على أي أخلاقِ الزمان أعاتبه — Mihyar Al Daylami

على أيّ أخلاقِ الزمان أعاتبُهْ

وما هو إلا صَرفه ونوائبُهْ

For which of Time's ways shall I reproach it?

It is nothing but its vicissitudes and calamities.

تَفرَّى أديمي وهو بُتْرٌ شِفارُهُ

وجافت جروحي وهو صُمٌّ مخَالبُهْ

My skin is rent, though its blades are blunted,

and my wounds gape, though its claws are blunt.

نُدوبٌ تُقفِّي هذهِ عَقْبَ هذهِ

وداءٌ إذا ما باخ أَوقدَ صاحبُهْ

Scars follow closely, one upon another,

and an illness whose fellow flares whenever it subsides.

شغَلتُ يدي حيناً بعدّ ذنوبهِ

وزِدن فقد تاركتهُ لا أحاسبُهْ

I occupied my hand awhile with counting its offenses;

they multiplied, so I left it alone, no longer calling it to account.

طرحتُ سلاحي وانتزعتُ تمائمي

وضاربهُ يُنحِي عليَّ وسالبُهْ

I cast down my weapons and stripped off my amulets,

while its striker and its plunderer bear down upon me,

ببيضٍ من الأيام هنّ سيوفهُ

وسودٍ من الليلاتِ هنّ عقاربُهْ

with white days that are its swords,

and black nights that are its scorpions.

أُدامِجه حتّى يرانيَ راضياً

مِراراً وأعصِي مرةً فأغاضبُهْ

I humor it until it sees me content,

time and again; once I rebel and quarrel with it.

فلا هو إن أطريتُه قابضٌ يداً

ولا خائفٌ عاراً بما أنا عائبُهْ

Yet when I praise it, it does not stay its hand,

nor does it fear disgrace for the faults I find in it.

نصحتُك لا تُخدَعْ بسنَّةِ وجهِهِ

فشاهده حُسْنٌ تَشوَّهَ غائبُهْ

I counsel you: do not be deceived by its fair appearance;

its visible aspect is fair, its hidden aspect hideous.

ولا تتمهَّدْ قِعدة فوقَ ظهرهِ

فما هو إلا ضيغمٌ أنت راكبُهْ

Do not settle comfortably upon its back:

it is only a lion you are riding.

تَردَّى رجالٌ قبلنا وتقطَّرت

بِهمْ شُبههُ دون المَدِيِّ وشاهبُهْ

Men before us have fallen and been cast headlong

by its deceptive semblances and pale aspect, short of their goal.

وصَرَّحَ عمّا ساءهم طولُ مَحضِهِ

خبائثَ جرّتها عليهم أطايبُهْ

Long scrutiny of it laid bare what had harmed them:

vile things its good things had brought upon them.

حبائلُ مكتوبٌ لها نصرُ كيدها

من الله لا يُمحَى الذي هو كاتبُهْ

Snares whose cunning is ordained to triumph

by God: what He has written cannot be erased.

فمن مغلَقٍ مستعجَلٍ أو مؤخَّرٍ

مُراخِيهِ يوماً لا مَحالةَ جاذبُهْ

Some held fast are hurried on, and others given delay;

he who gives them slack must one day draw them in.

تصاممتُ عن داعي المنونِ مغالطاً

وإنّي على طول السكوت مُجاوبُهْ

I feigned deafness to death's caller, deceiving myself,

yet however long my silence, I shall answer him.

وقدَّمتُ غيري جُنَّةً أتَّقي بها

ومن يُوقَ من راميه لابدّ صائبُهْ

I sent others ahead as a shield to protect myself,

yet one shielded from his archer must still be struck by him.

أخلاَّي أيمُ اللهِ أَطلب ثَأْركَم

من الدهر لو قد أَدركَ الثأرَ طالبُهْ

My friends, by God, I would seek vengeance for you

from Time, if ever a seeker could attain that vengeance.

أفي كلّ يومٍ لي قَضيبٌ مُخالَسٌ

وذخرٌ نفيسٌ منكم الموتُ غاصبُهْ

Must I each day have a slender bough snatched away,

and a precious treasure among you seized by Death?

وكاسٍ من العلياء والحسنِ يعتدي

سليما على سيفي وسَوطِيَ سالِبُهْ

And one clad in eminence and beauty, whose robber strikes

unharmed at my sword and my whip?

تَطيحُ به زندي وجَهدُ تحفُّظي

بميثاقِهِ في الغيب أنّيَ نادبُهْ

My arm and all my vigilant care fall with him,

under his compact in the unseen that I shall mourn him.

