أخلق الدهر لمتى وأجدا — Mihyar Al Daylami

أخْلقَ الدهرُ لِمتى وأجّدا

شعَراتٍ أرينني الأمرَ جِدَّا

Time wore out my locks and brought forth anew

strands that showed me the matter was grave.

لم يزلْ بي واشي اللياي إلى سم

ع معير الشباب حتى استردّا

The nights' informer kept denouncing me to the ears

of youth's lender, until he reclaimed it.

صِبغةٌ كانت الحياةَ فما أف

رُقُ أوَدى دهري بها أو أردَ

That tint was life itself; I cannot distinguish

whether time took it away or killed me.

يا بياض المشيب بِعْنِي بأيّا

مك ليلاً نضوتَه مسوَدَّا

O whiteness of age, sell me, in exchange for your days,

a night you stripped away when it was black.

يا لها سرحةً تَصاوَحُ تَنّو

ماً وعهدي بها تَفاوَحُ رَندا

Ah, what a tree, withering into tannum,

though I knew it to breathe the fragrance of rand.

لم أقل قبلها لسوداءَ عطفاً

واقتراباً ولا لبيضاءَ بُعدا

Before this, I never asked a black one for affection

and nearness, nor a white one to keep away.

عدَّتِ الأربعون سنَّ تمامي

وهي حلّت عُرايَ عَقداً فعَقدا

Forty counted as the age of my completion,

while it unbound my ties, knot after knot.

بَانَ نَقْصِي بأن كَملتث وأحسس

ضُعفي لمّا بلغتُ الأشُدّا

My decline appeared in my maturity, and I sensed

my weakness when I reached full strength.

رجعتْ عنّيَ العيون كما تر

جعُ عن حاجب الغزالة رُمْدا

Eyes turned away from me, as sore eyes turn

from the bright rim of the sun.

ليت بيتاً بالخَيْفِ أمسِ استضفنا

قَرانَا ولو غَراما ووَجْدا

Would that a house at al-Khayf, where yesterday we sought hospitality,

had entertained us, even with passion and longing.

وسقاةً على القليب احتساباً

عوّضونا اللّمى شِفاءً وبَرْدا

And would that the water-bearers at the well, seeking reward,

had given us dark lips in recompense, as healing and coolness.

راح صحبي بفوزة الحجِّ يحدو

ن وعَنسي باسم البخيلةِ تُحدَى

My companions departed with the pilgrimage's reward, chanting,

while my she-camel was driven on by the stingy one's name.

ولحاظي مقيَّداتٌ بسلعٍ

فكأنّي أضللتُ فيه المَجْدَا

My glances were held captive by Sal',

as though I had lost glory there.

ربَّ ليلٍ بين المُحصَّب والخَيْ

ف لبسناه للخلاعةِ بُرْدا

How many a night between al-Muhassab and al-Khayf

we wore as a mantle for wanton pleasure!

وخيامٍ بسَفح أُحْدٍ على الأُق

مار تُبْنَى فحيِّ يا رب أُحْدَا

And tents on Uhud's slope, over moons,

were raised—O Lord, bless Uhud!

لا عدا الرَّوْحُ في تِهامةَ أنفَا

ساً إذا استُروِحتْ تمنَّيتُ نجدا

May refreshing air never forsake those breaths in Tihamah

whose scent, when inhaled, made me long for Najd.

وأعان الرقادُ حَيْرةَ طَرفٍ

لم يجِدْ في الطّلاب يقظانَ رُشْدا

Sleep aided the bewilderment of an eye

that, awake, found no guidance in its quest.

نمتُ أرجو هنداً فكلَّ مثالٍ

خَيَّلَتْ لي الأحلامُ إلاّ هندا

I slept hoping for Hind; every image

my dreams conjured for me—except Hind.

عَجباً لي ولابتغائي مَودّا

تِ ليالٍ طباعُها لِيَ أعدَا

How strange I am, seeking the affections

of nights whose natures are hostile to me!

نطَقَتْ في نفوسها وتعفَّف

تُ فما وُدُّ من يَرَى بك صدّا

They spoke from their own souls, while I held aloof;

what love comes from one who sees you turn away?

أجلبتْ جِلدتي عريكةُ دهري

فرمَى بي وقام أملسَ جِلْدا

Time's harsh temper scabbed my skin,

then flung me down and stood up smooth-skinned.

كلّ يومٍ أقولُ ذمّاً لعيشي

فإذا فاتني غداً قلتُ حَمْدا

Every day I speak in blame of my life;

yet when it is gone tomorrow, I speak in praise.

زفراتٌ على الزمان إذا استب

ردتُ منها تنفُّساً زدن وَقْدا

Sighs against time: whenever I seek coolness

in a breath from them, they only add to the blaze.

