Sol 6.1

  1. نَبا عضبُ السلوّ نبا

    غديّة مَن وددت نبا

    The keen blade of forgetting grew blunt, grew blunt,

    the morning the one I loved drew away.

  2. غديّة ودّعت سعدى

    وَداعاً يورثُ الوصبا

    The morning I bade Saʿdā farewell,

    a farewell that leaves enduring pain,

  3. وداعاً منه يوماً صا

    ر منّا الكلّ مُكتَئِبا

    a farewell that one day left

    every one of us despondent.

  4. إِذا اِنبَجَست مَدامعُنا اِح

    تشت أَحشاؤُنا لَهبا

    When our eyes gushed tears,

    our innards filled with flame.

  5. كأنّ دموعها درٌّ

    عَلَت أسماطه ذهَبا

    Her tears were as though pearls,

    whose strands rose over gold.

  6. فَتاةٌ ما بَدَت إلّا

    وأشدت حُسنَها وَشَبا

    A maiden who never appeared

    without my extolling her beauty as it blazed.

  7. إِذا اِبتَسَمت أَرَتك مِن ال

    جُمانِ بِثَغرِها حَبَبا

    When she smiles, she shows you

    bubbles of pearl within her mouth.

  8. هيَ البدرُ الّذي ما في

    سِوى إِسحاقهِ غربا

    She is the full moon, which never

    sets except when it withdraws afar.

  9. وَلا زالت تَذوبُ لها

    حُشاشةُ مُهجَتي طَربا

    And still there melts for her

    my heart's last spark of life, in rapture.

  10. لَقَد أَكلَ الهَوى لَحمي

    وَمِن جاري دَمي شَرِبا

    Love has indeed devoured my flesh,

    and drunk of my flowing blood.

  11. قِفا يا صاحبيّ برس

    مِ أَطلالٍ عَفَت حُقبا

    Halt, my two companions, at the traces

    of ruins effaced through the ages.

  12. قِفا كَيما نُؤدّي من

    سُؤالِ الربعِ ما وَجَبا

    Halt, so that we may fulfill

    what is owed in questioning the dwelling.

  13. مَنازل مِن فريقٍ بال

    فراقِ غُرابها نَعبا

    Dwellings of a company:

    their crow croaked of parting.

  14. فَكم غازَلت مِن غِزلا

    نِهنّ الخرّدِ العُرُبا

    How many I courted among their gazelles,

    their bashful, amorous maidens.

  15. ظباءٌ للقلوبِ تكو

    وَنت أَلحاظُهنّ ظبا

    Gazelles—against hearts,

    their glances became sword-edges.

  16. وَلا قدما تَلومُ وَقَد

    شَددت الكورَ وَالقببا

    Nor would she reproach me of old, when

    I had secured the camel-saddle and domed canopies.

  17. تَقولُ وَقَد جَرى في الخد

    دِ مِنها الدمعُ واِنسَكَبا

    She says, while down her cheek

    her tears ran and poured:

  18. إِلى كَم أَنت تنفق مِن

    كَ باقي العمرِ مُغتَرِبا

    “How long will you spend

    the rest of your life away from home?”

  19. فقلتُ لَها دَعيني أل

    تَمِس حظّاً وَمُكتسبا

    I said to her, “Let me seek

    good fortune and a livelihood.

  20. دَعيني الآن أَلتَمِسُ ال

    غِنى وَالعلمَ وَالأَدبا

    Let me now seek

    wealth, knowledge, and refinement,

  21. وَأقصدُ بِالمديحِ فتى

    مِنَ الأملاكِ مُنتجبا

    and address my praise to a young man,

    chosen from among kings.”

  22. فَقالت مَن فَقلتُ لها

    فَتىً أَعلى الوَرى رُتبا

    She said, “Who?” I said to her,

    “A youth highest among humankind in rank,

  23. فَتىً سلكَ الطريقَ طري

    قَ أهلِ الفضلِ واِرتَكَبا

    a youth who trod the path—the path

    of people of virtue—and followed it:

  24. أَبا العربِ الّذي في المل

    كِ سادَ العجمَ وَالعَرَبا

    Abū al-ʿArab, who in sovereignty

    was lord over non-Arabs and Arabs,

  25. أعزّ الناس نَفساً بل

    أَجلّ مُلوكِهِم حَسَبا

    the most honored of men in spirit—rather,

    the most august of their kings in ancestral honor,

  26. وَأفصحُ مَن قَرَى منهم

    وَمَن أَملى وَمَن كَتَبا

    and the most eloquent of those among them who read,

    and those who dictated and those who wrote.

  27. هُمامٌ جدّه نصر اِب

    نُ زهران الّذي اِنتَسبا

    A hero whose grandfather is Naṣr, son

    of Zahrān, who traced his descent,

  28. بِغيرِ الفخرِ جُرد الخي

    لِ وَالأسيافِ وَاليلبا

    without boasting, to sleek steeds,

    to swords and armor.

  29. إِذا لَقي العدى في الحر

    بِ صيّر رأسَهم ذَنبا

    When he meets the foes in war,

    he makes their head a tail.

  30. خضمّ نَدىً إِذا وَهَبا

    وَليثُ وَغىً إِذا وَثَبا

    An ocean of generosity when he gives,

    and a lion of battle when he springs,

  31. وَطودُ حِمىً إِذا جلسا

    وَسهمُ ردى إِذا غَضبا

    and a mountain of refuge when he sits,

    and an arrow of death when he is angered.

  32. وَأَفخَر مَن رَقى العليا

    وَمَن أَعطى وَمَن وَهبا

    And the most glorious of those who scaled the heights,

    and those who gave and those who bestowed.”

  33. فَما منكَ المقالُ لشا

    عرٍ قَد حصّ وَاِنتخبا

    What, then, is your answer to a poet

    who has refined and selected,

  34. وَجاءَ بِما يَصيرُ بهِ

    نَفيسُ الدرّ مُختلبا

    and brought that through which

    precious pearls become captivated?