أمن خفوق البرق ترزِمينا — Mihyar Al Daylami

أمن خفوق البرق تُرزِمينا

حِنِّي فما أمنعُك الحنينا

Is it the lightning's flicker that makes you moan?

Yearn on; I do not deny you your longing.

سَرَى يمينا وسُراك شأمةً

فضَلَّةٌ ما تتلفَّتينا

It traveled rightward, while your night journey leads leftward;

so your looking back is a folly.

هبَّ كما تخاطفَتْ هِندِيّةٌ

مُخلَصَةٌ أجهدتِ القُيُونا

It flashed like an Indian blade,

of pure metal, that had taxed the smiths.

فكم أراكَ بثنيَّاتِ الحمَى

على البعادِ الثغرَ والجبينا

How often it showed you, in the passes of al-Hima,

across the distance, a mouth and brow;

وكم ذكرتَ روضَه وغُدْرَه

والعَمَمَ الملتفَّ والمَعِينا

and how often you recalled its meadow and pools,

the tall, entwined trees and flowing water.

نَعم تُشاقينَ ونَشتاقُ له

ونُعلنُ الوجدَ وتكتُمينا

Yes, you are stirred to longing, and we yearn for it;

we proclaim our passion, while you conceal it.

فأين منّا اليومَ أو منك الهوى

وأين نجدٌ والمغورونا

How far is love today from us—or you—

and how far is Najd from those gone down to the lowlands!

سقَى الحيا عهدَ الحمى أعذبَ ما

تسقِي السمواتُ به الأرْضِينا

May rain water al-Hima's remembered days with the sweetest

water the heavens pour upon the lands,

وخَصَّ باناتٍ على كاظمةٍ

فزادها نضارةً ولينا

and favor the ban trees at Kazima,

increasing their freshness and suppleness.

وواصَلتْ ما بينها ريحُ الصَّبا

فعانقت غصونُها الغصونا

May the east wind bring them together,

so their branches embrace other branches;

ورَدَّ أوطارا بها ماضيةً

عليَّ أو أحبّةً باقينا

and restore pleasures once enjoyed there

to me, or loved ones still remaining.

أيامَ تاجرتُ الصِّبا فلم أكن

فيه على خَسارتي غبينا

In days when I traded in youth, I was not,

despite my losses in it, a cheated man.

آخذُ من عيشي الرضا وأصطفي

من المنى جوهرَها المكنونا

I took contentment from my life, and chose

from desires their hidden jewel.

وفي حِبالات الشباب لي دُمىً

أسرى ولا يُسْرَحْن لو فُدينا

In youth's snares I had doll-like beauties,

captives, not released even if ransomed.

يَسفِرن عن حرائرٍ مجلوَّةٍ

ما وَصَفَت في عِتقها هَجينا

They unveil noble beauties, burnished bright;

no baseborn strain is revealed in their pure breeding.

إذا اللحاظُ صافحتْ جلودَها

قلتَ تضرَّجنَ وما دَميِنا

When glances caress their skin,

you say they have turned crimson, though they have not bled.

تطعنُ بالأعين مَن طاردها

يا مَن رأى أسنّةً عيونا

They stab with their eyes whoever pursues them;

O you who have seen spearpoints that are eyes!

بناتُ كلِّ مُترَفٍ منعَّمٍ

يعُدُّهنَّ عزَّةً بنينا

Daughters of every pampered, luxuriantly nurtured man,

who counts them as sons, such is his pride in them.

يكاد أن يَرزقَهن لحمَه

حيّاً إذا طُفنَ به عِزِينا

He would almost feed them his own flesh

while alive, when they circle him in groups.

ملأنَ أبكارا وعُونا صدرَهُ

فكاثرَ الحُورَ بهنَّ العِينا

Virgins and mature women, they fill his heart;

with them he rivals the wide-eyed houris in number.

كم ليلةٍ بتُّ بهنَّ ناعما

ثم غدوتُ هائما مفتونا

How many a night I spent blissful among them,

then arose distraught with love, bewitched.

يفسُق كفّي بينهنَّ وفمي

فتكا ويُمسي مئزري حَصينا

My hand and mouth act wantonly among them,

recklessly, while my loincloth remains guarded.

