أتروى وقد صدح الجندب — Alabywrdy

أتَرْوى وقد صَدَحَ الجُنْدُبُ

غَرائِبُ أخْطأَها المَشْرَبُ

Can they drink their fill, with the grasshopper already chirping—

she-camels from elsewhere, whom the watering place has failed?

تَمُدُّ إِلى الماءِ أعْناقَها

وهُنَّ إذا ورَدَتْ تُضْرَبُ

They stretch their necks toward the water,

yet they are beaten when they come to drink.

كأنّ السّماءَ لَها مَنْهَلٌ

عليهِ منَ الحَبَبِ الكَوْكَبُ

As though the sky were their watering place,

with the star a bubble of foam upon it.

فليسَ إِلى نَيْلِها مَطْمَحٌ

ولا لِكَواكِبها مَطْلَبُ

There is no hope of reaching it,

nor any means of gaining its stars.

ويَطْوينَ والرّوْضُ في حُلّةٍ

يجُرُّ رَفارِفَها الأزْيَبُ

They go hungry, while the meadow wears a robe

whose trailing skirts the south wind drags.

وما العُشْبُ إلا القَنا تَرْتوي

دَماً منْ أنابيبِها يُسْكَبُ

The grass is nothing but spears, drinking their fill

of blood poured from their shaft-sections.

فلا رِعْيَ عِندي حتى يُباحَ

بأطْرافِها البَلَدُ المُعْشِبُ

So, for me, no grazing until

their points open the grass-grown land.

رُوَيْدَكِ يا ناقُ كمْ تَذْكُرينَ

مُناخاً بهِ اسْتَأْسَدَ الثّعْلَبُ

Easy, she-camel! How often you recall

a stopping place where the fox played the lion.

يَهونُ الكَميُّ بأرْجائِهِ

ويَقْلَقُ في غِمدِهِ المِقْضَبُ

The armored warrior is abased within its bounds,

and the keen sword trembles in its sheath.

ولَوْ كَفْكَفَ الدّهْرُ منْ غَرْبِهِ

طَغى في أزِمّتِهِ المُصْحِبُ

Had Time held back its cutting edge,

the docile mount would have rebelled against its reins,

ولمْ يَنْتَجِعْ عَذَباتِ اللِّوى

إذا لاحَ بارِقُها الخُلَّبُ

and would not have sought pasture on al-Liwa's fringes

when their rainless lightning flashed.

يَرودُ بتَيْماءِ حُوَّ التِّلاعِ

وقدْ خانَها الزّمنُ الأشْهَبُ

It seeks pasture in Tayma's dark-green watercourses,

though ashen Time has betrayed them.

وأصْحَرْنَ عنْ أدَمٍ يَفْشَعِرُّ

كَما هُنِئَ الجَمَلُ الأجْرَبُ

And they laid bare hides that bristled,

like a mangy camel smeared with tar.

فما لي أَحِلُّ رُباً لا يَشُدُّ

عِقالَ المَطيِّ بِها الأرْكُبُ

Why should I alight on hills where caravans do not fasten

the hobbles of their riding camels?

وما بيَ عنْ غايَةٍ نَبْوَةٌ

وإنْ خَذَلَتْ رُمْحيَ الأكْعُبُ

I do not fall short of any goal,

even if the joints betray my spear.

فإنّ يَدي دَرِبَتْ بالظُّبا

وساعِدُها بالقَنا أدْرَبُ

For my hand is practiced with blades,

and my forearm still more practiced with spears.

وعِندي منَ الخَيْلِ ذو مَيْعَةٍ

يَطوفُ بقُبّتِنا مُقْرَبُ

I have a horse full of vigor,

a cherished steed that circles our tent.

وتَذْخَرُ سَلْمى ضَريبَ اللِّقاحِ

لهُ وولائِدُها تَسْغَبُ

Salma stores up the milch-camels' mixed milk

for him, while her handmaids go hungry.

وأُلْحِفُهُ البُرْدَ في شَتْوَةٍ

تَغُضّ الهَريرَ لَها الأكْلُبُ

I wrap him in my mantle in a winter cold spell

that makes the dogs muffle their growling.

أغَرُّ يَلوحُ على صَفْحَتَيْهِ الصّبا

حُ وسائِرُهُ الغَيْهَبُ

White-blazed, with morning gleaming on his two sides,

while the rest of him is deep darkness.

إذا مَدَّ منْ نَبَراتِ الصّهيلِ

ثَنى مِسْمَعَيْهِ لهُ المُعْرِبُ

When he prolongs the ringing notes of his neigh,

a purebred steed turns both ears toward him.

وإنْ فزِعَ الحيُّ منْ غالِبٍ

تدثَّرَهُ أسَدٌ أغْلَبُ

And if the tribe takes fright at an overpowering foe,

a thick-necked lion takes him as his cloak.

يجُرُّ الدِّلاصَ غَداةَ الوَغى

كما اعْتَنّ في مَشيِهِ الأنْكَبُ

He drags his gleaming mail on battle's morning,

as a lion sways in its stride.

ولوْ كُنتُ أبْغي بنَفْسي العُلا

لأفْضى إليّ بِها المَذْهَبُ

Were I to seek greatness by my own efforts,

my path would surely bring it to me.

