هبت ومنها الخلاب والخدع — Mihyar Al Daylami

هبَّتْ ومنها الخِلابُ والخَدعُ

تأخذ مني باللوم أو تدعُ

She sprang up, all beguilement and deceit,

to assail me with reproach or leave me be,

لأهُبة السيرِ لا تطيرُ مع ال

ذكر بها لوعةٌ ولا تقعُ

to prepare for departure; no pang takes wing at

its mention within her, nor does it alight.

لم يختلب جنسَها الوداعُ ولا اه

تزّت لها خَلف ظاعنٍ ضِلَعُ

Parting never beguiled her kind, nor has

a rib of hers stirred behind a departing traveler.

قبلك أعيتْ عواذلي أُذني

أيّ صَفاةٍ بالعذل تنصدعُ

Before you, my ear had baffled my reproaching women:

what hard rock cracks beneath reproach?

في سلف الرائحين جائرةٌ

تُسمَعُ أحكامُها فتُتَّبَعُ

Among the earlier departing travelers is a tyrant,

whose judgments are heard and obeyed.

لها سوادا قلبي وطرفي فما

يغرب فيها دمعي ولا الجزعُ

Hers are the dark centers of my heart and eye; neither

my tears nor my anguish for her is strange.

حوراءُ ودّ الظبيُ المكانَ الذي

تنظرُ منه والظبيُ مرتبِعُ

A dark-eyed beauty: the gazelle longs for the place

from which she gazes, though it has its spring pasture.

صحَّحَ رِقِّي حبُّ الوفاء لها

ومهجتي في لحاظها قِطَعُ

Love of keeping faith with her confirmed my bondage,

and my heart lies in pieces in her glances.

بانت بحلو المنى وعيشي وآ

تي العيش ماضٍ لو كان يُرتَجَعُ

She departed with my sweet hopes and my life; the future

of my life is past—if only it could be recalled.

وعلَّمتْ طيفَها الصدودَ وقد

كنتُ بإفك الأحلامِ أقتنعُ

She taught her phantom to shun me, though

I had been content with dreams' falsehood.

وليلةَ النَّعفِ والسُّرَى آمرٌ

بالنوم والشوقُ زاجرٌ يَزَعُ

On the night at al-Naʿf, night travel commanded

sleep, while longing forbade it and held it back.

أكرهتُ عيني على الكرى أرقب ال

طيف ونومي أُولاه ممتنِعُ

I forced my eyes to sleep, watching for

her phantom, with sleep begrudgingly granted me.

فما وفت شيمة ملوّنةٌ

تُستنّ في غدرها وتُبتدعُ

But her fickle nature did not keep faith—

a model for treachery, yet ever newly devised—

حتى تمنيتُ لو سهرتُ مع ال

ركبِ وودّ السارون لو هجعوا

until I wished I had stayed awake with

the caravan, whose night travelers wished they had slept.

شيَّبني قبل أن كبِرتُ له

حبٌّ لظمياءَ ناشىءٌ يَفَعُ

I was turned gray before I was old enough for it

by a young, burgeoning love for Ẓamyāʾ.

يأخذ ما تأخذ السنون من ال

جسم ولا يترك الذي تدعُ

It takes what the years take from

the body, and spares nothing they leave.

آهِ لشمطاء لا هي الشعر

برأسي ولا هي الصَّدَعُ

Ah, for a hoary calamity—not the hair

on my head, nor the full-grown ibex!

تؤذنني بالمدى وتخرُقُ من

عمريَ مالا تسدُّه الرُّقَعُ

It warns me of my end and tears from

my life what patches cannot repair.

صحبتُ منها يُبس الرفيق ويا

ليت افترقنا من قبل نجتمعُ

In it I have kept a harsh companion; would

that we had parted before we ever met!

كصاحب البلدة القَواء أخو

ه الذئب فيها وجارهُ السَّبُعُ

Like a dweller in a deserted town, whose brother

there is the wolf, and whose neighbor is a beast of prey.