بِنَّ فبُدِّلتُ بحلمي سفَها

يُعذَر من ظنّ الهوى جنونا

They departed, and folly replaced my composure;

one who thinks love madness may be excused.

عيشٌ نصَلتُ من حُلاه والفتى

يلبَس حينا ويُبَزُّ حينا

A life whose ornaments I shed; and a young man

is clothed at one time, stripped at another.

وطارقٍ والليلُ قد مدَّ له

على بياض الطُّرُق الدجونا

And many a night visitor, for whom night had spread

darkness over the whiteness of the roads,

سرى وأبصارُ النجوم حيرةً

بفحمة الشباب قد غشِينا

traveled by night, while the stars' eyes, bewildered,

were veiled in the coal-blackness of youth.

والكلبُ يستافُ البيوتَ طاويا

شطرَيْهِ حتى يلجَ الدَّخينا

The dog sniffs out the houses, drawing together

his two sides, until he enters the smoky interior.

يَكفُرُ تحت كَشحه خَيشومَه

تسمعُ من نُباحِه أنينا

He hides his snout beneath his flank;

you hear a whimper in his barking,

كأنما يخاف في ضلالِه

أن يطرُقَ البيتَ الذي يلينا

as though, in his wandering, he fears

to visit the house beside ours.

قمتُ له من رقدة معسولةٍ

أُكرِهُ عنها الجنبَ والجفونا

I rose for him from honey-sweet sleep,

forcing my side and eyelids away from it.

ثم أنخت خيرها عقيلةً

بالسيف حتى اعترقَ الوتينا

Then I made the best of them kneel—a prized she-camel—

with the sword, until it severed her heart's artery.

وقلتُ للجازر قم فاختر له

على مناه الرَّخْص والسمينا

And I told the butcher, 'Rise, and choose for him,

as he desires, the tender meat and the fatty.'

جدلاء قد بات خِماصا أهلها

والضيفُ قد نام بها بطينا

A firm-built camel: her owners passed the night hungry,

while the guest slept there with a full belly.

ومزلقٍ من الكلام موئِسٍ

بلاغةَ المفصح أن يُبينا

And many a slippery passage of speech, defeating

the eloquent speaker's ability to make it plain,

تُراوِدُ الألسنُ من عَوصائِهِ

شامسةً لا تَتْبَعُ القَرينا

tongues try to coax from its tangled difficulties

a restive creature that will not follow its companion.

جَمعتُ من شُذَّانِهِ منتقيا

شكوكَه أو خلَصت يقينا

I gathered its scattered fragments, selecting

its doubtful sense or extracting certainty.

وضعتُه محلِّيا برصْفِهِ

أعراضَ قومٍ خُلِقوا حالينا

I set it down, adorning with its arrangement

the honor of men created already adorned—

شيعة مجدٍ آمنوا بمعجزي

فيه فهم يفضّلوني دِينا

partisans of glory who believed in my miracle

within it; they make my preeminence their creed.

عَدِّ بني أيّوبَ أو جوّز بهم

ولا ترى إلا المنافقينا

Pass over the sons of Ayyub, or go beyond them:

you will see only hypocrites.

واشدُد يديك بقُوى محمدٍ

في الخطب تعلَقْ مُحصَدا متينا

And grip Muhammad's rope-strands with both hands;

in hardship, you will grasp a tightly twisted, sturdy rope.

مَدَّ يداً إلى المنى فنالها

والعمرُ ما مدَّ له السنينا

He reached a hand toward his desires and attained them,

though life had not yet lengthened his years.

وأحرزَ الكمالَ في سنينه

في الخمس حتى ناهز الخمسينا

He attained perfection within his years,

at five, reaching nearly fifty.

تر الوقارَ والحلوم زنة

معتدلا في خلقه موزونا

You see dignity and sound judgment, weighed

in balanced proportion within his character.

تر الرجال مائة في واحد

بل واحدا ترى به مئينا

You see a hundred men in one;

indeed, one in whom you see hundreds.

كأنما كان له الحلمُ أخا

مضاجِعا في مهده ملبونا

As though forbearance had been his brother,

lying beside him in his cradle, suckled with him.

لم يفترش عجزا من الرأي ولا

ساور في الأمر الهوى الظَّنِينا

He never made weak judgment his bedding, nor

pursued suspect desire in any affair.

