Sol 6.1

  1. وَلَقَد قَطَعتُ الخَرقَ تَحمِلُ نُمرُقي

    حَدَّ الظَهيرَةِ عَيهَلٌ في سَبسَبِ

    And indeed I crossed the waste, my saddle-cushion borne

    at high noon by a swift she-camel on a barren plain.

  2. أُجُدٌ كَأَنَّ صَريفَها بِسَديسِها

    في البيدِ صارِخَةً صَريرُ الأَخطَبِ

    Firm-built, as though her grinding with her sixth tooth,

    in the wastes, as she cries out, were the roller-bird’s screech.

  3. عَنسٌ مُذَكَّرَةٌ كَأَنَّ ضُلوعَها

    أُطُرٌ حَناها الماسِخِيُّ بِيَثرِبِ

    A mature, male-built she-camel, her ribs like

    bows bent by al-Māsikhī in Yathrib.

  4. وَالعيسُ دامِيَةُ المَناسِمِ ضُمَّرٌ

    يَقذِفنَ بِالأَسلاءِ تَحتَ الأَركُبِ

    And the pale camels, their footpads bloodied, are gaunt;

    they cast out afterbirths beneath the riders.

  5. وَحِمَت عَلى أَن قَد يَقَرُّ بِعَينِها

    تَشميمُ كُلِّ ثَرىً كَبَيتِ العَقرَبِ

    She yearned, though her eye might well be gladdened

    by a mere sniff of any damp patch as small as a scorpion’s lair.

  6. حَتّى إِذا اِنجَرَدَ النَسيلُ وَقَد بَدا

    فَرعٌ مِنَ الجَوزاءِ لَم يَتَصَوَّبِ

    Until, when her down had fallen away, and there appeared

    a branch of Orion, not yet slanting downward.