لخولة بالدومي رسم كأنه — Akhtal

لِخَولَةَ بِالدومِيِّ رَسمٌ كَأَنَّهُ

عَنِ الحَولِ صُحفٌ عادَ فيهِنَّ كاتِبُ

At al-Dumi, Khawla has a ruined trace, as though it were

after a year, pages a scribe has written over again.

ظَلِلتُ بِها أَبكي وَأُشعَرُ سُخنَةً

كَما اِعتادَ مَحموماً مَعَ اللَيلِ صالِبُ

I spent the day there weeping, wrapped in burning heat,

as a shivering fever revisits a fevered man at night,

لِعِرفانِ آياتٍ وَمَلعَبَةٍ لَنا

لَيالِيَنا إِذ أَنا لِلجَهلِ صاحِبُ

recognizing the traces and a place where we played

in our nights when I was folly's companion.

هِلالِيَّةٌ شَطَّت بِها غُربَةُ النَوى

فَمِن دونِها بابٌ شَديدٌ وَحاجِبُ

She is of Hilal, carried far away by distant exile;

so between us stand a stout door and a doorkeeper.

تَبَدَّلتُ مِنها خُلَّةً وَتَبَدَّلَت

كِلانا عَنِ البَيعِ الَّذي نالَ راغِبُ

I took another sweetheart in her place, and she took another;

each of us shuns the bargain each obtained.

أَلا بانَ بِالرَهنِ الغَداةَ الحَبائِبُ

فَعَمداً أَكُفُّ الدَمعَ وَالحُبُّ غالِبُ

Ah, the beloved women departed this morning with the pledge.

So I deliberately restrain my tears, though love prevails.

تَحَمَّلنَ وَاِستَعجَلنَ كُلَّ مُوَدِّعٍ

وَفيهِنَّ لَو تَدنو المُنى وَالعَجائِبُ

They set out and hurried everyone bidding them farewell,

and among them—if only they drew near—were wishes and wonders.

لَبِثنَ قَليلاً في الدِيارِ وَعولِيَت

عَلى النُجبِ لِلبيضِ الحِسانِ مَراكِبُ

They lingered briefly in the dwellings, and high were set

on noble camels the litters of the fair and lovely.

إِذا ما حَدا الحادي المُجِدُّ تَدافَعَت

بِهِنَّ المَطايا وَاِستُحِثَّ النَجائِبُ

When the hurrying camel-driver chanted, forward surged

the mounts bearing them, and the noble camels were urged on.

وَغَيثٍ ثَنى رُوّادَهُ خَشيَةُ الرَدى

أَطاعَ وَما يَأتيهِ لِلناسِ راكِبُ

And many a rain-fed pasture, whose scouts fear of death turned back,

grew lush, though no human rider came to it.

تَحاوَلَهُ شَهرا رَبيعٍ بِوابِلٍ

وَرَوّاهُ سَكباً في جُمادى الأَهاضِبُ

The two months of Rabi visited it in turn with downpours,

and heavy showers drenched it in torrents during Jumada.

عَفا مِن سَوامِ الناسِ وَاِعتَمَّ نَبتُهُ

فَأَصبَحَ إِلّا وَحشَهُ وَهوَ عازِبُ

It was spared men's grazing herds, and its vegetation grew thick,

so it lay remote, inhabited only by its wild beasts.

تَظَلُّ بِهِ الثيرانُ فَوضى كَأَنَّها

مَزارِبُ وافَتها لِعيدٍ مَرازِبُ

There wild bulls spend the day roaming freely, as though they were

cattle-pens visited by satraps for a festival.

بَكَرتُ بِهِ وَالطَيرُ في حَيثُ عُرِّسَت

بِعَبلِ الشَوى قَد جَرَّسَتهُ الجَوالِبُ

I went there early, while birds were still where they had roosted,

on a stout-limbed beast seasoned by trials,

أَشَقَّ كَسِرحانِ الصَريمَةِ لاحَهُ

طِرادُ الهَوادي فَهوَ أَشعَثُ شاسِبُ

long-bodied as a thicket wolf, thinned

by chasing the leading beasts, shaggy and gaunt.

ذَعَرتُ بِهِ سِرباً تَلوحُ مُتونُهُ

كَما لاحَ في أُفقِ السَماءِ الكَواكِبُ

I startled with him a herd whose backs gleamed

as stars shine on the horizon of the sky.

