إذا عارض نحو أرض عدل — Mihyar Al Daylami

إذا عارضٌ نحوَ أرضٍ عدَلْ

وطاب الهواءُ له واعتدلْ

When a raincloud turns toward a land,

And the air grows pleasant and temperate for it,

ومرَّ فجانبَ صوبَ الجَنو

بِ منحدراً بالشِّمال اشتملْ

And passing, it avoids the direction of the south,

Descending, it wraps itself in the north wind.

إذا شام دارَ كرامٍ جرتْ

عَزَاليهِ أو دارَ لؤمٍ عَزَل

When it sights the home of generous folk, there flow

Its rain-spouts; at a home of meanness, it withdraws.

بفارسَ أَمَّ ودار الحسي

ن أحبب بشيرازَ منها نزلْ

It headed for Persia and al-Husayn's house—

How dear is Shiraz, where he settled!

ومَن جاورَ الغيثَ أنَّى أقا

م يتبعُه الغيثُ أنَّى رحلْ

And whoever neighbors the rain, wherever he dwells,

The rain follows him wherever he travels.

بلى إن أعاد حياه حياً

وكان عتيقَ سحابٍ رحلْ

Yes, if its rain restores someone to life,

Who was a freedman of a cloud now departed,

فساهمْهُ من عَبرتي ما أطاقَ

وحمِّلْه من زفرتي ما حملْ

Then give it from my tears as much as it can bear,

And load it with as much of my sighing as it can carry.

وقل إن سئلت بشيراز مَنْ

قتيلُ اشتياقٍ إلينا نُقِلْ

And say, if asked in Shiraz, 'Who?':

One slain by longing, conveyed to us;

وواليكُمُ لم يُحلْه البعادُ

وعاشقُكم لم يَرُعْه العذَلْ

And your loyal friend, whom distance has not changed,

And your lover, whom reproach has not daunted,

يؤمِّل كبتَ أعاديكُمُ

وقد حقّق الله ذاك الأملْ

Hopes for your enemies' humiliation;

And God has indeed fulfilled that hope.

وخانك من كذَّبته الظنونُ

وكذَّب فيك الرُّقَى والحِيلْ

And one whom expectations belied betrayed you,

And gave the lie, in your case, to spells and schemes,

رِضىً بالوشاية دون اللقاء

وما تلك من عزَمات البطلْ

Content with slander rather than confrontation—

And that is not among a hero's firm resolves.

إذا سرتَ منتصرا بالنهو

ضِ كاتبَ معتذراً بالفشلْ

When you advanced, victorious through rising to action,

He wrote, pleading faintheartedness as his excuse.

فكان لك السؤلُ لمّا نهضتَ

وكان له السوءُ لمّا نكلْ

So you had your wish when you rose to action,

And he had misfortune when he shrank back.

هنَتْكَ وشائحُ علَّقتَها

يدَ الملك عُروتُها ما تُحَلّْ

May the bonds you have fastened bring you joy,

To the king's hand—their loop is never untied—

وغنَّاءُ من رايةٍ أسكنت

ك ظلّاً لها ليس بالمنتقِلْ

And a luxuriant banner that has sheltered

You beneath its shade, which never shifts.

وبعدُ فسلْ بفؤادي وعن

تلاعبِ شوقي به لا تسلْ

And now, inquire after my heart; but of

My longing's toying with it, do not ask.

وظُنَّ بعينيَّ لا ما يُقِرُّ

إذا فاض دمعُهما فانهملْ

Think of my eyes, but not of what might soothe them,

When their tears overflow and stream down.

أمرُّ بدارك مستسقياً

فأرجعُ وهي عِدادُ العَلَلْ

I pass your house seeking water,

And return with it numbered among my afflictions.

أردِّدُ هل زمني راجعٌ

بربعكِ قالت نعم بعد هَلْ

I keep asking, 'Will my days return

At your abode?' She said 'Yes' after my 'Will?'

تمهَّلْ فغير بعيدٍ تراه

وكم عجِلَ الحظُّ بعد المهَلْ

'Wait; before long you will see it.

