أتمنى والمنى جهد المقل — Mihyar Al Daylami

أتمنَّى والمنَى جهدُ المقِلّْ

وأقضِّي الدهر في ليت وهلْ

I wish—and wishes are the poor man's utmost effort.

And I spend my days on 'if only' and 'whether.'

وأداوي كُلَف العيش إذا

أظلمتْ لي بِطُلاواتِ الأملْ

And I treat life's burdens, when

they darken before me, with hope's sweet charms.

سلوةٌ وهي الغرامُ المشتكَى

وتعاليلُ أسىً هنَّ العِللْ

A solace—yet it is the love I complain of;

and consolations for grief that are themselves the maladies.

وهوىً أهونُ ما يُسمَى الضنا

بمسيىءٍ بالإساءاتِ مُدِلّْ

And a passion whose mildest name is wasting sickness,

for a wrongdoer proud of his wrongs.

لا ترى أعجبَ منّي مشرفاً

أسأل الركبانَ عمن لم يَسلْ

You will see no stranger sight than me, watching,

asking riders about one who never asks.

أحسب الظبيةَ لاحت غمرةً

والثِّفالَ النِّضوَ بالقاع الطللْ

I take the gazelle that appears for Ghamrah,

and the sluggish, wasted mount on the plain for the ruined dwelling.

ياابنة السعديّ ما جَورٌ لكم

ووفاء عاد غدراً وبخَلْ

O daughter of al-Sa'di, what injustice is yours,

and fidelity turned to treachery and stinginess!

أنزعتِ العُربَ عن دِينهمُ

أم تفرّدتِ بدِينٍ منتحَلْ

Have you drawn the Arabs away from their faith,

or alone adopted a borrowed creed?

لِيَ في كلّ قتيلٍ قائلُ

ماوَدَى عني ومَولىً ما عقَلْ

For every slain man I have a spokesman,

who pays no blood-price for me, and a kinsman who pays none.

تعسِلُ الأرماحُ من دونهمُ

وحُماةُ النحلِ من دون العسلْ

Spears quiver before them,

and guarding bees stand before the honey.

فمن المطلوبُ بي شاط دمٌ

ثأرهُ مقتسَمٌ بين الحِللْ

Who is to answer for me? Blood has gone to waste,

its vengeance shared among the encampments.

حال يا خنساء حولُ البين بي

أَفَتَرْعَيْنَ لعهدٍ لم يَحُلْ

A year of separation has passed over me, Khansa';

will you then honor a pledge that has not changed?

قلتِ صبراً فهبيني فِلقةً

من أبانٍ قد أذابتني المقلْ

You said, 'Patience!' Then grant me a fragment

of Aban: those eyes have melted me.

أين بالبطحاء ميثاقكم

ربّ آل واسمُه فيكنَّ إلّْ

Where in al-Batha' is your covenant?

A lord who betrays, though among you his name is 'covenant'!

وسعى الواشي بجَمع بيننا

لا مشت رجلُك يا ذاك الرجُلْ

The tale-bearer strove to bring us together;

may your foot never walk, you man there!

ظنَّه حبّاً مُريباً فوشَى

فرأى وصلاً كريماً فعدلْ

He thought it a suspect love, and spread tales,

then saw an honorable bond and changed course.

لا تخل شرّاً وسلْ عن باطنٍ

عفَّ عن قولك من يسمعْ يخلْ

Do not suspect evil; ask about an inward truth

innocent of your allegation: whoever hears will suspect.

لم يكن بعدك إلا نظرٌ

جرحَ القلبَ ولو دام قتلْ

After you there was nothing but a glance

that wounded the heart—and, had it lasted, would have killed.

سافرات بِمنىً لولا التقى

خَمَّرَتْهنّ شفاهٌ بالقُبَلْ

Unveiled women at Mina—were it not for piety,

lips would have veiled them with kisses.

كلّ بيضاء تمنَّى الكُحلُ لو

أنه ما بين جفنَيها الكَحَلْ

Each fair one—kohl wished it could

be the natural darkness between her eyelids.

نصفُها الأعلَى نشاط كلُّه

والذي يدنو من الأرض كَسَلْ

Her upper half is all vivacity,

while what lies nearer the ground is languor.

لم تَعِبها هزَّةٌ في قدّها

إنه من صفة الرمح الخطَلْ

No swaying of her figure blemished her;

pliancy belongs to the nature of the spear.

ما علي دين الغواني حَكَماً

يوم قاضيتُ إليه لو عدلْ

No blame on the beauties' code as judge,

when I pleaded before it—had it judged fairly!

