دعها تكن كالسلف من أخواتها — Mihyar Al Daylami

دعْها تكنْ كالسَّلفِ من أخَواتِها

تَجرِي بها الدنيا على عاداتِها

Leave it to be like the predecessors among its sisters;

the world carries it along in its accustomed ways.

ما هذه يا قلبُ أوّلُ عثرةٍ

قذَفتْ بك الأطماعُ في لَهواتِها

This, O heart, is not the first stumble

into whose gullets ambitions have hurled you.

هي ما علمتَ وإن ألِمتَ لفضلةٍ

من ثِقلِ وطأتِها وحدّ شَباتِها

It is what you have known, though you suffer from an excess

of its heavy tread and the sharpness of its blade-points.

كم خطوةٍ لك في المُنى إزليقةٍ

لم تنتصرْ بِلَعاً على عثَراتِها

How many a slippery step you have taken amid hopes,

whose stumbles you could not overcome with a cry of 'Rise!'

وذخيرةٍ طفِقتْ يداك تضمُّها

والدهرُ خلفَك مولَعٌ بِشَتاتِها

And how many a treasure your hands began to gather,

while time behind you was bent on scattering it.

ووثيقةٍ ألجأتَ ظهرَك مُسنَداً

بغرورها فسقطتَ في مَهواتِها

And how many a trusted support you leaned your back against,

relying on its illusion, then fell into its abysses.

لو كنتَ عند نصيحتي لم تَرتَبِقْ

بمشُورهِ الآمالِ في حَلَقاتِها

Had you heeded my advice, you would not have been ensnared

by hopes' counsel within their nooses.

وهَوىً أطعت أميرَهُ في لذّةٍ

متبوعةٍ لم تَنجُ من تَبِعاتِها

And how many a passion whose ruler you obeyed in a pleasure

followed by consequences you could not escape.

يبني السفينَ اللامعاتِ سرابُها

ويُعَدّ مخدوعاً ترابُ فلاتِها

Its mirage builds gleaming ships,

and its wasteland's dust is reckoned a dupe.

وفتاةِ قومٍ لا ينامُ مُغيرُهم

رُمتَ اقتسارَهُمُ على خَلواتِها

And how many a maiden of a people whose raider never sleeps,

you sought to compel them to let you be alone with her.

شحذوا المُدَى لك دونها فركبِتَها

تغترُّ حتّى طِرتَ في شَفَراتِها

They sharpened knives against you in her defense, yet you rode them,

deluded, until you flew into their cutting edges.

وَيَمِين جاريةٍ سَلَكْتَ في

مِسبَاحِها وَذَهَبْتَ في آناتِها

And how many a maiden's oath you set out in

its swimming-course, and passed through its moments.

ما كانَ قبلَكَ للحِفاظِ شريعةٌ

في دِينها أبداً ودِينِ لِداتِها

Before you, faithfulness had never been a law

in her creed or the creed of her peers.

نظرَتْ فكنتَ ضريبةً لحسامها

ومشَتْ فكنتَ دَريئةً لقَناتِها

She looked, and you became a victim for her sword;

she walked, and you became a target for her spear.

ومضيتَ تتبعُ وصلَها ولسانَها

والرشد عند صدودِها ووشاتِها

And you went on pursuing her affection and her words,

though sound judgment lay with her rebuffs and her detractors.

نَمْ قد سهرتَ فدونَ يومِ وفائِها

وهي التي جرَّبتَ يومُ وفاتِها

Sleep—you have kept vigil; before her day of faithfulness

comes her day of death, for you have tested her.

واشكر لها كَشْفَ القِناعِ فإنها

غَدرتْ فكان الغدرُ من حسناتِها

Thank her for lifting the veil, for she

betrayed you, and that betrayal was among her good deeds.

واذكر مآربَ غَيْرَها واعجبْ لها

غصبتك آفتُها على لذَّاتِها

Recall desires other than her, and marvel at her:

her blight overpowered you despite her pleasures.

