فكاكك أيها القلب الأسير — Mihyar Al Daylami

فَكاكُك أيّها القلبُ الأسيرُ

غداً لو قال حادي الركبِ سِيروا

Your release, O captive heart,

would come tomorrow, if the caravan's driver said, “Set out!”

عسى الأظعانُ تُطلِعُ إن أثاروا

هلالاً كان تكفُره الخدورُ

Perhaps the departing litters, if they set them moving, will reveal

a crescent moon the curtained chambers used to conceal.

وإن أخذوك أنتَ وخلَّفوني

فسِرْ معهم فذاك لهم يَسيرُ

And if they take you, you yourself, and leave me behind,

go with them: that is easy for them.

تَعلَّقْهم عساهم أن يُذِمُّوا

عليك من الصبابة أو يُجيروا

Cling to them; perhaps they will pledge protection

for you against longing, or grant you refuge.

لِمَن شَدَنِيّةٌ سبقتْ عِجالاً

فما تدري أتقصِدُ أم تجورُ

Whose Shadani she-camel has outstripped the swift ones,

so you cannot tell whether she goes straight or strays?

يخوض الليلَ سائقُها أنيساً

بآيةِ لاحَ بين يديهِ نورُ

Her driver plunges through the night, heartened

by a sign: a light has shone before him.

وكيف يَخاف تِيهَ الليلِ رَكبٌ

تَطلَّعُ من هوادجه البدورُ

How could a caravan fear the night's trackless wastes

when full moons peer out from its camel-litters?

يناجزُ في الوَداعِ معاتباتٍ

لهنَّ كبودُنا ولنا الزفيرُ

It contends at farewell with reproachful women;

our livers belong to them, and sighing belongs to us.

أكنتَ معي بعينٍ أم بقلبٍ

برامةَ والعيونُ إليَّ صُورُ

Were you with me in sight or in heart

at Ramah, while eyes were turned toward me,

غداةَ أقولُ وابتهجتْ جِبَاهٌ

عطفنَ عليّ وابتسمت ثغورُ

that morning when I spoke, as brows brightened,

turned toward me, and mouths smiled?

أَمَا من قُبلةٍ في اللّه قالوا

متى حَلَّتْ لشاربها الخمورُ

“Is there no kiss, for God's sake?” They said,

“When did wines become lawful for those who drink them?

وقارَكَ والتفتْ تَرَهُنَّ بِيضاً

كَبِرتَ فقلتُ مِسكينُ الكبيرُ

Mind your dignity! Turn and see them white—

you have grown old.” I said, “Wretched is the old man!”

ألاَ يا صاحبيَّ تملَّياني

أطاعَ إِبايَ واعتدلَ النُّفورُ

Listen, my two companions: gaze your fill at me.

My resistance has yielded, and aversion is tempered.

أرى كبدي وقد بَردتْ قليلاً

أمات الهمُّ أم عاش السرورُ

I find my liver cooled a little:

has sorrow died, or joy come to life?

أم الأيامُ خافتني لأنّي

بفخر الملك منها أستجيرُ

Or have the days begun to fear me because

I seek Fakhr al-Mulk's protection against them?

ذراني عاد إملاحي نمِيراً

ويُفعَمُ بعد ما نضبَ الغديرُ

Leave me, you two: my brackish water has turned sweet,

and the pool is filled after running dry.

طغَى أملي وطال قصيرُ باعي

ويَنمْي الشيءُ أوّلُه حقيرُ

My hope has overflowed, and my short reach has lengthened;

a thing grows, though its beginning is small.

ولا تتعجّبا من خِصب رَبْعي

فرَبعي بعضُ ما جاد الوزيرُ

Do not marvel, you two, at my abode's fertility:

my abode is but a portion of the vizier's bounty.

ولكن بايِعاهُ عن لساني

فإنّي حين أَعجِزُ أستشيرُ

But pledge him allegiance on my tongue's behalf,

for when I am powerless, I seek counsel.

ظهورُك آيةٌ للّه صحَّتْ

بها الأديانُ واشتفت الصدورُ

Your advent is a sign of God: confirmed

by it were the faiths, and breasts found healing.

وزالت شُبهةُ المرتابِ في أن

تُكشِّفَ عن ضمائرها القبورُ

The doubter's misgiving vanished about whether

the graves would reveal their hidden contents.

رآك وميِّتُ الآمال حيٌّ

بجودك والندَى الأعمى بصيرُ

He saw you, and dead hopes were alive

through your generosity, and blind bounty could see.