رُشفت أنملُه أن نَصلَتْ

وعِذارِي عيفَ لمّا أن نَصلْ

His fingertips were kissed when their dye faded,

yet my cheek-down was shunned when its color faded.

قلن إذ أبصرنني أفٍّ له

ضلَّ شيخاً وتعاطيه الغزلْ

They said on seeing me, 'Fie on him!'

Astray in old age—and still pursuing love verse!

ولقد كنَّ متى استبطأنني

قمن يسألن أخونا ما فعلْ

Yet once, whenever they found me late,

they rose, asking, 'What has our brother done?'

فإذا ريحانة العمر الصِّبا

وسِنوه وإذا الشيبُ الأجلْ

So youth is the sweet basil of life,

and its years; gray hair is death.

غالَطوا وجدي وقالوا أكثرُ ال

عمرِ في الشيبِ فمن لي بالأقلّْ

They disputed my anguish and said, 'Most of

life is in gray hair'—who will give me the lesser share?

غفلاتٌ كنَّ حُلماً فانقضى

وشبابٌ كان ظلّاً فانتقلْ

Heedless moments were a dream, now ended,

and youth was a shade that shifted away.

لو أراني الدهر ما أخَّر لي

لتعلّقتُ بأيّامي الأُولْ

Had Time shown me what it reserved for me,

I would have clung to my earliest days.

يا لخالٍ من مكاني قلبُه

بعد ودِّي كيف بالرأي أخلّْ

Alas for him whose heart leaves me no place,

after my love—how he has erred in judgment!

ليت شعري عنّيَ اعتاض بمن

هل لعين فارقت رأساً بدلْ

Would that I knew whom he has taken instead of me:

can an eye that leaves a head have a replacement?

إنّ جيداً سقطت من عِقده

درّةٌ مثلي حقيقٌ بالعطَلْ

A neck from whose necklace has fallen

a pearl like me deserves to be unadorned.

ولدخَّالينَ في الأمر معي

بوجوهٍ يتواصفن الدخَلْ

And those intruding into affairs with me,

with faces that proclaim their deceit,

حُرِموا الفضلَ فسدّوا ملقاً

بفُضولِ القولِ خلّاتِ العملْ

deprived of merit, filled through flattery

the gaps in deeds with a surplus of talk.

كلّ ذي شدقين رَحبين معي

وفؤاد ضيّق المسرى دغِلْ

Each with two broad mouth-corners when with me,

but a heart narrow in passage and full of guile.

قال حُسنَى ونوَى سيّئةً

ليتَ من لم ينوِ خيراً لم يقُلْ

He spoke kindly but meant ill;

would that he who means no good would never speak.

ساط شهداً لِيَ في حنظلةٍ

لستَ حُلواً إنما خمرُك خَلّْ

He stirred honey for me inside a colocynth;

you are not sweet: your wine is vinegar.

ناكروا حلمي فجاهلتهمُ

فإذا أُحرِج ذو الحلم جَهِلْ

They denied my forbearance, so I treated them rashly;

when pressed, even the forbearing act rashly.

أَلِمَتْ من جلستي مستوطئاً

فُرُشَ الوحدةِ والوحدةُ ذلّْ

There was pain in my sitting, making myself at home on

the bedding of solitude—and solitude is humiliation.

إنما أفردني مطّرحاً

قدَرٌ مرَّ بقومي فنزلْ

Only fate left me alone, cast aside,

passing by my people, then settling on them.

أكلَ الدهرُ فأفنى معشري

ليته أشبع دهراً ما أكلْ

Time devoured and annihilated my kin;

would that what it ate had sated Time!

درَجوا واستخلفوني واحداً

وإذا قلَّ عديدُ المرء قَلّْ

They passed away, leaving me their sole successor;

when a man's people dwindle, he too dwindles.

غرضاً ماليَ من سهمٍ سوى

كلِّ رامٍ ينتحيني من ثُعَلْ

A target: my only allotted share is

every archer of Thu'al who aims at me.

تعجبُ الأحداثُ من حملي لها

وإذا أكره ذو العرِّ حَمَلْ

The calamities marvel at my bearing them;

when forced, even the mangy beast bears a load.

كم ترى أعرُك جنبي نافياً

حصيَاتِ الأرض عن جلدٍ نَغِلْ

How often do you see me rubbing my flank, brushing

the ground's pebbles from a festering skin?

غير نفسي همُّه شأنُ غدٍ

وحديثُ الأمس تكريرٌ يُمَلّْ

Another man's concern is tomorrow's affairs;

yesterday's tale is repetition that wearies.

