شفى الله نفسا لا تذل لمطلب — Mihyar Al Daylami

شفى اللّه نفسا لا تَذِلُّ لمَطْلَبِ

وصبرا متى يسمعْ به الدهرُ يَعجبِ

May God heal a soul that will not abase itself for any pursuit,

and a patience at which Time marvels whenever it hears of it;

وصدراً إذا ضاقت صدورٌ رحيبةٌ

لخطبٍ تلقَّاه بأهلٍ ومرحبِ

and a breast that, when spacious breasts grow tight

at calamity, greets it with “Welcome, welcome!”

بعيدا من الأفكار ما كُنَّ حطَّةً

فإن تك في كسب المكارِم تَقرُب

far from thoughts so long as they bring abasement,

but if they concern acquiring noble virtues, they draw near.

تمرَّنْ بأخلاقي فتى الحيّ إن تكن

رفيقا فإمّا عاذري أو مؤنبي

Accustom yourself to my character, youth of the clan; if you are

a companion, then be one who excuses me or rebukes me.

تبغَّضْ إذا كنتَ الفقيرَ وإن تكن

غنيّاً فطامِنْ للغنَي وتحبَّب

Make yourself disliked if you are poor; and if you are

rich, be modest in wealth and make yourself loved.

إذا لم تَجِدْ ما يُعظمونك رغبةً

وأردت النَّصْف منهم فأرهبِ

If you find nothing that makes them honor you out of desire,

and seek fairness from them, then inspire fear.

فإنك ما لم تُرْجَ أو تُخْشَ فيهمُ

وتقعدْ مع الوُسطَى تدُسْكَ فَتْعطَبِ

For if you inspire neither hope nor fear among them,

and sit in the middle rank, it will trample you, and you will perish.

أفق يا زماني ربما أنا صائر

إلى سهلِ ما أرجو بفرطِ تصعُّبي

Awake, O my Time; perhaps I am bound

for the easy attainment of my hopes through my fierce defiance.

أغرَّك في ثوب العفافِ تزمُّلي

وأخذِي مكانَ الآمل المترقّبِ

Has my cloaking myself in the robe of self-restraint deceived you,

and my taking the place of one who hopes and waits?

إذا أنا طالت وقفتي فتوقَّني

فإنّ لها لا بدّ وثبةَ مُنجِبِ

If I have stood waiting long, beware of me,

for it must be followed by the leap of one who succeeds.

ويا صاحي والذلّ للرزق موردٌ

أضَنُّ بنفسي عنه وهي تجودُ بي

And, my companion—though abasement is a watering place for livelihood—

I withhold my soul from it, though my soul offers me freely.

خذ النفسَ عني والمطامعَ إنها

قد أستوطأتْ من ظهرها غيرَ مركبي

Take the soul and its cravings away from me; it

has found a comfortable seat on its back other than mine.

حرامٌ وإن أمحضتَ مطعم

عليّ إذا أدَّاه أخبثُ مكسبِ

Food, however pure you make it, is forbidden

to me if the foulest means of earning provides it.

أأنت على هجر اللئام معنِّفي

نعم أنا ثَمَّ فارض عنّي أوِ أغضبِ

Do you rebuke me for forsaking the base?

Yes, there I stand; be pleased with me or be angry.

أألقَى البخيلَ أجتديه بمدحةٍ

خصيمان فيها شاهدي ومغيَّبي

Should I meet the miser, seeking his bounty with a praise-poem

in which my outward and hidden selves are adversaries?

وأكذِبُ عنه في عبارةِ صادقٍ

كثيرٌ إذاً في حيث أصدقُ مُكذِبي

And lie about him in the words of a truthful man?

Then many would call me a liar even where I speak truth.

تعودّته خُلْقاً ثنائي لمحسنِ

أقول بما فيه وذمّي لمذنبِ

I have made it my habit to praise one who does good,

speaking of what is in him, and to blame one who does wrong.

فما سرّني في الحقّ أنّي مع العدا

ولا عابَ أنّي في المحال على أبي

So standing with enemies for the truth has not delighted me,

nor has opposing my father over falsehood disgraced me.

وحاجةِ نفسٍ دبّر الحزمُ صدرّها

فأُبتُ بها محمودةً في المُعَقَّبِ

And a need of my soul whose outset prudence planned:

so I returned with it, praiseworthy in its outcome.

أريدُ بها الكافي بقلبٍ معذَّبٍ

مُرادَ أبن حُجْر قبلها أمَّ جُنْدَب

Through it I seek al-Kafi with a tormented heart,

as Ibn Hujr, before this, sought Umm Jundab.

وليلِ تِمامٍ قد قليتُ نجومَه

إليه يُرِدنَ الشرقَ يَذهَبنَ مَذهبي

And a night at its fullest length, whose stars I loathed:

toward him they seek the East, traveling my way.

وما لأنفرادي ما لها من تَجمُّع

ولكن بقلبي ما بها من تلهُّبِ

My solitude has none of their gathered company,

but my heart has the same blazing as they do.

