ألا فتى يسأل قلبي ماله — Mihyar Al Daylami

ألا فتىً يسألُ قلبي مالَه

ينزو إذا برق الحمى بدا لَه

Is there no youth to ask my heart what ails it?

It leaps whenever lightning over the sanctuary appears to it.

أصبوةٌ إلى رخيٍّ بالُهُ

عن وجده تسقي البروقُ بالَه

Is it yearning for one whose mind is carefree,

untroubled by its passion, while lightning waters its thoughts?

وهبه شامَ بارقاً تُبلّه

أرواحُه فكيف شامَ خالَه

Grant that it watched a lightning flash moistened

by its breezes—how, then, did it watch its cloud?

خاطفه كما اخترطت صارماً

جاذب جهدُ قينهِ صِقالَه

It snatched at it as though you had drawn a sharp sword,

whose burnishing taxed all its smith's strength.

فهبَّ يرجو خبراً من الغضا

يُسنده عنه فما روى لَه

Then it sprang up, hoping for news from al-Ghada,

to trace back to him, but nothing was related to it.

أراد نجداً معه ببابلٍ

إرادةً هاجت له بَلبالَه

It wanted Najd beside it in Babylon,

a desire that stirred its anguish.

وانتسم الريح الصبا ومن له

بنفحةٍ من الصَّبا طُوالَه

It breathed in the east wind—but who could give it

a breath of that east wind for all its days?

وبالنخيل نائمٌ عن أرَقي

ما استعرض الليلَ وما استطالَه

And among the palms, one sleeps, heedless of my sleeplessness,

never surveying the night or finding it long.

أحببتُ فيه كلَّ ما أحببته

حتى تعشَّقت له عُذّالَه

I loved in him everything I loved,

until, for his sake, I loved even his reproachers.

أصغَى إلى الواشي فحلَّ عهدَه

والغدرُ ما غيَّر عندي حالَه

He listened to the slanderer and undid his pledge;

yet betrayal did not change his standing with me.

وملّني على النوى ولم أكن

أحذرُ معْ بعاده ملالَه

He tired of me amid separation, though I had not

feared his weariness during his absence.

مرَّ وبقَّاني أغادي ربعَه

بجسدٍ يحسَبه تِمثالَه

He passed on, leaving me to visit his dwelling at dawn,

with a body he would take for its likeness.

ولا أكون كلِفاً بحبّه

ما لم يناحل بدَني أطلالَه

Nor am I truly devoted to his love

unless my body rivals his ruins in wasting.

ويومَ ذي البان وما أسأرتُ من

ذي البان إلا أن أقول مالَه

And on the day of Dhu al-Ban, I left nothing of

Dhu al-Ban save asking, 'What ails it?'

وأفرختْ عن فِتنٍ جفونُه

سبَتْ مهاةَ الرمل أو غزالَه

And his eyelids hatched enchantments

that captivated the sand's oryx or its gazelle.

لا والذي لو عرف النَّصف حنَا

على أسير الشوق أو أوى لَه

No, by him who, had he known fairness, would bend

toward longing's captive or give him refuge:

لولا خشوعي لهواه لم يدُسْ

ظهرَ الثرى من اجتدى نوالَه

but for my submission to his desire, none who sought

his bounty would tread the earth's face.

مشى فيا سبحان من عدّله

غصناً ويا سبحان من أمالَه

He walked—glory be to Him who fashioned him

a branch, and glory be to Him who made it sway!

إلا بنو عبد الرحيم فالندى

يعدّهُمْ قبيله وآلَه

Except the sons of Abd al-Rahim: generosity

counts them as its tribe and family.

قومٌ بأسمائهم استغنى الذي

أقسمَ لا يسأل خلقاً مالَه

A people by whose names even one grows rich

who swore never to ask any creature for his wealth.

مبارَكو الأوجه تلقى بهمُ

غرّة شهر الخِصب أو هلالَه

Blessed of countenance: in them you encounter

the first radiance of plenty's month, or its crescent.

