حي المنازل بين السفح والرحب — Akhtal

حَيِّ المَنازِلَ بَينَ السَفحِ وَالرُحَبِ

لَم يَبقَ غَيرُ وُشومِ النارِ وَالحَطَبِ

Greet the dwellings between al-Safh and al-Ruhab.

Nothing remains but the markings of fire and firewood,

وَعُقَّرٍ خالِداتٍ حَولَ قُبَّتِها

وَطامِسٍ حَبَشِيِّ اللَونِ ذي طَبَبِ

And enduring hearthstones around their domed tent,

And a faded trace, Abyssinian-black, marked with bands,

وَغَيرُ نُؤيٍ قَديمِ الأَثرِ ذي ثُلَمٍ

وَمُستَكينٍ أَميمِ الرَأسِ مُستَلَبِ

And nothing but an old-traced trench, broken with gaps,

And a motionless remnant, its head battered, stripped bare.

تَعتادُهُ كُلُّ مِئلاةٍ وَما فَقَدَت

عَرفاءَ مِن مورِها مَجنونَةِ الأَدَبِ

Every mourning wind returns to it, though it has lost nothing,

Shaggy from its swirling, frenzied in its ways.

وَمُظلِمٍ تُعلِنُ الشَكوى حَوامِلُهُ

مُستَفرِغٍ لِسِجالِ العَينِ مُنشَطِبِ

And a dark cloud whose laden masses voice complaints,

Pouring out bucketfuls of steady rain, riven apart;

دانٍ أَبَسَّت بِهِ ريحٌ يَمانِيَةٌ

حَتّى تَبَجَّسَ مِن حَيرانَ مُنثَعِبِ

Low-hanging, urged onward by a Yemeni wind,

Until it gushed from a pent-up, overflowing pool,

تَجَفُّلَ الخَيلِ مِن ذي شارَةٍ تَئِقٍ

مُشَهَّرِ الوَجهِ وَالأَقرابِ ذي جَبَبِ

Like horses stampeding from a splendid, spirited stallion,

White-marked on face and flanks, with high white stockings.

يَعُلُّها بِالبِلى إِلحاحُ كَرِّهِما

بَعدَ الأَنيسِ وَمَرُّ الدَهرِ ذي الحِقَبِ

The relentless return of those two drenches them in decay,

After their folk have gone, as does time's passage through its epochs.

فَهيَ كَسَحقِ اليَماني بَعدَ جِدَّتِهِ

أَو دارِسِ الوَحيِ مِن مَرفوضَةِ الكُتُبِ

So they are like Yemeni cloth worn out after being new,

Or faded writing from discarded books.

وَقَد عَهِدتُ بِها بيضاً مُنَعَّمَةً

لا يَرتَدينَ عَلى عَيبٍ وَلا وَصَبِ

Yet once I knew there fair, pampered women,

Whose robes covered neither blemish nor ailment.

يَمشينَ مَشيَ الهِجانِ الأُدمِ يوعِثُها

أَعرافُ دَكداكَةٍ مُنهالَةِ الكُثُبِ

They walk like white purebred she-camels, their footing hindered

By the crests of a sandy flat with crumbling dunes.

مِن كُلِّ بَيضاءَ مِكسالٍ بَرَهرَهَةٍ

زانَت مَعاطِلَها بِالدُرِّ وَالذَهَبِ

Each a fair woman, languid, soft and plump,

Who adorned her bare neck and wrists with pearls and gold.

حَوراءُ عَجزاءُ لَم تُقذَف بِفاحِشَةٍ

هَيفاءُ رُعبوبَةٌ مَمكورَةُ القَصَبِ

Dark-eyed, full-hipped, never accused of lewdness,

Slim-waisted, tender and youthful, with smoothly rounded limbs.

يَسقي الضَجيعَ لَدَيها بَعدَ رَقدَتِها

مِنها اِرتِشافُ رُضابِ الغَربِ ذي الحَبَبِ

Beside her, after she has slept, her bedfellow is refreshed

By sipping her wine-like saliva, beaded with bubbles.

يَنفي أَعادِيَها عَن حُرِّ مَجلِسِها

عَمروُ بنُ غَنمٍ بِزارِ العِزِّ ذي الأَشَبِ

Her enemies are driven from her noble sitting-place

By Amr ibn Ghanm, cloaked in the dense thicket of might.

تَرمي مَقاتِلِ فُرّاغٍ فَتُقصِدُهُم

وَما تُصابُ وَقَد يَرمونَ مِن كَثَبِ

She shoots at carefree men's vital spots and strikes them dead,

Yet she is never hit, though they shoot from close range.

