يذنب دهر ويستقيل — Mihyar Al Daylami

يُذنب دهرٌ ويستقيلُ

ويستقيم الذي يَميلُ

Time sins and seeks pardon,

and what bends grows straight.

والعيش لونٌ يوماً ولونٌ

كلاهما صبغةٌ تحولُ

Life is one color one day, another the next;

both are hues that change.

وربّما حنّت الليالي

ثم لها مرة غفولُ

Sometimes the nights grow tender,

then comes their turn for heedlessness.

فاسر فإن الدنيا طريقٌ

أسْهَلَ مِيلٌ وشَقَّ مِيلُ

So travel by night, for the world is a road:

one mile is easy, another hard.

لا غرو أن تظلَع المطايا

فيها وأن يغلط الدليلُ

No wonder that the mounts limp

upon it, or that the guide goes wrong.

والرجلُ الضربُ من تَساوى

في نفسه الصعبُ والذَّلولُ

The lean, hardy man is he for whom

the hard and the easy are equal within himself.

فهو إذا انحطّ أو تعالى

لا التيهُ منه ولا الخُمولُ

Thus, whether he sinks low or rises high,

he is marked by neither arrogance nor obscurity.

كالسيفِ لا زَينُه التحليِّ

يوماً ولا عيبهُ الفُلولُ

Like a sword: adornment is not its beauty,

ever, nor are notches its flaw.

فقلْ وإن نال من أناس

في حسد المجد ما تقولُ

So speak, though some people may be wounded,

in their envy of glory, by what you say:

أبناء عبد الرحيم أفْقٌ

لم يهتضم شمسَه الأفولُ

The sons of Abd al-Rahim are a horizon

whose sun no setting has diminished.

إن شرّقتْ فالصباحُ منها

أو غرّبتْ فابنها الأصيلُ

If it rises in the east, morning comes from it;

or if it sets in the west, late afternoon is its child.

لها علاها فإن وجدتم

طولاً إلى نيلها فطولوا

Its height is its own; if you find

the reach to attain it, then reach high.

لا تحسَبوها إذا توارتْ

أنّ التواري لها نزولُ

Do not think, when it disappears,

that concealment is a descent for it.

فالأُسْدُ أُسْدٌ في الغيل وال

نصولُ في قُربها نُصولُ

For lions remain lions in the thicket, and

blades remain blades within their sheaths.

والماء في السحب مستسرٌّ

لحاجةٍ عندها يسيلُ

And water lies hidden in the clouds,

to flow when need arises.

قد يهجر القومُ عُقرَ دارٍ

وهم بأخرى حيٌّ حُلولُ

A people may forsake the heart of one abode,

yet dwell as a settled tribe in another.

والبدر في أفقه رديدٌ

ما بين أبراجه نقيلُ

And the full moon goes to and fro in its horizon,

a traveler between its zodiacal houses.

وهو على ترك ذا لهذا

مباركٌ وجهُه جميلُ

And though it leaves this one for that,

its face remains blessed and beautiful.

ما اعتزلوا أن أطاف عجزٌ

بهم ولا صدّهم نُكولُ

They did not withdraw because incapacity

had beset them, nor did timidity turn them back.

ولا رأَوا هضبةَ المعالي

من تحت أقدامهم تزولُ

Nor did they see the hill of high honors

slipping from beneath their feet.

كم جذَعٍ منهُمُ فتِيٍّ

لم يُعيِه حِملُه الثقيلُ

Many a vigorous young camel among them

has not been wearied by his heavy load;

وبازلٍ فيهمُ جُلالٍ

أنهضه بالعلا البُزُولُ

and many a massive, mature camel among them

has been raised to greatness by maturity.

لكن لأمرٍ يغيب عنكم

تَعْلَقُ بالقُنّة الوُعولُ

But for a reason hidden from you,

the ibex cling to the mountaintop.

فاجتنبوا اللوم وانظروها

غداً إذا استنوق الفصيلُ

So shun reproach, and watch her

tomorrow, when the young camel turns into a she-camel,

وأُنكِحتْ والصَّداقُ وعدٌ

وغير أكفائها البُعولُ

and she is married off, her dowry a promise,

and her husbands are not her equals.