أُشكُ من يومك أو فاشكر له

ما مضى كان وما يأتي لعلّْ

Complain of your day, or give it thanks:

what has passed was; what comes is 'perhaps.'

ببني عبد الرحيم انفسحت

طُرْق حاجاتيَ على ضِيق السُّبُلْ

Through the sons of Abd al-Rahim, wide have opened

the paths to my needs, despite the narrow roads.

تهتُ في الناس فولّيتهُمُ

وجهَ آمالي فيمَّمت القِبَلْ

I wandered lost among men, then turned toward them

the face of my hopes, and sought my qiblahs.

أنجبي يا أرضُ لي مِثلَهُمُ

إخوةً أو قلّديهم للهَبَلْ

Bring forth their equals for me, O earth,

as brothers—or garland them for bereavement.

أرتعوني والأنابيبُ سَفاً

وسَقَوني والقراراتُ وشَلْ

They gave me pasture when the stalks were dry awns,

and gave me drink when the hollows held mere trickles.

عدلوا الودّ ففيهم نصفُه

وإذا جادوا يزيدون فُضُلْ

They apportioned affection: half belongs to them,

and when they give, they add surpluses.

كرماءٌ حيثما كشّفتهم

سادةُ المكثر إخوانُ المقِلّْ

Generous wherever you examine them,

masters to the wealthy, brothers to the poor.

نقلوا السوددَ في أظهرهم

كلّ ظهرٍ مثلما طاب نسَلْ

They passed nobility down through their loins;

each back begat offspring as noble as itself.

كابراً عن كابرٍ يبتدر ال

مجدَ منهم مُقبلٌ بعد مُوَلّْ

Great forebear after great forebear, rushing toward

glory: one of them arriving after one departs.

كالأنابيب اتصالا كلّما

قلت تمّ الفضلُ فيهم وكمَلْ

Joined like reed-sections, whenever

I said their excellence was complete and perfect,

أنبت الدهرُ غلاماً منهمُ

عاقلَ الجود إذا قال فعلْ

Time brought forth a youth from among them,

wise in generosity: when he speaks, he acts.

ألمعيّاً لا يبالي عزّةً

وهو طفلٌ أيّ عمريه اكتملْ

Brilliant, too proud to care,

though still a child, which of his two ages has matured.

أُدرجتْ في القُمْط منه راحةٌ

موضعُ الأقلام منها للأسلْ

Swaddled within his bands was a palm

where the place of pens is also the place of spears.

كلّما أصحرَ في عليائه

غار نفساً أن تصبّاه الظُّلَلْ

Whenever he enters the open in his lofty heights,

he guards his soul against the lure of shade.

طبَعتْ شمسُ الضحى في وجهه

سُهمةً لا تتلافاها الأُصُلْ

The morning sun has stamped upon his face

a duskiness the evenings cannot erase.

عقدتْ لي بأبي سعدهِمُ

ذمّةٌ غيرُ قواها ما يُحَلّْ

A pledge has bound me to their Abu Sa'd,

a bond whose strands, unlike all others, cannot be untied.

الفتى العطّاف ما ناب كفى

والحيا الوكافّ ما صابَ هطَلْ

The compassionate youth meets whatever befalls,

and life-giving rain, pouring whenever it falls.

والمُحيّا وجهُهُ إن لُعنتْ

أوجهٌ لم تتلثَّمْ بالخَجلْ

His face is greeted with blessings, when cursed are

faces that have not veiled themselves with shame.

يملأ الصدرَ لساناً ويداً

ويصيب الرأيَ رَيْثاً وعَجَلْ

He fills the breast by tongue and hand,

and reaches sound judgment, slowly or swiftly.

عفَّ والسنُّ له معذرةٌ

ورأى العجزَ فراغاً فاشتغلْ

He stayed chaste when his age would have excused him,

and saw idleness as weakness, so set to work.

تبلُغ النجمَ به مسعاتُه

فإذا استقرَبَهُ الحقّ نزلْ

His endeavors carry him to the stars;

yet when justice calls him near, he comes down.

عازفُ الهمّ إذا عاشرتَهُ

يقمَحُ الشربةَ والماءُ عَلَلْ

Averse to care, as you know from his company,

he refuses the draught though water is offered again.

كلّما لزَّ إلى أقرانه

ظلَعوا غيرَ عِجافٍ واستقلّ

Whenever he is matched against his peers,

they limp, though not gaunt, while he strides free.

