تركتك يا زمان قلى فدعني — Mihyar Al Daylami

تركتُك يا زمانُ قِلًى فدعني

إذا أنا لم أُرِدك فلا تُرِدني

I left you, Time, in loathing; so leave me.

If I do not want you, do not want me.

أأنِفر عنك ممتعِضا أبيًّا

وتصحَبني بقلبٍ مطمئنِّ

Do I flee from you, indignant and defiant,

while you accompany me with a tranquil heart?

وكان الذلَّ أن ترضى وآبَى

وأهدِم في هواك وأنت تبني

It would be humiliation for you to consent while I refuse,

and for me to demolish in loving you while you build.

رواؤك بالجمال لغير عيني

ووعدك بالجميل لغير أذني

Your beautiful appearance is for eyes other than mine,

and your promise of kindness for ears other than mine.

وهبتُك للحريص عليك لمّا

بلوتُك في القساوة والتجنّي

I gave you to whoever covets you, when

I tested your harshness and unjust dealing.

وكنتَ الذئبَ مأكولا أخوه

على ما كان من حذَرٍ وأمنِ

You were the wolf whose brother was eaten,

despite whatever caution and security there had been.

أقلني عثرتي في حسن ظني

بأهلك أو برعيك لي أقلني

Forgive my stumble in thinking well

of your people, or your care for me—forgive me.

كفرت صحابتي وخفرت سلمي

فنحرَك والسنانَ وأنت قرني

You spurned my companionship and violated my peace:

then let the spearhead meet your throat—you are my adversary.

تَحُدُّ ليَ النيوبَ إن افترقنا

متى ما كنتُ مأكولا فكلني

You sharpen your fangs against me if we part;

whenever I become prey, eat me.

ومَنِّ بنِيكَ بالأرحام قطعا

فأمُّ بنيك أُمٌّ لم تلدني

Promise your sons the severing of kinship ties:

your sons' mother is a mother who did not bear me.

بعاد بيننا أبدا وفوتٌ

بعادَ الفضل من خَرْقٍ وأَفْنِ

Let there be distance and separation between us forever,

as merit is distant from folly and feeble judgment.

أذلَّهم الطِّلابُ وعزَّ وجهي

وضامهم الثَّراء ولم يَضِمني

Their craving humbled them; my face retained its pride.

Wealth oppressed them, but did not oppress me.

أحبُّوا المالَ فاعتبدوا ملوكا

وما كل العبيد عبيد قِنِّ

They loved money and were enslaved, though kings;

not all slaves are slaves by birth.

تنفَّخت الحظوظ لهم فظنّوا

وِرامَ البطنِ يُسمنُ وهو يُضني

Their fortunes swelled, and they supposed

a swollen belly fattens, though it wastes the body.

وما وأبى زخارفها ثناني

لها ذلٌّ يشوقُ ولا تثنِّي

By the father of its finery, I was not swayed

toward it by enticing meekness or a swaying gait.

ولا قدَرت على نفسي ولحظي

على ما نَمَّ من طيبٍ وحُسنِ

Nor did it conquer my soul or my gaze,

for all the fragrance and beauty it revealed.

ولو أني خُدعتُ بشارتيها

خُدِعتُ بمقلة الرشإ الأغنِّ

Had I been deceived by its twin adornments,

I would have been deceived by the soft-voiced gazelle's eye.

ولاستلبت على إضم فؤادي

حماماتٌ تنوح كما تغنِّي

And at Idam my heart would have been stolen

by doves mourning as though they sang,

وبيضٌ في خيامِ بني سليم

تَكُنُّ خدورُها بَيْضاتِ كِنِّ

and fair women in the tents of Banu Sulaym,

whose secluded chambers shelter well-guarded eggs.

حملن على القدود مخمَّراتٍ

هلالا طالعا في كلّ غصنِ

Veiled, they bore upon their figures

a crescent rising on every branch.

ولانسربتْ تَغلغلُ في عظامي

سبيئةُ راهبٍ ماءٌ كدُهنِ

And there would have flowed, seeping into my bones,

a monk's purchased wine, a liquid like oil:

منصَّرةُ القُرَى رأسٌ أبوها

يدين ضلالةً بأبٍ وإبنِ

from Christianized villages, with a chief for its father,

who professes, in error, a Father and a Son.

إذا نصَلت من الراووق بثت

نجوما والغداةُ غداةُ دَجْنِ

When it slips from the wine-strainer, it scatters

stars, though the morning is an overcast morning.

يساومني بها ثمنا فيُغلي

وأمنحُه بلا سَوْم فأُسني

He bargains with me over its price, making it dear;

I give without bargaining, and give generously.