ومُلثَّمينَ على النِّفاق بأوجهٍ

صُمٍّ يصيحُ اللؤمُ من قَسَماتِها

And many men masked in hypocrisy, with faces

mute, yet baseness cries out from their features.

صبغوا الوفاءَ بياضَه بسوادِه

والمكرماتِ هبوبَها بسُباتِها

They dyed loyalty's whiteness with baseness's blackness,

and noble deeds' awakening with their sleep.

متراهنين على الدنيَّةِ أحرزوا

غاياتِها وتناهبوا حَلَباتِها

Competing with one another in baseness, they claimed

its finishing posts and plundered its racecourses.

ورِثتْ نفوسُهُمُ خبائثَ أصلِها

لؤماً وزادت دِقَّةً من ذاتِها

Their souls inherited the evils of their stock

as baseness, and added subtlety of their own.

أيدٍ تجفُّ على الربيع وألسنٌ

سَرَقَ السرابُ الإفكَ من كلماتِها

Hands that run dry even in spring, and tongues

from whose words the mirage stole its falsehood.

يَصفُ المودّةَ بشرُها ووراءه

بِشرُ الزجاج يشِفُّ عن نيّاتها

Their smiling faces speak of affection, while behind that

a glassy smile reveals their intentions.

دَسُّوا المَكايِدَ في مواعدَ حُلوةٍ

كانت عقاربَ والكِذابُ حُماتِها

They hid their snares in sweet promises

that were scorpions, with lies for their stings.

خِلَقٌ إذا حَدّثت عن أخلاقِها

فكأنما كشَّفت عن سَوْآتِها

Creatures whose character, if you describe it,

you seem only to have laid bare their shameful parts.

للّه آمالٌ أَرَقتُ دماءَها

فيهم فلم يتعلَّقوا بدِيَاتِها

By God, what hopes I shed the blood of

among them, yet they never took responsibility for their blood-money!

وكرائمٌ ولَّيتُ فَضَّةَ عُذرِها

منهم سوى أكفائِها وكُفاتِها

And noble maidens whose deflowering I entrusted

among them to men other than their equals and guardians.

غُرٌّ أهنتُ على اللئام كرامَها

وأبحتُ أبناءَ العُقوقِ بناتِها

Fair ones whose noblest I dishonored before the base,

and whose daughters I offered to sons of ingratitude.

أهمتُها فيهم سُدىً مظلومةً

تبكي أراجزُها على أبياتِها

I sent them wandering among them, neglected and wronged,

their rajaz verses weeping over their couplets.

يتناكرون حقوقَها من بعد ما

عُلِطوا على أعراضهم بِسِماتِها

They disavow their rights, even after

their reputations had been branded with those verses' marks.

من كلّ مفتوحٍ إليها سمعُهُ

مضمومةٍ كفّاه دون صِلاتِها

Each man with his hearing opened to them,

but his two hands clasped shut against rewarding them.

يَهوَى العُلا فإذا ارتقى لينالها

ردَّاهُ حبُّ الوفرِ من شُرُفاتِها

He loves high rank; yet when he climbs to reach it,

love of wealth casts him down from its heights.

حيرانَ يتبعُ مِن أخيه ونجلِهِ

ما يتبعُ الأصداءَ من أصواتِها

Bewildered, he seeks from his brother and his son

what one seeks from echoes of their voices.

مَن عاذري منهم ومَن لحرارةٍ

أَشرجتُ أضلاعي على جمراتِها

Who will excuse me concerning them, and who will ease a heat

whose embers I have enclosed within my ribs?

ولخُطَّةٍ خَسْفٍ عصبتُ بِعَارِها

رأسَ العلا وحططتُ من درجَاتِها

And a course of humiliation whose shame I bound around

the head of high honor, lowering its degrees?

أنا ذاك جانيها فهل أنا آخذٌ

غيري بها وهو الذي لم ياتِها

I am the one who committed it; shall I then hold

another answerable for it, when he did not commit it?

