سلمت وما الديار بسالمات — Mihyar Al Daylami

سلمتِ وما الديارُ بسالماتٍ

على عنَت البلى يا دارَ هندِ

You have survived, though dwellings are not spared,

despite decay's affliction, O dwelling of Hind.

ولا برِحتْ مفوَّقةُ الغوادي

تُصيبُ رباكِ من خَطَإٍ وعمدِ

May the morning clouds, their arrows nocked, never cease

striking your heights, by chance and by intent,

بموقِظةِ الثرى والتربُ هادٍ

ومُجديةِ الحيا والعامُ مُكدي

with rain that wakes the earth when its dust lies still,

and brings abundant moisture when the year yields nothing.

على أني متى مطرَتْكِ عيني

ففضلٌ ما سقاكِ الغيثُ بعدي

Yet whenever my eye has rained upon you,

the rain that waters you after me is merely surplus.

أميلُ إليكِ يجذبني فؤادي

وغيرُكِ ما استقام السيرُ قصدي

I turn toward you, drawn by my heart,

though, while the journey keeps its course, my destination is elsewhere.

وأُشفق أن تبدِّلكِ المطايا

بوطأتها كأنَّ ثراكِ خدّي

And I fear that the mounts may alter you

with their tread, as though your soil were my cheek.

أرى بكِ ما أراه فمستعيرٌ

حشاي وواجدٌ بالبين وجدي

I see in you what I see in myself: you borrow

my heart and feel my anguish at separation.

وليتِك إذ نحلتِ نحولَ جسمي

بقِيتِ على النحول بقاءَ عهدي

Would that, when you wasted as my body wastes,

you had endured in your wasting as my pledge endures.

وما أهلوكِ يومَ خلوتِ منهم

بأوّلِ غَدرةٍ للدهر عندي

The loss of your people, when you stood empty of them,

was not Time's first betrayal of me.

سلي الأيام ما فعلت بأنسي

وعيشٍ لي على البيضاء رغدِ

Ask the days what they have done to my happiness,

and to the easy life I had at al-Bayda';

وفي الأحداج عن رشإٍ حبيبٍ

على لونيه من صِلةٍ وصدِّ

and, among the camel-litters, ask about a beloved young gazelle,

in his two colors of union and rejection.

يماطلُ ثم يُنجزُ كلَّ دَيْنٍ

ولم ينجز بذي العلمين وعدي

He delays, then settles every debt,

yet at Dhu al-'Alamayn he never fulfilled his promise to me.

تبسّم بالبراق وصاب غيث

فلو مُلِكَ الفِداءُ لكنتُ أَفدي

He smiled at al-Biraq, and rain fell;

if ransom were mine to give, I would ransom

ثناياه وفاه ولا أغالي

بما في المزن من برقٍ وبَرْدِ

his teeth and mouth—without overpaying—

with all the lightning and hail in the clouds.

ألاَ مَن عائدٌ ببياضِ يومٍ

لعيني بين أحناء وصمدِ

Ah, who will bring back the brightness of a day

to my eye, between Ahna' and Samad,

وعِينٍ بالطُّوَيلع بارزاتٍ

على قَسَماتِهنّ حياءُ نجدِ

and the wide-eyed maidens appearing at al-Tuwayli',

the modesty of Najd upon their faces?

نظرنَ فما غزالتُه بلحظٍ

ومِسْنَ فما أراكتُه بقدِّ

They looked—its gazelle had no glance to compare;

and swayed—its arak tree had no stature to compare.

وبلهاء الصِّبا تبغي سِقاطي

إذا حلّلتها هزَلتْ بجِدّي

And a girl guileless in youth seeks to catch my slips;

when I let her loose, she makes sport of my seriousness.

تَعدُّ سنيَّ تعجَبُ من وقاري

ولم يجتزْ مراحَ العمر عَدِّي

She counts my years, astonished at my gravity,

though my years have not passed beyond life's playground.

فما للشَّيْب شدَّ عليّ ركضاً

فطوّح بي ولم أبلغ أشُدِّي

Why, then, has gray hair charged upon me at a gallop,

and flung me away before I reached my prime?

يعيّرني ولم أره شآني

تنبه حظُّه بخمولِ جَدّي

A man reproaches me, though I have never seen him surpass me;

his fortune awakened when my luck lay dormant.

