نعم من جميلة إحدى النعم — Mihyar Al Daylami

نَعَمْ من جميلَة إحدَى النِّعَمْ

وإن ضنَّ قلبٌ فقد جادَ فَمْ

A yes from Jamila is one of life's blessings.

Though a heart is miserly, a mouth has been generous.

نُعالج في الحبّ مُرّ الكِلامِ

ونقنَع منه بحُلوِ الكَلِمْ

In love we struggle with the bitterness of wounds,

and content ourselves with the sweetness of words.

وتُبرِد أكبادَنا خُلسةٌ

من اللحظ أو زورةٌ في الحُلُمْ

And our livers are cooled by a stolen moment

of gazing, or a visit in a dream.

فداءُ جميلةَ تحتَ الظلامِ

ونومتِها ساهر لم ينمْ

A ransom for Jamila beneath the darkness,

and for her sleep, is a watcher who has not slept.

صحا من مقبَّلها بالمدام

وأُبرِيءَ من طَرْفها بالسَّقَمْ

He sobered from her lips with wine,

and was cured of her glance with sickness.

تغرَّب حبُّ ابنةِ العامريِّ

فساق إلى العُرْبِ وُدَّ العجَمْ

Love of al-Amiri's daughter traveled abroad,

bringing the non-Arabs' affection to the Arabs.

أما وتمايلِها والنسيمُ

يجورُ على قدِّها إن حَكَمْ

Ah, by her swaying—while the breeze

wrongs her figure if it judges—

وجاعِل مفتاحِ رزقِ العباد

يمينَ أبي قاسم ما قَسَمْ

and by Him who made the key to His servants' livelihood

Abu Qasim's right hand, for all He apportioned—

عرفتُ لنفسي سوى حبها

خصيما صبَرت له إن ظلَمْ

I have known, apart from her love,

no foe whose wrongs I would patiently bear.

وكيف يصاحبُ ذلّاً فتىً

بسعد تعلّق أَوْفَى العِصَمْ

How could a young man keep company with humiliation

who in Sa'd has grasped the firmest bonds?

فتَى ضبّةٍ يومَ أخْذِ التِّراتِ

وشيخهمُ يومَ رَعْيِ الذّممْ

Dabba's young champion when blood-debts are exacted,

and their elder when covenants are honored;

وبدر تفرّع من شمسِهم

فما ترَكا دولةً للظُّلَمْ

a full moon sprung from their sun,

so the two left darkness no dominion.

تلّفت يسألُ أشياخَهم

ليلحَقَ في المجدِ سعيا بهمْ

He looked about, questioning their elders,

striving to catch up with them in glory.

فأخبره الخالُ عن خير جَدٍّ

وحدّثه الأبُ عن خيرِ عَمّْ

His maternal uncle told him of the finest grandfather,

and his father spoke of the finest paternal uncle.

وجمّع شتَّى سجاياهُمُ

فكنَّ الندى وكريمَ الشيَمْ

He gathered their various virtues,

and these were generosity and noble character.

فإن كان يومُ جَداً قال خذْ

وإن تك نائبةٌ قيلَ قُمْ

If it was a day of bounty, he said, ‘Take!’

and if calamity struck, he was told, ‘Rise!’

ون طُرِقوا بابن ليلٍ أذَمَّ

له جودُهُ وابنِ صبحٍ ألمّْ

And if a son of night came to them, protection was pledged

to him by his bounty; and if a son of morning arrived,

لقُوه بسعدِهُم المستنيرِ

فكان الهزبرَ وكان الخِضمّْ

they met him with their radiant Sa'd:

he was the lion, and he was the ocean.

فمن مبلغُ النصحِ عنّي أباه

وما أنا في النصح بالمتَّهمْ

Who will convey my counsel to his father?

I am not suspect in giving counsel.

إذا ما سألتَ أبا قاسم

فإن شئت أسرِ وإن شئتَ نَمْ

When you ask Abu Qasim,

travel by night if you wish, or sleep if you wish.

شبيهُك خَلْقا وخُلْقا نراه

كما القدَمُ الوَفْقُ أختُ القَدَمْ

We see him as your likeness in form and character,

as one matching foot is sister to the other.

أبا قاسم دعوةً من فتىً

وِصالُ الندى فيه وَصلُ الرَّحِمْ

Abu Qasim, hear a plea from a young man

for whom a bond of bounty is a bond of kinship.

أتى عاثرا حظُّه بالزمان

فإن أنتَ قلتَ سلامٌ سلِمْ

He comes, his fortune stumbling against the times;

if you say ‘Peace,’ he is safe.

سرَى الشوقُ بي أو دعتْ حاجةٌ

سمعتُ لها بعد طولِ الصّمَمْ

Longing bore me by night, or a need called;

I listened to it after long deafness.

فحمَّلتُ رَحليَ محفوفةً

بإدراك ما تتمنّى الهمَمْ

So I loaded my saddle onto mounts surrounded

by attainment of all that lofty ambitions desire:

مَطاويَ للأرض إما انتشرنَ

مصابيحَ إما شققن الظّلَمْ

folding up the earth whenever they stretch out,

lamps whenever they cleave the darkness.

علمنَ مُراديَ أو خلتُهنَّ

تبطَّنَّ بالحزْم تحت الحُزُمْ

They knew my aim, or I imagined they

had filled themselves with resolve beneath their girths.

