ما بعد يومك سلوة لمعلل — Mihyar Al Daylami

ما بعدَ يومِك سلوةٌ لمعلَّلِ

منّي ولا ظفرتْ بسمعِ معذَّلِ

After your day, there is no solace for a grief-stricken man

such as me; nor has it won the ear of one whom others chide.

سوّى المصابُ بك القلوبَ على الجوى

فيدُ الجليدِ على حشا المتململِ

The calamity of losing you made all hearts equal in anguish;

the steadfast man's hand rests upon the heart of the distraught.

وتشابه الباكون فيك فلم يبن

دمعُ المُحِقِّ لنا من المتعمِّلِ

The mourners for you looked alike, so we could not distinguish

the genuine mourner's tears from those of the feigner.

كنَّا نُعيَّر بالحُلوم إذا هفتْ

جَزعاً ونهزأ بالعيون الهُمَّلِ

We used to be reproached when our judgment faltered

in anguish, while we mocked eyes overflowing with tears.

فاليومَ صار العذرُ للفاني أسىً

واللومُ للمتماسك المتجمِّلِ

Today, excuse belongs to the man consumed by sorrow,

and blame to the man who holds firm and bears himself bravely.

رحل الحِمام بها غنيمةَ فائزٍ

ما ثار قطّ بمثلها عن منزلِ

Death carried off that soul, a victor's spoil;

never had it departed a dwelling with anything like it.

كانت يدَ الدين الحنيف وسيفَه

فلأبكينَّ على الأشلِّ الأعزلِ

It was the hand and sword of the upright faith;

so I shall weep for it, maimed and weaponless.

مالي رقدتُ وطالبي مستيقظٌ

وغفلتُ والأقدارُ لمّا تغفُلِ

Why have I slept while my pursuer is awake,

and been heedless while the fates have not yet slept?

ولويت وجهي عن مَصارع أُسرتي

حذرَ المنيّةِ والشفارُ تُحَدُّ لي

I turned my face from the places where my family fell,

fearing death, while the blades were being sharpened for me.

قد نمَّت الدنيا إلىّ بسرها

ودُللتُ بالماضي على المستقبَلِ

The world has disclosed its secret to me,

and through the past I have been shown the future.

ورأيتُ كيف يطير في لَهواتها

لحمي وإن أنا بعدُ لمَّا أُوكَلِ

I saw how there flies within its gullets

my flesh, though I have not yet been devoured.

وعلمتُ معْ طيبِ المحلِّ وخصبهِ

بتحوّل الجيران كيف تحوّلي

Despite my dwelling's pleasantness and fertility, I learned

from my neighbors' departure how I too would depart.

لم أركبِ الأمل الغَرورَ مطيّةً

بَلْهاءَ لم تبلُغ مدىً بمؤمِّلِ

I have not mounted delusive hope as a riding beast,

a witless mount that never brought a hopeful rider to his goal.

ألوى ليمهلني إليّ زمامُها

ووراءها أُلهوبُ سَوقٍ معجِلِ

Its rein turned toward me as though to grant me time,

while behind it came the furious rush of a hurrying drive.

حُلْمٌ تزخرفه الحنادس في الكرى

ويقينُه عند الصباح المنجلي

A dream that darkness embellishes in sleep,

whose truth appears when morning clears.

أُحصِي السنينَ يَسُرُّ نفسي طولُها

وقصيرُ ما يُغنيك مثلُ الأطوَلِ

I count the years, their length delighting my soul,

yet the briefest span serves you like the longest.

وإذا مضى يومٌ طرِبتُ إلى غدٍ

وببَضعةٍ مني مضى أو مَفصِلِ

Whenever a day passes, I rejoice at tomorrow,

though it has carried off a piece of me, or a joint.

اُخشنْ إذا لاقيتَ يومَك أو فَلِنْ

واشدُدْ فإنك ميّتٌ أو فاحلُلِ

Be stern when you meet your day, or be gentle;

brace yourself—for you must die—or relax.