فَالقَلبُ عانٍ وَإِن لامَت عَواذِلُهُ

في حَبلِهِنَّ أَسيرٌ مُسمِحُ الجَنَبِ

So the heart is captive, though its reprovers blame it,

Held in their rope, a prisoner with a yielding flank.

هَل يُسلِيَنَّكَ عَمّا لا يَفينَ بِهِ

شَحطٌ بِهِنَّ لِبَينِ النِيَّةِ الغَرَبِ

Will you be consoled for what they fail to fulfill

By their far removal, bound for a distant destination?

وَقَد حَلَفتُ يَميناً غَيرَ كاذِبَةٍ

بِاللَهِ رَبِّ سُتورِ البَيتِ ذي الحُجُبِ

And I have sworn an oath that is not false,

By God, Lord of the veils of the curtained House,

وَكُلِّ موفٍ بِنَذرٍ كانَ يَحمِلُهُ

مُضَرَّجٍ بِدِماءِ البُدنِ مُختَضِبِ

And by every man fulfilling a vow he had undertaken,

Smeared and stained with the blood of sacrificial camels:

إِنَّ الوَليدَ أَمينَ اللَهِ أَنقَذَني

وَكانَ حِصناً إِلى مَنجاتِهِ هَرَبي

Indeed, al-Walid, God's trusted one, saved me,

And was a fortress to whose safety I fled.

أَتَيتُهُ وَهُمومي غَيرُ نائِمَةٍ

أَخا الحِذارِ طَريدَ القَتلِ وَالحَرَبِ

I came to him with my cares unsleeping,

Beset by fear, hunted by death and dispossession.

فَآمَنَ النَفسَ ما تَخشى وَمَوَّلَها

قَذمَ المَواهِبِ مِن أَنوائِهِ الرُغُبِ

He made my soul safe from what it feared, and enriched it

With lavish gifts from his copious rain-showers.

وَثَبَّتَ الوَطءَ مِنّي عِندَ مُضلِعَةٍ

حَتّى تَخَطَّيتُها مُستَرخِيَ اللَبَبِ

He steadied my footing amid a crushing ordeal,

Until I crossed it with my breast-strap slack.

خَليفَةُ اللَهِ يُستَسقى بِسُنَّتِهِ

أَلغَيثُ مِن عِندِ مَولى العِلمِ مُنتَجِبِ

God's caliph, through whose practice is sought

Rain from the Master of knowledge, the Chooser.

إِلَيكَ تَقتاسُ هَمّي العيسُ مُسنَفَةً

حَتّى تَعَيَّنَتِ الأَخفافُ بِالنَقَبِ

Toward you the pale camels keep pace with my purpose, breast-strapped,

Until their footpads became pitted with wear.

مِن كُلِّ صَهباءَ مِعجالٍ مُجَمهَرَةٍ

بَعيدَةِ الضَفرِ مِن مَعطوفَةِ الحَقَبِ

Every tawny, swift, stout-bodied she-camel,

Her plaited fore-girth far from her looped rear-girth,

كَبداءَ دَفقاءَ مِحيالٍ مُجَمَّرَةٍ

مِثلِ الفَنيقِ عَلاةٍ رَسلَةِ الخَبَبِ

Broad-bellied, bounding, barren, compact-built,

Like a pampered breeding camel, hard as an anvil, smooth-trotting.

كَأَنَّما يَعتَريها كُلَّما وَخَدَت

هِرٌّ جَنيبٌ بِهِ مَسٌّ مِنَ الكَلَبِ

As though, whenever she strides swiftly, she is attacked

By a cat led beside her, touched with rabies.

وَكُلِّ أَعيَسَ نَعّابٍ إِذا قَلِقَت

مِنهُ النُسوعُ لِأَعلى السَيرِ مُغتَصِبِ

And every pale, swift-striding male, when they shift—

The girth-straps upon him—forces himself to utmost speed.

كَأَنَّ أَقتادَهُ مِن بَعدِ ما كَلَمَت

عَلى أَصَكَّ خَفيفِ العَقلِ مُنتَخَبِ

As though his saddle-frames, after they have wounded him,

Were on a knock-kneed ostrich, witless and panic-stricken.

صُعرُ الخُدودِ وَقَد باشَرنَ هاجِرَةً

لِكَوكَبٍ مِن نُجومِ القَيظِ مُلتَهِبِ

Their cheeks turned aside, they have faced the midday heat

Of a blazing star among the stars of summer,

حامي الوَديقَةِ تُغضي الريحُ خَشيَتَهُ

يَكادُ يُذكي شَرارَ النارِ في العُطَبِ

Fierce in its heat; the wind lowers its gaze in fear of it,

Almost kindling fiery sparks in cotton.

