Sol 6.1

  1. ما لطيفٍ زار منكم موهنا

    سلب القلب وعاف البدنا

    What ails a phantom of yours that came late at night?

    It stole my heart and spurned my body.

  2. ظنَّ أني راقدٌ عن سلوةٍ

    فحماها واستباح الوسنا

    It thought I slept because I had found solace,

    so it barred that solace and violated my slumber.

  3. ولأسد الغاب إذا تقنصها

    ليلة النفر ظباء المنحنى

    And what of the forest's lions, when hunted

    on departure-night by the gazelles of the bend?

  4. كم منحنا من أسى بعد أسى

    وحرمنا من منى يوم منى

    How much grief after grief they gave us,

    and denied us wishes on the day at Mina!

  5. وكلوا باللحظ هنديّ الظُّبى

    والقدودَ المخطفاتِ اللُّدنا

    They set Indian-edged blades to guard their glances

    and their slender-waisted, supple figures;

  6. فسيوفٌ بسيوفٍ حرست

    وقنا خطٍّ حموها بالقنا

    thus swords were guarded by swords,

    and Khatt's spears they guarded with spears.

  7. وسقيمٍ جفنهُ عن صحَّةٍ

    حربي من صحَّة وهي ضنى

    And one whose eyelid's languor springs from health—

    my bane comes from health that is wasting sickness.

  8. ربَّ حسن قبحت أفعاله

    من رأى شيئاً قبيحاً حسنا

    How many a fair one whose deeds are ugly!

    Who has seen a thing both ugly and fair?

  9. ريقه المعسولُ مع مقلتهِ

    جمعاً لي بابلاً واليمنا

    His honeyed saliva, together with his eye,

    brought Babylon and Yemen together for me.

  10. ذمَّ دمعي خيفةً من بوحهِ

    أسمعتم من يذمُّ المزنا

    He blamed my tears, fearing their disclosure;

    have you heard of anyone who blames rain clouds?

  11. كلَّما هزَّ الصّبا قامتهُ

    فضحت دعصَ النقا والغصنا

    Whenever the east wind swayed his figure,

    it shamed the sandy mound and the bough.

  12. صائدٌ باللحظ إن قيل رنا

    طاعن أن قيل انثنى

    A hunter with his glance, if they say he gazed;

    a piercer, if they say he swayed.

  13. ما حكى الظبية إلاَّ جيداً

    ولهُ الفضلُ وإلاَّ عينا

    He resembles the gazelle only in the neck,

    or in the eye—and the advantage is his.

  14. بدرُ تم بالأماني يجتلى

    غصن بان بالمنايا يجتنى

    A full moon beheld through wishes;

    a ban-tree bough plucked at the price of death.

  15. يا رماة الحيَّ من باهلةٍ

    فوقوا النَّيل وكفُّوا الأعينا

    O archers of the camp, of Bahila,

    nock your [arrows], and restrain your eyes!

  16. كلُّ سهمٍ غير ما أرسلتمُ

    كلمهُ في القلب أمسى هينا

    Every arrow other than those you have shot—

    its wound in my heart has become slight.

  17. قد رأينا داركم آهلةً

    وخشينا أن نراها دمنا

    We have seen your home inhabited,

    and feared to see it turned to deserted ruins.

  18. فبكينا جزعها من جزعٍ

    وندينا الحزن منها حزنا

    So we wept over its valley bend in anguish,

    and wet its rugged ground with sorrow.

  19. كم بها من جاهليٍ قلبهُ

    ومع الأظعان منكم وثنا

    How many there have a pagan heart,

    and an idol of you among the departing litters!

  20. فسقى عهدُ الحيا عهدكمُ

    قلَّ ذاك البذلُ فيها ثمنا

    May the season of rain water your remembered days;

    such bounty is a small price for that place.

  21. فسلوا قوَّة وجدي بكمُ

    هل أصابت غير صبرٍ وهنا

    So ask the strength of my longing for you

    whether it has weakened anything but patience.

  22. ما لورقٍ هجعت صبوتها

    نبَّهت في الدَّوح مني شجنا

    What ails the gray doves, their passion lulled,

    that they roused sorrow in me among the great trees?

  23. بكرت تخطب في أعوادها

    فجمعنا بين نوحِ وغنا

    They rose early, preaching from their boughs,

    so we joined lamentation with song.

  24. يا ابنة الأغصان لو ذقتِ النَّوى

    وعرفتِ الدمع فيها والضنا

    O daughter of the boughs, had you tasted separation

    and known its tears and wasting sickness,

  25. لخلعت الطوق واعتضتِ الأسى

    ولما عانقتِ منها فننا

    you would have cast off your collar and taken sorrow instead,

    and never embraced a bough among them.

  26. كم لقلبي صبوةً عذرَّيةً

    ولسيف الدين عندي مننا

    How many a chaste 'Udhri passion my heart has known,

    and how many favors I owe Sayf al-Din!

  27. كما أجائتني إليهِ نكبةٌ

    أخذت مني فأعطاني المنى

    As a calamity drove me to him,

    it took from me, but he granted my desires.

  28. جئتهُ أشكو إلى أنمله

    عبدها الفقر فجادت بالغنى

    I came to him, complaining to his fingertips

    of their slave, poverty; so they lavished wealth.

  29. ينظر الدنيا بعيني واجدٍ

    كلَّ شيء فانياً إلاَّ الثنا

    He views the world with the eyes of one who finds

    all things perishing except praise.

  30. فإذا ما بخل القطر سخا

    وإذا أبعدك الدهر دنا

    So when the rain withholds, he gives freely;

    and when time casts you far away, he draws near.

  31. وله من حزمهِ في حربهِ

    قضبٌ ليست تحلُّ الأجفنا

    And from his resolve in war he has

    blades that never dwell in sheaths.

  32. حدَّثت عن فتكه السمرُ وكم

    أفحمت خرصانهنَّ الألسنا

    The brown lances have told of his deadly onslaught; how often

    their spearheads have silenced tongues!

  33. فهو في المجد عليٌ كاسمه

    ثابت الآساس عاديُّ البنا

    He is exalted in glory, like his name, Ali,

    firm-founded, his structure like that of 'Ad.

  34. صيتهُ والجود كلٌ منهما

    طَّبق الوهدَ وعمَّ القننا

    His renown and his generosity—each of them

    has covered the lowlands and encompassed the peaks.

  35. قائد الخيلِ المذاكي شزَّباً

    نخصب الهاماتُ منها الثنا

    He leads lean, full-grown horses;

    heads stain their fetlock-tufts [reading uncertain].

  36. يعرف الفارس منهم بالحلى

    فإذا عمّوا تنادوا بالكنى

    Each horseman among them is known by his accoutrements;

    when their heads are wrapped, they call one another by their kunyas.