Sol 6.1

  1. أَلا صَنَعَ البَينُ الَّذي هُوَ صانِعُ

    فَإِن تَكُ مِجزاعاً فَما البَينُ جازِعُ

    Behold, parting has done what it does.

    For if you are easily distraught, parting feels no distress.

  2. هُوَ الرَبعُ مِن أَسماءَ وَالعامُ رابِعٌ

    لَهُ بِلِوى خَبتٍ فَهَل أَنتَ رابِعُ

    This is Asma's encampment, now in its fourth year,

    at the sandy bend of Khabt—will you stay?

  3. أَلا إِنَّ صَبري مِن عَزائي بَلاقِعٌ

    عَشِيَّةَ شاقَتني الدِيارُ البَلاقِعُ

    Behold, my patience is a wasteland empty of solace,

    on the evening the desolate dwellings stirred my longing.

  4. كَأَنَّ السَحابَ الغُرَّ غَيَّبنَ تَحتَها

    حَبيباً فَما تَرقا لَهُنَّ مَدامِعُ

    As though the white clouds had hidden beneath them

    a beloved, so their tearful eyes never dry.

  5. رُبىً شَفَعَت ريحُ الصَبا لِرِياضِها

    إِلى الغَيثِ حَتّى جادَ وَهوَ هَوامِعُ

    Hills, for whose gardens the east wind interceded

    with the rain, until it gave lavishly in torrents.

  6. فَوَجهُ الضُحى غَدواً لَهُنَّ مُضاحِكٌ

    وَجَنبُ النَدى لَيلاً لَهُنَّ مُضاجِعُ

    The face of forenoon smiles with them in the morning,

    and dew's flank lies beside them at night.

  7. كَساكِ مِنَ الأَنوارِ أَصفَرُ فاقِعٌ

    وَأَبيَضُ ناصِعٌ وَأَحمَرُ ساطِعُ

    Vivid yellow has clothed you in blossoms,

    and pure white, and radiant red.

  8. لَئِن كانَ أَمسى شَملُ وَحشِكِ جامِعاً

    لَقَد كانَ لي شَملٌ بِأُنسِكِ جامِعُ

    If your wild beasts now form a gathered company,

    I once had a company united by your companionship.

  9. أُسيءُ عَلى الدَهرِ الثَناءَ فَقَد قَضى

    عَلَيَّ بِجَورٍ صَرفُهُ المُتَتابِعُ

    I speak ill of Time, for judgment has been passed

    unjustly against me by its ceaseless turns.

  10. أَيُرضِخُنا رَضخَ النَوى وَهوَ مُصمِتٌ

    وَيَأكُلُنا أَكلَ الدَبا وَهوَ جائِعُ

    Does it crush us as date stones are crushed, while itself unyielding,

    and devour us like locust nymphs, while itself hungry?

  11. وَإِنّي إِذا أَلقى بِرَبعِيَ رَحلَهُ

    لِأُذعِرُهُ في سِربِهِ وَهوَ راتِعُ

    And whenever it sets down its saddle in my encampment,

    I surely startle it among its herd as it grazes.

  12. أَبو مَنزِلِ الهَمِّ الَّذي لَو بَغى القِرى

    لَدى حاتِمٍ لَم يُقرِهِ وَهوَ طائِعُ

    I am master of sorrow's lodging; were sorrow to seek hospitality

    from Hatim, he would not willingly entertain it.

  13. إِذا شَرَعَت فيهِ اللَيالي بِنَكبَةٍ

    تَمَزَّقَ عَنهُ وَهوَ في الشَرعِ شارِعُ

    When the nights launch a calamity against him,

    it is torn away from him while still beginning its assault.

  14. وَإِن أَقدَمَت يَوماً عَلَيهِ رَزِيَّةٌ

    تَلَقّى شَباها وَهوَ بِالصَبرِ دارِعُ

    And if a calamity advances against him one day,

    he meets its sharp points, armored in patience.

  15. لَهُ هِمَمٌ ما إِن تَزالُ سُيوفُها

    قَواطِعَ لَو كانَت لَهُنَّ مَقاطِعُ

    He has ambitions whose swords are ever

    keen-cutting—if only they had targets to cut.

