ما كان سهما غار بل ظبي سنح — Mihyar Al Daylami

ما كان سهماً غار بل ظبيٌ سنحْ

إن لم يكن قتلَ الفؤادَ فقد جرحْ

It was no arrow that sank deep, but a gazelle that crossed my path.

If it has not killed the heart, it has at least wounded it.

جلبَ الجمالَ يريد أنفَسنا به

ثمناً فتاجرناه فيه كما اقترحْ

He brought beauty, seeking our souls for it

as payment; we traded with him for it as he proposed.

أرِجتْ جِنانَ السفح فيه بنافضٍ

رُدنيْه عن عَرف الجِنان إذا نفحْ

The hillside gardens grew fragrant with one who shook

his sleeves free of the gardens' perfume whenever he wafted his scent.

عَرَقُ المجاسدِ فاض ماءُ شبابه

والوردُ أطيب منه ريحاً ما رشحْ

His youth's water overflowed as sweat upon his garments;

what he exudes is sweeter in scent than the rose.

في جيده الكافورِ سبحةُ عنبرٍ

ما كان أغفلني وليس عن السُّبَحْ

On his camphor-white neck is a rosary of ambergris.

How heedless I was—though not of rosaries!

وأَمَا ومِشيتِهِ توقَّر تارة

صلَفاً وأحياناً يُجنُّ من المَرَحْ

Indeed, by his gait—at times he moves gravely,

with haughtiness, and at times runs mad with mirth—

ومَواعدٍ ليَ في خلال وعيده

مَزجتْ بدمع صبابتي دمعَ القَدحْ

and by trysts promised me amid his threats,

which mingled the goblet's tears with my tears of longing,

لأشاطرنَّ هواه جسمي إن وفَى

ولأبخلنّ على العواذل إن سمحْ

I shall share my body with his love, if he keeps faith;

and be miserly toward reproachful women, if he is generous.

راحت تعنّفُ في الصِّبا ما آن أن

يثنيك عن أَشَر الثِّنَى نَهيُ القَرَحْ

She began rebuking my youthful passion: 'Is it not time that

a mature steed's restraint turned you from a young steed's insolence?'

والخمسُ والعشرون تعذرُ فاسداً

لو ناهزتْه الأربعون وما صلحْ

And twenty-five excuses a profligate,

even were forty to approach him without his reforming.

منَّاك ظنُّك بي غروراً أنني

أصحو وفي الظنّ المحالُ المطَّرَحْ

Your opinion of me beguiled you with the vain hope that I

would sober up; that supposition holds an impossibility to be dismissed.

كالليث والغمرُ استغرَّ بثغره

فدنا إليه فاسئلي عمَّا كلَحْ

Like the lion: a fool was deceived by its mouth

and drew near it—ask what it snarled at.

والصاحبِ التمس الغمامُ تشبّهاً

بيديه لا جَرَم انظري كيف افتضحْ

And like al-Sahib: the cloud sought to resemble

his two hands—certainly, see how it was disgraced!

جاراهما ويكاد يغرق فيهما

بالجود إلا أنه فيه سَبحْ

It vied with them and nearly drowned in them,

in generosity—save that it swam therein.

للعزّ ما منعَ الحسينُ فلم تَنل

كفُّ الزمان وللمكارم ما منحْ

For honor was what al-Husayn withheld, untouched

by Time's hand; for noble deeds was what he gave.

إن هَمَّ أبصر غايتيه بحزمه

كالطَّرف يُدرِك نورُه أنَّى طَرَحْ

If he resolves, his prudence lets him see both his goals,

like the eye, whose light reaches wherever he casts it.

أو جَدَّ في خطبٍ كفاه ووجهُه

متبسِّمٌ فيقول حاسدهُ مَزَحْ

Or, earnest in a grave affair, he masters it, his face

smiling, so his envier says, 'He was joking.'

كم نعمةٍ لم تُلههِ عن عصمةٍ

وجمادِ عامٍ لم يُعقهُ أن انفسحْ

How many a blessing has not drawn him from integrity,

and how many a barren year, though prolonged, has not hindered him;

ومدامةٍ عذراءَ بات نديمَها

وبغارةٍ شعواءَ يومئذٍ صبحْ

and many a virgin wine he kept company with all night,

then struck at dawn that day in a furious raid.

