Verses About Life
The poet Abu Tammam states:
A person lives honorably as long as they respect virtue,
And a tree remains standing as long as it has bark.
If you are not afraid of the consequences of the nights,
And feel no shame, then do as you please.
Verses on Determination
As articulated by Al-Mutanabbi:
According to the capacity of resolute individuals, their ambitions arise,
And according to the nobility of decent people, their honors grow.
What seems small in the eyes of the insignificant appears great,
While in the sight of the great, even the grand becomes small.
When the state’s sword weighs heavily on the army,
The swift armies have been rendered impotent.
He asks for what others possess, seeking his own desire,
Which is something that the ferocious cannot claim.
The mightiest of birds sacrifices his life for his weapon,
While the eagles of the wild are caught in turmoil.
Nor has their essence been changed by being created without claws,
For his swords and spears were uniquely forged.
Is the red youth aware of her hue,
And does she know which of the two souls promises her?
She was watered by clouds only before their descent,
So when he approached her, he was watered by the skulls.
Beneath its heights, the spear rends the spear,
And the waves of death crash around her in turmoil.
It was as if insanity adorned her, and she became a vessel,
And among the slain, furiously cursed with their charms.
It is the solitude of time that has brought them,
Returning them to faith, for time will always oppose.
Every night extinguishes that which you wished to acquire,
And they are being taken for the burdens you have incurred.
When your intentions remain an unfulfilled deed,
Time elapses before it is rendered valid.
And how do you hope for the collapse of Rome and Russia,
When the spear’s thrust is their foundation and strength?
Indeed, death never favors the oppressed nor the oppressor lives on,
They come to you dragging iron, as if
They come to you on steeds that have no legs.
When they charge, their white horses do not appear,
Their garments are akin to them and their turbans.
An army charges in the east and in the west,
While in the ear of Cassiopeia, they whisper sounds.
All tongues and nations gather within it,
For only the translators comprehend the events of the land.
For God has a time wherein He melts deceit with His fire,
Leaving only the sharpened blade or the deafened.
What cannot penetrate armor and spear has been severed,
And among the knights, there flees one who does not confront.
You find yourself in doubt of death while standing,
As if you are within the eyelids of fate and it is slumbering.
Valiant warriors pass by you quietly defeated,
Your face is radiant and your smile bright.
You have surpassed the merits of courage and wisdom,
For the people claim you are well versed in the unseen.
You embraced their wings around your heart,
Holding them close, while the veins in your heart fade away from the strike.
With a blow that reached the heights, while victory was mirage,
And it has retreated to the belly of the beast while victory is on the horizon.
Poetry on the Human Soul
The poet Al-Busiri remarks:
The soul is like an infant; if you neglect it,
It grows attached to the sweetness of nursing, and if wean it, it detaches.
So divert its desires and be cautious not to allow it freedom,
For love, when unchecked, can lead to harm or suffering.
Take care of it while it engages in idle pursuits,
And if it savors the pasture, do not let it wander freely.
How many destructive pleasures have appeared delightful,
Unbeknownst to him that poison often hides in the fat.
Beware the plots arising from hunger and satiation,
For often the abundance of food births more danger than excess.
And shed tears from eyes fatally filled,
Of matters forbidden, adhere to the discipline of regret.
Oppose the self and the devil; defy both of them,
Even if they appear to be offering you sincere advice, mistrust them.
And do not heed either as a rival or as a judge,
For you know their plots, whether as adversary or judge.
I seek God’s forgiveness for uttering words without action,
For I have attributed lineage to one who is barren.
I commanded you to do good, but I failed in my own bindings,
And if I have faltered, then my words install their own virtue.
I have gathered nothing before death, merely optional acts,
And I have prayed only the obligatory while neglecting to fast.
I oppressed the tradition of the one who revived the ways,
Until his two feet complained of harrowing pain.
And he grew thin from hunger beneath the stones,
And the seductive heights tempted his very essence.
He was swayed by golden mountains,
But clearly shown was his essence: a dumb arrogance.
And the notion of desperation never truly limits anyone,
For indeed, necessity does not falter before anything.
How can one call to the world as something necessary,
When without it, the universe would remain unseen?
Poetry on Overcoming Life’s Challenges
Al-Mutanabbi eloquently expressed:
What reason for lamentation is there; no kin and no homeland,
No companion, no cup, and no place to settle.
I desire from this time to deliver to me,
What cannot be attained by time within oneself.
To face a time that shows not concern,
As long as your body keeps company with your spirit.
Neither enduring happiness nor eliminating past sorrow,
Will return to you what is lost or regained.
What has harmed the people in love is their infatuation;
They loved and knew not what the world entails; they remained oblivious.
Their eyes have been exhausted with weeping, while their souls
Chase after every flaw, their faces portraying grace.
They carried burdens from every surviving hope,
For every distance today holds trust placed in them.
What lies in your hearts is no substitute for breath,
If I die longing, not for lack of it having value.
O you whom I mourn even at a distance in your council,
All in what the mourners claim, you are a victim.
How often I have perished, and how often I have found life among you,
Yet I revived only to see the grave and the shroud vanish.
Those who witnessed my burial passed before me,
A gathering that died even before the burial could settle.
Not everything a person wishes is fulfilled—
The winds blow contrary to what ships would like to chase.
I have seen you will not safeguard honor, your peers,
Nor do you pour milk upon your pastures.
The reward of every closeness is merely boredom,
And the fortune of every lover brings forth resentment.
You become angry with those who sought your support,
Until the disgrace and deceit punish them.
And separation shifted what bonds were shared,
A wilderness where eyes and ears betray perception.
Chattering stones beneath the feet ask,
Allowing fresh earth to follow their steps closely?
Indeed, I accompany my patience with a grace of honor,
And I will not accompany my patience when it brings cowardice.
And I do not dwell upon wealth that beckons degeneration,
Nor do I take pleasure in the embarrassment it brings.
I have stayed awake with relentless sorrow for you,
Then my mourning continued, while sleep evaded me.
And if tested with affection equal to yours,
I find myself stimulated by a similar parting.
My majestic mare outlasts the company of strangers,
And the fault became a farce at the camp and lead.
Within the vigorous nature of my noble host,
Who drowned within his generosity from the crimson clan to Yemen.
And if he fell short in fulfilling appointments,
Still, my hopes shall not fade, nor shall they wane.
He is loyal, yet I recall for him,
A bond that he will test and strive through.