ياابنة القوم تراك — Mihyar Al Daylami

ياابنةَ القومِ تُراكِ

بالغٌ قتلي رضاكِ

O daughter of the clan, do you think

killing me will win your favor?

أم دمي وهو عزيزٌ

هان في دِينِ هواكِ

Or has my blood, precious though it is,

grown cheap in the creed of your love?

إن يكن طاح فما أو

وَلُ ما طَلَّتْ يداكِ

If it has been shed, it is not the first

blood your hands have shed with impunity.

حُبَّ يومُ السفح إلا

أنه يومُ نواكِ

How dear was the day at the hillside, except

that it was the day of your departure.

لعبتْ ساعاتُه بي

ما كفاها وكفاكِ

Its hours toyed with me

to their satisfaction and yours.

كم غزالٍ بالمصلَّى

سام وصلي فحكاكِ

Many a gazelle at the prayer-ground

sought union with me and resembled you,

جارياً في حَلبةِ الحس

ن ولم يبلغ مَداكِ

racing in the arena of beauty

yet never reaching your bounds.

مرَّ لا أرهفَ عينَي

كِ ولا أرشفَ فاكِ

He passed, without your eyes' delicacy

or your mouth's sweetness to the sip.

غيرَ أني قلتُ حُيِّي

تَ على ما أنت حاكي

Yet I said, "May you be greeted

for the likeness you bear."

وقصيراتِ الخُطى غي

رك لَدْناتِ العراكِ

And short-stepping women, other than

you, supple in embraces,

عادلاتٍ عِللَ الوج

دِ بلذَّاتِ التشاكي

offsetting the ailments of passion

with the pleasures of shared complaint,

رُعْنَ في مكّةَ نومي

قبلَ تغريدِ المَكاكي

disturbed my sleep in Mecca

before the larks began to sing.

كلّ عَطْرَى شفتاها

عِتْرةٌ فوق مُداكِ

Each fragrant woman's two lips

were a piece of musk upon a grinding stone.

يغتدي مسواكُها ري

حانةً غِبَّ السِّواكِ

Her tooth-stick becomes a sprig

of basil after she brushes.

فرأت عيني ولكن

ما رأى قلبي سواكِ

My eye saw them, but

my heart saw none but you.

أجتدي النومَ وهل في ال

نوم إلاّ أن أراكِ

I beg for sleep; and is there anything in

sleep but seeing you?

ما على من حظَرَ الرا

حَ لو استثنى لمَاكِ

What harm to the one who forbade wine

had he excepted your dusky lips?

كنتُ صَعباً لا أُلوَّى

بالخَشاشاتِ الرِّكاكِ

I was unruly, not to be swayed

by flimsy nose-pegs.

فمضى حكمُ اكتهالي

تابعاً حكمَ صِباكِ

So the judgment of my middle age became

subject to the judgment of your youth.

يا سميري ليلةَ السف

ح وقد نادَوا بَراكِ

O my companion on the night at the hillside,

when they called out, "Kneel!"

والمطايا تخلِط المَعْ

جَ كَلالاً بالسِّواكِ

and the mounts mixed their rapid gait,

through exhaustion, with weary swaying—

أتباكيتَ نِفاقاً

باللّوى أم أنتَ باكي

did you feign tears in hypocrisy

at al-Liwa, or are you truly weeping?

أم أراك الشوق أشبا

هَ سُلَيمى في الأراكِ

Or did longing show you likenesses

of Sulayma among the arak trees?

سألتْ بي أمُّ سلمى

أين حزمي واحتناكي

Umm Salma asked about me:

where were my resolve and seasoned judgment?

ورأت ضعضعةً بَي

ن سكوني وحَراكي

And she saw my faltering between

my stillness and my movement,

طاوياً كشحَ مَهيضٍ

ناشراً أنفاسَ شاكي

my flank drawn in like one broken,

breathing out a sufferer's sighs.

لا تخالي خَوَراً ذا

ك فإني أنا ذاكِ

Do not take that for faintheartedness,

for I am still the same man.