إن أخلف الربيعُ واستخلفهم

على العباد فعلوا فعالَه

If spring fails and appoints them in its stead

over humankind, they perform its work.

أو أثبتت أخلاقَ قوم نعمةٌ

كانوا سيوفَ الدهر ورجالَه

Or if good fortune proves a people's character,

they are Time's swords and its men.

واستُخرجوا من طينة كانت بهم

عنصرَ بيت الفخر أو صَلصالَه

They were drawn from a clay that, through them, became

the substance of the house of glory, or its potter's clay.

بنى عليها يَزْدَجرْدُ لهمُ

ما كان كِسرَى قبلَه بنى لَه

Upon it Yazdegerd built for them

what Kisra before him had built for him.

صفَّتهم الأيام حتى استخلصت

منهم سلافَ المجد وزلالَه

The days refined them until they distilled

from them glory's purest wine and limpid water.

يرى أبٌ من ابنه أنجب ما

سرَّ ابنَ غيل أن يرى أشبالَه

A father sees in his son the noblest of what

gladdens the thicket's son when he sees his cubs.

لو ذارعَ الأفقَ غلامٌ منهمُ

ببيته لنالَه وطالَه

Were a youth among them to measure the horizon

with his house, he would reach it and rise above it.

أو طالع السؤددَ من ثنيّةٍ

لعمِّه أبصر منها خالَه

Or survey lordship from a mountain pass

of his paternal uncle's, he would see his maternal uncle there.

وانتفض الملكُ فسلَّ منهمُ

مهنداً صيَّره كمالَه

Kingship roused itself and drew from them

an Indian-forged sword, making him its perfection.

ألقى إليه حبلَه فقاده

على السواء فهدى ضُلّالَه

It cast its rope to him, and he led it

along the level way, guiding its strays.

أبلجُ لا تُبصرُ من هيبتهِ

جمالَه حتى ترى جلالَه

Radiant: from awe of him, you do not glimpse

his beauty until you behold his majesty.

تنهال أطواد الخطوب حوله

فلا ترى منهن خطباً هاله

Mountains of calamities collapse around him,

yet among them you see none that frightens him.

شدَّ على الدولة ضبطاً فهي لا

تُجذَبُ مذ ناط بها حبالَه

He bound the state in firm control; it cannot

be pulled away since he fastened his ropes to it.

قام لها وقام غيرانَ بها

وزارةً ما صلَحت إلا لَه

He undertook it and jealously stood guard over it—

a vizierate fit for him alone.

خائفةً تطلب من يجيرها

في الناس حتى عُلِّقت أذيالَه

Fearful, it sought someone to protect it

among people, until it was fastened to his skirts.

ولم تزل من قبل أن يقَبَلها

تُكثرُ في العطف بها سؤالَه

Before he accepted it, it kept

asking him again and again to turn kindly toward it.

فظفِرتْ بمن سلَتْ كلّ أبي

غدرٍ بها مذ رُزقت وصالَه

Then it won one through whom it forgot every perpetrator

of treachery against it, once it was granted union with him,

من بعد ما دارت زماناً صدَّه

بوجهه واحتملت دلالَه

after long humoring his rejection,

his face averted, and enduring his coy disdain.

أقرَّها تدبيره في منصبٍ

لو زاله المقدارُ ما أزاله

His governance settled it in a station

from which even Fate, were it to try, could not dislodge it.

بالصارمَيْن سيفِهِ ورأيِهِ

نال من اشتراطها ما نالَه

With his two cutting blades—his sword and his judgment—

he gained from its stipulations what he gained.

وكرمٍ لو كاثر السُّحبَ به

لوازن القُطارَ أو لكالَه

And with a generosity—were he to rival the clouds through it,

he would match the downpour, or measure it out.

إذا سقى البحرُ المحيطُ ملحَه

سقى السؤالَ معذِباً سَلسالَه

When the encircling ocean gives its salt water to drink,

he gives petitioners his water, sweet and freely flowing.

تدفُّقٌ يريك ما أناله

تحت يديه وادياً أساله

An outpouring that shows you what he has bestowed

as a valley beneath his hands that he has set flowing.