حسدوا فيه أباه خاب من

يحسُدُ الشمس على البدرِ وضلّ

They envied his father for him; he fails who

envies the sun its full moon, and loses his way.

إنها فارضوا لها أو فاغضبوا

أيكةٌ تُطعِمُ مجداً وتُظِلّْ

It is—accept it or be angry—

a grove that feeds you glory and gives shade.

هم وإن أنكرهم حاسدُهم

بُرَةٌ يعرفها أنفُ الجَمَلْ

They are, though their envier denies them,

a nose-ring known to the camel's nose.

ومنيع غابها مغلقة

طُرُقُ المكر إليها والحيلْ

Its forest is impregnable; closed are

the paths of cunning and stratagems toward it.

كلّما أُبرمَ بالرأي لها

مَرسٌ أَسحلَ من حيث فُتِلْ

Whenever, by calculation, there is twisted against it

a rope, it unravels where it was wound.

سهر الحاوون في رُقيتها

وهي صمّاء تُعاصِي بالعُصُلْ

The snake-charmers stayed awake over its incantations,

but it is deaf, defying them with crooked fangs.

يعجَزُ الصارمُ عن تبليغها

ما تقولُ الكتب فيها والرسُلْ

The sharp sword is powerless to convey to it

what letters and envoys say about it.

مدّ حتى نالها فارسُهم

قلماً يذرعُ والرمح أشلّْ

Their knight extended, until he reached it,

a pen that spans the distance while the spear is paralyzed.

أدَّب البِرُّ لَهاكمْ فاقتفى

كلُّكم جودَ أبيه وامتثلْ

Virtue trained your palates, and so

each of you followed his father's generosity and example.

إنما قلَّلَ من أموالكم

فرطُ ما تُعطون والمعطِي مُقِلّْ

Nothing has diminished your wealth but

the excess of what you give; the giver is left poor.

أنِستْ بالعُدم أيمانكُمُ

وإذا سوّدك الصعبُ سهُلْ

Your right hands have grown familiar with want,

and when hardship makes you master, it grows easy.

ضامني الدهر فجاروتكُمُ

فإذا جاركُمُ من لا يذلّْ

Time oppressed me, so I became your neighbor;

thus your neighbor is one who cannot be abased,

مكرمٌ يُحسب في أبياتكم

منكُمُ في كلّ ما طاب وحلّْ

honored, counted among your households,

one of you in all that is good and lawful.

يرد الماء فيُسقَى أوّلاً

لم يُسَمْ ضربَ غريباتِ الإبلْ

He comes to water and is given drink first,

never made to suffer the blows dealt to strange camels.

إنَّ مرعىً أنت فيه رائدي

لعميم النبتِ مأنوسُ المحلّْ

Surely a pasture where you are my scout

is lush with growth, a welcoming abode.

رُضتَني بالحبّ فاقتدْ عُنُقاً

طالما عزّت على لَيِّ الطِّوَلْ

You tamed me with love; then lead a neck

that long defied the bending force of the tether.

أُلهم الشعرُ بأني ناصحٌ

لك في المدح فصفَّى ونَخلْ

Poetry was inspired to know I am sincere

in praising you, so it refined and sifted its words.

حظوة في القول منّي قُسمتْ

لك والشعرُ حظوظٌ ودُولْ

A distinction in my verse has been allotted

to you; poetry has its fortunes and turns.

كلّما عنَّ ترنحتُ له

فيشكُّون أفكرٌ أم ثَمَلْ

Whenever it comes to mind, I sway to it,

and they wonder: is it thought or drunkenness?

شاقني فيك فطرّبتُ به

مَرَحَ الطِّرفِ إذا حنَّ صهلْ

It stirred my longing for you, and I exulted in it,

with a courser's frisking: when it yearns, it neighs.

كلّ بيت ماثلٌ من دونكم

هضبةً أو سائرٌ سيرَ المثَلْ

Every verse stands before you

like a hill, or travels as a proverb travels.

هاجه جودك لي مبتدئاً

ما رعى المجدَ كمعطٍ لم يُسَلْ

Your unsolicited generosity to me stirred it;

none has cherished glory like a giver never asked.

لك حبي حزته أكرمته

عن عقيم اليدِ مولود العِللْ

My love is yours: you won it and kept it too noble for

one barren of hand, born of excuses,

فَرِقٍ من لا ضنينٍ بنَعَمْ

وهي غُرمٌ وإذا سِيل سَعَلْ

afraid of 'no,' yet stingy with 'yes,'

which costs him dearly—and, when asked, he coughs.