يا حظُّ ما لك لا أقالك عثرةً

جاري الحظوظِ وغافرٌ زلاَّتِها

O fortune, what ails you? May he never lift you from a stumble,

the mover of fortunes and forgiver of their slips!

كم أشتكيك وأنت صِلُّ حَمَاطَةٍ

لا يطمعُ الحاوون في حيّاتِها

How often I complain of you, while you are a wild-fig viper,

whose snakes the charmers have no hope of taming!

عيشٌ كَلاَ عيشٍ ونفسٌ ما لها

من مُتعةِ الدنيا سوى حسَراتِها

A life like no life, and a soul that has

no share of this world's pleasures but its regrets,

وتودّ حين تودّ لو ما بُدّلتْ

أحبابَها من جَورها بعُداتِها

and wishes, when it wishes, that it had not had

its loved ones replaced, through the world's tyranny, by its enemies.

ويزيدها جَلَداً وفرطَ تجلُّدٍ

بين العدا الإشفاقُ من إِشماتِها

What adds to its endurance and fierce self-restraint

among enemies is fear of giving them cause to gloat.

إن كان عندك يا زمانُ بقيّةٌ

ممّا يضامُ بها الكرام فهاتِها

If you still have, O time, any remnant

of what can oppress noble men, then bring it!

صبراً على العوجاءِ من أقدارِها

لابدّ أن تجري إلى مِيقاتِها

Patience with the crooked decree among its destinies:

it must run its course to its appointed time.

ولعلَّها بالسخط منك وبالرضا

أن تستقيمَ طريقُها بحُداتها

And perhaps, whether you resent it or accept it,

its path will straighten under its drovers.

كم مثلها ضاقتْ فحلّل ضِيقَها

يومٌ ولم يُحسبْ جَلاَ غَمَراتها

How often one like it grew strait, then its straits were undone

by an unlooked-for day that cleared its overwhelming troubles.

ولقد كنزتُ فهل علمتَ مكانهُ

من صفوِ أيّامي ومن خيراتها

And I have laid up a treasure—do you know its place?—

from the serenity of my days and their blessings:

خِلاًّ تنخَّلَه ارتيادي واحداً

صحَّتْ به الدنيا على عِلاّتِها

one friend, sifted out by my searching,

through whom the world grew sound despite its ailments.

لي منه كالئةُ العيون وبسطةُ ال

أيدي الثقاتِ إذا عدمتُ ثِقاتِها

From him I have watchful eyes and the outstretching of the

hands of the trustworthy, when I lack the world's trusted hands.

وقرابةُ الأخِ غيرَ أنّ مسافةً

في الودّ لم يبلغ أخي غاياتها

And a brother's kinship—except that a distance

in affection lies beyond any my brother has reached.

مِن مانعي حَرَمِ الإخاءِ ونافِضي

طُرُقِ الوفاءِ فمُحرِزي قصَباتِها

One of those who guard brotherhood's sanctuary and clear

loyalty's paths, then win their prize-reeds,

والسالمين على تلوّنِ دهرهم

وتحوّلِ الأشياء عن حالاتها

and who remain unscathed despite their time's changing colors

and things' departure from their former states.

وإذا الأكارعُ والزعانفُ عوّروا

من خلَّةٍ كانوا مكانَ سَراتِها

And when the rabble and hangers-on leave a breach

in a worthy trait, they take the place of its foremost men.

نَبهتُهُ ومن العيون غضيضةٌ

حولي وأخرَى كنتُ أختَ قَذاتها

I roused him: some eyes were downcast

around me; to others I was kin to their specks of grit.

فأثرتُ منه أبا الشبول فمالت ال

أرماحُ تَدعَسُه على غاباتِها

Then I roused in him the father of lion cubs; bent were the

spears that thrust at him amid their thickets.

ملآن من شرفٍ السجيّة نفسُه

تحوي الفضائلَ عن جميع جهاتِها

His soul is full of nobility of nature,

embracing virtues on every side.

