نبهت سعدا والأفق — Mihyar Al Daylami

نبّهتُ سعداً والأُفُقْ

أدهمُ شارفَ البَلقْ

I woke Sa'd while the horizon was

jet-black, nearing streaks of white,

وصادح الفجر على ال

مَفحَصِ بعد ما نطقْ

and the dawn singer upon the

scratching-ground had not yet sung.

فارتاع ثم قام فاه

تزّ لها ثم انطلَقْ

He started, then rose and

roused himself to it, then set out,

لهفان لا على الكرى

حيران لا من الفَرَقْ

anxious, but not over sleep,

bewildered, but not from fear,

مدارياً أجفانَه

بين السهاد والأرقْ

coaxing his eyelids

between wakefulness and sleeplessness.

وقال أمرَك ما

ذاك عرا وما طرقْ

He said: 'Your bidding! What

has befallen, and what has come by night?

اِصدع به اِمض له

أطقتُه أو لم أُطِقْ

Speak it openly; go ahead with it,

whether I can bear it or cannot.'

قلت الجلوسُ في كسو

ر البيت أفْنٌ وخُرُقْ

I said: 'Sitting in the recesses

of the house is weakness and folly.

والعزّ ما أفاده

هجرُ الجدارِ والفِرقْ

Honor is what is won

by forsaking walls and company.

راخِ لها فادنُ بها

ناشطةً من الرِّبَقْ

Give her rein and bring her near,

bounding free of her halters.

يُبزلها استنانُها

بين المثاني والحِقَقْ

Her racing brings her to full maturity

among sixth-year and fourth-year camels.

لها من اعتيادها

أدلَّةٌ على الطُّرُقْ

Her accustomed journeys give her

guides along the roads.

تغنَى إذا الليلُ دجا

عن النجوم بالحدَقْ

She can, when night grows dark, dispense

with the stars, by using her eyes.

قمْ نشترِ العزّ بها

بيعَ النضارِ بالوَرِقْ

Rise; let us buy honor with her,

as gold is traded for silver.

وافكك من العار بها

عُنْقَك وخداً وعَنَق

And with her free from shame

your neck, at a trot and a long stride.

والمرءُ في دار الأذى

عبدٌ فإن سار عَتَقْ

A man in the abode of harm

is a slave; if he travels, he is freed.

جُبْ طبِّقْ الأرض بنا

فما على الأرض طَبقْ

Traverse and cover the earth with us:

there is no lid over the earth.

قد مزج الناس فكم

تشرب شَوْباً ورَنقْ

People have been adulterated; how much

taint and murk will you drink?

خان الثقاتُ فبمن

ندفع ضيماً أو نثقْ

The trusted have betrayed us; through whom

shall we repel wrong, or whom shall we trust?

والَهْفَتَى إلى صدي

ق قال خيراً فصدقْ

Alas, how I long for a friend

who spoke good and proved true,

وصاحبٍ مستصرَخٍ

يسمعُ شكوى فيرقّْ

and a companion, called to help,

who hears a complaint and feels compassion.

طار الوفاء فتُرى

بأي جوٍّ قد لحقْ

Loyalty has flown away; I wonder

into what sky it has gone.

لولا ابن أيّوب لما

خلتُ أخَا صدقٍ صدقْ

Were it not for Ibn Ayyub, I would not

have thought a true friend sincere,

ولا رأيت خُلُقاً

يُعجبُ من هذي الخِلَقْ

nor have seen a character

to admire among these creatures.

لم تترك الأيامُ غي

رَ مجده ولم تُبَقْ

The days have left nothing but

his glory, and have spared no other.

على عميد الرؤسا

ء وقفَ الظنُّ المحقّْ

On the chief of chiefs

sound judgment has settled.

والناسُ ما عدوته

خوالبُ البرق الشفَقْ

People, once you pass beyond him,

are deceptive flashes of twilight lightning.

يفديه كلُّ وغرِ ال

صدر على الفضل حَنِقْ

May every man of rancorous

heart, angered at excellence, ransom him.

