رق لبغداد القضاء والقدر — Mihyar Al Daylami

رقّ لبغداد القضاءُ والقدَرْ

وعطف الدهرُ عليها وأمرْ

Divine decree and destiny took pity on Baghdad.

Time turned kindly toward her and grew bountiful.

وامتعض المجد لها من طول ما

حاق بها الضيم فثار فانتصرْ

Glory grew indignant for her at how long

oppression had beset her, then rose and triumphed.

وضحك المزن إلى ربوعها

والعامُ قد قطَّب فيها وكشَرْ

The rain clouds smiled upon her quarters,

though the year had scowled there and bared its teeth.

فهي ومن يحمله ترابُها

عازبةٌ راحت ومُنهاضٌ جَبرْ

Thus she, and those her soil sustains,

are a wanderer returned and a broken one healed.

عاد الحيا إلى الثرى فَرَبَّه

وفَتَقَ الصبحُ الظلامَ ففُجِرْ

Life-giving rain returned to the earth and nourished it.

Dawn rent the darkness, and it was split open.

ونطقَتْ خُرسُ العلا فأبصرتْ

عمياؤها وسمعت وهي وَقَرْ

Glory's mute ones spoke, and sight returned

to its blind ones; though deaf, it heard.

فليهنها ما أثمر الصبرُ لها

والصبرُ في إمراره حلو الثمرْ

May she rejoice in what patience bore for her:

patience, for all its bitterness, bears sweet fruit.

قصرَكِ يا خابطةَ الليلِ بنا

لابدّ لليل الطويل من سَحرْ

Enough, you who stumble through the night with us!

The long night must have a predawn hour.

تنفَّسي مبصرةً وانفرجي

فطالما غَمَّ دجاكِ واعتكرْ

Breathe with eyes now seeing, and open out:

long has your darkness stifled and grown murky.

هذا الوزير وأخوه فاسفري

قد رُدّت الشمسُ عليك والقمرْ

Here are the vizier and his brother: unveil yourself!

The sun and moon have been restored to you.

نجمان ما غابا لسعيٍ ماجدٍ

في الأفق إلّا طلعا مع الظفَرْ

Two stars: never did they set on a noble quest

on the horizon without rising in triumph.

وجاريان سابقٌ بنفسه

إلى المدى ولاحقٌ على الأثرْ

Two runners: one races ahead by his own strength

toward the finish, the other follows in his tracks.

تشابها والكفُّ مثلُ أختها

والزَّندُ مثل الزند مَرْخاً وعُشَرْ

They resemble one another, each palm like its sister,

each firestick like its fellow—markh and ʿushar.

متى تَطُلْ من شرف الدين يدٌ

تجد كمالَ المُلك عن أخرى حَسَرْ

Whenever a hand of Sharaf al-Din reaches forth,

you find Kamal al-Mulk has bared another.

كلتا اليمينين قياسٌ للعلا

ذا ذَرَعَ الأفقَ بها وذا شَبَرْ

Both right hands are measures of exaltation:

one measures the horizon in cubits, the other in spans.

من ير ذا وِرْداً وذاكَ قَربَاً

له يقل ذا العشبُ من ذاك المطَرْ

Whoever sees this one as arrival at water, that one as the approach

to it, says: this grass springs from that rain.

دوحةُ مجدٍ صعُبتْ عيدانُها

على العدا أن تُخْتَلَى وتُهتَصَرْ

A great tree of glory whose branches resist

its enemies' attempts to cut or snap them.

سقى الندى عبدُ الرحيم ساقَها

وحاط أيّوبُ عليها وحَظَرْ

ʿAbd al-Rahim watered its trunk with bounty's dew,

and Ayyub guarded it and fenced it round.

وحَمَلتْ مثقَلَةً فأثمرتْ

مُذكِرَةً فولدتْ كلَّ ذكَرْ

It conceived, heavy-laden, and bore fruit;

bearing males, it gave birth to every son.

قوم أقاموا الدهر وهو عاثرٌ

حتى مشى يختالُ عنهم وخَطَرْ

A people who set Time upright when it stumbled,

until, thanks to them, it strode proudly and swayed.

وأدركوا أيّامَهم بهيمةً

مُغْفَلَةً شِياتُها حُصَّ الشَّعَرْ

They found their days uniformly dark,

their markings absent, their hair shorn bare.

فاعتلقوا جباهَها وسُوقَها

وطلعوا فيها الحجولَ والغُرَرْ

They grasped their foreheads and their shanks

and brought forth white fetlock bands and forehead blazes.

كلّ غلام إن عفا وإن سطا

أمَّنَ بين الخافقين وذَعَرْ

Each young man, whether pardoning or striking,

brings safety and terror between the two horizons.

أروعُ لا تجري الخطوبُ إن نهى

خوفاً ولا يقضي القضاءُ إن أمرْ

Awe-inspiring: calamities do not proceed, if he forbids,

for fear; nor does Fate judge when he commands.

