من ذا الطبيب لأدوائي وأوجاعي — Sharif Al Murtaza

مَن ذا الطّبيبُ لأدْوائي وأوجاعي

أو الرّفيق على همّي وأزماعي

Who is the physician for my maladies and pains,

Or the companion in my sorrow and anxieties?

قد كنتُ جَلْداً ولكنْ رُبَّ أقضِيَةٍ

خَلَطْن جَلْداً على البلوى بمُلتاعِ

I was steadfast, but many decrees of fate

Have mingled a steadfast sufferer with one distraught.

يا صاحبي يوم رام الدّهرُ منقصتِي

وراع منّي جَناناً غيرَ مرتاعِ

O my companion, on the day Time sought my abasement

And frightened within me a heart that had known no fear,

قم سلِّ قلبِيَ عمّا في بَلابِلِهِ

ففيه ما شئتَ من سَقْمٍ وأوجاعِ

Rise, ease my heart of its inward troubles;

It holds whatever sickness and pain you could wish.

ليس اللّسانُ وإن أوْفَتْ براعتُهُ

مترجماً عن جوىً ما بين أضلاعي

The tongue, though its eloquence reaches perfection,

Cannot interpret the burning grief between my ribs.

إِذا سقَى اللّهُ أجزاعاً على ظمأٍ

فلا سقَى اللّهُ هذا العامَ أجزاعي

If God waters thirsty valley bends,

May God not water my valley bends this year;

ولا رَمَيْنَ على جَدْبٍ بأَنْدِيةٍ

ولا صَبَبْنَ على مَحْلٍ بإمراعِ

Nor may the clouds cast moisture upon barren ground,

Nor pour fertility upon drought-stricken soil.

إنّي مُقيمٌ على كُرهٍ بناحيةٍ

غرثَى المسالك من طِيبٍ وإمتاعِ

I dwell unwillingly in a region

Whose paths are starved of pleasure and delight,

في معشرٍ ما لجانٍ منهمُ أدبٌ

كهَجْمَةٍ ما لها في القاعِ من راعِ

Among a people whose wrongdoers know no restraint,

Like a camel herd with no herdsman on the plain.

كم حمّلونِيَ ثِقْلاً لا نهوضَ به

وكلّفونِيَ فعلاً غيرَ مُسطاعِ

How often they have loaded me with an unbearable weight

And charged me with an impossible deed!

بدّلْ بلادَك إِمّا كنتَ كارهها

داراً بدارٍ وأجراعاً بأجراعِ

Exchange your country, if you hate it—

Home for home, and sandy tracts for sandy tracts.

كم ذا المقامُ على هُونٍ ومَهْضَمَةٍ

وقارصٍ من يدِ الأقوامِ لذّاعِ

How long this dwelling in humiliation and injustice,

And the sharp, searing sting from people's hands,

وأسهُمٍ من مقالٍ ما يحصّنُ مِن

خدوشهنّ بجلدي نسجُ أدراعي

And arrows of speech, with no shield against

Their scratches on my skin in the weave of my armor?

أأحملُ الضّيمَ والبيداءُ مُعْرِضَةٌ

وفي قَرا النّابِ أقتادي وأنساعي

Shall I endure injustice when the desert lies open,

And my saddle-frames and straps are on an old she-camel's back,

ومِلْءُ كفّي طويلُ الباع معتدلٌ

أو مِقبَضٌ لرقيقِ الحدّ قطّاعِ

And my hand grips a straight, far-reaching spear,

Or the hilt of a fine-edged, keen-cutting sword?

إنْ لم أثِرْهنّ عن وادي الخنا عجلاً

فلا دعاني إلى يوم الوغى داعِ

If I do not rouse them swiftly from the valley of baseness,

May no caller summon me to the day of battle.

لِمَنْ خَبَأْتُ إذا لم أنجُ عن سَعَةٍ

ما في النّجائبِ من حثٍّ وإيضاعِ

For whom have I saved, if I do not escape while the way lies open,

The noble camels' driven haste and swift trotting?

إِنْ لم يُنجّك سعيٌ عن مقرّ أذىً

فَيا لَحا اللَّهُ ما يَسعى له السّاعي

If striving does not save you from a place of harm,

Then, oh, may God curse what the striver strives for!

قالوا قنعتَ بدون النَّصفِ قلت لهمْ

هَيهات ما باِختياري كان إقناعي

They said, "You accepted less than your due." I told them,

"Far from it! My acquiescence was not of my choosing."

ما زال صرفُ اللّيالِي بي يطاولني

حتّى رخصتُ على عمدٍ لمبتاعِ

The nights' vicissitudes kept striving to outlast me,

Until I deliberately became cheap to a buyer.

خيرٌ من الذّلِّ في قصرٍ نمارِقُهُ

مبثوثةٌ منزلٌ للعزّ في قاعِ

Better than humiliation in a palace whose cushions

Lie scattered is a dwelling of dignity on an open plain.

إنْ كنتَ حرّاً فلا تَدنَسْ بذي طمعٍ

ولا تَبِتْ بين آمالٍ وأطماعِ

If you are free, do not sully yourself with one possessed of greed,

Nor spend the night amid hopes and cravings.

ولا تَعُجْ بيسارٍ دونه مِنَنٌ

تَجنيه من كفّ إخضاعٍ وإضراعِ

Nor turn toward wealth burdened with favors,

Which you reap from a hand that subjugates and abases.

لا أَشبعَ اللَّه مَن أُلْهُوا وما علموا

عن المعالِي بإرواءٍ وإشباعِ

May God never sate those who were distracted, unwittingly,

From noble aims by having their thirst and hunger satisfied.

