لمن الطلول كأنهن رقوم — Mihyar Al Daylami

لمن الطلول كأنهنَّ رقومُ

تَضْحَى لعينك تارة وتَغيمُ

Whose are these ruins, resembling inscriptions,

Now clear to your eye, now growing dim?

يعهَدنَ بالإقواءِ عهداً حادثا

وكأنّه مما بَلينَ قديمُ

They have newly made a pact with desolation,

Yet, through their decay, it seems ancient.

ما كنتُ أعرفُ أنهنَّ نشيدتي

حتى تحدَّث بينهنّ نسيمُ

I did not know they were what I sought

Until a breeze spoke among them.

وكأنما عَبَقُ الترائب دلّني

أو ضلّ في عَرَصاتهنّ لطيمُ

It was as though the fragrance of bosoms guided me,

Or musk had strayed into their courtyards.

أسمعتِني يا دارُ دون صحابتي

والوحيُ عند أخي الهوى مفهومُ

You made me hear, O dwelling, apart from my companions;

A secret signal is understood by passion's companion.

أين الموالكُ فيكِ أعناقَ المنى

والراقياتُ العيشَ وهو سليمُ

Where are those who held the necks of hopes within you,

And charmed life while it was still whole?

والسارياتُ لنا شموسا في الدجى

والطالعاتُ ضحىً وهن نجومُ

Those who traveled by night for us as suns in darkness,

And rose at morning, though they were stars?

لا يُقتَضَيْنَ وفي الديون علهيمُ

قلبي ولا يُقضَى لهنّ غريمُ

They are not pressed for payment, though among their debts

Is my heart; nor is any debtor discharged of what he owes them.

لم يبقَ فيكِ لناشدٍ أوطارَه

إلا الوقوفُ عليكِ والتسليمُ

Nothing remains within you for one seeking his desires

Except to stand before you and offer greetings,

ومقيَّدٌ ذو رُمّتين كأنه

غِبَّ السواري مِعصم موشومُ

And a tethering-place with two worn ropes, resembling,

After night rains, a tattooed wrist.

دُسْنا ترابَكِ بالمناسِم والهوى

لو أنه بشفاهنا ملثومُ

We trod your dust with camel-hooves, though our desire

Was that our lips should kiss it.

ومن الوفاء لساكنيكِ قيامُنا

وشكولُهن من الظباء جثُومُ

Our standing is an act of fidelity to your inhabitants,

While their counterparts among the gazelles lie crouched.

ولقد وقفتُ فما رُفِدتُ بمسعِدٍ

وشكوتُ لو سمِع الشكاةَ رحيمُ

I stood, yet no fellow mourner came to my aid,

And complained—if only a merciful soul had heard the complaint.

والعينُ تسمَح ثم تبخلُ حَيْرةً

والركبُ يَعذِر تارةً ويلومُ

The eye gives freely, then withholds in bewilderment,

And the caravan now excuses, now reproaches.

وكأنني فوق الرِّحالة خالعٌ

لعبت بأمّ عظامِهِ الخُرطومُ

I seem, upon the saddle, a dissolute man

Whose brain has been toyed with by wine.

لا الرهنُ يا لمياءُ مفكوكٌ ولا

حبلُ الوثيقة باللِّوى مصرومُ

The pledge, O Lamya, is not released, nor

Is the covenant's cord at al-Liwa severed.

يُنسَى كما تُنسَى المفاقرُ في الغنى

خلفَ الجوانح سرُّكِ المكتومُ

Is it forgotten, as privations are forgotten amid wealth—

Your hidden secret behind my ribs?

إنّ الذي عن بِغضةٍ زاورِتهِ

لونُ الصدود بِلمَّتي مأدومُ

What you turned away from in dislike

Is the hue of rejection mingled into my locks:

حَكَمٌ يجورُ على سنيَّ وكيف بال

عَدْوَى عليه وأنتِ فيه خصيمُ

A judge unjust to my years; how can there be an

Appeal against him, when you are my opponent in the case?

حمَّلتِنِي أوساقه ونفيتنِي

فأنا الطريدُ وغاربي المهدومُ

You burdened me with its loads and banished me;

I am the fugitive, my withers broken down.

ماذا يمسُّكِ من شبابٍ راحلٍ

عنّي وبَلبالي عليكِ مقيمُ

What harm reaches you from youth departing

From me, while my troubled longing for you remains?

