ما ليلتي على أقر — Mihyar Al Daylami

ما ليلتي على أُقُرْ

إلا البكاءُ والسهرْ

My night at Uqur is nothing

but weeping and sleeplessness.

بتُّ أظنّ الصبحَ بال

عادة مما ينسفرْ

I spent the night thinking dawn, as

usual, would break.

أرقبُ من نجومها

زوالَ أمرٍ مستقِرّْ

From its stars I await

the passing of a settled state.

رواكدٌ كأنما

أفلاكهنّ لم تدُرْ

Motionless, as though

their spheres had never turned.

وكلّما قلت انطوى

شطرٌ من الليل انتشرْ

And whenever I said, 'Folded away

is half the night,' it spread again.

أسألها أين الكرى

أينَ النهارُ المنتظَرْ

I ask it, 'Where is slumber?

Where is the awaited day?'

وكلُّ شيء عندَها

إلا الرقاد والسَّحَرْ

With it is everything

except sleep and the pre-dawn hour.

من مخبري فما أرى

هل دام ليلٌ فاستمَرّْ

Who will tell me? For I cannot see:

has a night endured and gone on forever?

وغابت الشمسُ نعم

فكيف خُلِّد القمرْ

The sun has set, yes—

but how was the moon made eternal?

أين الأُلى طرَّحهم

مَطارحَ البين الحذَرْ

Where are those whom caution cast

into the haunts of separation?

غابوا وما غابت لهم

دارٌ ولا جَدَّ سَفَرْ

They are absent, yet no home of theirs

is gone, nor has a new journey begun.

لكن عيون الكاشحي

نَ الشُّزْرُ منها والخُزُرْ

But the eyes of the spiteful—

their hostile glares and sidelong looks—

ما برِحتْ لا نَظَرتْ

تمنعنا حتى النظَرْ

have never ceased—may they never see!—

to deny us even a glance.

تطلّعوا نارَ الجوى

في القلب كيف تستعرْ

Look upon the fire of longing

in the heart: how it blazes!

وما الذي تبعثه

على الجوانح الذِّكَرْ

And what is stirred

within the ribs by memories!

وأيّ نارٍ للفؤا

د فيهِمُ عند البصرْ

And what a fire the heart

feels for them at the sight!

غنَّى بهيفاءَ الرِّفا

قُ والكؤوسُ لم تدُرْ

The companions sang of Hayfa,

though the cups had not gone round.

فكلّ صاحٍ انتشى

وكلّ نشوانَ سكِرْ

Then every sober man grew tipsy,

and every tipsy man grew drunk.

كأنما قلبي لها

في صدر كلّ من حضرْ

As though my heart, devoted to her,

were in the breast of everyone present.

فظِلتُ أبكي مثلما

أشربُ أدمعاً حُمُرْ

So I kept weeping, even as

I drank crimson tears.

كأنّ ماءَ قدحي

من بين جفنيَّ عُصِرْ

As though the liquid in my cup

were wrung from between my eyelids.

قال الرسولُ عتبتْ

هيفاءُ قلت ما الخبرْ

The messenger said, 'She has taken offense—

Hayfa.' I said, 'What is the matter?'

قال تقول ملَّنا

قلت الملولُ من غدَر

He said, 'She says, “He has tired of us.”'

I said, 'It is the betrayer who is fickle.'

لا والذي لو شاء أن

يُنصِفني منها قَدَرْ

No! By Him who, if He wished,

could secure me justice against her,

ما خُدِعتْ بغيرها

عيني على حُسن الصورْ

my eye has not been beguiled by another,

for all the beauty of forms.

بَلَى ولا أُنكرهُ

وليس بالأمر النُّكُرْ

Yes—nor do I deny it,

and it is nothing blameworthy—

لقد رأيتُ البان من

ذي العلَمين والسَّمُرْ

I have indeed seen the ban trees of

Dhu al-'Alamayn, and the samur acacias,

تضربه ريحُ الصَّبا

فيستوي وينأطِرْ

beaten by the east wind,

straightening and bending.

فملتُ تشبيهاً بها

آخُذُ ضمّاً وأذَرْ

So I leaned toward them, likening them to her,

taking an embrace, then letting go.

فإن رأت ذلك ذن

باً إنني لمعتذِرْ

If she considers that a

sin, then I will surely apologize.

يا يومَ دبَّ بيننا

أمرُ الفراق ما أمرّْ

O day when there crept between us

the matter of parting—how bitter!

ما كنتَ في الأيامِ إل

لا عارضاً يَنطُفُ شرّْ

Among the days you were nothing

but a cloud dripping evil.

قد عيَّفتك الطيرُ لي

لكنّ قلبي ما زجَرْ

The birds had marked you ill-omened for me,

but my heart took no warning.

ولائمٍ مُدّتْ له

حبائلُ اللوم فجرّْ

And a reproacher, for whom were stretched

the snares of blame, tugged at them.

