في الظباء الغادين أمس غزال — Mihyar Al Daylami

في الظباء الغادين أمسِ غزالُ

قال عنه ما لايقول الخيالُ

Among the gazelles that went forth yesterday was a gazelle

of whom was said what no dream-phantom says,

طارقٌ يزعم الفراقَ عتاباً

ويرينا أنّ الملالَ دلالُ

by a night-visitor who calls separation a reproach

and shows us that weariness is coyness.

لم يزل يخدع البصيرةَ حتّى

سرّنا ما يَقول وهو مُحالُ

He never ceased deceiving the inner eye, until

what he said delighted us, though it was impossible.

لا عدمتُ الأحلامَ كم نوَّلتْني

من منيعٍ صعبٍ عليه النوالُ

May dreams never fail me! How often they have granted me

one beyond reach, for whom giving favors is hard.

لم تنغِّصْ وعداً بمطل ولم يو

جِبْ له منَّةً عليّ الوصالُ

They never soured a promise with delay, nor did

union leave me beholden to him.

فلليلي الطويل شكري ودِينُ ال

عشق أن تُكرهَ الليالي الطّوالُ

So my long night has my thanks, though the creed of

love is that long nights should be hated.

لمن الظُّعْنُ غاصبتنا جَمالاً

حبذا ما مشت به الأجمالُ

Whose departing caravan has wrested beauty from us?

How lovely is what the camels carried away!

كانفاتٍ بيضاءَ دلَّ عليها

أنّها الشمس أنّها لا تُنالُ

Sheltering a fair one; what shows her

to be the sun is that she cannot be reached.

جمحَ الشوقُ بالخليع فأهلاً

بحليمٍ له السلوُّ عِقالُ

Longing bolted with the libertine; so welcome

to a sober man whose hobble is forgetting love.

كنتُ منه أيّامَ مرتعُ لذَّا

تي خصيبٌ وماءُ عيشي زُلالُ

I was of his kind in days when the pasture of my

pleasures was lush, and the water of my life pure.

حيث ضِلعي من الشباب وسَمعي

غَرَضٌ لا تصيبهُ العُذَّالُ

When my frame belonged to youth, and my hearing

was a target the reproachers could not hit.

يا نديميّ كنتما فافترقنا

فاسلواني لكلّ شيء زوالُ

O you two who once were my companions—we have parted;

so forget me: everything passes away.

لِيَ في الشيب صارفٌ ومن الحُز

نِ علي آل أحمدٍ إشغالُ

Gray hair gives me a diversion, and sorrow

for Ahmad's family occupies me.

معشر الرشد والهدى حَكَمَ البغ

يُ عليهم سفاهةً والضلالُ

A people of rectitude and guidance, whom tyranny

and error judged in foolishness.

ودعاة الله استجابت رجالُ

لهمُ ثم بُدِّلوا فاستحالوا

And callers to God: men answered

them, then were changed and turned about.

حَمَلوها يومَ السَّقِيفة أوزا

راً تخفُّ الجبالُ وهي ثِقالُ

They bore it on the day of Saqifah as burdens

beside which mountains are light, so heavy are they.

ثم جاءوا من بعدها يستقيلو

نَ وهيهات عثرةٌ لا تقالُ

Then afterward they came seeking release,

but in vain—a stumble that cannot be forgiven.

يا لها سوءةً إذا أحمد قا

م غداً بينهم فقال وقالوا

Oh, what disgrace when Ahmad

stands among them tomorrow, and he speaks and they speak!

ربعُ همّي عليهمُ طلَلٌ با

قٍ وتَبلى الهمومُ والأطلالُ

The abode of my grief for them is an enduring ruin,

though griefs and ruins decay.

يا لَقومٍ إذ يقتلون عليّاً

وهو للمَحْل فيهمُ قَتّالُ

Oh, those people who kill Ali,

though among them he is the slayer of famine!

ويُسِرُّون بُغضَهُ وهو لا تُق

بَلُ إلا بحبّه الأعمالُ

And they conceal their hatred of him, though

deeds are accepted only through love of him.

وتحالُ الأخمارُ والله يدري

كيف كانت يومَ الغدير تُحالُ

And head-coverings are shifted, and God knows

how they were shifted on the day of Ghadir.

ولِسبطيْن تابعَيه فمسمو

مٌ عليه ثرى البقيعِ يُهالُ

And alas for the two grandsons who followed him: one poisoned,

over whom the earth of al-Baqi is heaped.

درسوا قَبرَه ليَخفَى عن الزو

وارِ هيهات كيف يخفَى الهلالُ

They effaced his grave to hide it from

visitors—in vain! How can the crescent moon be hidden?

وشهيدٍ بالطَّفّ أبكَى السموا

تِ وكادت له تزول الجبالُ

And one martyred at al-Taff, who made the heavens weep,

and for whom the mountains nearly moved from their places.

يا غليلي له وقد حُرِّمَ الما

ءُ عليه وهو الشرابُ الحلالُ

Oh, my burning anguish for him, when water was forbidden

to him, though it is lawful drink!

قُطِعتْ وُصلة النبيِّ بأن تُق

طَعَ من آل بيته الأوصالُ

The Prophet's bond was severed by

severing the limbs of his household.

لم تُنجِّ الكهولَ سنٌّ ولا الشُب

بَانَ زهدٌ ولا نجا الأطفالُ

Age did not save the elders, nor were the youths

saved by asceticism, nor did the children escape.

لهفَ نفسي يا آل طه عليكم

لهفةً كسبُها جوىً وخَبالُ

My soul grieves for you, O family of Taha,

a grief whose gain is burning pain and madness.

وقليلٌ لكم ضلوعِي تَهتز

زُ مع الوجد أو دموعي تُذالُ

It is little for you that my ribs tremble

with anguish, or that my tears are freely shed.

كان هذا كذا وودّي لكم حس

ب ومالي في الدِّين بعدُ اتصالُ

This was so when I had only affection for you,

and had not yet any connection with the faith.

وطروسي سودٌ فكيف بِيَ الآ

نَ ومنكم بياضُها والصِّقالُ

And my pages were black; how, then, am I now,

when their whiteness and polish come from you?

حبّكم كان فكَّ أسري من الشِّر

ك وفي منكبي له أغلالُ

Love of you freed me from captivity to polytheism,

whose shackles had lain upon my shoulders.

كم تزمّلْتُ بالمذلَّة حتى

قمتُ في ثوب عزّكم أختالُ

How often I wrapped myself in humiliation, until

I rose in the robe of your glory, walking proudly.

بركاتٌ لكم محت من فؤادي

ما أَمَلّ الضلالَ عمٌّ وخالُ

Blessings of yours erased from my heart

the error a paternal and a maternal uncle had dictated.

ولقد كنتُ عالماً أن إقبا

لي بمدحي عليكُمُ إقبالُ

Indeed, I knew that my turning

to you with my praise was good fortune.

لكُمُ من ثنايَ ما ساعَدَ العم

رُ فمنه الإبطاء والإعجالُ

You shall have my praise for as long as life permits,

for from it come both delay and haste.

وعليكم في الحشر رُجحانُ ميزا

ني بخيرٍ لو يُحصَرُ المِثقالُ

And upon you, at the Gathering, depends my balance's tipping

with good, if the weight can be reckoned.

ويقيني أنْ سوف تصدُقُ آما

لي بكم يومَ تكذِب الآمالُ

And I am certain that my hopes will come true

through you, on the day when hopes prove false.