ما كنت لولا طمعي في الخيال — Mihyar Al Daylami

ما كنتُ لولا طمَعي في الخيالْ

أنشُدُ نومي بين طول الليالْ

Were it not for my hope of the dream-phantom, I would not

seek my sleep amid the long nights.

أسأل عيني كيف طعمُ الكرى

عُلالَةً وهو سؤالٌ محالْ

I ask my eye what slumber tastes like,

seeking solace, though the question is impossible.

وكيف بالنوم على الهجر لي

والنومُ من شرط ليالي الوصالْ

And how can I sleep amid estrangement,

when sleep belongs to nights of union?

لله أجفانٌ ذرعنَ الدجى

وهي قصارٌ والليالي طِوالْ

How wondrous the eyelids that measured the darkness,

though they are short and the nights are long!

كأنها من قِصرٍ بعضُها

يطلب بعضاً بقوىً لا تُنالْ

As though, from their shortness, each of them

sought the other with strength beyond its reach.

لكنّ لمياءَ على ضنّها

تُرخص في الأحلام لي كلَّ غالْ

But Lamya, despite her stinginess,

makes every precious thing cheap for me in dreams.

تَسري فإما هي أو راقني

شِبْهٌ لها أو سرَّ عيني مثالْ

She comes by night—either she herself, or what charmed me

was her likeness, or an image delighted my eye.

وليلةٍ عطَّر أرواحَها

طَيفٌ لها لم أك منه ببالْ

And many a night whose breezes were perfumed

by her phantom, of whose coming I had no thought.

بيَّض مسراه سوادَ الدجى

حولي وصحبي شُعُثٌ في الرحالْ

Its nightly passage whitened the darkness

around me, while my companions lay dishevelled in camp.

بمشرِق اللَّباتِ دانت له

شهبُ الدراري قبلَ بِيضِ المحَالْ

With radiant throat-hollows, before which bowed

the brilliant stars before the white neck-vertebrae.

يجلو العَشا مختمراً مسفراً

فتارةً بدراً وطوراً هلالْ

Veiled or unveiled, it clears the dimness of sight,

now a full moon, now a crescent.

جاءت تَثَنَّى بين رَيحانةٍ

تُفتَقُ مسكاً وكثيبٍ يُهالْ

She came swaying between a basil sprig

bursting with musk and a sandhill being heaped.

فلا وعينيها وأردافها

وشِقوةِ الدِّعصِ بها والغزالْ

No, by her eyes and her full hips,

and the sandhill’s and gazelle’s misery because of her:

ما قدَّها هزّ نسيمُ الصَّبا

وإنما ميَّل غصناً فمالْ

the east wind’s breeze did not stir her figure;

it merely bent a branch, and the branch bent.

حتى إذا الليل قضى ما قضى

خفّت مع الفجر خُطاها الثّقالْ

Until, when night had done what it had done,

her heavy footsteps grew light with dawn.

وابتدرتْ تغنم فضلَ الدجى

سبقَ مغاوير النجوم التوالْ

She hastened to seize the remaining darkness,

outstripping the trailing raiders among the stars.

أبكى وتبكى غير أنّ الأسى

دموعُه غير دموع الدلالْ

I weep, and she weeps, but sorrow’s

tears differ from the tears of coquetry.

ظلٌّ من العيش نِعمنا به

لكنّه ظلٌّ مع الصبح زالْ

A shade of life in which we delighted,

but a shade that vanished with morning.

وموسمٌ للَّهوِ كاثرتُهُ

بفتيةٍ مثل صدور العوالْ

And a season of revelry whose abundance I matched

with youths like the points of lofty spears.

كلّ وجيه الوجه رحبِ الجدا

معذَّل السمع رضيّ الخصالْ

Each noble-faced and lavish in bounty,

his ears assailed by rebuke, his character pleasing.

يُرعيك من آدابه روضةً

جَّر عليها المزنُ ذيلَ الشَّمالْ

He offers you a meadow of his refinement to graze,

over which rain clouds dragged the north wind’s train.

يبذلُ في الراح اللُّها عادلاً

ما وزن الخَّمارُ منها وكالْ

He lavishes treasures on wine, matching

what the wine-seller weighs and measures out.

