كثر فيك اللوم — Mihyar Al Daylami

كَثَّرَ فيكِ اللوَّمُ

وأين سمعي وهُمُ

The reproachers have spoken much of you;

but where is my hearing, and where are they?

قلبِيَ واللوم علي

كِ منجدٌ ومتهمُ

My heart and reproach concerning

you—one in Najd, the other in Tihama.

سعَوا بغِشٍّ لا سعوا

وينصَحون زعموا

They strove deceitfully—may their striving fail!

They give good counsel, so they claim.

وأتعَبُ المُكَلَّفي

ن ناصحٌ متَّهَمُ

And the weariest of those charged with a task

is an adviser held in suspicion.

قالوا سهرتَ والعيو

نُ المسهَراتُ نوَّمُ

They said, “You stay awake, while the eyes

that keep you wakeful are asleep.

وليس في جسمك إل

لا جلدةٌ وأعظمُ

Nothing remains in your body

but skin and bones.”

وما عليهم أَرَقي

ولا رقادي لهُمُ

What is my sleeplessness to them?

Nor does my sleep belong to them.

وهل سماتُ الحب إل

لا سَهَرٌ وسقَمُ

And are love's marks anything

but sleeplessness and sickness?

خذ أنت في شأنك يا

دمعيَ خذْ ودعْهمُ

Go on with your own business, O

my tears—go on, and leave them.

هذا الكثيب الفرد من

نجدٍ وهذا العلَمُ

Here is the solitary dune of

Najd, and here the landmark;

وحيثُ يشقَى ناظرٌ

من حيثُ كان ينعَمُ

and here an eye suffers

where once it took delight.

ناشدْ بسعد دارَها

فالدار عنك تفهمُ

Adjure her dwelling by Sa‘d;

for the dwelling understands you.

وهل يجيب طللٌ

والربع لا يكلِّمُ

But does a ruined trace answer,

when the campsite cannot speak?

أين دُماكَ والهوى

سؤالنا أين همُ

Where are your statue-like beauties? Love

is our asking, “Where are they?”

وأين غَفْلاتٌ لنا

تنصَع منها الظُّلَمُ

And where are our unguarded moments

that made the darkness shine clear?

فالجيرةُ الجيرةُ وال

أنعم منهم أنعمُ

Those neighbors, those neighbors! And

their favors—true favors!

وفي التشاكِي قُبَلٌ

مخلوسة تُغْتَنَمُ

And in exchanging complaints, kisses

were stolen and seized;

وخلوات حلوة

تنُمُّ وهي تُكَتمُ

and sweet secluded meetings

betrayed themselves even as they were concealed.

تفضُلُ في شِرعتِها

للغُدُواتِ العَتَمُ

By their law, more precious

than mornings were the dark hours.

ثراكِ يُسْتافُ مع ال

صبحِ لها ويُلثَمُ

Your dust is breathed in at

dawn for their sake, and kissed.

وغاربين لا تنو

ب الطالعاتُ عنهمُ

And those who have set—no

rising stars can replace them.

كلّ فتاةٍ لحظُها

على القناة لَهذمُ

Each maiden's glance

is a keen spearhead on a shaft.

لو لم تكن تُدمِي به

ما مازج الدمعَ دمُ

Had she not drawn blood with it,

no blood would have mingled with tears.

عادت بقلبي مشرِكاً

وهو حنيفٌ مسلمُ

She turned my heart into an idolater,

though it was a true-believing Muslim,

لأنه يعبدها

بالحبِّ وهي صنمُ

because it worships her

through love, while she is an idol.

وغادرت نارَ الجوى

تُذكَى لها وتضرَمُ

And she left the fire of passion

stoked and blazing for her.

فإن يكن ضلّ بها

فحسبه جهنمُ

If it has gone astray through her,

Hell is enough for it.

أقسمتُ والصادقُ لا

يَحرَجُ حين يُقسِمُ

I swear—and the truthful man does not

incur sin when he swears—

بالمهديات لِمِنىً

تَبدُنُ أو تُسنَّمُ

by the sacrificial beasts led to Mina,

grown stout or high-humped,

كالأكَم اغتصَّت بها

تشرَق منها الأكمُ

like hillocks, so thickly massed

that the hillocks choke upon them;

مقلداتٍ للردى

تُرقَشُ أو ترقَّمُ

garlanded for death,

speckled or marked,

حتى تُرَى واجبةً

جُنوبُها تُقتَسمُ

until you see them fallen,

their flanks divided into shares;

وزمزمٍ وما شفتْ

من كلّ داء زمزمُ

and by Zamzam and all

the illnesses Zamzam has cured;

وما اجتُبِي للماسحي

نَ الأسودُ المستَلَمُ

and by the choosing, for those who stroke it,

of the Black Stone, reverently touched:

أن بني أيَوبَ من

غَشْم الخطوب عِصمُ

the sons of Ayyub are

safeguards against calamities' violence;

وأنَّ أيّامَهمُ

فينا الشهورُ الحُرُمُ

and their days

among us are the sacred months.

قومٌ ثقالٌ أدركوا

جميع إلٍّ غَرِموا

Men of substance, who fulfilled

every covenant they undertook;

نيرانُهم آراؤهم

والسابقاتُ الهممُ

their fires are their judgments,

and their racing steeds are their ambitions.

إن حاربوا يوما فأس

يافهُمُ تَكَلَّمُ

If they wage war one day, their

swords do the speaking;

ويبطىءُ الرمح الأصم

مُ فيخفُّ القلمُ

and if the unyielding spear lags,

the pen moves swiftly.

ولهم المجد فقف

فَوا إثرَه ولَقموا

Glory is theirs: they followed

its trail and took its broad road.

