إذا لم يقرب منك إلا التذلل — Mihyar Al Daylami

إذا لم يقرِّبْ منك إلا التذلُّلُ

وعزَّ فؤادٌ فهو للبعد أحملُ

If nothing brings one near you but self-abasement,

and a heart is proud, it can better bear separation.

سلوناك لما كنتَ أوّلَ غادرٍ

وما راعنا في الحبِّ أنكَ أوّلُ

We ceased longing for you when you were the first to betray;

nor did it trouble us that, in love, you were the first.

إذا أحدُ الحِبَّين كان ممرَّضاً

فأوفى الحبيبين الذي يَتَبدّلُ

If one of two lovers is ailing,

the more faithful of the two is the one who takes another.

وقالت مشيبٌ والجمالُ عدوُّهُ

فقلت خضبناه فأين التجمُّلُ

She said, "Gray hair—and beauty is its enemy."

I said, "We dyed it; where, then, is the beautification?"

سوادان لكن مؤنسٌ ومنفِّرٌ

وما منهما إلا يحولُ فينصُلُ

Two shades of black, yet one endearing and one repellent;

neither of them but changes and fades.

وساترتُها سِنَّ الكمال بِصبغةٍ

رأتها فقالت صِبغةُ الله أفضلُ

I concealed from her the age of maturity with a dye;

she saw it and said, "God's coloring is better."

وبغَّض خدّاً بالمشيب معنبراً

إليها عِذارٌ بالشبابِ مغلَّلُ

And a cheek perfumed with gray hair's ambergris was made hateful

to her by a side-whisker perfumed with youth.

وكان بعيني شُعلةً وهو مظلمٌ

فصار بقلبي ظلمةً وهو مُشْعَلُ

It was a flame in my eyes, though it was dark;

it became darkness in my heart, though it was alight.

سمحتُ ببذل العيش يا حارِ بعدكم

وكنت بكتمان النصيحة أبخلُ

I freely offered up life, O Ḥār, after your departure,

though I had been more loath to conceal sincere affection.

وبتّ أرى أن الجفاء سَجيّةٌ

لكلّ خليلٍ والوفاءَ تعمُّلُ

I came to see coldness as an inborn trait

of every friend, and faithfulness as an affectation.

وحَرَّم عزُّ الموسويِّ جوانبي

على الضّيم حتى جازها ما يحلِّلُ

Al-Mūsawī's might made my flanks inviolable

to oppression, until what could lift that ban crossed them.

أحقُّ بآمالي أخو كرمٍ أرى

بعينِ يقيني عنده ما أؤمِّلُ

Most worthy of my hopes is a generous man: I see

with the eye of certainty, in his keeping, what I hope for.

ولما أتاح الدهرُ لي من لقائه

بشائرَ عَجلَى بالذي أتأجَّلُ

And when Time granted me, through meeting him,

swift glad tidings of what I awaited for later,

جلا ليَ وجهاً طالعاً من أُحبُّه

ومدّ يميناً حقُّها ما تُقَبَّلُ

the one I love unveiled to me a dawning face,

and extended a right hand whose due was to be kissed.

فقلت أمصباحٌ أم الشمس أفتقت

وهذي اليد البيضاءُ أم فاضَ جدولُ

I said, "Is it a lamp, or has the sun broken through?

And is this the white hand, or has a stream overflowed?"

وناشرني ودّاً شككتُ لطيبه

أفغمةُ مسكٍ أم رداءٌ ممندَلُ

He unfolded his affection before me; its fragrance made me wonder:

is it a waft of musk, or a cloak perfumed with aloeswood?

أبا القاسم استمتع بها نبويَّةً

تراجَعَ عنها الناسُ فيما توغَّلوا

Abū al-Qāsim, take joy in them, prophetic as they are;

others fell back from them, for all their deep pursuit.

محاسنُ إن سارت فقد سار كوكبٌ

بذكرك أو طارت فقد طار أجدلُ

Virtues: if they travel, a star has traveled

with your renown; or if they fly, a falcon has flown.

تحدَّثَ عنها الناطقون وأصبحتْ

بها العيسُ تُحدَى والسوابقُ تصهَلُ

Speakers have told of them, and now

with them pale camels are urged on in song, and racing steeds neigh.

سما للعلا قومٌ سواك فلم تُنَلْ

سماؤك حتماً إن باعك أطولُ

Others rose toward glory, yet could not reach

your heaven—assuredly, your reach is longer.

وأغرى الكمالُ الحاسدين بأهله

قديماً ولكن داءُ شانيك أعضلُ

Perfection has incited the envious against its possessors

from of old; but your hater's disease is harder to cure.

ألستَ من القوم استخفّت سيوفهم

رقابَ عِداً كانت على الموت تثقُلُ

Are you not of those whose swords made light

of the necks of foes that had weighed heavily upon Death?