رفقاً فجرِّبْهُ وقل في ناره

إن أُضرِمتْ وقد اشتواك بما لفحْ

Gently! Test him, and speak of his fire

if it were kindled—when he had already roasted you with its blast—

واهترَّ كلكلهُ لكنت سحيقةً

بدداً فأين يكون ركنك إن نَطحْ

and his chest heaved, you would be ground to dust,

scattered—where would your strength be if he butted?

بي أنت ضجَّ السيفُ حتى إنه

لو كان يومَ يُسلُّ ذا صوتٍ لَبَحْ

May I be your ransom! The sword cried out, so much that

if it had a voice on the day it was drawn, it would grow hoarse.

وشكا جوادُك في الضوامرِ بثَّه

لما استراحت وهو تحتك لم يُرَحْ

Your steed also complained of its anguish among the lean racers,

when they rested, while beneath you it was given no rest.

طِرفٌ تعوّد أنه لو طارد ال

ريحَ الشَّمالَ عليه فارسهُ بَطحْ

A noble steed, accustomed to this: were it to chase the

north wind with its rider aboard, it would lay it low.

وأغرُّ يُسرِجُ يومَ يُسَرجُ وجهُهُ

زُهْرَ الكواكبِ قام فيها أو سرحْ

And a white-blazed steed whose face, when it is saddled, lights up

the bright stars, whether it stands among them or roams.

ومؤدَّبِ الأعضاءِ لا يهفو به

جنباه ما حسَّ الغلامُ وما مسحْ

And a horse of well-trained limbs, with never a twitch

in its flanks, however the groom curries and strokes it.

فسواه ما خلع اللجامَ ومدَّ طغ

ياناً وما منع الركابَ وما رمحْ

Another is the one that casts off the bridle and strains in

rebellion, refuses the stirrups, and kicks.

ولك المقامُ زرأتَ فيه والقنا

أجَمٌ فهان على عرينك من نبحْ

And yours is the stand where you roared, while the spears

were thickets; whoever barked counted for little before your lion's den.

والرأيُ أعجزه الصوابُ فلم يُشِرْ

فيه سواك ولو أشار لما نصحْ

And counsel whose right course proved elusive: none advised

on it but you; had another spoken, he would not have counseled well.

أمؤاخذي كرماً عليَّ قضيتُهُ

إن ضاق عنه لسانُ شكري أو رزحْ

Will you call me to account for a favor to me that I repaid,

if my tongue of gratitude fell short of it or buckled beneath its weight?

غَفْراً متى قصَّرتُ عنك فإنني

بالمدح أولَى لو بلغتُك بالمِدَحْ

Forgive me whenever I fall short of you, for I

would myself deserve praise, could I reach you with eulogies.

هذا ولم تَخفُرك قدرةُ خاطري

ما جاءه عفواً وما فيه كدحْ

This—yet my imagination's power has not failed you,

in what came spontaneously and what involved toil.

كم نومةٍ للعاشقين وهبتُها

ليلاً أراقب ديكَه حتى صدحْ

How many a slumber have I bestowed on lovers,

by night, watching its cock until it crowed!

واللية البهماءُ تُولِد فكرتي

غرّاءَ يحسدها الصباحُ إذا وضحْ

And on the pitch-dark night my thought gives birth

to a radiant poem that morning envies when it shines.

ولأنتَ باستحسانها أنطقتني

وشرحتَ بالإكرام صدري فانشرحْ

And it was you who, by admiring it, gave me voice,

and by honoring me opened my breast, and it opened wide.

ونسيتَ ما أعطيتَنيه وفيهمُ

حاشا سماحِك مَنْ إذا أعطى لَمَحْ

And you forgot what you had given me; among them—

far be it from your generosity—are those who, when they give, keep an eye on it.

فلغيرك المتسهَّلُ المبذولُ في اس

ترخاصه ولك الغرائبُ والمُلَحْ

For others, easy, freely offered verse, deemed

cheap; for you, rare marvels and delights.