طرقت جنوب رحالنا من مطرق — Al Qatami Al Taghlibi

طَرقَت جَنوبُ رحالَنا من مُطرِقِ

ما كنتُ أَحسَبُها قريبَ المعنقِ

Janub came by night to our camp from Mutriq;

I had not thought her within a swift rider’s reach.

قَطَعَت اليكَ بمثلِ جيدِ جدايةٍ

حَسنَ المعلَّقِ ترتجيه مُطَوِّقِ

She crossed to you with a neck like a young gazelle’s,

lovely where necklaces hang, hoping for one to adorn it.

هَلاَّ طَرَقتَ اذ الحياةُ لذيذةٌ

واذ الشَّبابُ قميصُهُ لم يخلُقِ

Why did you not visit when life was sweet,

and youth’s shirt had not yet worn thin?

طَرَقت نواحِلَ حللت بمضَرَّسٍ

ونُسوعُها برحالِها لم تُطلَقِ

She visited gaunt camels—I had camped at Mudarras—

with the straps on their saddles not yet loosened,

ومُصَرَّعينَ من الكَلالِ كأنَّما

شَربوا الغَبوقَ من الطُّلاءِ المُعتَقِ

and men cast down by exhaustion, as though

they had drunk their evening draught of aged, thickened wine,

متوَسَّدينَ ذراعَ كُلِّ شِمِلّةٍ

ومفرجٍ عرقِ المقدِّ منوَّقِ

pillowed on the foreleg of every swift she-camel

and every broad-chested, lean-girthed, well-tended mount.

وَجَثَت على رَكبٍ تهدُّ بها الصفا

وعلى الكلاكِلِ بالنَّقِيلِ المُطرِقِ

They knelt on knees that shatter hard rock,

and on their breasts along the well-beaten mountain track.

فاقرِ الهُمومَ قلائصاً عيديَّةً

تطوي الفيافي بالوجيفِ المُعنِقِ

So regale your cares with young ʿIdiyya she-camels,

folding up the wastes in a swift, stretching trot.

واذا سَمِعنَ هماهماً من رِفقَةٍ

واذا النجومُ غوابِراً لم تخفِقِ

And when they hear low murmurs from a traveling band,

and when the stars still linger, not yet set,

جَعَلَت تُميلُ خدودَها آذانُها

أَنَفاً بهنَّ الى حُداء السُّوَّقِ

their ears begin turning their cheeks

proudly toward the camel-drivers’ chant,

كالمصغيات الى الغِناءِ سَمعنَه

من رائعٍ لقلوبِهنَّ مُشَوَقِ

like women listening closely to a song they have heard

from one who moves their hearts with longing.

وترى بِجَيضَتِهِنَّ عندَ رحيلِنا

وَهَلاَّ كأنَّ بهنَّ جِنَّةَ أولقِ

And in their swerving at our departure you see

panic, as though they were possessed by madness.

واذا لَحَظنَ الى الطريقِ رأينَهُ

لهِقاً كشاكلةِ الحصانِ الأَبلَقِ

And when they glance toward the road, they see it

gleaming white, like a piebald stallion’s flank.

واذا تَخَلَّفَ بَعدَهُنَّ لحاجةٍ

حادٍ يُشَسِّعُ نَعلَهُ لم يلحقِ

And if there lags behind them, on some errand,

a driver fastening his sandal-thong, he cannot catch up.

لعنَ الكواعبَ بعد يومِ صريمتي

بشرى الفراتِ وبعد يَوم الجَوسَقِ

Cursed be the full-breasted maidens, after my day of parting

in the Euphrates’ thickets, and after the day at al-Jawsaq.

عَدَّينَ كُلَّ وديعةٍ يعلَمنَها

وذَعَرنَ من شَيبٍ تَجلَّلَ مفرقي

They cast aside every pledge they knew,

and took fright at gray hair cloaking my parting.

وأَبَينَ شِيمَتَهنَّ أولَ مرةٍ

وأبى تقلُّبَ دَهرِكَ المتصفقِ

They refused their former ways from the very first,

and the changes of your buffeting age refused them too.

ولقد يَروعُ قلوبَهُنَّ تكلُّمي

ويروعني مُقَلُ الغَزالِ المرشقِ

Indeed, my speech would thrill their hearts,

and the gazelle’s eyes, its head held high, would thrill me.

لئنِ الهمومُ عن الفؤاد تفرَّجَت

وحلا التكلمُ للّسان المُطلَقِ

If cares should lift away from the heart,

and speech grow sweet to the unfettered tongue,

لأعلِقَنَّ على المطيِّ قصائداً

أذَرُ الرواةَ بها طويلي المَنطِقِ

I shall surely hang poems upon the riding-camels,

leaving their reciters speaking at length.

