Sol 6.1

  1. باتَت أُمَيمُ وأَمسى حَبلُها رَمَما

    وطاوَعَت بكَ مَن أغرى وَمَن صَرَما

    Umaym passed the night, and by evening her bond lay in tatters;

    and, against you, she heeded whoever incited her and whoever severed ties.

  2. ولَم يكُن ما ابتُلينا من مواعِدِها

    إِلا السفاهَ وإِلا الهمَّ والسَّقَما

    What we suffered from her promises was nothing

    but folly, nothing but worry and sickness.

  3. قولاً يكونُ من الإخلافِ صاحِبُه

    غيرَ المريحِ ولا الموفي بما زَعَما

    Words whose speaker, through broken promises, proves

    neither one who grants relief nor one who fulfils what he claimed.

  4. وما البخيلةُ إِلا مِن صواحِبِها

    ممن يخونُ وممن يكذبُ القَسَما

    And the miserly woman is only one of her companions,

    among those who betray and those who break their oaths.

  5. وما يُقضّي غَريمٌ لا تنجّزه

    إِلا التوى لَمحَلِّ الدِّينِ أو ظلما

    A debtor you do not press repays nothing

    but loss when the debt falls due, or injustice.

  6. لكن لياليَ عاناتٍ تحدَّثه

    سِرَّ الفؤادِ وتعطيهِ الذي احتكما

    Yet during the nights at ʿAnat she told him

    the heart's secret and granted him what he stipulated,

  7. إذ الشَّبابُ علينا لونُ مذهبِهِ

    ونحن في زَمَنٍ يأتي بنا الأمما

    when youth's gilded hue lay upon us,

    and we lived in an age that led us along an easy course.

  8. قامَت تُريك وتجلو من محاسِنِها

    بَردَ الغمامةِ تسقي بَلدَةً حرما

    She rose, showing you and unveiling among her beauties

    the hailstones of a cloud watering a rain-starved land.

  9. خَودٌ مُنَعَّمَةٌ نَضخُ العبيرِ بها

    اذا تميّلَ عن خُلخَالِها انفَصَما

    A tender young woman, pampered, with splashes of perfume upon her;

    when she sways away, her anklet snaps apart.

  10. ليست ترى عجباً إِلا بدا بَرَدٌ

    غُرُّ المضاحِكِ ذو نور إذا ابتَسما

    She never sees a marvel without hailstones appearing:

    gleaming smiling teeth, radiant whenever she smiles.

  11. كأنها بَيضَةٌ صَفراءُ خَدَّ لها

    في عَثعَث يُنبِتُ الحَوذانَ والعَذَما

    As though she were a pale-yellow egg, a hollow dug for it

    in a soft sandhill sprouting buttercups and ʿadham grass.

  12. أو دُرَّةٌ من هِجانِ الدُّرٍّ أَدرَكَها

    مُصَعَّرٌ من رجال الهندِ قد سَهَما

    Or a pearl from the purest white pearls, obtained by

    a wry-necked man of India who had grown gaunt.

  13. أوفى على ظَهرِ مِسحاجٍ تَقَدّمَهُ

    غواربُ الماء قد القينَه قُدُما

    He mounted the deck of a wave-cleaving vessel, preceded by

    crests of water that had hurled him onward.

  14. جوفاء مطليةٍ قاراً إذا اجُتَنَحَت

    به غوارِبُهُ قَحمنَها قَحَما

    A hollow hull coated in pitch; whenever they leaned

    over him, its wave-crests plunged into it headlong.

  15. حتى إذا السُفنُ كانَت فَوقَ مُعتَلجٍ

    القى المعاوِزَ عنه ثُمَّتَ انكتما

    Until, when the ships were above seething waters,

    he cast off his rags, then vanished

  16. في ذي حُبوك يُقَضّي الموتُ صاحبَه

    إذا الصراري من أهوالهِ ارتسما

    into a furrowed sea, where death claims its occupant,

    when the sailor crosses himself at its terrors.

  17. غوَّاصُ ماءٍ يمجُّ الزيتَ منغمساً

    اذا الغُمورَةُ كانت فَوقَه قِيَما

    A diver in water, spitting oil as he plunges,

    when the deep waters stand towering above him,

  18. حتى تناولَها والموتُ كاربُه

    في جوفِ سَاجٍ سواديٍّ اذا فَحَما

    until he takes it, with death pressing close upon him,

    in the depths of a still, dark sea when it turns coal-black.

  19. ما للبلادِ كأنَّ الحيَّ لم يردِوا

    نهيَ الخلاطِ ولم يُسقَوا به نَعَما

    What ails these lands? It is as though the tribe never visited

    al-Khilat's pool, nor watered their livestock there,

  20. ولم يَحِلّوا باحواسِ الغميسِ إِلى

    شَطَّي عُويقةَ فالرَّوحاءِ من خِيمَا

    nor camped at Ahwas al-Ghamis, all the way to

    both banks of ʿUwayqa, then al-Rawha, from Khima,

  21. والعيشُ ذو فَرَحٍ والأرضُ آمنةٌ

    والدَّهرُ للناسِ لم يأزِم كما أزَما

    when life was full of joy and the land secure,

    and time had not oppressed people as it has since.

