أرأيت أم حبست لحاظك عبرة — Mihyar Al Daylami

أرأيتَ أم حبَستْ لحاظَك عَبرةٌ

طللاً لسُعدة بالمحصَّب أوقصا

Have you seen—or has a tear held back your gaze—

a broken ruin of Su'da's at al-Muhassab?

تبعَ الرياحَ وكان يسأل مفصِحاً

عن ساكنيه فصار ينطقُ مُعوِصا

It went with the winds; once, when asked, it spoke clearly

of its inhabitants, but now it speaks in riddles.

دمَنٌ إذا شخصتْ لعينك أشرفت

نزوات قلبك يقتضينك مَشخَصا

Camp traces: when they loom before your eye, there surge

your heart's stirrings, demanding that you journey forth.

بعدتْ بآثار الأنيس عهودُها

فوحوشُها في نجوةٍ أن تُقنَصا

Their days have receded far, taking human traces with them;

so their wild beasts are safe from being hunted.

وكأن جاثمةَ الثَّغامِ بعُقرها

أشياخُ حيّ جالسين القُرفُصا

And the thagham grass crouching in their midst seems

like tribal elders sitting with their knees drawn up.

ولقد تَعُدُّ فلا تَعُدُّ بطالةً

لك في ثراها بُدِّدتْ بَدَدَ الحصى

You count, yet cannot count all the idle time

of yours scattered in their dust like pebbles:

أيامَ عيشُك باردٌ متلومٌ

وسواك ينهَزُ عيشَه مستفرصا

days when your life was cool and unhurried,

while others snatched at life, seizing every chance.

وعليك من ظُلَلِ الشباب وقاية

ظلٌّ لعمرُك حين أُسبغَ قُلِّصا

And over you lay the sheltering canopies of youth:

a shade—by your life!—withdrawn just as it spread fully.

نَدمان سافرةِ الجمال إذا احتمتْ

عينا تنقبت البنانَ الرُّخَّصا

A boon companion to an unveiled beauty, who, when she shunned

an eye, veiled herself with delicate fingers.

ريَّا إذا هزَّتْ لشُغلٍ غصنَها

أَمرَ الكثيبُ وراءَها أن تنكصا

Lush-bodied, when she swayed her branch for a task,

the dune behind her commanded her to draw back.

سمجتْ فغودر كلُّ ذنبٍ عندها

ما كان شافعَه الشبابُ ممحَّصا

She grew unlovely; every sin committed with her

for which youth had pleaded was left purged away.

لم يبق عندك من حقيقةِ ودِّها

إلا الخيال تكذُّباً وتخرُّصا

Nothing remains with you of the truth of her affection

except her phantom, all falsehood and conjecture.

وعجبتُ منها والموانعُ جمّةٌ

من أنها وجدتْ إليّ تخلُّصا

And I marveled at her, though the obstacles were many,

that she had found a way through to me.

طرقتْ وشملتها الدجى فأسرّها

شيئاً ونمَّ بها الحُليُّ فأوبصا

She came by night; darkness wrapped her and concealed her

a little, but her jewelry betrayed her with a flash.

مالي سمحتُ بحظّ نفسي ذاهباً

في الغافلين وبعتُ حزمي مرخِصا

Why did I relinquish my own share, going

among the heedless, and sell my resolve cheaply?

والدهرُ يوسعني إذا عاصيتُهُ

لحظاً يسارقني التوعُّدَ أخوصا

And Time, whenever I defy it, lavishes on me

glances, furtively threatening me with narrowed eyes.

ولقد كفاني شيبُ رأسي عَبرةً

وعلى الفَناء دلالة أن نُقِّصا

My head's gray hair gave me warning enough,

and its thinning was a sign of mortality.

فلأركبنَّ إلى السلامة غاربَىْ

عَوْد إذا وخَدَ المهارى أوقصا

So I shall ride toward safety upon the twin withers

of a seasoned camel that bounds when Mahri camels trot.

أَنِس بأشباح الفيافي طرفُهُ

لا يطَّبيه منفِّر أن يَقمُصا

His eye is familiar with the shapes of the deserts;

nothing frightening draws him into bucking.

يطِسُ الثرى وَرْداً وينصُل أورقاً

مما ارتدَى بغباره وتقمَّصا

He pounds the soil, ruddy, and fades to gray

from the dust he has donned as cloak and shirt.

متحرياً بهدايتي وأدائه

في حيث لا تجد القطاةُ المفحَصا

Seeking the way, with my guidance and his bearing me,

where the sandgrouse finds no nesting hollow,

في فتيةٍ يتبادلون نفوسَهم

في الحقّ أين رأوه لاح محصحِصا

among young men who offer one another their lives

for the truth, wherever they see it shining clear;

ومسوِّمين ضوامراً أعرافُها

تُفلَى بأطراف الرماح وتُنتصى

and men marking lean steeds whose manes

are combed and plucked by the points of spears.