إني حَلًفتُ بِربِّ مَن عَمِلَت له

خوصُ المطيِّ بكلِّ خَبتَِ سملقِ

I have sworn by the Lord of the one for whom there labored

narrow-eyed riding-camels across every bare, level lowland—

أُدمٌ تُصانُ وكانَ اصلُ نجارِها

من شدقميةِ منذرٍ ومحرّقِ

white and carefully tended; their ancestral stock was

from the Shadqamiyya camels of Mundhir and Muharriq.

لئنِ الجزيرَةُ أصبَحَت ممنوعةً

لوَدِدتُ أنَّ بريةً لم لم تخلقِ

If al-Jazira has become inaccessible,

I would surely wish the wilderness had never—never—been created.

وبنو أميةَ مَن أرادوا نفعَهُ

نَفَعوا وَمن نصَبوا له لَم يسبقِ

The sons of Umayya: whomever they wished to help,

they helped; whoever they opposed could not escape.

حَلَّت جنوبُ قُميقماً بُرهانها

فمتى الخلاصُ لذا الرِّهانِ المغلقِ

Janub has settled at Qumayqim with her pledge;

when will this forfeited pledge be released?

وَنأت بِحاجَتِها ورُبَّتَ عَنوَةٍ

لك من مواعِدِها التي لَم تَصدُقِ

She carried her favor far away; and many a hardship

you have had from promises of hers that proved untrue,

كعناءِ لَيلَتِنا التي جعَلَت لنا

بالقريتينِ وليلةٍ بالخندقِ

like the anguish of our night, which she appointed for us

at al-Qaryatayn, and a night at al-Khandaq;

أو قَبلَ ذاك اذ الحياةُ لذيذةٌ

واذ الزمانُ بصفوِهِ لم يَرنُقِ

or before that, when life was sweet,

and time, in its clarity, had not grown murky.

بَخِلَت عليكَ فما تجودُ بنائِلٍ

إِلا اختلاسَ حديثِها المُتَسَرّقِ

She was miserly toward you, granting no bounty

except stolen snatches of her furtive conversation.

طَرَقَت بأطيبَ ما يَحِلّ لمسلمٍ

بالقريتينِ وليلةٍ بالمشرقِ

She came by night with the sweetest thing lawful to a Muslim,

at al-Qaryatayn, and one night at al-Mashriq,

مما تَفَرَّعَ بالأباطحِ سيلُه

أو بالقلاتِ من الصَّفا لم يطرقِ

from water whose torrent branches through gravelly beds,

or lies in pools of smooth rock, never fouled.

تعطي الضجيعَ اذا تَنَبَّهَ مَوهِناً

منها وقد أَمِنَت له مَن يَتّقي

She offers her bedfellow, when he wakes deep in the night,

something of herself, assured he is safe from those he fears—

عَذبَ المذاقِ مُفلَّجاً اطرافُهُ

كالاقحوانِ من الرَّشاشِ المُستقي

a sweet-tasting mouth with spaced front teeth,

like daisies drinking up the spray.

نفضت أعاليَهُ الشّمالُ تهزُّهُ

وغَدَت عليه غداةَ يَومٍ مشرقِ

The north wind shook its tops, setting it swaying,

and passed over it at dawn on a radiant day.

وكأنما جَادَت بماءِ غمامَةٍ

خَصرٍ تَنَزَّلُ من مُتونِ العشرقِ

It was as though she poured out a cloud’s rainwater,

cool, dripping from the broad leaves of ʿishriq.

وأرى المعيشةَ انما هي ساعَةٌ

فَرَجٌ وساعةُ كُربَةٍ وتَضَيُّقِ

I see that life is only an hour

of relief, and an hour of anguish and constraint.

وأرى المنيَّةَ للرِّجالِ حبائِلاً

شرَكاً يُصادُ به لِمَن لَم يَعلقِ

And I see death as snares for men,

a net to catch whoever has not yet been snared.

وإذا أصابَكَ والحوادثُ جَمّةٌ

حَدَثٌ حَداكَ الى أخيكَ الأوثَقِ

And if there strikes you—calamities being many—

a mishap, it drives you to your most trusted brother.

وهُمُ الرِّجالُ وكلٌّ ذلك فيهِمُ

يجدون في رَحبٍ وفي متضيّقِ

They are men, and all of this is in them:

they give in times of plenty and in straitened times.

إنَّ الرِّجالَ اذا طلبتَ نوالَهم

منهُم خليلُ مَوَدَّةٍ وتملُّقِ

Indeed, when you seek men’s gifts,

among them is a friend of affection and flattery,

واخو مكارَمَةٍ على علاَّتِهِ

فَوَجَدتَ خيرَهُمُ خليلُ المصدقِ

and a man of generosity, despite his faults;

you find the best of them is the friend proved true.

ولما رُزِقتَ ليأتينَّك سَيبُه

جَلَباً وليس اليك ما لَم ترزقِ

What you are allotted—its bounty will surely reach you,

brought to you; what you are not allotted is beyond your reach.