سيّان عند يدٍ لقبض نفوسنا

ممدودةٍ فمُ ناهشٍ ومقبِّلِ

Alike, to a hand stretched out to seize our souls,

are the mouth of a biter and that of a kisser.

سوّى الردى بين الخصَاصةِ والغنى

فإذا الحريص هو الذي لم يَعقِلِ

Death has made poverty and wealth equal;

thus the grasping man is the one who has not understood.

والثائر العادي على أعدائه

ينقاد قَود العاجز المتزمِّلِ

The avenger charging against his enemies

is led away like a helpless man wrapped in his cloak.

لو فُلُّ غَربُ الموت عن متدرِّعٍ

بعفافه أو ناسكٍ متعزِّلِ

If death's edge could be blunted against one armored

in chastity, or against a devout recluse,

أو واحدِ الحسناتِ غيرَ مشبَّهٍ

بأخٍ وفردِ الفضل غيرَ ممثَّلِ

or one peerless in good deeds, not to be likened

to any brother, alone in excellence, beyond comparison,

أو قائلٍ في الدين فَعّالٍ إذا

قال المفقّه فيه ما لم يفعل

or one whose words on faith become deeds whenever

the learned jurist speaks of what he does not practice,

وَقَتِ ابنَ نعمانَ النزاهةُ أو نجا

سَلماً فكان من الخطوب بمعزِلِ

integrity would have shielded Ibn Nuʿman, or he would have escaped

unharmed, removed from calamities.

ولجاءه حبُّ السلامة مؤذناً

بسلامه من كل داءٍ معضلِ

And love of safety would have come to him, heralding

his safety from every intractable disease.

أو دافعتْ صدرَ الردى عُصَبُ الهدى

عن بحرها أو بدرِها المتهلِّلِ

Or, if the bands of guidance could thrust back death's breast

from their ocean, or their brightly beaming moon,

لَحَمَتْهُ أيدٍ لا تني في نصره

صدقَ الجهاد وأنفسٌ لا تأتلي

hands would have protected him, unflagging in his aid

with earnest striving, and souls that spared no effort.

وغدت تطارد عن قناة لسانه

أبناءُ فِهرٍ بالقُنِيِّ الذُّبَّلِ

And, defending the lance of his tongue, there would have charged

the sons of Fihr with their slender spears.

وتبادرتْ سبقاً إلى عليائها

في نصر مولاها الكرامُ بنو علي

They would have raced ahead toward their lofty honor,

aiding their lord—the noble sons of Ali.

من كلِّ مفتول القناة بساعدٍ

شَطْبٍ كصدر السمهريّة أفتلِ

Each one of sturdy frame, with an arm

lean and sinewy as the forepart of a Samharite spear;

غيرانَ يسبِقُ عزمَه أخبارَه

حتى يغامرَ في الرَّعيل الأوَّلِ

jealous for honor, his resolve outrunning reports of him,

until he plunges into the foremost troop;

وافِي الحجا ويُخال أنّ برأسه

في الحرب عارضَ جِنَّةٍ أو أخبَلِ

sound in judgment, yet one imagines that in his head

in battle lurks a fit of madness or derangement.

ما قنَّعتْ أفُقاً عجاجةُ غارةٍ

إلا تخرَّق عنه ثوبُ القسطلِ

No dust-cloud of a raid ever veiled a horizon

without its robe of dust being torn apart by him.

تعدو به خَيفانةٌ لو أُشعرتْ

أنّ الصهيلَ يُجمُّها لم تصهَلِ

A swift mare carries him at a gallop; were she told

that neighing would give her rest, she would not neigh.

صبّارةٌ إن مسّها جَهدُ الطَّوَى

قنعتْ مكانَ عليقها بالمِسحلِ

Enduring, if the hardship of hunger afflicts her,

she is content with the bit instead of her fodder.

