قالت بجيلة إذ قربت مرتحلا

يا رب جنب أبي الأوصابَ والعطبا

Bujayla said as I prepared to depart,

“Lord, spare my father sickness and ruin.”

وأنت يا ربِّ فارحمها ومد لنا

في عُمرِها وقها الفاقاتِ والوصبا

And You, Lord, have mercy on her and prolong for us

her life, and protect her from want and illness.

يا بجلُ إن لجنبِ المرءِ مضطجعاً

لا يستطيعُ له دفعاً إذا وجبا

Bujayl, there is a resting place for every person’s side

that no one can avert when its time comes.

فشاهِدُ الحيِّ فيهم مثلُ غائِبِهم

عندَ المنايا إذا ما يومُهُ اقترَبا

One present among his people is like one absent

when death comes and his day draws near.

وما تدني وفاةَ المرءِ رحلتُهُ

عما قضى اللَه في الفُرقانِ إذ كتبا

A person’s journey does not bring his death nearer

than what God decreed in the Furqan when He wrote it.

لا يرجِعُ الهولُ مِثلي عند مِثلِكم

إذا تردَّى نِجادُ السيفِ واعتَصَبا

Terror does not turn back a man like me among people like you

when he straps on his sword and binds himself for action.

ولا الغُرابُ الذي لم يدرِ عائِفُكُم

لعلَّهُ كان بالبشر لنا نعبا

Nor does the raven whose omen your diviner cannot read;

perhaps its croak brought us good tidings.

يا بجل قومي إلى أميك فاغتمضي

إن المصابات قد أنستني الطربا

Bujayl, go to your mothers and close your eyes;

calamities have made me forget delight.

وهل وجدتُ أبا سني لجاريةٍ

أبقى الزمانُ لها من والدين أبا

Have I found a father of my age for a girl

for whom time has left a father from her two parents?

قد كنتُ ذا والدٍ حولي بيوتهم

ففارقُوا غير أني أعلمُ النسبا

Once I had kin whose houses stood around me;

they departed, though I still know my lineage.

إني سيدركني ما كان أدركهم

وكلهم عاشَ حيناً ثُمَّ قد ذهبا

What overtook them will overtake me;

each lived a while and then passed away.

وإن رجعت فإني سوف أكسبهم

ما لا بنيةُ إن ذو حيلةٍ كسبا

If I return, I shall earn for them

the wealth a daughter needs, if a resourceful man can earn it.

وإن أتاك نعيي فاندبن أباً

قد كانَ يضطلعُ الأعداءَ والخَطَبا

If news of my death reaches you, mourn a father

who bore up against enemies and grave affairs.

واستغفري اللَه لا تنسيهِ واحتسبي

فإنما يأجرُ اللَهُ الذي احتسبا

Ask God’s forgiveness for me, remember me, and seek His reward;

God rewards the one who patiently seeks it.

ولا يزينن لكِ الشيطانُ فتنَتَهُ

شقَّ الجيوبِ ولا في وجهكِ الندبا

Do not let Satan make his temptation seem fair to you:

tearing your clothes or gashing your face.

إني اعتمدتُ أمامَ الناس إذ ذهبت

إبلي وخيلي وخفت الجوعَ والحربا

I set out before the people when I had lost

my camels and horses and feared hunger and war.

وصرتُ كالجدع مما كنت أملِكُهُ

أفنى المشذبُ عنهُ الليفَ والكَرَبا

Of all I owned, I became like a palm trunk

from which a pruner has stripped fiber and frond bases.

ما أبقتِ السنةُ البيضاءُ إذ رجعت

ولا بناتٌ لها من عيشنا نشبا

The pale year of famine, when it returned, left nothing

for us or our daughters to live on.

فاخترت مهرية قد شق بازلها

من إبل تهنئ تبدي العتقَ والأدبا

So I chose a Mahri she-camel, her mature tooth newly split,

from noble camels whose care shows their breeding and discipline.

جرداءَ ما جرها الراعي لربتها

ولا غذت ولداً يوماً فتحتلبا

Unburdened, she had never been led by a herdsman for breeding,

nor nursed a young one so that she might be milked.

كأنها قارحٌ يحدو ضرائره

جأب يعلمها الإصدار والقربا

She seemed like a full-grown stallion driving his rival mares,

lean and strong, teaching them to go out and return to water.

إذا رأى مثله أو غيره شبحاً

مد السجيلَ على العلياء وانتحبا

When he saw a shape, whether like himself or another,

he stretched his stride across the heights and neighed.

كأنه وهو يجري غير مكترثٍ

من بغيه ظالعٌ أو يشتكي نكَبا

As he ran, seemingly unconcerned,

his fierce drive made him seem lame or troubled by a twisted limb.