أوما رأيتِ الشَّيبَ جانسَ لونَه

في العين دُرُّ لثاتِك المنظومُ

Have you not seen gray hair? Its color is matched

To the eye by the strung pearls of your gums.

وعلى المقلَّد والمعصَّب منك بال

نسَبيْن أخوالٌ له وعُمومُ

And in your necklace and headband, through two

Lines of kinship, it has maternal and paternal uncles.

أفتقنعين مع القرابةِ أنه

يُقصَى وإقصاءُ الأقاربِ لُومُ

Will you accept, despite this kinship, that it

Be banished? Banishing relatives is base.

لولا تلافِي الفجرِ خابطةَ السُّرَى

لقضى عليها الليل وهو بهيمُ

Had dawn not rescued the wanderer stumbling through the night,

The pitch-black night would have done away with her.

هيهات أعوزَ أن يجامَلَ مُبْغَضٌ

بخديعةٍ أو يُحمَدَ المذمومُ

Alas, it is impossible to ingratiate someone hated

By deceit, or win praise for one condemned.

ما عِفنَه حتى رأينَ ذُبولَه

كيف انتجاعُ النبتِ وهو هشيمُ

They did not loathe it until they saw it withered;

How can one seek pasture in plants already dry?

يا برقَةَ الفَودينِ إني لم أزل

للبرق من خللِ الخطوب أشيمُ

O flash of whiteness at my temples, I have always

Watched for lightning through the gaps of calamity.

ما كنتِ أوّلَ ما الزمانُ محمِّلي

أنا عَوْدُه ذو الجُلْبة المزمومُ

You were not the first burden Time has laid upon me;

I am its old camel, pack-saddled and bridled.

يجنِي وعندي حاقرا لا عاجزا

فيما جناه الصبرُ والتسليمُ

It commits wrongs, and I have—scorning, not helpless—

Patience and submission for the wrongs it commits.

أوفِضْ سهامَك يا زمانُ فإنه

ترمِي الحنيَّةُ والرميُّ سليمُ

Loose your arrows, O Time, for

The bow shoots, yet the target remains unharmed.

نُطني بكلّ غريبةٍ محذورة

أَرجعْ إليك وداؤها محسومُ

Fasten upon me every strange, dreaded affliction;

I will return to you with its malady cut off.

إلاّ سؤالَ الباخلين فإنه

غُمَّى عليَّ سبيلُها مغمومُ

Except begging from the stingy, for that

Is a dark calamity for me, its path obscured.

ولقد كفاني في العفافِ بصيرةً

ذلُّ الحريصِ ورزقُه مقسومُ

Sufficient insight into self-restraint was given me

By the greedy man's humiliation, though his sustenance is allotted.

والناسُ إما واجدٌ متعذِّرٌ

أو مغرمٌ بالجود وهو عديمُ

People are either wealthy and pleading excuses,

Or devoted to generosity but penniless.

هذا يضَنُّ وذاك يَقصُر مالُه

فقد استوى المحظوظُ والمحرومُ

This one is stingy, that one's money falls short;

The fortunate and the deprived have become alike.

إمَّا ترى نقدَ العيون يردُّني

والبابُ دوني مرتجٌ مقرومُ

If you see the scrutiny of eyes turn me back,

And the door before me locked and barred,

عُريانَ من ورَق النضارة سوقطت

كِنَنِي وضاع ببُردِيَ التسهيمُ

Bare of freshness's foliage, with my coverings

Shed and my cloak's patterned stripes lost,

مُلقىً تَنابذُني الأكفُّ كأنّني

قعبٌ تفاوتَ صدعُهُ مرجومُ

Discarded, tossed between hands, as though I were

A wooden bowl, its crack widened, pelted aside,

بين الغنى والفقر لا هو جاهلٌ

حظِّي ولا هو في الحظوظ حكيمُ

Between wealth and poverty—it is neither ignorant,

My fortune, nor wise among fortunes—

فوراءَ غِمدي صارمٌ ما ضرَّه

شعَثُ النّجاد وغربُه المثلومُ

Behind my sheath there is a sharp sword, unharmed

By the baldric's disarray or its notched edge.

خَلَسَ الردى قومي فأقعد نهضتي

أن لا يقومَ سواي حين أقومُ

Death snatched my people; what thwarted my rising

Was that no one else would rise when I rose.

ما جهد من وجد السلاحَ وَنفسُه

ملآى وَناصرُ غيظهِ معدومُ

What strength has one who finds weapons, while his soul

Is full of anger, but no ally for his anger exists?