  16. أَلا إِنَّ نَفسَ الشِعرِ ماتَت وَإِن يَكُن

    عَداها حِمامُ المَوتِ فَهيَ تُنازِعُ

    Behold, poetry's soul has died; and even if

    death's doom has passed it by, it is in its death throes.

  17. سَأَبكي القَوافي بِالقَوافي فَإِنَّها

    عَلَيها وَلَم تَظلِم بِذاكَ جَوازِعُ

    I shall lament rhymes with rhymes, for they

    grieve over them, and do no wrong in doing so.

  18. أَراعي ضَلالاتِ المُروءَةِ مُهمَلٌ

    وَحافِظُ أَيّامِ المَكارِمِ ضائِعُ

    Is the shepherd of chivalry's strays neglected,

    and the keeper of noble deeds' days abandoned?

  19. وَعاوٍ عَوى وَالمَجدُ بَيني وَبَينَهُ

    لَهُ حاجِزٌ دوني وَرُكنٌ مُدافِعُ

    And a howler howled, while glory stood between me and him,

    a barrier keeping him from me, a bulwark repelling him.

  20. تَرَقَّت مُناهُ طَودَ عِزٍّ لَوِ اِرتَقَت

    بِهِ الريحُ فِتراً لَاِنثَنَت وَهيَ ظالِعُ

    His hopes climbed a mountain of honor; were it scaled

    by the wind a finger-span, the wind would turn back limping.

  21. أَنا اِبنُ الَّذينَ اِستُرضِعَ الجودُ فيهِمُ

    وَسُمِّيَ فيهِم وَهوَ كَهلٌ وَيافِعُ

    I am the son of those among whom generosity was suckled,

    and took its name among them, in maturity and youth.

  22. سَما بِيَ أَوسٌ في السَماءِ وَحاتِمٌ

    وَزَيدُ القَنا وَالأَثرَمانِ وَرافِعُ

    Aws bore me high into heaven, and Hatim,

    and Zayd of the Spears, the two Athrams, and Rafiʿ.

  23. وَكانَ إِياسٌ ما إِياسٌ وَعارِقٌ

    وَحارِثَةٌ أَوفى الوَرى وَالأَصامِعُ

    And there was Iyas—what an Iyas!—and ʿAriq,

    and Haritha, the most faithful of mankind, and the Asamiʿ.

  24. نُجومٌ طَواليعٌ جِبالٌ فَوارِعُ

    غُيوثٌ هَوامِيعٌ سُيولٌ دَوافِعُ

    High-rising stars, towering mountains,

    pouring rains, surging torrents.

  25. مَضَوا وَكَأَنَّ المَكرُماتِ لَدَيهِمُ

    لِكَثرَةِ ما أَوصَوا بِهِنَّ شَرائِعُ

    They passed on, and noble deeds in their keeping seemed,

    from their many injunctions, binding laws.

  26. فَأَيُّ يَدٍ في المَجدِ مُدَّت فَلَم تَكُن

    لَها راحَةٌ مِن جودِهِم وَأَصابِعُ

    So what hand was extended toward glory without having

    a palm and fingers from their generosity?

  27. هُمُ اِستَودَعوا المَعروفَ مَحفوظَ مالِنا

    فَضاعَ وَما ضاعَت لَدَينا الوَدائِعُ

    They entrusted our safeguarded wealth to benevolence;

    it was lost, though trusts are never lost in our keeping.

  28. بَهاليلُ لَو عايَنتَ فَضلَ أَكُفِّهِم

    لَأَيقَنتَ أَنَّ الرِزقَ في الأَرضِ واسِعُ

    Noble men: had you beheld the bounty of their hands,

    you would know for certain that sustenance on earth is abundant.

  29. إِذا خَفَقَت بالبَذلِ أَرواحُ جودِهِم

    حَداها النَدى وَاِستَنشَقَتها المَطامِعُ

    When the breezes of their generosity stir with giving,

    largesse urges them onward, and eager hopes inhale them.

  30. رِياحٌ كَريحِ العَنبَرِ المَحضِ في النَدى

    وَلَكِنَّها يَومَ اللِقاءِ زَعازِعُ

    Winds, like the scent of pure ambergris in generosity,

    but on the day of battle, violent gales.