وكم منكُمُ كالنجم رُعتُ به الدُّجَى

زماناًن خبا بعد الإضاءةِ ثاقبُهْ

How many of you, like a star, I used to terrify the darkness

for a time, before their piercing light faded after shining!

وآخَرُ لمّا سامَحتْني بأصله ال

منايا ذَوتْ أغصانُهُ وشعائبُهْ

And another: when his root was spared me by

death, his branches and offshoots withered.

وأضحى بنوه غِبطةً وبناتُهُ

تُسَلُّ بهم أنيابُهُ ورواجبُهْ

His sons and daughters became a happiness to long for,

their loss wrenching out his fangs and finger-joints.

فينزو بلبيّ شجوُهُ وتُصيبني

بموضعه من سِرّ قلبي مَصائبُهْ

His sorrow leaps into my heart, and I am struck

by his calamities where he dwells in my heart's depths.

ألا يا أخي للودّ دنيّاً وكم أخٍ

لأمِّي بعيداتٍ عليّ قرائبُهْ

O my brother, near in affection! How many a brother

born of my mother has ties of kinship remote from me!

لحا الله خَطباًن شَلَّ سرحَك طردُهُ

وجمَّعَ في إلهابِ قلبك حاطبُهْ

May God curse the calamity whose pursuit scattered your flock,

whose wood-gatherer piled fuel to set your heart ablaze.

رَمْتك يدُ الأيّام عن قوسِ قارنٍ

إذا هو والى لم تخنه صوائبُهْ

The hand of Days shot at you from a bow that pairs its arrows;

when its archer shoots successively, his unerring arrows never fail him.

سقتك بكفٍّ أَدهَقتْ لك ثانياً

ولمَّا يُفِق من أوْلٍ بعدُ شارِبُهْ

It made you drink from a hand that filled a second draught for you,

before its drinker had yet sobered from the first.

فقَرْحٌ وقَرْحٌ لم تَلاحَمْ نُدُوبهُ

ودمعٌ ودمعٌ ما تعلَّق ساربُهْ

Wound upon wound, before its scars have knitted,

and tears upon tears, their flowing stream never held back.

ويا ليته لمّا تثنَّى تعلَّقتْ

مقاديرهُ أو استوين مَراتبُهْ

Would that, when it struck twice, there had been a halt

to its decrees, or its degrees had been equal!

ولكنّها كفٌّ هوتْ إثر إصبِع

حارِكُ ظهرٍ بعدَهُ جُبَّ غاربُهْ

But it was a hand falling after a finger,

a back's withers, after which its crest was cut away.

حَصاتان من درٍّ حَصانانِ لم تَطِرْ

يدٌ بهما ما دنَّس الدُّرَّ ثاقبُهْ

Two pebbles of pearl, two chaste ones: never did

a hand carry them off; no piercer ever sullied the pearls.

هما بيضتا كِنٍّ بجانبِ مُلبَسٍ

حماه الطروقَ تيهُهُ وسَباسِبُهْ

They are two eggs in a shelter beside a bewildering wilderness,

whose trackless wastes and open plains barred night-time visitors.

حرامٌ على الساري تضيعَ على القطا

أفاحيصُهُ في جوّه ومَساربُهْ

Forbidden to the night-traveler: even the sandgrouse loses

its nest-scrapes and tracks in that open expanse.

يحوطهما ما اسطاعَ وحفُ جناحهِ

شِعارُهما دون التراب ترائبُهْ

The dense plumage of his wing guards them as best it can;

his breast is their close covering, rather than the dust.

تراه يُصادي حاجبَ الشمسِ عنهما

لو أنّ الردَى ما أحرز الشيءَ هائبُهْ

You see him fend the sun's rim away from them—

if only one who fears death could keep his charge safe!

رزِئتَهما شمسْينِ أَقسمَ فيهما

ظلامُ الأسَى ألاَّ تَجَلَّى غياهبُهْ

You were bereaved of them, two suns over which

grief's darkness swore its depths would never clear.

يعدّون خُرْقاً بالفتى في بنائهِ

إذا ما بكَى أو ذلَّ للحزنِ جانبُهْ

They deem it folly in a young man's makeup

if he weeps, or his spirit bows to grief.

وكم من كريم عَزَّهُ نجباؤه

فعزَّ بما ساقت إليه نجائبُهْ

How many a noble man was overmastered by his noble sons,

yet grew mighty through what his noble daughters brought him!

