صدت بنعمان على طول الصدى — Mihyar Al Daylami

صدَّتْ بنعمانَ على طول الصدَى

دعها فليس كلُّ ماءٍ مَوردا

They turned away at Nu'man, despite their long thirst.

Leave them: not every water is a watering place.

لحاجةٍ أمسَّ من حاجاتها

تخطَّأتْ أرزاقَها تعمُّدا

For a need more pressing than their other needs,

they deliberately passed their sustenance by.

ترى وفي شروعها ضراعةٌ

حرارةً على الكبودِ أبردا

They deem, when drinking entails abasement,

the burning upon their livers cooler.

عادةُ عزٍّ جَذَبَتْ بخَطْمِها

وكلُّ ذي عزٍّ وما تعوَّدا

A habit of dignity pulled them by the muzzle;

every proud one follows what he is accustomed to.

لا حَمَلَتْ ظهورُها إن حَمَلَتْ

رِجْلاً على الضيم تقَرُّ أو يدا

May their backs bear nothing, if they bear

a foot or hand that acquiesces in humiliation.

إن لم يلِقْها جانبٌ مقاربٌ

فارمِ بها الجنبَ العريضَ الأبعدا

If no nearby region suits them,

cast them toward the broad, more distant tract.

خاطرْ ولَو أردى الخِطارُ إنه

لا يأمن الذلَّةَ مَن خاف الردَى

Take risks, even if risk kills; indeed,

whoever fears death is not safe from humiliation.

لا يُحرزُ الغايةَ إلا بائعٌ

بغِلظةِ العيش الرقيقَ الرَّغَدا

None reaches the goal but one who sells

soft, comfortable living for life's harshness.

يَطوي الفلا لا يستضيفُ مؤنساً

والليلَ لا يسأل نجماً مرشدا

He traverses the wilderness, seeking no comforting host,

and the night, asking no star to guide him.

إذا رأى مَطعمةً خافضةً

عوَّذَ بالله ومالَ الحَيَدا

If he sees a source of food that debases him,

he seeks refuge in God and turns aside.

يُعطي جِذابَ الشهواتِ عُنُقاً

شمساءَ لا تَعرف إلا الصَّيَدا

He offers the tug of desires a neck

unyielding, knowing only proud carriage.

تمارسُ الأيّامُ منه كلّما

حارنَ أو لجّ غلاماً نَكِدا

In him the days confront, whenever

he balks or persists, an intractable youth.

يعزِفُ إلا عن فُكاهاتِ الهوى

وقد رأى فيه الحبيبَ المسعِدا

He turns away from all but love's delights,

having found in it the beloved who brings him joy.

أَقسمَ بالعِفّةِ لا تيَّمهُ

ظبيٌ رنا أو غُصُنٌ تأوَّدا

He swore by chastity: never was he enthralled

by a gazelle that gazed, or a branch that swayed.

ولا قَرَى صَبابةً فؤادَه

إلا السلوَّ حاضراً والجَلَدا

Nor did he feed his heart with yearning

unless detachment and fortitude stood ready.

شأنَك ياابنَ الصَّبَواتِ فالتمسْ

غيري أخاً لستُ لهنَّ وَلَدا

Go your way, son of youthful passions, and seek

someone else as a brother: I am no child of theirs.

مولاك من لا يخلقُ الشوقُ له

وجداً ولا طولُ البعاد كمدا

Your friend is one in whom longing creates no

ardor, nor long separation any sorrow.

كأنما يَشهدُ من عَفافه

على المشيبِ يافعاً وأمردا

Through his chastity, he seems to bear witness

to gray-haired age, though youthful and beardless.

موقَّراً متَّعظاً شبابهُ

كأنما كان مَشيباً أَسْودا

His youth was dignified and heedful of admonition,

as though it were black-haired old age.

تحسبه نزاهةً وكرماً

ومجدَ نفسٍ بابن أيوبَ اقتدَى

You would think that, in integrity and generosity,

and nobility of soul, he had followed Ibn Ayyub.

