أروض الوادي أم ابيض الغسق — Mihyar Al Daylami

أروَّض الوادي أم ابيضَّ الغسقْ

أم طيف ظمياءَ على النأي طرقْ

Has the valley grown green, or has the dusk turned white?

Or has Ẓamyāʾ’s phantom visited across the distance?

جاء على غربته لم يحتفل

ما نكدُ الأرض وما تيهُ الطرقْ

It came despite its remoteness, paying no heed:

what mattered the earth’s hardship or the bewildering roads?

تحملهُ راحلةٌ كاذبةٌ

من الكرى تُشكر شكرَ من صدَقْ

A lying mount bears it,

a mount of slumber, thanked as one who tells the truth.

فقمت أمشي نائماً ينفضني

إكبارُ ما خاض إليّ وخرَقْ

I rose and walked asleep, shaken

by awe at what it had waded through and crossed to reach me.

مرتشفاً ترابَه أعرفه

من غيره بما استفاد من عَبَقْ

Sipping its dust, I recognized it

among others by the fragrance it had acquired.

والركبُ قد ألهاهُمُ عن شأننا

يوم النخيل سامني ما لم أُطِقْ

The caravan had been distracted from our affair

by the day at al-Nakhil, which burdened me beyond endurance.

وناظر رقادُه من غدرِهِ

لولا فراقُ الطيف ما ذمّ الأرقْ

And an eye whose slumber is a betrayal—

but for parting from the phantom, it would not condemn sleeplessness.

ناشدْ غصوناً باللوى موائلاً

طوعَ النسيم تلتوي وتفترقْ

Ask the swaying branches at al-Liwa,

obedient to the breeze, twisting and spreading apart:

أهنّ أحلى أم قدودٌ تلتوي

شكوى على جمرِ النوى وتعتنقْ

are they sweeter, or figures that bend

in complaint upon separation’s embers, embracing?

وعن قناةٍ لحظُها عاملُها

وحُبِّبَ الرمحُ إن اسْمَرَّ ودقّْ

And ask about a spear whose glance is its spearhead—

a spear grows lovable when dusky and slender.

لمياء يُلفَى الظبيُ من أوصافه

صِفراً إذا ردّ الذي منها سرَقْ

A dark-lipped beauty: the gazelle would be stripped of its qualities

if it returned what it had stolen from her.

تمَّ البدورُ وهلالُ وجهها

ما بلغ التمّ بها ولا امَّحقْ

The moons reach fullness, while the crescent of her face

has neither reached fullness in her nor waned away.

فارقتُ حولاً أهلَ نجدٍ والهوى

ذاك الهوى وحُرَقي تلكَ الحُرَقْ

For a year I have been parted from Najd’s people, yet love

is that same love, and my burning those same fires.

فقلْ لمن ظنّ البعادَ سلوةً

لا تتنحّلْ طعمَ شيءٍ لم تذُقْ

Tell whoever thinks distance brings consolation:

do not claim the taste of something you have not tasted.

آه لقلبٍ شقَّ عنه أضلعي

من الحمى تخالُجُ البرقِ الشفَقْ

Ah, for a heart from which my ribs were split

by the flickering, ruddy lightning from the sanctuary!

ثار به الشوقُ فهبّ فهفا

تطلُّعاً ثم نزا ثم مرَقْ

Longing stirred it: it sprang up and fluttered,

yearning, then leapt, then darted away.

أنشُده وليس في أهل مِنىً

والقوم حَجٌّ مَن تعرَّفَ الشَّرَقْ

I seek it, yet among Mina’s people there is none—

pilgrims though they are—who recognizes choking anguish.

للّه عيشٌ بالحمى تعلَّقتْ

حبالُهُ بيد قطَّاع العُلَقْ

How wondrous a life in the sanctuary, whose

cords became caught in the hand of the severer of ties!

صحبتُ منه رُفقةً سائرةً

لو أمهل الحادي العنيفُ أو رَفَقْ

I traveled with a passing company from that life—

if only the harsh camel-driver had waited or been gentle!

