أما كان في تلك الدموع السوائل — Albohtry

أَما كانَ في تِلكَ الدُموعِ السَوائِلِ

بَيانٌ لِناهٍ أَو جَوابٌ لِسائِلِ

Was there not in those flowing tears

an explanation for one who reproves, or an answer for one who asks?

سَوابِقُ دَمعٍ مِن جُفونٍ سَوائِلٍ

إِذا سُكِبَت سَحّاً ذَرَت بِالأَنامِلِ

Racing tears from streaming eyelids,

shed in torrents, scattered by the fingertips—

دَلائِلُ مَكنونٍ مِنَ الوَجدِ لاعِجِ

وَسُحُّ دُموعِ العَينِ أَقوى الدَلائِلِ

signs of concealed, searing passion;

and the pouring of the eye's tears is the strongest of signs.

نَعَم قَد أَفاقَ اللائِمونَ وَأَسلَموا

نُهاهُ لِآجالِ الظِباءِ الخَواذِلِ

Yes, the reproachers have come to their senses and surrendered

his reason to herds of secluded gazelles.

سَماءٌ عَلى أَهلِ السَماواتِ تَغتَدي

بِسُقيا الخَليطِ المُستَقِلِّ المُزايِلِ

May a raincloud go at dawn over the people of al-Samawat,

watering the company as it moves away and parts,

فَتَنهَلُّ في جَوٍ تَرُبُّ ظِباؤُهُ

كِنانَةَ كَلبٍ لا كِنانَةَ وائِلِ

and pour into a valley whose gazelles hold sway over

Kinana of Kalb, not Kinana of Wa'il.

أَنائِلُ جاوَرتَ الأَحَصَّ وَأَهلَهُ

وَما جُدتَ لِلصَبِّ المَشوقِ بِنائِلِ

O Na'il, you have dwelt beside al-Ahass and its people,

yet given no gift to the lovesick, yearning lover.

لَئِن طالَ لَيلى في هَواكَ وَلَوعَتي

لَما كانَ حَظّي في هَواكَ بِطائِلِ

Though my night and anguish in loving you have grown long,

my share in your love has been of little worth.

عَدِمتُ النِساءَ بَعدَ شَمسَةَ إِنَّها

أَرَتنا كُسوفاً في شُموسِ الأَصائِلِ

May I be bereft of women after Shamsa: she

has shown us an eclipse among the suns of late afternoon.

لَبِسنا بِما قَد أُلبِسَت مِن حُليها

حُلِيّاً مِنَ المَخزاةِ صُحلَ الجَلاجِلِ

For the jewels she was clothed in, we have donned

jewels of disgrace, their bells rasping.

تَضاءَلَ مِن لُؤمِ الضَجيعِ إِذا التَوى

عَلى كَشحِها عيرٌ عَظيمُ الأَباجِلِ

Before her bedmate's baseness, when he coils

around her flank, even an ass with huge leg-veins shrinks.

إِذا حاشَها الفَحلُ اللَئيمُ تَلَكَّأَت

عَلَيهِ وَنادَت يالَشَمسِ بنِ زامِلِ

When the ignoble stallion herds her, she balks

at him and cries, 'Help, Shams ibn Zamil!'

وَمِن خَلفِ بابِ الجِسرِ خَمسُ حَفائِرٍ

ظِماءِ التُرابِ عابِساتِ الجَنادِلِ

And behind the bridge gate lie five graves,

their earth thirsty, their stones scowling.

لَوِ اِستَحدَثَت عِلماً بِذاكَ تَبَجَّسَت

يَنابيعُ مِن فَيضِ الدُموعِ الهَوامِلِ

Had they learned of that, there would have gushed forth

springs from a flood of streaming tears.

فَيا ذِلَّةَ الخَصرِ اللَطيفِ وَقَد خَلا

بِهِ وَهَلُ الأَقرابِ نَهدُ المَراكِلِ

Oh, the abasement of that slender waist, now alone

with one heavy-flanked and massive about the sides!

وَيا ضَيعَةَ الثَغرِ الرَقيقِ إِذا سَرى

لِتَقبيلِهِ رَشفاً بِتِلكَ الجَحافِلِ

And what a waste of that delicate mouth, when he comes by night

to sip kisses from it with those horse-lips!

وَيا سَوأَتا مِن وَجهِ بَغلٍ مُذَرَّعٍ

يُجِدُّ سَواداً في وُجوهِ القَبائِلِ

And oh, the shame of the face of a striped-legged mule,

casting fresh blackness on the faces of the tribes!