فَعادَيتُ مِنهُ أَربَعاً ثُمَّ هِبتُهُ

وَنازَلَ عَنهُ ذو سَراويلَ لاغِبُ

I ran down four of them in succession, then feared the herd;

and an exhausted man in trousers dismounted from him.

فَلَمّا رَأَيتُ الفَلَّ قِرناً مُحارِباً

وَمُستَوعِلاً قَد أَحرَزَتهُ الصَياهِبُ

When I saw the survivors: an adversary ready to fight,

and a climber already sheltered by the rugged heights,

رَجَعتُ بِهِ يَرمي الشُخوصَ كَأَنَّهُ

قُطامِيُّ طَيرٍ أَثخَنَ الصَيدَ خاضِبُ

I returned with him; he darted at shapes as though he were

a falcon among birds, blood-stained from slaughtering prey.

أَحَمُّ حَديدُ الطَرفِ أَوحَشَ لَيلَةً

وَأَعوزَهُ أَذخارُهُ وَالمَكاسِبُ

Dark and keen-eyed, he had gone hungry through a night,

his stores and means of finding food having failed him.

فَظَلَّ إِلى نِصفِ النَهارِ يَلُفُّهُ

بِذي الحَرثِ يَومٌ ذو قِطارٍ وَحاصِبُ

So until midday he remained, enveloped

at Dhu al-Harth by a day of showers and grit-laden wind.

فَأَصبَحَ مُرتَبئاً إِلى رَأسِ رُجمَةٍ

كَما أَشرَفَ العَلياءَ لِلجَيشِ راقِبُ

Then he kept watch atop a cairn,

as a sentry mounts the heights for an army.

يُقَلِّبُ زَرقاوَينِ في مُجرَهِدَّةٍ

فَلا هُوَ مَسبوقٌ وَلا الطَرفُ كاذِبُ

He turned his two blue eyes over a vast bare plain;

none could outstrip him, nor did his sight deceive.

فَحُمَّت لَهُ أُصلاً وَقَد ساءَ ظَنُّهُ

مُصيفٌ لَها بِالجَبأَتَينِ مَشارِبُ

Then at evening, when his hopes had waned, there was allotted him

a summering sandgrouse, with watering places at al-Jab'atayn.

فَعارَضَها يَهوي وَصَدَّت بِوَجهِها

كَما صَدَّ مِن حِسِّ العَدُوِّ المُكالِبُ

He swept across her path, diving, and she turned her face aside,

as a fierce fighter turns at the sound of the enemy.

فَلَم أَرَ ما يَنحوهُ يَنحو لِطائِرٍ

وَلا مِثلَ تاليها رَأى الشَمسَ طالِبُ

I have never seen a bird pursued as he pursued her,

nor any pursuer under the sun like the one on her trail.

فَأَهوى لَها ما لا تَرى وَتَحَرَّدَت

وَقَد فَرَّقَت ريشَ الذُنابى المَخالِبُ

He swooped upon her unseen, and she broke away,

though his talons had already scattered her tail-feathers,

بِلَمعٍ كَطَرفِ العَينِ لَيسَت تُريثُهُ

وَرَكضٍ إِذا ما واكَلَ الرَكضَ ثائِبُ

with flashes like the blink of an eye—she could not delay him—

and a rush when a returning runner would flag.

فَعارَضَ أَسرابَ القَطا فَوقَ عاهِنٍ

فَمُمتَنِعٌ مِنهُ وَآخَرُ شاجِبُ

Then he intercepted flocks of sandgrouse above Ahin,

some escaping him, others dying.

إِذا غَشيَ حِسياً ما لِحِساءِ دَرَت لَهُ

صَوادِرُ يَتلونَ القَطا وَقَوارِبُ

Whenever he came upon some sandy waterhole, the waterholes yielded him

birds departing in the sandgrouse's wake, and others coming to drink.

يُفَرِّقُ خِزّانَ الخَمائِلِ بِالضُحى

وَقَد هَرَبَت مِمّا يَليهِ الثَعالِبُ

He scatters the buck hares of the thickets in the forenoon,

and foxes have fled from his vicinity.

فَلَمّا تَناهى مِن قُلوبٍ طَرِيَّةٍ

تَذَكَّرَ وَكراً فَهوَ شَبعانُ آيِبُ

Then, when he had eaten his fill of tender hearts,

he remembered his nest and turned homeward, full-fed.