The Epistle of Forgiveness. Abu l-'Ala al-Ma'arri
شحط سليلُها الواحد، وما هو لحقِّها جاحد. وقدِم بعد أعوامٍ، فنقعتْ به فرْطَ أُوامٍ، وكانت معه كالخنساء ذات البُرْغُز، رتعت به في الأصيل، وليس هو لحتفٍ بوصيل، فلمّا رأت المكان آمنًا، ولم تخش للسِّراح الخُمُع كامنًا، انبسطت في المَراد الواسع وخلَّفتْه، يحاول أُنُفًا تكلفتْه، لتُجِرَّ لذلك الولد ما في الأخلاف، ولا تلافي بُعيْد التَّلاف، فعادت المسكينة فلم تُصِبْه، فقالت للصَّمَد: لا تُنْصِبه، إن كان وقع في مخالب الذِّيب، ومُني ببعض التعذيب، فأنت القادر عل تعويض الأطفال، والعالم بعُقبى الطِّيَرة والفال. فبينا هي تَردَّدُ بين العَلَه والوَلَه، بغم لها الفقيدُ من حِقفٍ اتخذ فيه مَرْبِضا، ولم يرَ من الرُّماة مُنْبِضا، هكع لما شبِع. فما ساءه القَدَر ولا سُبع. فغمر فؤادَها ابتهاجٌ، من بعدِ ما وضح لها المنهاج.
ولو رجع القارظ إلى عَنَزةَ، ما بان فيها الطَّرب للرّجْعة، وما قُدر من زوال الفجعة، إلا دون ما أنا مَضْمِرٌ مُجِنّ، من المَسَرّة بدنوِّ الدِّيار، وإلقائه عصا التسْيار، فالحمد لله الذي أعاد البارق إلى الغَمام الوسْميّ، وأتى المُومِض بحلى السُّميّ. وإنّ حلب المنصورة لتختلُّ إلى من يعرف قليلًا من علم، في أيَّام المحاربة والسِّلم، فما باله شيّد الله الآداب بأن يزيده في المُدّة، فإنما هو لغرابها كالعُدَّة.
The Sheikh mentioned that he arrived in Aleppo—may God protect it! If it possessed reason it would have rejoiced at his arrival just as a bereaved crone who has lost her wits rejoices, a woman who has neglected the good management and care of her camels. Her only son has gone far away. He has not denied her what is due to her, and then returns after many years, and then she quenches, through him, her burning thirst. She was to him like a flat-nosed oryx cow grazing with her calf in the late afternoon. The calf was not yet doomed to die. When she saw that the place was safe and did not fear the lurking of limping wolves, she went out into the wide pasture ground and left her calf behind, giving it the difficult task of finding fresh herbage(?), and so that she could save for the calf the milk in her udders(?).45 But there is no remedy after perdition. The poor thing returned and did not find him. “Do not cause him any pain,” she said to the Everlasting, “if he has fallen into the claws of a wolf and suffering has been his lot! You are able to replace lost children; You know the outcome of all augury and prognostication!” While she was wavering between being benumbed and distraught, her lost young lowed softly to her from a curved sand dune where it had lain down, not having seen any hunter drawing his bow. It felt at ease, having eaten its fill. Fate had not done any evil to it and it had not become a predator’s prey. Joy flooded her heart after the course of events had become clear to her.
If the acacia gatherer would return to his tribe of ʿAnazah,46 the joy that would be evident in the tribe at his return and the providential end of their grief would be less than the delight that I harbor and hide in my breast at the Sheikh’s approaching these parts and casting down his walking stick. God be praised! He returns the lightning to the clouds in spring!47 A bright flash has come to adorn the skies. Aleppo (may God give it victory!) really is in need of someone who has a little knowledge, in days of war and peace. So what does the Sheikh think? May God establish literary scholarship by adding to his lifetime! Because he is the right equipment for the marvels of literature(?).48
23.2
وإني لأعجبُ من تمالؤِ جماعة، على أمرٍ ليس بالحَسَن ولا الطاعة، ولا ثَبَتَ له يقينٌ، فيشوفه الصَّنَع أو يقين، قد كِدتُ ألحق برهْط العدم، من غير الأسف ولا النَّدم، ولكنّما أرهبُ قدومي على الجبّار، ولم أُصْلح نَخْلي بإبار. وقيل لبعض الحكماء: إنّ فلانًا تلطَّف حتى قتل نفسه، ولم يُطقْ في الدار الخالية عَفْسه، وكرِه أن يمارس بدائع الشُّرور، وأحبَّ النُّقلة إلى منازل السُّرور، فقال الحكيم قولًا معناه: أخطأ ذلك الشابُّ المقتبل، وله ولأمِّه يُحَقّ الهَبَل، هلاّ صبر على صروف الزمان، حتى يمنو له القَدَرَ مانٍ؟ فإنه لا يشعُر علامَ يقدَم، ولكلِّ بيتٍ هَدَم! ولولا حكمة الله جلَّت قُدرته، وأنه حجز الرَّجلَ عن الموت، بالخوف من العَلز والفَوت، لَرغب كلُّ من احتدم غضَبُه، وكَلَّ عن ضريبةٍ مِقْضَبُه، أن تُتْرَع له من الموت كؤوس، والله العالم بما يؤوس.
I am truly amazed that a society is colluding in something that is neither good nor pious; something that has no firm ground of certainty, but is polished and made to look good by a skilled artisan! I had almost joined the company of non-existence,49 without sorrow or remorse, but I feared to appear before the Almighty without having set my palm grove in order by pollinating it. Someone said to a certain sage, “So-and-so has employed subtle means to kill himself; he was unable to detain himself in the Passing Abode, loath to commit novel deeds of evil, and wanted to move on to the Dwellings of Joy.” Thereupon the sage spoke, saying words to the effect that this person, still in the prime of his life, committed a sin; it were better for him and his mother if she had lost him as a child. Why did he not suffer with fortitude the vagaries of Time, until Destiny would afflict him? He had no inkling of what he was recklessly undertaking. Every house will come to ruin. But for the wisdom of God (great is His omnipotence), and His holding back men from death through fear of its agony and of annihilation, then everyone who is on fire with anger, or whose sword50 is too blunt to strike, would wish cups of death to be filled for him. God knows how He will recompense.
23.3.1
وأمَّا أبو القَطِران الأسديُّ، وأيُّ البَشَر من الخطوب مَفْديّ، فصاحب غزلٍ وتبطُّل، وتوفُّرٍ على الخُرَّد وتعطُّل، وما أشكُّ أنّ الشيخ، أقرّ الله عينَ الأدب بالزيادة في عمره، أشدُّ شوقًا إلى أحمد بن يحيى مع صَمَمه، وأبي الحسن الأثرم مع ثَرَمه، من المرّار بن سعيد عند