عجلت بحطك فيها الرحالا — Mihyar Al Daylami

عجِلتَ بحطّك فيها الرِّحالا

أثِرها أمنتُ عليك الكَلالا

You were hasty in setting down your saddles there.

Rouse them: I fear no exhaustion for you.

وقُدْها محدّبهً كالقسيِّ

من الضّال تسبي الفيافي نِضالا

Drive them, arched like bows

of wild lote wood, taking the desert wastes captive in an archery contest.

كما انتحل الشدّنيُّ الحنينَ

بطوناً خماصاً وسُوقاً خِدالا

As the young gazelle borrowed the plaintive cry—

with lean bellies and full-fleshed shanks.

ركائب من لا يخاف النها

ر يَعلَى ولا طارقَ الليل عالا

Mounts of one who does not fear the day

rising high, nor a burdensome visitor in the night.

أعذني فقد كدّني في اللّئا

م سومي بها حاجةً لن تُنالا

Give me refuge: among the baseborn I have been worn down

by pursuing on these mounts a need that will never be met.

وإنّ بواسطَ جوداً يكون

لرأسٍ عِقالاً ورجلٍ شكالا

In Wasit there is generosity that becomes

a binding cord for the head and a fetter for the foot,

ومجداً إذا المجد كان الغريبَ

لقيتَ به منه حيّاً حِلالا

and glory: when glory is a stranger,

there you find a whole tribe of it settled.

وإلا فصفْ أنت حالي وقل

إِنِ الدهرُ دون مُنَى النفس حالا

Or else describe my condition yourself, and say:

'Time has intervened between the soul and its desires.'

أيا جامعاً فِرقَ الخافقيْن

أوانسَ كنَّ شِماساً مَلالا

O gatherer of the bands of East and West,

now friendly, though once restive and averse.

خلتْ تتوافقُ فيها البلادُ

فها هي فيك اختصاماً تَقالى

Once the lands were in accord over them;

now, over you, they contend in mutual hatred.

وإنّ لبغدادَ دَيناً عليك

وقد ضعُفَتْ أن تُطيق المِطالا

Baghdad has a debt owed by you,

and has grown too weak to bear delay.

وفيها وفي أهلها عزّةٌ

أساء الولاةُ لها الإبتذالا

There is dignity in her and in her people;

the governors wronged her by debasing her.

تسرَّعْ لإصلاح قومٍ ترى

خلالَ أمورهمُ الإختلالا

Hasten to reform a people in whose

affairs you see disorder throughout.

سوامٌ تطاوَلَ نومُ الرعا

ة عن هديهم فتفانوا ضلالا

A grazing herd, while the shepherds' sleep grew long,

neglecting to guide them, so they perished astray.

تداركْ بعدلك أرماقَهم

فما أبقت النارُ إلا الذُّبالا

Rescue their last breaths with your justice:

the fire has left nothing but wicks.

غرائس إحسانك الأولون

بجودك أُعْطُوا الحيا والظِّلالا

They are the earliest plantings of your beneficence;

through your bounty they were given rain and shade.

ومذ لم تزل تبعث المكرما

ت بينهمُ وتبُثُّ النوالا

And since you never cease sending generous deeds

among them and spreading bounty,

وترعى لهم حرمةَ الإختلاطِ

بهم والمزارَ لهم والوصالا

and honor their claim to your association

with them, your visits to them, and continued ties—

عبيدٌ وأنت بحكم الوفاء

تخالهمُ لك عمّاً وخالا

slaves, yet you, by the rule of loyalty,

regard them as your paternal and maternal uncles.

ودار ندىً لك بل ندوةٌ

نحرت البدورَ بها لا الفِصالا

And a house of bounty for you—rather, a gathering place—

where you slaughtered full moons, not weaned camel-calves.

مراتع يرتادها القانصو

ن صادوا غزالتها والغزالا

Pastures frequented by hunters,

who caught her gazelle-doe and her gazelle-buck.