وطىء الزمانُ بهم محاسنَ وجهه

فجبينُه بشِجاجِهِ مأمومُ

Through them, Time trampled the beauties of its own face;

Its brow is wounded to the brain by its gashes.

نُسِفوا بأيدي الحادثات كأنّهم

وَبَرٌ تطارده الصَّبَا مجلومُ

They were scattered by the hands of calamities, as though

They were shorn camel-wool chased by the east wind.

أُخِّرتُ عنهم للشقاوة بعدَهم

ونجا بهم من عيشِيَ التقديمُ

I was left behind them for misery after their passing,

While going before me saved them from the life I lead.

قَسَماً بها معهونةً أعناقُها

وظهورُها الموشيُّ والمرقومُ

I swear by them, their necks adorned with wool,

And their backs brocaded and embroidered,

قُطُراً تَراقصُ في الحبال إمامُها

مَرَحاً فيأخذ إِخذَه المأمومُ

In strings, their leader dancing upon the ropes

With joy, the follower matching its manner:

مشْيَ الخرائد ينبعثن مع الطُّلى

حتى تعوقَ روادفٌ وجسومُ

Walking like secluded maidens, their necks leading them onward,

Until hindquarters and bodies impede them.

يَطرحْن أشباحا بمكَّةَ كالقنا

شُعثاً وهنّ مسنَّماتٌ كُومُ

They set down in Mecca bodies like spear-shafts,

Disheveled, though the camels are high-humped and massive.

عقَدوا الحُبَى حيثُ الحلالُ محرَّم

بِمنىً وحيثُ يحلَّلُ التحريمُ

They tied their sitting-bands where the lawful is forbidden,

At Mina, and where what is forbidden becomes lawful.

لَنَدى بني عبد الرحيم ومجدِهم

من جِنَّةِ الدنيا رُقىً وتميمُ

Surely the bounty and glory of the sons of Abd al-Rahim

Are charms and amulets against the world's madness.

المانعوُن فما يُدَعْدَعُ جارُهُم

والحالبون وسرحُهم مصرومُ

Protectors: their neighbor is not harassed;

Milk-givers, though their grazing herd has run dry.

فيهم عن النظَر المُريب تخاوُصٌ

وعلى جهالاتِ الزمانِ حُلومُ

They narrow their eyes against suspicious gazes,

And meet Time's follies with forbearance.

وإذا السنونَ أحلْنَ أخلاقَ الحيا

أقلعنَ عنهم والكريمُ كريمُ

When lean years change the character of rain,

They pass from them, and the generous remain generous.

نصبوا على وضَح الطريق مَقارياً

في الجدب يُطعِمُ ليلُها ويُنيمُ

They set guest-tables upon the open road;

In drought, their nights give food and rest.

وتسلَّبوا للطارقين وأيقنوا

في الحمد أنّ الغانمَ المغنومُ

They stripped themselves for night visitors, certain

That, in praise, the gainer is the one despoiled.

وإذا تزاحمت الخطوب وضاق عن

نَفَسِ الجبان ونَفْسِه الحَيزومُ

When calamities crowd together, and too cramped for

The coward's breath and soul becomes his chest,

سلُّوا لهم آراءهم فتفرّجتْ

ومن السيوف خواطرٌ وعَزيمُ

They unsheathe their counsels for them, and the troubles clear;

Among swords are thoughts and firm resolves.

وإذا الحسين رأيتَ سؤددَ نفسه

وصفَ البعيدَ المدرَكُ المعلومُ

When, in al-Husayn, you see his soul's nobility,

The apprehended and known describe what lies far beyond.

بالصاحب ابتدأوا المكارمَ وانتَهوْا

فالفخرُ مفتتَحٌ به مختومُ

With al-Sahib they began noble deeds and ended them;

Glory is opened with him and sealed with him.

مدَّ الفراتُ فما وفَى بيمينه

وسما فحلَّق والسحابُ يحومُ

The Euphrates swelled, yet could not match his right hand;

He rose and soared, while clouds merely hovered.

ورأى مكانَ نظيرهِ لصديقه

بالودّ وهو على الملوك زعيمُ

For his friend he took the place of an equal

In affection, though over kings he is a chief.

يا وافيا للملك والأخُ غادرٌ

ومصمِّما وحسامُه مهزومُ

O you, faithful to the king when his brother betrayed him,

And steadfast while his sword was defeated:

ما ضرَّه يُتْمٌ وأنت له أبٌ

حانٍ وأمٌّ بالحفاظِ رَؤومُ

Orphanhood did not harm him, when you were a father to him,

Tender, and a mother compassionate in her care.

