مل معي لا عليك ضري ونفعي — Mihyar Al Daylami

مِلْ معي لا عليك ضرّي ونفعي

نسأل الجَزْعَ عن ظباءِ الجزعِ

Turn aside with me; my harm and benefit are no concern of yours.

Let us ask the valley bend about its gazelles.

قلتَ لا تنطق الديار ولا يم

لك بالي الطلولِ سمعاً فيُرعي

You said, “The dwellings do not speak, nor do

the worn ruins possess hearing, that they might listen.”

وعليّ السؤالُ ليس عليّ ال

عارُ إن ضنّت المغاني برجعِ

Mine is the asking; mine is not the

shame if the abodes withhold a reply.

لم أكن أوّلَ الرجال التوى صَغْ

وي لدار الأحباب أو مال ضلعي

I was not the first of men whose inclination turned

toward the beloveds’ dwelling, or whose side leaned that way.

قد شجا قلبيَ البكاءُ بنزف ال

أربع الحمرِ في الثلاثِ السُّفعِ

Weeping has anguished my heart by draining the

four red eye-corners over the three soot-dark hearthstones.

هل مجابٌ يدعو مبدِّد أوطا

ري بجمَع يردُّ أيامَ جَمعِ

Is there one whose prayer is answered, to implore the scatterer of my

desires at Jam‘ to restore the days of reunion?

أو أمينُ القوى أحمّله هم

ماً ثقيلاً بحطِّهِ دون سَلعِ

Or one of trusty strength whom I may charge with

a heavy sorrow, to lay it down before Sal‘?

وعلى ذكره جرى باسمه المح

فوظُ من عهد أهله والمرعي

At its mention, there flowed with its name the remembered

and cherished covenant of its people.

فافرُجا لي عن نفحةٍ من صَباه

طال مدّى لها الصليفَ ورفعي

So open for me, you two, a breath of its east wind;

long have I stretched and raised my neck toward it.

إن ذاك النسيمَ يجري على أر

ضٍ ثراها في الريح رقيةُ لَسعي

That breeze blows over a

land whose soil in the wind is a charm against my sting.

وخيام تُثنَى على كلّ بدرٍ

ملكَ الحسنَ بين خمسٍ وتسعِ

And tents are folded around every full moon

who reigns in beauty between five and nine.

وبما ضاق منكما واستباح ال

حبّ سلبي يا صاحبيّ وفجعي

By what has tried you both, and by

love’s license to despoil and bereave me, my two companions,

غنياني بأمّ سعدٍ وقلبي

معَها إن قلبيَ اليومَ سمعي

sing to me of Umm Sa‘d—my heart

is with her; today my heart is my hearing.

واصرفا عنّيَ الملامة فيها

لستما تنقُلان باللوم طبعي

And turn reproach away from me concerning her;

you two cannot change my nature by blame.

سألتْ بي أنَّى أقام وهل نا

م بعينيه بعد هجري وقطعي

She asked about me: “Where has he stayed, and have

his eyes slept since my desertion and severing of ties?”

قيل يبكي في الرَّبع قالت فما با

لي أرى يابساً ترابَ الربعِ

She was told, “He weeps at the dwelling.” She said, “Then why

do I see the dwelling’s soil dry?”

خار قلبي فغاضَ في الدار جفني

فاستحلَّت دمي بتفريط دمعي

My heart weakened, and my eyes’ flow dwindled at the dwelling;

so she deemed my blood lawful because my tears had failed.

كم بنجدٍ لو وفَى أهلُ نجدٍ

لفؤادي من شَعبةٍ أو صدعِ

How many, in Najd—if only Najd’s people had kept faith—

are the clefts and cracks within my heart,

وزفيرٍ علَّمتُ منه حمامَ ال

دوح ما كان من حنينٍ وسجع

and the sighs from which I taught the doves

of the groves all their yearning cries and cooing;

وليالٍ قنعتُ منها بأضغا

ثِ الأماني ومخلبات اللمعِ

and nights in which I contented myself with tangled

dreams of hope and deceptive flashes.

