عاتبت دهري في الجناية لو وعى — Mihyar Al Daylami

عاتبتُ دهري في الجناية لو وعَى

ونشدتُه الحُرَمَ الوكيدةَ لو رعَى

I reproached my fate for its wrongdoing, if only it understood,

And adjured it by binding sacred obligations, if only it honored them.

وطلبتُ منه بسلمهِ وبحربهِ

نَصْفاً فأعيا حاسراً ومقنَّعا

And I sought from it, in its peace and in its war,

Fairness—but it baffled the bareheaded and the helmeted.

في كلّ يومٍ عثرةٌ من صَرفه

لا تستقالُ بأن يقال لها لَعَا

Each day brings a stumble through its vicissitudes,

Not remedied by saying to it, 'Rise again!'

جنِّبْ هواك ملوِّناً ساعاتِه

بالعذرِ لا يعطيك حتى يمنعا

Keep your affection from one who colors his hours

With excuses: he gives you nothing until he has withheld.

لولا التحاملُ بالمصائب لم يكن

بالمنفساتِ من الذخائر مولَعا

Were it not for its oppressive assault through calamities, it would not be

Infatuated with the most precious treasures.

نزلت مثقِّلة كفافك إنني

من قبل حملك موشِك أن أظلَعا

You descended, weighing me down; enough! I

Was on the verge of limping even before bearing you.

من ساءه صممُ المسامع إنني

يوم العَروبةِ ساءني أن أسمعا

To anyone whom deaf ears distress: I

On ʿArūba—Friday—was distressed to hear.

ونعى أبا بكرٍ إليَّ صباحُهَا

لسفاههِ لو كان يعلم مَن نعى

And its morning announced Abu Bakr's death to me,

In its folly—if only it knew whose death it announced!

يومٌ على الإسلام قبلَك فرحةٌ

ويكون بعدك حسرةً وتفجُّعا

A day of joy for Islam before your passing

Becomes, after you, sorrow and lamentation.

ومن الدليل على مكانك في العلا

أن كان جمعُ صلاته لك مَجمعا

And one proof of your place in the heights

Was that its prayer's congregation became a gathering for you.

فكأنما داعي الأَذان لفرضِهِ

لك ساقهم وإليك تثويباً دعَا

As though the muezzin, summoning to its prescribed prayer,

Had led them for you, and renewed his call to you.

وشككت إذ حملوك غيرَ مدافعٍ

بيدٍ فخطُّوا في الثرى لك مضجَعا

And I wondered, when they carried you, offering no defense

With a hand, and traced a resting place for you in the dust:

أعَدَوا على رجُلٍ فواروا شخصَه

أم طوَّحوا بيلملمٍ فتضعضعا

Had they assailed a man and buried his body,

Or cast down Yalamlam, so it crumbled?

يا من عهدتُ العزَّ فوق جبينِهِ

من راب عزك فاقتضى أن يرجعا

O you on whose brow I had known glory,

Who disturbed your glory and demanded that it retreat?

من زمّ مَخطمَك الأبيَّ فقادَه

مع طول ما جذبَ الحبالَ فقطَّعا

Who bridled your defiant muzzle and led it,

Though it had long tugged at the ropes and snapped them,

وحوى لرقيته لجاجك فارعوى

ودعا نفارَك فاستجاب وأتبعا

And charmed your obstinacy with his spell, so it relented,

And called your skittishness, which answered and followed?

وأرى معاشرَ كنت ضيقَ حلوقِهم

يتسابقون تفسُّحاً وتوسعا

And I see groups whose throats you once constricted

Racing for room and space to spread.

ما كنتَ مغلوباً فكيف أبحتهم

ذاك الحمى وأضعتَ ذاك الموضعا

You were never defeated; how did you give them

That protected domain, and abandon that station?

ولَجُوا عرينَك آمنين وربما

مرّوا به صعبَ الولوج ممنَّعا

They entered your lair secure, though often

They passed it when it was hard to enter and well defended.