نامت عيون الكالئاتِ تواكُلاً

عنه وعينُك نومُها تهويمُ

The guardians' eyes slept, relying on one another,

Away from him, while your eye slept only in brief dozes,

حتى أعدتَ الدُّرْدَ من أنيابه

والليثُ مفتَرَسٌ بها مضغومُ

Until you restored those of his fangs that had fallen out,

With which the lion is torn apart and bitten.

وأتاك معترِفا بزَلَّةِ رأيه

من كان يزعُم أنه معصومُ

There came to you, admitting his judgment's error,

The one who claimed that he was infallible.

إن الذي فتل العداوة كِفّةً

لك عاد قبل الصيد وهي رميمُ

The one who twisted enmity into a snare

For you returned before the hunt, with it rotted away.

ما زال يُنْشِبُ في المطامع كفَّه

حتى تحيّفَ ظُفْرَه التقليمُ

He kept lodging his hand in ambitions

Until trimming ate away his nail.

نطَحَ الصفاةَ أجمَّ يعلم إنَّها

لَتَرُدُّ ذا الرَّوْقَينِ وهو حطيمُ

Hornless, he butted the rock, knowing that it

Sends back the two-horned beast shattered.

قطع الحبالَ وجاء يركَبُ رأسَه

فهوى يودُّ لوَ اَنه مخطوم

He cut the ropes and came headstrong;

Then fell, wishing he had been nose-reined.

يستولد الآمال شراً والمنى

أمٌّ على طول السفاد عقيمُ

He seeks to beget evil from hopes, while wishes

Are a mother barren despite long mating.

حبَراتُ فحلٍ راقصتْ ألحاظَه

وحلا بفيه شهدُها المسمومُ

A stallion's delights danced before his eyes,

And their poisoned honey tasted sweet in his mouth.

علِقَ الحصارَ مدافعا عن يومه

لو أنّ إملاءَ الحصار يدومُ

He clung to the siege, warding off his fatal day—

If only the siege's respite could endure.

يخشى الفرارَ ولا يقدِّم نفسَه

فيموتُ تحت السيف وهو كريمُ

He fears flight, yet will not offer himself

To die beneath the sword while still noble.

فاختار أُخرى ذلَّ فيها أنفُه

لخَشاشة يُدمَى بها الخيشومُ

So he chose another course, in which his nose was abased

By a nose-peg that bloodies the nostril.

شرّ البليّة في الحروب أسيرُها

يُسلَى القتيلُ ويُعذَر المهزومُ

The worst affliction in wars is their captive;

The slain are forgotten, and the defeated excused.

أسكنتَه دارَ الشقاءِ وإنها

في جنب ما هو خائف لنعيمُ

You lodged him in the abode of misery, yet it,

Compared with what he fears, is surely bliss.

عاداتُ جَدّك في علاك وإنما

رمُح الكميِّ بحَدّه مدعومُ

Your grandfather's ways live in your greatness; a warrior's

Spear is supported only by its sharp point.

لهم اعوجاجُ الأمر إن طعَنوا به

ولكفّك التثقيفُ والتقويمُ

To them belongs the crookedness of affairs when they thrust with it;

To your hand belong straightening and setting right.

وأرى الوزارةَ تُستَرقُّ وإنما

هي حُرّة وتباحُ وهي حريمُ

I see the vizierate enslaved, though

It is free, and violated, though it is inviolable.

لعبتْ بها الهمم القصارُ وأصبحتْ

وسرورُها عند الرجال همومُ

Low ambitions have played with it, and it has become

A thing whose joys are sorrows to men.

في كلّ يوم نابت نبعت به

عوجاءُ شائكةُ الغصونِ عَذومُ

Each day an upstart, through whom there springs

A crooked tree, thorny-branched and unpalatable.

لا ظلّ فوق الأرض يَحمِي قائلا

فيها ولا تحت التراب أرومُ

No shade above ground shelters one resting at noon

Within it, nor are there roots beneath the soil.

خوَّارة يمضي شَظايا طُيَّحاً

تحت النواجذِ عُودُها المعجومُ

Feeble: flying off in splinters goes

Its bitten wood beneath the molars.

تلقاه عارفةً أسرّةَ وجهه

بالذلِّ وهو بعزِّها موسومُ

You meet him: his facial lines acknowledge

Humiliation, though he bears the mark of its honor.