وهي إذا استصرختْ سواكم

أصرخها الناصرُ الخَذولُ

And when she cries to others than you for help,

a faithless champion answers her cry.

هم قطبها كيفما أديرتْ

وهم إذا ضلّت السبيلُ

They are her pivot, however she is turned,

and when she strays they are her path.

تقضي وتمضي الأمور فيها

وهي إلى أمرهم تؤولُ

Affairs are settled and carried through within her,

yet she returns to their command.

لله والمجدِ هم فروعاً

تمّت بإقبالها الأصولُ

For God and glory, what branches they are!

Their flourishing has perfected the roots.

توحّدوا بالعلا فبانوا

والناسُ من بعدهم شُكولُ

They stood alone in greatness and stood apart,

while the rest of mankind are alike.

آباء صدقٍ دلّتْ عليهم

شهودُ أبنائها العدولُ

True forefathers, attested to

by their sons, upright witnesses.

وأصدقُ النقل في صفات ال

أسود ما قالت الشُّبولُ

The truest account of the qualities of the

lions is what the cubs have said.

قومٌ إذا ما السماء ضنّت

عاذت بأيديهم المحُولُ

A people: when heaven withholds,

the droughts take refuge in their hands.

أحلامُهم رُزَّنٌ ثِقالٌ

ومالهُم طائشٌ جهولُ

Their minds are sober and weighty,

but their wealth is impetuous and heedless.

فتحتَ عِمَّاتِهم جبالٌ

وفوق أقلامهم سيولُ

Beneath their turbans lie mountains,

and above their pens flow torrents.

إذا زعيم الملك انتفاهم

يحمي من الضيم أو ينيلُ

When the realm's leader chooses them

to shield from oppression or bestow gifts,

فاقض على نازح بِدانٍ

واقطع فقد دلَّك الدليلُ

judge the distant by the one nearby,

and decide firmly: the evidence has guided you.

واسأل عليّاً بما بناه ال

حسينُ واقنع بما يقولُ

Ask Ali about what was built by

al-Husayn, and be content with what he says.

أبلجُ لا رفدُه نسِيءٌ

فينا ولا عهده غُلولُ

Bright-faced: his bounty is not deferred

among us, nor is his pledge treacherous.

ولا نداهُ الحيُّ المعافَى

بالمطل مَيْتٌ ولا عليلُ

Nor is his bounty, alive and healthy,

dead through delay or ailing.

لِيَم على الجود والتعنِّي

أن تُعذَلَ الديمةُ الهَطولُ

He was blamed for giving; it is wasted effort

to reproach the steady, pouring rain.

سقَى وروَّى وفي يديه

من ماله جَدْولٌ نحيلُ

He gave drink and quenched thirst, while in his hands

his wealth was but a slender brook.

وضنَّ لُوّامُه ومنُّوا

وفيهمُ دِجلةٌ ونيلُ

His reproachers withheld and flaunted their favors,

though they had a Tigris and a Nile.

فيومُ سؤَّاله قصيرٌ

وليلُ عذَّاله طويلُ

So his petitioners' day is short,

and his reproachers' night is long.

مضى وما استرهفَتْ سِنُوه

فلم يخُنْه حدٌّ كليلُ

He advanced before his years had honed him;

no blunted edge betrayed him.

أحرزَ شوطَ الصِّبا إلى أن

تناكصتْ خلفَه الكُهولُ

He won the course of youth, until

the mature men fell back behind him.

ثمَّ جرى أعوجاً فقامت

تَغُضُّ أرساغَها الخيولُ

Then he ran as A'waj, and the horses stood,

lowering their pasterns.

يُنْشِقُها نقْعُهُ غباراً

يشُمُّه الراغم الذليلُ

His dust-cloud makes them inhale dust

that the humiliated, abject one smells.

شِيمَ لهامِ العدا فأغنى

غَناءَه الصارمُ الصقيلُ

He was unsheathed against the enemies' heads, and

the keen, polished sword served as he did.