وودَّ على غضارة حُلَّتيهِ

مكانَ الرقع من أسمال بُردي

Yet, despite the fresh splendor of his two robes, he coveted

the place of the patches in my tattered cloak.

وما ورقُ الغنى المنفوضُ عنّي

بمُعرٍ من حُسام المجدِ غِمدي

The leaves of wealth shaken from me

have not stripped my scabbard of glory's sword.

حملتُ وليس عن جَلَدٍ بقلبي

حُمولَةَ واسع الجنبين جَلْدِ

I bore—not through any fortitude in my heart—

the load of one broad-flanked and hardy.

تبادهني النوائب مستغرّاً

فأدفعها بعزمةِ مستعِدّ

Calamities catch me off guard,

yet I repel them with a ready man's resolve.

يزِلُّ الحوفُ عن سكنات قلبي

زليلَ الماءِ عن صفحاتِ جلدي

Fear slips from the quiet recesses of my heart,

as water slips from the surfaces of my skin.

دع الدنيا تَرِفَّ على بنيها

وتُجلِبُ بالجفاء عليّ وحدي

Let the world be gentle with its children

and assail me alone with estrangement.

وفِرْ أموالَهم تنمو وتزكو

فليس كنوزُها ثمناً لحمدي

And spare their wealth: let it grow and flourish;

the world's treasures are no price for my praise.

لعل حوائ الآمال فيهم

تُطَرَّقُ من أبي سعدٍ بسعدِ

Perhaps the hopes left barren among them

will be made fruitful by Abu Sa'd with good fortune.

فتى عَقدتْ تمائمُه فطيماً

على أُكرومةٍ ووفاءِ عَقدِ

A youth whose amulets bound him, newly weaned,

to nobility and the faithful keeping of a pact.

وربَّته على خُلُق المعالي

غرائزُ من أبٍ عالٍ وجَدِّ

He was reared in the character of lofty deeds

by innate qualities from an exalted father and grandfather.

فما مجَّت له أُذُنٌ سؤالاً

ولا سمحتْ له شَفَةٌ بردِّ

No ear of his has ever spat out a request,

and no lip of his has consented to refusal.

إذا اخضرّت بنانُ أبٍ كريمٍ

فصِبغتُها إلى الأبناء تُعدِي

When a generous father's fingers turn green,

their dye spreads to his children.

تطاولَ للكمالِ فلم يُفتْهُ

على قُربِ الوِلاد مكانُ بُعدِ

He reached toward perfection, and did not miss,

despite his recent birth, any far-off station.

وتمَّ فعُلِّق الأبصارَ بدراً

ولم يَعلَقْ له شَعَرٌ بخدِّ

He reached fullness, a full moon that held all eyes,

before any hair had clung to his cheek.

رآه أبوه وابن الليث شبل

لسَدَّةِ ثُغرةٍ وهو ابن مَهدِ

His father saw him—a lion's son is a lion cub—

ready to close a breach while still a cradle-child.

فقال لحاسديه شُقِيتُمُ بي

وهذا ابني به تَشقَوْنَ بعدي

And he said to his enviers, 'You have suffered through me;

this is my son: through him you will suffer after me.'

جَرَى ولداتِهِ فمضى وكدُّوا

لو أنَّ الريحَ مُدْرَكَةٌ بكدِّ

He raced his contemporaries: he sped ahead, while they toiled,

if only the wind could be overtaken by toil!

إذا سبروه عن عَوصاءَ أدلَى

بها فَنَجا على غَرَرِ التحدّي

When they test him on a hard question, he offers

its answer, emerging safe through the challenge's hazards.

دَعُوا دَرَجَ الفضائل مزلِقاتٍ

لماضٍ بالفضائلِ مستبِدِّ

Leave the slippery stairways of excellence

to one who advances in excellence and claims it alone.

وما حسدُ النجومِ على المعالي

ولو ذابَ الحصا حسدا بمُجدي

The stars' envy of lofty deeds—

even if pebbles melted with envy—would avail nothing.

أبا سعدٍ ولو عثروا بعيبٍ

مشوا فيه بحقٍّ أو تعدّي

Abu Sa'd, if they discovered a fault,

they would carry it about, rightly or wrongfully.

