نظرة منك ويوم بالجريب — Mihyar Al Daylami

نظرةٌ منكِ ويومٌ بالجَرِيبِ

حَسْب نفسي من زمانٍ وحبيبِ

A glance from you, and a day at al-Jarib,

are enough for my soul of time and a beloved.

فمنَ الواقفُ بي بينكما

جمَعَ الفُوقَ على سهمٍ مُصيبِ

Who, then, has stationed me between you two,

fitting the nock to an unerring arrow?

وقفةً لا أشتكي من بعدها

غُلَّةَ الصدرِ ولا ذلَّ الغريبِ

A standing-place after which I shall no longer lament

the thirst in my breast or a stranger's humiliation.

يا ابنة الجمرةِ من ذِي يَزَنٍ

في الصميم العِدِّ والبيتِ الرحيبِ

O daughter of al-Jamra, of Dhu Yazan,

of the pure, unfailing spring and the spacious house,

ما لكم لا أجدبَ اللهُ بكم

يرتعِي جاركُمُ غيرَ الخصيبِ

why is it—may God spare you drought—

that your neighbor grazes on anything but fertile ground?

الجدَي يمنعُه ذو جِدَةٍ

والجنابُ الرحبُ ينبو بالجُنوبِ

Bounty is withheld by a man of means,

and the spacious precinct repels reclining flanks;

ورماحٌ دون أضيافِكُمُ

تأخذُ السالمَ فيكم بالمريبِ

and spears bar the way to your guests,

treating the innocent among you as suspect.

أتَّقيكم والهوى يقدمُ بي

وأغضُّ الصوت والدمعُ يَشِي بي

I guard myself against you, while love carries me forward,

and lower my voice, while tears betray me.

ومن الشِّقوةِ في زورتِكم

أنّ عينَ الرمح من عينِ الرقيبِ

Among the miseries of visiting you

is that the spear's eye comes from the watchman's eye.

لا يكن آخِرَ عهدِي بِكُمُ

يا وُلاةَ القلبِ ليلاتُ القليبِ

Let my last meeting with you not be—

O rulers of my heart—the nights at al-Qalib.

يا لَمن ينكُص عن غِزلانكم

وهو وثَّابٌ على الليثِ الغضوبِ

Ah, for one who recoils from your gazelles,

though he leaps upon the wrathful lion!

ومتى العزُّ وفي أبياتكم

أعينٌ تقهرُ سلطانَ القلوبِ

When can there be pride, while in your tents

are eyes that overthrow the sovereignty of hearts?

يا صَبا نجدٍ ويا بانَ الغضا

اُرفُقا بي بالتثنِّي والهبوبِ

O east wind of Najd, O ban-tree of al-Ghada,

be gentle with me in swaying and blowing.

واسلما لا مثلَ ما طاحَ دمي

منكما بين نسيمٍ وقضيبِ

May you both stay unharmed—not as my blood was spilled

by you both, between a breeze and a bough.

قَسَم البينُ فما عدّل بي

غدرةَ الوافي وتبعيدَ القريبِ

Separation apportioned to me, but without justice,

the loyal one's betrayal and the near one's banishment.

وقضى الدهرُ فحالتْ صِبغةٌ

عُدَّ ذنبُ الدهرِ فيها من ذنوبي

Time pronounced its judgment, and a hue changed;

time's fault in it was counted among my faults.

وفؤادي يشتكي جَورَ النوى

وعِذارِي يشتكي جَورَ المشيبِ

My heart laments the tyranny of separation,

and my cheek's down laments the tyranny of gray hair.

كم أُدارِي عَنَتَ الأيّام في

غَبْنِ حظِّي وأُطاطِي للخطوبِ

How long must I placate the days' harshness in

the cheating of my fortune, and bow to calamities,

وأردّ الحزمَ في أُفحوصِه

وهو هافٍ يتنزَّى للوثوبِ

and drive resolve back into its nesting hollow,

though it flutters, restless to leap?

قاعداً والجَدُّ قد رحَّلَ بي

والمعالي يتقاضَيْن ركوبي

Sitting still, though Fortune has sent me traveling,

and high ambitions demand that I mount,

جِلسةَ الأعزلِ يلوِي يَدَهُ

وسلاحي بين كُورِي وجَنيبي

like an unarmed man sitting, wringing his hand,

though my weapons lie between my camel-saddle and my led mount.