وحمَّلوه الجُلَّى فأوفى

بيذبلٍ كاهلٌ حَمولُ

They laid the greatest task upon him, and

his load-bearing shoulder overtopped Yadhbul.

خُلِقتَ غيظاً لكلِّ نفسٍ

حبُّ العلا عندها فُضولُ

You were created as a source of rage for every soul

that deems love of greatness superfluous.

وكلّ جسم لا مجدَ فيه

فأنت في صدره غليلُ

And every body in which there is no glory—

you are a burning thirst within its breast.

عزَّ بك الفضلُ فاستقادتْ

أمُّ الندى وابنُها قتيلُ

Excellence grew mighty through you, so

bounty's mother sought vengeance, her son slain.

وافترَّ منك الزمانُ طَلْقاً

عن روضةٍ ريحُها قَبولُ

Through you time smiled cheerfully,

revealing a garden with an easterly breeze.

شمائلٌ أحزنتْ ولانت

كأنها الماءُ والشَّمولُ

Traits both stern and tender,

as though they were water and wine.

وطلعةٌ تُشرِقُ الدياجي

منها وأقمارُها أُفولُ

And a countenance that makes dark nights shine

with its light, even as their moons set.

للحسن وجهٌ أغرُّ منها

والحسن في غيرها حجُولُ

Beauty has a radiant face in it,

while elsewhere beauty is but anklets.

ملكتَ رقّي بالودّ حتّى

صرتُ من العِتق أستقيلُ

You won my servitude through affection, until

I came to seek exemption from emancipation.

ولم يحوِّلك عن وفاءٍ

عهدتُهُ دولةٌ تدولُ

Nor were you turned from the fidelity

I had known in you—by a changing turn of fortune.

رشتَ وأخصبتَ والخوافي

حُصٌّ ونبتُ المرعَى وبيلُ

You feathered me and brought abundance, while the inner quills

were bare, and the pasture's growth was noxious.

ولم تكلْني إلى دعيّ

منِصبُه في الندى دخيلُ

Nor did you entrust me to a pretender

whose station in generosity is that of an intruder.

يغضب إن قلتُ يا جواداً

لعلمه أنه بخيلُ

He grows angry if I say, 'O generous one,'

knowing that he is miserly.

فإنّ أولى من رابَ قولي

مَن فعلُهُ ضدُّ ما أقولُ

For the one my words most rightly trouble

is he whose deeds contradict what I say.

والمدحُ في مِعصَم سوارٌ

وفي أكفٍّ أُخرَى كُبولُ

Praise is a bracelet on one wrist,

but fetters on other hands.

سوى جفاءٍ يعنُّ نبذاً

كما أغبَّ الحيا الوَصُولُ

Save for aloofness that appears now and then,

as the ever-returning rain skips days.

يَعذِر فيه المولى المُولِّي

شيئاً ولا يُعذَر الخليلُ

The patron who turns away is excused in this

somewhat, but a friend is not excused.

فابتدر الآن من قريبٍ

ما كان من شوطه يطولُ

So hasten now, from nearby,

to what once required a lengthy course.

واقدح ولو جذوة فإن ال

ظلماء يورى فيها الفتيلُ

Strike fire, if only an ember, for

in the darkness a wick can be kindled.

ولا تراعِ القليلَ فيها

فربّما ينفع القليلُ

And do not dwell on how little is there,

for sometimes a little helps.

والق بوجه النيروز وجهاً

يضحك في صحنه القبولُ

Greet the face of Nowruz with a face

on whose broad expanse acceptance smiles.

يومٌ جديدٌ يردُّ غضّاً

من ملككم ما جنَى الذُّبولُ

A new day that makes fresh again

what withering has ravaged in your dominion.

يشهدُ أنَّ السعودَ حالٌ

من أمركم ليس يستحيلُ

It testifies that good fortune is a state

of your affairs that does not change,

وإنّ ما غاب من علاكم

غيرُ بطيءٍ به القُفولُ

and whatever of your greatness has vanished

will not be slow to return.

شهادة لا فسوقَ فيها

شعري بتصديقها كفيلُ

A testimony with no dishonesty in it:

my poetry guarantees its truth.