Sol 6.1

  1. لِمَن طَلل بِالجَزع قَفر جَوانِبِه

    مَحَت رَسمَهُ مَحو اصطِباري جَنائبه

    Whose are the ruins at the valley bend, their sides deserted?

    Their south winds erased their traces as my endurance was erased.

  2. وَقَوّض عَنهُ أنسهُ عِندما خَلَت

    نَواحيهِ مِن آرامِهِ وَمَلاعبه

    Their companionship decamped when

    their quarters emptied of their gazelles and haunts of play.

  3. عَكَفت عَلَيهِ بَعد ما إِسوَدَ جَوّهُ

    وَقَد أَفلَت أَقمارُهُ وَكَواكِبُهُ

    I lingered over them after their sky had darkened,

    their moons and stars already set.

  4. كَأَني السُهى وَالقطب فيهِ مَطيَتي

    وَدَمعِيَ غَيث وَالجُفون سَحائِبُهُ

    As though I were al-Suha, with the Pole Star there my mount,

    my tears were rain, my eyelids their clouds.

  5. فَما زِلت أَبكيهِ وَأَبكي عُهودَهُ

    إِلى أَن بَكاني وَحشهُ وَسَباسبه

    I kept weeping over them and their bygone days,

    until their wild beasts and barren wastes wept for me.

  6. تَحدث دَمعي بِالعَقيق بِما جَرى

    وَخَطَ بِهِ الشَكوى فَافصَحَ كاتِبه

    At al-Aqiq my tears told what had come to pass,

    and wrote my complaint there—eloquent was their scribe.

  7. وَسالَ بِأَعناق البِطاح حَديثُهُ

    وَقَد كانَ لا يَدريهِ في الخَطب صاحبه

    Their tale flowed through the throats of the valleys,

    though their companion had not known it amid calamity.

  8. فَلَأَنتَ بِهِ صُمُّ الحَصى لِشِكايَتي

    وَما لِأَن خَطب مِن زَمان أُخاطِبه

    Thus the unyielding pebbles softened to my complaint,

    yet no hardship of the age I addressed grew gentle.

  9. وَزَايَلَني صَبري وَكانَ مصاحبي

    وَيا رَب مَصحوب تَذم عَواقبه

    My patience forsook me, though it had been my companion;

    how many a companion has consequences worthy of blame!

  10. فَقُلتُ لَهُ بِن مثلَ قَلبي غادياً

    فَقَد خانَني قَلبي وَلَستُ أُعاقبه

    I told it: depart, as my heart departed;

    my heart betrayed me, yet I do not punish it.

  11. وَقَبلَكُما قَد خانَ أُنسي وَراحَتي

    وَانكر جَفني الغمض فَهُوَ مُجانبه

    Before you both, my solace and repose betrayed me;

    my eyelid disowned sleep and shuns it.

  12. وَعَوَّلت في أَمري عَلى دَمع مُقلة

    تَفيض مَجاريهِ وَتُدمى مَساكبه

    In my plight I relied upon the tears of an eye

    whose channels overflow and whose outlets bleed.

  13. وَلَم يَطفِ لي دَمعي غَليلاً وَإِنَّما

    يبرّد حَرَّ الرَمل حَوليَ ساكِبهُ

    My tears did not quench my burning thirst;

    their shedder only cools the hot sand around me.

  14. وَلَم أَنسَهُم وَالعيس تَحدج لِلنَوى

    وَقَد نعبت عِندَ الفُراق نَواعيهِ

    I have not forgotten them, the pale camels being saddled for departure,

    while at parting its mournful heralds croaked.

  15. وَراحوا يَحثون الرِكاب عَلى السَرى

    وَرَكب نُجوم الأُفق تَسري رَكائِبِهِ

    They left, urging their mounts through the night,

    while the mounts of the horizon's star-caravan journeyed by night.

  16. وَقَد غَربت أَكوارَها في غَوارب

    تَسيل نَجيعاً وَالسُنوع مَساربه

    Their saddles had sunk into withers

    streaming gore, the foreleg joints its channels.

  17. فَلِلِه رَكب تَمتَطي مِنهُ نَجبهُ

    وَتَجنَب فيهِ المهياج جَنائِبه

    God be praised for that caravan—you ride its choice mounts,

    while its led mounts avoid the tumult.

  18. يَشيمون بَرقاً بِالغَضا مُتأَلِقاً

    تَحنّ لَهُ أَنجابُهُ وَنَجائِبُهُ

    They watch lightning flashing at al-Ghada;

    its noble men and choice camels yearn toward it.

  19. فَيصهل عَنجوجٌ وَيَزأر ضَيغمٌ

    وَيَبغم ظَبيٌّ ناصب العيس ناصِبُه

    A spirited steed neighs, a lion roars,

    and a gazelle bleats—what tires the pale camels torments it.

  20. وَفي الرَكب ظَبي في الأَكلة مخدرٌ

    عَوارضُهُ مَصقولة وَتَرائِبُهُ

    Among the caravan is a gazelle secluded behind canopies,

    his teeth and upper breast polished bright.

