Sol 6.1

  1. ربعٌ وقفتُ عليه بعدَ أهليهِ

    أسقيهِ مِنْ عَبَراتي ما يُروِّيهِ

    A dwelling where I stood after its people had gone,

    watering it with enough of my tears to slake its thirst.

  2. كانوا معانيهِ فَهْوَ اليومَ بعدَهمُ

    جسمٌ ولا روحَ يَلفى في مغانيهِ

    They were its meaning; today, after them,

    it is a body, with no soul to be found in its haunts.

  3. شكا النوى بلسانِ الحالِ فابتدرتْ

    مدامعي فوقَ سُحمٍ مِن أثافيهِ

    It lamented separation in the language of its state; then rushed

    my tears over its blackened hearthstones.

  4. كلُّ شكا بثَّهُ فيه وما أحدٌ

    في الناسِ إلا له شانٌ يعانيهِ

    Each voiced his sorrow there; there is no one

    among mankind without some trouble to endure.

  5. ربعٌ كانتِ الليلاتُ وهي ضحًى

    بطيبِ عيشٍ قطعنا في ضواحيهِ

    A dwelling where the nights were bright as morning,

    spent in sweet living about its outskirts.

  6. وقفتُ فيه فكم مِن وحشةٍ نزلتْ

    بي فيه مِن بعدِ أنسٍ كانَ لي فيهِ

    I stood there—how much desolation descended

    upon me there, after the companionship I once had there!

  7. مأوى الحسانِ غدا عَنْ وصلهنَّ كما

    قد كانَ بينٌ أظلَّتنا عواديهِ

    The haven of beauties grew bereft of union with them, as though

    a parting had come whose calamities overshadowed us.

  8. معالمٌ للهوى زادَ البكاءُ على

    رسمٍ عهدتُ بِواديهِ بَواديهِ

    Landmarks of love; weeping increased over

    a trace in whose valley I had known love's first stirrings.

  9. ربعٌ نُواحي عليه قبلَ بينهمُ

    قد كان قالَنواهمْ في نواحيهِ

    A dwelling—my lament for it, before their parting,

    had already voiced their departure within its precincts.

  10. وقفتُ عنسي به والعيشُ ظالِعَةٌ

    مِنَ الكَلالِ أناديهِ بِناديهِ

    I halted my sturdy she-camel there, while life limped

    from exhaustion, calling to it in its gathering-place.

  11. فلم تُجبني رسومٌ منه دراسةٌ

    حتى رثى الركبُ مِن شوقي وحاديهِ

    Its effaced traces gave me no answer,

    until the riders and their camel-driver pitied my longing.

  12. يا أدمعي هذه اِلأطلالُ ماثلةٌ

    فأين دمعٌ يُروِّي السُّحبَ هاميهِ

    O my tears, these ruins stand before you;

    where are tears whose torrents could water the clouds?

  13. اِيهٍ فلي مِن لظى الأشواقِ نارُ جوِّى

    تزدادُ وقداً إذا سَحَّبْ غواديهِ

    More! From longing's blaze I have a fire of inward grief,

    that burns more fiercely when its morning showers pour [reading uncertain].

  14. هذا الفراقُ وكم عندَِ اللقِّاءِ لنا

    صبحٌ إذا ما تغشَّتنا لياليهِ

    This is separation; how often, at meeting, we had

    a dawn when its nights enfolded us!

  15. ومغرمٍ باتَ والأحشاءُ في لَهَبٍ

    مِنَ الغرامِ الذى زادتْ دواعيهِ

    And many a lovesick man spent the night, his innards aflame

    with a passion whose incitements only grew.

  16. تأبى المنامَ مِنَ الذكرى لواحظُه

    ويشتهيهِ لعلَّ الطيفَ يأتيهِ

    His eyes refuse sleep for remembering,

    yet he desires it, hoping a dream-vision may visit him.

  17. بكى العدوُّ عليه مِن صبابتهِ

    وحسبٌ ذي الشوقِ أن تبكي أعاديهِ

    His enemy wept for him, moved by his ardent longing;

    enough for one who yearns, that his enemies should weep.

  18. وشادنٍ بتُّ أجلو دَّر مبسَمِهِ

    ووجهِهِ والدجى زُهْرٌ دراريهِ

    And many a gazelle-like youth: I spent the night unveiling the pearls of his smile

    and his face, while night's brilliant stars shone.

  19. فما رضيتُ بها عَنْ ثغرِه بَدَلاً

    وما تَنظَّمَ فيه مِن لآليهِ

    Yet I would not accept them in exchange for his mouth

    and the pearls strung within it.

  20. بدرٌ يدُيرُ عيوناً منه ساجيةً

    في كَسْرِ جفنِ مريضِ اللحظِ ساجيهِ

    A full moon, turning his tranquil eyes

    beneath a drooping lid, languid and still in its gaze.

  21. يضمُّ مِن قدَّهِ الميادِ غصنَ نقاً

    يَغارُ كلُّ قضيبٍ مِنَ تَثنِّيهِ

    His swaying stature encloses a branch upon a sandhill,

    whose bending makes every bough jealous.