فآمنَ بالمسيح وآيتيه

وأَنْ نشأتْ من الطِّين الطُّيورُ

So he believed in the Messiah and his two miracles,

and that birds had arisen from clay.

وأيقنَ أن موسى شقَّ بحراً

بأن شُقَّت بكفّيك البحورُ

And he became certain that Moses had split a sea,

because seas were split by your two palms.

ولمّا أن أتيتَ على فتورٍ

وبابُ ضلالةِ الأمم الفتورُ

And when you came amid slackness—

slackness is the gateway to nations' error—

وأَبصرَ قبلك الماضين مَرُّوا

ولمّا تنتظِمْ بهمُ الأمورُ

and he saw your predecessors pass on,

while affairs had yet to be set right through them,

صبا لمحمّدٍ وأطاع فيه

وقال الرُّسْلُ خيرهم الأخيرُ

he was drawn to Muhammad and accepted him,

and said, “The best of the messengers is the last.”

أقول بمعجزاتك لا غُلوَّاً

وكاتمُ نعمةِ المعطي كَفورُ

I speak of your miracles, not in exaggeration;

whoever conceals a giver's favor is ungrateful.

إذا الأسماء أُلزمتِ المعاني

فأنت الحقُّ والوزراءُ زورُ

When names are bound to their meanings,

you are the truth, and the viziers are falsehood.

رأيناهم وكلُّهُمُ شُكولٌ

مُصلِّيهم لسابقهم نظيرُ

We have seen them, all alike:

their runner-up is the equal of their front-runner.

بِكَ انتصر الملوكُ وأنتَ فيما

دَعوْك لنصره نِعمَ النصيرُ

Through you kings won victory, and in what

they called on you to support, you were the finest helper.

فأنت الليلةُ القَمراءُ بانت

على الأخَواتِ واليومُ المطيرُ

You are the moonlit night, standing out

above her sisters, and the rain-bearing day.

حميتَ كبيرَهم إذ حُمَّ وقتٌ

تحوطُ به وقد كَبِرَ الكبيرُ

You protected their great one when the hour was decreed

for you to guard him, as the great man had grown old.

وماتت دولةٌ فأقمت أَخرَى

فلا موتٌ عصاك ولا نشورُ

A state died, and you established another;

neither death nor resurrection disobeyed you.

وباشرتَ الخلافةَ فاطمأنَّتْ

على أمرٍ ومطلبُه عسيرُ

You took charge of the caliphate, and it grew secure

in an order whose attainment is difficult.

ويومَ العهدِ والوافي قليلٌ

أطاعك مِنبراها والسريرُ

On the day of the covenant, when the faithful were few,

its two pulpits and the throne obeyed you.

أُلينَ عليك مُعجَمُها المُعاصِي

وخَفَّ إليك مجلسُها الوقورُ

Its obscure, rebellious speech was made pliant for you,

and its dignified assembly hastened toward you.

درَى الفِهريُّ حين أسفَّ قومٌ

وطِرتَ بأيّ قادمةٍ تطيرُ

Al-Fihri knew, when others flew low

and you soared, with what flight-feather you flew.

رآك بهَدْيِهِ فجزاك خيراً

وقد يتفرَّسُ الرجلُ البصيرُ

He recognized you by his discernment and rewarded you well;

a perceptive man may indeed read character.

وأعطاك التي نشزتْ قديماً

وإن هي أُغليتْ فيها المهورُ

And he gave you her who had long held aloof,

even though bride-prices had been raised for her.

وأَفرشك الكرامةَ لم يدُسْها

جبانٌ في الملوك ولا جسورُ

He spread out for you an honor never trodden

by any coward among kings, nor any bold one:

مقالاً في اصطفائك واعتقاداً

يُحيلُ على اللسان به الضميرُ

a declaration in choosing you, and a conviction

that conscience entrusts the tongue to express.

وقلَّد سيفَه بيدَيْه سيفاً

طويلُ نجادِهِ عنه قصيرُ

With his own two hands he girded his sword with a sword—

even its long sword-belt is short beside him—

حساماً كان للمنصور حِصناً

ولم يك للمدينة بعدُ سورُ

a keen blade that was a fortress for al-Mansur,

when the city still had no wall.

وصاحَبَ بعده الخلفاءُ تِرْباً

رفيقاً حين يجلِسُ أو يثورُ

After him the caliphs befriended it as an age-mate,

a companion whenever one sat or rose.