  21. يَعنف لاحي مَن يَهيم بِحُبِهِ

    وَيَمدح مُطريهِ وَيَأثم عائِبه

    The reprover of one mad with love for him is rebuked;

    his praiser is praised, and his detractor sins.

  22. وَيَلقى سجلَّ الذَنب كاتب صَبهِ

    وَيَعجَز عَن إِحصاءِ قَتلاهُ حاسِبُه

    His lovesick lover's scribe receives a scroll of sin,

    and his reckoner cannot count those he has slain.

  23. إِذا ما رَمى مِنهُ خَليّاً بِنَظرة

    يُخالسها الواشين ضاقَت مَذاهِبُه

    Whenever he strikes one free of love for him with a glance,

    stolen past the tale-bearers, his paths close in.

  24. وَلا تَعلق الأَطماع مِنهُ بِوَصلِهِ

    أَيَطمَع في البَدر التَمام مَراقبه

    No hopes attach themselves to union with him;

    can its watcher hope to attain the moon at its full?

  25. وَدونَ حِماهُ كُل أَسمَر ذابل

    وَعَضب جراز لا تَكلُّ مَضارِبُه

    Before his sanctuary stands every slender dusky spear,

    and a sharp, cleaving sword whose edges never fail,

  26. وَغَيران إِن مَرَّت بِهِ الريح رابهُ

    شَذاها وَعَنّاهُ مِن الظَن كاذبه

    and a jealous man: if a breeze passes him, he is troubled

    by its fragrance, and tormented by false suspicion.

  27. فَيَنظر عَن جَمر يَطير شَرارُهُ

    وَيَزورُّ مِنهُ لَحظَهُ وَمَناكِبُه

    He glares from embers whose sparks fly,

    and his gaze and shoulders turn away from him.

  28. فَلا تَلحني إِن هِمتَ شَوقاً وَحَسرَة

    فَإِن اِشتياق المَرء لا شَكَ غالبه

    Do not reproach me if I wander in longing and anguish;

    for a man's longing surely overcomes him.

  29. سَقَت ساريات المُزن ما اِنهَلَ وَدَقَها

    مِن الشام رَيعاً لا بِأَمري أُجانِبُه

    May the night-traveling rainclouds water, while their showers pour,

    a height in al-Sham, from which I keep away unwillingly.

  30. سَأَبكي عَلى عَصر حَميد مَضى بِهِ

    بِجفن قَريح ما تَغب سَواربه

    I shall weep for a happy time that passed there,

    with a sore eyelid whose tears never cease.

  31. فَيا رَبُّ عَيش مرّ لي فيهِ ناعِماً

    رَقيق حَواشي البَرد عَذب مَشاربه

    How many a time of ease I passed there,

    its mantle's hems soft, its drinking places sweet.

  32. وَلَم نُفرق التَفريق إِذ نَحنُ جيرة

    فَقَد غالَنا دَهر تَجور نَوائبهُ

    We did not fear separation while we were neighbors;

    yet time struck us down, its calamities unjust.

  33. وَما الدَهر إِلا غادرَ يَسلب الَّذي

    أَعارَ مِن اللَذات لا كانَ سالِبُه

    Time is only a traitor, snatching back what

    it lent of pleasures—may that robber be no more!

  34. لَقَد كانَ لي قَلبٌ أُحَمِلُهُ الأَسى

    إِذا ما التَأَسي أَعوزتَني مَطالبه

    I once had a heart on which I loaded grief

    whenever the means of consolation eluded me.

  35. فَقَد أَعد متنيه النَوائب عِندَما

    تَصدع لَما ضاقَ بِالهَم قالبِه

    It had readied its flanks for calamities, when

    it cracked, its frame too narrow for grief.

  36. وَراحَ إَلَيها الشَوق يَجذبني وَقَد

    ثَنى عَزماتي قَيد خَطب أُجاذبه

    Longing kept drawing me toward her, though

    the fetter of a calamity I wrestled with had thwarted my resolves.

  37. فَما زِلت يَبريني النَسيم إِذا اِنبرى

    مِن الشام حَتّى قَد حَكانيَ لاغبه

    The breeze kept wearing me away whenever it rose

    from al-Sham, until its weary breath resembled me.

  38. وَملَّ طَبيبي وَالعَوائد جانِبي

    فَلا مُسعد إِلّا حَمام أُجاوِبَه

    My physician and the visiting women wearied of my bedside;

    none consoles me but the doves whose calls I answer.

  39. وَيَفتر أَحياناً عَن النَوح وَالبُكا

    وَلَكن دَمعي لا تَمل سَواكبه

    They sometimes pause in their lamenting and weeping,

    but the sources of my tears never tire.

  40. وَلا وَصل حَتّى بِأَذن اللَه بِاللُقا

    لُمستسلم راحَ الزَمان يُحارِبَه

    There is no union until God permits a meeting

    for one resigned, against whom time wages war.

  41. وَإِلا فَإِني مَيت فَموسد

    بِقَبر غَريب ما تَرنّ نَوادِبَه

    Otherwise I shall die, then be laid to rest

    in a stranger's grave, where no mourners wail.