فِدَى عميدِ الرؤساء مُصفِرٌ

لو طاب لا يصلُح إلا للفِدَى

Let an empty-handed man be ransom for 'Amid al-Ru'asa;

even at his best, he is fit only to be ransom.

يرضَى بما ساق إليه غَلطُ ال

حظّ ولم يسعَ له مجتهدا

He is content with what was brought him by the error of

fortune, though he never strove diligently for it.

يعجَبُ من جهالةِ الأيّام في

وِجدانه ما لم يكن لينشُدا

He marvels at the days' ignorance in

his finding what he would never have sought.

تحسبه جاء يريد غيره

فضلَّ عن طريقِهِ وما اهتدى

You would think it came seeking someone else,

then strayed from its path and never found the way.

وحاسدٍ فخارُه معْ نقصِهِ

في الناس أن عادى العلا وحسَدا

And an envier, whose boast, despite his deficiency,

among people is that he opposes greatness and envies it:

تُلهِبُ نارُ الغيظ في ضلوعه

جمراً يقول حرُّها لا بَرَدا

the fire of rage kindles within his ribs

embers; its heat cries, 'No coolness!'

زال بنصرِ مجدِهِ غيران ما

نازلَ إلا ظافراً مؤيَّدا

He moved, zealous in defense of his glory; never

did he fight but victorious and aided.

مدّ إلى أخذِ العلا فنالها

يداً تبوعُ ساعداً وعَضُدا

To seize greatness, he stretched out—and attained it—

a hand that follows forearm and upper arm.

تَقضِي له الأقلامُ من حاجاتها

ما استقضت الذابلَ والمهنَّدا

The pens fulfill for him, among their needs,

what they asked the slender lance and Indian blade to fulfill.

ما زال يرقَى في سماواتِ العلا

بروجَها الأسعدَ ثمَّ الأسعدا

He kept ascending in the heavens of greatness,

their most auspicious constellations, then still more auspicious ones,

مصاعداً نجومها حتى إذا

تطاولتْ خلَّفَها وصعِدا

ascending with their stars, until, when

they rose high, he left them behind and climbed.

رأى المعالي بالمساعي تُقتضَى

والشرفَ المحرَزَ من كسبِ الندَى

He saw that high honors are won through striving,

and nobility secured through deeds of generosity.

فصاعبَ الأُسودَ في أغيالها

صرامةً وجاودَ الغيثَ جَدَا

So he rivaled the lions in their thickets

in resolve, and vied with the rain in bounty.

وكلّما قيل له قِفْ تسترحْ

جزتَ المدَى قال وهل نلتُ المدَى

Whenever he was told, 'Stop and rest;

you have passed the limit,' he said, 'Have I reached the limit?'

ناهضَ ثِقلَ الدولتين فكفى ال

مُلكَ الطريفَ ما كفاه المتلَدا

He shouldered the burden of both reigns, sustaining the

new kingship as he had sustained the inherited one.

وكان للأمريْن منه جُنَّةً

مسرودةً وصارماً مجرّدا

For both authorities he was a shield

of close-woven mail, and a sword drawn bare.

فاغترسَ القادرُ يومَ نصرهِ

واستثمرَ القائمُ بالأمر غدا

Al-Qadir planted on the day of his triumph,

and al-Qa'im bi'l-Amr reaped the fruit on the morrow.

قام بأمرٍ جامع صلاحَهُ

فضمَّه بنفسه منفردا

He undertook an affair encompassing its whole welfare,

and took it upon himself alone.

فلستُ أدري أَلِوَحيٍ هابط

أم اختياراً لقَّباه الأوحدا

I do not know whether by a revelation descending

or by choice, they both named him al-Awhad, 'the Unique.'

وزارةٌ وفَّرها لدَستِهِ

أنَّ أباه قبلُ فيه استندا

The vizierate was secured to his seat

by his father's having occupied it before him.

