Sol 6.1

  1. هَل عِندَ غانٍ لِفُؤادٍ صَدِ

    مِن نَهلَةٍ في اليَومِ أَو في غَدِ

    Has a fair maiden, for a thirsty heart,

    A draught today, or tomorrow?

  2. يَجزي بِها الجازونَ عَنّي وَلَو

    يُمنَعُ شُربي لَسَقَتني يَدي

    For which others might pay on my behalf; and though

    My drink were withheld, my own hand would give me drink.

  3. قالَت أَلا لا يُشتَرى ذاكُمُ

    إِلاّ بِما شِئنا وَلَم يوجَدِ

    She said, “Take heed: that cannot be bought

    Except for what we choose, nor has it been found

  4. إِلّا بِبَدرَي ذَهَبٍ خالِصٍ

    كُلُّ صَباحٍ آخِرَ المُسنَدِ

    Except for two bags of pure gold,

    Every morning, to the end of time,

  5. مِن مالِ مَن يَجبي وَيُجبى لَهُ

    سَبعونَ قِنطاراً مِنَ العَسجَدِ

    From the wealth of one who levies tribute, and for whom are gathered

    Seventy qintars of gold;

  6. أَو مِائَةٌ تُجعَلُ أَولادُها

    لَغواً وَعُرضُ المائةِ الجَلمَدِ

    Or a hundred camels, their young counted

    As nothing, and the hundred themselves rock-stout.”

  7. إِذ لَم أَجِد حَبلاً لَهُ مِرَّةٌ

    إذ أَنا بَينَ الخَلِّ وَالأَوبَدِ

    When I found no cord with a firm twist,

    When I was between al-Khall and al-Awbad,

  8. حَتّى تُلوفِيتُ بِلَكِّيَّةٍ

    مُعجَمَةِ الحارِكِ وَالموقِدِ

    Until I was rescued by a stout she-camel,

    Firm at the withers and the saddle-place.

  9. تُعطيكَ مَشياً حَسَناً مَرَّةً

    حَثَّكَ بِالمِروَدِ وَالمُحصَدِ

    She gives you a fine gait with a single

    Urging with your goad and tightly twisted cord.

  10. يُنبي تَجاليدي وَأَقتادَها

    ناوٍ كَرَأسِ الفَدَّنِ المُؤَيَّدِ

    My frame and her saddle's timbers are lifted

    By a fleshy hump like the crown of a buttressed palace.

  11. عَرقاءَ وَجناءَ جُمالِيَّةٍ

    مُكرَبَةٍ أَرساغُها جَلمَدِ

    Sinewy, stout-cheeked, built like a camel bull,

    Tightly knit, her pasterns hard as rock.

  12. تَنمي بِنَهّاضٍ إِلى حارِكٍ

    تَمَّ كَرُكنِ الحَجَرِ الأَصلَدِ

    She rises from a powerful forepart to withers

    Full-grown, like a corner of the hardest stone.

  13. كَأَنَّما أَوبُ يَدَيها إِلى

    حَيزومِها فَوقَ حَصى الفَدفَدِ

    As though the backward sweep of her forelegs toward

    Her breast, above the pebbles of the level waste,

  14. نَوحُ اِبنَةِ الجَونِ عَلى هالِكٍ

    تَندُبُهُ رافِعَةَ المِجلَدِ

    Were al-Jawn's daughter's wailing over a dead man,

    Lamenting him, raising her mourning strap.

  15. كَلَّفتُها تَهجيرَ داوِيَّةٍ

    مِن بَعدِ شَأوَي لَيلِها الأَبعَدِ

    I tasked her with a noonday trek through a trackless waste,

    After two stages of her far-reaching night,

  16. في لاحِبٍ تَعزِفُ جِنّانُهُ

    مُنفَهِقِ القَفرَةِ كَالبُرجُدِ

    On a clear track whose jinn make music,

    Its wilderness spread wide like a coarse cloak.

  17. تَكادُ إِذ حُرِّكَ مِجدافُها

    تَنسَلُّ مِن مَثناتِها وَاليَدِ

    When her oar is stirred, she almost

    Slips free of her doubled rein and the hand.