دعاؤه لوفره

جمعتُه فلا افترقْ

His prayer for his wealth is:

'I gathered it; may it never scatter!'

لم ترتدع بعرضه

سيادةٌ ولم تَلِقْ

His honor has never been tinged

with nobility, nor has it befitted him.

قد غلِط الدهر له

حُمْقاً وفي الدهر حُمُقْ

Time has blundered in his favor

through folly—and time has its follies.

فما له من سودَدِ ال

أوحدِ إلا ما سرَقْ

He has none of the nobility of the

peerless lord, except what he has stolen.

سقى الحيا كفّاً إذا

جفا الحيا فهي تدِقْ

May rain water a hand that, when

rain withholds itself, pours down.

وحيّت النعمةُ مَن

أُعطِيَ منها ما استحقّْ

May blessing salute the man

given of it what he deserved,

مصطبحاً من نشوا

تِ المكرمات مغتبِقْ

taking his morning draught from the raptures

of noble deeds, and his evening draught.

مذ سكرتْ أخلاقُه

من السماح لم يُفِقْ

Since his virtues grew drunk

on generosity, he has not sobered.

راهنَ في شوط الندى

جريَ الرياح فسبَقْ

In generosity's race he challenged

the racing winds, and outstripped them.

وحالمَ الطودَ فخف

فَ الطودُ عنه ونزقْ

He vied with the mountain in forbearance; it proved

light beside him, and flighty.

أبلج نورُ وجهه

يخطَفُ عيْنَيْ مَن رَمَقْ

Radiant: the light of his face

dazzles the eyes of whoever gazes.

وسائد الدست بما

شعشع منها تأتلِقْ

The cushions of his throne, lit by

his radiance, glitter.

يُطمِع فيه بشرُهُ

إذا استدرَّ فاندفَقْ

His cheerful welcome makes one hope in him;

when asked to give, he pours forth.

وتؤنس الهيبةُ من

حَصاته أن تُسترَقْ

His awe-inspiring presence gives assurance

that his judgment cannot be stolen.

فعفوه ليلٌ ندٍ

وبطشُه يومٌ صعِقْ

His pardon is a dewy night,

his onslaught a day of thunderbolts.

ناصَحَ للخليفتي

ن حدَثُ الرأي شفِقْ

He sincerely counseled both caliphs,

fresh in judgment and solicitous.

وردّ في نصابه

ما كان شذَّ ومرقْ

He restored to its proper place

whatever had strayed and broken away,

مستدركاً بنصحه

ثُغرةَ كلِّ ما انفتقْ

repairing through his counsel

the breach in whatever had been rent.

سار من العدل على

محجَّةٍ لم تُخترَقْ

In justice he traveled upon

a clear road never breached.

متّسقاً سعى الإما

م نسَقاً بعد نسَقْ

In harmony the Imam strove,

in sequence after sequence,

على اقتفاء أمره

في كلِّ ما جلَّ ودقّْ

to follow his command

in everything great and small.

فالباس والإسلام في

جماعةٍ لا تفترقْ

Thus might and Islam are in

a union that never divides.

نظمتَ دار الملك حت

تى التأمتْ وهي حِذَقْ

You ordered the royal house until

it came together, though it had been fragments.

ينَسخ إيمانُك في

ها شرعَ كلّ من فسقْ

Your faith abrogates within

it the law of every sinner.

وهي التي يُختَبر ال

مبطلُ فيها والمِحقّْ

It is there that the

wrongdoer and the rightful are tested.

وتلتقي الطاعات في

أبوابها وتتفقْ

Acts of obedience meet at

its gates and come together.

ويستوي الملوك في

ها خاضعين والسُّوَقْ

Kings are equal within

it, humbled, with common folk.

رعيتَها بمرهفٍ

أجفانُه لا تنطبقْ

You guarded it with a keen-pointed pen

whose eyelids never close.

يمضي مضاءَ السيف قد

جرَّبته إذا مُشقْ

It moves with a sword's force—you have

tested it when drawn.