نال السماءَ مُدرَجاً في قُمْطِه

وفات كلَّ قارح وما اثّغَرْ

He reached the sky while wrapped in swaddling bands

and outstripped every mature steed before his adult teeth grew.

لم يأخذ السودَدَ حظّاً غلطاً

ولا العلا مغتصباً أو مقتسرْ

He did not gain lordship through mistaken chance,

nor greatness by usurpation or force.

ما سار في كتيبةٍ إلا حَمَى

وما امتطى وسادةً إلا وزَرْ

He never marched in a battalion without defending it,

nor mounted a cushion without serving as vizier.

قد صدعَ اللّهُ بكم مُعجزةً

في الأرض ليست في محالات البشرْ

God has proclaimed through you a miracle

on earth beyond human contrivance.

فأرشدَ المستبصرين بكُمُ

لو كان يُغنِي القلبُ أو يُغنِي البصرْ

Through you He guided the discerning,

if heart or sight could offer any help.

وأعلم المُلكَ المدارَ أنه

بغير قطبٍ منكُمُ لا يستقِرّْ

He taught revolving sovereignty that

without an axis from among you it cannot stay steady,

وأنه حبلٌ ولِيتُم فتلَه

فكيفما أبرمه الناسُ انتسرْ

and that it is a rope whose twisting was entrusted to you:

however others twist it tight, it unravels.

أما كفاه إنْ كفاهُ واعظٌ

بيانُ ما جرَّبَ منكم واختبرْ

Has it not had enough, if any admonition can suffice,

in the clear evidence of what it experienced and tested in you?

وكيف لُمَّتْ وهي في أيديكُمُ

طينتُه وانحلَّ في أيدٍ أُخَرْ

And how, while in your hands, there was bound together

its clay, which came apart in other hands.

كم غارَ من بعد الغرورِ مدَّةً

بغيركم أما يَغارُ من يُغَرّْ

How long it sank after being deceived,

without you! Does one deceived not feel jealous?

بلى على ذاك لقد بان له

فُرقانُ ما بين الرجال فظهرْ

Yes, despite that, there became clear to it

the difference between men, now plainly manifest.

ونَصَحَتْه نفسُه لنفسِهِ

فشاورَ الحزمَ وأحسنَ النظرْ

Its own self counseled it for its own good;

it consulted prudence and considered well.

فقابلوا هفوتَه بحلمكم

فمثلُكم إن كان ذنبٌ مَن غَفَرْ

So meet its lapse with your forbearance:

people like you forgive when there is a fault.

واستدركوا بسعيكم حفيظةً

من أمره ما شعَبَ العجزُ وجَرّْ

Restore, through your efforts and protective zeal,

what incompetence divided and dragged down in its affairs.

فهو الذي دَرَّ على أيمانِكم

قِدماً له خِلفُ الصلاح وغَزُرْ

For it is that for which, beneath your right hands, milk flowed

long ago from prosperity's teat, in abundance.

وإن غنيتم لغنى أنفسكم

عن رغبةٍ فهو إليكم مفتقِرْ

Though your own sufficiency frees you

from desire, it stands in need of you.

إن العراقَ اليوم أنتم قطبُه

لولاكُمُ مدَبِّرين لم يَدُرْ

Today you are Iraq's axis;

without you governing it, it would not revolve.

قد حُبِستْ عليكُمُ سُروجُه

من غاب من حُماتِكم ومن حضَرْ

Its saddles have been reserved for you,

for whoever of your defenders is absent or present.

أنتم إذا ضِيمَ سيوفُ نصره

وأنتُمُ ربيعه إذا اقشَعَرّْ

When it is wronged, you are the swords of its deliverance;

when it shivers, you are its spring.

إذا قربتم ضحِكتْ عِراصُه

وابيضَّ وجهُ العدل فيها وسفَرْ

When you draw near, its courtyards smile,

and justice's face shines white within them and unveils itself.

وإن نأيتم كان في انتظارِكم

كأنكم فيه الإمامُ المنتظَرْ

When you go far away, it waits for you,

as though within it you were the awaited Imam.

فعالجوا أداوءَه بطبِّكم

قد حُفِر الجرحُ الذي كان عقَرْ

So treat its ailments with your medicine:

the wound that injured it has now been gouged deep.

لم يبقَ إلا رمقٌ فابتدروا

إمساكه والغوثَ إن لم يُبتَدَرْ

Only a breath of life remains, so hasten

to preserve it—and bring relief, if relief has not been hastened.

يا قاتلَ الجدب انتصرْ وقد بغى

بعدك عامُ المحل فينا وفَجَرْ

O slayer of drought, take vengeance! It has grown tyrannical—

the barren year among us since you left—and acted wickedly.

كم تُمطَر الشهباء عنك بالحيا

قد صرَّحتْ كَحْلٌ وقد صابَتْ بقُرّْ

How often through you the ash-gray drought-year receives life-giving rain!

Kahl has shown herself openly and struck with bitter cold.