يا لَحَظِّي الأعَمى أما يتلقَّى

قائداً يبتغِي الثوابَ فيُهْدَى

Ah, my blind fortune! Will it not meet

a guide who seeks reward, and thus be led?

يا زمانَ النفاقِ مالك زاد

اللّهُ بيني وبن أهلك بُعدا

O age of hypocrisy, what ails you? May

God increase the distance between me and your people.

مَن عذيري من صحبة الناس ما أخ

فَرَها ذمّةً وأخبثَ عهدا

Who will vindicate me against people's company? How

faithless its pledges, how foul its covenants!

كم أخٍ حائم معي واصلٍ لي

فإذا خَلَّفتْ به الحالُ صدَّا

How many a brother hovered near me and kept ties with me,

then turned away when circumstances held him back!

وصديقٍ سَبْطٍ وأيّامه وُسْ

طَى فلمّا انتهتْ تقلَصَ جَعْدا

And a friend, smooth while his days were middling,

who, when they ended, shrank into curls.

ليته غيرَ منصِفٍ لِيَ إسعا

داً على الدهر منصفٌ لِيَ وُدّا

Would that, though unfair to me in giving aid

against time, he were fair to me in affection!

وإذا لم تَجِدْ من الصبر بُدَّاً

فتعزَّلْ وَجِدْ من الناس بُدَّا

If you can find no escape from patience,

withdraw, and find a way to do without people.

يدفع اللّهُ لي ويَحمي عن الصا

حِبِ فَرداً كما وَفَى لِيَ فردا

May God, for my sake, ward off harm and protect the Sahib,

alone, as he alone kept faith with me.

أَجِنَتْ أوجهُ الرجالِ فما أن

كَرتُ من بِشر وجههِ العذبِ وِرْدا

Men's faces grew stagnant; never did I find

the watering-place of his sweet, smiling face unwelcome.

كيفما خالَفتْ عِطاشُ أماني

نا إليه كان النميرَ العِدَّا

However our thirsty wishes made their way

to him, he was pure water, an unfailing spring.

مَلَكَ الجودُ أمرَهُ فحديث ال

مال عن راحتيه أعطَى وأجدَى

Generosity ruled him; the tale that money tells

of his two palms is: 'He gave and enriched.'

زد لجاجاً إذا سألتَ وإلحا

حاً عليه يزِدْك صبراً ورِفْدا

Increase your persistence when asking, and your insistence

with him; his patience and his gifts to you will grow.

لا تَرَى والمياهُ تُعطى وتُكدِى

حافراً قطّ في ثراه أكدَى

You never see—though waters may be given or fail—

a digger in his soil strike barren rock.

كلما عرَّضَتْ له رغبةُ الدن

يا توانى عنها عَفافاً وزُهدا

Whenever desire for the world presented itself to him,

he held back from it in restraint and renunciation.

كثَّر الناسٌُ مالَها واقتناها

سِيَراً تَشرف الحديثَ وحَمْدا

People amassed its wealth; he acquired it

as deeds that ennoble their telling, and as praise.

لحقتْه بغاية المجد نفسٌ

لم تحدِّد فضلاً فتبلغ حدّا

A soul joined him at glory's utmost height,

one that set no bound to excellence and so reached no limit.

عدَّت الفقر في المكارم مُلكاً

وفَناءَ الأيّام في العزّ خُلدا

It reckoned poverty in noble deeds a kingship,

and the passing of days in honor, immortality.

وأبٌ حَطَّ في السماء ولو شا

ء تخَطّى مكانَها وتعدَّى

And a father who alighted in heaven, though, had he wished,

he would have passed its place and gone beyond.

من بهاليلَ أنبتوا ريشة الأر

ضِ وربُّوا عِظامَها والجِلْدا

From magnanimous lords who made earth's plumage grow

and nurtured its bones and skin.

أرضعتْها أيديهمُ دِرَّة الخِص

ب فروَّت تِلاعَها والوُهْدا

Their hands suckled it with fertility's flowing milk,

watering its hills and hollows.

بين جَمٍّ منهُمُ وسابورَ أقيا

لٌ يعدُّون مَولد الدهر عَدَّا

Between Jam, one of them, and Sabur were kings

who could reckon the very birth of time.

لهمُ حاضرُ الممالك إن فا

خر قومٌ منها بقَفرٍ ومَبدَى

The cities of kingdoms are theirs, should

a people boast of those kingdoms' deserts and encampments.

أخذوا عُذرةَ الزمان وسدُّوا

فُرَجَ الغِيلِ يقنصون الأُسْدا

They took time's virginity and blocked

the openings of the thicket, hunting lions.

سيَرُ العدلِ في مآثرهم تُر

وَى وحسنُ التدبير عنهم يؤدَّى

The ways of justice in their glorious deeds are recounted,

and their good governance is handed down.