أيّامَ لي من الشباب دوحةٌ

ملتفَّةُ الأغصان خضراءُ الورَقْ

In days when youth was a great tree for me,

with tangled branches and green leaves,

ولِمَّتي تقطُر من ماء الصِّبا

شرطَ المفدِّي ما فلا وما فرقْ

and my locks dripped with the water of youth,

with pledges of devotion from whoever deloused or parted them.

إذا الظباء نفرتْ من قانصٍ

تزاحمتْ على حبالي ورِبَقْ

When gazelles fled a hunter,

they crowded into my cords and snares.

فاليومَ لا أرجع إلا مخفقاً

محصَّنَ المدية مثنيّ الورقْ

Today I return only empty-handed,

my knife sheathed and my hunting net folded.

قالوا المشيبُ لِبسةٌ جديدةٌ

خذوا الجديدَ واسترِدّوا لي الخَلَقْ

They said, “Gray hair is a new garment.”

Take the new one, and recover the worn one for me!

أسلفتُ دهري غَبَناً فارتجعتْ

أحداثُهُ مني الذي كان استحقّْ

I dealt unfairly with my age in earlier days; then

its vicissitudes reclaimed from me what it was owed.

كم قد ركبت ظهره ولُجُمي

تُبدِلُه عن العليق بالعَلَقْ

How often I rode its back, while my bridles

gave it blood instead of fodder!

أجريتُه ركضاً إلى مآربي

وخَبَباً حتى أفوزَ بالسبَقْ

I drove it galloping toward my desires,

and trotting, until I might win the prize.

فلم تزل خُطاه بي قصيرةً

وجَلَدي حتى رضيت بالعَنَقْ

Its strides beneath me kept growing shorter,

and my endurance too, until I settled for an amble.

قالت يئسْتَ فجلستَ حَجْرةً

والرزقُ في أخرى يصوبُ ويَدِقْ

She said, “You despaired and sat apart,

while livelihood elsewhere rains down and patters.

مزمَّلاً بعيشةٍ ذبذابةٍ

لم يَكِسِ الدهرُ بها ولا حَمُقْ

Wrapped in a wavering livelihood,

with which time has been neither shrewd nor foolish,

تألفُ داراً بالعراقِ جدبُها

قد عدِمَ اللحمَ وعاد يَعترِقْ

you cling to a home in Iraq whose barrenness

has exhausted the flesh and turned to gnawing bones.

أضَرَبتْ أسدادُ جوٍّ غيرَها

على المطيّ أم على الأرض طَبقْ

Have barriers in the sky beyond it closed in

upon the mounts, or has a lid covered the earth?

يُحبُّ كِسرَ البيت إما عاطلٌ

من العلا أو طائش القلبِ فرِقْ

Only one devoid of greatness loves a corner of the house,

or one whose heart is flighty and afraid.

مَجثَمتانِ أين أنت منهما

هما الثرى وأنتَ بيضاءُ الأُفقْ

Two perches—what have you to do with either?

Both are the earth, while you are the bright horizon.”

عنّي فما أعدلها قضيّةً

لو أنّ من يُحرَم بالفضل رُزِقْ

Away from me! How just a judgment that would be,

if those deprived were rewarded for their excellence!

أما رأيتِ الفضلَ واجتماعَه

في وطن والحظَّ قلّما اتفقْ

Have you not seen that excellence gathered

in one homeland rarely coincides with good fortune?

العربيُّ راقعٌ شَملتَهُ

والقرويّ بالنُّضار ينتطِقْ

The Arab patches his cloak,

while the townsman girdles himself with gold.

من لي بسوقِ المائقين يُشترَى

حلميَ فيها برفَاغةِ النَّزقْ

Who will find me a market of fools where

my forbearance may be bought for recklessness’s carefree ease?

وقد حرصتُ مطلِقاً أعنَّتي

لو أنّ معقولَ القضاء ينطلقْ

I have striven, letting my reins run free—

if only what fate has tethered could break loose!

والشعرُ قد أبضعتُه فكاسدٌ

أو نافقٌ وليت شعري ما نَفَقْ

I have consigned my poetry to trade: it lies unsold,

or sells—and would my verse had never sold!