ولم أَغبُن كمن يُعطى سروري

ويأخذُ طائعا همّي وحزني

I was not cheated like one who receives my joy

and willingly takes my care and sorrow.

وقبلي شرَّدتْ حِلم ابنِ حُجرٍ

لغير ضياعة ولغير رهن

Before me, it scattered Ibn Hujr's judgment,

not through neglect, nor as a pledge.

حباها بكرة زِقّاً رويّاً

وقال لخيله روحي فشُنِّي

He honored it at dawn with a brimming wineskin,

and told his horses, 'Go forth this evening and raid!'

فيوما بين غائرة ونقع

ويوما بين باطِيَةٍ ودَنِّ

One day amid a raiding steed and dust,

another amid a wine-bowl and a wine-vat.

ولكنَّ المطَاربَ لم تُرقني

كما أنّ النوائب لم تَرُعنْي

Yet pleasures did not beguile me,

just as calamities did not frighten me.

ولما كان بعضُ النوم عارا

ملكت على النوى أهداب جفني

And since some sleep was a disgrace,

I mastered my eyelid's lashes despite separation.

يلوم على العُزوف أبو بغيض

لك الويلاتُ سلني ثم لُمني

Abu Baghid blames me for my withdrawal:

woe to you—question me, then blame me.

يظنّ بجِلستي فشلا وبَهرا

وقد أنضيتُ أفراسي وبُدني

He thinks my sitting still means failure and exhaustion,

though I have worn out my horses and my body.

ودست الجمر لم أخَفِ احتراقا

وراء الرزق وهو يشِطُّ عنّي

I trod the embers without fearing burning,

pursuing sustenance as it drew far away from me.

ورُضتُ الآبيات العوصَ حتى

سهُلن لكلّ جعدِ السمع حزنِ

I tamed the recalcitrant, intricate verses until

they became easy for every harsh, ungenerous ear.

موسمة بعمرو أو ببكر

تصرِّح تارة بهمُ وتَكْني

Branded with Amr or with Bakr,

they sometimes name them plainly, sometimes allude.

تواصلهم وصالَ الغيثِ آلى

متى ما يُبدِ عارفةً يُثَنِّ

They visit them as rain visits, sworn

whenever it offers a kindness, to repeat it.

فلم تعلَق على الحرمان منهم

يدي بسوى الملالةِ والتجنِّي

Yet, for all their withholding, nothing clung

to my hand but weariness and unjust treatment.

أدال الله منّى للقوافي

بما هانت عليّ ولم تُهنِّي

May God give the rhymes redress against me,

for I held them cheap, though they never cheapened me.

أطرِّد سَرحَها في كلِّ يوم

شِلالا بين رابيةٍ ورَعنِ

Every day I drive their grazing herd,

in scattered droves between hillock and ridge,

على وادٍ ولمَّا يزكُ عُشْبٌ

إلى قُلُبٍ ولمّا يُسنِ مُسنِي

toward a valley where no grass has yet flourished,

toward wells where no giver has yet given generously.

دعت برغائها أحرارَ كسرى

فلم يُفصَح لمعجِمهم بلحنِ

Their camel-cries summoned Kisra's nobles,

but no melody spoke plainly to their foreign tongue.

أحبُّوها وما طلعوا بنوءٍ

يبلِّلها ولا سنحوا بيُمنِ

They loved them, but rose with no rain-star

to moisten them, nor appeared with good fortune.

ولا قسموا لها الإنصاف يوما

بكيلٍ في السماح ولا بوزنِ

Nor did they ever allot them fairness,

by measure in generosity, or by weight.

وجُرَّت في القياصر من مِعاها

إلى دُرْدٍ عَدِمنَ اللَّسْنَ حُجْنِ

They were dragged among the Caesars by their entrails,

to toothless, crooked creatures bereft of eloquence.

تَضاغَى بينَهم متعرياتٍ

وما نفعُ الصرائح بين هُجنِ

They whimpered among them, stripped bare:

what use are purebreds among mongrels?

وداخنَها على ميسانَ مَوْرٌ

فلم ينهضْ لقَرَّتها بسُخْنِ

At Maysan a swirling turmoil deceived them,

but met their cold with no warmth.

حداها بالمطامع فاشرأبَّتْ

وما نزلت مفاقرُها بمغني

It urged them onward with hopes, and they stretched their necks,

but their poverty alighted with no one who could enrich them.

وراقصها ببابِلَ ضوءُ نارٍ

لحيّ من بني أسَدٍ مُبِنِّ

At Babylon a fire's light danced with them,

belonging to a miserly clan of Banu Asad:

من الجَذَعات لم تُرفَعْ لضيفٍ

ولم تُلحمْ ولم تُقْتَرْ لسَمنِ

one of the youthful blazes, never lit for a guest,

never fed with meat, never smoking with fat.