وقد تسرى العيوبُ على التصافي

فكيفَ بها بحقٍّ أو تعدّي

Faults may spread even amid sincere friendship;

what then of them, rightly or wrongfully pursued?

ولكن فتَّهم فنجوتَ منهم

نَجاءَ اللحن بالخصمِ الألدِّ

But you surpassed them and escaped from them,

as a shrewd speaker escapes the most stubborn opponent.

وملَّكَكَ الفخارُ فلم تنازَع

بقُلٍّ في النديّ ولا بحَشْدِ

Glory made you king, and none contested you,

whether a few in the assembly or a multitude.

أبٌ لك يُلحِمُ العلياءَ طولاً

وخالٌ في عِراصِ المجد يُسدِي

Your father weaves high renown's weft with bounty,

and your maternal uncle lays the warp in glory's courts.

ولم يعدِلْ أبا لك يَعرُبيّاً

زميلٌ مثلُ خالك في مَعَدِّ

No peer has equaled your Ya'rubi father,

not even one like your maternal uncle among Ma'add.

جزيتُك عن وفائك لي ثناءً

يودّ أخي مكانَك فيه عندي

I repaid your loyalty to me with praise

in which my brother wishes he held your place with me.

ولولا الودُّ عزّ عليك مدحي

ولولا الفضلُ عزّ عليك ودّي

Without affection, my praise would be hard for you to obtain;

without merit, my affection would be hard for you to obtain.

بني عبد الرحيم بكم تعالت

يدي ووري على الظلماء زَندي

Sons of 'Abd al-Rahim, through you has risen

my hand, and my fire-stick has sparked against the darkness.

وإن أودَى بنيسابور قومي

فجدُّكُمُ من الأملاك جدِّي

Though my people perished in Nishapur,

your ancestor among the kings is my ancestor.

وأصدقُ ما محضتُ القومَ مدحي

إذا ما كان مَجدُ القوم مَجدي

My praise of a people is purest and truest

when their glory is my own glory.

تُفاعِيني لتُردِيَني الليالي

فأذكرُكم فتنهسُني بدُرْدِ

The nights beguile me like a viper, seeking my ruin;

but I remember you, and they bite me with toothless mouths.

وأزحَمُ فيكُمُ نكباتِ دهري

بعصبةِ غالبٍ وبني الأشدِّ

Through you I push back the calamities of my time,

with Ghalib's band and the sons of al-Ashadd.

لذلك ما حبوتكُمُ صفايا

ذخائرُ خيرُ ما أحبو وأُهدي

For that I have bestowed on you choice gifts,

treasures, the best that I bestow and offer.

طوالعُ من حجابِ القلبِن عفوي

بهنَّ يُبدُّ غايةَ كلِّ جُهدِ

They rise from the heart's veil; my spontaneous art

through them outstrips the utmost of every effort.

تجوبُ الأرض وتقطعُ كلَّ يوم

مدَى عامين للساري المُجِدِّ

They traverse the earth, covering every day

two years' distance for a diligent night traveler.

يَرِيَن وبعدُ لم يُروَين حسناً

كأنّ سطورَهن وُشوعُ بُرْدِ

They spark with beauty before they are even recited,

as though their lines were the woven strands of a cloak.

إذا رَوَّت رجالَكُمُ كُهولاً

سأرن لصبيةٍ منكم ومُدِ

When they have slaked the thirst of your men in maturity,

they leave a portion for your children and beardless youths.

ولولاكم لما ظفرت بكفءٍ

يَسُرُّ ولا سعت قدماً لرشدِ

Without you, they would never have found a worthy mate

to delight them, nor taken a step toward sound judgment.

ولكن زفّها الأحرارُ منكم

فما أشقيت حرّتَها بعبدِ

But the freeborn among you escorted them as brides,

so I did not make their freeborn bride wretched with a slave.

فَضَلتم سؤدداً وفضَلتُ قولاً

فكلٌّ في مداه بغير نِدِّ

You excelled in lordship, and I excelled in verse,

each unmatched within his own domain.

بكم خُتم الندَى وبِيَ القوافي

بقيتم وحدكم وبقيتُ وحدي

With you generosity was sealed, and with me the rhymes;

you alone remain, and I alone remain.