Sol 6

  1. لِمَن طَلل بِالجَزع قَفر جَوانِبِه

    مَحَت رَسمَهُ مَحو اصطِباري جَنائبه

    Whose deserted dwelling is at al-Jazʿ, its surroundings desolate?

    Its traces were erased by calamities, as my endurance was erased.

  2. وَقَوّض عَنهُ أنسهُ عِندما خَلَت

    نَواحيهِ مِن آرامِهِ وَمَلاعبه

    Its familiar joy was dismantled when

    Its environs were emptied of its gazelles and playgrounds.

  3. عَكَفت عَلَيهِ بَعد ما إِسوَدَ جَوّهُ

    وَقَد أَفلَت أَقمارُهُ وَكَواكِبُهُ

    I lingered over it after its sky grew dark

    And its moons and stars had set.

  4. كَأَني السُهى وَالقطب فيهِ مَطيَتي

    وَدَمعِيَ غَيث وَالجُفون سَحائِبُهُ

    There I seemed to be Suhā, my mount the pole star;

    My tears were rain, and my eyelids its clouds.

  5. فَما زِلت أَبكيهِ وَأَبكي عُهودَهُ

    إِلى أَن بَكاني وَحشهُ وَسَباسبه

    I kept weeping for it and for the days we knew there

    Until its loneliness and wide deserts made me weep.

  6. تَحدث دَمعي بِالعَقيق بِما جَرى

    وَخَطَ بِهِ الشَكوى فَافصَحَ كاتِبه

    At al-ʿAqīq my tears told what had happened

    And wrote out my complaint, making its writer eloquent.

  7. وَسالَ بِأَعناق البِطاح حَديثُهُ

    وَقَد كانَ لا يَدريهِ في الخَطب صاحبه

    Its story flowed through the channels of the lowlands,

    Though its bearer had not known how to tell it in distress.

  8. فَلَأَنتَ بِهِ صُمُّ الحَصى لِشِكايَتي

    وَما لِأَن خَطب مِن زَمان أُخاطِبه

    Through it I softened the deaf stones with my complaint;

    What else, when I have been addressing a calamity of time?

  9. وَزَايَلَني صَبري وَكانَ مصاحبي

    وَيا رَب مَصحوب تَذم عَواقبه

    My patience parted from me, though it had been my companion;

    How many a companion proves regrettable in the end!

  10. فَقُلتُ لَهُ بِن مثلَ قَلبي غادياً

    فَقَد خانَني قَلبي وَلَستُ أُعاقبه

    I said to it, ‘Go, departing like my heart,’

    For my heart has betrayed me, and I do not punish it.

  11. وَقَبلَكُما قَد خانَ أُنسي وَراحَتي

    وَانكر جَفني الغمض فَهُوَ مُجانبه

    Before you both, my joy and ease had already betrayed me,

    And my eyelid rejected sleep and turned away from it.

  12. وَعَوَّلت في أَمري عَلى دَمع مُقلة

    تَفيض مَجاريهِ وَتُدمى مَساكبه

    In my plight I relied on the tears of an eye

    Whose channels overflow and whose outlets run bloody.

  13. وَلَم يَطفِ لي دَمعي غَليلاً وَإِنَّما

    يبرّد حَرَّ الرَمل حَوليَ ساكِبهُ

    Yet my tears did not quench my burning thirst; rather,

    The one who sheds them cools only the hot sand around me.

  14. وَلَم أَنسَهُم وَالعيس تَحدج لِلنَوى

    وَقَد نعبت عِندَ الفُراق نَواعيهِ

    I have not forgotten them as the white camels were saddled for departure

    And cries of ill omen sounded at the parting.

  15. وَراحوا يَحثون الرِكاب عَلى السَرى

    وَرَكب نُجوم الأُفق تَسري رَكائِبِهِ

    They set off, urging the mounts into the night journey,

    While the stars of the horizon traveled in their own procession.

  16. وَقَد غَربت أَكوارَها في غَوارب

    تَسيل نَجيعاً وَالسُنوع مَساربه

    The camels’ saddles had sunk upon their humps,

    Which streamed with blood, their wounds its channels.

  17. فَلِلِه رَكب تَمتَطي مِنهُ نَجبهُ

    وَتَجنَب فيهِ المهياج جَنائِبه

    What a caravan, mounting its noble camels

    And leading its restless spare mounts beside them!

  18. يَشيمون بَرقاً بِالغَضا مُتأَلِقاً

    تَحنّ لَهُ أَنجابُهُ وَنَجائِبُهُ

    They watched a flash of lightning over al-Ghaḍā,

    For which their noble, swift camels yearned.

  19. فَيصهل عَنجوجٌ وَيَزأر ضَيغمٌ

    وَيَبغم ظَبيٌّ ناصب العيس ناصِبُه

    A spirited horse neighed, a lion roared,

    And a gazelle bleated; the one driving the camels pressed them on.

  20. وَفي الرَكب ظَبي في الأَكلة مخدرٌ

    عَوارضُهُ مَصقولة وَتَرائِبُهُ

    Within the caravan was a gazelle sheltered in a curtained litter,

    Its cheeks polished, and its breast gleaming.