فقرَّبَ السبق لهم

وَخَوض قومٍ فيهمُ

Thus the prize drew near to them,

amid other men's disparaging talk.

وحسبُهم أنّ عمي

د الرؤساء منهمُ

It suffices them that Amid

al-Ru'asa is one of them:

أفْقُ عُلاً لا تخلِفُ ال

أنوارَ منه الظُّلَمُ

a horizon of glory where

darkness never succeeds the light;

تولَد من شموسه

أهلّةٌ وأنجمُ

from its suns are born

crescents and stars.

تقدّم الناسَ بهم

عصرُهم المقدَّمُ

Through them, ahead of mankind

advanced their preeminent age.

وجاء يبني فوق ما

قد أسّسوا ودعَّموا

He came to build above what

they had founded and strengthened,

فجاز حدَّ المبتد

ين المنتهِي المتمّمُ

and surpassed the founders' limit—

the consummator, the perfecter.

فيليهنهم ما فتحوا

به العلا أو ختموا

May they rejoice in what they opened

of glory, or brought to completion,

وأنهم إذا ادعوا ال

معجزَ دلّ ابنهُمُ

and that, when they claim the

miraculous, their son is proof.

أبلجُ بسّامٌ وفي

نادي العلا مقدَّمُ

Radiant-faced, ever smiling, and

foremost in the assembly of eminence;

وفائضٌ ربيعُه

يومَ تفيض الدِّيَمُ

his springtime overflows

when the steady rains overflow.

مبارَكٌ تستقبِل ال

يومَ به فتغنَمُ

Blessed: you greet the

day with him and prosper.

بُلجةُ فجرِ وجههِ

يُقمِرُ منها المعتِمُ

The brightness of his face's dawn

gives moonlight to the benighted.

محصَّنٌ بالشكر أن

تنفُرَ منه النِّعمُ

Fortified by thankfulness against

blessings taking flight from him.

يا فارسَ الكَرَّة وخ

زُ الطعن فيها الكَلُمِ

O knight of the charge, whose piercing

thrusts are words;

جروحُها بالسبر وال

عِصابِ لا تُلتحَمُ

its wounds, by probing and

bandaging, cannot be healed.

حَلْبتُها القرطاسُ وال

أسطرُ خَيلٌ دُهُمُ

Its racecourse is the page; the

lines are jet-black horses,

والأنمل السُّبطُ لها

أعنّةٌ ولُجُمُ

and the slender fingers are their

reins and bridles.

فارسُها المعلَم لا

يهفو عليه العلَمُ

Its distinguished knight has no

banner fluttering over him,

مقتعدا أنماطَه

حيث تجولُ الهمَمُ

seated upon his patterned rugs

where high ambitions roam.

حطت بها خلائفاً

بهم تحاط الأممُ

There caliphs have been seated,

by whom nations are protected.

ناطوا بك الأمرَ فما

ليموا ولا تألّموا

They entrusted you with rule, and

were neither blamed nor pained.

فسلّموا الأمرَ إلى

نصحِك حتى سلِموا

They handed affairs over to

your faithful counsel, and so were safe.

المنبرُ الصائح عن

أسمائهم والدرهمُ

The pulpit proclaiming

their names, and the dirham,

وغزوُنا مجمَّعا

وحجُّنا والموسمُ

our mustered expeditions,

our pilgrimage and its season—

كلٌّ يقومُ بالذي

تقضِي به وتحكمُ

all proceeds according to what

you decree and decide.

سَعى رجالٌ للذي

توعِدهم وتُنعمُ

Men have striven for what

you hold out to them and bestow;

ولم ينالوا نِعما

تلَذُّ فيما تصِمُ

yet gained no blessings

whose sweetness survived the shame they brought.

وأنت تسعى للتي

تعلو بها وتعظُمُ

But you strive for that

which raises you and makes you great.

فمن تُزَنُّ عنده

بريبةٍ أو تُرجَمُ

Then in whose eyes are you suspected

of wrongdoing, or pelted with accusations?

فالله والخليفتا

ن بالرجال أعلمُ

For God and the two caliphs

know men best.

فلا يزَلْ عِقدُ الكلا

م بعلاك ينظَمُ

May the necklace of speech never cease

to be strung with your high renown;

ولا تزلْ يقظى الخطو

ب وهي عنك نُوَّمُ

and may calamities remain wakeful,

yet lie asleep where you are concerned.

وإن طغت غريبةٌ

تُهِمُّ أو تقَسِّمُ

And should some strange disaster rage,

causing anxiety or dispersal,

كانت كأضغاث الكرى

ما راع منها حُلُمُ

may it be like tangled dreams of sleep,

no dream among them bringing fear;

ثم انجلت كما جلا ال

صبحُ الظلامَ عنكُمُ

then pass away as

dawn clears darkness away from you.

وناوبتك بالتها

ني مفصِحاتٌ عُجُمُ

And may there visit you in turn, with

congratulations, eloquent yet speechless letters.

سطورُها الخُرسُ تُبي

ن عنكم وتُفهِمُ

Their mute lines speak

of you and make you understood;

يُقرَأُ قبلَ فضِّه

كتابُها المترجمُ

before it is opened,

their expressive letter is read.

أعراضكم في طيّها

روضُ الحمى المكمَّمُ

Your good names, folded within them,

are a sanctuary's meadow of sheathed buds;

لطائمٌ أرواحها

لغيركم لا تنسِمُ

perfume-laden caravans, whose scents

waft for none but you;

عاشقةٌ واصلةٌ

وهي أوانا تصرِمُ

loving, keeping union,

though at times they sever it.