ما جد السعي أتاه ما سعى له — Mihyar Al Daylami

ما جدُ السعي أتاه ما سعى لَهْ

ومُعانٍ طلبَ العزَّ فنالَهْ

Noble in striving, he has received what he strove for;

aided in his quest, he sought glory and attained it.

وجوادٌ أطلقتْ أرساغَهُ

هممٌ تُبدِلُ بالريثِ العجالَهْ

And a steed whose fetlocks were loosed

by ambitions that replace delay with haste.

فجري لم تَثنه دونَ المدى

سعةٌ الشوطِ ولا ضيقُ المجالَهْ

So it ran; nothing turned it back before the goal—

neither the course's breadth nor the field's narrowness.

كلّما طال به ميدانُهُ

تمّ بالبعد وأجرَى في الإطالَهْ

Whenever its course grew longer before it,

it reached full strength with distance and ran faster over greater length.

ناشداً من حقّه عازبةً

ردّها اللهُ على طول الضلالَهْ

Seeking a lost portion of its due,

which God restored despite its long wandering.

فانتهى والريحُ في أعقابه

حَيرَةً تسألُ مُجريها الإقالَهْ

It reached the finish, with the wind behind it,

bewildered, asking its driver for release.

يا بني أيوبَ بُشرَى أعظمٍ

لكُمُ من فوقها الأرضُ مُهالَهْ

O sons of Ayyub, glad tidings to bones

of yours, over which earth lies heaped!

وهَنَا أسلافَكم ما أعقبتْ

تلكم الأصلابُ من هذي السلالَهْ

And may your forebears rejoice in what was begotten

by those loins of yours—this offspring.

بعميدِ الرؤساءِ اعتدلتْ

لكُمُ أعمدةُ المجد الممالَهْ

Through the Chief of the Chiefs, upright now stand

for you the leaning pillars of glory.

لم تزل مُديتُه حافرةً

في الكُدَى حتى صفَت هذي الزَّلالَهْ

His knife never ceased digging

in hard ground until this limpid water grew clear.

رجعَ الحقُّ إلى أربابه

واحتبى في داره يعرفُ آلَهْ

Right has returned to its rightful owners,

and sat with knees clasped in its home, recognizing its kin.

يشكر الأقدارَ في أوبته

ويذمُّ البعدَ فيما كان عالَهْ

Thanking fate for its return,

and blaming separation for the burden it had caused.

أنحلتْه بعدكم كلُّ يدٍ

لم تكن تُحسن في الغصب انتحالَهْ

Every hand after yours left it emaciated,

unable to claim it skillfully while usurping it.

جهلَت قدرَ معانيه فقد

رضِيتْ منه بأسماءٍ مُحالَهْ

They knew not the worth of its meanings, and so

were content with distorted names for it.

أبصر القادرُ لمّا ردَّها

فيكُمُ أنّ الهدى فيما بدا لَهْ

Al-Qadir saw, when he restored it

to your midst, that guidance lay in what appeared to him.

ورأى أنوارَها من ظلِّكمْ

بعدَ بيت الجوْر في بيت العدالَهْ

And he saw its lights coming from your shade,

within the house of justice, after the house of oppression.

والإمام المجتلَى من قبله

كنتُمُ أولى به ممن عنا لَهْ

And the imam beheld before him—

you were more worthy of him than those who bowed to him.

لم تكونوا كالذي دبّ له

خَمَراً في مُلكه حتى أزالَهْ

You were not like the one who crept against him

under cover in his realm, until he removed him.

ورأى القائمُ بالأمر غداً

أنكم أنصر أعضاداً وآلَهْ

And al-Qa'im, upholding rule, foresaw for tomorrow

that your arms and means would be strongest in his support.

عجمَ الناسَ فكنتم دونهم

يدَه تحمِلُ سيفاً ورِحالَهْ

He tested men, and you, rather than them, were

his hand, bearing a sword and a saddle.

فاجتبى منكم فتىً أيَّ فتىً

شفع الأصلَ بحزمٍ وأصالَهْ

So he chose from you a youth—what a youth!—

who paired his lineage with resolve and sound judgment.

لحِقَ العرقَ وزادت خطوةٌ

منه أعطتْ فوق ما تُعطي الفُضالَهْ

He matched his lineage, and an added stride

of his gave more than inherited remnants give.

بأبي طالبَ ترتاحُ غداً

دولةٌ من ظاهرِ الجورِ مذالَهْ

Through Abu Talib, relief will come tomorrow

to a state abased by oppression's ascendancy.

يا وزير الخلفاء انهض بها

مثلما تنهض بالسيف الحِمالَهْ

O minister of the caliphs, raise it up,

as the baldric bears up the sword.

كيف لا يشتاق أن تملأه

مجلسٌ وجهُك بدرٌ وهو هالَهْ

How could it not yearn for you to fill it—

a gathering, your face its full moon and it the halo?

موقفٌ أنت أخوه وابنه

غلبَ الناسُ عليه بالجهالَهْ

A station whose brother and son you are,

which men seized through ignorance.

رتبةٌ لم تقتعدْها غَلطاً

ومُقامٌ لم ترثْه عن كَلالَهْ

A rank you did not occupy by mistake,

and an office you did not inherit through collateral kin.

تجمُلُ الدنيا ومن فيها به

وعلى ذاك لقد كنت جمالَهْ

The world and all within it are made beautiful by it,

yet you yourself were its adornment.

