2021.09.26.
My Heart Burns due to the Cold-Hearted One
How my heart burns due to the cold-hearted oneThe one who afflicts my body and being
Why do I conceal a love that decimated my body
while the crowds pretend to love Sayf al-Dawla1
If what brings us together is loving him
I wish we could share the love equally
I visited him when the rapiers were sheathed
and looked to him when the swords were bloodied
He was the best of God's mankind
and the best of the best were his virtues
You were victorious even when the enemy got away
While unfortunate, it's also a blessing
You struck a great fear in the enemy's heart
and this awe exceeds that of the bravest knights
You willingly committed yourself
to making sure no land or flag will protect your enemies
Every time you seek an army and they flee
Your vigor forces you to give chase
You have to vanquish them in every skirmish
But don't feel ashamed if they got themselves defeated
Do you only accept a victory if
the Indian swords and hairs got entangled2
You're the fairest judge, except when it comes to treating me
The argument is over you, when you're the opponent and the judge
May your perceptive eyes not err
and mistake their tumor-ridden bodies for healthy ones
What is good sight for
if a man can't tell light from darkness
All those gathered in our assembly shall realize
that I'm the best of those who walk this earth
It's my poetry that the blind could see
and my words that the deaf heard
I sleep contently as my words roam free
while others restlessly argue and struggle to understand them
And that ignorant man, who misunderstood my laughter
until my steady hand and mouth got to him
Should a lion bare its fangs
don't think the lion is smiling
And when someone tried to take my life
I took his with an invincible horse
Its two hind legs and two front legs each acting as one
doing whatever the palm and foot of its rider commands
I walked with a thin sword between two armies
Striking as the waves of death clashed
The horses, the night, and the desert know my name
as does the sword, the spear, the paper, and the pen
In the desolate wasteland beasts kept my solitary company
to the astonishment of the hills and the mountains
How difficult is it for me to leave you
My heart is nothing without you
I deserved to be treated equally
if you cared about me as I did you
If what the one who envies me said has pleased you
a wound that pleases you does not hurt
There's a familiarity between us, if you cared for it
Intelligent people respect such familiarity
How hard you try to find fault with me, in vain
Both God and the honorable disapprove of that
My character stands far away from such baseness and ignominy
Like the Pleiades, far from ever getting old or fading
If only the thunderous clouds around me
could be removed by your life-giving showers
I see the distance I have to travel at every step
a distance not covered even by the fastest camels
Should I leave with the Damir mountain on my right3
You will surely regret it
If you were made to leave people who could have
prevented your departure, it is they who have departed
The worst place is one without a friend
The worst thing to earn is a tarnished reputation
And the worst bird my hand caught
is one that equates falcons with vultures
How the rabble recite such poetry in your presence
Poetry that is worthy of neither Arabs nor non-Arabs
This is my rebuke, but it comes from a place of love
Although in words, it contains precious pearls