بكر العارض تحدوه النعامى — Mihyar Al Daylami

بَكَرَ العارِضُ تحدُوه النُّعامَى

فسقاكِ الرِّيَّ يا دارَ أُماما

The rain-cloud came at dawn, driven by the south wind,

and watered you to fullness, O dwelling of Umama.

وتمشَّتْ فيك أرواحُ الصَّبا

يتأرَّجنَ بأنفاس الخُزامَى

The breaths of the east wind wandered through you,

fragrant with the breath of lavender.

وإذا مَغنىً خلا من زائرٍ

بعدما فارق أو زير لِمَاما

And when a dwelling stands without a visitor,

after departure, or receives only fleeting visits,

فقضى حفظُ الهوى أن تُصبحي

للمحبّين مُناخا ومُقاما

fidelity to love decreed that you should become

an encampment and abode for lovers.

أجتدِي المزن وما ذا أرَبي

أن تجودَ المزنُ أطلالاً رِماما

I beg the clouds, yet this is not my wish:

that clouds should lavish rain on crumbled ruins.

وقليلاً فيكِ أن أدعو لها

ما رآني الله أستجدي الغماما

For your sake, it is little enough to pray for them

whenever God sees me beseeching the clouds.

أين سكانك لا أين هُمُ

أحجازا أقبلوها أم شآما

Where are your dwellers? No—where are they?

Did they head toward the Hijaz, or toward Syria?

صُدِعوا بعد التئامٍ فغدت

بهمُ أيدي المَوامي تترامَى

They were scattered after being united, and

the hands of the deserts began tossing them about.

وتبقُّوا كلّ حيرانَ بليدٍ

يسأل الجندل عَنهم والرَّغاما

They left behind every bewildered, bewilderment-dulled lover,

asking the stones and dust about them.

يا لُواةَ الدَّين عن ميسَرةٍ

والضنيناتِ وما كنَّ لئاما

O debt-delayers, despite your solvency,

and grudging women, though never ignoble!

قد وقفنا قبلكم في ربعكم

فنقضناه استلاما والتزاما

Before you, we stood at your dwelling,

and wore it down with touches and embraces.

سَعِدَ الراكبُ تحتَثُّ به

جَسْرةٌ تخلط وَهْداً وإكاما

Fortunate is the rider borne swiftly by

a powerful she-camel that mingles hollows and hills.

تطَأ العسفَ فتُدمِي خفَّها

جبَهاتُ الأرض شجّاً ولطاما

She treads trackless ground; her foot is bloodied

by earth's brows, with gashes and blows.

تَتَنزَّى أَنَفاً في خُلْقِها

أن تُطيع السوطَ أو تُرضِي الزِّماما

She bounds, disdainful by nature

of obeying the whip or pleasing the rein.

تُطعِمُ البيد إذا ما هجَّرتْ

شِبَعَ البيداء نِقْياً وسُلامَى

When she journeys at noon, she feeds the wastes

the desert's fill of marrow and joint-bones.

ماؤها بَسْلٌ على أظمائِها

أو تَرَى بالنَّعف هاتيك الخياما

Water is forbidden her throughout her thirsty intervals,

until she sees those tents upon the hillside.

وبجرعاء الحمى قلبي فعجْ

بالحمى فاقرأ على قلبي السلاما

My heart is in al-Hima's sandy tract; turn aside

to al-Hima, and offer my heart your greeting.

وترجَّلْ فتحدَّثْ عَجَبا

أن قلباً سار عن جسمٍ أقاما

Dismount, and speak of this wonder:

a heart departed from a body that remained.

قلْ لجيران الغضا آهِ على

طيب عيش بالغضا لو كان داما

Say to those dwelling by the ghada trees: Alas for

that sweet life among the ghada trees, had it lasted!

نصِل العامَ وما ننساكُمُ

وقُصَارَى الوجد أن نسلَخَ عاما

We join year to year without forgetting you,

and longing's utmost is to strip away a year.

حمِّلوا ريحَ الصَّبا نشرَكُمُ

قبلَ أن تحمِل شيحاً وثُماما

Load the east wind with your fragrance

before it carries wormwood and thumam grass.

وابعثوا أشباحَكم لي في الكرى

إن أذِنتم لجفوني أن تناما

Send your forms to me in dreams,

if you permit my eyelids to sleep.

وقَفَ الظامي على أبوابكم

أفيَقضِي وهْو لم يشفِ أُواما

The thirsty one has stopped at your gates;

must he perish with his burning thirst unquenched?

ما يبالي مَن سقَيْتُنَّ الَّلمَى

منَعكُنَّ الماءَ عذباً والمُداما

One you have given the drink of dusky lips cares nothing

for your withholding fresh water and wine.

واعجبوا من أن يَرَى الظَّلْمَ حَلالا

شاربٌ وهو يَرى الخمرَ حراما

Marvel that a drinker deems sweet saliva lawful,

while deeming wine forbidden.

أشتكيكم وإلى من أشتكي

أنتم الداء فمن يشفي السَّقاما

I complain of you—but to whom can I complain?