أمدحُ المثرِين ظنَّاً بهِمُ

ربّما يقمَر بالظنّ الكذوبِ

I praise the wealthy, thinking well of them;

one is often cheated by false expectation.

كلُّ وغدِ الكفِّ منبوذِ الحيا

طيِّب المحضرِ مسبوبِ المغيبِ

Every base-handed man, devoid of shame,

pleasant in company, cursed in his absence,

يمنع الرِّفد وتَلقَى وفدَه

قِحَةُ البخلِ بإدلالِ الوهوبِ

withholds his bounty, and his delegation is met

by stinginess's insolence, with a giver's swagger.

يطلبُ المدحَ لأن يفضحَهُ

وهو قبلَ المدحِ مستورُ العيوبِ

He seeks praise only for it to expose him,

though before praise his faults were concealed.

قلتُ للآمال فيه كَذَبَتْ

أُمُّهُ إن كنتِ آمالي فخيبي

I said to my hopes in him: 'A liar was

his mother! If you are my hopes, then fail.'

جَلَبُ الأرضِ عريضٌ دونه

وسُرَى العيسِ وإدمانُ اللّغوبِ

A wide stretch of rough earth lies before reaching him,

and night journeys of pale camels, and unrelenting exhaustion.

وغلامٌ آخذٌ ما طلبتْ

نفسهُ أو فائتٌ كلَّ طلوبِ

And a youth wins whatever

his soul seeks, or eludes every pursuer;

يقْمَحُ الضيمَ ولو أبصرهُ

ليلة العِشرِ على الماءِ الشَّروبِ

he refuses humiliation, even were he to see it

on the tenth night, beside brackish water.

ما أذلَّ الخصبَ في دارِ الأذى

وألذَّ العزَّ في دار الجُدوبِ

How abject is plenty in a house of harm,

and how sweet is honor in a house of drought!

يا بني كلِّ نعيم ضاحكٍ

في حِمى وجهٍ من اللؤمِ قَطوبِ

O sons of every smiling luxury

under the protection of a face scowling with meanness,

قد مللِناكم على شارتِكم

ويضيقُ الصدرُ في البيتِ الرحيبِ

we have wearied of you, despite your finery;

the breast grows cramped in the spacious house.

وعسى الدنيا التي أدَّتكُمُ

تصطفينا من بنيها بنجيبِ

Perhaps the world that brought you forth

will choose for us a noble one among its sons,

ماجدِ الشيمةِ سهلٍ ليلهُ

للقِرَى صبٍّ إلى الحمدِ طَروبِ

noble of nature, whose night is easy

for hospitality, ardent and delighted in praise;

يكسِبُ المالَ لأن يُتلِفهُ

والعلا في يدِ مِتلافٍ كَسوبِ

he earns wealth in order to spend it,

and glory is in the hand of a lavish earner.

تَخبُث الأيدي وفي راحتِهِ

من نداه أرجُ المَشتَا المَطيبِ

Other hands grow foul, while in his palm

his bounty has the fragrance of perfumed winter quarters.

كابن حمّادٍ ولا مِثلَ له

هل تَرى للبدر فرداً من ضِريبِ

Like Ibn Hammad—and none is like him:

do you see a single peer of the full moon?

جذابَ الرُّوَّاضَ عن مِقودِهِ

مرِسُ الجمرةِ وهّاجُ الثُّقوبِ

He pulls the trainers away from his rein,

a tough-tempered ember, blazing when kindled.

أين يا سائقها أين بها

جعجعِ الآمال في غيرِ عزيبِ

Where, driver of them, where are you taking them?

Halt the hopes somewhere not remote.

جَمَعَ الصاحبُ من أطرافها

وَفْىَ حَيْرَى الطُّرقِ عَمياءِ النُّكوبِ

Al-Sahib has gathered their scattered ends,

while they were bewildered among roads, blind to the turnings.

ضمَّها بالرأيِ حتى التأمتْ

شُلَّتاها من شُذوذٍ وشذوبِ

He united them through judgment, until joined were

their two bands, once wandering and dispersed.

ويدٍ لا ترِبتْ تلك يداً

رِبقةِ الجاني وفكِّ المستنيبِ

And a hand—may that hand never be dust-poor—

a fetter for the offender and release for the penitent.