رأى هَناتٍ فنهى

غيرَ مطاع وأمرْ

He saw faults and forbade them,

unheeded, and issued commands.

قال فَرُدَّ صاغراً

أغزَلٌ مع الكِبَرْ

He spoke—and was rebuffed, humbled—

'Courting, at your age?'

وأيُّما عَلاقةٍ

بين الغرامِ والعُمُرْ

And what connection is there

between passion and age?

وأين إطرابُ النفو

س مع أصابيغ الشَّعَرْ

And what has the stirring of souls

to do with the colors of hair?

رب شبابٍ ليلُهُ

يصبح تنعاه الأُزُرُ

Many a youth whose night

dawns with his waistcloths mourning him!

وشَيبِ رأسٍ ذنبُه

في الحُظُوات مغتفَرْ

And many a gray-haired head whose offense

is forgiven in the favors he enjoys!

حلفتُ بالشُّعث الوفو

د زُمَراً على زُمَرْ

I swore by the disheveled pilgrims,

in bands upon bands,

يَرَون ظَلْماً بارداً

بلثم ذلك الحجرْ

who find cool saliva

in kissing that stone;

ومن دعا ومن سعى

واستنّ سبعاً وجَمَرْ

and by those who prayed and those who paced,

and ran seven times and cast pebbles;

وسَوْقهم مثلَ الحصو

نِ مُرِّدت إلا المَدرْ

and by their driving beasts like fortresses,

smoothed over, though not with clay,

توامكاً ممطورةً

أعشابُها وقتَ المطرْ

high-humped, with rain falling on

their grasses in the season of rain.

جاءوا بها مجتهدي

ن تُفْتَلَى وتُختَبَرْ

They brought them, striving earnestly,

to be examined and put to the test;

لكلِّ مُهْدٍ نسكَهُ

أنفسَ ماليْه نَحَرْ

each dedicating his sacrificial offering,

slaughtering the dearest of his two holdings—

أن بني عبد الرحي

م نِعْمَ كنزُ المدَّخرْ

that the sons of 'Abd al-Rahim

are the finest treasure one can store,

وخير من سُدّت به

يومَ الملمَّاتِ الثُّغَرْ

and the best to fill

the breaches on days of calamity.

المطعمون الهَبْرَ وال

عامُ عبوسٌ مقشَعِرّْ

They feed people chunks of meat, while the

year scowls and shivers;

وصبيةُ الحيّ تُدا

ري الإبلَ عن فضل الجُزُرْ

and the tribe's children fend

the camels off from the leftover meat;

والريحُ لا تلوي بأك

سار البيوت والجُدُرْ

and the wind does not linger at the

sides of houses and walls;

وتحسب الفائز من

ها مُلقِمَ البطنِ الحجرْ

and you count as lucky the survivor of

it, feeding his belly a stone.

والمانعين الجار لو

زُحزِح عنهم لم يُجَرْ

And those who defend their neighbor, who,

if driven from them, would find no protection,

حتى يعزّ فيهِمُ

عزَّ تميمٍ في مضَرْ

until he enjoys among them the might

that Tamim enjoys within Mudar,

من بعد ما صاح به ال

موتُ استمت فلا وَزَرْ

after death had cried to him,

'Surrender to death—there is no refuge!'

والواهبون بُسِطَ ال

رزقُ عليهم أو قُدِرْ

And the givers, whether their

livelihood is made ample or straitened;

لا يحسبون معطياً

أعطى إذا لم يفتقرْ

they do not count as a giver one

who gives without becoming poor.

لهم حياض الجود وال

سودَدِ فَعْماً وغَزَرْ

The pools of generosity and

lordship are theirs, brimming and abundant.

تُخلَى لهم جُمّاتُها

وبعدُ للناس السُّؤرْ

Their full waters are reserved for them;

afterward others have the leftovers.

أبناءُ مجدٍ نقلو

ه أثراً بعد أَثَرْ

Sons of glory, they have passed it on,

tradition after tradition,

رواية يُسندها

باقيهُمُ عمّن غَبرْ

a heritage whose transmission is traced

by their survivors to those long gone.

يُنصَرُ عنها القولُ بال

فعلِ فيسلم الخبَرْ

What is said of it is borne out by

deeds, so the account remains sound.

طابوا حياةً مثلما

طابوا عِظاماً وحُفَرْ

Sweet were they in life, just as

sweet are their bones and graves.

تساهموا أُفْق العلا

تساهمَ الشهبِ الزُّهُرْ

They shared out the horizon of glory,

as the bright stars share it.

كأنهم في أوجه ال

دنيا البهيمات غُرَرْ

As though on the faces of the

dark world they were white forehead-blazes.

فانتظموا نظمَ القنا

إلا الوصومَ والخَوَرْ

They aligned themselves like spear-shafts,

but without blemishes or weakness.

من هبة اللّه إلى

سابورَ فخرٌ مستمِرّْ

From Hibat Allah to

Sabur runs unbroken pride.

