طاف عليه بالرقمتينِ — Mihyar Al Daylami

طاف عليه بالرقمتيْنِ

طيفٌ على النأي من لُبيْنِ

He was visited at al-Raqmatayn

by a phantom from Lubayn, despite the distance.

خاطَرَ لم يدرِ أين جاب ال

سرى ولم يشكُ مسَّ أينِ

It ventured, not knowing where it traversed the

night-road, nor complaining of weariness's touch.

بين زرود إلى أبان

يا شُقّة البعدِ بين ذينِ

Between Zarud and Aban—

O vast stretch of distance between those two!

زار وخيطُ الكرى ضعيفٌ

لم يتشبَّثْ بالمقلتينِ

It visited while sleep's thread was frail,

not yet clinging to the two eyes.

والركبُ خدٌّ من بعد زندٍ

وكاهلٌ فوق مِرفقينِ

And the riders—a cheek behind a forearm,

an upper back above two elbows—

صرعَى يُصيب الرقادُ منهم

تهويمةً بين ليلتينِ

lay felled, while sleep won from them

a brief doze between two nights.

كأنَّ ساقي النعاس عاطَى

عيونَهم بنتَ رأس عينِ

As though the cupbearer of drowsiness had plied

their eyes with the daughter of Ra's Ayn.

فلم يرعني إلا وشاحٌ

طوَّق حِضنيَّ من بُدينِ

Nothing startled me but a sash

from a little body, encircling both my sides,

وضمةٌ بدَّلَتْ مهادا

خشونةَ الأرض لي بلَينِ

and an embrace that, as bedding, replaced

the earth's roughness for me with softness.

جدَّد منا وقال خيرا

سَرَّ وإن قال قولَ مينِ

It renewed hopes and spoke sweet words,

delighting me, though its words were lies.

ثم أطار الدجى فطارت

به جناحا غرابِ بينِ

Then the darkness sent it flying, and away flew

the two wings of parting's raven, carrying it.

زار لأحيا وحان صبحٌ

صيّره زائرا لحيْني

It visited to give me life; then dawn arrived,

turning it into a visitor bringing my death.

يا راكبا والنخيل منه

مظِنَّةٌ بعد شَدّتينِ

O rider, al-Nakhil lies within reach,

a likely destination after two swift runs.

اِحمل سلامي إلى أبان

فاحططه عنّي بالبانتينِ

Carry my greeting to Aban,

and set it down for me by the two ban trees.

وحيِّ واسألهما حفيّاً

عن ظبيةٍ أُمِّ جؤذرينِ

Greet them and ask them earnestly

about a gazelle, the mother of two fawns.

تَنسُب قحطانَ من أبيها

وأمّها في الذؤابتينِ

She traces her descent to Qahtan through her father,

and her mother is of the two lofty crests.

فالحسن من أجلها يمانٍ

ينمي إلى بيت ذي رُعَينِ

So beauty, because of her, is Yemeni,

tracing its descent to the house of Dhu Ru'ayn.

وقل لقومي من آل كسرى

على تنافي القبيلتينِ

And tell my people of the house of Kisra,

despite the discord between the two tribes:

ولادتي بينكم وقلبي

في يعرُبٍ فاعجبوا لذينِ

My birth was among you, but my heart

is with Ya'rub—marvel at these two.

هان دم لي يعزّ فيكم

يا لِعزيز المرام هَيْنِ

My blood, precious among you, has become cheap;

O for one hard to attain, yet held so cheap!

لا تطلبوا الثأر عند غيري

فإنّ قلبي قتيلُ عيني

Seek no vengeance from anyone but me:

my heart was slain by my own eye.

لام على عفتي حريصٌ

والحرصُ إحدى الشقاوتينِ

One zealous for my chastity reproached me,

and zeal is one of the two miseries.

فظنّ ماء الحياة عِدْلاً

لسفك ماءٍ في الوجنتينِ

He thought the water of life an equal recompense

for spilling the water upon the two cheeks.

قلتُ تَنَفَّجْ وكِد ذليلا

يا رُبَّ عِرضٍ في ماضغينِ

I said: Bluster and scheme, abased!

Oh, many an honor lies between two chewing jaws!

أقسمتُ بالمُحرِمين شُعْثا

بين المصلَّى والمأزِمينِ

I swear by the disheveled pilgrims in consecration,

between the prayer-place and al-Ma'zimayn,

وما أحَلّوا وما أهَلّوا

بحِجّةٍ بعد عُمرتينِ

and by their leaving consecration and raising the pilgrim's call

for a Hajj after two Umrahs:

لا قاد ذلُّ الأطماع رأسي

ما دام لي ذو الرياستينِ

May the abasement of greed never lead my head,

so long as I have Dhu al-Riyasatayn.

