Sol 6.1

  1. تُعارِضُ أَسماءُ الرِكابَ عَشِيَّةً

    تُسائِلُ عَن ضِغنِ النِساءِ الطَوامِحِ

    Asmāʾ meets the riding camels one evening,

    asking about the resentment of the wandering-eyed women.

  2. وَماذا عَلَيها إِن قَلوصٌ تَمَرَّغَت

    بِعِكمَينِ إِذ أَلقَتهُما بِالصَحاصِحِ

    And what harm is it to her if a young she-camel rolled about

    with two packs, when she cast them both onto the open plains?

  3. فَإِنَّكِ لَو أُنكِحتِ دارَت بِكِ الرَحى

    وَأَلقَيتِ رَحلي سَمحَةً غَيرَ طامِحِ

    For had you been given in marriage, the millstone would have turned with you,

    and you would have laid down my saddle, compliant, not wandering-eyed.

  4. وَلَم أَكُ مِثلَ الكاهِلِيِّ وَعِرسِهِ

    سَقَتهُ عَلى لوحٍ دِماءَ الذَرارِحِ

    Nor would I have been like the Kāhilī and his wife:

    she gave him, in his thirst, the blood of blister beetles to drink,

  5. وَقالَت شَرابٌ بارِدٌ قَد جَدَحتُهُ

    وَلَم يَدرِ ما خاضَت لَهُ بِالمَجادِحِ

    and said, "A cool drink—I have already stirred it."

    And he did not know what she had stirred for him with the stirring sticks.

  6. أَأَسماءُ إِنّي قَد أَتاني مُخَبِّرٌ

    بِضَيقَةَ يَنشو مَنطِقاً غَيرَ صالِحِ

    O Asmāʾ, a news-bearer has indeed come to me

    at Ḍayqah, sniffing out unseemly talk.

  7. بَعَجتُ إِلَيهِ البَطنَ ثُمَّ اِنتَصَحتُهُ

    وَما كُلُّ مَن يُلقى إِلَيهِ بِصالِحِ

    I laid my belly open to him, then trusted him as an adviser;

    and not everyone in whom one confides is trustworthy.

  8. وَإِنّي لَمِن قَومٍ عَلى أَن ذَمَمتِهِم

    إِذا أَولَموا لَم يولِموا بِالأَنافِحِ

    And I am indeed of a people, though you have reviled them,

    who, when they give a feast, do not serve rennet-stomachs.

  9. وَإِنَّكِ مِن قَومٍ تَحِنُّ نِساؤُهُم

    إِلى الجانِبِ الأَقصى حَنينَ المَنائِحِ

    And you are indeed of a people whose women yearn

    toward the farthest side, with the yearning of animals lent out for milking.