أشهَدُ منه وقَعاتِ الصِّبا

بفاتكٍ ساعةَ يُدعَى نزَالْ

In him I witness youth’s skirmishes,

with a bold fighter whenever the cry is ‘To combat!’

وحاجةٍ بِكرٍ تناولتُها

وبابُها أعسرُ عالي المنالْ

And an untouched desire I pursued,

its gate difficult, its attainment lofty.

وسِعتُها حتى تقنّصتها

بدُربتي في مثلها واحتيالْ

I encompassed it until I hunted it down,

through my experience in such things and resourcefulness.

أيّام أدلو بشبابي فلا

أرجعُ إلا مترعاتٍ سِجالْ

In days when I lowered my bucket with my youth, never

returning except with brimful buckets.

حتى تعمّمتُ بمفروعةٍ

تجمعُ بين الذلِّ واسمِ الجلالْ

Until I turbaned myself with lofty locks

joining humiliation with the name of majesty.

تَراجَعُ الأبصارُ وفضاً لها

عنّي بقاسٍ أن يراني وقالْ

Eyes recoil swiftly before them,

away from me, with harshness and loathing at seeing me.

صبيغة سوداء بيّضتها

نصولُها في الرأس وقعُ النصالْ

A black-dyed covering, bleached white:

its fading on the head is the impact of blades.

واقتصّ حقُّ الشَّيب من باطلي

فتلك حالي ولِيَ اليومَ حالْ

The due of gray hair exacted payment from my folly;

that was my state, and today my state is changed.

وماجد الآباء في منصب

تأوي إليه درجات المعال

And a man of illustrious fathers, in a station

where the heights of glory find refuge.

أبلج حرّ العِرض إن دوخلت

أحسابُهم أو هُجِّنتْ بالمَوالْ

Bright-faced and noble in honor, when

their pedigrees are mingled or tainted with freedmen.

ترى سماتِ الملك أنوارُها

شاهدةٌ في قوله والفعالْ

You see the marks of kingship, their radiance

bearing witness in his words and deeds.

أعلقتُه الودّ ومحضَ الهوى

بمُحْكَماتٍ محصَداتِ الحبالْ

I bound affection and pure love to him

with firmly secured, tightly twisted ropes.

حبّاً وإن لم تُدنِني زورةٌ

منه ولم يُبرِدْ غليلِي وِصالْ

Out of love, though no visit brought me near

to him, and no communion cooled my thirst.

أهجره غيرَ جليدٍ على

هجرٍ وأجفوه لغير الملالْ

I shun him, though not hardy enough to endure

estrangement, and turn cold toward him, but not from boredom.

وأحسُد الشُّرَّاعَ في حوضه

وما لذودي ظامئاً من بِلالْ

I envy those who come to drink at his pool,

while I, driven away thirsty, have not a drop.

لكنّها من شِيَمي عادةٌ

لم أغشَ باباً لم يُهِبْ بي تعالْ

But this is a habit among my traits:

I never visited a gate that did not call to me, ‘Come!’

تبارك الجامعُ آياتِه

في كاملٍ حتى وفى بالكمالْ

Blessed is He who gathered His signs

in a perfect man, till he attained perfection.

تَدرُسُ آثار القرون الألى

فاتوا وأخبار السنين الأَوالْ

You study the traces of the generations who

have passed, and the accounts of the earliest years,

فلا ترى في رجلٍ مثلَه

تقوم عنه أمّهاتُ الرجالْ

yet find his like in no man

whom the mothers of men bring forth.

صادفَتِ النعمةُ منه فتىً

لاقت بِعطفيه الأمورَ العوالْ

Prosperity encountered in him a young man

at whose two sides it met lofty affairs.

جاءته بين الحْقّ من إرثه

وبين كسبٍ بالمساعي حلالْ

It came to him partly as his rightful inheritance,

partly as lawful earnings through endeavor.

جاورها بالشكرِ حفظاً لها

والبشرِ والمعروفِ قبل السؤالْ

He lived beside it with gratitude, safeguarding it,

with good cheer and kindness before being asked.

فهي مذ استذرتْ إلى ظلّه

في وطن لم تنوِ عنه انتقالْ

Since it sought shelter in his shade,

it has dwelt in a homeland it never meant to leave.

وغيرُهُ تنفِرُ نعماؤه

تطلّعاً عنه ليوم الزِّيالْ

Another man’s blessings flee,

longing to leave him on the day of departure.