قالوا ارتدعْ إنه البياض وقد

كنت بحكم السواد أرتدعُ

They said, 'Restrain yourself: this is whiteness!' Yet

under black hair's rule I already restrained myself.

لم ينقل الشيْبُ لي طباعاً ولا

دنّسني قبلَ صقله طَبَعُ

Gray hair has changed none of my dispositions, nor

did rust stain me before its polishing.

نفسيَ أحجَى من أن تُحلَّمَ بال

وعظ وقلبي بالمجد مضطَلعُ

My soul is too wise to be taught restraint by

admonition; my heart shoulders glory.

وإن هوى بي أو حطّني حُمُق ال

حظ فهمِّي يسمو ويرتفعُ

Though I am dashed down or lowered by the folly of

fortune, my ambition soars and rises.

صَدَقتُ دهري عنّي ليعرفَني

لو كنتُ فيه بالصدق أنتفعُ

I told my age the truth about myself, that it might know me—

if only truth could profit me in it.

وقلت مِلْ بي عن طَرْق مسألة ال

ناس وقُدني فإنني تبعُ

And I said, 'Turn me away from knocking to beg

of people; lead me, for I will follow.'

جرّبتُ قوماً وفاؤهم بارق ال

خلَّبِ لا يُمطرون إن لمعوا

I tried a people whose faithfulness was lightning

without rain: they flash, but bring no showers.

في العسر واليسر يمنعون فإن

أعطَوا تمنّيت أنهم منعوا

In hardship and ease they withhold; if

they give, I wish they had withheld.

طمعتُ فيهم حتى يئست وما ال

يأس سوى ما أفادك الطمعُ

I hoped in them until I despaired; and

despair is only what hope has gained you.

فاقعد إذا السعي جرَّ مهضمةً

وجُعْ إذا ما أهانك الشِّبعُ

So sit still if striving brings humiliation,

and go hungry if satiety disgraces you.

وصاحبٍ كاليد الشليلة لا

يُدفعُ شيء بها فيندفعُ

And a companion, like a paralyzed hand:

nothing pushed with it can be moved.

مشى جواداً معي فحين علا

تجمَّعتْ لي بودِّه ضَبُعُ

He walked generously beside me, but when he rose,

a hyena crouched for me within his affection.

حملت نفسي عنه عزوفاً وقد

يَحْمَى فيمشي بثقلِهِ الظَّلِعُ

I turned myself away from him in disdain; even

a lame man may be roused to walk under his weight.

وقلت بابُ الإله إن ضقت مف

توحٌ وهذا الفضاءُ متَّسِعُ

And I said, 'God's door, if I am in straits, stands

open, and this expanse is wide.'

وفي وفاءِ الحلو الوفاء ابن أي

يوب مَرادٌ كافٍ ومنتجَعُ

In the loyalty of sweetly faithful Ibn

Ayyūb lie a sufficient goal and a pasture to seek.

مولَى يدِي والحسامُ يُسلمها

وناصري يومَ تخذُلُ الشِّيعُ

Patron of my hand when the sword abandons it,

and my champion when factions fail me.

علِقتُ منه شَزْرَ القُوَى مَرِس ال

فتل وحبلُ الآمال منقطعُ

I grasped from him a cord of tightly twisted strands,

firmly plaited, when the rope of hopes was severed.

أبلج يعدي الدجى سناه فتب

يضُّ إذا خاضها وتنتصعُ

A radiant man, whose light infects the darkness till it turns

white and dazzling when he wades through it.

راض العلا قارح العزيمة واس

تظهر حتى كأنه جَذعُ

He tamed the heights, full-grown in resolve, and gained strength

until he seemed a young colt.

مسدّد النطق مستريبٌ بما

قال من الحق آمنٌ فزِعُ

True in speech, yet wary of what

truth he has spoken—secure, yet fearful.

يُطلعهُ نجدَ كلِّ مشكلةٍ

رأيٌ وراء الغيوبِ مطَّلعُ

To the heights of every difficulty he is raised

by insight that looks beyond the unseen.

