Arabic Poets: Antarah ibn Shaddad al‑‘Absi – عنترة ابن شداد العبسي

إِذا كانَ أَمرُ اللَهِ أَمراً يُقَدَّرُ

فَكَيفَ يَفِرُّ المَرءُ مِنهُ وَيَحذَرُ

If God’s decree is a fate already determined,

then how can a man flee from it or guard himself against it?

وَمَن ذا يَرُدُّ المَوتَ أَو يَدفَعُ القَضا

وَضَربَتُهُ مَحتومَةٌ لَيسَ تَعثَرُ

And who can repel death or push back what is ordained?

Its blow is inevitable, never stumbling or failing.

لَقَد هانَ عِندي الدَهرُ لَمّا عَرَفتُهُ

وَإِنّي بِما تَأتي المُلِمّاتُ أَخبَرُ

Time has grown insignificant to me since I came to know its nature.

And I am well acquainted with the calamities that it brings.

وَلَيسَ سِباعُ البَرِّ مِثلَ ضِباعِهِ

وَلا كُلُّ مَن خاضَ العِجاجَةَ عَنتَرُ

The beasts of the wild are not like its scavenging hyenas.

Nor is everyone who plunges into the dust of battle another Antarah.

سَلوا صَرفَ هَذا الدَهرِ كَم شَنَّ غارَةً

فَفَرَّجتُها وَالمَوتُ فيها مُشَمِّرُ

Ask the turns of this age how many raids it unleashed,

that I dispelled while death stood ready within them.

بِصارِمِ عَزمٍ لَو ضَرَبتُ بِحَدِّهِ

دُجى اللَيلِ وَلّى وَهوَ بِالنَجمِ يَعثَرُ

With a sharp resolve whose edge, if I struck with it

the darkness of night would vanish, stumbling over the stars.

دَعوني أَجُدَّ السَعيَ في طالَبِ العُلا

فَأُدرِكَ سُؤلي أَو أَموتَ فَأُعذَرُ

Let me strive earnestly in seeking high honor,

so I attain my desire, or die and thus be excused.

وَلا تَختَشوا مِمّا يُقَدَّرُ في غَدٍ

فَما جاءَنا مِن عالَمِ الغَيبِ مُخبِرُ

Do not be timid about what is decreed for tomorrow,

for no messenger has come to us from the unseen world to inform us.

وَكَم مِن نَذيرٍ قَد أَتانا مُحَذِّراً

فَكانَ رَسولاً بِالسُرورِ يُبَشِّرُ

How many a warner has come to us with warnings,

yet turned out to be a messenger bringing tidings of joy.

قِفي وَاِنظُري يا عَبلَ فِعلي وَعايِني

طِعاني إِذا ثارَ العَجاجُ المُكَدَّرُ

Stand, O ‘Abla, and look at my deeds; witness them with your own eyes,

my thrusting in battle when the dark dust of war is stirred.

تَري بَطَلاً يُلقي الفَوارِسَ ضاحِكاً

وَيَرجِعُ عَنهُم وَهوَ أَشعَثُ أَغبَرُ

You will see a hero who fells knights while laughing,

and returns from them disheveled and dust-covered.

وَلا يَنثَني حَتّى يُخَلّي جَماجِماً

تَمُرُّ بِها ريحُ الجُنوبِ فَتَصفِرُ

He does not retreat until he has left skulls behind

through which the south wind passes, whistling as it blows.

وَأَجسادَ قَومٍ يَسكُنُ الطَيرُ حَولَها

إِلى أَن يَرى وَحشَ الفَلاةِ فَيَنفِرُ

And bodies of men around which birds settle,

until the beasts of the wilderness see them and are startled away.