تبعوا هواي مكلّفاً أو مؤثراً

وتعلَّقوا بي مازحاً أو مخلِصا

They followed my wishes, whether I was demanding or selfless,

and clung to me, whether I jested or was sincere.

وإذا بلغتَ بناصحٍ أو مدهِنٍ

ما تبتغيه فقد أطاعك من عصى

And if, through a sincere adviser or a flatterer, you reach

what you seek, then whoever disobeyed you has obeyed you.

يشكو ملالي نافرٌ خُلُقي به

ولقد أكون على التواصل أحرصا

One my nature shuns complains of my weariness,

though I may be more eager to maintain our ties.

وتصبُّ نفسي غيرَ أني لم أجد

خِلّاً سقاني الودَّ إلا غصَّصا

And my soul yearns, yet I have never found

a friend who gave me love to drink without making me choke.

قد كنتُ أطلبُ من عدوِّي غِرّةً

فالآن أطلبُ من صديقي مَخلَصا

I once sought an unguarded moment in my enemy;

but now I seek an escape from my friend.

كم صاحبٍ بالأمس صادفَ بِطنةً

فترتْ به لما رآني مخمَصا

How many a companion yesterday found a full belly

that made him slack when he saw me hungry!

لم يُلفِ لي عيباً وطالعَ عِرضَه

فرنا إليّ بعيبه وتخرّصا

He found no fault in me and inspected his own honor,

then eyed me through his own fault and fabricated lies.

عدِّ ابن أيوبٍ ورُضْ شيمي تَرُضْ

متراجعاتٍ عن سواه حُيَّصا

Set Ibn Ayyub apart: tame my traits, and you will tame

ones that recoil from all but him, evasively turning away.

أنفقتُ كلَّ مودّةٍ أحرزتُها

سَرَفاً ورحتُ بودّه متربِّصا

I spent every affection I had secured

extravagantly, and remained awaiting his affection.

من معشرٍ شرعوا إلى حاجاتهم

أَسلا كفته مُداهُمُ أن يَخْرُصا

He is of a people who level toward their aims

spears their knives spared the fitting of spearheads;

من كل أرقش إن تأوّد ثقَّفتْ

منه البلاغةُ أو تسدَّد أقعصا

each speckled shaft, if bent, is straightened

by eloquence; or, aimed true, it kills outright.

يتوارثون به العلاءَ فسابقٌ

يمضي وقافٍ إثرَهُ متقصِّصا

Through it they inherit high rank: a forerunner

goes on, and a follower traces his footsteps.

وُلدتْ حلومُهم وهم لم يولدوا

من قبل أن قُرِعتْ لذي الحلم العصا

Their wisdom was born while they were still unborn,

before the staff was struck for the man of wisdom.

كرماء حبَّبَهم إليَّ كريمُهم

إن الهوى ما عم حتى خصَّصا

Generous men, whose generous one endeared them to me;

love did not embrace them all until it singled one out.

بمحمد رُدّت على أعقابها

عن ساحتي غُشْمُ الحوادث نُكَّصا

Through Muhammad, they were driven back upon their heels—

the savage calamities, retreating from my courtyard.

أعطَى فأغنَى مسرفاً متعدّياً

ميسورَه كرماً وودّ فأخلصا

He gave and enriched, lavishly exceeding

his means in generosity; he loved, and loved sincerely.

وخبَرتُ قوماً قبله وخبرتُهُ

فعرفتُ مولى السيفِ من عبد العصا

I tested men before him, and tested him,

and knew the sword's master from the staff's slave.

تفدِي ثرى قدميك قمّةُ ناقصٍ

حزتَ العلا مِلكاً وطرَّ تلصُّصا

May a deficient man's head ransom the dust beneath your feet:

you gained high rank as your own; he stole it furtively.

حُرِمَ السيادةَ يافعاً فاستامها

شيخاً فكان كناكح بعدَ الخِصا

Denied lordship as a youth, he sought to buy it

as an old man, like one having intercourse after castration.

لما جلستَ وقامَ ينشرُ باعَه

جهدَ التطاولِ لم يجِدْ لك أَخْمَصا

When you sat and he stood, stretching out his armspan,

straining to rise above you, he could not reach your foot's arch.

لو ذُمَّ ما ألِمَ المذمّةَ عرضُه

ما ينقُصُ العوراءَ من أن تُبْخصا

Were he reviled, his honor would feel no reproach:

what does a blind eye lose by being gouged?

وأنا الذي سر القلوب وساءها

ما حكتُه لك مسهِباً وملخِّصا

And I am the one who delighted hearts and grieved them

with what I wove for you, at length and in brief.

وتناذَر الشعراءُ مس لواذعي

والجمر يحمي نفسه أن يُقبَصا

And the poets warned one another against touching my stinging barbs,

and live coals guard themselves against being grasped.

واستَمْتَني رقِّي فبعتُك مُرِخصاً

عن رغبةٍ وكواهبٍ من أرخصا

And you bargained with me for my bondage; I sold it to you cheaply,

willingly—and whoever sells cheaply is like a giver.