  22. نرجو البَقاءَ وما مِن أُمَّةٍ خلقت

    إِلا سَيُهلِكُها ما أهلَكَ الأُمَما

    We hope to endure, yet no nation has been created

    that will not be destroyed by what destroyed the nations.

  23. أما سَمِعتَ بأنَّ الريحَ مُرسلةٌ

    في الدهرِ كانت هَلاكَ الحيَّ مِن إرَما

    Have you not heard that the wind, sent forth

    in time past, was the ruin of the people of Iram?

  24. وقوم نوحٍ وقد كانوا يقول لهم

    يا قومُ لا تعبدوا الأَوثانَ والصَّنما

    And Noah's people—he used to say to them:

    O people, worship neither idols nor the carved image.

  25. فكذَّبوا مَن دَعا للخير واجتنبوا

    ما قالَ وامتلأت آذانُهم صَمَما

    They called the one who summoned them to goodness a liar, and shunned

    what he said; their ears filled with deafness.

  26. فلا هُمُ رَهِبوا ما قَد أظلَّهُمُ

    ولا نبيُّهُمُ عمّى ولا كَتَما

    So neither did they fear what had already overshadowed them,

    nor did their prophet speak obscurely or conceal anything.

  27. ذَر ذا وخُذ منس َراة القوم اذ ظعنوا

    مُحدِّدين لبرقٍ يَمطر الدِّيَما

    Leave that, and turn to the people's leaders as they departed,

    intent on lightning that showers steady rain.

  28. سار الظعائنُ من عتبانَ ضاحيةٍ

    إِلى البني وبطنِ الوعرِ إذ سَجما

    The women in howdahs travelled from ʿAtban in daylight,

    to al-Buni and the valley of al-Waʿr, as the rain poured.

  29. اذا هَبَطنَ مكاناً فاعتركن به

    أحلهن سناماً عافياً جَشُما

    Whenever they descended upon a place and crowded together there,

    he lodged them on a lush, massive summit.

  30. ظعائنٌ لا يُرينَ الدهرَ مغترباً

    من الأراقمِ إِلا القَيلَ والفَحَما

    Women in howdahs who never show a stranger

    from al-Araqim anything but speech and silence.

  31. افهمتهم يومَ جَدَّ البَينُ بينَهُمُ

    لو كان فيهِم غداة البَينِ مَن فَهِما

    I explained it to them the day parting became final among them,

    had there been among them that morning of parting anyone who understood.

  32. حلوا الرحوبَ وحلَّ العزُّ ساحتَهم

    يدعو أميةَ أو مروانَ أو حَكَما

    They settled at al-Rahub, and glory settled in their courtyard,

    calling upon Umayya, or Marwan, or Hakam.

  33. كم من بناءٍ بنى الكيَالُ قبلَهُمُ

    وأحمرُ القرمِ لولا عِزُّهُ انهَدَما

    How many a structure al-Kayyal built before them,

    and Ahmar al-Qarm; without his might it would have fallen.

  34. قاد الخيولَ ابنُ ليلى وهي ساهِمَةٌ

    حتى أَغرنَ مع الظلماءِ إذ ظُلما

    Ibn Layla led the horses, gaunt as they were,

    until they raided in the darkness, when he had been wronged.

  35. أولى لآلِ سليمٍ أو ابي عُمَرٍ

    من ضَربةٍ تورِثُ الأَضغَانَ والغَمَما

    Woe to the house of Sulaym, or Abu Umar,

    from a blow that leaves rancour and grief.

  36. اذا الطبيبُ بمحرافيه حاولها

    زادَت على النَفرِ أو تحريكُها ضَجَما

    When the physician tries to treat it with his two probes,

    it swells still more, or moving it worsens its crookedness.

  37. نادى المُنادي بِمَوت فاستجبتُ له

    والليثُ مثلي إذا لم يَستبِن عَزَما

    The herald announced death, and I answered him;

    the lion is like me: when he cannot see clearly, he resolves.

  38. ومِثلُ حربيَ أنساهم تجشُّمُها

    إجانةً من مُدامٍ طالَ ما احتَدَما

    The ordeal of a war like mine made them forget

    a basin of wine that had long seethed.

  39. إنَّ الأخيطلَ ليس الدهرُ مائرَهم

    أو يبعثُ اللهُ عاداً أو ترى إرَما

    Indeed, al-Ukhaytil—time will not provision them,

    unless God raises ʿAd, or you behold Iram.

  40. حَلَّت بنو مالِكٍ والبَحرُ دوَنَهُمُ

    وذَمَّم القومُ في يوم القنا جشما

    Banu Malik settled, with the sea standing before them,

    and on the day of spears the people reproached Jusham.

  41. فما يجوزُ اخوهم في مهوّلةٍ

    ولا يجدُّ اذا ما مفظِعٌ عَزَما

    So their brother does not pass through a place of terror,

    nor does he strive when a dreadful matter becomes urgent.

  42. وَدَوبَلٌ لا يكونُ المجدُ غايتَهُ

    ولن يجدَّ إذا شيطانُه اعترما

    And Dawbal—glory will not be his goal,

    nor will he strive when his devil grows savage.