يكفيه أُولى قَدحةٍ من رأيه

إن بيَّت الرأيَ المُخمِّرونا

His judgment's first spark suffices him,

when deliberators ponder their counsel overnight.

مبارَكُ الغرّة فوق وجهه

طلاوةٌ تستفرح الحزينا

Blessed of brow, upon his face lies

a radiance that gladdens the sorrowful.

لو شاء من قال اسمه محمد

زاد فسمى وجهه ميمونا

Had the one who named him Muhammad wished,

he could have gone further and named his face Maymun.

جرى على أعراض عرقٍ صانه

صيَّره لمالِهِ مَهينا

He followed the course of a bloodline that preserved him,

making him treat his wealth with disdain.

لو جَمعتْ كفّاه ما فرّقتا

في الجود ضاهى بالغنى قارونا

Had his two hands gathered what they scattered

in generosity, his wealth would have rivaled Qarun's.

كأنه آلَى على يمينه

ألا تضمَّ درهما يمينا

As though he had sworn concerning his right hand

an oath that it should never clasp a dirham.

مكارمٌ ينقُلها عن أُسرةٍ

كانوا كراما يومَ كانوا طينا

Noble qualities he inherits from a family

who were noble the day they were still clay.

بنوْا على مجدهِمُ أحسابَهم

فاستشرِفوا عالين يا بانينا

They built their pedigrees upon their glory;

so aspire to lofty heights, you builders!

وسمِعَ الناسُ على تفضيلهم

أن عَرَّفوا الماضين بالباقينا

People heard, in praise of their superiority,

that they made the departed known through the living.

كلّ أبٍ سيماه في وجه ابنه

يرَوْن منه مثل ما يروونا

Each father's mark is on his son's face;

in him they see the same as what they recount.

يُعطون إفراطا وتستجيرُهم

فيمنعون مثلما يعطونا

They give beyond measure; when you seek their refuge,

they protect just as greatly as they give.

ألسنُهم إخوةُ أرماحِهمُ

مطاعنين ومخاطِبينا

Their tongues are brothers to their spears,

whether they thrust or speak.

كأنهم بالسُّمر يكتبون أو

بقصَب الأقلام يطعنونا

As though they wrote with their tawny spears, or

thrust with the reeds of their pens.

كانوا وجوهَ دهرهم وكنتَ في

وجههم الغرَّةَ والعِرنينا

They were the faces of their age, and you were, in

their face, the bright brow and the bridge of the nose.

أيِّدتُ منك بيدٍ ذَرّاعةٍ

تُعطي المنى وتمنع المنونا

Through you I was strengthened by a far-reaching hand,

that grants wishes and wards off death.

وَكَّلَكَ الفضلُ على الأيام في

نصري فكنتَ الثقةَ الأمينا

Excellence charged you, against the days, with

my defense; you were the trusted, faithful one.

فصرتُ لا أشكر من أرفدني

غنىً ولا أعاتب الضنينا

So I no longer thank whoever supplies me

with riches, nor reproach the miser.

كفيتني الناسَ على عِلَّاتهم

فوقاً رأيتُ صاحبي أو دونا

You freed me from dependence on people, for all their faults,

whether I found my companion above or below.

فما أدراي خُلُقا مموَّها

ولا أروم نائلا ممنونا

I no longer humor a counterfeit character,

nor seek a gift burdened with reproach.

فَلا تُصبْك من يدٍ ولا فمٍ

كائنةٌ أَفرَقُ أن تكونا

May neither hand nor mouth bring upon you

any calamity I fear might befall;

ولا يزلْ جاري المقادير على

ما تبتغي مساعدا مُعينا

and may the course of fate remain,

according to your wish, helpful and supportive,

ما كرّ يوم المِهرَجانِ وأرت

ليلةَ عيدٍ من هلالٍ نونا

as long as Mihrijan Day returns, and

a festival night displays a crescent shaped like the letter nun;

وما صبت للحج نفسٌ واجتبت

ركنَ الصفا يجاورُ الحُجُونا

and as long as a soul yearns for pilgrimage and chooses

the corner of al-Safa, neighboring al-Hajun.

دعاءُ إخلاص إذا رفعتُه

قال الحفيظانِ معي آمينا

A prayer of sincerity: when I raise it,

the two guardian angels say 'Amen' with me.