لا يألم الفقرَ الذي محَّضه

يوماً إذا عمّ الغنى سُؤَّالَه

He feels no pain from poverty that has stripped him bare

on any day when wealth encompasses his petitioners.

ولا يبالي أملاً فات إذا

بُلِّغ كلُّ طالبٍ آمالَه

Nor does he care for a hope that escaped him, if

every seeker has been granted his desires.

حبَّبه إلى النفوس خُلُقٌ

لو ذاقه عدوُّه حلا لَه

A character has endeared him to souls

that would taste sweet even to his enemy.

وبشرُ وجه لو سكبتَ ماءَه

في كأسه حسبته جِريالَه

And a cheerful face whose freshness, if you poured it

into his cup, you would think its crimson wine.

والحلم حتى لو وزنتَ حلمَهُ

إلى أبانَ لم يزنْ مثقالَه

And forbearance: were you to weigh his forbearance

against Aban, the mountain would not balance its weight.

مشت على محجَّةٍ سويّةٍ

أفعالُه تابعةً أَقوالَه

Along a straight, even road walked

his deeds, following his words.

وقوَّد الناسَ بحبلِ عادلٍ

لم ينتكث مذ ولِيَ انفتالَه

He led the people by a just rope

whose twisting has not unraveled since he took charge of it.

فمحسنٌ يرجو النجاةَ عنده

إلى مسيءٍ يتّقي نَكالَه

Thus the doer of good hopes for salvation with him,

beside the wrongdoer who fears his punishment.

والناس بين آمنٍ وخائف

كلٌّ يرى حاضرةً أعمالَه

And people are divided between the secure and the fearful,

each seeing his deeds set before him.

مَن حاملٌ ألوكة من ظالع

مخفّفٍ يبُثُّها أثقالَه

Who will carry a message from a limping man,

light of possessions, who confides his burdens to it?

قريبةُ المطرَح لاجِيادَه

في طُرقها يُنضِي ولا جِمالَه

Its destination is near: neither his steeds

does he wear out on its paths, nor his camels.

يستأذن السؤددَ في إدآبها

والمجدَ حتى يَلِيَا إيصالَه

He asks leave of nobility to press it onward,

and of glory, until both undertake its delivery.

قل للوزير إن أصاخ سمعَه

إلى الهوى المظلومِ أو وعَى لَه

Say to the vizier, if he lends his ear

to wronged love, or heeds it:

يا لَمحبٍّ مغضَبٍ لو أنه

في حبكم مستعذِبٌ خَبالَه

Ah, for an angered lover! If only he

found his madness sweet in loving you!

لوجدَّ في أن يستقيل ساعةً

من الغرام بك ما استقالَه

Were he to strive to gain an hour's release

from his passion for you, he could gain none.

تَغيَّرُ الأحوال بالناس ولا

يغيِّر الوجدُ بكم أحوالَه

Circumstances change for people, but

longing for you does not change his condition.

نُسِي فما يخطِرُ يوماً ذكرُهُ

ببالكم وقد شغَلتم بالَه

He is forgotten; not a day does his remembrance cross

your mind, though you have occupied his.

ومُلَّ غيرَ واصلٍ وإنما ال

مملولُ من كاثركم وصالَه

He is tired of without visiting, though the

wearisome one is he who overwhelms you with his visits.

تركتموه والزمانَ وحدَهُ

ملاقياً بغدره أهوالَه

You have left him alone with Time,

meeting its terrors amid its treachery,

مُخاوضاً بمُنَّةٍ مضعوفةٍ

بحارَه مُزاحماً جبالَه

with weakened strength wading through

its seas and contending with its mountains,

منتَبذاً نبذَ الحصاة إن جفا

أو زار لم يُحفَلْ به إحفالَه

cast aside like a pebble; whether he stays away

or visits, he is not shown the regard he shows.

أين زماني الرطبُ فيكم ترِبتْ

يدُ زمان قلَّصتْ ظِلالَه

Where are my lush days with you? Dust be upon

the hand of a time that shrank their shade!

