ليتها إذ منعت ماعونها — Mihyar Al Daylami

ليتها إذ منعت ماعونَها

لم تكن ناهرةً مِسكينَها

Would that, when she withheld her kindness,

she had not rebuked her poor petitioner.

دُميةٌ ما اجتمعت والشمس في

موطِن إلا رأتها دونَها

A beauty who never met the sun in

one place without seeing it beneath her.

ما عليها لو أطاعت حسنَها

يوم جَمعٍ أو أطاعت دينَها

What harm if she had obeyed her beauty

on the day at Jam‘, or obeyed her faith?

سكنَت بين المصلَّى ومنىً

حِجَّةً لم تتّبِع مسنونَها

She dwelt between the prayer-ground and Mina

through a pilgrimage, yet did not follow its prescribed rites.

تصفُ الظبيةَ لولا عَطفَها

لك والبانةَ لولا لينَها

She would portray the doe, but for its tenderness,

to you—and the bān tree, but for its suppleness.

فأسالت أنفسا معْجَلةً

لم تشارف من كتابٍ حِينَها

So she spilled souls, hastened to their deaths,

before they had neared their decreed hour.

أنبلتْها وهي لا سهمَ لها

إنما ألحاظُها يَكفينها

She pierced them with arrows, though she has no arrow;

her sidelong glances alone suffice her.

سألت لمياءُ ماذا فتنت

أيّ قلبٍ لم يكن مفتونَها

Lamya’ asked what she had bewitched:

what heart had not been bewitched by her?

إن تُرِي ظنَّكِ أن قد غودرت

بالمصلَّى مهجةٌ تَسبينها

If you would have your fancy believe there has been left

at the prayer-ground a heart for you to capture,

فاسألي عينيكِ هل جانبتا

في الجوَى حُورَ المها أو عِينها

then ask your two eyes whether they have spared

the dark-eyed or wide-eyed oryx from love’s ache.

يا ابنةَ المُثنَى عليهم بالندى

وعهودٍ حرَّموا تخوينَها

O daughter of those praised for generosity

and covenants they forbade anyone to call faithless,

ما لهم جادوا وبَخَّلتِ وما

للمواثيق التي تلوينَها

why did they give freely, while you made them seem miserly—and what

of the covenants you twist aside?

رُمِستْ عندك عاداتٌ لهم

كان حقُّ المجد لو تُحيينَها

Buried with you are customs of theirs

that glory’s due required you to revive.

أزِفَ النَّفْرُ وفي أسر الهوى

كبِدٌ عندكِ لا تفدينَها

Departure draws near, while captive to love

is a heart you hold and will not ransom.

ذهبتْ هائمةً فاطلعت

عُذرةٌ تحسَبها مجنونَها

It wandered, lost in love; then it was seen by

‘Udhra, who thought it their own mad lover.

قُضيَ الحجُّ تماما ولنا

حاجةٌ بعدُ فهل تقضينَها

The pilgrimage is wholly fulfilled, but we have

a need still—will you fulfill it?

ما بك الصدُّ ولكن وفرةٌ

لوَّنَتْها نوبٌ تلوينَها

Your aversion is no fault of yours, but of a head of hair

that time’s reversals have dyed as they please.

إن تَرَيْ أشمطَ منها أشعثا

وحفَها بالأمس أو مدهونَها

If you see, gray-streaked and disheveled,

its once-thick locks, or its oiled ones,

فالليالي وهي ضَرَّاتٌ لها

يتجدّدنَ لأن يُبلينَها

the nights, which are its rival wives,

renew themselves only to wear it out.

كلّ ما أعطينها يأخذنهُ

ثم يأخذن فلا يُعطينَها

All that they gave it, they take back,

then take yet more and give it nothing.

ربَّ مرميٍّ أصبناه بها

ورماةٍ ثَمَّ لا يُصمينها

Many a target we struck with it,

while archers there cannot strike it dead.

وفلاةٍ تَرْهَبُ العيسُ بما

قلَّ تحقيقاً بها مضمونَها

And many a wilderness frightens the pale camels, since

what it guarantees so rarely proves true.

يجمع الخِرِّيتُ حوْلاً أمره

وهو لم يأخذْ لها آيينَها

The expert guide spends a year settling his plans,

yet still has not mastered its ways.

أوحشتْ حتى غدا مشكورُها

شُقَّةً أو غَرَرا معلونَها

It grew so desolate that even its vaunted ground became

an arduous trek—or its open reaches, peril.

قد ركِبنا فوصلنا بَيْنها

وهي شتَّى وقطعنا بِينَها

We rode on, bridging its intervals,

though scattered, and cutting through its divides,

لنرى مثلَ ابن أيّوب فتىً

ثقةَ الشيمةِ أو مأمونَها

to see a young man like Ibn Ayyub,

trustworthy in character, or beyond mistrust.