You are the disease; who can cure the sickness?

أنتمُ والدهرُ سيفٌ وفمٌ

ما تملّانِ ضِراباً وخِصاما

You and time are a sword and a mouth:

neither tires of striking and disputing.

كلّما عاتبتُ في حَظِّيَ دهِري

زاده العتبُ لجَاجا وعُراما

Whenever I reproach my time over my allotted fortune,

reproach increases its obstinacy and ferocity.

وإذا استرهفتُ خِلّاً فكأني

منه جرَّدتُ على عُنْقي حُساما

Whenever I seek a keen-edged friend, it is as though

I drew from him a sword against my own neck.

لمتُ أيّامي على الغدرِ فقد

زادت الإجرامَ حتى لا مَلاما

I blamed my days for treachery; they have

increased their crimes until reproach was spent.

ولزِمتُ الصمتَ لا أشكو وصمتي

بعدَ أن أفنيتُ في القول الكلاما

I kept silence, making no complaint; my silence came

after I had exhausted every word in speech.

قعد الناسُ بنصري في حقوقٍ

قعدَ المجدُ يبَكِّيها وقاما

People held back from helping me secure rights

that Glory mourned, sitting and rising.

دفعَ اللهُ وحَامَى عن رجالٍ

قد رعَوْني لم يُضيعوا لي سَواما

May God protect and defend those men

who tended me, neglecting none of my grazing flocks.

كفَّنِي جودُهمُ أن أجتدى

وأبى عزّهُمُ لي أن أُضاما

Their bounty kept me from begging,

and their might refused to let me be wronged.

طَلَعوا في جُنح خَلَّاتي نجوماً

وانتحوا نحو مَراميَّ سهاما

They rose as stars in the darkness of my needs,

and flew like arrows toward my aims.

وأضاءت لي أمانيُّ بم

عَشِيَتْ في الناس تِيهاً وظلاما

Through them my hopes shone,

having grown dim among men in bewilderment and darkness.

عُرِفوا بالجود حتى أصبحوا

من وضوحٍ في سواد الدهر شاما

They became so renowned for generosity

that their brightness made them beauty-marks in time's blackness.

لمَ أذمِّم حُرمةً سالفةً

في معاليهم ولا عهداً قُدامَى

Why should I reproach a former bond

in their noble deeds, or an ancient pledge?

ما استفادوا كرما فيّ ولكن

خُلِقوا من طينةِ المجد كِراما

They did not gain generosity through me; rather,

they were born noble from the clay of glory:

من رجال لبِسوا الملكَ جديدا

وافتلَوا ناصيةَ الدهر غلاما

men who donned kingship when it was new

and twisted time's forelock while it was still a boy.

روَّضوا العلياءَ حتى اقتعدوا

ظهرَها الذُروةَ منه والسَّناما

They tamed loftiness until they mounted

its back—the summit of it and its hump.

وإذا الأيامُ غمَّت أقبلوها

غُرَرا تقدَح في الخطبِ وِساما

When the days grow overcast, they turn them

bright-browed, striking marks into calamity.

ببني عبد الرحيم استُحلبتْ

مزن الجود وقد كن جهاما

Through the sons of Abd al-Rahim,

the clouds of generosity yielded rain after being rainless.

أولدوا أم الندى فالتقحت

ببنيها بعدَ أن حالت عقاما

They made bounty's mother fruitful, and she conceived

her sons after remaining barren.

ورِثوا أصلَ العلا فافترعوا

بنفوس ضمِنَتْ فيها التّماما

They inherited greatness's root, then scaled its summit

with souls that ensured its full perfection.

تركوا الناس قعودا للحبى

يشتكون العجز أفواجا قِياما

They left others seated with knees bound,

lamenting helplessness, standing in crowds.

فتحوا باب الندى واستشهدوا

بزعيم الدين إذ كان ختاما

They opened bounty's gate, calling as witness

Za'im al-Din, since he was the seal.

جاء مأموما وقامت آية

فيه دلت أنه جاء إماما

He came as a follower, yet a sign arose

in him, showing that he had come as a leader.

سبق الناسَ قُروما قُرّحا

جذعٌ رِيضَ وما عضَّ اللجاما

He outstripped men—mighty, mature stallions—

a young colt, trained without ever biting the bit.

وحوى السؤددَ من أطرافه

فكلا جنبيه أيمانا وساما

He encompassed sovereignty from every side,

so both his flanks are auspicious and exalted.

وانتهى في الفضل من حيث ابتدا

ما تثنَّى غصنُه حتى استقاما

He reached excellence's end from where he began;

his branch never swayed before growing straight.

ورعَى الدولةَ من تدبيره

يقِظ العين إذا الذائدُ ناما

He shepherded the state through his governance,

wakeful-eyed when the guardian slept.

لو رأى الذئبُ قريبا سرحَهُ

لعَمِي من فَرقٍ أو لتعامى

If the wolf saw his grazing herd nearby,

it would go blind with fear, or pretend blindness.

حاطها سيفاً ورأياً والساناً

إن تَداهَى وتَلاحَى وترَامى

He guarded it with sword, judgment, and tongue,

when matching wits, disputing, or exchanging missiles.

