أمرتكم أمري بنعمان ناصحا — Mihyar Al Daylami

أمرتُكُمُ أمري بنعَمانَ ناصحاً

وقلتُ احبسوها تلحقِ الحيَّ رائحا

I gave you my counsel at Nu'man, sincerely advising,

and said, "Hold the mounts back; they will catch the tribe on its evening march."

فماريتموني تَخبُرون اجتهادَها

فأُبتم بلا حاجٍ وأُبنَ طلائحا

But you disputed with me, testing their utmost effort;

you returned with no wish fulfilled, and they returned exhausted.

وقد صَدقتني في الصَّبا عن مكانهم

أخابيرُ أرواحٍ سبتني نوافحا

Yet, on the east wind, truthfully telling me their whereabouts

came tidings of breezes that captivated me with their fragrance.

كأنّ الثرى من طيبها فَتَّ فوقه

مجيزون من دارِينَ فأرا فوائحا

As though upon the earth, so sweetly scented, there had been crumbled

fragrant musk-pods by travelers passing from Darin.

لقاءٌ على نَعمانَ كان غنيمةً

وهيهات يدنو بعد أن فات نازحا

A meeting at Nu'man would have been a prize;

but how could it draw near, once lost and far away?

حَمَى دونه حَرُّ السماوة ظَهرَها

وعبَّس وجهاً ناجزٌ فيه كالحا

The heat of al-Samawa barred its expanse along the way,

and imminent peril scowled there, grim-faced.

إلى الحول حتى يشربَ القيظُ ماءهم

بنجدٍ وإما يسلخون البوارحا

Until the year's turn, until summer drinks up their water

in Najd, or they slough off the scorching winds.

لعلّك في إرسالِيَ الدمعَ لائمٌ

وقد عطَف الناسُ المطيَّ جوانحا

Perhaps you blame me for letting my tears flow,

when the people had turned their mounts aside.

نعم قد تجرّعتُ الدموعَ عليهمُ

عِذاباً وأقرحتُ الجفونَ الصحائحا

Yes, I swallowed tears for them,

sweet tears, and ulcerated once-healthy eyelids.

وما قلتُ غاضت بالبكاء ركِيَّةٌ

من العين إلا أَرسلَ الشوقُ ماتحا

Whenever I said, "Weeping has drained a well

in my eye," longing sent another water-drawer.

فهل ظبيةٌ يَجزِي وفاؤها

هوىً لم يُطِعْ فيها على النأي كاشحا

Is there a gazelle whose faithfulness will repay

a love that, despite distance, heeded no enemy against her?

إذا اعترضتْه من سلوٍّ معوضةً

مَحاسنُ في أخرى رآها مَقابحا

If, as a substitute to make him forget, he encountered

beauties in another woman, he saw them as blemishes.

ومن أين يَنسَى من يَرَى الغصنَ مائلاً

مثالَكِ والظبيَ المروَّعَ سانحا

How could one forget who sees the swaying bough

as your likeness, and the frightened gazelle crossing his path?

أرى عينه عينك والغورُ بيننا

فأَدمَى لقد أبعدتَ يا سهمُ جارحا

I see its eye as yours, with al-Ghawr between us;

it drew blood! How far you have reached, O wounding arrow!

يعنِّفُ في حُبِّ البداوة فارغٌ

من الوجد لم يَقْرِ الغرامَ الجوانحا

An untroubled man rebukes my love of desert life—

untouched by longing, he has never housed passion within his ribs.

فياليتَ لي من دار قومي وأسرتي

جوارَكِ روّاحاً عليكِ وصابحا

Would that, instead of my people's home and my family, I had

your nearness, visiting you evening and morning;

ومن تُرَّهاتِ الريف أرضاً قطنتُها

من الجدب فيها يأكلون النواضحا

and, instead of the fertile countryside's vanities, a land to inhabit

where drought makes them eat their water-drawing camels.

إذا ما شربتُ الوصلَ عَذباً مرقرَقاً

بها لم أعَفْ أن أشرب الماء مالحا

If I drank union's waters, sweet and clear,

there, I would not disdain to drink salt water.

دعُوني ونعمانَ الأراك أروده

يجاوبُ صوتي طيرَه المتناوحا

Leave me with Nu'man of the arak trees, to roam it,

my voice answering its lamenting birds.

عسى سارحٌ من دار ميَّةَ يامنٌ

يُقَيَّضُ لي عن شائمٍ طار بارحا

Perhaps a lucky wanderer from Mayya's home

may be granted me in place of an ill-omened one that flew leftward.

سقَى ما سقَتْ خدّي الدموعُ الحيا الغضا

بواكرَ من جَمّاته وروائحا

May rain water the ghada trees as long as tears water my cheeks,

with morning and evening showers from its abundant stores.