فسَرَوا فناداهم سراةُ رجالهم

لمجسَّدٍ من هامهم ومرجَّلِ

So they traveled by night; their chiefs summoned them

to offer heads of theirs, blood-dyed and combed.

بُعَداءُ عن وهْن التواكل في فتىً

لهُمُ على أعدائهم متوكِّلِ

Far from feebly leaving to others the defense of a youth

who undertakes their cause against their enemies;

سمْحٍ ببذل النفس فيهم قائمٍ

لله في نصر الهدى متبتِّلِ

generous in giving his life among them, standing

for God in support of guidance, wholly devoted;

نزَّاع أرشية التنازع فيهمُ

حتى يسوقَ إليهم النصَّ الجلي

drawing up the well-ropes of their disputes

until he brings them the manifest text,

ويبين عندهم الإمامة نازعاً

فيها الحجاجَ من الكتاب المُنزَلِ

and explains the Imamate to them, drawing

its proofs from the revealed Book,

بطريقةٍ وضَحت كأنْ لم تشتبه

وأمانةٍ عُرفتْ كأنْ لم تُجهَلِ

by a method made clear, as though never doubtful,

and an integrity recognized, as though never unknown.

يصبو لها قلبُ العدوِّ وسمعُه

حتى يُنيبَ فكيف حالُك بالولي

The enemy's heart and hearing incline toward it

until he turns in repentance—then how must it be with a friend?

يا مرسَلاً إن كنت مُبلغَ ميِّتٍ

تحت الصفائح قولَ حيٍّ مرسِلِ

O messenger, if you can convey to a dead man

beneath the stone slabs the words of a living sender,

فِلجِ الثرى الراوي فقلْ لمحمّدٍ

عن ذي فؤادٍ بالفجيعة مشعَلِ

enter the well-watered earth, and tell Muhammad,

from one whose heart is set ablaze by bereavement:

مَن للخصوم اللُّدِّ بعدك غُصَّةٌ

في الصدر لا تهوِي ولا هي تعتلي

Who, after you, will be for stubborn adversaries a choking lump

in the chest, neither sinking nor rising?

مَن للجدال إذا الشفاهُ تقلَّصتْ

وإذا اللسان بريقِه لم يُبلَلِ

Who will take up debate when lips have shriveled

and the tongue is not moistened by its saliva?

مَن بعدَ فقدِك ربُّ كلِّ غريبةٍ

بِكرٍ بك افتُرِعتْ وقولةِ فيصلِ

Who, after losing you, is master of each rare thought—

a virgin first unveiled by you—and each decisive saying?

ولغامضٍ خافٍ رفعتَ قِوامه

وفتحتَ منه في الجواب المقفَلِ

And of each obscure, hidden question whose structure you raised,

and whose sealed answer you unlocked?

مَن للطروس يصوغ في صفحاتها

حَلْياً يقعقع كلّما خرِسَ الحُلي

Who will fashion upon the pages

ornaments that jingle whenever jewelry falls silent?

يبقين للذكر المخلّد رحمةً

لك من فم الراوي وعينِ المجتَلي

They endure in everlasting remembrance, bringing prayers for mercy

upon you from the reciter's mouth and the beholder's eye.

أين الفؤادُ الندب غيرَ مضعَّفٍ

أين اللسان الصعب غيرَ مفلَّلِ

Where is the intrepid heart, never weakened?

Where is the formidable tongue, never blunted?

تفري به وتحزُّ كلَّ ضريبةٍ

ما كلُّ حزّة مفصِلٍ للمُنصُلِ

With it you cut and cleave every target;

not every cut through a joint is within a sword's power.

كم قد ضممتَ لدين آل محمدٍ

من شاردٍ وهدَيتَ قلبَ مضلَّلِ

How many have you brought into the faith of Muhammad's family

from among the straying, and guided the heart of one misled!

