عَلَيَّ مِنَ التُّيُوسِ أكُونُ
وقال الأبي صيري الأديب رحمه الله تعالى مَوالِيا [بسيط]
| رَبُّ الفَصاحهْ عَظِيمُ الذَّوْقِ يَقِفُ أَشْلَمْ | وَالأَبْلَمُ التَّيْسُ مُصَّدَّرْ ومُتْعظِّمْ |
| يا رَبِّ إِنْ كانَ حِرْماني كَما تَعْلَمْ | اُمْنُنْ عَلَيّ أَكُونْ تَيْسَ ٱبْنِ تَيْسْ أَبْلَمْ |
وقال ابن الراونديّ عفى الله عنه١ [بسيط]
| يا قاسِمَ الرِّزقِ كَم ضاقَتْ بِيَ القِسَمُ | ما أنتَ مُتَّهَمٌ قلْ لي مَنِ اتَّهِمُ |
| تُعطي اليَهودَ قناطيرًا مُقَنطَرةً | مِنَ اللُّجَيْنِ ورِجلي ما لها قَدَمُ |
| أعطَيتَني حِكَمًا لم تُعطِني وَرَقًا | قُل لي بِلا وَرِقٍ ما تَنفَعُ الحِكَمُ |
١ في بي بين (عنه) و(يا قاسم): كم عالمٍ عالمٍ أَعْيَتْ مذاهبُهُ * وجاهلٍ جاهلٍ تلقاه مرزوقا // هذا الذي ترك الأوهامَ جائرةً وصيّر العالمَ النِحْريرَ زِنْديقا ولبعضهم قال.
Now, you must know that every commentary should have a title that’s right and a name that’s apposite. This, then, I have entitled Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, calling on a talent that’s turned and a wit that’s spurned for help with words I’ve dredged up that are brainchildren of mine, and with setting them down, line after empty, vaunting line, hoping they will take their place in the ocean of nonsensicality and farcicality, and of license and buffoonery, with just a touch of Ibn Sūdūn-ery; for the listener will often take pleasure in laughter and license and show no interest in eloquence and excellence, because, in these times, it’s for distractions that the soul yearns, and for whatever may sweep aside its worries and concerns. I have composed a verse to this effect that says:
To my mind, licentiousness is rest—
It dispels one’s worries when depressed.
In this age of ours, none survive but those possessed of a measure of profligacy and buffoonery, and frivolity and effrontery, which is why the poet says:
Dead of hunger is he who lived by eloquence,
While Fortune smiles on pimps and clowns.
He who cannot pen a line is blessed with a living fine, while the master of wit sees of victuals not a whit, leading the poet to say:
Billy goats get given their livelihood with ease
While that of the eloquent is refused;
If my eloquence be the cause of my privation,
Let me with the billy goats be confused!
And the leading man of letters al-Būṣīrī, may the Almighty have mercy on his soul, said in a mawāliyā:
The man of great taste stands puzzled and at a loss,
While the billy goat advances and puts on airs.
Lord, let me be a billy goat, son of a dumb billy goat,
If you intend no relief for my cares!
And Ibn al-Rāwandī, God excuse his sins, said:
Allocator of our Daily Bread, how Fate has straitened me!
If You are not to blame, pray tell me, who might be?
You give silver in bushels brimming10 to the Jews
When I don’t have enough to even buy shoes.
You gave me wisdom, but not lucre.
Tell me, without the one, what use is the other?
٥،١
فالشخص يكون مع زمانه بحسب حاله * ويداري وقته بما يناسب لأحواله * ويكون حذرًا من دهره وصَوْلته * ويرقص للقِرْد في دَوْلته * ويعاشر الناس على قدر أحوالهم * ويدور معهم بحسب أدوارهم * ويندرج فى مدراج خلاعاتهم * ويظهر في مظاهر براعاتهم * قال بعضهم [سريع]
| ودارِهِمْ ما دُمْتَ في دارِهِمْ | وحَيِّهِمْ ما دُمْتَ في حَيِّهِمْ |
| وأَحْسِنِ العِشْرة مَعْ بَعْضِهِمْ | يُعِينُكَ البَعْضُ عَلى كُلِّهِمْ |
وفي الحديث أُمِرْتُ بمداراة الناس
It follows that one should stay in tune with one’s days, humor the age by acting in keeping with its ways, be on guard against whatever assaults Fate may bring, and “dance for the ape when he is king.” One should get along with people as best he may, perform any role he may be asked to play, implicate himself in men’s excesses, and number himself among them in their successes. As a poet has said:
Humor them in their homes,
Greet them courteously while their guest.
Make friends with some
That those may help you against the rest.
And in a Tradition it says, “I have been commanded to deal circumspectly with others.”
٦،١
(وقيل إنّ بعض الملوك مات إمامه) فقال
