أرحلت من سلمى بغير متاع — Almusayyib Bin Als

أَرَحَلتَ مِن سَلمى بِغَيرِ مَتاعِ

قَبلَ العُطاسِ وَرُعتَها بِوَداعِ

Did you leave Salma with nothing to enjoy,

before the sneeze, and startle her with farewell,

مِن غَيرِ مَقلِيَةٍ وَإِنَّ حِبالَها

لَيسَت بِأَرمامٍ وَلا أَقطاعِ

though she was not hated, and indeed her bonds

were neither worn-out ropes nor severed strands?

إِذ تَستَبيكَ بِأَصلَتِيٍّ ناعِمٍ

قامَت لِتَفتِنَهُ بِغَيرِ قِناعِ

When she captivated you with a smooth, tender cheek,

she stood unveiled to bewitch him,

وَمَهاً يَرُفُّ كَأَنَّهُ إِذ ذُقتَهُ

عانِيَّةٌ شُجَّت بِماءِ وِقاعِ

and gleaming crystal-white teeth that, when you tasted them, seemed like

wine from ʿĀna, mixed with water from rock pools,

أَو صَوبُ غادِيَةٍ أَدَرَّتهُ الصَبا

بِبَزيلِ أَزهَرَ مُدمَجٍ بِسَياعِ

or a morning cloud's rain, made to pour by the east wind,

with pale honey, tightly enclosed and sealed with clay.

فَرَأَيتُ أَنَّ الحُكمَ مُجتَنِبُ الصِبا

وَصَحَوتُ بَعدَ تَشَوُّقٍ وَرُواعِ

Then I saw that sound judgment shuns youthful passion,

and came to my senses after yearning and alarm.

فَتَسَلَّ حاجَتَها إِذا هِيَ أَعرَضَت

بِخَميصَةٍ سُرُحِ اليَدَينِ وِساعِ

So console yourself for wanting her, when she turns away,

on a lean-bellied she-camel, free-moving in her forelegs and wide-striding:

صَكّاءَ ذِعلِبَةٍ إِذا اِستَدبَرتَها

حَرَجٍ إِذا اِستَقبَلَتها هِلواعِ

an earless, fleet ostrich when you view her from behind,

a wooden litter when you face her, swift and agile.

وَكَأَنَّ قِنطَرَةً بِمَوضِعِ كورِها

مَلساءَ بَينَ غَوامِضِ الأَنساعِ

And it is as though a bridge stood where her saddle rests,

smooth, between the deeply sunken girth-straps.

وَإِذا تَعاوَرَتِ الحَصا أَخفافُها

دَوّى نَواديهِ بِظَهرِ القاعِ

And when her footpads strike the pebbles in turn,

the scattered stones resound across the plain's surface.

وَكَأَنَّ غارِبَها رَباوَةُ مَخرَمٍ

وَتَمُدُّ ثِنيَ جَديلِها بِشِراعِ

And her withers seem a rise at a mountain pass,

and she pulls the doubled rein taut with her sail-like neck.

وَإِذا أَطَفتَ بِها أَطَفتَ بِكَلكَلٍ

نَبِضِ الفَرائِصِ مُجفَرِ الأَضلاعِ

And when you circle her, you circle a chest

with quivering shoulder muscles and widely spread ribs.

مَرِحَت يَداها لِلنَجاءِ كَأَنَّما

تَكرو بِكَفَّي لاعِبٍ في صاعِ

Her forelegs frisk in swift travel, as though

she played ball with a player's palms in the court,

فِعلَ السَريعَةِ بادَرَت جُدّادَها

قَبلَ المَساءِ تَهُمُّ بِالإِسراعِ

like a nimble woman racing her date-pickers

before evening, bent on hastening.

فَلَأُهدِيَنَّ مَعَ الرِياحِ قَصيدَةً

مِنّي مُغَلغَلَةً إِلى القَعقاعِ

So I shall surely send a poem with the winds,

from me, carried from place to place, to al-Qaʿqāʿ.

تَرِدُ المِياهَ فَما تَزالُ غَريبَةً

في القَومِ بَينَ تَمَثُّلٍ وَسَماعِ

It visits the watering places, ever a stranger

among the people, now quoted, now heard.

وَإِذا المُلوكُ تَدافَعَت أَركانُها

أَفضَلتَ فَوقَ أَكُفِّهِم بِذِراعِ

And when the kings' pillars push against one another,

you reach a cubit above their hands.

وَإِذا تَهيجُ الريحُ مِن صُرّادِها

ثَلجاً يُنيخُ النَيبَ بِالجَعجاعِ

And when the wind stirs up, from its icy blasts,

snow that makes old she-camels kneel on hard ground,

أَحلَلتَ بَيتَكَ بِالجَميعِ وَبَعضُهُم

مُتَفَرِّقٌ لِيَحُلَّ بِالأَوزاعِ

you pitch your tent amid the gathered people, while some of them

scatter, to camp among separate bands.

وَلَأَنتَ أَجوَدُ مِن خَليجٍ مُفعَمٍ

مُتَراكِمِ الآذِيِّ ذي دُفّاعِ

And surely you are more generous than a brimming river-channel,

with mounting waves and surging currents.

وَكَأَنَّ بُلقَ الخَيلِ في حافاتِهِ

يَرمي بِهِنَّ دَوالِيَ الزُرّاعِ

And along its banks there seem to be piebald horses,

which it hurls against the farmers' water-lifts.

وَلَأَنتَ أَشجَعُ في الأَعادي كُلِّها

مِن مُخدِرٍ لَيثٍ مُعيدِ وِقاعِ

And surely you are braver in facing every enemy

than a lair-dwelling lion, ever renewing his attacks:

يَأتي عَلى القَومِ الكَثيرِ سِلاحُهُم

فَيَبيتُ مِنهُ القَومُ في وَعواعِ

he falls upon men whose weapons are many,

so the people spend the night in uproar because of him.

أَنتَ الوَفِيُّ فَما تُذَمُّ وَبَعضُهُم

تودي بِذِمَّتِهِ عُقابُ مَلاعِ

You are faithful, never blamed, while some of them

have their pledges swept away by the eagle of Malāʿ.

وَإِذا رَماهُ الكاشِحونَ رَماهُمُ

بِمَعابِلَ مَذروبَةٍ وَقِطاعِ

And when his ill-wishers shoot at him, he shoots at them

with sharpened broad-headed arrows and short-headed shafts.

وَلِذاكُمُ زَعَمَت تَميمٌ أَنَّهُ

أَهلُ السَماحَةِ وَالنَدى وَالباعِ

And for that Tamim has declared that he

is a man of generosity, bounty, and prowess.