غُرّوا بحبلٍ من السَّرّاء مُنْتَكِثٍ

وبارقٍ من غِنَى الأيّامِ لمّاعِ

They were deceived by an unraveling cord of prosperity

And a glittering lightning flash of the days' wealth.

وكلّما طمِعوا في النَّيلِ أو حذروا

تطارحوا بين ضرّارٍ ونفّاعِ

And whenever they hoped for gain or grew afraid,

They flung themselves between a harm-giver and a benefactor.

حلفتُ بالبيت طافتْ حوله زُمَرٌ

جاؤوه أنضاءَ إعجالٍ وإسراعِ

I swore by the House, around which throngs circled,

Coming to it worn out by haste and speed,

وبالمُحَصَّبِ حطّ المُحْرِمون به

والبُدْنُ ما بين إلقاءٍ وإضجاعِ

And by al-Muhassab, where the consecrated pilgrims alighted,

With sacrificial camels being cast down or laid on their sides,

ومَن بجَمْعٍ وقد ألقى الكلالُ بهمْ

هناكَ أجسادَ طُلّاحٍ وضُلّاعِ

And by those at Jam', whom exhaustion had cast down

There, bodies of the worn-out and the limping,

والقومُ في عرفاتٍ يُرسلون إلى

محو الجَرائِرِ منهم دعوةَ الدّاعي

And by the people at Arafat, who send forth for

The erasure of their sins, the supplicant's prayer:

لأُمْطِرنّ على الآفاقِ عن كَثَبٍ

من عارضٍ بدمِ الأجوافِ لمّاعِ

I shall surely rain upon the horizons, from close at hand,

From a raincloud flashing with the blood of entrails,

بكلِّ نَدْبٍ عن العَوْراءِ منقبضٍ

نزاهةً وعلى الأهوالِ طَلّاعِ

With every gallant man who recoils from disgrace

Out of integrity, yet ventures boldly into terrors.

يهوي إلى الذِّكرِ ولّاجاً مخارِمَهُ

هوِيَّ نجمٍ من الخضراء مُنصاعِ

He hurtles toward renown, entering its narrow passes,

With the plunge of a star darting from the green sky.

قلْ للعِدا قد مضى رفقي بهمْ زمناً

فحاذروا الآن غِبَّ الحكم إيقاعي

Tell my foes: my gentleness toward them has had its time;

Now beware my assault in the wake of judgment.

لم تشكروا من نسيمي ما هببتُ به

وليس بعد نسيمي غيرُ زَعزاعِ

You did not appreciate the breeze I blew,

And after my breeze there is nothing but a violent gale.

أبَعدَ حيٍّ على الجَرْعاء كنتُ به

مَلآنَ من دافعٍ سوءاً ومنّاعِ

After a clan on the sandy tract, among whom I was

Surrounded by those who warded off evil and gave protection—

عُميٌ عن الفحش صُمٌّ عن مقالتهمْ

على ثواقب أبصارٍ وأسماعِ

Blind to obscenity, deaf to their talk,

Despite piercing sight and hearing—

طاروا فطالتْ بهمْ كفّي إلى وَطَرِي

ونال ما لم ينله قبله باعي

Who soared, so through them my hand reached toward my desire,

And my reach attained what it had never attained before:

أُمنى بمن ليس من عِدِّي ولا ثَمَدي

ولا يكيل بمُدّي لا ولا صاعي

Am I afflicted with one who is neither my perennial spring nor my scant pool,

And measures not with my mudd—no—nor with my sa'?

لولا اِحتقارِيَ فيه أن أُعاقبه

أطَرْتُهُ بين تيّاري ودفّاعي

Were it not that I scorned to punish him,

I would have sent him flying between my torrent and my surging flood.

حتّى متى أنتَ يا دهري تُسابقني

بعاثِرٍ وتسامينِي بدَعْدَاعِ

How long, O my Time, will you race me

With a stumbler, and rival my stature with a tottering weakling,

من كلّ عارٍ من المعروفِ منكبُهُ

هاعٍ إذا غِرْتَ في تفتيشه لاعِ

Of every man whose shoulder is bare of goodness,

A faintheart, a fretter if you probe him deeply?

أَستودعُ اللَّهَ مَنْ شطّ الفراقُ به

عنّي ولم يقضِ تسليمي وتَوْداعي

I entrust to God the one whom separation bore far

From me, before my greeting and farewell were completed.

لَولا المصيبة فيه ما اِهتدتْ أبداً

هذِي الخطوبُ لإحزاني وإجزاعي

Were it not for the calamity that befell him, never would

These misfortunes have found a way to sadden and dismay me.

تقول مِن بعده عينِي وقد أرِقَتْ

يا قومُ أين مضى غُمضِي وتَهجاعي

After him my sleepless eye says:

"O people, where have my rest and slumber gone?"

يا نفسُ إمّا مَقِيلٌ رأسَ شاهقةٍ

أو قَعْصَةٌ بالعوالِي فوق جَعْجَاعِ

O soul, either a midday resting place atop a lofty peak,

Or instant death by spearpoints upon rugged ground!

خافي ملاماً بلا عذرٍ لصاحبهِ

ولا تخافي الّذي ينعى به النّاعي

Fear blame for which its bearer has no excuse,

But do not fear what the death-announcer proclaims.

فإنّما المرءٌ في الأيّامِ مُحتَبَسٌ

على الرّدى بين أطباقٍ وأنساعِ

For a man, through his days, is held captive

For death, between coverings and straps.