دبَّرها مستبصراً فلم يكن

مفوِّضاً فيها ولا مقلِّدا

He administered it with insight, and was not

one who delegated its management or merely imitated.

يُسنِد عن آبائه أخبارَها

صادقةً إذا اتهمتَ المُسنِدا

He transmits its accounts on his fathers' authority,

truthful, even if you doubt the transmitter.

وأعتقُ الناس بها من لم يزل

مكرَّراً في بيتِها مردَّدا

The noblest of men in it is he who has always

returned and reappeared within its household.

يا من مخضتُ الناسَ فاستخلصتهُ

بعدَ اجتهادي فالياً منتقدا

O you: I churned mankind and drew you out,

after diligent effort, sifting and appraising.

والبازلُ العَوْدُ وقد نبذتُهم

بَكِيّةً معرورةً أو نَقَدا

You are the mature, seasoned camel; I cast them aside

as scant-milking, mangy beasts, or small sheep.

ذلّلتَ أياميَ واستقربتَ لي

غُلُبَّةً وفاءها المستبعَدا

You tamed my days and brought near for me,

by sheer force, their faithfulness that seemed remote.

هوّنْتَ عندي الصعبَ من صروفها

فخلتُ أفعاها الوَثُوبَ مَسَدا

You made the hardships of their turns easy for me,

so I took their lunging viper for a twisted-fiber rope.

أعديتَها بحفظك العهدَ فقد

صارت صديقاً بعد أن كانت عِدا

You infected them with your keeping of faith; thus

they became a friend after having been foes.

ولم تضيِّع حُرَماً أحكمها

قديمُ حقّي فيكُمُ وأكَّدا

Nor did you neglect the sacred ties secured

and strengthened by my longstanding claim upon you.

أنتَ كما كنتَ أخاً مُخالِلاً

بحيثُ قد زدتَ فصرتَ سيّدا

You are still the affectionate brother you were,

even as you have risen and become a lord.

فاسمعْ أقايضْك بها قواطناً

سوائراً معقَّلاتٍ شُرَّدا

Listen: I will give you, in exchange for them, verses that dwell,

yet travel; tethered, yet roaming free,

عوالقاً بكلِّ سمعٍ صَلِفٍ

يلفِظُ أن يَقبلَ إلاّ الأجودا

clinging to every fastidious ear

that refuses to accept anything but the finest.

مما قهرتُ فجعلتُ وعرَه

مُدَيَّناً وحرَّه مستعبَدا

From what I subdued, making its ruggedness

obedient, and its free spirit enslaved:

مَطارِباً إذا احتبى الراوي لها

شككتَ هل غنىً بها أم أنشدا

delightful songs: when their reciter sits clasping his knees,

you wonder whether he sang them or declaimed.

تُخالُ أَرجازاً من استقصارها

وقد أطال شاعرٌ وقَصَّدا

You take them for rajaz verses, so brief they seem,

though the poet has made them long and fashioned full odes.

يَمضي الفتى الموسومُ في فخارها

صفحاً وتُبقِي عِرضَه مخلَّدا

The man marked out in their praise passes

out of sight, yet they keep his honor immortal.

تَحمِلُ أيّامُ التهاني تُحَفاً

منها إليك بادئاتٍ عُوَّدا

The days of celebration bear gifts

of these to you, new ones and returning ones,

ما دامت الغبراءُ أو ما حَمَلتْ

مدحوّةٌ من الجبال وَتِدا

as long as the dusty earth endures, or there is borne

by the outspread earth a peg of the mountains.

سنينَ تطويهنّ حيَّاً سالماً

مُنَورِزاً في العزّ أو معيِّدا

Through years you pass alive and safe,

celebrating Nowruz or feast days in glory.

لا الشعرُ تَبلَى أبداً رسومُهُ

فيك ولا تُعدَمُ أنت سَنَدا

Never will poetry's traces wear away

in your praise, nor will you ever lack support.