Sol 6.1

  1. أَصِب بِحُمَيّا كَأسِها مَقتَلَ العَذلِ

    تَكُن عِوَضاً إِن عَنَّفوكَ مِنَ التَبلِ

    Strike censure's vital spot with the fiery strength of its cup;

    It will serve in place of vengeance if they rebuke you.

  2. وَكَأسٍ كَمَعسولِ الأَماني شَرِبتُها

    وَلَكِنَّها أَجلَت وَقَد شَرِبَت عَقلي

    Many a cup, like honeyed hopes, I drank,

    But it departed, having drunk my reason.

  3. إِذا عوتِبَت بِالماءِ كانَ اِعتِذارُها

    لَهيباً كَوَقعِ النارِ في الحَطَبِ الجَزلِ

    When it is rebuked with water, its apology is

    A blaze like fire striking stout, dry wood.

  4. إِذا هِيَ دَبَّت في الفَتى خالَ جِسمَهُ

    لِما دَبَّ فيهِ قَريَةً مِن قُرى النَملِ

    When it creeps through a youth, he imagines his body,

    From what creeps within it, a village among the villages of ants.

  5. إِذا ذاقَها وَهيَ الحَياةُ رَأَيتَهُ

    يُعَبِّسُ تَعبيسَ المُقَدَّمِ لِلقَتلِ

    When he tastes it—though it is life—you see him

    Grimacing like one led forth to execution.

  6. إِذا اليَدُ نالَتها بِوِترٍ تَوَقَّرَت

    عَلى ضَعفِها ثُمَّ اِستَقادَت مِنَ الرِجلِ

    When the hand wrongs it, it stays composed,

    Despite its weakness, then exacts retribution from the foot.

  7. وَيَصرَعُ ساقيها بِإِنصافِ شَربِها

    وَصَرعُهُمُ بِالجَورِ في صورَةِ العَدلِ

    Its cupbearer fells them by sharing its drink fairly;

    And felling them is injustice in the guise of justice.

  8. سَقى الرائِحُ الغادي المُهَجِّرُ بَلدَةً

    سَقَتنِيَ أَنفاسَ الصَبابَةِ وَالخَبلِ

    May the cloud that comes at evening, morning, and noon water a town

    That made me drink the breaths of longing and madness.

  9. سَحاباً إِذا أَلقَت عَلى خِلفِهِ الصَبا

    يَداً قالَتِ الدُنيا أَتى قاتِلُ المَحلِ

    A cloud: when the east wind lays upon its teat

    A hand, the world says, 'The slayer of drought has come.'

  10. إِذا ما اِرتَدى بِالبَرقِ لَم يَزَلِ النَدى

    لَهُ تَبَعاً أَو يَرتَدي الرَوضُ بِالبَقلِ

    When it robes itself in lightning, rain never ceases

    To follow it until the meadow robes itself in herbage.

  11. إِذا اِنتَشَرَت أَعلامُهُ حَولَهُ اِنطَوَت

    بُطونُ الثَرى مِنهُ وَشيكاً عَلى حَملِ

    When its banners unfurl around it, there close

    The wombs of the soil, soon pregnant by it.

  12. تَرى الأَرضَ تَهتَزُّ اِرتِياحاً لِوَقعِهِ

    كَما اِرتاحَتِ البِكرُ الهَدِيُّ إِلى البَعلِ

    You see the earth quiver with joy at its falling rain,

    As a virgin bride rejoices in her husband.

  13. فَجادَ دِمَشقاً كُلَّها جودَ أَهلِها

    بِأَنفُسِهِم عِندَ الكَريهَةِ وَالبَذلِ

    So it drenched all Damascus as generously as her people give

    Their very lives in battle and in selfless giving.

  14. سَقاهُم كَما أَسقاهُمُ في لَظى الوَغى

    بِبيضِ صَفيحِ الهِندِ وَالسُمُرِ الذُبلِ

    It watered them as it gave them drink amid battle's blaze,

    With bright Indian blades and slender brown spears.

  15. فَلَم يُبقِ مِن أَرضِ البِقاعَينِ بُقعَةً

    وَجادَ قُرى الجَولانِ بِالمُسبِلِ الوَبلِ

    It left no patch of the two Biqaʿ districts unwatered,

    And drenched the villages of the Golan with streaming downpour.

  16. بِنَفسِيَ أَرضُ الشامِ لا أَيمَنُ الحِمى

    وَلا أَيسَرُ الدَهنا وَلا وسَطُ الرَملِ

    I would ransom al-Sham's land with my life—not the right side of al-Hima,

    Nor the left side of al-Dahna, nor the heart of the sands.

  17. وَلَم أَرَ مِثلي مُستَهاماً بِمِثلِكُم

    لَهُ مِثلُ قَلبي فيهِ ما فيهِ لا يَغلي

    I have never seen anyone like me, love-maddened by the likes of you,

    Whose heart, like mine, with all it holds, does not boil.

  18. عَدَتنِيَ عَنكُم مُكرَهاً غُربَةُ النَوى

    لَها طَربَةٌ في أَن تُمِرَّ وَلا تُحلي

    The estrangement of distance kept me from you against my will;

    It delights in bringing bitterness, never sweetness.

  19. إِذا لَحَظَت حَبلاً مِنَ الحَيِّ مُحصَداً

    رَمَتهُ فَلَم يَسلَم بِناقِضَةِ الفَتلِ

    Whenever it spies a firmly twisted cord of the tribe,

    It strikes it with an unraveling force, and the cord is not spared.