تخال صبغَ النِّقسِ في

سِنانه صبغَ العَلَقْ

You would take the ink's stain on

its point for the stain of clotted blood.

يصدر عن تنفيذه

باللطف ما عزَّ وشقّْ

Through its execution comes forth

gently what was hard and difficult.

فالرمح منه ما استقا

م واللواءُ ما خفَقْ

It is a spear when it stands

straight, and a banner when it flutters.

فلا عُدمتَ آسياً

كدَّ العلاجَ فرفَقْ

May you never lack a healer

who labors at the cure, yet treats gently,

يُبرم ما يفتِل بال

حزم ويفرِي ما خَلَقْ

making firm what he twists with

resolve, and carrying out his designs.

أنت الذي خلَصتَ لي

والناسُ غدرٌ وملَقْ

You are the one sincere to me,

while people are treachery and flattery.

أسغْتَني الودَّ وهم

بين الغصاص والشرَقْ

You made affection easy for me to swallow, while they

choke on food and choke on drink.

عهدٌ حديثٌ بالوفا

ء عهدُه وإن عتُقْ

A bond whose pledge is fresh in loyalty,

though that pledge has grown old:

تُجدُّه لِبْستُهُ

وكلُّ ملبوسٍ خَلَقْ

wearing it makes it new,

while every worn thing grows threadbare.

كم حادثٍ عنّي أمط

تَ بعد ما كان علِقْ

How many a misfortune you cleared from me

after it had clung fast!

ومثقِلٍ حملتَه

لولا قواك لم يُطَقْ

And many a burden you carried

that, without your strength, could not be borne.

فما لإعراضٍ طرا

ينسَخ إقبالاً سبَقْ

Why has a new estrangement arisen

to erase a welcome that came before?

وما لِسالٍ عن بني

يَاتِيَ بعد ما عشِقْ

And what ails one forgetful of my little

daughters, after having loved them?

يتركهنَّ بارد ال

قلب يعالجن الحُرَقْ

He leaves them, cold of

heart, wrestling with burning grief.

يندبن آثاراً وعه

داً كان حرّاً فأبقْ

They lament old traces and a bond

that was freeborn, then absconded,

وعيشةً عندكُمُ

بيضاءَ خضراءَ الورَقْ

and a life once lived with you,

white and green-leaved,

مع النسيَّات غرا

بُ الهجر فيها قد نَعقْ

now among forgotten things; the raven

of estrangement has croaked over it.

تشكو الظما بحيث كن

نَ أبداً تشكو الغرقْ

They complain of thirst where they had

always complained of drowning.

ما طرقَتْ في حاجةٍ

باباً لكم إلا غُلِقْ

Never have they come knocking in need

at a door of yours without finding it shut.

هذا على اقتناعها

منكم بما بلَّ الرَمقْ

This, though they are content

with enough from you to keep life flickering,

وأنها لا تستبل

لُ الماءَ حتى تختنقْ

and do not ask for

water until they are choking.

وهي على جفائكم

تحنو عليكم فترِقّْ

Yet despite your coldness,

they incline toward you tenderly.

فما تُغِبُّ وافدا

تٍ رُفَقاً على رُفَقْ

They never miss a day, arriving

in companies, one after another.

لا يلتوي عنكم لها

لا ناظرٌ ولا عُنُقْ

Nothing of theirs turns away from you:

not an eye, nor a neck.

تُبضِعُكم جوهرَها

أكسدَ فيكم أو نَفقْ

They entrust you with their jewels,

whether unsold among you or readily bought.

تُهدِي إلى أعراضكم

نشراً إذا سار عبِقْ

They offer to your honor

a fragrance, sweet wherever it travels.

في كلّ يومٍ حسنُهُ

وحسنُها لا يفترقْ

Every day its beauty

and theirs remain inseparable.

تُجلي لكم في حَلْيها

مُوَشَّحاً ومنتطِقْ

They unveil themselves to you in their jewels,

sashed and girdled,

تضمن أَلفاً مثلَه

يأتي بها على نَسقْ

guaranteeing a thousand like this one,

brought forth in ordered succession.