أذَمَّ لي أن يذالَ وجهي

أغلبُ منه ذو لِبدتينِ

Protection against my face's abasement is pledged to me

by the thick-necked lion in him, with two manes.

غيرانُ جاورتُهُ فبيتي

في الأرض بيتٌ في الفرقدينِ

A jealous guardian, I dwelt beside him; thus my house

on earth is a house among the two Farqad stars.

زحمتُ دهري به فأمسي

جنبِيَ أقوى العريكتينِ

I challenged my age through him, and now

my side is the more unyielding of the two.

وبات عزي منه ونصري

في عامل الذابل الرُّدَيني

And through him my glory and my victory rest

in the point of a slender Rudayni spear.

أبيضُ من طينةِ خلاصٍ

ما شابها خالطٌ بشينِ

White, of pure clay,

unmarred by any admixture of disgrace.

لملمها المجدُ وهي منه

تبرقُ ما بين الراحتينِ

Glory gathered it together; from him

it flashed between the two palms.

ناولها خالَها أبوها

بيضاءَ ملساءَ الجانبينِ

Its father handed it to its maternal uncle,

white and smooth on both sides.

ينبيك من في الزمان منها

عن حَسبَيْها المقدَّميْنِ

Whoever of its stock lives in this age tells you

of its two foremost ancestral honors.

دوحةُ مجدٍ لها ثمارٌ

حظُّ فمٍ ما اشتهى وعينِ

A great tree of glory, bearing fruits:

a share for the mouth in all it craves, and for the eye.

بِهبةِ الله يستدلّ ال

روَّادُ منها على الحسينِ

Through Hibat Allah, the way is revealed to the

seekers, through it, to al-Husayn.

عالِ بكفَّيْ أبي المعالي

ذِروة ثهلانَ أو حُنينِ

Surpass in height, with Abu al-Ma'ali's two palms,

the summit of Thahlan or Hunayn.

واستسق خِلْفَيْهما وأهوِنْ

إذا استهلّا بالمرِزمَينِ

Ask rain of their two teats, and make light,

when they pour forth, of the two Mirzam stars.

ففيهما ديمتا سماح

عصراهما غير زائلينِ

For in them dwell two steady rains of generosity,

whose seasons never pass away.

تُمطِر حُمراً لنا وبيضا

حياً من التبرِ واللجينِ

They rain red and white upon us,

a shower of gold and silver.

أناملٌ كلُّهنَّ غصنٌ

روضتُه بين إصبعينِ

Fingertips, each one a branch,

its garden lying between two fingers.

أروعُ سلَّ الإقبالُ منه

عَضبا طريرا لصفحتين

A majestic man, from whom good fortune drew

a cutting sword, keen on both faces.

إذا مضى في وغىً وشُورَى

نزا فقدَّ الضريبتينِ

When it goes forth in battle and counsel,

it springs and cleaves both targets.

من صيغة الله لم يُثَلَّم

ولم يُذِله طِراقُ قينِ

Of God's own casting, it has never been notched,

nor debased by a smith's hammer blows.

ناهزَ حلمَ الكهول طفلا

وساد بين التميمتينِ

As a child, he approached mature men's wisdom,

and was already a lord between the two amulets.

فكان في مهده وقارا

كأنه في الوسادتين

Thus he was dignity itself in his cradle,

as though seated between the two cushions.

يا فارس المشرِف المعالي

كجدولٍ بين أشْبتينِ

O rider of the steed of towering stature,

like a stream between two thickets!

صاغ لك الأفقَ ذاتَ طوقٍ

هلالها بين كوكبينِ

It fashioned a collared horizon for you,

its crescent between two stars.

يمدُّ في سبقه بعرقٍ

سرى إليه من سابقينِ

It extends its racing lead through a bloodline

that flowed to it from two earlier racers.

يَصرِف عن لاحقٍ أبيه

وجها إلى خاله الغُضينِ

It turns away from Lahiq, its father,

its face toward its maternal uncle al-Ghudayn.

ذلّت له الأرض لم تذلَّلْ

من قبله تحت حافرينِ

The earth yielded to it as it had never yielded

beneath two hooves before it.

أربعةٌ في الثرى وقوعٌ

ما بين نَسرين طائرينِ

Four hooves come down upon the soil

between two flying eagles.

يا سِربِهِ الجزعَ من دُجيلٍ

حديقةً بين جنتينِ

O, take it along the bend of Dujayl,

a garden between two gardens.

مسافة لا يطول فيها

مدىً على ذي قصيرتينِ

A distance whose stretch is not long

even for one with two short legs.