وبعضُ البناتِ مَن بها يُنتَج العُلا

وبعضُ بني الإنسان في الحيّ عائبُهْ

Some daughters are those through whom greatness is born,

while some sons of man disgrace him among his tribe.

فإلاَّ تكونا صارمين فحِْوَتا

حُسامٍ عتيقٍ لا تُفَلُّ مَضارِبُهْ

If you two were not two keen swords, you were two sheaths

of an ancient blade whose striking edges never blunt—

أخي الحلم لم يَمْلِك عليه حياؤه

ولا كذَّبتْهُ في الزمان تجاربُهْ

a man of forbearance, whose modesty never mastered him,

nor was he ever deceived by his experience of Time.

إذا وَلَدَ استَذكرنَ حزماً إناثُهُ

كما ذُكِّرتْ أخلاقُهُ وضرائبُهْ

When he begets children, his daughters take on manly resolve,

just as his character and natural traits are manly.

تعزَّ ابنَ رَوحٍ إنما الموتُ مُدلجٌ

إلى أمدٍ فيه النفوسُ مَراكبُهْ

Take comfort, Ibn Rawh: Death merely travels by night

toward an appointed end, with souls as its mounts.

ومن أخَّرتْه شمسُ يومٍ فلم يمت

يمتْ حولَه أحبابُهُ وحبائبُهْ

Whoever is delayed by the sun of a day and does not die,

his loved ones, men and women, die around him.

وأعجبُ من ذي خُبرةٍ بزمانه

تنكَّر منه أن تَوالَى عجائبُهْ

I marvel at a man acquainted with his age

who finds it strange that its wonders follow one another.

خُلِقنا لأمرٍ أرهقتنا صدورُهُ

فيا ليت شعري ما تجرّ عواقبُهْ

We were created for a purpose whose beginnings have burdened us;

would that I knew what its outcomes will bring!

غريمٌ مُلِطٌّ لا يَمَلُّ وطالبٌ

بغير تِراتٍ لا تنامُ مَطالبُهْ

An importunate creditor, never tiring, and a claimant

with no blood-debts to avenge, whose claims never sleep.

وقد جربتْك الحادثاتُ فلا تكن

ضعيفَ القُوَى رِخواً لهنّ مَجاذِبُهْ

Calamities have tested you, so do not be

weak in strength, yielding beneath their pulling.

وغيرُك مغلوبٌ على حُسنِ صبرِهِ

ولا خَطبَ إلا أنتَ بالصبرِ غالبُهْ

Others are overpowered despite their good endurance,

but there is no calamity you cannot conquer with patience.

برغميَ أن يَسرِي غزِيٌّ من الأسَى

إليك ولم تُفلَلْ بنصري كتائبُهْ

It is against my will that a raiding force of sorrow travels by night

toward you, its battalions unbroken by my aid.

وإن كان خصماً لا لساني ينوشه

ولا كلماتي الغاسقاتُ تواقبُهْ

Though it is an enemy my tongue cannot reach,

nor my darkening words pierce,

ويا لِدفاعي عنك إن كان صارماً

أصافحه أو كان ليثاً أواثبُهْ

how I would defend you, were it a sharp sword!

I would cross blades with it; or a lion, I would spring upon it!

ومَن لي لو أنّ الحزنَ يرعَى جوانحي

فدىً لك لو يرضَى بقلبِيَ ناصبُهْ

Who could grant me that sorrow graze upon my ribs,

as ransom for you, if its inflictor would accept my heart?

فما هي إلا مهجةٌ لك شطرُها

وموهوبُ عيشٍ أنت ما عشتَ واهبُهْ

For it is only life-blood, half of it yours,

and a gift of life, bestowed by you as long as you live.

وإن كان يُطفي حرَّ لوعتِك البكا

علي أنّه جاريه لا بدّ ناضبُهْ

If weeping can quench the heat of your anguish,

though its flowing stream must inevitably run dry,

فدونك دمعي سائلاً ومعلَّقاً

فجامدُهُ باقٍ عليك وذائبُهْ

then take my tears, streaming and suspended:

their congealed part and their melted part remain for you.

عتبتُ على دهري فسهَّلَ عذرُهُ

بأنّك باقٍ كلَّ ما هو جالبُهْ

I reproached my Time, but its excuse made light

of all it brings: that you are still alive.

إذا سلِم البدرُ التمامُ فهيِّنٌ

على الليل أن تَهوِي صِغاراً كواكبُهْ

If the full moon remains unharmed, it matters little

to the night that its smaller stars should fall.