حَتّى يَظَلَّ لَهُ مِنهُنَّ واعِيَةٌ

مُستَوهِلٌ عامِلُ التَقزيعِ وَالصَخَبِ

Until, because of it, a wail rises among them,

From a frightened driver, busy with goading and shouting.

إِذا تَكَبَّدنَ مِمحالاً مُسَربَلَةً

مِن مُسجَهِرٍّ كَذوبِ اللَونِ مُضطَرِبِ

When they enter the heart of a barren waste, robed

In a glaring, wavering mirage of deceptive hue,

يَأرِزنَ مِن حِسِّ مِضرابٍ لَهُ ذَأَبٌ

مُشَمِّرٍ عَن عَمودِ الساقِ مُرتَقَبِ

They shrink at the sound of a tireless striker,

His shin bared, watched warily.

يَخشَينَهُ كُلَّما اِرتَجَّت هَماهِمُهُ

حَتّى تَجَشَّمَ رَبواً مُحمِشَ التَعَبِ

They fear him whenever his mutterings rumble,

Until he endures panting that sharpens his fatigue.

إِذا حُبِسنَ لِتَغميرٍ عَلى عَجَلٍ

في جَمِّ أَخضَرَ طامٍ نازِحِ القَرَبِ

When they are held for a hurried, scant drink

At deep green, brimming water, far along the watering march,

يَعتَفنَهُ عِندَ تينانٍ بِدِمنَتِهِ

بادي العُواءِ ضَئيلِ الشَخصِ مُكتَسِبِ

They recoil from him at Tinan, on his littered ground,

His howl plain, his frame meager, seeking a living;

طاوٍ كَأَنَّ دُخانَ الرِمثِ خالَطَهُ

بادي السَغابِ طَويلِ الفَقرِ مُكتَئِبِ

Empty-bellied, as though smoke from ramth shrubs had mingled with him,

His hunger plain, long impoverished, downcast.

يَمنِحنَهُ شَزرَ إِنكارٍ بِمَعرِفَةٍ

لَواغِبَ الطَرفِ قَد حَلَّقنَ كَالقُلُبِ

They give him sidelong looks of rejection, knowing him,

Weary-eyed, having formed rings like bracelets.

وَهُنَّ عِندَ اِغتِرارِ القَومِ ثَورَتَها

يَرهَقنَ مُجتَمَعَ الأَذقانِ بِالرُكَبِ

And they, when men are caught unawares by the herd's rising,

Crowd the meeting-place of their chins with knees

مِنهُنَّ ثُمَّتَ يَزفي قَذفُ أَرجُلِها

إِهذابَ أَيدٍ بِها يَفرينَ كَالعَذَبِ

Of their own; then their hindlegs' thrust speeds

The swift sweep of forelegs they slash with, like tassels.

كَلَمعِ أَيدي مَثاكيلٍ مُسَلِّبَةٍ

يَنعَينَ فِتيانَ ضَرسِ الدَهرِ وَالخُطُبِ

Like the flashing hands of bereaved mothers in mourning dress,

Lamenting young men bitten by time and calamities.

لَم يُبقِ سَيري إِلَيهِم مِن ذَخائِرِها

غَيرَ الصَميمِ مِنَ الأَلواحِ وَالعَصَبِ

My journey to them has left of the camels' reserves

Only the solid core of bones and sinews,

حَتّى تَناهى إِلى القَومِ الَّذينَ لَهُم

عِزُّ المُلوكِ وَأَعلى سورَةِ الحَسَبِ

Until it reached the people who possess

The might of kings and the loftiest height of lineage.

بيضٌ مَصاليتُ لَم يُعدَل بِهِم أَحَدٌ

في كُلِّ مُعظَمَةٍ مِن سادَةِ العَرَبِ

White-faced, resolute champions, matched by none

Among the Arab chiefs in any grave affair.

الأَكثَرينَ حَصىً وَالأَطيَبينَ ثَرىً

وَالأَحمَدينَ قِرىً في شِدَّةِ اللِزَبِ

The most abundant in pebbles, the purest in soil,

And most praised for hospitality in the grip of scarcity.

ما إِن كَأَحلامِهِم حِلمٍ إِذا قَدَروا

وَلا كَبَطشِهِمِ بَطشٌ لَدى الغَضَبِ

No forbearance equals theirs when they have power,

And no onslaught equals theirs in anger.

وَهُم ذُرا عَبدِ شَمسٍ في أُرومَتِها

وَهُم صَميمُهُمُ لَيسوا مِنَ الشَذَبِ

They are the summits of Abd Shams in its ancestral stock,

And the clan's very heartwood, not its lopped-off branches.

وَكانَ ذَلِكَ مَقسوماً لِأَوَّلِهِم

وِراثَةً وَرِثوها عَن أَبٍ فَأَبِ

That had been allotted to the first of them,

An inheritance they received from father after father.