وهنيئاً لبسةٌ فضفاضةٌ

ذيّلوها لك من غير إذالَهْ

And joy to you in a spacious robe,

whose train they fashioned for you without abasement.

لبِسةٌ سوداءُ عباسيّة

تنطِق الروعةُ منها والبسالَهْ

A black Abbasid robe,

from which awe and valor speak.

من أديم الليل قُدّتْ هيبةً

لا ظلاماً ووقاراً لا ضلالَهْ

Cut from the hide of night for awe,

not darkness; and for dignity, not misguidance.

أطلع الأفقُ على دَيجورِها

شمسَه وجهَك والتبرَ هلالَهْ

Over its deep darkness, the horizon brought forth

its sun—your face—and gold as its crescent.

خُلقتْ لونَ الشبابِ المشتهَى

وحكت خَطرتَه فيك وخالَهْ

It was fashioned in the color of coveted youth,

and mirrored in you its gait and proud bearing.

وأعزّوها بأخرى وصَفتْ

روضَ وعساءَ جرى الماءُ خِلالَهْ

And they honored it with another that depicted

a meadow on soft sand, with water flowing through it.

ترجِع الأبصارُ من أوطارها

حَيرةً عن قبَسٍ أو عن ذُبالَهْ

Eyes turn back from what they crave,

bewildered before a firebrand or a lamp-wick.

يمتريك الشكُّ في راصعها

أجْمدَ العسجدَ فيها أم أسالَهْ

Doubt makes you question its inlayer:

did he solidify the gold in it, or make it flow?

ومنيفٌ لاحقيّ لو عطا

عُنْقَه يمسح بالطود لطالَهْ

And a towering steed of Lahiq's line, were it to stretch

its neck to brush a mountain, would reach it.

نفضَ الرَّوسُ على أعطافه

صِبغةً لم تتعقّبها استحالَهْ

The Rus scattered over its flanks

a dye that no change ever followed.

لا يَمسُّ الأرضَ إلا غلطاً

غيرَ أن يُعلِقَ بالترب نعالَهْ

It touches the ground only by mistake,

save to fasten its shoes to the dust.

نصَحَتْه مقلتَا جازئة

آنستْ بالرمل سهماً وحِبالَهْ

The eyes of a gazelle content with herbage served it faithfully,

one that sensed an arrow and a snare in the sand.

ومصيخان على نائية

بخفيّ الجَرْسِ حتى يوضِحا لَهْ

And two listening ears, intent on something distant,

whose sound is faint, until they make it clear to the horse.

عجِبَ الناسُ وقد أُمطِيتَهُ

من غزالٍ فوقه وجهُ الغزالَهْ

People marveled when you were given it to ride:

a gazelle with the sun's face above it!

مَنِحٌ كنتُ أرى آثارَها

بخفيّ الحدْسِ أو وحي الدلالَهْ

Gifts whose signs I used to see

through subtle intuition or the whisper of indications;

وانسكاب المزن من حيث انبرت

شقق البرق خِطافاً ومَخالَهْ

and rainclouds pouring forth from where there appeared

streaks of lightning, flashing and promising rain.

فتملّ العزّ واسحب ذيلَهْ

وارتبع روضتَه واسكن ظِلالَهْ

So enjoy glory and trail its hem;

spend spring in its meadow and dwell in its shade.

خطوةٌ ما للمنى من بعدها

مرتقىً يعطى سموّاً واستطالَهْ

A step beyond which hopes have no

ascent to gain still greater height and eminence.

وإذا لم يك أمر زائداً

فأدام الله هذا وأطالَهْ

And if there is nothing greater,

may God preserve this and prolong it.

وانطوى الدهر على أعقابه

والقضايا وهي لم تقض انتقالَهْ

And may time fold back upon its heels,

and decrees too, without decreeing its removal.

وانتحال المدح يسرِي راكباً

كلَّ فتلاء ضمورٍ في الرحَالَهْ

And the claiming of praise journeys by night, riding

every sinewy, lean she-camel beneath her saddle.

دقّ فاستصعب ما تحملُهُ

وهي تحت الحِمل بزلاءُ جُلالَهْ

It grew subtle, and her burden became intractable,

though beneath the load she is a mature, massive camel.

فاتت القولَ وزادت قدرةً

وقُوىً أن وجدت فيك مقالَهْ

It outstripped speech and gained in capacity

and strength, having found in you a theme.

للتهاني كلّ يومٍ فوقها

طارقٌ يوسع للشعر مجالَهْ

Each day brings more than these congratulations:

a new arrival that widens poetry's field.

يجتليها منك كفءٌ عارفٌ

يأخذ القولَ ويعطينا فعالَهْ

A worthy, discerning equal beholds them in you,

accepting words and giving us his deeds.

يُسمِنُ العِرضَ ويُضوِي كفَّه

وحبيبُ العِرض من أبغضَ مالَهْ

He fattens his honor and makes his hand lean,

and honor's lover is the one who hates his wealth.

فتغنَّمها وخذ من رزقه

حُلوَهُ المأكولَ عفواً وحلالَهْ

So gain from it, and take from his bounty

its sweet food, without effort, and its lawful portion.

واحتمل من هذه تقصيرَها

ربّما كانت مع الطَّوْل الإطالَهْ

And bear with the shortcomings of this poem;

sometimes prolixity accompanies munificence.