وعقلتَ من ودٍّ عليهم ناشطٍ

لو لم تَرُضْه ملاطفاً لم يُعقَلِ

And you tethered to them much affection that had strayed;

had you not gently tamed it, it could not have been bound.

لا تطَّبيك ملالةٌ عن قولةٍ

تَروِي عن المفضول حقَّ الأفضلِ

No weariness lures you away from a saying

in which you report, through the less excellent, the better one's due.

فليجزينَّك عنهمُ ما لم يزل

يبلو القلوب ليجتبي وليبتلي

May He surely reward you on their behalf, He who has never ceased

testing hearts, to choose and to try.

ولتنظرنَّ إلى عليٍّ رافعا

ضَبْعيك يومَ البعث ينظرُ من علِ

And surely you shall see Ali raising

your upper arms on Resurrection Day, looking from on high.

يا ثاوياً وسَّدتُ منه في الثرى

عَلَماً يطول به البقاءُ وإن بَلي

O one laid to rest, of whom I laid within the earth

a standard that shall long endure, though it decay;

جَدَثاً لدى الزوارء بين قصورها

أجللته عن بطن قاعٍ ممحلِ

a grave at al-Zawra, among its palaces—

I deemed it too noble for the hollow of a barren plain.

ما كنتُ قبل أراك تُقبَرُ خائفاً

من أن تُوارَى هضبةٌ بالجندلِ

Before seeing you buried, I had never feared

that a mountain might be hidden beneath stones.

مَن ثلَّ عرشَك واستقادك خاطماً

فانقدتَ يا قطَّاعَ تلك الأحبُلِ

Who toppled your throne and led you captive, haltering you,

so that you submitted, O cutter of those ropes?

مَن فَلَّ غربَ حسامِ فيك فردَّه

زُبَراً تَساقطُ من يمين الصَّيقلِ

Who blunted the edge of the sword within you, making it

fragments falling from the burnisher's right hand?

قد كنتَ من قُمُصِ الدجى في جُنَّةٍ

لا تُنتَحَى ومن الحجا في معقِلِ

From the tunics of darkness you had a shield,

unassailable, and in reason a stronghold;

متمنعاً بالفضل لا ترنو إلى

مغناك مقلةُ راصدٍ متأملِ

fortified by excellence, no eye could gaze toward

your dwelling, watchful and intent.

فمِنَ اَيِّ خرْمٍ أو ثنيّة غِرَّةٍ

طلعتْ عليك يدُ الردى المتوغِّلِ

Through what breach, or pass of unguardedness, then,

did the hand of penetrating death break in upon you?

ما خلتُ قبلك أنّ خدعةَ قانصٍ

تلج العرين وراءَ ليثٍ مشبِلِ

Before you, I had not thought that a hunter's trick

could enter the lair behind a lion with cubs,

أو أنّ كفَّ الدهر يقوَى بطشُها

حتى تُظفِّرَ في ذُؤابة يذبُلِ

or that Time's hand could grow strong enough in its grip

to sink its claws into Yadhbul's summit.

كانوا يَرونَ الفضلَ للمتقدّم ال

سبّاقِ والنقصانَ في المتقبِّلِ

They thought excellence belonged to the earlier one, the

forerunner, and deficiency to the successor—

قول الهوى وشريعة منسوخة

وقضيّة من عادةٍ لم تعدلِ

the judgment of desire, a law now abrogated,

a verdict born of custom that had never been just—

حتى نجمتَ فأجمعوا وتبيّنوا

أن الأخير مقصِّرٌ بالأولِ

until you arose, and they agreed and understood

that the later man made the first seem wanting.

بكَر النعيُّ فسَكَّ فيك مسامعي

وأعاد صبحي جنحَ ليلٍ أليلِ

The death announcement came early and deafened my ears with news of you,

turning my morning into the darkness of deepest night.

ونزت بنيَّاتُ الفؤاد لصوته

نزوَ الفصائِل في زفير المرجَلِ

The little daughters of my heart leapt at its sound,

like morsels leaping in a cauldron's seething breath.