  31. إِذا طَيِّئٌ لَم تَطوِ مَنشورَ بَأسِها

    فَأَنفُ الَّذي يُهدى لَها السُخطُ جادِعُ

    If Tayy does not fold up its outspread might,

    then the nose of one whose wrath is offered to it is severed.

  32. هِيَ السُمُّ ما يَنفَكُّ في كُلِّ بَلدَةٍ

    تَسيلُ بِهِ أَرماحُهُم وَهوَ ناقِعُ

    It is poison: in every land, unceasingly,

    their spears stream with it, deadly in its potency.

  33. أَصارَت لَهُم أَرضَ العَدُوِّ قَطائِعاً

    نُفوسٌ لِحَدِّ المُرهَفاتِ قَطائِعُ

    The enemy's land was made into estates for them

    by souls allotted to the edges of sharpened swords.

  34. بِكُلِّ فَتىً ما شابَ مِن رَوعِ وَقعَةٍ

    وَلَكِنَّهُ قَد شِبنَ مِنهُ الوَقائِعُ

    With every youth ungrayed by the terror of battle,

    though battles themselves have grown gray from him.

  35. إِذا ما أَغاروا فَاِحتَوَوا مالَ مَعشَرٍ

    أَغارَت عَلَيهِم فَاِحتَوَتهُ الصَنائِعُ

    When they raid and seize a people's wealth,

    benefactions raid them in turn and seize it.

  36. فَتُعطي الَّذي تُعطيهِمُ الخَيلُ وَالقَنا

    أَكُفٌّ لِإِرثِ المَكرُماتِ مَوانِعُ

    What horses and spears give them is given away

    by hands that guard the inheritance of noble deeds.

  37. هُمُ قَوَّموا دَرءَ الشَآمِ وَأَيقَظوا

    بِنَجدٍ عُيونَ الحَربِ وَهيَ هَواجِعُ

    They straightened al-Sham's crookedness, and awakened

    in Najd the eyes of war as they slept.

  38. يَمُدّونَ بِالبيضِ القَواطِعِ أَيدِياً

    وَهُنَّ سَواءٌ وَالسُيوفُ القَواطِعُ

    They extend hands bearing white, cutting blades,

    and those hands are the equals of the cutting swords.

  39. إِذا أَسَروا لَم يَأسِرِ البَأسُ عَفوَهُم

    وَلَم يُمسِ عانٍ فيهِمُ وَهوَ كانِعُ

    When they take captives, their might does not imprison their pardon,

    and no captive among them ends the day subdued.

  40. إِذا أَطلَقوا عَنهُ جَوامِعَ غُلِّهِ

    تَيَقَّنَ أَنَّ المَنَّ أَيضاً جَوامِعُ

    When they release him from his fetter's shackles,

    he knows for certain that favor, too, is shackles.

  41. وَإِن صارَعوا في مَفخَرٍ قامَ دونَهُم

    وَخَلفَهُمُ بِالجَدِّ جَدٌّ مُصارِعُ

    And if they wrestle for an honor, before them stands

    and behind them, with good fortune, a wrestling forefather.

  42. عَلَوا بِجُنوبٍ موجِداتٍ كَأَنَّها

    جُنوبُ فُيولٍ ما لَهُنَّ مَضاجِعُ

    They rose high with powerful flanks, as though they were

    the flanks of elephants with no resting places.

  43. كَشَفتُ قِناعَ الشِعرِ عَن حُرِّ وَجهِهِ

    وَطَيَّرتُهُ عَن وَكرِهِ وَهوَ واقِعُ

    I lifted poetry's veil from its noble face,

    and sent it flying from its nest while it was perched,

  44. بِغُرٍّ يَراها مَن يَراها بِسَمعِهِ

    فَيَدنو إِلَيها ذو الحِجى وَهوَ شاسِعُ

    through radiant verses which one sees with one's hearing;

    the discerning man draws near them, though far away.

  45. يَوَدُّ وِداداً أَنَّ أَعضاءَ جِسمِهِ

    إِذا أُنشِدَت شَوقاً إِلَيها مَسامِعُ

    He wishes, in affection, that the parts of his body,

    when the verses are recited, were ears, yearning for them.