سلَّتِ الدولةُ منه صارماً

شِرقَ الصفحةِ ظمآنَ الغُروبِ

The state drew from him a cutting sword,

its flat drenched, its edges thirsty.

طَبعَ الأقبالُ من جوهرهِ

زُبْرةً تقدحُ نيرانَ الحروبِ

Good fortune forged from his substance

an iron mass that kindles the fires of war.

لو أطاعته يدٌ حاملةٌ

لم تُكذِّبْ ظبتاهُ عن ضَريبِ

Had the hand wielding it obeyed him,

its two edges would not have failed against a target.

جَرَّبوه ماضياً حيثُ مضى

صادعَ الوحيِ ومحتومَ الغيوبِ

They tried him: resolute wherever he went,

proclaiming inspiration, his foresight inexorable;

قَلِقاً يَنفِي الكرى عن وجههِ

عِلمُه أنَّ المعالي في الهبوبِ

restless, sleep driven from his face by

his knowledge that high achievement lies in rising.

أَلْمعِياً سوّدته نفسُهُ

والمساعي قبلَ تسويدِ الشعوبِ

Keen-witted, made a lord by his own soul

and his striving, before the peoples made him one;

قدَّمتْهُ صاعداً عن قومِهِ

مَصْعَدَ اللَّهذمِ قُدَّامَ الكعوبِ

they raised him above his people,

as a spearhead rises ahead of the shaft's joints.

هَبهَبوا منه بليثٍ في الوغى

قرِمِ الأظفارِ مستاقِ النّيوبِ

They roused in him a lion amid battle,

with ravenous claws and eager fangs;

خيرِ من خَبَّتْ له أو وَخَدتْ

للجدَى ذاتُ سَنامٍ وسبَيبِ

the best of those for whom trotted or strode

humped and long-maned mounts in search of bounty.

يأخذُ الحاجاتِ من حيثُ غلتْ

غيرَ معذولٍ على حبِّ الغُصوبِ

He secures his ends wherever their price grows high,

unrebuked for his love of seizing by force.

تحسَبُ الغابةَ مما اجترَّهُ

حومةً بين عَقيرٍ وتريبِ

You would think his thicket, from all he has dragged in,

a battleground of slain and dust-covered prey.

ماضياً لم يثنِهِ عن قصدِهِ

هجمةُ الليل ولا طولُ الدؤوبِ

Resolute, never turned from his aim by

night's onslaught or prolonged toil,

جَمَعَ الجودَ إلى البأسِ كما

شعشعَتْ نارٌ بماءٍ في قضيبِ

he joined generosity to valor, as

fire is mingled with water in a rod.

راحةٌ لم يَعلَق البخلُ بها

وفؤادٌ لم يُسفَّهْ بالوجيبِ

A palm to which stinginess has never clung,

and a heart never made foolish by its pounding;

ولسانٌ يخصِمُ السيفَ بهِ

يترك الفارِسَ عبداً للخطيب

a tongue with which he defeats the sword,

leaving the horseman a slave to the orator.

مَنْ رسولٌ سَعِدتْ رحلتُهُ

يومَ أدعوهُ بلبَّيْكَ مجيبي

Who will be a messenger whose journey is blessed,

answering 'At your service!' when I call him,

ناصحُ الجيبِ بما حمَّلتُهُ

حيثُ يَخشَى مُرسِلٌ غِشَّ الجيوبِ

true of bosom in what I entrust to him,

where a sender fears deceit within men's bosoms?

لم أكلِّفهُ سُرى البيدِ ولم

أتعسَّفْه بأخخطارِ السُّهوبِ

I have not charged him with night journeys through deserts, nor

driven him through the dangers of the steppes.

عيسهُ ملمومةٌ يركب منها

مطمئناً ظهرَ مِذلالٍ رَكوبِ

His pale camels are joined together; among them he mounts

securely upon a docile, rideable back.

يقسِمُ الماءَ بباعٍ مطلَقٍ

وفَقارٍ مُرسَلِ الحبلِ سَروبِ

It cleaves the water with an unfettered reach

and a backbone, its rope loosed, freely gliding.

صعبةُ الخِلقةِ سهلٌ أرضها

فهو بين اللينِ منها والصَّليبِ

Hard in its construction, smooth underfoot,

he is between its softness and its hardness.

سارياً ليستْ عليه خِيفةٌ

ما وقاه الله سَوْراتِ الجَنُوبِ

Traveling by night, he has no fear,

so long as God shields him from the south wind's surges.