وعهديَ التالدُ فيكم ما الذي

بدّلَه عندكُمُ أو غالَه

And my long-established bond with you—what

has changed it in your eyes or destroyed it?

ها أنا أبكيه فهل من رِدَّةٍ

لفائتٍ على فتىً بكى لَه

Here I am weeping for it: can there be a return

of what has passed to a youth who wept for it?

وذلك البشر الذي ألفتُهُ

منك حفِيًّا بِيَ ما بدا لَه

And that gladness I grew used to

from you, tender toward me—what has come over it?

ومَلبسٌ هو الجمالُ لم تزل

تكسوه لِمْ سلبتني سِربالَه

And a garment—beauty itself—which you never ceased

to bestow: why have you stripped me of its robe?

اللهَ يا أهل الندَى في رجلٍ

إن فات عزَّ أن تروْا أمثالَه

For God's sake, people of generosity, care for a man

whose like, if he is lost, you will rarely see.

لا تلدُ الأرضُ الولودُ أبداً

لنصرِ أحسابكُمُ أخا لَه

The fertile earth will never bear

a brother to him in defending your noble lineages.

أنتم ربيعي فإذا أعطشتُمُ

أرضيَ من يَبُلُّ لي بِلالَه

You are my spring; if you make thirsty

my soil, who will restore its moisture for me?

كيف يكون مثلاً في صدّكم

مسيِّرٌ في مدحكم أمثالَه

How can he become a proverb for your rejection,

one who sends his proverbs abroad in your praise?

قد طبّق الغبراءَ ما أرسلَهُ

فيكم وليس تاركاً إرسالَه

What he has sent out has covered the dusty earth

in your praise, and he will not cease sending it.

من كلّ متروكٍ عليه شوطه

قد سلَّم السبقُ له خِصالَه

Each one is left unchallenged on its course,

victory itself having yielded its prizes to it.

لا تطمع النكباءُ أن تُدْرِكَهُ

ولا يدُ الجوزاء أن تنالَه

The crosswind cannot hope to overtake it,

nor the hand of Orion to reach it.

يجتمع الناسُ على توحيدهِ

ويجلس الإفصاحُ إجلالا لَه

People unite in proclaiming its oneness,

and eloquence sits down in reverence for it.

فكلّ مسموعٍ سواه وثَنٌ

يَضِلُّ من يعبُدُه ضَلالَه

Every other utterance heard is an idol;

whoever worships it goes astray with its delusion.

أُنشِدُه مستعذباً لمثله

في زمني كأَنّ غيري قالَه

I recite it, finding such verse sweet

in my own age, as though another had composed it.

يزوركم في كلّ يومِ غِبطةٍ

يختالُ في دوركم اختيالَه

It visits you on every day of joy,

strutting proudly through your homes in its own proud gait.

تَعَرَّفونَ فضلَ إقبالكُمُ

إذا رأيتم نحوكم إقبالَه

You recognize the excellence of your good fortune

when you see it turning toward you.

وقد عرفتم صدقَهُ مبشِّراً

ويُمنَهُ إذا زجرتم فالَه

You have recognized its truth as a bearer of good tidings,

and its auspiciousness when you divine its omen.

فكاثروا أبياتَهُ بعددٍ

من عمركم وسايروا محالَه

So outnumber its verses with the years

of your lives, and keep pace with its hyperbole.

واستخدموا الأقدارَ في أمركُم

تسمعُه وتُسرعُ امتثالَه

And put the Fates to work at your command,

to hear it and hasten to obey it.

لكم من المُلك الذي أطابَه

قاسِمُه بالعزّ وأطالَه

Yours is a share of kingship, made pleasant

by its apportioner with might and made enduring,

مكتسبٌ بسعيكم إلى العلا

حتى يكون حلوُهُ حَلالَه

earned by your striving toward the heights,

so that its sweetness is also your lawful due.

وغدرة الأيامِ لعدوِّكم

أولَى لمن عاداكُمُ أولى لَه

And let the treachery of days be for your enemy:

woe to whoever opposes you—woe to him!