وأطناب طوال خادعتها

فأمكنَ من صلائفها التظني

Long tent-ropes deceived them,

and suspicion gained hold upon their hard necks.

ولم يك ضبُّ عوفِ من قِراها

ولا من حرشها لولا التعنّي

Nor was Awf's lizard part of their guest-fare,

or their quarry, but for weary striving;

ولا القرويّ عُرِّبَ بالتسمّي

وأُمِّرَ بالتلقُّبِ والتكنِّي

nor the villager made Arab by adopting a name,

made emir by adopting a title and a kunya;

وعِلْج الجنبِ من أنباطِ سُورا

تمضَّر أو تنزَّر بالتمنِّي

nor the foreign boor from Sura's Nabataeans,

turned Mudari or Nizari through wishful thinking.

أرادتهم لتُحمَى أو لتُحبَى

على الحالين في مُنَنٍ ومَنِّ

They sought them for protection or gifts,

in either case, for strength and favors.

فما دفعوا العدوَّ بمدِّ صوتٍ

ولا نقعوا الأُوَامَ برشْح شَنِّ

But they repelled no enemy by raising their voices,

nor quenched burning thirst with an old waterskin's seepage.

فإن يكُ في جُعَيْلِ بني عفيفٍ

وجِرْوِ الغاضريَّة خابَ ظني

If, concerning the Juayl of Banu Afif

and al-Ghadiriyya's puppy, my hopes were disappointed,

فَلستُ بأوّلِ الرُّوّاد جاشتْ

به خضراءُ نبتُ سفاً وَدَمْنِ

I am not the first scout to be swept away

by lush greenery—a growth of awns and dung.

وغرَّتها مُخَيِّلةٌ لقاحا

فلمْ تُنْتَجْ ولم تكُ أمَّ مُزنِ

A promising cloud deceived them, seeming pregnant,

yet bore no young and mothered no rainclouds.

وناشدني الحقوقَ مزرّعيٌّ

ليأخذَ ذمّتي لهمُ وأَمْني

A Muzarri'i appealed to me by our obligations,

to secure my pledge and protection for them.

وقال هبِ الجزيرةَ لي وإلا

فهذا السيف فاسمح لي وهبني

He said, 'Give al-Jazira to me; otherwise,

here is the sword—be generous to me, and give.'

أأنت تردُّ عنهم بسطَ كفِّي

وصفقُك جرَّ يومَ البيع غبني

Are you the one who keeps my outstretched hand from them,

when your handclasp on the day of sale brought me loss?

ولو لم يكفِهم سيفي ورمحي

رأوا بالغيب ما ضربي وطعني

Had my sword and spear not sufficed them,

they would have seen, unseen, what my blows and thrusts could do.

فآه عليهمُ يا كفُّ لولا

فتىً أعطيتُه بالودّ رهني

Ah, then, for them, O hand, were it not for

a youth to whom I pledged myself in friendship.

تخوّن من خزيمةَ عرضتيها

لنبلي فاحتمت بالأزد مني

He left its two Khuzayma flanks exposed

to my arrows; it sought the Azd's protection from me.

وجُنَّ الدهرُ في وَغلِ ضليع

به للخُنزُوانةِ طيفُ جِنِّ

Time went mad over a burly interloper,

possessed in his arrogance by a phantom jinn.

أتاه الحظ مختاراً وولَّى

نُصولَ السهمِ عن ظهرِ المِجَنِّ

Fortune came to him by choice, and turned

the arrow's points away from the shield's back.

توسَّط من قُرى الزيتونِ بيتا

أقيم على محاريثٍ وفدنِ

He took his place in a house among the olive villages,

founded upon ploughs and teams of oxen.

دفيءُ الليل لم يسهر لرأيٍ

ولم يتعبْ بليتيَ أو لوَ انّي

Warm at night, he never stayed awake pondering,

nor wearied himself with 'would that I' or 'if only I.'

فراودها وزاحم يبتغيها

بمنفوخَيْن عُثنونٍ وبطنِ

He courted the verses and jostled to obtain them,

with two swollen things: a beard and a belly.

وقال لحِقتُ وارتفعتْ وِهادي

فمالك ترفع الأشعارَ عنّي

He said, 'I have caught up; my lowlands have risen.

Why, then, do you keep your poems beyond me?

وهل أنا دون قومٍ سُرْبِلوها

فجرُّوا الفخرَ من ذيلٍ ورُدنِ

Am I beneath people who were clothed in them,

and trailed pride from hem and sleeve?'

