أيقظني للبرقِ وهو نائم — Mihyar Al Daylami

أيقظَني للبرقِ وهو نائمُ

جهالةً والعربيُّ حازمُ

He woke me to the lightning while he himself slept,

in ignorance—yet the Arab is prudent.

لو هاج من دائك ما هيَّج لي

علمتَ أني للبروق شائمُ

Had your affliction stirred what it stirred in me,

you would have known that I watch the lightning.

حدَّثني عن الغضا وأهلِهِ

فانكشفَ السِّترُ ونمَّ الكاتمُ

He told me of al-Ghada and its people,

and the veil fell away; the concealer betrayed his secret.

للبارقاتِ مطَرٌ وهذه

مُزنتُها دموعِيَ السواجمُ

The lightning flashes have rain; these, however,

have my streaming tears for their raincloud.

في كلِّ ذات صبوةٍ من عَبْرتي

ما يشكُرُ الراعي ويَرضَى السائمُ

For every soul possessed of longing, my tears offer

what earns the shepherd's thanks and pleases the grazing herd.

رعايةً وإنه من شيمتي

عهدٌ حصينٌ وحِفاظٌ دائمُ

Such faithful care is among my traits:

a steadfast covenant and enduring loyalty.

سلا المحبّون وعندي زفرةٌ

عسراءُ لا تنقضها العزائمُ

The lovers have forgotten, but I still have a sigh,

stubborn, which no resolve can undo.

كم خطَرٍ دونَكِ يا ذات اللَّمي

خِيضْت له الفِجاجُ والمخارِمُ

How many dangers stood before you, dark-lipped one,

for which broad tracks and narrow passes were traversed!

ووقفةٍ ترمُقُني مرتابةً

فيها ظُبا قومِكِ واللهاذمُ

And how many a halt, where I was watched suspiciously

by your people's sword-edges and keen spearheads!

أساند الدوحَ فتمتارُ الجوَى

من نزَواتِ صدرِيَ الحمائمُ

I lean against the great trees, and heartache is gathered

by the doves from the throbbings of my breast.

وباللوى من نظرةٍ ضائعةٍ

لم تغرَميها والزعيمُ غارمُ

And at al-Liwa, how many a wasted glance

you never repaid—yet the guarantor must pay!

إنّ الظباءَ بالغضا ضياغمٌ

والأَجَمُ الكِناسُ والصرائمُ

The gazelles at al-Ghada are lions,

and thickets are their coverts and sand tracts.

أَصُدّ عن سَلْع بقلبٍ كلّما

أُطيرَ خوفا عاد وهو حائمُ

I turn away from Sal' with a heart that, whenever

it is frightened into flight, returns to hover.

كما يُطيعُ اليأسُ ثم يلتوِي

طماعةً مع الشميم الرائمُ

As it yields to despair, then turns back—

the fond dam, hopeful at a scent.

كم أُنفقُ العمرَ على رعيِ المُنَى

وهي خبيثاتُ الثرى هشائمُ

How much of my life I spend tending hopes,

though theirs is barren soil, and they are dry stalks!

وحاجتي إلى الزمان صاحبٌ

مساعدٌ وقدَرٌ مسالمُ

All I ask of Time is a companion

who helps, and a peaceful fate.

أكلُّ من كاشَرني بوجههِ

بِشْراً فوجهُ قلبِهِ مُجاهِمُ

Must everyone who smiles at me

with a cheerful face have a scowling heart?

ما أغضبَ الناسَ عليّ هل سوى

أني بدنياهم خبير عالمُ

What has angered people against me? Is it anything but

that I know their world and understand it?

عندي الغنَى عنها على خَصاصةٍ

وعندَهم حظوظُها الجسائمُ

I can dispense with it, despite my poverty,

while they possess its ample shares.