وزاده الإسعادُ من نفسه

ما لم يكن في ظنّ عمّ وخالْ

Good fortune added to his own qualities

what no paternal or maternal uncle had imagined.

إن أظلم الدهر فعزْماتُه

تَوَقُّدٌ في أفقه واشتعالْ

If Time darkens, his resolutions

are a blaze and flames upon its horizon.

أو خبَت الآراءُ من حَيْرة

فرأيه بُلجةُ ليلِ الضلالْ

Or if judgments die down through bewilderment,

his judgment is dawn in the night of error.

طلائعُ الإقبال من وجهه

في جِدّةٍ من عمره واقتبالْ

His face gives heralds of good fortune

in the freshness and prime of his life.

وجهٌ على ماء الحياء التقتْ

غرائبُ البِشرِ به والجمالْ

A face upon whose moisture of modesty

the marvels of good cheer and beauty met.

نضارةُ الدنيا وإشراقها

تجول منه في فسيح المجالْ

The world’s freshness and its radiance

roam within him across a spacious field.

بكاملٍ لا عدِمتْ كاملاً

أُلقحتْ الدولةُ بعد الحِيالْ

Through a perfect man—may it never lack a perfect man—

the state was made fertile after barrenness.

دارت رحاها في يديه فما

ذمّت مجاري قطبها والثِّفالْ

Its mill turned in his hands, and never

did it fault its spindle’s running or its milling cloth.

وجهك في غَمّائها فُرجةٌ

تجلو وآراؤك فيها ذُبالْ

Your face is an opening in its distress,

dispelling it, and your counsels within it are lampwicks.

كم عثرةٍ للملك أنهضتها

لولاك كانت عثرةً لا تقالْ

How many a stumble of kingship you set upright!

Without you, it would have been a stumble beyond recovery.

وصرعةٍ شارف منها الردى

وطال من داء ضناها المِطالْ

And many a fall through which it approached death,

its wasting sickness prolonging the delay.

أوليتَ إقبالَك تدبيرَها

فَطبَّها والداءُ داءٌ عُضالْ

You devoted your attention to managing it,

and treated it, though its sickness was intractable.

نصرتَه فرداً وأنصارُه

قد سَلّموا للخصم قبل الجدالْ

You aided it alone, while its supporters

had surrendered to the enemy before contention.

وجفّت الأقلامُ في صُحفه

يأسا وخانته سيوفُ القتالْ

The pens in its records had dried

in despair, and the swords of battle betrayed it.

كان جباناً فتقدّمتَه

وصُلتَ بين يديه فَصالْ

It was cowardly, so you stepped ahead of it;

you charged before it, and it charged.

رحّلته نهضاً إلى عزّه

والناس يلحونك في الإرتحالْ

You sent it rising toward its glory,

while people reproached you for setting forth.

فكان بالله ورغم العدا

إلى التي حاولتَ أنت المآلْ

And so, by God and despite the foes,

the outcome was what you yourself had sought.

لذاك قد أضحت مقاليدُه

تجري على أمرك جَريَ المحَالْ

For that reason its reins have come

to run at your command like turning pulleys.

علوتَ في الحقّ بكعبيك وال

هاماتُ تهوِي كمداً في سَفالْ

You rose by right upon your heels, while the

heads sank in grief to the depths.

بَلّغ زماناً سامني مطمعاً

في الرفد أن تُعلَى يدي أو تُطالْ

Tell Time, which tried to lure me

with gifts into raising or outstretching my hand:

كم قد تجاذبنا على مثلها

قِدماً فهل روّضتني للسؤالْ

How often we wrestled over the like of this

long ago—did you tame me into begging?

ورمتَ حطّي باستلاب الغنى

مني فهل حُطَّت رواسي الجبالْ

You sought to abase me by stripping wealth

from me—but were the firmly rooted mountains brought low?

لو ذلّ ظهري للأيادي لقد

حُبيت منها بالجِسام الثقالْ

If my back had bowed before benefactions, I would

have been endowed with massive, weighty gifts.

أو شئتُ أغنانِيَ من أُسرتي

مالُ كريمٍ يدُه بيتُ مالْ

Or, had I wished, I could have been enriched by my family’s

generous man, whose wealth is great and whose hand is a treasury.