وطودٍ تخال الراسياتِ وِهادَه

متى يَبْغِ ظنُّ العينِ أُخراهُ يُكْذَبِ

And a mountain—you would take the firm-set mountains for its valleys—

whenever the eye's guess seeks its utmost height, it is belied.

تراه ولم تظفر محلِّقةً به ال

عُقابُ بعينيْ عاجزٍ في تهيُّبِ

You see it—though it has eluded the soaring

eagle—with the eyes of one helpless and awestruck.

سَلكتُ فأدَّاني بقلبٍ ملفَّحٍ

عظائمً ما أَلقَى وجسمٍ مجرَّبِ

I traversed it; what brought me near, with a heart scorched

by the great ordeals I face, and a tried body,

إرادةُ حظٍّ أَتعَبَتْني ومن تكن

له حاجةٌ في ذمّةِ الشمسِ يَتْعَبِ

was a desire for fortune that wearied me. Whoever has

a need in the Sun's keeping must grow weary.

فِدَى الأوحد الكافي جبانٌ لسانُهُ

شجاعٌ بحيث القولُ غير مصوَّبِ

May a coward be ransom for the peerless al-Kafi, his tongue

brave wherever speech is not well aimed.

بخيلٌ لو أنَّ البحرَ بين بنانه

وفرّقَها عن قَطرِهِ لم تَسَرّبِ

A miser: were the sea between his fingers,

and he parted them to release its drops, none would seep out.

يساميه تغريرا برأيٍ مُشعَّثٍ

يكدُّ ولا يُحدي وعِرضٍ مشعَّبِ

He rashly seeks to rival him, with disordered judgment

that strains to no avail, and a splintered reputation.

ومنتسبٌ يومَ التفاخر مُسفرٌ

إذا أنتسب الضبّي قيلَ تنقَّبِ

And a man proclaiming his lineage on the day of boasting shows his face;

when al-Dabbi claims his lineage, he is told: “Veil yourself!”

أيا ساريا إمّا ركبتَ فلا تُنْخ

مُريحا وإمّا ماشيا كنتَ فأركبِ

O night traveler, if you ride, do not make your camel kneel

to rest; and if you are on foot, then ride.

لعلك تأتي شِرعةَ الجودِ سابقا

بهاذاك مع فرط التزاحم تَشربِ

Perhaps you will reach generosity's watering place first,

and thus drink, despite the great press of the crowd.

وقل يا أبا العباس بل يا أبا الورى

فكلّهُمُ فيما مَلكتَ بنو أبِ

And say: O Abu al-Abbas—rather, O father of humankind,

for all of them, in what you own, are sons of one father.

أنا ذاك لم تكفِ أشتياقيِ زَورةٌ

بَلَى زادني بالبعدِ شَجْواً تقرُّبي

I am that man; one visit did not satisfy my longing;

rather, drawing near increased my grief in separation.

إذا كنتَ تهوى الشيءَ إمّا رأيتَه

وأحببتَ أن تَشقَى فزرْ ثمَّ جَنِّبِ

If you love a thing once you have seen it,

and wish to suffer, visit it, then keep away.

أحنّ إذا الوفدُ أستقلّوا لقصدكم

حنينَ الفتى العُذرىِّ مَرَّ بربربِ

I yearn when delegations set out to seek you,

with the yearning of the ʿUdhri youth who passed a herd of gazelles.

وواللّه لم أهجركم العامَ عن قِلىً

ولا أنّ سيراً نحوكم كان مُنْصِبي

And, by God, I did not shun you this year out of aversion,

nor because a journey toward you was wearisome to me.

وما صاحبي قلبٌ بظنٍّ مُرَجَّمٍ

إلى غيركم في العالمين مُقلِّبي

Nor is my companion a heart that, on unfounded conjecture,

turns me toward anyone but you in all the worlds.

إذا أطربَ الإبْلَ الحُداءُ فإنني

إليكم متى غنّيتُ فالجودُ مُطربي

If the camel-driver's song delights the camels, then I—

whenever song draws me toward you—am delighted by generosity.

ونفسي لكم تلك التي لودادها

ولو أُغْضِبتْ في واجبٍ ألفُ مُوجِبِ

And my soul is yours, that soul whose affection—

even if angered over a rightful due—has a thousand reasons.

هجرتُ لك الأقوامَ حبّاً فوفِّني

يَبِنْ بيِ إلى جدوَى يديك تحزُّبي

I forsook the peoples for love of you; give me my due,

let my allegiance carry me to the bounty of your hands.

وأشمتَّهم ذا العامَ أنك جُرتَ بي

ومَذهَبُك العدلُ الصحيحُ ومَذهَبي

And you made them gloat this year by wronging me,

though your way—and mine—is sound justice.

لئن عَتَبوا أني تفرّدتُ دونهّم

بمدحك فاشهدْ أنني غير مُعتِبِ

If indeed they reproach me for standing alone, apart from them,

in praising you, bear witness that I will not appease them.

فإن خَبُثَتْ أيديهُمُ ليِ وأَسْهَكَتْ

فرُبَّ نوالٍ طاهرٍ لك طيِّبِ

But if their hands have turned foul toward me and reek,

then many a gift of yours is pure and fragrant.