  18. لا يَرفَعُ السَوطَ لَها راكِبٌ

    إِذا المَهارى خَوَّدَت في البَدِ

    No rider raises a whip to her

    When the Mahri camels stride with legs spread wide.

  19. تَسمَعُ تَعزافاً لَهُ رَنَّةٌ

    في باطِنِ الوادي وَفي القَردَدِ

    You hear strange music with a ringing note

    In the valley's hollow and on the rocky height.

  20. كَأَنَّها أَسفَعُ ذو جُدَّةٍ

    يَمسُدُهُ الوَبلُ وَلَيلٌ سَدِ

    She is like a dark-faced wild bull with a stripe,

    Smoothed by the downpour and a dew-laden night.

  21. مُلَمَّعُ الخَدَّينِ قَد أُردِفَت

    أَكرُعُهُ بِالزَّمَعِ الأَسَودِ

    Dappled on both cheeks; already fringed

    Are his shanks with black heel-tufts.

  22. كَأَنَّما يَنظُرُ في بُرقُعٍ

    مِن تَحتِ رَوقٍ سَلِبِ المِذوَدِ

    As though he looks through a face-veil

    From beneath a long, slender defensive horn.

  23. يُصيخُ لِلنَّبأَةِ أَسماعَهُ

    إِصاخَةَ النّاشِدِ لِلمُنشِدِ

    He bends his ears to a faint sound,

    As one seeking a lost thing listens to its finder.

  24. ضَمَّ صِماخَيهِ لِنُكرِيَّةٍ

    مِن خَشيَةِ القانِصِ وَالمُؤسَدِ

    He draws his ears together at a strange alarm,

    For fear of the hunter and the hound-inciter.

  25. وَاِنتَصَبَ القَلبُ لِتَقسيمِهِ

    أَمراً فَريقَينِ وَلَم يَبلُدِ

    His heart stands alert to weigh

    The matter in two ways, never growing dull.

  26. يَتبَعُهُ في إِثرِهِ واصِلٌ

    مِثلُ رِشاءِ الخُلُبِ الأَجرَدِ

    A long tail follows in his wake,

    Like a smooth well-rope of palm fiber.

  27. تَنحَسِرُ الغَمرَةُ عَنهُ كَما

    يَنحَسِرُ النَجمُ عَنِ الفَرقَدِ

    The darkness clears from him, as

    The star draws clear of al-Farqad.

  28. في بَلدةٍ تَعزِفُ جِنّانُها

    فيها خَناطيلُ مِن الرُوَّدِ

    In a land whose jinn make music,

    With scattered bands of pasture-seekers.

  29. قاظَ إِلى العَليا إِلى المُنتهى

    مُستَعرِضَ المَغرِبِ لَم يَعضُدِ

    He summered toward the uplands, at the farthest reach,

    Broadside to the sunset, never swerving.

  30. فَذاكُمُ شَبَّهتُهُ ناقَتي

    مُرتَجِلاً فيها وَلَم أَعتَدِ

    That is what I likened my she-camel to,

    Improvising about her, without exaggeration.

  31. بِالمِربَإِ المَرهوبِ أَعلامُهُ

    بِالمُفرِعِ الكاثِبَةِ الأَكبَدِ

    At the lookout whose landmarks inspire dread,

    On the towering, thick-backed height.

  32. لَمّا رَأى فاليهِ ما عِندَهُ

    أَعجَبَ ذا الرَوحَةِ وَالمُغتَدي

    When its examiner saw what it had,

    It amazed the evening traveler and the early riser.

  33. كَالأَجدَلِ الطّالِبِ رَهوَ القَطا

    مُستَنشِطاً في العُنُقِ الأَصيَدِ

    Like a falcon pursuing a flock of sandgrouse,

    Springing eagerly, with its proud, stiff neck,

  34. يَجمَعُ في الوَكرِ وَزيماً كَما

    يَجمَعُ ذو الوَفضَةِ في المِزوَدِ

    Gathering morsels of flesh in its nest, as

    A pouch-bearer gathers food in his provision bag.