ورُضْتُ لجاجَه فإذا حَرونٌ

متى أمنعْه طوعا يقتسرْني

I tried to tame his obstinacy, but found a balking horse:

whenever I freely refuse him, he coerces me.

ففاز بعذرها وأوتْ أيامَى

إلى كنَفَين من بخلٍ وجُبنِ

He won their maidenhead; they sought refuge, widowed,

beneath two wings of stinginess and cowardice.

وما علِمَ ابنُ عصِر الزيتِ أني

إذا أثنيْت أعلمُ كيف أُثني

The son of oil-pressing did not know that

when I praise, I know how to praise;

وأني يومَ أمدحُه احتسابا

وإن أسميتُه فسواه أَعني

and that, when I praise him in hope of reward,

though I name him, I mean someone else.

سمحتُ بها وما حَلِيتْ بسمح

فقُدْها الآنَ من كرمٍ وقُدْني

I gave the verses freely, though no generous man adorned them:

now lead them with generosity, and lead me.

ولم أك قبلَه لأذمَّ جودي

على أمرٍ وأحمدَ فيه ضنّي

Before him, I had never blamed my generosity

in a matter, and praised my stinginess in it.

فحتام المقام بعقرِ دارٍ

بِساطٍ فسحتي فيها كسجني

How long must I remain in the midst of a dwelling

so open, yet my room in it is like my prison?

على تَرْباء أرض لم تَلِقْها

مدارجُها الخِباتُ ولم تَلِقْني

On a dusty land ill-suited to them,

its lowland paths ill-suited to me as well.

ولو ذهبتْ وراءَ الشمس غربا

شفتْ أكبادَها من كلِّ ضِغْنِ

Had they gone west beyond the sun,

they would have healed their livers of every grudge,

وشعشَع في ترائبها وميضٌ

على تلك الربا مُطْرٍ ومُثْنِي

and a gleam would have flashed upon their breastbones,

from an extoller and a praiser on those hills.

ولو نُشِرَ الكرامُ بنو عليّ

لها وفَدَتْ على المُعطي الْمُهَنّي

Had the noble Banu Ali been raised from the dead

for them, and they visited the giver of welcome gifts,

إذنْ لَحَمَى حِماها كلُّ شَخْتٍ

كصدر السمهريِّ أمقَّ لَدْنِ

each slender man would have guarded their pasture,

like the forepart of a Samhari spear, tall and supple:

قليلِ النوم في رَعيِ المعالي

إذا خاط التواكلُ كلَّ جفنِ

sparing of sleep in tending lofty deeds,

when reliance on others stitches every eyelid shut.

ومدَّ لها الحسينُ فذبَّ عنها

براثنَ أصمعِ الكفَّين شَثْنِ

Al-Husayn would have reached toward them and warded off

the claws of a beast with narrow, coarse paws.

ولانهمرت سحابة راحتيه

بهَطْلٍ من سحائبها وهَتنِ

The cloud of his palms would have poured down

with torrents from its clouds and streaming rain.

ومرَّ على عوائده كريم

قليلاً ما دعوتُ فلم يُجبني

A generous man kept to his accustomed ways:

rarely did I call without his answering me.

رأى فضلي فقدَّمَنِي وأُولَى

غرائسِ ما تَروْن اليومَ يجَني

He saw my merit and advanced me; the earliest

plantings of what you see today he harvests.

ولكِنَّ الحِمامَ أغاض بحري

عشيَّة يومِه وهَوَى برُكني

But death dried up my sea

on the evening of his day, and toppled my pillar.

وخلَّفني دريئَةَ صرفِ دهرٍ

متى ما يَرْمِ عن عُرُض يُصبني

It left me a target for Time's vicissitudes:

whenever it shoots from any quarter, it hits me.

فلا يرمِ الجزيرةَ مستطيرٌ

يقعقِعُ في كثيفٍ مُرْجحِنِّ

Let no spreading cloud cast its rain upon al-Jazira,

thundering within dense, sagging banks,

شفيقُ الحفر مأمون التذَرِّي

على فقر الثرى يُغْنِي ويُقني

gentle in its furrowing, harmless in its scattering,

enriching the soil's poverty and granting lasting wealth.

يروح ويغتدي سُقيا قَلِيبٍ

طوَى ذاك التسرُّعَ والتأنّي

Let it come and go, watering a grave-well

that enfolded that haste and that deliberation:

فتى لولاه لم أجزع لثاوٍ

ولم أقرعْ على ما فات سنّي

a youth without whom I would not grieve for one laid to rest,

nor gnash my teeth over what was lost.