تفانَى الملوكُ على حبّها

وعقَّ لها ابنٌ أباه قتالا

Kings destroyed one another for love of her;

for her, a son defied his father in battle.

أما اشتقت مغنى الهوى حيث طاب

ومنبِتَ غصنِ الهوى حيثُ طالا

Do you not long for love's abode, where it was sweet,

and the growing-place of love's branch, where it grew tall?

أما آن من نازحٍ أن يحنَّ

وللوصل من هاجرٍ أن يُذالا

Is it not time for one far away to yearn,

and for reunion to be freely granted by one who forsook it?

وبعدك قد أنكرتْ حسنَها

وحالت على الطِّيب حالاً فحالا

After your departure she has disowned her beauty,

and changed from her pleasant state, condition after condition.

وكانت بعيداً عن الحادثات

فقد أخذ الدهرُ منها ونالا

She had been far from calamities,

but Time has taken from her and exacted its toll.

أعِرْها بقربك من دائها

شفاءً وإن كان داءً عُضالا

Lend her, through your nearness, relief from her illness:

a cure, even though the disease be incurable.

وكذِّب على الرغم من حاسديك

أحاديثَ تحسبُ منها المُحالا

And, in spite of your enviers, give the lie to

tales whose impossible claims you discern,

ومعتبرين بعجز الولا

ة عنها نُكولاً ومنها نَكالا

and those who judge by the governors' weakness

before her—their retreat and punishment at her hands.

يسوّون في البطش كلتا اليدين

وينسون فضلَ اليمين الشِّمالا

They equate both hands in striking,

and make the left forget the right hand's superiority.

فظنّوك تعيا بحمل العراق

كأنْ لم يَرَوك حملتَ الجبالا

They thought bearing Iraq would exhaust you,

as though they had not seen you shoulder mountains.

وأنزلتَ بالعُصُم العازبا

ت عنها وما طاولتك النزالا

You brought upon the mountain goats what had been remote

from them; they could not rival you in combat.

وكم زاحمتْها صروفُ الزما

ن قبلُ فكانت عليها ثقالا

How often the vicissitudes of Time had assailed them

before, weighing heavily upon them!

ولو لم تكن في العلوّ السماءَ

لما كان غُنمُك منها هلالا

Had it not been the sky itself in loftiness,

your spoil from it would not have been Hilal, the crescent.

سريتَ إليه فكنتَ السّرارَ

لهُ ولبدرٍ أبيه الكمالا

You journeyed to him by night and became the moonless dark

for him, and the culmination for Badr, his father.

جديد التجارب غِرّ اللقا

ءِ ما ردّدته الحروب انتقالا

New to experience, unseasoned in battle,

not tempered by war's changing fortunes.

وأعجبَه عددٌ زاده

غداة تولى هزيماً خبالا

He was dazzled by numbers that only increased

his confusion on the morning he fled, defeated.

رأى حربَك النارَ تُذكَي فسا

قَ حَشْداً ليُطْفئَها واحتفالا

He saw your war as a blazing fire, and drove

a massed host to extinguish it, with a mighty muster.

ولم يدرِ مختبطاً أَنّها

بفضل الوَقود تزيد اشتعالا

He did not know, blundering, that it

burns more fiercely with an abundance of fuel.

بعثتَ سيوفاً إذا الدهرُ زل

ل جِئن به صاغراً فاستقالا

You sent swords which, when Time stumbled,

brought him humbled, and he begged pardon.

فداويتَه من سَقام العقوقِ

وعلَّمتَه الصبرَ والإحتمالا

You cured him of the sickness of disobedience,

and taught him patience and endurance.

وبدّلتَ من حلقاتِ الدروعِ

خفافاً له الحلقاتِ الثقالا

You replaced the rings of armor,

light upon him, with heavy rings.

فقصَّر مشيتَه مكرهاً

نتيجةَ أدهمَ بالأمسِ حالا

So he shortened his stride against his will—

a black steed's offspring, leaping only yesterday.

تؤمل رجلاه جدوَى يديه

إذا رَفع الخيطَ فِتْراً فشالا

His feet hope for help from his hands

when he lifts the cord a span and they both rise.