  35. هَل لِهَذا القَلبِ سَمعٌ أَو بَصَر

    أَو تَناهٍ عَن حَبيبٍ يُدَّكَر

    Has this heart hearing or sight,

    Or any restraint from a beloved remembered?

  36. أَو لِدَمعٍ عَن سَفاهٍ نِهيَةٌ

    تَمتَري مِنهُ أَسابِيَّ الدِرَر

    Or have tears any check against folly

    That draws successive streams of tears from it—

  37. مُرمَعِلّاتٌ كَسِمطَيِّ لُؤلُؤٍ

    خُذِلَت أَخراتُهُ فيهِ مَغَر

    Cascading like two strings of pearls,

    Their thread-holes empty, red ochre within—

  38. إِن رَأى ظُعناً لِلَيلى غُدوَةً

    قَد عَلا الحَزماءَ مِنهُنَّ أُسَر

    If it sees Layla's camel-borne women at dawn,

    Groups of them already atop the stony ridge,

  39. قَد عَلَت مِن فَوقِها أَنماطُها

    وَعَلى الأَحداجِ رَقمٌ كَالشَقِر

    Their patterned rugs already risen above them,

    And embroidery like red anemones upon the litters?

  40. وَإِلى عَمرٍو وَإِن لَم آتِهِ

    تُجلَبُ المِدحَةُ أَو يَمضي السَفَر

    And to 'Amr, though I have not come to him,

    Praise is carried, or the travelers pass on.

  41. وَاضِحُ الوَجهِ كَريمٌ نَجرُهُ

    مَلَكَ السَيفَ إِلى بَطنِ العُشَر

    Bright of face, noble in his stock,

    He ruled the coast as far as the valley of al-'Ushar.

  42. حَجَرِيٌّ عائِدِيٌّ نَسَباً

    ثُمَّ لِلمُنذِرِ إِذ جَلّى الخَمَر

    Hajari, 'A'idi by descent,

    Then al-Mundhir's, when he swept away concealment.

  43. باحِرِيُّ الدَمِ مُرٌّ طَعمُهُ

    يُبرِئُ الكَلبَ إِذا عَضَّ وَهَر

    His blood deep red, its taste bitter,

    It cures rabies when a dog bites and snarls.

  44. كُلُّ يَومٍ كان عَنّا جَلَلاً

    غَيرَ يَومِ الحِنوِ في جَنَبي قَطَر

    Every day was a small matter to us,

    Except the day of al-Hinw, on Qatar's two flanks.

  45. ضَرَبَت دَوسَرُ فينا ضَربَةً

    أَثبَتَت أَوتادَ مُلكٍ مُستَقِر

    Dawsar dealt us a blow

    That fixed the stakes of a lasting kingdom.

  46. صَبَّحَتنا فَيلَقٌ مَلمومَةٌ

    تَمنَعُ الأَعقابَ مِنهُنَّ الأُخَر

    A closely massed host came upon us at dawn,

    Its hindmost ranks barring retreat.

  47. فَجَزاهُ اللَهُ مِن ذي نِعمَةٍ

    وَجَزاهُ اللَهُ إِن عَبدٌ كَفَر

    So may God reward him, giver of favor,

    And may God reward him if a servant is ungrateful.

  48. وَأَقامَ الرَأسَ وَقعٌ صادِقٌ

    بعدَ ما صافَ وَفي الخَدِّ صَعَر

    And a true blow straightened the head,

    After it had turned aside, the cheek twisted with pride.

  49. وَلَقَد راموا بِسَعيٍ ناقِصٍ

    كَي يُزيلوهُ فَأَعيا وَأَبَر

    And indeed, they strove with feeble effort

    To unseat him; he defied them and prevailed.

  50. وَلَقَد أَودى بِمَن أَودى بِهِ

    عَيشُ دَهرٍ كان حُلواً فَأَمَر

    And indeed, what ruined those it ruined

    Was life in an age once sweet, then turned bitter.