How often fortune has hastened after delay!

ويأمرُ فيك بما لا يُرَد

دُ ليس كما خالف ابنُ الجَمَلْ

And it commands concerning you what cannot be refused,

Not as Ibn al-Jamal disobeyed.'

فقلت أقصُّ عليه الحديثَ

لعلِّيَ أُنصَفُ قالت أجلْ

So I said, 'I shall recount the story to him,

Perhaps I shall receive justice.' She said, 'Yes.'

لك الخيرُ شكوى ذليلِ السؤا

لِ لو كنتَ حاضرَه لم يُذَلّْ

May good be yours! This is the complaint of one abased by begging:

Had you been present with him, he would not have been abased.

كرُمتَ ابتداءً كما قد علم

تَ كالغيث لم يَنتظِرْ أن يُسَلْ

You were generous unasked, as you already know,

Like rain, which did not wait to be asked.

فعارضَ أمرَك بالإمتنا

ع علجٌ إذا حفَّ رضوَى ثَقُلْ

But your command was opposed with refusal

By a boor who grows heavy when he encircles Radwa.

وقال ويكذبُ سيّانِ ما

أُحيل علىَّ وما لم يُحَلْ

And he said—lying—'It is all the same what

Is assigned to me and what is not.'

وقد كنتُ كاتبتُه مرّةً

فأبرمَ ما بيننا وانفصلْ

I had indeed written to him once,

And he concluded our dealings, then broke away.

فأحسب أنّ عبيدَ الصلي

ب تذكُرُ ما بيننا من ذَحَلْ

So I suppose that the slaves of the Cross

Remember the old feud between us,

وما جنت الفرسُ أُولى الزمانِ

على الروم فاقتصَّني بالأُولْ

And what the Persians perpetrated in earliest times

Against the Romans; so he avenged the old wrongs on me.

كأنّي أنا قلت في مريمٍ

وحاش لها من تقيّ الحبلْ

As though I myself had spoken against Mary—

Far be it from her, whose conception was pure—

وشاركتُ في دمِ عيسى اليهودَ

كما عنده أنّ عيسى قُتِلْ

And had joined the Jews in shedding Jesus' blood,

As he believes that Jesus was killed;

وهدّمت مذبح مَرْسَرْجِسٍ

وأطفأتُ قنديلَه المشتعِلْ

And had demolished Mar Sarjis's altar,

And extinguished its burning lamp;

وحرَمت وحديَدون الأنا

م من لحمِ خنزيره ما استحلّْ

And I alone, apart from all humankind, had forbidden

What he deemed lawful of his pig's flesh;

وكشَّفتُ عن ولَدِ الجاثليق

وما عرفوا جاثليقاً نَسَلْ

And revealed the Catholicos's child,

Though they have known no Catholicos who begot children.

ولمْ لا يغالطُني في الحسا

ب من عنده أنّ ربّاً نَجَلْ

And why should he not cheat me in the accounts—

One who believes that a god begot offspring,

وأن ثلاثتَه واحدٌ

ويزعُم من ردَّ هذا جهِلْ

And that his three are one,

And claims whoever rejects this is ignorant?

وعندي له الأسهمُ القاصداتُ

بِشَرِّ المقَاوِلِ سودَ المُقَلْ

And I have for him arrows aimed

With the worst of utterances at his eyes' black pupils:

قوافٍ تؤدُّ فلو عُدِّلتْ

على جنب والدِهِ ما حَملْ

Rhymes that weigh heavy; were they balanced

On his father's flank, he could not bear them.

فمرْنِيَ فيه ودعْه معي

فوارحمتَا من يدِي للسِّفَلْ

So give me orders concerning him, and leave him with me.

Ah, pity the lowly at my hands!

ومن أكلَ السُّحتَ كلبٌ إذا

سمحتَ بمالك عفواً بَخِلْ

And whoever devours illicit gains is a dog: when

You freely give your wealth, he is miserly.

متى كان أمرُك لولا الشقيُّ

يُردُّ وحاشاك ممّا فعلْ

When, but for this wretch, was your command ever

Refused? Far be it from you to do what he did!