والفضلُ والعفَّةُ عنهم قسمةٌ

أُعطيتُها كما أراد القاسمُ

Excellence and chastity, apart from them, are a portion

given to me as the apportioner willed.

وليسَ كلُّ شفَةٍ مبلولةً

وإن سخَتْ بمائها الغمائمُ

Not every lip is moistened,

even when the clouds give their water freely.

لله في طُرْقِ المعالي فِتيةٌ

رفيقُهم على الزمان حاكمُ

What youths God has upon the paths of greatness!

Their companion rules over Time.

تعرَّفوا ريحَ الهجيرِ فغدَتْ

نسيمَ أنفاسِهِمُ السمائمُ

They came to know the noonday wind, until

the scorching blasts became the breeze of their breath.

يضيقُ رحبُ الأرضِ في أزحامهم

فأرضُهم تحت السُّرَى العزائمُ

The spacious earth grows narrow amid their throngs,

so resolve becomes their ground beneath their nightly journeys.

صوَّحَ كلُّ نابتٍ في عامهم

حتى الجِمَامُ السودُ واللهازمُ

Every growing thing withered in their year,

even the black locks and the jowls.

تحمِلُهم منتقَياتٌ سُوقُها

تَحِلُّ منها للرُّبى المحارمُ

Choice mounts carry them, with shanks

for which the hills' forbidden heights become lawful.

تزقو بأصواتِ الحصا أخفافُها

كل تحُصّ الوَبرَ الجوالمُ

Their padded feet cry out with the voices of pebbles,

all stripped of fur by the shearing stones.

كأنما الأرضُ لها مَهارِقٌ

يُملي السّرى وتكتبُ المناسمُ

As though the earth were parchments for them,

night travel dictates, and their hoof-tips write.

مثل السهام فوقها بصائرٌ

مُبيضَّةٌ وأوجُهٌ سواهمُ

They are like arrows; above them are insights

bright and faces gaunt.

إذا استغاثت تحتها تعريسة

تقاصرت ليلاتُها التمائمُ

When a brief night-halt cries for relief beneath them,

its full-length nights are cut short.

كأنما الليلُ سوادُ لِمَّةٍ

سُلَّ من الصبحِ عليه صارمُ

As though the night were the blackness of a lock of hair,

against which a keen sword was drawn from dawn.

قل للذي يحصِب ظهرِي ريبةً

زِدْ سَفَها إني امرؤ محالمُ

Tell the man who pelts my back with suspicion:

Increase your foolishness; I am a forbearing man.

لا تطمِس الشمسَ يدٌ مُدَّتْ ولا

يغمِزُ في الصَّعدةِ نابٌ عاجمُ

No outstretched hand can efface the sun, nor

can a gnawing fang dent the spear-shaft.

قد كان أبدَى لك دهري صفحتي

شيئا وبانت منّيَ المراجمُ

Time once laid my flank bare to you

for a while, and targets for stoning appeared upon me.

فمن لك اليومَ ونصري حاضرٌ

وحظِّيَ الغائبُ عني قادمُ

Who will help you today, when my aid is present

and my fortune, absent from me, is coming?

والقمرُ الآفلُ قدْ أعيدَ لي

بدرا وأنفُ الظلُمات راغمُ

The setting moon has been restored to me

as a full moon, with darkness's nose ground into dust.

رُدَّ الندى إلى الثرى ورجَعتْ

فملأتَ غمودَها الصوارمُ

Dew was restored to the soil, and the blades returned,

filling their sheaths with keen swords.

لكلِّ شاكٍ غَدرةً من دهره

عندَ بني عبدِ الرحيم راحمُ

For everyone complaining of a betrayal by his Time,

there is a compassionate one among the sons of Abd al-Rahim.

الأنجُمُ الزُّهرُ فمنها ثاقبٌ

مستسلَفُ النورِ ومنها ناجمُ

They are bright stars: among them is a piercing one

whose light is borrowed, and among them a rising one.