وشفَي أدواءَها من معشرٍ

قبلُ طَبُّوها فزادوها سَقاما

He cured its ailments, caused by men

who had treated it before, only to make it sicker.

فهو فيها وأخوه وأخوه

يذبُلٌ سانَدَ رَضوَى وشَماما

In it, he and his brother and his brother are

Yadhbul supporting Radwa and Shamam.

عزماتُ كالمقادير مضاءً

وقضايا كالأنابيب انتظاما

Resolves as inexorable as decrees of fate,

judgments as ordered as a spear's sections,

ويدٌ يرتعد السيفُ بها

وسماحٌ لقَّنَ الجودَ الغماما

a hand in which the sword trembles,

and liberality that taught clouds generosity;

وسجايا تشرَب الصهباءَ منها

كلّما أرعشَ رأساً وعِظاما

and virtues from which red wine drinks

all that sets head and bones trembling;

ومعالٍ كَمُلتْ ما تبتغي

لك فيها زائدا إلا الدواما

and lofty qualities so complete that you seek

no addition to them but permanence.

شرفٌ كان عِصامِيّاً فلم

يرضَ عن كسبك أوصرتَ عِصاما

An honor that was self-made would not

be content with your striving until you became Isam.

أنتَ من جاثيتُ أيّامي به

وهي خَصمٌ فتحامتني احتشاما

With you I faced my days, knee to knee;

as my adversary, they shunned me out of respect.

وتروَّحتُ من الثقل وقد

حفيتْ جنبايَ ضغطا وزحاما

I found relief from the burden, after

my flanks had been rubbed raw by pressure and crowding.

كم يدٍ أرضَعْتَنِي دِرَّتَها

بعدَ أن قد كنتُ عوجلتُ الفطاما

How many a hand's flowing milk you fed me,

after I had been weaned too hastily!

أدركتْ حالي فكانت بالندى

في ضِرام الفقر بردا وسلاما

It reached me in my plight, and through bounty became

coolness and peace amid poverty's blaze.

كنتَ لي أمتنَهم حبلَ ودادٍ

في الملمَّاتِ وأوفاهم ذماما

You were for me the strongest of them in love's bond,

and the most faithful to pledges amid calamities.

فعلام ارتجعَ الإعراضُ مني

ذلك الإقبالَ والعطفَ علاما

Why has aversion taken back from me

that welcome and tenderness—why?

وكم النسيانُ والشافعُ لي

يَخفِرُ الذّكرةَ بي والإهتماما

How long this forgetting, while my intercessor

guards remembrance of me and concern for me?

وإذا سُحْبُك عني عَبستْ

فمتى آملُ من أَرضِي ابتساما

If your clouds frown upon me,

when can I hope for a smile from my earth?

والملالُ المرُّ لِمْ فاجأني

من فتىً كان بحبي مستهاما

Why did bitter weariness strike me suddenly,

from a youth once infatuated with loving me?

ونَعمْ أعذرُكم فالتمسوا

عِذرةَ المجد إذا ما المجدُ لاما

Yes, I excuse you; but seek

an excuse before Glory when Glory blames you.

وانظروا أيَّ جوابٍ للعلا

إن أتت تغضَب لي أو تتحَامَى

Consider what answer you will give to Loftiness

if it comes angered for me, or keeps away.

فتمنَّوْا فَضلتي واغتنموا

ما وجدتم من بقاياي اغتناما

So long for what is left of me, and seize

whatever remnants of me you find.

واستمدّوها نِطافا حُلوةً

تُنهلُ الإعراضَ غَزْرا وجَهاما

Draw from it sweet drops

that water indifference, in abundance and drought.

تنفُض الأرضَ بأوصافكُمُ

طَبَقَ الأرض مسيراً ومقاما

It sweeps the earth with descriptions of you,

covering the earth, in travel and repose.

لو أُقيمت معجزاتي فيكُمُ

قِبلةً صلَّى لها الشعرُ وصاما

If my miracles in praise of you were set up

as a qibla, Poetry would pray toward them and fast.

أو زقا الأمواتُ يستحيونها

نشرت بالحسن رِمّاتٍ وهاما

Or if the dead cried out, seeking life from them,

their beauty would raise decayed remains and skulls.

فاسمعوها عُوَّداً وابقوا لها

وَزَراً ما صرَفَ الصبحُ الظلاما

So hear them again and again, and remain their

refuge as long as dawn dispels the dark,

واستماحت روضةٌ ربعيّةٌ

صبحةَ النيروز وَطْفاً ورُكاما

and a spring meadow begs for gifts

on Nowruz morning—heavy clouds and heaped cloudbanks,

وسعى الوفدُ يَحُلُّون الحُبَى

نحو جَمْع ويزِفّون جِماما

and delegations hurry, untying their knee-bands,

toward the gathering, ushering in throngs.

كلَّ يوم للتهاني عندكم

سوقُ ربح في سواكم لن تُقاما

Every day, congratulations in your presence have

a profitable market that will never be held elsewhere.