جَمَعوا فما سدُّوا مكانَك ثُلمةً

وسَعَوا فما كانوا لخَرقك مَرقَعا

They gathered, but filled no breach in your place,

And strove, but were no patch for the tear left by your loss.

ما أغمد النعمانُ سيفَ لسانه

حتى ثويتَ فكان يومُكما معا

Al-Nu'man did not sheathe the sword of his tongue

Until you lay at rest; then your day and his were one.

ومحدِّثٍ بالخُلد بعدك جَهلُه

وجدَ الشماتةَ حلوةً فتجرَّعا

And many a man whose ignorance promises him immortality after you

Found gloating sweet, and gulped it down.

لم تشفه منك الحياةُ بجهدهِ

فشفاهُ موتُك عاجزاً فتودَّعا

Life did not cure him of you, for all his striving;

Your death cured him, powerless, and he took his ease.

لا يشمتنّ وإن أقام مؤخَّراً

لابدّ أن يقفوك ذاك المَصرعا

Let him not gloat, though he has been left until later:

He must follow you to that place of death.

كم فُتَّه باعاً ولو ملك المنى

لكفاه فخراً أن يفوتَك إصبعا

By how many armspans you surpassed him! Had he all his wishes,

It would be glory enough for him to surpass you by a finger's breadth.

مالي وكنُت بربع دارك آنساً

أمسيتُ منه موحَشاً متفزِّعا

What has become of me? Once at ease in your dwelling,

Now I am estranged from it and filled with fear.

وأراه جدباً بعد ما قد زرتُه

خِصباً بودّك لي ويُسرِك مرتَعا

And I see it barren, after once visiting it

As a fertile pasture, rich in your love for me and your bounty.

أيامَ أملكُ منك غير منازَع

في كلّ ما أروَى الوفاءُ وأشبَعا

In the days when I possessed from you, unchallenged—

In all with which loyalty quenched thirst and satisfied hunger—

سمعاً بطيئاً فيّ عمن لامه

وفماً إلى ما سرَّني متسرِّعا

An ear slow to heed reproaches made on my account,

And a mouth swift toward whatever made me glad.

فلأبكينّك من فؤادٍ ناصح

في الحزن إن جفنٌ بكى متصنِّعا

I shall surely weep for you from a sincere heart

In grief, even if an eyelid weeps in pretense.

ولأحفظنّك باللسان ولن ترى

حقاً على الحرّ الفصيح مضيَّعا

And I shall surely preserve you with my tongue; you will never see

A claim upon a noble, eloquent man go unfulfilled.

وصلتْ ثراك على البلى وكَّافةٌ

تُرضي بروضتها المكانَ البلقعا

May a copiously dripping cloud visit your dust despite decay,

Pleasing the barren ground with its meadow.

ملىء الثُّدِيِّ على الثرى حنَّانةٌ

تسقِي إذا فطمَ الحيا ما أرضعا

Full-breasted, tenderly rumbling over the dust,

It gives drink when the rain weans what it once suckled.

أخذتْ من الريح الشَّمالِ لها الصبا

عهدَ الأمان وذمةً لن تَقشعا

The east wind has won for it from the north wind

A pledge of safety and an assurance that it will not disperse.

إن خان منك الدهرُ عهدي إنما

في نقضه وعلى محاسنه سعى

If Time has betrayed my bond with you, it has only

Worked to undo itself and strike against its own graces.

رفقاً بقلبي يا زمانُ فإنه

صُلبُ العصا ما أنَّ إلا موجَعا

Gently with my heart, O Time, for it

Is stout as a staff; it has only groaned when hurt.

راميتني فاترك لكفّي ساعداً

يُصمي المريَّة أو لكفِّي منزَعا

You have traded shots with me: leave my hand a forearm

To strike the quarry dead—or leave my hand room to draw.

لو كان مَن أخَذَ الردى منّي له

عوضٌ أطال على الردى أن أجزعا

If the one whom death took from me had

A replacement, would my grief over death last so long?

أو كنتُ أبكيه وأكحَلُ ناظراً

بنظيره ما بلَّ مني مدمَعا

Or were I mourning him while lining my eye

With his equal, no tear duct of mine would be wet.