والعِترة البيضاءُ لم يعلَقْ بها

من دنَس الُهجنة عِرقٌ واصمُ

Their pure lineage has never been touched

by a blemishing strain of base descent.

اِستَبقوا الجودَ فكلُّ دافعٌ

عن ضيفِهِ أخاهُ أو مُزاحمُ

They raced in generosity; each keeps

his brother from his guest, or vies with him.

وانتصفَ الفضلُ بهم مذ جُعلت

منه إلى حُكمهم المظالمُ

Excellence gained justice through them, once

its grievances were referred to their judgment.

قل لأبي سعدٍ على ما جرَّهُ ال

شوقُ عليّ والفراقُ الغاشمُ

Tell Abu Sa'd, despite what was brought upon me by

longing and cruel separation:

قد كنتُ أرضَى أمسِ من أمنيّتي

بأن يقال عادَ وهو سالمُ

Yesterday I would have been content, in my wishes,

to hear it said, 'He returned safe.'

فاليومَ يا طيرةَ قلبي فرَحاً

بأن يقالَ سالمٌ وغانمُ

But today—how my heart flies with joy!

To hear it said, 'Safe and successful.'

قد قلَّدوا منه زمامَ أمرهم

أغلبَ لا تُخضِعه العظائمُ

In him they have entrusted the reins of their affairs to

a mighty lion whom great trials cannot subdue.

إن الكُفَاة لم يكن عميدَهم

في دائهم إلا الطبيبُ الحاسمُ

The capable men have had no chief

in their sickness but the decisive physician.

ألقابُ قوم نافراتٌ شُمُسٌ

تنبو وألقابُكُمُ ميَاسمُ

Some people's titles are unruly and untamed,

sitting ill, while your titles are marks of distinction.

وما رأتْ عينُ العلا لنفسها

فيما يسدّي المجدُ أو يلاحمُ

The eye of eminence has never seen for itself,

in what glory lays as warp or weaves as weft,

كخلعٍ رحتَ بها مكتسياً

عزّاً وتُكسَى اللِّبَدَ الضراغمُ

anything like the robes in which you went forth clad

in honor, while lions are clothed in matted manes.

خاطوا السحابَ حُلَّةً فضُمِّنَتْ

جسمَك فلتفخرْ بمن تجاسمُ

They stitched the clouds into a robe, which enclosed

your body; let it boast of whom it enfolds.

بيضاء أو صبيغة وَشَّى لها

زُهرَ النجومِ راقشٌ وراقمُ

White or dyed, an embellisher embroidered it with

the bright stars, alongside a designer.

ظاهرة الفخرِ ومن باطنِها

أخرى وخير المِنَحِ التوائمُ

Its pride is outwardly apparent, and within it

is another robe: the best gifts come in pairs.

وتوَّجوك عِمَّةً وإنما

تيجانُ أمثالكم العمائمُ

They crowned you with a turban; indeed,

the crowns of men like you are turbans.

وختَّموا ملساء لم يخدِشْ بها

سنٌّ على إثر العطايا نادمُ

They ringed a smooth hand, never scratched by

a regretful tooth after the giving of gifts.

وسائل الغُرّةِ وافٍ ردفُهُ

أُدِّبَ أن يُشفِقَ منه الحازمُ

And a horse with a flowing blaze and ample rump,

so schooled that even the prudent man must fear him.

أحوَى إذا قام إليه ماسحٌ

قام إلى وجه الوجيه لاطمُ

A dark bay: if someone stands to stroke him,

he stands before a dignitary's face as a slapper would.

بَنيَّة لا يدَّرِي صَفاتَها

يومَ الرِّهان من لُغوبٍ هادمُ

A structure whose rock cannot be assailed

on racing day by any destroyer of fatigue.

مُنطلِقٌ بأربع قوائمٍ

كأنهنّ خفةً قوادمُ

Running free on four legs,

as light as a wing's foremost feathers.