ما أخفَّ الأقدارَ في غبنِ حظّي

وتعفِّي أنسي وتفريق جمعي

How swift are the fates to cheat me of my portion,

efface my joy, and scatter my company!

كلّ يوم صَرفٌ يخابط أورا

قي من الدهر أو يخالس فرعي

Each day some reversal batters my

leaves at Time’s hand, or steals away my branch.

أرفع الضيم بالتجمل حتى

مرَدَ الخرقُ عن خياطِ الرقعِ

I fend off humiliation with dignified endurance, until

the tear defies the stitching of patches.

رفض الناسُ مذهب الجود حتّى

ما يدينون للسماح بشرعِ

People have abandoned the way of generosity, until

they acknowledge no law of liberality.

فسواء عليهمُ أبحمدٍ

طرَقَ الشِّعرُ أم بسبٍّ وقذعِ

So it is all the same to them whether with praise

poetry comes knocking, or with abuse and reviling.

وأمرَّ العطاءَ نزرٌ كثيرُ ال

منِّ حتى استحليت طعم المنعِ

Giving was made bitter by a pittance with much

reminding of favors, till I found refusal sweet.

أسأل الباخلين واللّه أولى

بكريم الجدا وحُسن الصنعِ

I ask misers, though God is worthier

to grant noble bounty and gracious deeds.

وعلى خطّة العلا بعد قومٍ

طال باعي فيهم وأرحبَ ذرعي

And on the course of glory, after a people

among whom my reach grew long and my strength ample.

هم حَموني وما حمى حدّ سيفي

ووقَوني ما لا تقينيَ درعي

They protected me where my sword’s edge could not,

and shielded me from what my armor cannot shield.

وأهابوا فزعزعوا الدهرَ عنّي

وهو ليثٌ على الفريسة مقعي

They raised their cry and shook Time off me,

while it crouched like a lion over its prey.

قسماً بالمنقَّباتِ الهدايا

شُقَقِ الضالِ أو قسيِّ النبعِ

I swear by the sacrificial she-camels, their soles worn through,

like splinters of wild lote-wood or bows of nab‘-wood:

كلّ جرداءَ لفّها السيرُ بالسي

ر فعادت في النِّسع مثلَ النسعِ

each lean she-camel whom journeying has bound with a leather

thong, till beneath the girth she became like the girth itself.

خضعت تحت رحلها بعسيبٍ

كان بالأمس مشرفاً كالجِذعِ

She bowed beneath her saddle with a tail-stem

that yesterday stood high like a tree-trunk.

نفضت بين بابلٍ ومنىً قا

ب ثلاثين ليلة في سبعِ

She crossed between Babylon and Mina the span

of thirty nights in seven.

تدرج الليل بالنهار فما تأ

نس فرقاً ما بين رفع ووضعِ

She folds night into day, so you perceive

no difference between lifting and setting down.

طُلَّعاً من أبي قُبيس يُخيَّل

نَ حَماماً على الهضابِ الفُرعِ

Rising from Abu Qubays, they seem

like doves upon the lofty hills.

تحملُ السُّهَّمَ الملاويحَ أشبا

حاً توافَوا من كلّ فَجٍّ وصُقعِ

They carry the gaunt and sun-scorched, ghostly

figures who have converged from every pass and region.

زمّلوا أوسُقَ الذنوب وقضَّو

ها حِصاباً في السبع بعد السبعِ

They bundled camel-loads of sins and discharged

them as pebbles, seven after seven.

لَحَلا من بني المزرّع مجنا

يَ وزكَّى غرسي وريَّع زرعي

From Banu al-Muzarri‘ my gathered fruit indeed grew sweet,

my planting flourished, and my crop increased.

المَلبّون غدوةً والملبّو

ن دفاعاً ولات ساعةَ دفعِ

Those who answer at dawn, and those who answer

in defense, when it is no hour for repelling.