فإذا تلك على بُعدِ السُّرى

حاجةُ العيس التي ما جِينَها

And behold, for all the long night journey, that was

the pale camels’ need, which they had not come seeking.

صحِبَ اللهُ وحيّا حامياً

سَرحةَ المجدِ التي ترعونَها

May God accompany and bless the guardian

of glory’s spreading tree, which you tend.

وتبقَّى للمعالي ممسِكا

بعُراها حافظا قانونَها

And may he endure for noble deeds, holding

their handholds and preserving their law.

وجدَ السؤددَ في مولده

فِطرةً والناسُ يرتادونَها

He found nobility at his birth

an inborn gift, while others seek it out.

ورأى الفقرَ مع العزّ إذا

أنفسٌ جرَّ غناها هُونَها

He saw poverty allied with honor, when

some souls had their wealth bring them humiliation.

حلَّ من أُسرته في ذِروةٍ

فاتت الشّهبَ فما يبغينَها

He took his place within his clan upon a summit

beyond the bright stars, which do not seek to reach it.

دوحةٌ مطعمةٌ منعمةٌ

جانياتُ المجدِ يستحلينَها

A spreading tree that nourishes and blesses:

the gatherers of glory find it sweet.

ربَّها الله فصفَّى ماءَها

حَلَبَ المزن وزكَّى طينَها

God nurtured it and purified its water—

the milk of rainclouds—and enriched its clay.

ونَمتْ من فرعها جوهرةٌ

أظهرَ الدهرُ بها مكنونَها

And a jewel grew from its branch,

through which time revealed its hidden treasure.

بأبي طالبَ طالت لهُمُ

شُرَفُ العزّ التي يبنونَها

Through Abu Talib rose high for them

the battlements of honor they are building.

جاء في جبهتها غرّتَها

فاحتبى في وجهها عِرنينَها

He came as the bright blaze upon its brow,

then took his seat upon its face, its proud nose.

كان فيها حاتمَ الجودِ فمذ

كنزَ الحمدَ غدَا قارونَها

Within it he was generosity’s Hatim; and when

he amassed praise, he became its Qarun.

يزحَمُ الحسّادُ منه هضبةً

يتفانَوْن ولا يثنونَها

His enviers press against the mountain he is;

they perish and cannot bend it.

تَزلَق الأقدامُ عن مَرقاتِها

وتُرى الأبصارُ حَسْرَى دونَها

Feet slip from its ascending steps,

and eyes are seen exhausted short of it.

فابْقَ لا تعدَم مغاني مجدهم

عزَّها منك ولا تمكينَها

So live on! May the abodes of their glory never lack

their might from you, nor their stability,

عامراً عافِيَها أو مالئا

بجماعات الندى مسكونَها

as you restore their effaced places, or fill

their inhabited ones with gatherings of generosity.

بك روحُ الفضل عادت حيَّةً

بعدَما أنشدَنا تأبينَها

Through you the spirit of excellence returned alive

after its funeral elegy had been recited to us.

زُجِرت باسمك أو طارت لها

يَمَنٌ قد عدِمت ميمونَها

Omens were read in your name, or there flew to it

lucky birds that had lost their auspicious one.

وقضى الدهرُ ديوني بعدما

ضغطتْ ممطولةً مديونَها

And time discharged my debts, after

long unpaid, they had oppressed their debtor.

نُطتُ نفسي بك أو أغنيتَها

عن أكفٍّ كنَّ لا يُغنينَها

I bound my soul to you—or you freed it

from hands that had never enriched it.

لم تدع عند المنى لي حاجةً

لا خباياها ولا مخزونَها

You left me no need for wishes to fulfill,

neither their hidden treasures nor their secret store.

فقلوبٌ حزتَ لي شَنْآنها

ولحاظٌ قُدتَ لي مشفونَها

Thus hearts—you won their hatred for me;

and glances—you led their objects captive to me.

فمتى أشكرْك تَنطِقْ روضةٌ

حدقُ المزنِ بها يسقينَها

Whenever I thank you, a garden speaks;

the rainclouds’ eyes water it there.

شانَها الجدبُ زمانا فاحتبتْ

أُمَّ جَوْدٍ وليَتْ تزيينَها

Drought marred it awhile; then it embraced

a mother of abundant rain who undertook its adornment.

فاستعِدْها حاديا معجزَها

مالكا أبكارَها أو عُونَها

So call it back, chanting to urge its hindmost on,

master of its virgins or its mature ones.

يحمل النيروزُ منها تُحفةً

عادةً أدَّى لكم مضمونَها

Nowruz carries from it a gift,

as is customary, delivering its promised due to you,

مخبرا أنكُمُ من بعدهِ

رهنَ ألفٍ مثلِهِ تطوونَها

announcing that, after it, you are

bound to fold away a thousand more like it.

فإذا ذاك فذرِّيَّتُكُمْ

تأخذ النُّهْجَ التي تحذونَها

And when that comes, your descendants

will take the paths that you tread.