قل لنوتِيَّك شَرِّعْ آمناً

حَدَثَ التَّيارِ والموجِ العصيبِ

Tell your sailor: Set sail, safe from

the current's assault and the turbulent waves.

رِدبها مَيسانَ واحبسها على ال

مَعقلِ الممنوعِ والوادي العشيبِ

Take it to Maysan, and moor it at al-

Ma'qil, the protected, and the grassy valley.

فإذا ضاقت فعلِّقها أَبَا

طاهرٍ تَعلَقْ بفرّاجِ الكروبِ

If things grow straitened, fasten it to Abu

Tahir, and you will cling to a dispeller of sorrows.

وإلى ذي الرتبتيْن ابتدرتْ

فُرصُ المجدِ وحاجاتُ الأريبِ

To the holder of the two ranks have hastened

glory's opportunities and the discerning man's needs.

قل له عَنِّيَ حيَّتك العُلا

بوكيفٍ من حَيَا الشكرِ صَبيبِ

Tell him from me: May glory greet you

with a downpour from the rain of gratitude;

وسَقَى عِرضَك ما استسقيتَه

بارقٌ من مِدَحِي غيرُ خَلوبِ

and may your honor be watered, whenever you seek rain for it,

by a lightning-bearing cloud of my praises that never promises falsely.

ترفُلُ الأحسابُ في روضتهِ

مَرفَلَ الغادةِ في البُرْدِ القشيبِ

Noble lineages trail their robes in its garden

as a maiden trails hers in a fresh-woven cloak.

خيرُ ما استثمرَ من غَرس الندى

واجتنىَ من غُصُنِ الجودِ الرطيبِ

The finest fruit ever yielded by generosity's planting,

or plucked from bounty's tender branch.

وبذلتَ الوفْرَ حتى ابتعتَهُ

هَمَّ آدابك من حُسنٍ وطِيبِ

You lavished abundant wealth until you bought it—

what your cultivated spirit desires of beauty and sweetness.

جاءني أنّك مشعوفٌ به

شَعَفَ العذريّ بمدحٍ أو نسيبِ

Word reached me that you were enamored of it,

with an 'Udhri lover's passion for praise or love verse,

راغباً أن تُصْطَفَى من جِدّه

والفكاهاتِ بمدحٍ أو نسيبِ

wishing to be singled out from its earnestness

and its pleasantries with praise or love verse,

وتُحَلَّى منه عِقداًن باقياً

فخرُهُ في كلِّ جِيدٍ وتريبِ

and adorned by it with a lasting necklace,

its glory on every neck and breast.

قلتُ فضلٌ عَجبٌ من دهرنا

وهو من فاعله غيرُ عجيبِ

I said: A wondrous favor from our age,

though no wonder coming from its giver.

ما تبالي حين تَستامُ العلا

أخطيبُ الشمسِ أم أنتَ خطيبي

You need not care, when you bid for glory,

whether my suitor is the sun's suitor or you.

أنا من يُعطيك مجداً حاضراً

ويُبَقِّي لك مجداً في العَقيبِ

I am the one who gives you glory now,

and preserves glory for you in posterity,

لا كقولٍ يطرد الساقي به

جذوةً تخمدُ من قبلِ اللهيبِ

not like verse with which a cupbearer drives off

an ember that dies before it flames.

كم يُمنِّيني على سلطانها

نفْسَ مَرجُوٍّ ومَخشِيٍّ مَهيبِ

How often he promises me, through its sway,

the standing of one sought after, feared, and revered,

وابتغَى بالمالِ أن يشرِيَني

فترفَّعْتُ فطارتْ عفَّتي بي

and sought to buy me with his wealth;

but I rose above it, and my integrity bore me aloft.

لكن اشتقتُ وقد سُمِّيتَ لي

بسماتِ الفضلِ والجودِ الغريبِ

Yet I longed for you once you were named to me

by the marks of excellence and uncommon generosity.

فافترعْ خيرَ هَدِيٍّ وأَثِبْ

خيرَ ما جادت به نفسُ مُثيبِ

Take the first fruits of the finest gift, and reward it

with the best a giver's soul has ever bestowed.

وإذا صرتَ نصيبي منهُمُ

فقد استوفيتُ من دهري نصيبي

If you become my portion among them,

then I have received my full portion from life.