عبَّدتُه حرّاً لقومٍ عنُفُوا

بملكه فما نجا حتى أبِقْ

I enslaved it, though freeborn, to people harsh

in their ownership; it escaped only by running away.

فصرتُ إن أردته لمثلها

أبَى عليَّ خيفةً منها وشقّْ

Now, whenever I want it for the same purpose,

it refuses me, afraid of that treatment, and resists.

وقد عصاني في المولك زمناً

فهل تُرى يُسمِحُ في مدح السُّوَقْ

It has defied me over kings for a long time;

will it, do you think, consent to praising commoners?

لو كان كالأمير كلُّ سامع

لم يُحتبَسْ عن شأوه ولم يُعَقْ

If every listener were like the emir,

it would not be held back from its course or hindered.

ولو بسعد الدولة اشتغاله

مذ سار ما سار بمدحٍ مختلَقْ

Had its occupation been with Saʿd al-Dawla

since it first set forth, it would never have offered fabricated praise.

حارن ما حارن وارتاض له

لقد أرمَّ ولأمر ما نطقْ

It balked as long as it balked, then grew tractable for him;

it had indeed kept silent, and spoke for a reason.

أصاب كفئاً ورأى ضريبةً

ففالتَ الغِمدَ إليها واندلقْ

It found a worthy match and saw a target,

so it slipped from its sheath toward it and swept forth.

ومرّ مشتاقاً مع الأوصاف لا

تُملَك منه صهوةٌ ولا عُنُقْ

It sped eagerly with the descriptions; neither

its saddleback nor its neck could be controlled.

طابت له الأنباءُ فاستروحها

شَمّاً وللجود رياحٌ تُنتَشَقْ

The reports delighted it, and it took pleasure

in their scent: generosity has breezes to inhale.

يا راكباً تنقُله سابحةٌ

ورهاءُ لا من جِنّةٍ ولا خُرُقْ

O rider borne by a swimmer,

headlong, though not through madness or clumsiness,

سوداء من لباسها وجلدها

وجسمُها أبيضُ عريان يَقَقْ

black in its clothing and its skin,

while its body is naked, white, and brilliantly pale!

أرضعها البحرُ وربَّاها وما

تخشَى على ذاك ردىً من الغرَقْ

The sea suckled and reared it, yet

despite that, it fears no death by drowning.

إذا المطايا ألِمَتْ من الصدى

خِمساً وعِشراً ألِمت من الشَّرَقْ

When mounts suffer thirst

after five days or ten, it suffers from choking on water.

تُحدَى برَجزٍ ليس من أشجانها

ونَغمٍ لم يُصبِها ولم يَشُقْ

It is driven by a chant not born of its sorrows,

and melodies that have neither afflicted nor distressed it.

تركب من هُوج الرياح غَرَراً

وما لها إلا بهنّ مرتفقْ

It hazards the blasts of violent winds,

yet only through them can it find support.

بلِّغ بميسان إذا بلغتها

عاقلةَ الثاوي وزادَ المنطلِقْ

Deliver at Maysan, when you reach it,

to the resident’s tether and the traveler’s provision,

وقمراً يطلع في سمائها

ونورُه في الخافقيْن يأتلِقْ

and to a moon rising in its sky,

whose light shines in the eastern and western horizons.

وقل كما شاء الندى لخالدٍ

قولةَ لا تخلُّبٍ ولا مَلَقْ

Tell Khalid, as generosity would wish,

words neither beguiling nor flattering:

يا خير من حلّت على أبوابه

رحائل البُدْن وحاجات الرُّفقْ

O best of those at whose doors have alighted

the saddles of stout camels and the needs of traveling companies!

ومَن أتته كالحبال عَجَفاً

ورَجعتْ كالوَسْقِ من تحت الوَسَقْ

O you to whom they came lean as ropes,

and returned like great loads beneath their loads!