كلمّا هُزَّت الحفائظُ منهم

أطلعوها ملمومةً كلَّ طِلعِ

Whenever their protective passions are stirred,

they bring forth a compact host, sortie after sortie.

حملوا فوقها الشموسَ وقادو

ها فجاءت من الدجى في قِطعِ

They mounted suns upon it, and led

it onward, and it came in fragments of darkness.

يغسل العارَ عنهمُ لذعُ خُرصا

نِ قناها إن همّ عارٌ بلذعِ

Their shame is washed away by the sting of the heads

of its spears, if shame intends to sting them.

وإذا فار فيهمُ عرقُ طيٍّ

أضرم الأصلُ نارَه في الفرعِ

When the blood of Ṭayyi’ seethes within them,

the root kindles its fire in the branch.

لبسوا النقع حاسرين فشقّوا

بنجوم العلا ظلامَ النقعِ

Bareheaded, they clothed themselves in dust, and cleft

its darkness with the stars of glory.

بأنوفٍ فوق الملاثم شمٍّ

ورقابٍ تحت المغافر تُلعِ

With high-bridged noses above their face-veils,

and long necks beneath their mail helmets.

كلُّ تالٍ أباه يجري كما يج

ري ويسعَى إلى العلاء ويُسعي

Each follows his father, running as he

runs, striving for glory and urging others to strive.

سلكوا في الكمال فانتظموه

مُولَج الخيط في ثقوبِ الجَزعِ

They threaded themselves through perfection and strung it,

as thread is passed through the holes of onyx beads.

يُرطبون القرى وقد أعجفَ العا

مُ ومُدَّت فيهم ذراعُ الضَّبْعِ

They keep hospitality fresh when the year has made all lean

and the hyena’s arm is stretched among them,

بِعلابٍ مفهَّقاتٍ إذا ما

ردَّ شُخبيهِ حالبٌ في الضَّرعِ

with bowls filled to overflowing, even when

a milker leaves his two milk-streams within the udder.

وإذا عزّت البِكارُ عليهم

لم يُغِذُّوا أعيارَها بالكسعِ

And when young she-camels become scarce for them,

they do not hurry their young males with blows from behind.

فزت منهم على الظما بقليبٍ

لم يكدّر جمّاتهِ طولُ نزعي

In my thirst I found among them a well

whose pooled waters my long drawing never muddied.

جئته ساغباً مُحلّاً عن النا

س جميعاً فكان رِيِّي وشِبعي

I came to him hungry, destitute, turning from

all people; he was my quenched thirst and my full belly.

وصلتْ بي حبلَ المهذَّبِ أنوا

ءُ سعودٍ ما كنَّ أنجمَ قَطعِ

Auspicious star-risings bound me to al-Muhadhdhab’s cord—

risings of good fortune, never stars of severance.

ودعتني إلى هواه سجايا

هنّ صَرفي عن سواه وردعي

Traits summoned me to love him—

they turn and restrain me from anyone else—

بالبديع الغريب فيهم وما جا

ءك من فضله فليس ببدعِ

in that wondrous, rare man among them; whatever

reaches you of his bounty is nothing unprecedented.

سوَّد الناسُ ودَّهم وجلا لي

عن وجوهٍ بيضٍ من الودّ نُصعِ

Others blackened their affection, while he unveiled for me

faces of love, white and brilliantly pure.

ردّ صوتي ملبّياً ورعاني

بيدٍ كالغمام تُروي وتُرعي

He answered my voice, responding, and tended me

with a hand like rainclouds, giving drink and pasture.

لا بملغٍ غريبها ملء أيّا

مِيَ فيه ولا بوَأْدٍ مقعي

Not with empty talk whose strangeness fills my

days with him, nor with sluggish, crouching movement.

يا غياثي المبلوغَ قبل اجتهادي

وربيعي قبل ارتيادي ونَجعي

O my succor, attained before my striving,

and my spring pasture before my searching and seeking pasture,

وظِلالي من الأذى بين قومٍ

هجَّروا بي في القرقريّ النقعِ

and my sheltering shade from harm amid a people

who drove me at noon across the dusty, level plain.