ما كنتُ أحسبُ والزمانُ مقاتلي

يرمي ويخطىء أنَّ يومَك مقتَلي

I never thought, though Time was fighting me,

shooting and missing, that your day would be my death.

يومٌ أطلَّ بغُلّةٍ لا يَشتفِي

منها الهدى وبغمّةٍ لا تنجلي

A day that loomed with a burning thirst

from which guidance cannot recover, and gloom that will not lift.

فكأنّه يومُ الوصيّ مدافعاً

عن حتفه بعد النبيِّ المرسَلِ

It was as though the Legatee's day, as he warded

off his doom after the Prophet who was sent.

ما إن رأت عيناي أكثرَ باكيا

منه وأوجعَ رنّةً من مُعولِ

Never have my eyes seen more mourners

than on that day, nor a more painful cry from a wailer.

حُشِدوا على جنباتِ نعشِك وُقَّعاً

حشدَ العطاش على شفيرِ المنهلِ

They gathered, stricken, along the sides of your bier,

as the thirsty gather at the edge of a watering place.

وتنازفوا الدمعَ الغريبَ كأنما ال

إسلامُ قبلك أمَّةٌ لم تثكَلِ

They drained themselves of unaccustomed tears, as though

Islam before you were a community never bereaved.

يمشون خلفك والثرى بك روضةٌ

كحَلَ العيونَ بها ترابُ الأرجلِ

They walked behind you, the earth a garden through you;

there the dust of feet became kohl for their eyes.

إن كان حظِّي من وصالك قبلَها

حظَّ المغبِّ ونُهزةَ المتقلِّلِ

If my share of your company before this

was an infrequent visitor's share, a sparing man's brief chance,

فلأُعطينَّك من ودادي ميِّتاً

جهدَ المنيب ورجعةَ المتنصلِ

then I shall surely give you, dead, of my love

a penitent's full effort and an apologetic man's return.

أو أنفدت عيني عليك دموعَها

فليبكينَّك بالقوافي مِقوَلي

Or, should my eye exhaust its tears for you,

my tongue shall surely mourn you in rhymes.

ومتى تلفَّت للنصيحةِ موجع

يبغي السلوَّ ومالَ ميلَ العُذَّلِ

Whenever a grief-stricken man turns toward counsel,

seeking solace, and inclines as the reproachers do,

فسلوّك الماءُ الذي لا أستقي

عطشانَ والنارُ التي لا أصطلي

forgetting you is water I will not draw,

though thirsty, and fire at which I will not warm myself.

رقَّاصة القطراتِ تَختمِ في الحصا

وَسْماً وتفحَص في الثرى المتهيِّلِ

A cloud of dancing drops stamps upon the pebbles

its mark, and hollows out the loose earth.

نسجت لها كفُّ الجَنوبِ مُلاءةً

رتقاءَ لا تُفصَى بكفِّ الشمألِ

The south wind's hand has woven it a mantle,

seamless, not to be unpicked by the north wind's hand.

صبّابة الجنباتِ تَسمَع حولها

للرعد شِقشقةَ القُروم البُزَّلِ

Pouring from its sides, you hear around it

thunder bellowing like full-grown camel sires.

تُرضي ثراك بواكفٍ متدفِّقٍ

يُروِي صداك وقاطرٍ متسلسِلِ

It satisfies your earth with streaming, rushing rain,

quenching your thirst with drops falling in succession,

حتى يرى زوَّارُ قبرِك أنّهم

حطُّوا رحالَهُمُ بوادٍ مبقلِ

until the visitors to your grave see that they

have set their saddles down in a verdant valley.

ومتى ونتْ أو قصَّرتْ أهدابُها

أمددتها منّي بدمع مسبلِ

Whenever it slackens, or its fringes fall short,

I replenish it with freely flowing tears of my own.