دعاني امرؤ أحمى على الناس عرضه — Akhtal

دَعاني اِمرُؤٌ أَحمى عَلى الناسِ عِرضَهُ

فَقُلتُ لَهُ لَبَّيكَ لَمّا دَعانِيا

A man who defended his honor against others called me.

So when he called me, I said to him, 'At your service.'

هَجَتهُ يَرابيعُ العِراقِ وَلَم يَجِد

لَها في قَديمِ الدَهرِ إِلّا التَوالِيا

The Yarbuʿ of Iraq lampooned him, and he found

nothing in their ancient past but hangers-on.

فَإِن تَسعَ يا اِبنَ الكَلبِ تَطلُبُ دارِماً

لِتُدرِكَهُ لا تَفتَأِ الدَهرَ عانِيا

So if you strive, son of a dog, seeking Darim,

to overtake him, you will forever remain in toil.

أَتَطلُبُ عادِياً بَنى اللَهُ بَيتَهُ

عَزيزاً وَلَم يَجعَل لَكَ اللَهُ بانِيا

Do you seek a man of ancient stock whose house God built

mighty, while God gave you no builder?

سَعَيتَ شَبابَ الدَهرِ لَم تَستَطِعهُمُ

أَفَالآنَ لَمّا أَصبَحَ الدَهرُ فانِيا

You strove when time was young, yet could not match them;

can you now, when time is wasting away?

أَصِخ يا اِبنَ ثَفرِ الكَلبِ عَن آلِ دارِمٍ

فَإِنَّكَ لَن تَسطيعَ تِلكَ الرَوابِيا

Turn aside, son of a dog's vulva, from the clan of Darim,

for you will never scale those hills.

وَإِنَّكَ لَو أَسرَيتَ لَيلَكَ كُلَّهُ

بِقَومِكَ لَم تُصبِح مِنَ القَومِ دانِيا

And even if you traveled the whole of your night

with your people, you would not be near that clan at dawn.

نَخَستَ بِيَربوعٍ لِتُدرِكَ دارِماً

ضَلالاً لِمَن مَنّاكَ تِلكَ الأَمانِيا

You spurred Yarbuʿ on to overtake Darim.

Perdition to whoever fed you those hopes!

أَتَشتِمُ قَوماً أَثَّلوكَ بِدارِمٍ

وَلَولاهُمُ كُنتُم كَعُكلٍ مُوالِيا

Do you revile a people who ennobled you through Darim?

But for them, you would have been clients like ʿUkl—

مَوالِيَ حَدّاجي الرَوايا وَساسَةَ ال

حَميرِ وَتَبّاعينَ تِلكَ التَوالِيا

clients, loaders of water-camels, and tenders of the

donkeys, and followers of those hangers-on.

إِذا اِحتَضَرَ الناسُ المِياهَ نُفيتُمُ

عَنِ الماءِ حَتّى يُصبِحَ الحَوضُ خالِيا

When people gather at the watering places, you are banished

from the water until the trough is deserted.

أَجَحّافُ ما مِن كاشِحٍ ذاقَ حَربَنا

فَيُفلِتَ إِلّا اِزدادَ عَنّا تَناهِيا

O Jahhaf, no bitter foe has tasted our warfare

and then escaped without shunning us all the more.

وَما تَمنَعُ الأَعداءَ مِنّا هَوادَةٌ

وَلَكِنَّهُم يَلقَونَ مِنّا الدَواهِيا

And no leniency shields our enemies from us;

but they meet calamities at our hands.

وَيَومَ بَني الصَمعاءَ خاضَت جِيادُنا

دِماءَ بَني ذَكوانَ رَنقاً وَصافِيا

And on the day of the sons of al-Samʿaʾ, our steeds waded

through the blood of the sons of Dhakwan, murky and clear.

فَقَد تَرَكَتهُم في هَوازِنَ حَربُنا

وَما يَأخُذونَ الحَقَّ إِلّا تَلافِيا

For our warfare left them among Hawazin,

and they receive their due only by way of redress.

قَتَلنا غَنِيّاً بِالمَوالي فَلَم نَجِد

بِقَتلِ غَنِيٍّ لِلحَرارَةِ شافِيا

We slew Ghani for the clients, yet did not find

in Ghani's killing a cure for our burning wrath.

وَنَصراً وَلَولا رَغبَةٌ عَن مُحارِبٍ

لَأَشبَعَ قَتلاها الضِباعَ العَوافِيا

And Nasr too; had we not disdained Muharib,

its slain would have glutted the foraging hyenas.

وَغُضّوا بَني عَبسٍ لَها مِن عُيونِكُم

وَلَمّا تُصِبكُم نَفحَةٌ مِن هِجائِيا

And cast down your eyes before it, sons of ʿAbs,

though no gust of my satire has yet struck you.

فَقَد كِلتُموني بِالسَوابِقِ قَبلَها

فَبَرَّزتُ مِنها ثانِياً مِن عَنانِيا

For you had measured me against the swiftest horses before it,

so I outstripped them, holding my reins back.

وَما كانَتِ الصَمعاءُ إِلّا تَعِلَّةً

لِمَن كانَ يَعتَسُّ الإِماءَ الزَوانِيا

And al-Samʿaʾ was nothing but a diversion

for one who prowled after unchaste slave women.

هَجاني بَنو الصَمعاءِ وَالبيدُ دونَها

وَما كانَ يَلقى غِبطَةً مَن هَجانِيا

The sons of al-Samʿaʾ lampooned me, with deserts between us,

and none who lampooned me ever found good fortune.