تذلُّ له المنابرُ يرتقيها

وتألفُه المناكبُ والحجورُ

Pulpits submit to it as it ascends them,

and shoulders and laps are accustomed to it.

وما كفؤٌ له لولاك كفؤاً

ولكنّ الذُّكورَ لها الذُّكورُ

It would have no equal, were you not its equal;

but virile swords belong to virile men.

أميرُ المؤمنينَ يقول خذْهُ

فإنّك في تقلُّده الأميرُ

The Commander of the Faithful says, “Take it:

for when you gird it on, you are the commander.”

ولو عَقلتْ عُقَيْلٌ شاورتني

فكنتُ برأي ناصِحها أشيرُ

Had Uqayl shown sense, she would have consulted me,

and I would have advised her with a well-wisher's counsel:

فررتِ مكانَ لم تَجِدِي ثباتاً

ويقتُلُ ذِكرَهُ البطلُ الفَرورُ

You fled where you found no way to stand firm;

a fleeing champion kills his own renown.

إذنْ فتزحزحي عن دارِ مُلْكٍ

لغيرِك ضَرعُها ولكِ الدُّرورُ

Then move away from a royal domain

whose udder is another's, though its milk-flow is yours.

أغرَّكِ بالجزيرةِ ما أغرنا

نظارِ فقربَ ما ارتجع المغيرُ

Did our raiding deceive you in al-Jazira?

Wait! Soon the raider will return.

فلا تتوهَّمي بالشرِّ ليناً

فقد يتألَّقُ النَّصلُ الطريرُ

Do not imagine gentleness in danger:

for the sharp blade may glitter.

تخطَّتْها وإن وسِعتْكَ مَرعىً

فكم دارٍ تُبيرُ كما تُميرُ

She passed beyond it, though it offered you ample pasture;

many an abode destroys just as it supplies provisions.

ويَقطَعُ عُضوَه المرء اضطراراً

وإن أَلِفَتْ مَنابتَها الشُّعورُ

A person cuts off his own limb out of necessity,

though its hairs have grown attached to their roots.

سمعتَ بشائرَ الظفَرِ استمعْ لي

أُعِدْ خبَراً وأنت به خبيرُ

You have heard the glad tidings of victory; listen to me:

I will repeat a report, though you know it well.

أنا المولى صنعتَ إليه نُعمَى

أخي فيها حسودٌ أو غيورُ

I am the client upon whom you bestowed a favor

for which my own brother is envious or jealous.

جذبتَ من القُنوع بها ذراعي

فطارت دون أخمَصِيَ النسورُ

With that favor you pulled my arm free of supplication,

so eagles flew beneath the arch of my foot.

نفائسُ لم ينلْهنَّ اقتراحُ ال

مُنَى فيما تُسَدِّى أو تُنيرُ

Treasures beyond the invention of

wishes, in what you lay as warp or weave as weft.

بَرَدْتَ على الزمان بها فؤادي

وكان عليه مِرجلُه يفورُ

With them you cooled my heart despite Time,

whose cauldron had been seething over it.

وها هي نالت الأيّامُ منها

فجدِّدْ أَخلَقَ الظِّلَ الدُّثورُ

And now the days have taken their toll on them;

renew them: decay has worn out the shade.

يزور المهرجانُ برسم قومٍ

ولي رسمٌ يشوق ولا يزورُ

Mihragan visits with some people's customary dues;

my own due stirs longing, but never visits.

وقوم يكرمون على الأَسَامِي

فتُرخَى الحُجْبُ عنهم والستورُ

Some people are honored merely for their names,

and veils and curtains are drawn aside for them.

يقول الشعرُ إن حضَروا وغبنا

فدَى الغُيَّاب ما قال الحُضورُ

Poetry says, if they are present and we absent,

“May what the present say be sacrificed for the absent!”

يكرِّرُ غابرٌ ما قال ماضٍ

وقِدْماً أخلقَ المعنَى الكُرُورُ

A later one repeats what an earlier one said;

long ago, repetition wore the meaning out.

تطَبَّعتِ القرائحُ واطمأنَّتْ

فَلِمْ يتكفؤونك يا صبورُ

The poetic faculties have grown mannered and complacent;

why, then, do they beset you, O patient one?

بهذا الحكمُ حين تحالباها

نقائضَ حاز زُبدتَها جريرُ

Such was the judgment when the two milked it together

in rival satires: Jarir gained their cream.