فرَّ المساحِلُ عنه واعترفنَ له

وقد تركن بليتي عنقه جلبا

The other stallions fled from him and yielded to him,

though they had left the sides of his neck raw.

أذاك أم لهقٌ سودٌ قوائمُهُ

فردٌ يخوضُ ندى الوسمي والعُشُبا

Was it that one, or a pale stallion with black legs,

alone, wading through the early rain’s dew and grass?

كأنه إذ أضاء البرقُ صورته

مسربلٌ قبطرياً يصطلي اللهبا

When lightning lit his form, he seemed

cloaked in patterned cloth and warming himself at a flame.

يرعى رياضاً يلهيه الذبابُ بها

منها مغن ومنها رافعٌ صخبا

He grazed in meadows where flies distracted him,

some humming, others raising a din.

حتى تأوبهُ غيثٌ بمحنيةٍ

جودٌ يرددُ في حافاته اللجبا

Until a generous rainstorm came upon him in a bend of land,

its edges echoing with thunderous noise.

فبات يغسلُهُ في ريحِ باردةٍ

من الصبا الغيثُ حتى قَرَّ واكتأبا

Rain washed him all night in a cold

east wind, until he grew chilled and miserable.

يجذو إلى حفف أرطاة يلوذُ بها

للركبتين إذا شؤبوبه انسكبا

He crouched beside the edge of an arta tree, seeking its shelter,

on his knees when the downpour spilled.

حتى إذا الشمس أبدت عن محاسنها

وجددتها شمالٌ أفجأ العجبا

Then the sun revealed its beauty,

and a north wind renewed it, bringing a sudden marvel:

غضفاً مقلدةَ الأنساع طاويةً

وقانصاً يتبغى الصيد قد شحبا

drooping-eared, lean animals marked as though with straps,

and a gaunt hunter seeking prey.

فانقض كالكوكب الدري وانصلتت

مناهباتٍ وما أتبعن منتهبا

He swooped like a brilliant star, while they darted away,

racing one another, with none following a captured one.

يفرين بالقاع ما أفرت قوائمه

وقد يثبنَ من الوعثِ الذي وثبا

They cut across the flat as his legs had cut across it,

and leapt from the rough ground he had leapt over.

كالخورِ نور الخزامى بينها قطعٌ

مما جذبن ومما كان قد جذبا

Like cattle among blossoming lavender, with torn clumps

scattered where they had pulled and where he had pulled.

مرا يكون بعيداً وهي جاهِدةٌ

عند الحضارِ ومرا دانيا كثبا

At times he was far away while they strained

among the hard stones; at times he was close at hand.

حتى إذا باعدت ميلين وانتكثت

ولو يشاءُ نأى منهن فانقضبا

When they had gained two miles and their pace faltered,

he could have left them behind if he wished, and broken away.

كرت به نفصس كرار محافظة

من الشجاعة أو كرت به غضبا

His courage wheeled him back to defend his own,

or anger drove him back.

ينحي بروقين ما ضلا فرائصها

حتى تجولن بالجبانِ واختضبا

He aimed his two horns unerringly at their flanks

until they reeled about on the open ground, bloodied.

لا حي فيهن إلا نازعاً رمقا

إذا تنفس دفا جوفه شخبا

None among them remained alive except one drawing a last breath;

when it breathed, blood warmed its belly.

ثم استمر صحيحاً غير مكترثٍ

كأن روقيهِ علا الورسَ والنجبا

Then he went on unharmed and unconcerned,

as though his two horns were stained with yellow and red dye.

فذاك شبهتها إذ جاءَ قائِدُها

عند الرحيل وجاءَت تعرِفُ الخَبَبا

That was what I likened her to when her handler came

at departure, and she came knowing the quick trot.

جاءت تبين أين الرحل خاضِعةٌ

مهريةٌ لم تسق مهراً ولا جلبا

She came submissively, looking for the saddle:

a Mahri she-camel that had borne neither a foal nor a load.

قد كنت أعفيتها حتى إذا نفجت

جنبي سنام تبد الرحل والقتبا

I had spared her work until the two sides

of her hump swelled, ready to bear saddle and packsaddle.

كسوتها الرحل من قصوان بادنة

تستطعم المشي بالموماة والخببا

I clothed her with the saddle from a large, long-necked camel;

she relished walking through the desert and trotting.

ودُونَ دارِ أميرِ المؤمنينَ لنا

سِتونَ يوماً على هولٍ لمن دأبا

Between us and the Commander of the Faithful’s residence

lay sixty days of hardship for one who kept going.