يداه في الجود يمينان وال

أكفّ معْ كلّ يمينٍ شِمالْ

His hands in generosity are both right hands; the

other hands have a left beside each right.

لذَّ له الحمدُ فعاف الثرا

وقلّما تنمِي مع الحمد حالْ

Praise was sweet to him, so he disdained wealth;

rarely does wealth grow alongside praise.

لو عيب بالجود وإفراطِه

مُعطٍ رأى العائبُ فيه مقالْ

Were a giver faulted for generosity and its excess,

his critic would find much to say of him.

تلامُ في النَّيلِ وهل ينبغي

للمنع كفّ خُلقتْ للنوالْ

You are blamed for giving—but is it fitting

for a hand created for gifts to withhold?

يزدحم الوفدُ على بابه

تزاحُمَ الحجّ بسفحَيْ ألالْ

Visitors throng his gate

as pilgrims throng Alal’s two slopes.

مباركٌ تجمُدُ كفّ الحيا

بخلاً إذا واديه بالجود سالْ

Blessed is he: rain’s hand freezes

in miserliness when his valley flows with bounty.

كأنما الأرضُ وليست له

له ومن فيها عليه عيالْ

As though the earth, though not his,

were his, and all within it his dependents.

جوهرةٌ في الدهر شفّافةٌ

من كرم الأصل وطيبِ الخلالْ

A translucent jewel in Time,

from nobility of origin and goodness of character.

يمزُج صِرفَ الكأس في كفّه

من خُلْقه العذبِ بماءٍ زلالْ

He mixes the cup’s pure wine in his hand

with limpid water from his sweet disposition.

أبا الوفاء اسمع لها رُقْيةً

أفئدةُ العُصْم بها تستمالْ

Abu al-Wafa, hear her incantation,

by which even mountain-goats’ hearts are won.

أرخصَ منها الودُّ ممنوعةً

غلتْ فلم يقدِر عليها المُغالْ

Affection lowered her price, though she was withheld;

she had grown too costly for the most lavish bidder.

مصونة لولا شفيعُ الهوى

فيك إليها فرِكت أن تذالْ

Protected—had love not interceded

for you with her, she would have hated being debased.

أمكنك الإقبالُ من قَودها

ورأسُها صعبٌ على الإنفتالْ

Good fortune gave you the power to lead her,

though her head resists being turned.

كم من ملوك الأرض من راغبٍ

يخطُبها مني كريمِ البِعالْ

Many a king of the earth, an eager suitor,

seeks her hand from me, a noble bridegroom.

رددتُه عنها بسخطٍ فلم

أُبَلْ به وهو بمنعي مبالْ

I turned him away from her in anger, and did not

care for him, though he cared about my refusal.

لكن تخيّرتُك كفؤاً لها

لأنها منك على كلّ حالْ

But I chose you as her equal,

for she comes from you in every circumstance.

وإن تصارمنا فما بيننا

وشائجٌ ليس لهنّ انفصالْ

Even if we sever ties, between us remain

bonds that cannot be parted.

تلاحم القُربَى وإني وإي

ياك لنرمي عن قبيلٍ وآلْ

Kinship knit close: indeed, I and

you shoot in defense of one tribe and family.

فانعَم بما يعمُرُ مجدَ الفتى

ويرفعُ البيتَ وإن كان عالْ

So delight in what builds a young man’s glory

and raises his house, however lofty it already is.

وبعنِيَ الودَّ بها صافياً

فإنه عندِيَ أسنَى منالْ

Sell me pure affection in exchange for her,

for that is the loftiest reward to me.

إن بُزَّ منها المهرجانُ الذي

ودَّعَ أو عُطِّلَ فالعيدُ حالْ

If Mihrajan was robbed of her—the one that

has departed—or left unadorned, Eid has arrived.

زارتك في اليوم الذي خصّني

إذ عاق عما خصّك الإشتغالْ

She visited you on the day reserved for me,

since preoccupation kept me from what was reserved for you.

جاءك شوالٌ بها غُرّةً

فاجتلِها مقرونةً بالهلالْ

Shawwal brought her to you as its bright first gleam,

so behold her unveiled, paired with the crescent.

لم تغلُ في وصفك معْ طولها

بل وَجدَ الشعرُ مقالاً فقالْ

Despite her length, she did not exaggerate in praising you;

rather, poetry found something to say, and spoke.