فلما طلعنَ بنا النَّهروان

تعاقدنَ طاعةَ حُكمِ الحَكَمْ

When they brought us up to al-Nahrawan,

they pledged obedience to the arbiter's decree.

وجُلْنَ برمل جَلولا فَسُمْنَ

سَنابكَهنَّ إباءَ السأَمْ

They wheeled through Jalula's sand, demanding

that their hooves refuse weariness.

وخُنِّقن بالماء في خانِقِي

نَ حبّاً لما بعدَها أو قَرَمْ

And they choked on water at Khaniqin,

for love of what lay beyond it, or from ravenous yearning.

وما شِمنَ حُلوانَ حتى حلا

بأفواهها طعمُ فُوسِ اللُّجُمْ

They had scarcely glimpsed Hulwan when sweet grew

in their mouths the taste of the bridle-bits.

وبشَّرها بالجبال الحصا

وكانت جبالا وكنا العُصُمْ

The gravel heralded the mountains to them;

they were mountains, and we were ibexes.

تُزاحمِها أشِرات بها

كأنّ أكِمَّتَها في الأكَمْ

They jostled them, high-spirited among them,

as though their head-coverings were among the knolls.

ولما قضى سيرُها ما قضى

لنا الله من نيل أسنَى القِسمْ

And when their journey had fulfilled what

God decreed for us: gaining the finest shares,

وألقتْ نهاوندَ مطروحةً

وراءَ شَممنا نسيمَ الكرمْ

and left Nahavand lying

behind us, we breathed the breeze of generosity.

فجئتُك أَخبُرُ مَن ذا أزو

رُ مِن مَلكٍ وبمن ذا أُلِمّْ

So I came to you, learning whom I was visiting—

what king, and to whom I was coming—

بداءينِ شوقٍ برا إذ رآك

وآخرَ لم يبرَ بعدَ العدمْ

with two ailments: longing, cured when it saw you,

and another, still uncured: poverty.

وقد جرَّ شهرا عليَّ المُقام

وأنّيَ وجداً كأن لم أُقِمْ

My stay has dragged on a month,

yet in longing I am as though I had not stayed.

ولكن عَنيّون بي إذ حضَرتُ

عنِيّون بالأمر بعدِي المُلِمّْ

But those concerned for me when I was present

are troubled by what befalls them in my absence.

أضاميم عند العطا مذ نأيتُ

أبَى شملُ عزِّهِمُ أن يُضَمّْ

Gathered around bounty; since I went away,

their proud company has refused to reunite.

ضربتُ لهم أجلاً في اللقاء

قصيرا وإن طال حزنا وغمّْ

I set them a time for reunion,

short, though long with grief and gloom.

يُعدّون للشوق أيّامَه

يخالونه قبلَ تمَّ استتمّْ

They count its days out of longing,

thinking it fully ended before it is over.

إذا عرَضَت منهمُ ذكرةٌ

مسحتُ لها كبدي من ألمْ

Whenever a memory of them arises,

I stroke my liver for the pain it brings.

فَإِذْناً سلمتَ لهذا الوداع

وإن قلتُها عن فؤاد وجَمْ

So grant leave—may you be safe—for this farewell,

though I say it from a grief-stricken heart.

غَداً أنبُذ العزَّ نبذَ الحصاة

وأهجرُ للخوف دارَ الحَرمْ

Tomorrow I cast away honor like a pebble,

and leave the sanctuary's abode to face fear.

وأتركُ دارَك لا قاليا

ورائي وبين يديّ الندمْ

I leave your house, not in loathing,

behind me, with regret before me.

وبعدُ فحين تراني العراقُ

فقد نشر العلمُ منّي علَمْ

And further: when Iraq sees me,

learning will have unfurled a banner in my person.

وسوفَ يناشدُني السائلون

بمجدك وهو أبرُّ القَسمْ

Those who question me will adjure me

by your glory, the truest of oaths:

بماذا رجَعت وماذا احتقبت

وماذا ركِبت وأينَ الحشمْ

‘With what did you return, and what did you carry away?

What did you ride, and where is your retinue?’

وكلُّ المخبَّرِ عنّي يقول

من البحرِ جاء فماذا غنِمْ

And everyone who hears of me will say,

‘He came from the sea—what did he gain?’

فحدّثتُهم عنك بي كيف شئتُ

فبالروض يظهر فضلُ الدِّيَمْ

Then I shall tell them of you through my own state, as I choose;

for the meadow reveals the excellence of steady rains.

متى يبعثُ الدهرُ مثلي لكم

ألا إنها فرصة تُغتنَمْ

When will time send you another like me?

Indeed, this is a chance to be seized.

فللمرءِ ذِكرانِ في رفدهِ

فذكرٌ يزينُ وذكرٌ يصِمْ

A man gains two kinds of remembrance through his giving:

one adorns him, and one disgraces him.

سلمتَ وزارك مني السلا

مُ ما أورقَتْ شجرات السَّلَمْ

May you be safe, and may my greeting visit you

as long as the salam acacias put forth leaves.

وحيّاك مُحيي العلا في ذَار

ك ما ناوب الغُدُواتِ العَتَمْ

And may the reviver of glory greet you in your shelter,

as long as dusk alternates with mornings.