قِسْ خبري عنهم إلى

أبي المعالي واعتبِرْ

Compare my account of them with

Abu al-Ma'ali, and take heed.

تر العروقَ الزاكيا

تِ من شُفَافاتِ الثَّمرْ

You will see the thriving roots

through the translucence of the fruit.

المشتري الحمدَ الربي

حَ لا يبالي ما خسِرْ

He buys profitable praise,

not caring what he loses;

والطَّلْقُ حتى ما تبي

ن عُسرةٌ من اليُسُرْ

and is so cheerful that one cannot

distinguish hardship from ease.

تكرع من أخلاقه

في سلسلٍ عذبِ الغُدُرْ

From his character you drink deeply

of limpid water in sweet pools.

لم يُبقِ راووقُ الصبا

قذىً به ولا كدَرْ

Youth's filter has left

no speck or murk in him.

ثمَّ فحلَّتْ أربعي

نَ عشرةٌ من العُمُرْ

Then forty years were matched

by ten years of his life.

وفاتَ أحلامَ الكهو

ل وهو في سنّ الغَمَرْ

He surpassed the judgment of mature men,

while still of a novice's age;

وأبصر اليومَ غداً

فلم يَرِدْ إلا صدرْ

and saw tomorrow today,

never entering without emerging.

لا ضامه الخوفُ ولا

أطغاه في الأمن البَطَرْ

Fear did not oppress him, nor

did pride in security make him overstep.

على نداه باعث

من نفسه لا يُقتسَرْ

An impulse toward his generosity

comes from within him; he is not compelled.

إذا أحسَّ فترةً

لجَّ عليها ونفَرْ

If he senses any slackening,

he resists it stubbornly and rises.

لا يُخلفُ الظنَّ ولا

يَلقَى الحقوقَ بالعُذُرْ

He never belies expectation, nor

meets rightful claims with excuses.

علقتُ من ودّك بال

مُستحصِفِ المَثنى المِرَرْ

I have fastened myself to your affection by

a firmly twisted cord of doubled strands,

أملسَ لا تسحله

بالغدر كفُّ المنتسِرْ

smooth, beyond the fraying touch

of the snatcher's treacherous hand.

وكنتَ من حيثَ اقتُرح

تَ وأبى قومٌ أُخَرْ

And you were there whenever a request was made

of you, while other men refused.

تُعطي على الخِفّة ما

يُعطُون والضَّرعُ دِرَرْ

In scarcity you give what

they give when the udder flows freely.

والخير من مالك لي

وإن وَفَى وإن كثُرْ

And the good your wealth brings me,

however ample, however much,

محبة ما فَوَّزتْ

نفسيَ منها في غَرَرْ

is love that has not sent

my soul into jeopardy.

فما أطيرُ بأخٍ

محلِّقاً ما لم تطِرْ

I soar with no brother,

rising high, unless you take flight.

ولا يُنَزِّي كبدِي

إذا وصلتَ مَن هَجَرْ

Nor does it make my liver writhe

if you befriend one who has forsaken me.

فابق على وَغرْ الحسو

د نجوةً من الغِيَرْ

So live on, despite the envious man's spite,

safe from fortune's reversals.

ترعاك عينُ اللّه لي

من شرّ أعين البشرْ

May God's eye guard you for me

from the evil of human eyes,

ما ذيَّل النيروزُ في

ثوبِ الرياض وخَطَرْ

as long as Nowruz trails its hem through

the robe of the gardens and struts,

وكرَّ عامٌ مقبلٌ

وابق إلى أن لا يَكُرّْ

and a coming year returns;

and live until no year returns.

واسمع لها تُهدِي إلى ال

عرِض الغنى وهو فُقُرْ

And listen to it bestow upon your

honor wealth made of verses.

تضُوع في الناس بها

نوافجٌ لُسْنُ السُّرَرْ

Through it there waft among the people

musk-pods that are not navels.

سَلَّمَت الريحُ لها

شرطَ الرواح والبَكَرْ

The wind has ceded to it

the right of evening and morning travel,

كما تمطَّت بالخُزا

مَى لك أرواحُ السحَرْ

as, laden with lavender,

the dawn breezes stretch toward you.

فهي بكم معقولةٌ

وهي شرودٌ لا تَقرّْ

It is tethered to you,

though it is a runaway that will not settle.

إذا بناتُ شاعرٍ

أُنِّثنَ أو كُنَّ عُقُرْ

If a poet's daughters

are made feminine, or are barren,

فكلُّ بنتٍ ولَدتْ

في مدحكم منّي ذَكَرْ

then every daughter born

from me in your praise is a son.

ترى حسودي حاضراً

يُنشِدُ وهو يحتضرْ

You see my envier present,

reciting as he lies dying,

تعجيله عن نفسه

سابقةً أمرَ القدَرْ

hastening him away from his own soul,

outstripping the decree of fate.

يُصغِي لها وودُّه

لو كان من قبلُ وَقَرْ

He listens to it, wishing

he had been deaf before.