ومذخورة من كنوز الزما

ن جرّ عليها السنينَ الطّوالا

And a treasure laid up among Time's stores,

over which he drew the long years.

وأودعَها الحقَّ مستظهرٌ

توثّق ما اسطاع جهداً وعالى

One seeking security deposited the treasure chest within it,

securing it with all the effort he could, and raising it high.

أقام الكواكبَ حرّاسَها

عيوناً له لا تخاف اغتيالا

He set the stars as its guards,

watchful eyes for him, fearing no surprise attack.

وباعَ بها نفسه والنفوسَ

زماناً فأرخصَ منها وغالى

Through it he sold his own life and other lives

for a time, now pricing them cheaply, now dearly.

شجاً قائماً في حلوقِ الملوك

إذا حلَموا أبصروه خَيالا

A thorn lodged in the throats of kings:

when they dreamed, they saw it as a phantom.

إلى أن بعثتَ لها آيةً

نسختَ بهَدْيك فيها الضلالا

Until you sent it a sign,

erasing its error through your guidance.

وعلّمتَ فيها البخيلَ السماحَ

وحسّنت للكادح الإتكالا

You taught the miser generosity there,

and made reliance attractive to the toiler.

فلا حصَّن الناسُ من بعدها

مآلاً ولا ادخروا قطُّ مالا

After that, let people fortify no

refuge, nor ever lay up wealth.

وكائن ببغدادَ من آملٍ

ومن زاجرٍ فيك فالاً ففالا

How many hopeful souls there are in Baghdad,

and augurs who drew an omen from you, only to err;

ومن عاطشٍ فمُه فاغرٌ

يراقب واديك من أين سالا

and many a thirsty man, his mouth agape,

watching your valley to see whence it flows.

يعدّ النهارَ بساعاته

يسائلُ عنك الضحى والزوالا

He counts the day by its hours,

asking the forenoon and noon about you.

ومثليَ من خادمٍ خاملٍ

ولو طاول النجم بالفضل طالا

And an obscure servant such as I,

who, if he vied with a star in merit, would rise above it;

ومن جامعٍ حسناتِ الخِلال

وقد قبّح الفقر تلك الخِلالا

and one who gathers the virtues of character,

though poverty has made those virtues ugly.

لعلّك تحيى الحظوظَ الرفاتَ

وتُسمن هذي الجدودَ الهِزالا

Perhaps you will revive fortunes crumbled to dust,

and fatten these lean fortunes.

تلاشى مع الكرماء الثناءُ

فلا قول معناه أن لا فعالا

Praise has vanished along with the generous:

no words—that is to say, no deeds.

وما زال مسؤولهم جافياً

وحاشاك حتى جفونا السؤالا

The one they petitioned was always harsh—

far be that from you—until we abandoned asking.

سكتُّ طويلاً إلى أن وجدتُ

مقاماً أُصدَّق فيه مَقالا

I kept silent a long time, until I found

a setting where my words would be believed.

لسانٌ حسامٌ ولا مضربٌ

فلو ذاب سيفٌ لذاب انفلالا

A tongue, a keen sword, yet nowhere to strike:

if a sword could melt, it would melt from blunting.

أعَدَّ لوصفك آياتِه

ليُظهر صفواً له وانتخالا

It prepared its verses to describe you,

to display its purity and careful selection.

وقدَّمَ مستقبلاً هذه

شبيه مدحك واقتبالا

And, in welcome, it offered this—

a semblance of praise for you, and a greeting.

تُزاحمُ حولك وفدَ الثناء

وإن عدمتْ في الزحام المَنالا

It jostles around you with the delegations of praise,

even if it gains nothing in the press.

فلا تجعلنَ كثرةَ الزائرين

لها فترةً وعليها اعتلالا

Do not make the multitude of visitors

a cause to neglect it, or an excuse against it.

فمن كان لا غيره في الزما

ن كان الأنامُ عليه عيالا

For whoever has no equal in Time

has all mankind dependent upon him.