تلك الحدوج يراعيهن غيران — Alabywrdy

تلكَ الحُدوجُ يُراعِيهنَّ غَيْرانُ

ودونَهُنَّ ظُباً تَدْمَى وخِرْصانُ

Those howdahs are watched over by a jealous man;

and before them are bloodied blades and spearheads.

مَرَرْنَ بالقارَةِ اليُمْنى فعارَضَها

أُسْدٌ تُسارِقُها الألحاظَ غِزْلانُ

They passed the hill on the right, and alongside them came

lions, at whom gazelles steal glances.

ينحو الأُجَيْرِعَ من حُزْوى أُغَيْلِمَةٌ

سالَتْ بهِمْ بُرَقُ الصّمّانِ غِرّانُ

Young lads head from Huzwa toward al-Ujayriʿ;

al-Samman’s stony tracts streamed with them, untried youths.

والعَينُ تلْحَظُهُمْ شَزْراً فتَطْرِفُها

بالمَشْرَفيّةِ والخَطّيِّ فُرْسانُ

The eye watches them askance, only to be struck

by horsemen with Mashrafi swords and Khatti spears.

تبطّنوا عَقِداتِ الرّمْلِ منْ إضَمٍ

بحَيثُ يلثِمُ فرْعَ الضّالَةِ البانُ

They entered the clustered dunes of Idam,

where the ban tree kisses the wild lote tree’s bough.

والجُرْدُ صافِنَةٌ لِيثَتْ بأجْرَعِه

لَها على الأثَلاتِ الشُّمِّ أرْسانُ

And the sleek horses stand poised, tethered on its sandy rise;

their halters fastened to the lofty tamarisks.

وفي الحُدوجِ الغَوادي كُلُّ غانِيَةٍ

يَرْوَى مُؤَزَّرُها والخَصْرُ ظَمْآنُ

And in the morning-departing howdahs sits every beauty;

her wrap-covered hips are sated, while her waist is thirsty.

تهزُّني طَرَباتٌ منْ تَذَكُّرِها

كما ترَنّحَ نِضْوُ الرّاحِ نَشْوانُ

Surges of rapture stir me at the thought of her,

as one wasted by wine reels in drunkenness.

كمْ زُرْتُها بنِجادِ السّيْفِ مُشْتَمِلاً

والنّجْمُ في الأُفُقِ الغَرْبيّ حَيْرانُ

How often I visited her, draped in the sword’s baldric,

while the star stood bewildered on the western horizon.

وللعُرَيْبِ بأكْنافِ الحِمى حِلَلٌ

طَرَقْتُها والهَوى ذُهْلٌ وشَيْبانُ

And the Arab folk had camps around the protected pasture;

I visited them by night, while passion was Dhuhl and Shayban.

فَراعَها قُرَشِيٌّ في مَراعِفِهِ

تِيهٌ يهُزُّ بهِ عِطْفَيْهِ عَدْنانُ

A Qurashi startled her; in his nostrils was

pride, with which Adnan sways from side to side.

وبتُّ أحْبُو إلَيها وهْيَ خائِفَةٌ

كما حَبا في حَواشي الرّمْلِ ثُعْبانُ

And I spent the night creeping toward her while she was afraid,

as a serpent crawls along the fringes of the sand.

فأَقْشَعَ الرَّوْعُ عنها إذْ تَوَسَّنها

أغَرُّ مُنْخَرِقُ السِّرْبالِ شَيْحانُ

Then fear cleared from her when, as she dozed, she was approached by

a bright-faced, tall man in a tattered tunic.

وفضَّ غِمْدَ حسامي في العِناقِ لَها

ضَمّي كما الْتَفَّ بالأغصانِ أغْصانُ

And as I embraced her, my sword’s sheath was split open

by my clasp, as branches entwine with branches.

والشُّهْبُ تَحكي عُيونَ الرّومِ خِيطَ على

أحْداقِها الزُّرْقِ للسّودان أجْفانُ

And the bright stars resemble Roman eyes: sewn over

their blue pupils are Black people’s eyelids.