  22. وردٌ بأجفانهِ الوسنى وأسهمُها

    تبيتُ عن مُجْتَنٍ باللحظِ تحميهِ

    A rose, with his drowsy eyelids and their arrows

    guarding it all night with glances against a plucker.

  23. يصدُّ ظلماً ويحمي ظلَمه عَنتَاً

    عن مستهامٍ معنِّى القلبِ صاديهِ

    He turns away unjustly, cruelly guarding his mouth's cool moisture

    from a love-bewildered man, tormented and thirsty at heart.

  24. لم يدعُني منه حُسْنٌ مِن محاسنهِ

    اِلاّ وباردَةٌ وجَدي يُلَبيِّهِ

    No beauty among his beauties ever called to me

    without the coolness of my passion answering it.

  25. تكادُ تُعْقَدُ مِن لينٍ معاطفُهُ

    على ضعيفِ مدارِ الخَصْرِ واهيهِ

    His curves are so supple they could almost be knotted

    around his slender waist, frail in its girth.

  26. يُغري العيونَ به ما فيه مِن مُلَحٍ

    ومِن دلالٍ ومِن عُجْبٍ ومِن تيهِ

    The charms he holds entice all eyes to him,

    his coquetry, self-admiration, and haughty disdain.

  27. لاحتْ لنا في نِفارٍ منه بارقةٌ

    مِنَ المنى والمنايا في أمانيهِ

    Through his aversion a flash appeared to us

    of hope—yet death lies within his hopes.

  28. وشيمةٌ منه ما يعتادُ أبداً

    مِنَ التجنَّي ويُغريني تَجنَّيهِ

    It is a habit of his, what he forever practices:

    unjust fault-finding; and his fault-finding only tempts me.

  29. اِذا بدا محارَ بدرُ التمَّ فيه ومَنْ

    للبيدرِ في الحسنِ لو أمسى يُدانيهِ

    When he appears, the full moon is bewildered by him; and who

    could champion the moon in beauty, were it to approach him? [Text reads 'threshing floor.']

  30. فالشمسُ والبدرُ هذى لا أُصانِعُها

    وذاكَ وهو تمامٌ لا أُحاشيهِ

    As for the sun and moon: this one I do not flatter,

    and that one, though full, I do not exempt.

  31. عندي مِنَ الوجدِ داءٌ لا دواءَ له

    لم يدرِ كيف يُداويِه مُداويهِ

    I have a sickness of passion for which there is no cure;

    its healer does not know how to treat it.

  32. لو أن مَنْ سلبَ الأجفانَ رقدتَها

    بهجرِه لم يُطِلْ فيه تَماديهِ

    If only he who robbed the eyelids of their sleep

    by his estrangement had not persisted in it so long,

  33. لكانَ يرجو إذا ما الغُمْضُ عاودَهُ

    منه خيالاً يُحييَّهِ فيُحْييهِ

    then he could hope, whenever sleep returned to him,

    for a vision of him to greet him and so revive him.

  34. وربَّ دوحٍ بديعِ النَّورِ قابلَني

    مثلَ الثغورِ نضيداً مِن أقاحيهِ

    And many a grove of wondrous blossom greeted me,

    its daisies arrayed like smiling mouths.

  35. هبَّ النسيمُ به تندى نوافحُه

    عليَّ والليلُ قد رقَّتْ حواشيهِ

    The breeze stirred through it, its fragrant breaths falling dewy

    upon me, while the night's edges grew delicate.

  36. دوحٌ تقامرَني لُبيَّ وقد صدحتْ

    في كلَّ ناحيةٍ منهُ قَماريهِ

    A grove—gambling with me for my wits, singing out

    in every corner of it, were its turtledoves.

  37. باتَ الحمامُ يغننَّي في جوانبهِ

    وبتُّ مِن حَزَنٍ بالدمعِ أسقيهِ

    The doves spent the night singing to me throughout it,

    and I, in sorrow, spent the night watering it with tears.

  38. أرتاحُ طوراً إلى ترجيعهِ طرباً

    وأذكرُ العهدَ أحياناً فأبكيهِ

    At times I delight in the rapture of its repeated song,

    and sometimes remember the old bond and weep for it.

  39. وقائلٍ والنوى قد طالَ موعدُها

    هذا ادَّكاركَ طولُ البعدِ يُنسيهِ

    And someone said, while separation's appointed term grew long,

    'This remembrance of yours—long absence will make you forget it.'

  40. فقلت من لم يكن مثلي ومثلهم

    في الوجد والحسن فالتفريق يسليه

    I said, 'For one unlike me and unlike them

    in passion and beauty, parting brings solace.

  41. فكيف أسلوه ولي مِن قُربهمُ أملٌ

    اِمّا مِنَ الطيفِ أو منهم ارجَّيهِ

    How can I forget him, when I have a hope of their nearness,

    which I cherish, whether through a dream-vision or themselves?'