بل رزئياتٌ تواصَي

ن شَماتاً بانتهاكي

No—calamities have urged one another

to gloat over my dishonor.

كلّ يومٍ حادثٌ ين

كأُ قَرْفي بالحِكاكِ

Each day a calamity reopens

my scab by scratching.

أَنتَحِي أعزلَ فيه

وسلاحُ الدهرِ شاكي

I go into it unarmed,

while Time's weapon is keen.

كم عركتُ الصبر حتى

جاء ما فلَّ عراكي

How often I wrestled with patience, until

there came what shattered my resistance.

وتستّرتُ ورزءُ ال

فاطميِّين انهتاكي

I concealed myself, but the calamity of

Fatima's descendants laid me bare.

خَمدَ الجمرُ ووجدي

ببني الزهراء ذاكي

The embers died, yet my grief

for al-Zahra's sons still blazes.

بأبي في قبضة الفُج

جَار منهم كلّ زاكي

My father as ransom for those in the grasp

of the wicked—each pure one among them,

ملصَقٌ بالأرض جسماً

نفسُه فوق السُّكاكِ

his body pressed against the earth,

his soul above the skies,

مفردٌ ترميه كفُّ ال

بغي عن قوسِ اشتراكِ

alone, shot at by the hand of

oppression from a jointly wielded bow.

أظهرتْ فِرقةُ بدرٍ

فيه أضغانَ النواكي

The faction of Badr revealed

against him grudges born of bitter wounds.

كلّ ذاكي الحقدِ أو يخ

ضِب أعرافَ المَذاكي

Each burned with hatred until he stained

the manes of full-grown steeds.

وغريبُ الدار يُلفَى

موطِنَ الطعن الدِّراكِ

And a stranger far from home is found

the target of relentless thrusts,

طاهرٌ يُخطَفُ بالأي

دي الخبيثاتِ السِّهاكِ

a pure man snatched away by

wicked, rank-smelling hands.

يخرَسُ الموت إذا سم

مَتْه أفواهُ البواكِي

Death falls mute when he is named

by the mouths of mourning women.

ياابنةَ الطاهر كم تُق

شَر بالظلم عصاكِ

O daughter of the pure one, how often

is your staff peeled bare by injustice!

غضِبَ اللّهُ لخطبٍ

ليلةَ الطَّفِّ عَراكِ

God grew angry at a calamity

that befell you on the night of al-Taff.

ورعَى النارَ غداً جس

مٌ رعَى أمسِ حماكِ

And tomorrow a body will graze on fire

that grazed yesterday upon your sanctuary.

شرعَ الغَدرَ أخو غِل

لٍ عن الإرثِ زَواكِ

A man of rancor ordained treachery,

one who barred you from your inheritance.

يا قبوراً بالغرِيَّيْ

نِ إلى الطفِّ سقاكِ

O graves, from al-Ghariyyayn

to al-Taff, may you be watered

كلُّ محلول عُرَى المر

زمِ محلوبِ السِّماكِ

by every cloud loosed from al-Mirzam's bonds,

milked from al-Simak,

حامل من صلوات ال

لَهِ ما يُرضِي ثراكِ

bearing, of God's blessings,

what will gladden your soil—

وإن استغنيتِ عن وك

ف حياً غيرِ حياكِ

though you need no dripping

of rain other than your own.

إنه لو أجدب البح

رُ اجتدى فضلَ نداكِ

For if the sea were parched,

it would beg your bounty's overflow;

أو أضلّ البدرُ في الأفْ

قِ سناه لاهتداكِ

or if the full moon lost upon the horizon

its light, it would take you as its guide.

يا هداةَ اللّه والنج

وةَ في يوم الهلاكِ

O God's guides, and refuge

on the day of destruction,

بكم استدللتُ في حي

رةِ أمري وارتباكي

through you I found my way amid

bewilderment over my affairs and my confusion.

أظلم الشكُّ وكنتم

لي مَصابيحَ المَشاكي

Doubt darkened, and you were

for me the lamps within the niches.