كم كمين من راحتيك كريم

لم أُثِرهُ برُقيتي وبخَدعي

How many a noble gift lay hidden in your palms,

which I did not stir with incantations or wiles!

جاء عفواً وعاد وَتراً وقد كا

ن كفاني منه وفورُ الشَّفعِ

It came freely, and returned an odd one, although

the abundance of the even pair had already sufficed me.

لم تُصِخْ للعذول في فرط أشعا

ري ولم تزدجر بنهيٍ ووزعِ

You did not listen to the reproacher concerning my excessive

poems, nor were you deterred by prohibition and restraint.

شيمة ما نقلتُها عن أناسٍ

حملوا هضبةَ العلا غير ظُلْعِ

A disposition I have not recorded of men

who bore the mountain of glory without limping.

كلّ ليثٍ مشى الرُّوَيدَ وخفَّف

تَ إلى سبقه خُفوفَ السِّمعِ

Every lion paced slowly, while you hastened

to outstrip him with the light-footedness of the sim‘.

بك طالت يدي وخفَّ على كل

لِ فؤادٍ يستثقل الفضل وقعي

Through you my reach lengthened, and my weight grew light on every

heart that finds excellence burdensome.

وتنزَّهتُ عن معاشرَ لا يف

تحُ أبوابَ جودهم طولُ قرعي

And I kept aloof from people whose

doors of bounty my long knocking could not open.

صدتُ بالمضرحيّ أزرقَ فاستح

ييت صيدي بالناعقات البُقعِ

With the white eagle I caught a blue-eyed hawk, and felt

ashamed of hunting with cawing, speckled crows.

لامني الحاسدون فيك فآبوا

بين زَبنٍ شاهَ الوجوهَ وقَمعِ

The envious reproached me concerning you, then returned

between repulses that disfigured their faces and suppression.

ما لهم معرضين عنّي ومصغي

ن لقولي إلا اصطلامي وجدعي

What have they, turning from me yet listening

to my words, but the ruin and maiming I deal them?

ولك الصائبات حَبَّ الأعادي

بسهام يدمين قبل النزعِ

And yours are the verses that strike enemies’ heart-cores

with arrows that draw blood before the bow is drawn.

كلّ ركّاضةٍ بذكرك في الأر

ض على ألسن الرواة الدُّلْعِ

Each gallops with your name across the

earth, upon the narrators’ outstretched tongues.

ماشيات على الظرابِ ولم تحْ

فَ ولا قيّدت قِبالاً بشسعِ

They walk over the hills without wearing their feet sore,

nor are their sandal straps fastened with thongs.

لا يزاحمن ذا كُراعٍ ولا يُض

رَبْنَ حول الحياض ساعةَ كرعِ

They crowd no creature with shanks, nor are they

beaten around the watering troughs at drinking time.

تقطع البرَّ بالمهارى الجديلي

يات والبحرَ بالسفين القُلْعِ

They cross the land on swift Jadili

she-camels, and the sea in sail-bearing ships.

نظَمتْها سماتُ مجدك في الأس

ماع نظمَ العذراء خيطَ الودْعِ

The marks of your glory strung them in listeners’

ears as a maiden strings a strand of cowries.

من علاك انتخبتُ حِليةَ صوغي

مستعيناً واخترت دُرَّة رصعي

From your greatness I chose the ornament of my crafting,

seeking its aid, and chose the pearl of my setting.

فاستمعها لم يلقَ قبلي ولا قب

لك ذو منطقٍ بها ذا سَمعِ

So listen: never before me, nor before

you, has a speaker met a listener with their like.

ساق منها النيروزُ عذراءَ لم تس

مح لصهرٍ سواك قطّ ببُضْعِ

Nowruz has brought from them a virgin who has never

yielded her body to any bridegroom but you.

كثرت وهي دون قدرك فاعذر

في قصوري واقنع بما قال وُسعي

They are many, yet fall below your worth; forgive

my shortcomings, and accept what my capacity has said.