مع الرياح لم يكن من قبلها

تهزأ بالأجنحة القوائمُ

With the winds—never before these legs

had legs made mockery of wings.

يمرح في مِقوده ذئبُ الغضا

وتوعِد الوحشَ به القشاعمُ

A wolf of al-Ghada gambols on his leading rein,

and the great vultures threaten wild beasts with him.

ويتَّقي ما تتَّقي برُسغِهِ

وهي على بطونها الأراقمُ

His fetlock avoids the dangers avoided by

speckled snakes, though they crawl on their bellies.

أُركِبْتَه بدراً وقد حُطَّت لك ال

جوزاءُ فهي العُذْر والشكائمُ

You were mounted on him, a full moon, while there was lowered for you

al-Jawza, to become his headstalls and bits.

نظائمٌ من النّضار عُقْنَهُ

بَهْرا بما أثقلَهنّ الناظمُ

Strings of gold impeded him,

overwhelming him with the weight their stringer laid upon them.

ورحبة الصدر على ضيقٍ به

مفصِحة وقومُها أعاجمُ

And a broad-breasted one, though cramped within,

eloquent, though her kin speak foreign tongues.

لمياء تعطيك فماً أشدقَ لا

يغبُّه الدهرَ لسانٌ لاثمُ

Dark-lipped, offering you a wide mouth, which

a kissing tongue never leaves unvisited throughout time.

يُحْمَدُ منه ما تُذَمُّ أبدا

بمثله الشِّفاهُ والمباسمُ

What is praised in it is what

would always be blamed in lips and smiling mouths.

تُزهَى بصُفرٍ من بني الروم لها

آباؤها الأحابشُ الأداهمُ

She glories in yellow sons of the Romans; her

fathers are the coal-black Abyssinians.

لها من الشمس وشاحٌ تحته

جيدٌ أغمُّ والبنانُ فاحمُ

She has a sash from the sun, beneath which

is a hairy neck, and her fingertips are jet-black.

افتضَّها الحَلْيُ ففي أحشائها

أجنَّةٌ لم تحوِهم مشائمُ

Ornaments deflowered her; within her womb

are unborn children whom no placentas enclosed.

ليس لهم ما بقِيتْ وما بقُوا

عما أدرَّت من رَضاعٍ فاطمُ

As long as she and they remain, they have

no weaner from the milk she pours.

تمضِي حدودَ القتلِ والقطعِ يدٌ

فيهم وليست لهمُ جرائمُ

A hand enforces sentences of killing and cutting

upon them, though they have committed no crimes.

لا ينطِقون لغةً وكلُّهم

بين الأنام رُسُلٌ تَراجمُ

They speak no language, yet all of them

are messengers and interpreters among humankind.

إمرَتُها دَسْتُك تستخدمها

يدٌ لها صَرفُ الزمان خادمُ

Your seat commands her; she is employed by

a hand whom Time's vicissitudes serve.

دُوِيُّكم جفونُ أسيافكُمُ

وكُتبكم لملككم دعائمُ

Your inkwells are the sheaths of your swords,

and your letters are pillars of your rule.

وكنتمُ متى عَصَت قبيلةٌ

وأخذتْ بالكَظَم الخصائمُ

Whenever a tribe rebelled against you

and disputes seized you by the throat,

أطرتمُ منها إلى أعدائكم

أجادلا أوكارُها الجماجمُ

you sent flying from them against your enemies

falcons whose nests are skulls.

قم بمساعيك فنل أمثالَها

إن المساعي للعلا سلالمُ

Rise through your endeavors and gain their like:

endeavors are ladders to greatness.

يَفديك مشمولٌ بظلِّ غيره

يسعَى سواه وهو كاسٍ طاعمُ

May one sheltered under another's shade ransom you,

another laboring while he is clothed and fed.