فكيْفَ أُداني الخُطا دونَها

ويَجْذِبُ ضَبْعي إلَيها الأبُ

How, then, could I shorten my strides short of it,

when my father draws my upper arm toward it?

ولي مَعْقِلٌ بفِناءِ الوزيرِ

يَروحُ إِلى فَيئِهِ المُعْزِبُ

I have a stronghold in the minister's courtyard;

the far-roaming traveler returns to its shade at evening.

ويخْجَلُ منْ راحَتَيْهِ الغَمامُ

إذا دَرَّ نائِلُهُ الصَّيِّبُ

The clouds are shamed by his two palms

when his bounty pours down like rain.

أتى في السّماحَةِ ما لَمْ يَدَعْ

لأهْلِ الندىً سِيَراً تُعْجِبُ

In generosity he has done what leaves

the generous no feats that inspire wonder.

فأوّلُ أفعالِهِمْ آخِرٌ

وبِكْرُ مَكارِمهمْ ثَيِّبُ

So the first of their deeds comes last,

and their maiden acts of honor are no longer virgin.

وأفْضى إِلى أمَدٍ لوْ جَرَتْ

إليهِ الصَّبا طَفِقَتْ تَلْغَبُ

He has reached a goal that, were the east wind to race

toward it, it would begin to tire.

مدىً هزَّ من دونِهِ رُمْحَهُ السِّما

كُ وإبْرَتَهُ العَقْرَبُ

A reach beneath which al-Simak brandishes its spear,

and Scorpio its needle.

وكيفَ يُساجَلُ في سؤدَدٍ

حَواشيهِ منْ عَلَقٍ تُخْضَبُ

How can he be rivaled in a lordship

whose fringes are stained with clotted blood?

وأدْنى عَطاياهُ مَلْبونَةٌ

تُباري أعِنّتَها شُزَّبُ

Even the least of his gifts are milk-fed steeds,

with lean racers keeping pace with their reins.

وصُهْبٌ ينُمُّ بأعْراقِها

إذا ما ابْتَذَلْنَ الخُطا أرْحَبُ

And tawny camels, whose bloodlines are proclaimed

by Arhab when they freely spend their strides.

وغِيدٌ منَ التُّرْكِ مَكْحولةٌ

عُيوناً يُقلِّبُها الرَّبْرَبُ

And slender maidens of the Turks, with kohl-dark

eyes like those turned by a herd of gazelles.

وأنّى يُساميهِ ذو مَحْتِدٍ

مَضارِبُ أعْراقِهِ تُؤشَبُ

How can a man of lineage match his height,

whose ancestral strains are mixed?

كأنّ مُحيّاهُ وَقْبُ الصَّفا

تَغشّى جَوانِبَهُ الطُّحْلُبُ

As though his face were a hollow in smooth rock,

its sides overgrown with moss.

ولو شاءَ غادَرَ أشْلاءَهُ

يُحيّي الضِّباعَ بِها الأذْؤُبُ

Had he wished, he would have left that man's remains

for wolves to greet the hyenas with.

لَشَدَّ بكَ المُلْكُ أطْنابَهُ

وكادَتْ دَعائمُهُ تُسْلَبُ

Through you the kingdom has surely tightened its tent-ropes,

though its pillars had almost been snatched away.

وعزَّ بكَ الشّرْقُ حتى لوى

إليكَ أخادِعَهُ المَغْرِبُ

And through you the East grew mighty, until

the West bent its neck toward you.

تَفُلُّ برأيِكِ حدَّ الحُسامِ

إذا اعْتَكَرَ الرّهَجُ الأصْهَبُ

With your judgment you blunt the sword's edge

when the tawny dust clouds thicken.

وتملأُ بالخَيْلِ عُرْضَ الفضا

ءِ حتى يئنَّ لها السّبْسَبُ

And with horses you fill the breadth of open space,

until the desert plain groans beneath them.

نِظامُ العُلا مُدَّ منْ شَوْطِها

نَوىً بالمُخِبّينَ لا تُصْقِبُ

Glory's strand has been stretched along its course,

into a distance that does not shorten for the trotting riders.

ولولاكَ ما روَّعَتْ صاحبَيَّ

للبَيْنِ أغْرِبَةٌ تَنْعَبُ

But for you, my two companions would not have been frightened

by cawing ravens of parting.

ولا سانِحٌ هزَّ منْ رَوْقِهِ

سَليماً ولا بارِحٌ أعْضَبُ

Nor by a rightward-crossing beast shaking its horn—

unbroken—nor a leftward-crossing one with a broken horn.

فكيفَ الإيابُ ومنْ دونِهِ

مَوارِدُ غُدرانُها تَنْضَبُ

How, then, can I return, when in my way lie

watering places whose pools run dry?

ومنْ عَجَبٍ أنّني في ذَراكَ

على الدّهْرِ منْ حَنَقٍ أغْضَبُ

And how strange that, in your shelter,

I rage at Time in bitterness!

فأنتَ الزّمانُ وأحْوالُنا

إليكَ إذا رَزَحَتْ تُنْسَبُ

For you are Time, and our fortunes

are ascribed to you whenever they falter.