يا أُخْتَ مُعتَقِلِ الأرْماحِ يتْبَعُهُ

إِلى وقائِعِهِ نَسْرٌ وسِرْحانُ

O sister of the lance-wielder, followed

to his battles by a vulture and a wolf:

أعْرَضْتِ غَضْبَى وأغرَيْتِ الخَيالَ بِنا

فلسْتُ ألْقاهُ إلا وهْوَ غَضْبانُ

you turned away angry and set the phantom against us;

so I never meet it save when it is angry.

يَسْري إليَّ ولا أحظى بزَوْرَتِهِ

فالطَّرْفُ لا سَهِرَتْ عَيناكِ يَقْظانُ

It travels to me by night, but I cannot enjoy its visit,

for my eye—may your eyes never lose sleep—is awake.

وإنّما الطّيْفُ يَسْتَشْفي برؤيَتِهِ

على النّوى مُستَميتُ الشّوقِ وسْنانُ

And only by seeing the dream-phantom is healing sought

in separation by a drowsy man dying of longing.

يا روّعَ اللهُ قوماً ريعَ جارُهُمُ

والذُّلُّ حيثُ ثَوى جَنْبٌ وهَمْدانُ

Oh, may God terrify a people whose neighbor was terrified!

And abasement is wherever Janb and Hamdan dwell.

ملَطَّمونَ بأعْقار الحِياضِ لهُمْ

بكُلِّ منْزلَةٍ للّؤْمِ أوْطانُ

Slapped at the backs of watering troughs, they have

at every stopping-place homes for baseness.

فليسَ يأْمَنُهُمْ في السِّلْمِ جيرَتُهُمْ

ولا يَخافُهُمُ في الرّوعِ أقْرانُ

For their neighbors are not safe from them in peace,

nor do their equals fear them in battle’s terror.

فارَقْتُهُمْ ولهُم نَحوي إذا نَظَروا

لَحْظٌ تُلَظّيهِ أحْقادٌ وأضْغانُ

I left them; when they look toward me, theirs is

a glance set ablaze by hatreds and grudges.

وبينَ جَنْبَيَّ قَلْبٌ لا يُزَعْزعُهُ

على مُكافَحَةِ الأيّامِ أشْجانُ

And between my sides is a heart unshaken

by sorrows as it battles the days.

ألْقى الخُطوبَ ولي نَفْسٌ تُشَيِّعُني

غَضْبى وأجْزَعُ إمَّا بانَ جِيرانُ

I face calamities with a spirit that emboldens me,

wrathful; yet I am distraught if neighbors depart.

أكلَّ يَومٍ نَوىً تَشْقى الدّموعُ بِها

إِلى غَوارِبَ تَفْريهنَّ كِيرانُ

Must every day bring separation, with tears shed in anguish for it

toward camel withers that saddles rend?

فالغَرْبُ مَثْوى أُصَيْحابي الذينَ هُمُ

عشيرتي ولَنا بالشّرْقِ إخْوانُ

For the West is the dwelling of my dear companions, who are

my kin; and in the East we have brothers.

أسْتَنشِقُ الرّيحَ تَسْري منْ دِيارِهمُ

وهْناً كأنّ نَسيمَ الرّيحِ رَيْحانُ

I inhale the wind that travels from their homes

late at night, as though the wind’s breath were sweet basil.

فيا سَقى اللهُ زَوراءَ العِراقِ حَياً

تَرْوى بشُؤبوبِهِ قُورٌ وغِيطانُ

So, oh, may God water Iraq’s Zawra with rain,

by whose downpour hills and lowlands are watered.

مُزْنٌ إذا هزَّ فيهِ البَرقُ مُنْصُلَهُ

عَلا منَ الرّعْدِ في حَضْنَيْهِ إرْنانُ

A bank of rainclouds: when lightning brandishes its blade within it,

a ringing peal of thunder rises in its flanks.

يَرْمي بأُلْهوبِهِ والغيْثُ منسَكِبٌ

حتى الْتَقَتْ فيهِ أمْواهٌ ونيرانُ

It hurls its blaze while the rain pours down,

until waters and fires meet within it.

فقد عَرَفْتُ بِها قَوْماً ألِفْتُهُمُ

كما تَمازَجَ أرْواحٌ وأبدانُ

For there I knew a people to whom I grew attached,

as souls and bodies mingle.