  20. أَتَت بَعدَ هَجرٍ مِن حَبيبٍ فَحَرَّكَت

    صُبابَةَ ما أَبقى الصُدودُ مِنَ الوَصلِ

    It came after estrangement from a beloved, and stirred

    The dregs of what rejection had left of union.

  21. أَخَمسَةُ أَحوالٍ مَضَت لِمَغيبِهِ

    وَشَهرانِ بَل يَومانِ نِكلٌ مِنَ النِكلِ

    Have five years passed since his departure,

    And two months? Yet even two days are a fetter among fetters.

  22. تَوانى وَشيكُ النُجعِ عَنهُ وَوُكِّلَت

    بِهِ عَزَماتٌ أَوقَفَتهُ عَلى رِجلِ

    Swift relief was slow to reach him, and there were assigned

    To him resolves that kept him poised on one foot.

  23. وَيَمنَعُهُ مِن أَن يَبيتَ زَماعُهُ

    عَلى عَجَلٍ أَنَّ القَضاءَ عَلى رِسلِ

    And what keeps him from having his resolve pass the night

    In haste is that destiny proceeds at leisure.

  24. قَضى الدَهرُ مِنّي نَحبَهُ يَومَ قَتلِهِ

    هَوايَ بِإِرقالِ الغَريرِيَّةِ الفُتلِ

    Time fulfilled its vow against me the day it killed

    My love with the swift trot of stout-limbed Ghurayri camels.

  25. لَقَد طَلَعَت في وَجهِ مِصرَ بِوَجهِهِ

    بِلا طالِعٍ سَعدٍ وَلا طائِرٍ سَهلِ

    Indeed, before Egypt's face, bearing his face, there rose,

    Without an auspicious rising star or a favorable bird of omen,

  26. وَساوِسُ آمالٍ وَمَذهَبُ هِمَّةٍ

    تَخَيَّلُ لي بَينَ المَطِيَّةِ وَالرَحلِ

    Whisperings of hopes and a course of ambition,

    Appearing to me between the mount and the saddle.

  27. وَسورَةُ عِلمٍ لَم تُسَدَّد فَأَصبَحَت

    وَما يُتَمارى أَنَّها سَورَةُ الجَهلِ

    And a surge of knowledge, not rightly guided, turned out—

    Beyond dispute—to be a surge of ignorance.

  28. نَأَيتُ فَلا مالاً حَوَيتُ وَلَم أُقِم

    فَأَمتَعَ إِذ فُجِّعتُ بِالمالِ وَالأَهلِ

    I went far away, yet gained no wealth; nor did I stay

    To enjoy life: I was bereft of wealth and family.

  29. بَخِلتُ عَلى عِرضي بِما فيهِ صَونُهُ

    رَجاءَ اِجتِناءِ الجودِ مِن شَجَرِ البُخلِ

    I begrudged my honor what would safeguard it,

    Hoping to harvest generosity from the tree of stinginess.

  30. عَصَيتُ شَبا عَزمي لِطاعَةِ حَيرَةٍ

    دَعَتني إِلى أَن أَفتَحَ القُفلَ بِالقُفلِ

    I disobeyed the sharp edge of my resolve to obey bewilderment

    That called on me to open a lock with a lock,

  31. وَأَبسُطَ مِن وَجهي الَّذي لَو بَذَلتُهُ

    إِلى الأَرضِ مِن نَعلي لَما نَقَبَت نَعلي

    And put on a pleasant face, which, had I offered it

    To the ground in place of my sandal, my sandal would not have worn through.

  32. عِداتٌ كَرَيعانِ السَرابِ إِذا جَرى

    تُنَشَّرُ عَن مَنعٍ وَتُطوى عَلى مَطلِ

    Promises like the first shimmer of a mirage as it flows,

    Unfolded to reveal refusal, and folded around delay.

  33. لِئامٌ طَغامٌ أَو كِرامٌ بِزَعمِهِم

    سَواسِيَةٌ ما أَشبَهَ الحولَ بِالقُبلِ

    Base men, rabble—or noble men, as they claim—

    All alike—how closely a squint resembles an inward cast!

  34. فَلَو شاءَ مَن لَو شاءَ لَم يَثنِ أَمرَهُ

    لَصَيَّرَ فَضلَ المالِ عِندَ ذَوي الفَضلِ

    Had He willed—He who, if He wills, does not revoke His decree—

    He would have placed surplus wealth with people of merit.

  35. وَلَو أَنَّني أَعطَيتُ يَأسي نَصيبَهُ

    إِذَن لَأَخَذتُ الحَزمَ مِن مَأخَذٍ سَهلِ

    And had I given my despair its due share,

    Then I would have reached sound judgment by an easy path.

  36. وَكانَ وَرائي مِن صَريمَةِ طَيِّئٍ

    وَمَعنٍ وَوَهبٍ عَن أَمامِيَ ما يُسلي

    And behind me there was, from the band of Tayy,

    And Maʿn and Wahb, enough to distract me from what lay ahead.

  37. فَلَم يَكُ ما جَرَّعتُ نَفسي مِنَ الأَسى

    وَلَم يَكُ ما جَرَّعتُ قَومي مِنَ الثُكلِ

    Then there would not have been the sorrow I made myself swallow,

    Nor the bereavement I made my people swallow.