perfume

The east wind has disclosed every wafting scent.

دَرَجَت مَعي أَطوارُ عُمرٍ واصِلٍ

ما جاشَ مِن يَومٍ بِلَيلٍ ساهِرِ

They grew alongside me through the stages of a life that joined

What surged forth by day to a sleepless night.

قَد باكَرَتني قَبلَ صادِقِ فَجرِهِ

مُذكُنتُ مِن أَعوامِهِ في العاشِرِ

They came to me early, before that life's true dawn,

Since I was in the tenth of its years.

أَو حَت إِلى قَلبي الهَوى فَشَعَرتُ إِذ

غُصنَ الصَبابَةِ لا يَميلُ لِهاصِرِ

They inspired love in my heart, and I felt it when

The branch of yearning would not yield to one who would bend it.

فَمَضَيتُ بَينَ كَمائِلٍ وَمَفاخِرٍ

وَمَشَيتُ بَينَ خَمائِلٍ وَأَزاهِرِ

So I went on among perfections and glories,

And walked among thickets and blossoms.

ما قُلتُ ذا فَخراً وَلا عَجَباً وَما

مِن مُعجِبٍ في نَظمِها أَو فاخِرِ

I did not say this boastfully or conceitedly, nor

Am I self-admiring or boastful in their composition.

لَكِن لَتَرفَقَ غَيرَ مَأَمورٍ بِها

فَلَكُم خَطَت طَوراً لِنَيلِ الحاضِرِ

But so you may treat them gently, not at my command;

For how many stages they have crossed to reach their present state!

مَكَنتُها بَعدَ النِزاعِ وَكَم حَكَت

قَلَقَ القِداحِ بَدَت بِكَفَّي ياسِرِ

I steadied them after struggle; how often they mimicked

The trembling of lot-arrows in a gambler's two hands.

حَتّى أَتَت مِن بَعدِ تَربِيَتي لَها

حَسبي وَأَن لَم تَغدُ مِلءَ مَحاجِري

Until, after I had nurtured them, they became

Enough for me, though they did not fill my eyes.

عَوَّضتُ ما خَسِرتُهُ مِن حُسنٍ بِما

رُفِعَت إِلَيكَ فَلَم أَكُن بِالخاسِرِ

I made up for the beauty I had lost by their

Being raised to you; thus I was no loser.

فَكُنِ الوَصِيَّ عَلى يَتامى ناظِمٍ

وَبَناتِ فِكرٍ في ثَناكَ قَواصِرِ

So be the guardian of a versifier's orphans,

And daughters of thought that fall short in your praise.

أَهدَيتُها لا كَي تَليقُ وَطالَما

قَبلُ الكَبيرُ هَدِيَّةً مِن صاغِرِ

Not for their worthiness did I offer them; how often

A great man has accepted a gift from a humble one.

هِيَ دونَ ما يُهدي إِلَيكَ وَإِنَّما

مِثلي عَلى ما فاقَ لَيسَ بِقادِرِ

They fall below what is offered to you; yet

One like me is incapable of anything finer.