زوري هشاماً إمام الناس وارتغبي

كذاك من أنجحت حاجاته ارتغبا

Visit Hisham, leader of the people, and seek his favor;

that is how one whose needs are met seeks favor.

تطوي الحزون إلى سهل تواعسه

والحزن قد بث في أخفافها النقبا

She crosses rugged heights toward the easy ground beyond,

though the rocks have cut sores into her hooves.

ولا تغور إلا تحت هاجرة

إذا الشقي ارتقى في العودِ وانتصبا

She enters the lowlands only beneath a blazing midday sun,

when the wretched traveler climbs his mount and sits upright.

ثم تروحُ والعُصفورُ منحجرٌ

والظبيُ تبعثهُ قد أوطن السربا

Then she journeys in the evening while the sparrow is sheltered

and the gazelle has settled in its haunt.

ولا تعرسُ حتى يستبينَ لها

وردٌ ترى الليلَ منه ممعِناً هربا

She does not stop for the night until she sees clearly

a watering place from which the night seems to flee.

ومن فليجٍ وفلجٍ ساورت بهما

ومن صحارِيهِما الصحراءَ والعَتَبا

From Fulayj and Falaj she ventures onward,

across their deserts and difficult ground.

وعارضتها من الأوداةِ أوديةٌ

قفرٌ تجرعُ منها الضخمَ والشعبا

Barren valleys meet her along the way,

and she swallows up their broad and narrow stretches.

تجتازُهنَّ وقد خفت ثميلتُها

وطالَ فضلُ قصيرِ النسعِ فاضطَرَبا

She passes through them with her last water nearly gone;

the short girth hangs loose and swings.

لا تطعمُ الماءَ إلا فوقَهُ عطَنٌ

يُلقي الحمامُ عليهِ الريشَ والزغبا

She tastes water only where a resting place lies above it,

where doves shed feathers and down.

وبالسماوةِ لو باتَت تعارِضُها

جنيُّ يبرينَ أضحى وهو قد لغبا

In al-Samawa, if a desert spirit spent the night racing her,

it would be worn out by morning.

حتى رأت من جبالِ الشامِ منتطقاً

بالآلِ تبدُو الذُرى منه وإن نضبا

At last she saw a mountain among the mountains of Syria, girdled

with shimmering haze; its peaks showed even when the mirage faded.

تدنو إذا ما دنا في الآلِ طاوَلَهُ

وإن تقاصَرَ عنهُ آلهُ رَسَبا

It seems to draw near when the mirage nears and lifts it;

when the shimmer shrinks away, it sinks from sight.

لم تأتِهِ العيسُ حتى كدتُ أتركُها

ولا طم الضفرُ في أحقابها الحقبا

The camels did not reach it until I nearly abandoned her,

and the pack ropes had cut deep beneath her girths.

واقتصها الذيب في آثارها بدم

من الحفا ثم خشي السيف فانقلبا

A wolf followed her blood-marked tracks,

blood from her sore feet; then it feared my sword and turned back.

لم يبق شهران عناها الصدى بهما

إلا العظام وإلا الجلدَ والعصبا

Two months of thirst had wasted her

until only bones, skin, and sinew remained.

ما تنكر السوط إن ربٌّ أشارَ به

ولا تزيدُ ولا ترغو وإن ضربا

She does not flinch from the whip when her master points it,

nor quicken or groan even when struck.

وما طلبتُ امامَ الناسِ من طلَبٍ

ناءٍ ولا كنتُ ممن يلعبُ اللعِبا

I have not sought from the leader of the people

some remote request, nor have I been one to play games.

لكن أحاطَ فؤادي أنها خسفت

أرضي برجلي إن لم تعطني السببا

But fear gripped my heart that the earth would sink

beneath my feet if you gave me no means of support.

فدونك الكف إني قد مددت بها

فأعطها منك سجلاً كرم واحتسبا

Here is my hand, stretched out to you;

fill it with a generous gift, and seek God’s reward.

كما تناولني من قعرِ مظلمةٍ

لم يترك الدهرُ لي في جوفها شذبا

As a king once drew me from the depths of darkness

where time had left me no scrap of support:

ملكُ بن ملكٍ أغر شب نأملُهُ

أخا ملوكِ يقيم العجمَ والعَرَبا

a radiant king, son of a king, whom we grew up hoping in,

brother of kings who governs Persians and Arabs.

إن الخلافةَ تبدو في وجوههم

كما ترى في بياض الفضةِ الذهبا

The caliphate shows in their faces

as gold shows against the whiteness of silver.

المدرِكونَ إذا أيديهم طلبت

والسابقون برأس الوترِ من طلبا

They attain what they seek when they reach out their hands

and lead those who pursue the highest prize.