طلوبين لحَّاقين عُصْمُ يلملمٍ

تَزاورُ عن أرماحهم ثم تنزِلُ

Relentless pursuers and swift overtakers: Yalamlam's white-legged ibexes

swerve from their spears, then fall.

مشت فوق أنماط الملوك جيادُهم

وباتت بأعواد الأسرَّة تُعقَلُ

Their steeds trod upon the patterned carpets of kings,

and spent the night tethered to bedposts.

غلامُكمُ في الجحفل ابنُ عَجاجةٍ

مغيِّمةٍ من دَجْنها الدمُ يهطِلُ

Your youth amid the army is a son of a dust cloud,

overcast, from whose gloom blood rains down.

يعانِقُ منه الموتَ عريانَ تحتها

شجاعٌ بغير الصبر لا يتنثَّلُ

In him, naked beneath it, Death is embraced

by a brave man armored with nothing but endurance.

وشيخُكُم في المحفِل ابنُ مهابةٍ

يوقَّرُ عزّاً بينكم ويبجَّلُ

Your elder in the assembly is a son of awe,

honored among you for his dignity, and revered.

غَنيٌّ ببادي رأيه عنه تَلِيِّهِ

صموتٌ كمكفىٍّ قؤولٌ فيفصِلُ

His first judgment suffices him, without need of its successor;

silent as one well served, yet eloquent, and thus decisive.

وكهلُكُمُ في فتكه وانبساطه

فتىً وفتاكم في الحجا متكهِّلُ

Your middle-aged man, in his deadly daring and exuberance,

is a youth; your youth, in wisdom, is middle-aged.

وأنتم ولاة الدِّين أربابُ حقّهِ

مُبِينُوه في آياته وهو مشكِلُ

You are the guardians of religion, masters of its rightful claim,

making it clear in its verses when it is obscure.

مساقطُ وحيِ الله في جُحُراتكم

وبينكُمُ كان الكتاب يُنزَّلُ

God's revelation had its landing places in your chambers,

and among you the Book was revealed.

يذادُ عن الحوض الشقيُّ ببغضكم

ويورَدُ من أحببتموه فينهَلُ

The wretched one is driven from the Pool for hating you,

and whoever you have loved is brought to it and drinks his fill.

ختمتم على حرّ الخواطر أنه

لكم ما انتهى فكرٌ وأسمح مِقوَلُ

You have sealed the finest thoughts as belonging

to you, so long as thought can reach and a tongue can speak freely.

تؤدَّى فروضُ الشعرِ ما قيل فيكُمُ

وفي الناس إما جازَكم يتنقّلُ

Poetry's obligations are fulfilled in whatever is said of you;

and among others it wanders, whenever it passes beyond you.

نحمِّسُ من آثاركم وعلاكُمُ

وننسبُ من أحلامكم ونُغزِّلُ

We draw heroic verse from your deeds and your eminence,

and from your forbearance compose love preludes and love songs.

لك الخير ظنّي في اعتلاقك عاذري

فلا تتركنْ يا حُرُّ وعدَك يُعذَلُ

May good be yours! My hope excuses my clinging to you;

so do not let your promise be reproached, O noble man.

لعمري وبعضُ الرَّيثِ خيرٌ مغبّةً

ولكن حسابُ الناس لي فيك أعجلُ

By my life, some delay is better in its outcome,

but people are quicker to reckon with me concerning you.

تشبَّثْ بها أكرومةً فيَّ إنها

كتابٌ يوَفَّى في يديك مسجَّلُ

Hold fast to it as a noble favor to me, for it is

a recorded deed, to be honored in full in your hands.

وصبراً مضى شهر الصيام وغودرت

مغانيه حتى الحولِ تعفو وتعطُلُ

And patience! The month of fasting has passed, and abandoned are

its haunts, fading and lying empty until the year comes round.

علمتُك حرّاناً عليه وبعضُهم

بفُرقته مستبشرٌ متهلِّلُ

I have known you burning with grief over it, while some

are glad and beaming at its departure.

تعفَّفتَ فاليومان عندك واحدٌ

وأحظاهما ما كان بالدِّين يُشغَلُ

You have practiced self-restraint, so the two days are one to you,

and the dearer of them is the one spent in religious devotion.

تناهت بك الأيام حتى قد اغتدى

مهنِّيك عجزاً من مداهُنَّ ينكُلُ

Through you the days have reached their utmost, so that now

whoever congratulates you recoils, helpless, from their full extent.

فوالله ما أدري هل الدهر عارفٌ

بفضلك إلهاماً أم الدهرُ يَغفُلُ

So, by God, I do not know whether Time recognizes

your excellence through inspiration, or whether Time is heedless.