امدد بيمناك على مجدٍ عفا

خِصباً وجدِّدْ رسمَ جُودٍ قد دَثَرْ

Spread, with your right hand, over faded glory

fertility, and renew the trace of bounty long effaced.

واقدم على السعد إلى الصدر الذي

أوحشتَه فانهض بِورْدٍ وصدَرْ

Come auspiciously to the seat of honor that

you left desolate; rise to oversee arrivals and departures.

واضفُ على الدولة ظلاًّ سابغاً

تسحبه سَحْبَك هُدَّابَ الأُزُرْ

Cast over the state an ample shade,

trailing it as you trail the tassels of your waist-wraps.

دعْ كَبَدَ الغيظِ على أعدائها

ودع لأوليائها حَزَّ الأُشَرْ

Leave the torment of rage upon its enemies,

and spare its allies the cut of sharp teeth.

قد أكلتْ أكفَّها نواجذٌ

يومَ لك الأمرُ استقامَ واستقَرّْ

Molars have gnawed their hands

on the day authority became upright and settled for you.

ودَوِيَتْ بما أَشرتَ وطَوَتْ

أفئدةً بالسوء فيك تأتمِرْ

They sickened at your directions and concealed

hearts conspiring evil against you.

فتَّهُمُ فربَعُوا من ظَلَعٍ

على رضاً بادٍ وسخطٍ مستسِرّْ

You outstripped them; lameness made them halt,

with outward contentment and hidden resentment.

فلا يزل وأنت حيٌّ خالدٌ

نأيُهُمُ حتى يسدُّون الحُفَرْ

So may it never cease, while you live immortal—

their remoteness, until they fill the graves.

ولا تنلْ مُلكَكَ إلا شللاً

يدُ الزمان وتصاريفُ الغِيَرْ

May it never reach your realm except paralyzed:

Time's hand and the vicissitudes of change.

اُذكُرْ وصِفْ كيف ترى بشائري

في مجدكم إنّ الكريم مَنْ ذَكَرْ

Remember and describe how you see my glad predictions

concerning your glory: the noble man remembers.

حدِّثْ بآياتي وقلْ بمعجزي

وخَبَرِي عن كلِّ غيبٍ مستترْ

Speak of my signs and tell of my miracles,

and my reports of every hidden mystery.

هذا الذي جَرَتْ به عِيافتي

لكم وطيري ذو اليمين إذ زُجِرْ

This is what my bird-divination foretold

for you, and my auspicious bird when startled into flight.

وكيف لا تصدُقُ فيكم نُذُري

وأنا في مديحكم أبو النُّذُرْ

How could my forewarnings about you fail to come true,

when, in praising you, I am the father of forewarnings?

ومدَدُ العيشةِ لي من فضلكم

وحظُّكم حظِّيَ من خَيْرٍ وشرّْ

My livelihood's sustenance comes from your generosity,

and your lot is mine, in good and ill.

قد عَرَقَ الزمانُ لحمي بعدكم

ببعدكم وأحرق العظمَ وذَرّْ

Time has gnawed my flesh since you departed,

through your absence, and burned and scattered my bones.

ولم يدع لي غمزُهُ جارحةً

إلّا وفيها غمزُ نابٍ وظُفُرْ

Its mauling has left me no limb

without the marks of fang and claw upon it.

تنبِذني في حبّكم نواظرٌ

وألسنٌ مَنبَذَةَ النِّضوِ المُعَرّْ

Eyes cast me out for loving you,

and tongues, as they cast out a worn-out, mangy mount.

أرجو نداهم ضلَّةً وعطفَهم

كما رجت قحطانُ ودّاً في مُضرْ

Misguidedly I hope for their bounty and sympathy,

as Qahtan hoped for affection from Mudar.

أرجِعُ عن زيارتي في يُسرهم

إلى محلٍّ عامرٍ من العُسُرْ

I return from my visits amid their prosperity

to a dwelling filled with hardship.

فافتقِدوا شِلواً لكم بقاؤه

ومنكُمُ إن فاتَ أو مرَّ يَمُرّْ

So seek out this torn remnant, whose survival is yours,

and if he is lost or passes away, he passes from you.

لسانكم وكلُّ من يُنطِقُكم

سواه معقولُ اللسان أو مُجَرّْ

He is your tongue; all who would give you voice

besides him are tongue-bound or tongue-slit.

قد بلَغَ المفصلَ مني جازري

فاللّهَ فيّ أن يَحُزَّ ما جَزَرْ

My butcher has now reached my joint;

for God's sake, protect me lest he sever what he has butchered.

لم تبق فيّ بعدكم بقيّةٌ

يُرجَى لها رفدُ غدٍ ويُنتظَرْ

Nothing remains in me since you departed

for which tomorrow's aid may be hoped or awaited.

فاقضوا ديونَ جودكم في خَلَّتي

فقد قضى شعريَ فيكم ما نَذَرْ

So discharge your generosity's debts by relieving my need:

my poetry has fulfilled what it vowed concerning you.