  21. يَعنف لاحي مَن يَهيم بِحُبِهِ

    وَيَمدح مُطريهِ وَيَأثم عائِبه

    It rebuked whoever reproached one lovesick for it,

    Praised those who praised it, and deemed its critic at fault.

  22. وَيَلقى سجلَّ الذَنب كاتب صَبهِ

    وَيَعجَز عَن إِحصاءِ قَتلاهُ حاسِبُه

    The record of sins slips from its lover’s scribe,

    And its reckoner cannot count those it has slain.

  23. إِذا ما رَمى مِنهُ خَليّاً بِنَظرة

    يُخالسها الواشين ضاقَت مَذاهِبُه

    If it cast a glance at someone free of love,

    Stealing it past the talebearers, his ways of escape grew narrow.

  24. وَلا تَعلق الأَطماع مِنهُ بِوَصلِهِ

    أَيَطمَع في البَدر التَمام مَراقبه

    No hopeful longing can reach union with it;

    Can one who watches the full moon hope to possess it?

  25. وَدونَ حِماهُ كُل أَسمَر ذابل

    وَعَضب جراز لا تَكلُّ مَضارِبُه

    Before its guarded domain stand every slender, dark spear

    And a sharp, deadly sword whose edges never tire.

  26. وَغَيران إِن مَرَّت بِهِ الريح رابهُ

    شَذاها وَعَنّاهُ مِن الظَن كاذبه

    A jealous guardian grows suspicious if a breeze passes him;

    Its scent troubles him with imagined suspicions.

  27. فَيَنظر عَن جَمر يَطير شَرارُهُ

    وَيَزورُّ مِنهُ لَحظَهُ وَمَناكِبُه

    He looks out as though from coals that scatter sparks,

    And turns both his gaze and shoulders away from it.

  28. فَلا تَلحني إِن هِمتَ شَوقاً وَحَسرَة

    فَإِن اِشتياق المَرء لا شَكَ غالبه

    Do not blame me if you have wandered in longing and sorrow,

    For longing surely overcomes a person.

  29. سَقَت ساريات المُزن ما اِنهَلَ وَدَقَها

    مِن الشام رَيعاً لا بِأَمري أُجانِبُه

    May passing rain clouds pour their showers

    Upon a meadow in Syria that I did not choose to leave.

  30. سَأَبكي عَلى عَصر حَميد مَضى بِهِ

    بِجفن قَريح ما تَغب سَواربه

    I shall weep for a happy age that passed there

    With a wounded eyelid whose streams of tears never cease.

  31. فَيا رَبُّ عَيش مرّ لي فيهِ ناعِماً

    رَقيق حَواشي البَرد عَذب مَشاربه

    How often I lived there in comfort,

    My days soft as fine cloth, their draughts sweet.

  32. وَلَم نُفرق التَفريق إِذ نَحنُ جيرة

    فَقَد غالَنا دَهر تَجور نَوائبهُ

    We gave no thought to separation while we were neighbors,

    But time overtook us with its unjust blows.

  33. وَما الدَهر إِلا غادرَ يَسلب الَّذي

    أَعارَ مِن اللَذات لا كانَ سالِبُه

    Time is treacherous: it takes back what

    It once lent of pleasures. May its taker perish.

  34. لَقَد كانَ لي قَلبٌ أُحَمِلُهُ الأَسى

    إِذا ما التَأَسي أَعوزتَني مَطالبه

    I once had a heart that could bear sorrow

    When the means of consoling myself failed me.

  35. فَقَد أَعد متنيه النَوائب عِندَما

    تَصدع لَما ضاقَ بِالهَم قالبِه

    But calamities wore down its strength

    Until it cracked when its frame grew too tight for grief.

  36. وَراحَ إَلَيها الشَوق يَجذبني وَقَد

    ثَنى عَزماتي قَيد خَطب أُجاذبه

    Longing drew me toward it,

    While the bonds of a calamity I struggled against held back my resolve.

  37. فَما زِلت يَبريني النَسيم إِذا اِنبرى

    مِن الشام حَتّى قَد حَكانيَ لاغبه

    The breeze kept wearing me thin whenever it blew

    From Syria, until I resembled one exhausted by travel.

  38. وَملَّ طَبيبي وَالعَوائد جانِبي

    فَلا مُسعد إِلّا حَمام أُجاوِبَه

    My doctor grew weary, and my visitors left my side;

    No one comforts me but a dove whose call I answer.

  39. وَيَفتر أَحياناً عَن النَوح وَالبُكا

    وَلَكن دَمعي لا تَمل سَواكبه

    At times it ceases its wailing and weeping,

    But the streams of my tears never tire.

  40. وَلا وَصل حَتّى بِأَذن اللَه بِاللُقا

    لُمستسلم راحَ الزَمان يُحارِبَه

    There is no reunion, unless God permits us to meet,

    For one left helpless while time makes war on him.

  41. وَإِلا فَإِني مَيت فَموسد

    بِقَبر غَريب ما تَرنّ نَوادِبَه

    Otherwise I am dying and will be laid

    In a stranger’s grave where no mourners raise their cries.