وإذا اغبّرتِ السنونَ وأبدَى

شَعثُ الأرض وجهَها المُربَدَّا

And when the years grew dusty, and

the earth's dishevelment bared its darkened face,

طردوا الأَزْلَ بالثراء وقاموا

أَثر المحلِ يخلُفون الأَنْدَا

they drove out want with wealth and stood

in drought's wake, taking the place of the rains.

تُوِّجوا مُضغةً وساد كهولَ ال

ناس أبناؤهم شباباً ومُردا

They were crowned as lumps of flesh; over the elders

of men their sons ruled, young and beardless.

عدَّد الدهرُ سيّداً سيّداً من

هم وعدَّ الحسينُ جَدَّاً فجدَّا

Time counted lord after lord

among them; al-Husayn counted grandfather after grandfather.

حَبَسَ الناسَ أن يُجاروك في السؤ

دُدِ تعريجُهم وسَيْرُك قَصدا

What kept men from rivaling you in lordship

was their winding course and your straight advance.

ووقَى المُلكَ زَلّةَ الرأي أن صر

تَ بتدبير أمرِهِ مستبِدّا

What shielded the kingdom from errors of judgment was that you

became sole master of directing its affairs.

لك يومٌ عنه مِرَاسٌ مع الحر

بِ يردُّ السوابقَ الشُّعْرَ جُرْدا

You have a day whose hard encounter with war

strips the swift, shaggy racehorses bare.

تركبُ الدهرَ فيه ظَهْراً إلى النص

ر وتستصحبُ الليالِيَ جُندا

On it you ride time as a mount toward victory,

and take the nights along as troops.

وجدالٌ يوماً تَرَى منك فيه

فِقَرُ الوافدين خَصْماً ألدَّا

And a day of debate: in you, on that day,

the visitors' arguments find a most unyielding foe.

كلّ عَوصاءَ يسبِق الكَلِمُ الهدَّ

ارُ في شوطها الجوادَ النَّهُدا

In every knotty problem, booming speech outruns

the powerful charger upon its course.

أنا ذاك الحرُّ الذي صيَّرتْه

لك أخلاقُك السواحرُ عبدا

I am that free man whom

your enchanting character has made your slave.

مُعلِقٌ من هواك كفِّي بحبلٍ

لم يزده البعادُ إلا عَقْدا

I cling with my hand to a cord of love for you,

which separation has only tied in tighter knots.

مَلكَ الشوقُ أمرَ قلبي عليه

مذ غد البينُ بيننا ممتدَّا

Longing has seized command over my heart,

since separation came to stretch between us.

أشتكي البعدَ وهو ظلمٌ ولولا

لذّة القربِ ما أَلمِتُ البُعدا

I lament distance—and it is an injustice; but for

the pleasure of nearness, I would not have felt distance's pain.

ليت من يحملُ الضعيفَ على الأخ

طارِ ألقَى رَحلي إليك وأدَّى

Would that one who carries the weak through dangers

would set my saddle beside you and deliver me there.

فتروّت عيني ولو ساعةً من

ك فإني من بعدها لا أَصْدَى

Then my eye would drink its fill, if only for an hour, of

you; after that I would never thirst.

وعلى النأيِ فالقوافي تحيّا

تُك منّي تسري مَراحا ومَغْذَى

Despite the distance, my rhymes are greetings

to you from me, traveling evening and morning.

كلّ عذراء تفضَح الشمسَ في الصب

ح وتُورِي في فحمة الليل زَندا

Each is a virgin that shames the sun in the morning

and kindles a fire-stick in the night's black coal.

لم تُدنَّس باللمس جسماً ولم تَص

بُغْ لها غَضّةُ اللواحظِ خدَّا

Her body has never been sullied by touch, nor have

tender glances colored her cheek.

أَرِجاتُ الأعطاف مُهدىً جَناها

لك يُهدِي إلى الربيع الوَردْا

Fragrant in their folds, their gathered fruit, offered

to you, gives roses to spring.

فتلقَّ السلامَ والشوقَ منها

ذاك يُشْكَى وذا يطيبُ فيُهدَى

Receive greetings and longing from them:

one is lamented; the other is sweet, and is offered.

واحْبُ جيدَ النيروز منها بطوقي

ن وفصِّل لليلة العيدِ عِقْدا

Bestow two collars from them upon Nowruz's neck,

and fashion a necklace for the night of Eid.

وتسلَّم من الحوادث ما ك

رّ على عَقْبه الزمانُ وردَّا

May you remain safe from calamities as long as

time turns back upon its heels and returns.

ما أبالي إذا وجدتُك مَنْ تَف

قِدُ عيني لا أبصرتْ لك فَقدَا

If I find you, I care not whom

my eye loses—may it never witness your loss!