منقادة للمكرماتِ وأنفسٌ

تدَعُ العلا وتُقادُ في شهواتِها

Obedient to noble deeds, while other souls

forsake high rank and are led by their desires.

ما اختارت المختارَ لي إلا يدٌ

وثِقتْ لمُغرِسها بطيبِ جنَاتِها

No hand chose al-Mukhtar for me except one

sure its harvest would be sweet for its planter.

للّه خائلةٌ رأيتُ ودادَها

بدلالة التوفيقِ في مِرآتِها

By God, what a vision! I saw its affection

in its mirror, guided by good fortune.

رَدَّ الزمانُ به شبيبةَ عيشتي

بعد اشتعال الشّيبِ في شَعَراتِها

Through him time restored the youth of my life,

after gray hair had flared among its locks.

وتسوّمت غُرَّاً محجَّلةً به

أيامُ دهرٍ قد نكِرتُ شِياتِها

Through him they took on white blazes and white stockings—

the days of an age whose markings I had disowned.

كم خَلَّةٍ داويتُها بدوائها

منه ونعمَى كان من أَدَواتِها

How many a want I cured with its remedy

from him, and a blessing of which he was an instrument;

وملمّةٍ وَلِيَ الزمانُ فُتوقَها

منّي رقعتُ به وسيعَ هَناتِها

and a calamity whose rents time had overseen

in me—I patched its gaping breaches through him.

مِن حاملٍ صُحف الثناءِ أمانةً

لا يستطيعُ النَّكثُ قرعَ صَفاتها

A bearer of the scrolls of praise as a trust,

whose rock no betrayal can batter.

شكراً كما ضحكتْ إليه مَجودَةٌ

بالحَزْنِ باقي الطلِّ في حَنَواتِها

In gratitude, as rain-watered ground smiled toward him,

on rugged uplands, dew lingering in its hollows.

يغدو فينقُلُ ثِقلَها بسكينةٍ

في سَمْتِها هَدْيٌ وفِي إخباتِها

He goes forth, carrying its burden with serenity;

right guidance lies in its bearing and in its humility.

طَبٌّ بعلم فُروضِها وقُروضِها

حتى يؤدِّيَها على أوقاتِها

Expert in knowing its obligations and its debts,

until he discharges them at their appointed times.

أبلغ أبا الحَسن التي ما بعدها

مرمَّى لغالبةِ المنى ورُماتِها

Convey to Abu al-Hasan that beyond which

the strongest hopes and their archers have no target,

عنّي مُغلغَلةً تُسِرُّ حديثَها

أمَّ الكواكبِ أو أعيرَ صِفاتِها

from me, a far-reaching message that whispers its tale

to the mother of the stars—or let me be lent her qualities—

مِن منبع الحُلو الحلالِ إذا غدا

مِلحُ القرائح ذاهباً بفُراتِها

from the source of lawful sweetness, when

the salt of poetic minds has carried off their fresh water.

لو نازل الرُّهْنانَ حطَّ قِنَانَها

فصبت إليه وحلَّ من عَزَماتِها

Had it confronted al-Ruhnan, it would have lowered their peaks;

they would have inclined toward it, and it would have loosened their resolve.

يَجزيك عن كسبِ العلاء وحبِّهِ

ما تَنطقُ الخرساءُ بعدَ صُماتِها

What repays you for gaining high honor and loving it

is what the mute utters after her silence,

وتردُّ أعراضَ الكرام كأنّها

يمنيَّةٌ تختالُ في حِبَراتِها

and restores the honor of noble men as though it were

a Yemeni woman strutting in her striped robes,

ثَمَناً لودِّك إن يكن ثَمناً له

بذلُ القوافي فيك مكنوناتِها

as a price for your affection—if any price for it

can be the offering of rhyme's hidden treasures in your praise.

تسخو به لك من نَخيلةِ سرها

نفسٌ تَرى بك ما تَرى بحياتِها

It gives it freely to you from the pure core of its secret—

a soul that sees in you what it sees in its own life.