عنَّ على قدرةٍ وجادَ وجو

وُ الجدي جعدُ الأرواح منقشعُ

He appeared in power and gave freely, while the weather

of Capricorn was rough with winds, its clouds dispersed.

وشد منه مُلكُ الإمامين جل

دَ المتن لا عاجزٌ ولا ضَرِعُ

Through him the realm of the two imams grew

strong-backed, neither helpless nor weak.

ينصح للّهِ والخلافةِ لا

يرفع في شَهوةٍ ولا يَضعُ

He is loyal to God and the caliphate,

raising none for whim, and lowering none.

وزارةٌ مذ أتيتَها عاشت ال

سُنَّةُ فيها وماتت البدعُ

A vizierate where, since you entered it,

the Sunna has lived and innovations have died.

تشهد لي أنها اليقينُ قضا

يا اللّهِ والمسلمون والجُمَعُ

That this is certain truth is attested to me by the decrees

of God, the Muslims, and Friday congregations.

وزَرتَهم وارثاً اباك فما ار

تابوا بما أصَّلوا وما افترعوا

You were their vizier, inheriting from your father; they did not

doubt the roots they laid or the branches they raised.

واغترسوا عِرقَك الكريمَ فما

أطيبَ ما استثمروا الذي زرعوا

They planted your noble root; how

sweet the fruit they gathered from what they sowed!

كان اصطناعاً على تمنّعه

منهم بمن قدَّموا وما اصطنعوا

It was patronage, despite his reluctance,

on their part, through whom they advanced and what they fostered.

كنت لساناً يقضي إذا نطقوا

قضاءَ أرماحهم إذا شرعوا

You were a tongue that, when they spoke, pronounced

the verdict their spears pronounced when leveled.

وسنَّةً تدفع المخالفَ عن

دعوتهم مذ همُ بك ادّرعوا

And a rule repelling their adversary from

their cause, since they put you on as armor.

فضلٌ طريف منه ومتَّلِدٌ

تنقُلُه حاكياً وتخترعُ

Excellence, some newly won and some inherited,

you transmit by emulating, and create anew.

وحّدك الناسُ في الدعاء ولو

ثنَوَّا لضلّوا إفكاً ولو جَمَعوا

People single you out in invocation; if

they named two—or many—they would stray into falsehood.

وأطنب المادحون فيك بما

صاغوا من السائراتِ أو رَصَعوا

Your praisers have spoken at length in what

they fashioned of far-traveling verses or studded with gems.

ولم يقولوا إلا بما علموا

ولا روَوا فيك غيرَ ما سمِعوا

Yet they said only what they knew,

and recounted of you only what they heard.

فليبقَ للناس منك من أطبقَ ال

ناسُ عليه في الفضل واجتمعوا

So may you endure for people, the man on whose

excellence all people are unanimous and agreed.

ولتجتنب ربعَك الخطوبُ وفي

قومٍ مَصِيفٌ لها ومُرتَبعُ

May calamities shun your abode; among

some people lie their summer quarters and spring pasture.

وليغشَ منك النيروزُ أكرمَ مَن

حطَّ إليه الوفودُ أو رفعوا

May Nowruz greet in you the noblest man

to whom delegations have alighted or hastened.

يومٌ جوادٌ حكاك حتّى على ال

تُربِ حُلى من جداه أو خِلعُ

A generous day that imitates you, until even on

the dust are ornaments or robes of honor from its bounty.

يعطيك بُشرى الخلودِ ما طفِقت

تحتجبُ الشمس ثمّ تطَّلعُ

It gives you glad news of enduring life as long as

the sun keeps hiding and then rising.

وليفدِ كفّيك مغلقُ اليد مخ

فورُ النواحي بالبخل ممتنعُ

May the tight-fisted man be the ransom for your hands,

guarded on every side, barricaded by stinginess,

ما عنده في المهمِّ يطرقُه

جدٌّ ولا بالندى له ولعُ

with no earnestness for grave affairs that visit him,

and no passion for generosity.