ولا يراعِي بها دليلٌ

صوبَ سِماكٍ ولا بُطينِ

No guide there need watch

the direction of Simak or Butayn.

لو رمتُ إبلاغَها بسوْقي

بلغتُها كَلَّ ساعتينِ

If I sought to reach it by driving my mount,

I would reach it, wearied by two hours.

وقل لناءٍ قلبي إليه

شرارةٌ بين جمرتينِ

And tell a distant one, toward whom my heart

is a spark between two embers:

ما كُسيتْ بعدك المعالي

فخرا ولا حُلِّيتْ بزينِ

Since your departure, high honors have not been clothed

in glory, nor adorned with beauty.

ولا عُرِفنا منها لياءٍ

ولا للامٍ ولا لعينِ

Nor were we known through them by a ya,

nor by a lam, nor by an ayn.

كنتَ أباها من قبل تُكنَى

بها وقبل المُكَنِّيينِ

You were their father before you were given your title

after them, and before those who bestowed it.

مولودةٌ منك لا بأمٍّ

والخلق ما بين والدينِ

Born of you, without a mother,

while creation comes between two parents.

ووجهُ بغدادَ مقشعِرٌّ

مقفل ما بينَ الحاجبينِ

And Baghdad's face is shuddering,

the space between its two brows locked shut.

غبتم وغاب السرور عنها

فقلبها بين غائبينِ

You vanished, and joy vanished from her;

her heart lies between two absentees.

بانت مجاليكُمُ مساءً

عنها وصبحا بالنيِّرينِ

At evening your radiant appearances departed

from her, and at morning, with the two luminaries.

فنحن نمسي فيها ونضحى

نخبط ما بين ظلمتينِ

So we pass our evenings and mornings within her,

groping between two darknesses.

فراجعوها ذكرَى لجنبَيْ

دجلةَ فيها والشاطئينِ

Return to her, mindful of the two sides of

the Tigris within her, and its two shores.

واحنوا لمُلكٍ عودتموه

حنوَّ بَرَّيْن حانيينِ

And be tender toward a sovereignty you accustomed

to the tenderness of two kind and loving ones.

زال وزُلتم فقد عرته

ندامةٌ بين العِبرتينِ

It vanished, and you departed; now it is seized

by remorse between two lessons.

تاب وتاب الواشي إليه

والعفوُ ما بين توبتينِ

It repented, and the slanderer repented to it;

forgiveness lies between two repentances.

والتفِتوا تنظروا عداكم

حيّاً غدا بين مِيتتينِ

Turn back, and behold your foes—

each alive, now caught between two deaths,

وشاردا فاته مناه

يأكل غيظا لحم اليدينِ

a fugitive whose hopes have eluded him,

gnawing the flesh of both hands in rage.

عادٌ من الله في علاكم

نيطت بحبلٍ ذي مِرَّتينِ

God's accustomed favors in your high estate

are fastened to a twice-twisted cord.

يغنَى بها محصدا قواها

حمدا لربّ العنايتينِ

One sings of them, tightening their strands,

in praise of the Lord of the two providences.

غداً يُقَضَّى إليَّ فيكم

نقدا ويقضِي الزمانُ ديني

Tomorrow my due, through you, will be paid to me

in cash, and time will settle what it owes me.

فكلّ يوم للشعر فيكم

عائفةٌ بين زاجرينِ

Each day, poetry about you has

a female augur between two bird-diviners.

تجري ولم تُتَّهم بدعوى

ولم تطالَب بشاهدينِ

She proceeds, never suspected in her claim,

nor asked to produce two witnesses.

صادقةَ الوعد لي عليها

معجزةٌ بالدلالتينِ

True to her promise, she owes me

a miracle attested by the two proofs.

سيرَّتُ فيكم راياتِ مدحٍ

تخفُقُ عني في الخافقينِ

I sent forth banners of praise for you,

fluttering on my behalf in east and west.

لكم فتوحي بها وختمي

والناس من بعدُ بينَ بينِ

My openings with them, and my close, are yours;

and everyone else, thereafter, stands in between.

تغشاكمُ غُيّبا شهودا

على دنوّ منكم وبينِ

They enfold you, absent or present,

in nearness to you and in separation.

يحوب مُطري قوم وشعري

في مدحكم ذو الشهادتينِ

One who flatters a people sins; my poetry,

in praising you, bears the two testimonies.

منعتُ ظهري بِكم فخورا

بجانبيّ المُحصَّنينِ

I protected my back through you, proud

of my two fortified flanks.

فما أبالي صَرفَ الليالي

وأنتُمُ بينها وبيني

So I care nothing for the vicissitudes of nights,

with you between them and me.