محصورةٌ فيه السيادةُ نافرٌ

من شكله التوقيرُ والتعظيمُ

Sovereignty is confined within him, while

Reverence and veneration flee from his appearance.

يرضَى من العلياء باسمٍ ما لَهُ

معنىً وزِعنفةُ الأديم أديمُ

He accepts, from lofty rank, a name with no

Meaning; a scrap of hide is still hide.

يُعطِي الشِّفاهَ إذا أراد كرامةً

كفًّا مُقبِّلها بها ملطومُ

When he desires an honor, he offers lips

A hand whose kisser is slapped with it.

أفتغضَبون وأنتمُ جِيرانُها

لسَوامِ مجدٍ ما لهنَّ مُسيمُ

Will you be angered, you who are its neighbors,

For glory's grazing herds, with no shepherd?

أم كلُّ فضل في الزمان وأهلِه

حتى الوزارة مهملٌ مظلومُ

Or is every excellence in Time and its people,

Even the vizierate, neglected and wronged?

غرِّدْ فعندكَ يا حمامةُ طوقُها

وانظر ففيك لحاظُها يا ريمُ

Sing, O dove: its collar is yours;

And look, O gazelle: its glances are in you.

واسمح لها أن كنتَ عنها فاضلا

كم ناقصٍ وله بكم تتميمُ

Be generous to it, if you surpass it;

How many are deficient, yet completed through you!

واجلس لوفد المهرجان وكعبُك ال

عالي وأنفُ الدهر فيك رغيمُ

Sit for the Mihrjan delegation, with your standing

Exalted, and Time's nose abased before you.

يأتيك قَسرا خادماً لك قائما

فيه ومجدُك جالسٌ مخدومُ

It comes to you by force, a servant standing for you

At it, while your glory sits and is served,

متسربلاً ثوبَ الخلود وشيعُهُ

حَلْيُ القريض ودرُّه المنظومُ

Clothed in eternity's robe, whose woven pattern

Is poetry's adornment and its strung pearls.

تهَب النفوسَ من النفائس غالبا

أمرَ الليالي أمرُك المرسومُ

You grant souls a share of precious things, your prescribed

Command prevailing over the command of the nights.

يا أسرتي مالي أَلُسُّ خَشاشتي

يبَساً وواديكم أغنُّ جميمُ

O my family, why do I lick my scant fodder

Dry, while your valley murmurs, lush with growth?

أَنِفَ الإباءُ لوائل من وائلٍ

ففنُوا وعزَّت بالوفاءِ تميمُ

Pride took offense, for Wa'il, at Wa'il;

They perished, while Tamim grew mighty through fidelity.

ولو اكتفَى قيسٌ بفتوَى أمِّه

لمضى عَدِيٌّ طائحاً وخَطيمُ

Had Qays been content with his mother's counsel,

Adi and Khatim would have passed away, fallen.

وأرى أخا كسرى يبيت وقومه

فيهم سيوفُ النصر وهو مَضيمُ

I see Kisra's brother pass the night, while his people

Have victory's swords among them, yet he is wronged.

عهدي بكم زمناً وجُرحي بينكم

يوسَى وصدعُ خَصاصتي ملمومُ

I remember a time with you when my wound among you

Was tended, and the rift of my poverty closed.

فإذا خوَى قصبي وساندَ فيكُمُ

طلبَ الرفادةِ جنبيَ المهضومُ

Then, when my belly grew hollow, and against you leaned

My wasted flank, seeking support,

حمت الليوثُ عن الشبول وجرجرتْ

دونَ البِكارِ مَصاعبٌ وقُرومُ

The lions defended their cubs, and rumbled

In defense of the young she-camels, fierce and mighty stallions.

فعلام إذ طُلتم وزدتم بسطةً

أنا من رضاع سحابكم مفطومُ

Why, then, since you have risen and grown more abundant,

Am I weaned from suckling your clouds?

أبغي حياضَكُمُ فأُضْرَبُ دونها

ضربَ الغرائب وهْي حَرَّى هِيمُ

I seek your watering pools, but am driven away from them,

As strange camels are beaten back, burning and frantic with thirst.

عَتْبُ المدِلِّ وتحته لودادكم

صدرٌ على حزِّ الشفار سليمُ

A trusting intimate's reproach; beneath it, for your love,

Is a breast still sound, even beneath the blades' cuts.