نامَ على هذي الصفاةِ غفلةً

وأنت من نبذ الحصاةِ قائمُ

He slept heedlessly upon this rock,

while you rise at a pebble's cast.

عاقدَ في حبّ الهوينا عجزَه

أن لا يبالي ما يقول اللائمُ

For love of ease, he pledged his indolence

not to care what the reproacher says.

إذا نضا سِربالَه كلَّمَهُ

من حسدٍ في كلِّ عضوٍ كالمُ

When he sheds his tunic, he is wounded

by envy, with a wounder in every limb.

بكم بني عبد الرحيم يامنت

إلى المنى وطيرها أشائمُ

Through you, sons of Abd al-Rahim, I took an auspicious path

toward my hopes, though their birds were ill-omened.

زوّجتُ آماليَ من أيْمانكم

فولدَتْ بطونُها العقائمُ

I married my hopes to your right hands,

and their barren wombs gave birth.

باعُ رجائي بكُمُ موسَّعٌ

وغصنُ عيشى في ذَراكم ناعمُ

Through you, the reach of my hope is enlarged,

and the branch of my life is tender in your shelter.

أسمنَ قومٌ ملأتْ عرينَهم

مثلَ الحصون الإبلُ السوائمُ

Some men grew fat, their lairs filled

with grazing camels like fortresses.

وعندكم جَذيمُ مالٍ أبدا

تعرِفهُ الحقوقُ والمغارمُ

But with you is wealth forever pared down,

familiar to rightful claims and heavy payments.

تلتزمون كَرَما ما تدّعِي

فيه العدا ويستحلُّ الظالمُ

You nobly take upon yourselves whatever is claimed

therein by enemies, and deemed lawful by the oppressor.

إنكُمُ من معشرٍ عندهُمُ

فيما استفادَ ربُّهم مساهمُ

You come from a people among whom

their Lord has a share in what they acquire.

وقد لبستم فاخلعوا إن الندى ال

عادلَ أن تُقَسَّمَ المغانمُ

You have donned robes; bestow robes, for generosity that is

just means sharing the spoils.

بنتم بها فبيِّنوا واصفَها

بمثلها فهكذا المكارِمُ

Their gifts distinguished you; distinguish their describer

with the same, for this is nobility.

خُصُّوا بها تكرِمةً مَن لم يزل

تُهدَى لكم بناتُه الكرائمُ

Honor with them one whose

noble daughters are still offered to you.

معرِبةً بمدحكم فيها رِضَى

قومٍ وفي قومٍ لها سخائمُ

Expressing your praise, they bring satisfaction to

some people, while others bear rancor toward them.

متَى تكن سَلُولُ أو باهلة

آباءَ شعرٍ فأبوها دارمُ

Whenever Salul or Bahila become

fathers to poems, Darim is father to mine.

سوائرٌ مع النجوم ترتمي

بها نجودُ الأرض والتهائمُ

Journeying with the stars, they are flung about

by the earth's uplands and lowlands.

تودّ أكبادُ العدا إن صغتُها

أسورةً لو أنّها مَعاصمُ

The enemies' livers would wish, if I fashioned these poems

into bracelets, that they themselves were wrists.

تُدويهمُ غيظا وتشفيهم بما

تُفصح فهي المسُّ والتمائمُ

They sicken them with rage, yet heal them by what

they express: they are possession and protective charms.

يُحبَى بها يقظانُ منكم حاضرٌ

وغائبٌ عن البلاد حالمُ

They are given to one among you who is awake and present,

and to one absent from the land, dreaming.

ضاجعَكم طيفي بها فأُوِّلَتْ

صادقةً وقد يُغَرّ النائمُ

My phantom lay beside you with them, and they were interpreted

as truthful—though sleepers may be deceived.

يَشهدُ لي مِفتاحها وخَتمها

بأنني للشعراءِ خاتمُ

Their opening and their close bear witness for me

that I am the seal of poets.