لولا السماحُ وغرامٌ بالندى

لما قَرعتَ تطلبُ المالَ الحَلَقْ

But for liberality and a passion for generosity,

you would never have knocked at door-rings seeking wealth,

ولا شهدتَ اليومَ تغلي قِدرُه

لو لم يَصُبْ ماءُ الطُّلَى فيه احترقْ

nor witnessed a day whose cauldron boils,

which would burn unless the blood of throats poured into it.

عمّت على أشعارها صبائغٌ

تولّدت بين النجيعِ والعرَقْ

Dyes have spread across their coats,

born between fresh blood and sweat.

يحملن كلَّ خائضٍ بحرَ الندى

حتى يرى الموجَ عليه ينطبِقْ

They carry every rider who plunges into generosity’s sea,

until he sees its waves closing over him,

كأنه بالموت يقضي لذّةً

أو بفراقِ نفسهِ يشفي حَنَقْ

as though in death he fulfilled a pleasure,

or by parting with his soul soothed a rage.

كتيبة خرساء إلا قونَسٌ

يطِنُّ أو خرَّ غلامٌ فصَعِقْ

A silent battalion, except for a helmet

ringing, or a young warrior falling, struck dead.

لم تر من قبلك خِرْقاً قادها

أُسْدَ شَرىً تهفو عليهنّ الخُرُقْ

Before you it never saw a daring man to lead it—

lions of Shara, with banners fluttering above them.

إذا طغى على الصليق زأرُها

فأضلُعُ البصرةِ منها تَصطفِقْ

When their roaring overwhelms the clamor,

Basra’s ribs clash and tremble at it.

لواؤك المرفوعُ من أمامها

لم ينخفض ولا هوى منذ بسَقْ

Your banner, raised before them,

has neither lowered nor fallen since it rose.

كأنه أبصر أكباد العدا

تنزو فأعداه الخفوقُ فخفقْ

It seems to have seen the enemy’s livers

leaping, and caught their throbbing, so it fluttered.

قد جرّبوا كيدك أمسِ والذي

عند غدٍ أشقى عليهم وأشقّْ

They tried your stratagem yesterday; what

tomorrow holds is more grievous and harder for them.

يا فارس القرطاس والسيفِ لقد

جمعتَ من ذي طرَفَين مفترَقْ

O knight of paper and sword, you have

united what had two far-separated ends.

حتى لقالوا طاعنٌ بقلمٍ

أو كاتبٌ بالرمح في الطِّرس مشقْ

So they would call you one who thrusts with a pen,

or a writer tracing strokes with a spear upon parchment.

عرفتَ من نفسك ما لم يعرفوا

فطِرتَ حتى صرتَ حيث تستحِقّْ

You knew in yourself what they did not know,

and flew until you reached the place you deserve.

كم عجبوا منك وأنت تَرتقي

وانتظروا فيك الزليلَ والزلَقْ

How often they marveled at you as you climbed,

and waited for your stumble and your slip!

وخاوصوك حَسداً بأعينٍ

لم تحفِل الشّهلةَ منها والزَّرَقْ

They narrowed their eyes at you in envy;

you heeded neither their hazel eyes nor their blue.

حتى تركت النجم في خضرائه

يخطِرُ زهواً أن سبَقتَ ولحِقْ

Until you left the star in its green sky,

strutting proudly that you had gone ahead and it had followed.

فالمال إن لم تلتحف بريشه

ولم تنُطْه بيدٍ ولم تُلِقْ

Wealth, if you do not wrap yourself in its feathers,

or fasten it to a hand or hold it back,

أنفقته في الجود فهو بدَدٌ

في الأرض حتى ما له منك نفَقْ

you spend in generosity, and it lies scattered

throughout the earth, until it has no further outlet from you.

والحوضُ يُفنيه اعتوارُ شَفَةٍ

فشفةٍ وإن علا وإن عمُقْ

A basin is drained by the succession of one lip

after another, however high or deep it is.

وفْرُ الفتى ما شاء من حديثه

والمجدُ في غير النُّضارِ والورِقْ

A man’s wealth is the renown he chooses;

glory lies elsewhere than in gold and silver.

هل لك في ودٍّ على شحط النوى

صفَا على غِشِّ المودّات ورَقّْ

Would you have an affection that, despite far separation,

is pure amid false friendships, and tender?