فكم ليلةٍ فيه نضوتُ حميدةٍ

وأُلبِستُ يوماً بُرقُعَ العيشِ صالحا

How many a blessed night I have cast off there,

and been clothed for a day in life's goodly veil.

وهمٍّ ترى القلبَ الرحيبَ وراءه

من الضيقِ لهفاً يستعيبُ المَراوحا

And many a care beneath which you would see the spacious heart

anguished with constriction, finding even cooling fans inadequate,

تلطَّفتُه حتى وجدتُ مَفارجاً

لصدرِيَ من غُمّاته ومَسارحا

I handled gently until I found openings

for my breast amid its gloom, and room to roam.

وبحرٍ من الآل الغَرور محرَّمٍ

ركبتُ له من سير لاحقَ سابحا

And many a forbidden sea of deceptive mirage—

I mounted a swimming steed with Lahiq's gait to cross it,

إلى حاجةٍ في طُرْقها الجِدُّ كلُّه

فأدركتُها جذلانَ أُحسَبُ مازحا

toward a need whose paths demanded utter earnestness;

I attained it rejoicing, taken for one merely playing.

ومضطغِنٍ أن قدَّمتني زوائدٌ

من الفضل أخْفَتْه وقد كان واضحا

And many a man resented the surpassing qualities that advanced me,

qualities of excellence that eclipsed him, though he once was prominent.

يعيّرني الحِدْثانَ وهو أعزُّ لي

كفى جَذَعاً أن فاتَكَ الشوطَ قارحا

He taunts me with my youth, though it brings me greater honor:

enough honor for a colt that it outran you, a full-grown horse, in the race!

وهل ضائري شيئاً إذا جئتُ آخراً

تأخُّرُ مِيلادي وقد جئتُ فاصحا

What harm can it do me, if I came last,

to have been born later, when I came eloquent?

وهَرَّ فلم يُطرَدْ فعضَّ سفاهةً

وعقرُك لي أني حقَرتُك نابحا

He snarled and was not driven off, so he foolishly bit;

your mauling me comes of my scorning you as you barked.

وزَنتُ بحلمي جهلَه لا أجيبه

فللّه مِنَّا مَن تمكَّن راجحا

I weighed his folly against my forbearance, not replying;

God bless the one of us who stood firm and outweighed the other!

وعجماءَ من وحش القوافي خدَعتُها

ولم تُعطِ قبلي جِلدَها قطُّ ماسحا

And many a speechless beast of the wilds of rhyme I beguiled,

though before me she had never yielded her skin to a caresser.

خطبتُ إليها عُذرَها فتحلّلت

وكانت حراماً لا تلامس ناكحا

I sought her maidenhood in marriage, and she became lawful,

though she had been forbidden, touching no bridegroom.

وعادتُها في المدح ألا أذيلها

ولكنَّ قوماً يكرمون المدائحا

Her rule in praise is that I never cheapen her;

but some men confer honor upon praises.

تمنّى بني عبد الرحيم ومجدَهم

رجالُ أمانٍ لم يقعن نجائحا

The Banu Abd al-Rahim and their glory were coveted

by men whose wishes never reached fulfillment.

وريموا فما حَطَّ الثريّا لباعه

فتىً ظنَّها كفّاً فمدَّ مُصافحا

They were sought; yet the Pleiades were never lowered to arm's reach

by a youth who thought them a palm and reached out to shake hands.

كرام مضوا بالجود إلا صُبابةً

أعاروا نداها الهاطلاتِ السوافحا

Noble men who departed, taking generosity with them, save a last drop

whose dew they lent the streaming, pouring clouds.

لهم من تليد العزّ ما يدّعونه

إذا خِفْتَ في دعوى الحسيبِ القوادحا

They possess, of ancestral honor, all that they claim,

when you fear grounds for discredit in a nobleman's claims.

إذا نَشروا الأغصانَ من شجراتهم

على ناسبٍ عُدُّواً لملوك الجحاجحا

When they spread the branches of their family trees

before a genealogist, they are counted among mighty kings.

تواصَوا فطابوا في الحياة وأكرِموا

نفوساً وطابوا ميتّين ضرائحا

They counseled one another, lived well, and were noble

in soul; and in death their tombs were sweet.

وأَخفَى الحسينُ خطفَهم بشُعاعِه

كما أَخفت الشمسُ النَجوم اللوائحا

Al-Husayn eclipsed their flashing brilliance with his radiance,

as the sun eclipses the shining stars.

فتىً لا يريد المجدَ إلا لنفسه

ولا المالَ إلا قسمةً ومَنائحا

A young man who wants glory for himself alone,

and wealth only to distribute it and give it away.

ينازع أزْماتِ السنين بأنملٍ

جوابرَ للأحوال تُسمَى جوارحا

He wrestles with the crises of the years with fingers

that mend fortunes, though called "wounders."

