إذا لم يرع عندكم الوداد — Mihyar Al Daylami

إذا لم يُرْعَ عندكم الودادُ

فسيّانِ القرابةُ والبعادُ

If affection is not honored among you,

then kinship and separation are alike.

عهودٌ يومَ رامةَ دارساتٌ

كما يتناوب الطَلَل العِهادُ

Pledges from the day at Ramah lie effaced,

as recurring rains take turns upon the ruins.

وأيمان تضيعُ بها المعاني

وتحفظها الأناملُ والعِدادُ

And oaths whose meanings are lost,

though fingertips and tallies preserve them.

تطيرُ مع الخيانة كلَّ جنبٍ

وحبّاتُ القلوبِ بها تصادُ

They fly with treachery in every direction,

and with them the hearts' very cores are snared.

أمعترِضٌ صدودُكِ أمَّ سعدٍ

ببعض الشرِّ أم خُلُقٌ وعادُ

Is your turning away, Umm Sa'd, a passing thing,

prompted by some ill, or is it nature and habit?

وعذلٌ فيك أوجعَ نازلٌ بي

أنا الملسوعُ والعذلُ العِدادُ

And reproach over you assails me, more painful still;

I am the one stung, and reproach is the recurring pain.

وعبتِ وليس غيرُ الشيب شيئاً

أُذادُ له بعيبٍ أو أُكادُ

You found fault, though there is nothing but gray hair

for which I am spurned as faulty or conspired against.

وما منّي البياضُ فتَجرِميني

به ذَنْباً ولا منكِ السوادُ

The whiteness is not my doing, that you should charge me

with it as a sin; nor is the blackness your doing.

بأيمنِ ملتقَى الماءين دارٌ

لمرتادِ الهوى فيها مَرادُ

To the right of the two waters' meeting stands a dwelling,

where the seeker of love has what he desires.

وقفتُ ومسعِدون معي عليها

ألا يا دارُ ما فَعَلتْ سعادُ

I stood before it, with companions sharing my sorrow:

O dwelling, what has become of Su'ad?

أقول لهم أُعلِّلُ فيكِ شوقي

وشيكاً ينقعُ الظمأَ الثَمادُ

I say to them, soothing my longing for you:

Soon the scant pools will quench the thirst.

خذوا من يومكم لغدٍ نصيباً

من الأطلالِ إنّ اليومَ زادُ

Take from your day a share for tomorrow,

from the ruins, for today is provision.

توقَّ البَّ تأمنْ كلَّ بغضٍ

فَداؤك من ذوائك مستفادُ

Avoid [love], and you will be safe from every hatred;

for your ailment is derived from your wasting away.

يخوّفني مَكايدَه زماني

صَغاركَ لا أُحسُّ ولا أكادُ

My age threatens me with its stratagems:

The abasement you inflict I do not feel, nor nearly feel.

وقدرتُه إذا لم يُعطِ بخلٌ

وغايته إذا أعطى نَفادُ

Its power, when it does not give, is miserliness;

and its limit, when it gives, is exhaustion.

فقل لبنيه لستُ إذاً أخاكم

بعادٌ بيننا أبداً بعادُ

So tell its sons: I am not, then, your brother;

separation lies between us forever—separation!

أعان اللّه مسكيناً رجاكم

فإن رجاءَ مثلِكُمُ جهادُ

May God help the poor man who hoped in you,

for hoping in the likes of you is a struggle.

رضينا من قبائلكم ببيتٍ

عمادُ المكرماتِ له عمادُ

Of all your tribes, we are content with one house,

whose pillar is the pillar of noble deeds:

بني عبدِ الرحيم وكلُّ فخر

يفوت فباسم نسبتهم يُفادُ

Banu Abd al-Rahim; whatever glory

eludes one is gained through the name of their lineage.

أعِدْ ذكرَ التحيّة في أناسٍ

إذا بَدَءُوا إليك يداً أعادوا

Repeat the words of greeting among a people

who, once they grant you a favor, grant it again.

وقم واخطب بحمدك في ربوعٍ

وفودُ المجد عنها لا تُذادُ

And rise to proclaim your praise in dwellings

from which the delegations of glory are never turned away.

ومبتسمين يُوري الملكُ منهم

جباهاً كلُّ واضحةٍ زنادُ

And among smiling men, from whom kingship strikes sparks:

foreheads, each radiant one a fire-striker.

رأَوا حفظَ النفوسِ إذا استميحوا

وقد بخل الحيا بخلاً فجادوا

When asked for aid, they resolved to preserve lives;

the rain had withheld its bounty, so they gave freely.

فِدىً للمحسنين فتىَ عُلاهم

وناشرُها وقد درَسوا وبادوا

A ransom for the beneficent, O youth of their glory,

and its herald now that they have faded and perished,

دعيٌّ في السماح وليس منه

متى اعترف الندي بك يا زِيادُ

is that pretender to generosity, who has no part in it.

When did generosity acknowledge you, Ziyad?

دعِ العلياءَ يَسحَبْها عريقٌ

بياضُك يومَ نسبتهُ سوادُ

Leave lofty glory; let one of ancient lineage trail it.

Your whiteness is blackness when his lineage is recounted.

يطولُ ركابَه إن قام فيها

ويقصرُ عن مقلَّده النجادُ

He towers beyond his stirrup when he rises in that glory,

and the sword-belt is too short to reach his shoulder.

ايا ابن عليٍّ اعتقلتك منّي

يدٌ لم تدرِ قبلك ما العَتادُ

O son of Ali, I have clasped you with

a hand that, before you, knew nothing of armament.

عركتُ يدَ الخطوبِ وفيَّ ضعفٌ

فَلِنَّ وهنَّ أَعباءٌ شِدادُ

I grappled with the hand of calamities, despite my weakness;

and they softened, though they were burdens hard to bear.

لذلك تُستزاد الشمسُ نوراً

وحُبِّك الذي لا يُستزادُ

For this the sun is asked for more light,

by your love, which cannot be increased!

وحظُّك من جَنَى فكري ثناءٌ

يطول وطُولهُ فيك اقتصادُ

Your share of the harvest of my thought is praise

that runs long, though in your case its length is restraint.

إذا الشيءُ المعادُ أَملَّ سمعاً

تَكرَّر وهو طِيباً يُستعادُ

When a repeated thing wearies the ear,

this praise recurs, sought again for its sweetness.

فما خُطِبَتْ بأبلغَ منه خاءٌ

ولا نُطِقَتْ بأفصحَ منه ضادُ

No khāʾ was ever declaimed more eloquently than in it,

nor any ḍād uttered more lucidly than in it.

ألا لا تذكُرُ الدنيا بخيرٍ

فتىً إلا وأنتَ به المرادُ

Indeed, the world never speaks well

of a youth unless you are the one intended.

إذا حاتز امرؤ تأييدَ نجلٍ

أمدَّك من أبي سعد مِدادُ

If a man gains a son's support,

support from Abu Sa'd has strengthened you.

شبيهُك والعلا منها اكتساب

ومنها وهو أفضلها وِلادُ

He is your likeness; some nobility is acquired,

and some—the finest kind—comes by birth.

وكنتَ البدرَ تمَّ فزِيدَ نجماً

كما أوفَى بغُرّته الجوادُ

You were the moon at its full, then a star was added,

as a noble steed is perfected by its forehead blaze.

فعشْ واذخرْه للعافين كهفاً

وخيرُ ذخيرةِ الجسم الفؤادُ

So live, and treasure him as a refuge for seekers of bounty;

and the body's finest treasure is the heart.