وصاحبٍ كما اشترطتَ صاحباً

أخلصَ ما كان إذا قلتَ مَذَقْ

And a companion such as you stipulated,

most sincere when you say he has diluted his affection?

يكيلك البِرَّ بصاعٍ أَصوُعاً

وإن عققتَ غيرَ عذرٍ لم يعُقّْ

He measures kindness to you in bushels for each bushel,

and if you mistreat him without excuse, he does not mistreat you.

مطهَّرِ الشيمةِ غُنمٌ قربُهُ

محبَّبِ الإكثار محفوظِ النُّطُقْ

Pure in character, his nearness is a gain;

welcome when he speaks at length, guarded in his words.

لا يشرب الراحَ لأن تُسكِره

لكن لأن يجذُبها حسنَ الخُلُقْ

He does not drink wine to become drunk,

but to draw good temper from it.

سيف إذا أنت عرفتَ قدرَه

فَرَى بأعناق عِداك وفَلَقْ

A sword that, if you recognize its worth,

cuts through your enemies’ necks and cleaves them.

أتاه عنك من أحاديث الندى

والمجدِ ما صبا إليه وأرِقْ

Reports of your generosity reached him,

and of your glory, that drew his longing and kept him awake.

فساقها عذراءَ ما خطبتَها

وكم غلا خِطبٌ بها فلم تُسَقْ

So he brought her, a virgin you had not courted;

many a suitor bid high for her, yet she was not brought to him.

ثمينةَ البُضعِ حصيناً سرّها

على الرجال حرّةً لا تُسترَقّْ

Costly in bridal union, her secret strongly guarded

against men, a free woman who cannot be enslaved.

إن آنستْ خيراً أقامت أو رأت

ضيماً أجاز حكمها أن تنطلِقْ

If she perceives goodness, she stays; or if she sees

oppression, her own judgment permits her to depart.

العَقدُ والتطليقُ للبعل وفي

قبضتها أقرَّ بعلٌ أم طَلِقْ

Marriage and divorce belong to the husband; yet in

her grasp it lies whether a husband stays or is released.

إنسيّة تحسَب نفثَ سِحرها

كلامَ جِنِّيٍّ حكى ما يسترِقْ

A human creature, yet you would think her magical breath

the speech of a jinn repeating what it steals by listening.

حاضرة تحسبها باديةً

تديَّرتْ داراتِ خبتٍ فالبُرَقْ

A city-dweller whom you would think a desert woman,

settled in Khabt’s hollows, then the stony hills.

أخَّرها الميلادُ وهي رتبةً

في الشعر بالتقديم أولى وأحقّْ

Birth placed her late, though in rank

among poems she is more worthy and entitled to precedence.

إذا قرنتَ بالفحول شأوَها

حكمتَ أن السابقَ الذي سُبِقْ

If you compare her course with the master poets,

you will judge the predecessor to be the one surpassed.

فاجتلِها من فم راوٍ قد فَرَى

بالسعي فيها لك دهراً وخَلَقْ

Unveil her from a reciter’s lips; he has worn away

a lifetime in labor over her for you, wearing it thin.

أَشفقَ أن يَعْطُلَ وهي مفخرٌ

عرضُك منها والمحبُّ ذو شَفَقْ

He feared, though she is a source of pride,

that your honor might lack her adornment; a lover is full of concern.

فاشكر له ما حملَتْ يمينُه

منها وما فتَّقَ فيها ورتَقْ

Thank him for what his right hand carried

of her, and what he unstitched and stitched in her.

واعرف لمهديها لك افتتاحَه

في المدح باباً عن سواك منغلقْ

Recognize that her giver has opened for you

a door in praise closed to everyone else.

وجازِهِ وابقَ على وداده

مسلَّماً ما طرد الليلَ الفلقْ

Reward him, and remain faithful to his affection,

safe, as long as daybreak drives the night away.

ولا تَعَلَّلْ باستماع غيرِها

فإنما تلك بُنيَّاتُ الطُّرُقْ

Do not content yourself with hearing other poems;

for those are only little daughters of the byways.