أنامل من يُسرٍ إذا ما أدارها

على مغلَقاتِ الرزق كنَّ مَفاتحا

Fingers of ease: whenever he turns them

upon the locks of livelihood, they become keys.

أقام على وجه الطريق بوجهه

مجيرَ النهار عاقرَ الليل ذابحا

He stationed his face upon the face of the road,

a protector of day, hamstringing and slaughtering night,

بحيث السماح لا يخيِّبُ سائلاً

وحدُّ الصفاح لا يخيِّبنَ صائحا

where generosity never disappoints a suppliant,

and the sword-blades' edge never fails one crying for help.

إذا عجزتْ يوماً مواعظُ صفحه

عن الأمر ولاَّه القنا والصفائحا

If ever the counsels of his clemency fail

at a task, he entrusts it to spears and blades.

ويأبى فيأتي مَشرَعَ الدمِ وارداً

حريصاً ويأتي مشرعَ الماء قامحا

If it resists, he comes to the watering-place of blood,

eager to drink, but approaches water with his head raised in refusal.

يصيب بأطراف العوالي مُحارباً

عِداه وأطرافِ الكلام مُصالحا

With the tips of lofty spears he strikes in war

his foes, and with pointed speech when making peace.

إذا هزَّ رمحاً طاعناً خِيلَ كاتباً

سَداداً وطِرساً كاتباً خِيلَ رامحا

When he brandishes a spear to thrust, he seems a writer,

so sure his aim; and writing on a page, he seems a spearman.

أقول لأيّامي وهن عواثر

بحظِّي لَعاً قد أدرك الذنبُ صافحا

I say to my days, as they stumble

with my fortune, "Rise again! Offense has found a pardoner."

إذا الصاحبَ استقبيتِه لي ورهطَهُ

فمرِّي بقومٍ طائراتٍ طوائحا

If you clothe me in the Sahib and his clan,

then sweep through other folk, flying and casting them down.

أذمّوا على الآمال لي وتعاقدوا

على رَقْع خَلاَّتي أكفّاً نواصحا

They pledged protection to my hopes and joined in covenant,

with faithful hands, to mend the rents of my need.

غَبرتُ زماناً أمنع الناسَ مِقوَدي

حَروناً إلى غير المطامع طامحا

For long I lived, keeping my rein from others,

headstrong, aspiring beyond the objects of greed.

أعِزُّ فلا ألقى ابنَ مالٍ مؤمِّلاً

لمالٍ ولا يلقانِيَ الدهرَ مادحا

I prize my honor: I approach no son of wealth hoping

for riches, nor does he ever meet me praising him.

مع الناس حُرَّاً خاطري غير أنهم

بأخلاقهم يستعبدون القرائحا

My spirit is free among men, except that they

enslave poetic gifts through their virtues.

وما كنتُ في طرد الخطوب بيُمنهم

بأوّلِ داجٍ يستضيء المصابحا

In repelling adversity through their good fortune,

I was not the first night-traveler to seek the lamps' light.

بك اعتدلتْ حُوشيّةٌ من تصعّبي

وراخيتَ من أنسي فأصبحَ سازحا

Through you, a wild streak of my obstinacy grew tame,

and you gave my familiarity free rein, till it roamed at ease.

صَحِبتُك لم يَمسحْ عِذاري سوادُه

وها أنا قد غطَّى سوادي المسائحا

I kept your company before my beard's blackness brushed my cheeks;

now my dark beard covers the sides of my face.

وسدّيتَ عندي نعمةً ليس ناهضاً

ثنائي بها ما لم أجدك مُسامحا

You bestowed on me a favor whose burden cannot be borne

by my praise, unless I find you indulgent.

فكن سامعاً في كلّ نادي مسرّةٍ

شواردَ في الدنيا ولسن بوارحا

Be listening, then, in every gathering of joy,

to verses roaming the world, yet never ill-omened,

حواملَ أعباءِ الثناء خفائفاً

صعِدن الهضابَ أو هبَطن الأباطحا

light bearers of praise's burdens,

whether climbing hills or descending broad valleys.

يَرَى المفصِحُ المفتونُ عُجْباً بشِعرِه

لها ناقصاً ما سَرّه منه رازحا

The eloquent man, spellbound by admiration for his verse,

finds what delighted him in it wanting beside these, weighed down.

إذا قمتُ أتلوها اقشعرَّ كأنني

تلوتُ مَزاميراً بها ومَسابحا

When I rise and recite them, he shudders, as though I

had recited psalms and hymns of praise through them.

تزورك لا زالت تزور بشائراً

يسوق التهاني وفدُها والمَفارحا

They visit you—may they always visit—as glad tidings;

their delegation brings congratulations and joys.

يضُمُّ الزمانُ شملَ عزِّك نظمَها

ويطرحُ مَن عادَى علاك المَطارحا

May time gather your glory's strands as these are strung,

and hurl those hostile to your eminence far away.