يَغيضُ غَداً في خالِهِ دونَ عَمِّهِ

عَشِيَّةَ فَخرٍ أَو غَداةَ تَفاضُلِ

Tomorrow he will retreat into his maternal uncle's line, not his paternal uncle's,

at an evening of boasting or a morning of vying for honor.

عَلى وَدِّهِ لَو أُمُّهُ حينَ يَنتَمي

أَبوهُ وَحُزَّت مِنهُ عَشرُ الأَنامِلِ

He wishes that, when he claims descent, his mother

were his father—even if all ten fingers were severed from him.

يَظَلُّ هَجيناً مِن أَبيهِ إِذا دَعا

لِأَنباطِ تَرعودٍ وَأَعرابِ حايِلِ

He remains a mongrel through his father when he claims kinship

with the Nabataeans of Tar'ud and the Bedouins of Ha'il.

لَهُ سَلَفٌ مِن آلِ شوخى إِذا انتَموا

فَلا لِلذُرى يَوماً وَلا لِلكَواهِلِ

He has forebears of the house of Shukha; when they trace their line,

it is never to the summits, nor to the shoulders.

إِذا رَجَّعَ القِسّيسُ طارَت قُلوبُهُم

حَنيناً إِلى دَيرٍ بِحَرّانَ آهِلِ

When the priest chants, their hearts take flight,

longing for an inhabited monastery in Harran.

مَعاشِرُ لَم تُضرَب بِسَلمى قِبابُهُم

وَلا اِرتَبَعوا في يَذبُلٍ وَمُواسِلِ

They are clans whose tents were never pitched at Salma,

nor did they spend the spring at Yadhbul and Muwasil.

رَأَوا رِفعَةَ الآباءِ أَعيا مَرامُها

فَكَرّوا مُريغي رِفعَةٍ بِالحَلائِلِ

They saw that ancestral eminence lay beyond their reach,

so turned back, seeking eminence through wives.

إِذا ما أَعالي الأَمرِ لَم تُعطِكَ المُنى

فَلا بَأسُ في اِستِنجاحِها بِالأَسافِلِ

If the upper parts of an affair do not grant you your wishes,

there is no harm in securing them through the lower parts.

مَناكِحُ في حَيٍّ فَحَيٍّ تَراهُم

يَسيرونَها بِاللُؤمِ سَيرَ المَراحِلِ

Marriages in clan after clan—you see them

journeying through them in baseness, like stages on a road.

بُيوتاتُ مَجدٍ أَخرَبوها بِلُؤمِهِم

فَعادَت قَواءً كَالرُسومِ المَوائِلِ

Houses of glory they have ruined through their baseness,

leaving them desolate, like crumbling ruins.

وَقَد تَدرُسُ الأَحسابُ إِن هِيَ ضُيِّعَت

مَناكِحُ أَهليها دُروسَ المَنازِلِ

And ancestral honors can fade through neglect

of their families' marriages, just as dwellings fade.

بَني أُدَدٍ ذُلّاً فَهاتا عَظيمَةٌ

أَذَلَّتكُمُ بِالعارِ دونَ القَبائِلِ

Sons of Udad, be abased! This is an enormity

that has singled you out among the tribes for shameful abasement.

وَفيكُم أُباةُ الضَيمِ مِن كُلِّ أَغلَبٍ

أَشَمَّ طَويلِ اللَيلِ دونَ الطَوائِلِ

Yet among you are men who spurn oppression—each a stout-necked warrior,

proud-nosed, keeping long night-vigils against blood-feuds.

فَلَم تَدَّعوا قِرياضَ فيها إِذا دَعَت

عَلى غَضَبٍ مِنها تَنوخٌ بَواصِلِ

Yet you did not invoke Qiryad over it, when

Tanukh, enraged by it, invoked Bawasil.

أَيَسخَطُها الأَذواءُ مِن سَروِ حِميَرٍ

وَيَرضى بِها أَولادُ سَعدٍ وَنابِلِ

Do the Dhu-lords among Himyar's nobles resent it,

while the sons of Sa'd and Nabil accept it?

فَلا كُسِيَت تِلكَ السُيوفُ لِزينَةٍ

بَياضَ اللُجَينِ وَاحمِرارَ الحَمائِلِ

Then may those swords not be clad merely for show

in silver's whiteness and the redness of baldrics!

وَما كُنتُ أَخشى أَن أَرى لِرِماحِكُم

عَوامِلَ في الهَيجاءِ غَيرَ عَوامِلِ

I never feared I should see your spears bearing

spearheads in battle that do no work.