إني لسائل كل ذي طب — Asmaa Al Fazari

إِنّي لَسائِلُ كُلِّ ذي طُبٍّ

ماذا دَواءُ صَبابَةِ الصَبِّ

I surely ask everyone skilled in healing:

what is the cure for a lovesick lover's longing,

وَدَواءُ عاذِلَةٍ تُباكِرُني

جَعَلَت عِتابي أَوجَبَ النَحبِ

and the cure for a reproachful woman who comes to me at dawn,

who has made rebuking me her most binding vow?

أَوَلَيسَ مِن عَجَبٍ أُسائِلُكُم

ما خَطبُ عاذِلَتي وَما خَطبي

And is it not strange—I ask you—

what ails my reproacher, and what ails me?

أَبِها ذَهابُ العَقلِ أَم عَتَبَت

فَأَزيدَها عَتباً عَلى عَتبِ

Has she lost her reason, or taken offense,

that I should add fresh grievance to her grievance?

أَوَلَم يُجَرِّبني العَواذِلُ أَو

لَم أَبلُ مِن أَمثالِها حَسبي

Have the reproachers not tested me, or

have I not experienced enough of her kind?

ما ضَرَّها أَن لا تُذَكِّرَني

عَيشَ الخِيامِ لَيالي الخَبِّ

What harm would it do her not to remind me

of life in the tents, those nights at al-Khabb?

ما أَصبَحَت في شَرِّ أَخبيةٍ

ما بَينَ شَرقِ الأَرضِ وَالغَربِ

She finds herself in no mean tents

anywhere between the earth's east and west.

عَرَفَ الحِسانُ لَها جُوَيرِيَةً

تَسعى مَعَ الأَترابِ في إِتبِ

The fair women knew her as a little girl,

running with her peers in a sleeveless shift,

بِنتَ الَّذينَ نَبِيَّهُم نَصَروا

وَالحَقَّ عِندَ مَواطِنِ الكَربِ

daughter of those who supported their Prophet

and the truth, in places of distress.

وَالحَيُّ مِن غَطفانَ قَد نَزَلوا

مِن عِزِّةٍ في شامِخٍ صَعبِ

And the clan of Ghatafan have settled,

by their might, on a lofty, inaccessible height.

بَذَلوا لِكُلِّ عِمارَةٍ كَفَرَت

سوقَينِ مِن طَعنٍ وَمِن ضَربِ

They offered every unbelieving tribe

two markets of spear-thrusts and blows,

حَتّى تَحَصَّنَ مِنهُم مِن دونِهِ

ما شاءَ مِن بَحرٍ وَمِن دَربِ

until their foe sought refuge from them behind

whatever seas and mountain passes he wished.

بَل رُبَّ خَرقٍ لا أَنيسَ بِهِ

نابي الصُوى مُتَماحِلٍ سَهبِ

But many a wilderness, with no companion in it,

with distant cairns, immense and open,

يَنسى الدَليلُ بِهِ هِدايَتَهُ

مِن هَولِ ما يَلقى مِنَ الرُعبِ

where the guide forgets his way

from the horror of the dread he encounters,

وَيَكادُ يَهلِكُ في تَنائِفِهِ

شَأَوُ الفَريغِ وَعَقبُ ذي عَقبِ

and in its trackless wastes nearly perish

the swift steed's speed and the enduring one's reserves;

وَبِهِ الصَدى وَالعَزفُ تَحسِبُهُ

صَدحَ القِيانِ عَزَفنَ لِلشَربِ

where owl-cries and eerie strains seem to you

the singing of songstresses playing for drinkers—

كابَدتُهُ بِاللَيلِ أَعسِفُهُ

في ظُلمَةٍ بِسَواهِمٍ حُدبِ

I braved it by night, striking blindly across it,

in darkness, on gaunt, hump-backed mounts.

وَلَقَد أَلَمَّ بِنا لِنَقرِيَهُ

بادي الشَقاءِ مُحارَفُ الكَسبِ

And indeed there came to us, seeking hospitality,

a man plainly wretched, luckless in his earnings.

يَدعو الغِنى أَن نالَ عُلقَتَهُ

مِن مَطعَمٍ غِبّاً إِلى غِبِّ

He calls it wealth if he obtains his bare sustenance

of food, from one alternate day to the next.

فَطَوى ثَميلَتَهُ فَأَلحَقَها

بِالصُلبِ بَعدَ لِدوِنَةِ الصُلبِ

So he drew in his belly and pressed it

against his backbone, once so supple.

يا ضَلَّ سَعيُكَ ما صَنَعتَ بِما

جَمَّعتَ مِن شُبٍّ إِلى دُبِّ

May your striving be lost! What have you done with what

you gathered from youth to decrepit age?

لَو كُنتَ ذا لُبٍّ تَعيشُ بِهِ

لَفَعلتَ فِعلَ المَرءِ ذي اللُبِّ

Had you possessed good sense to live by,

you would have acted like a man of sense,

فَجَعَلتَ صالِحِ ما اِختَرَشتَ وَما

جَمَّعتَ مِن نَهبٍ إِلى نَهبِ

and put aside a good share of what you earned and what

you gathered, plunder upon plunder.

وَأَظَنُّهُ شَغباً تُدِلُّ بِهِ

فَلَقَد مُنيتَ بِغايَةِ الشَغبِ

And I think this is bluster you are flaunting;

then you have met the very height of bluster.

إِذ لَيسَ غَيرَ مَناصِلٍ نَعصابِها

وَرِحالِنا وَرَكائِبِ الرَكبِ

For we have nothing but swords to defend ourselves with,

and our saddles and the company's riding-camels.

فَاِعمِد إِلى أَهلِ الوَقيرِ فَإِنَّما

يَخشى شَذاكَ مُقَرمِصُ الزَربِ

So make for the owners of flocks, for only

the man crouching by the sheepfold fears your harm.

أحَسِبتَنا مِمَّن تُطيفُ بِهِ

فَاِختَرتَنا لِلأَمنِ وَالخِصبِ

Did you reckon us among those you frequent,

and choose us for safety and plenty,

وَبِغَيرِ مَعرِفَةٍ وَلا نَسَبٍ

أَنّى وَشَعبُكَ لَيسَ مِن شَعبي

without acquaintance or kinship?

How so, when your tribe is not of mine?

لَمّا رَأى أَن لَيسَ نافِعَهُ

جَدٌّ تَهاوَنَ صادِقَ الأَربِ

When he saw that he would not be helped

by fortune, he humbled himself, genuinely in need,

وَأَلَحَّ إِلحاحاً بِحاجَتِهِ

شَكوى الضَريرِ وَمَزجَرَ الكَلبِ

and pressed his need insistently,

with an afflicted man's plaint and a dog's sharp cries.

وَلَوى التَكَلُّحَ يَشتَكي سَغَباً

وَأَنا اِبنُ قاتِلِ شِدَّةِ السَغبِ

And he twisted his scowling face, complaining of hunger,

while I am the son of one who slew hunger's pangs.

فَرَأَيتُ أَن قَد نِلتُهُ بِأَذىً

مِن عَذمِ مَثلُبَةٍ وَمِن سَبِّ

Then I saw that I had hurt him

with shaming rebukes and insults,

وَرَأَيتُ حَقّاً أَن أُضَيِّفَهُ

إِذ رامَ سَلمى واِتَّقى حَربى

and deemed it right to offer him hospitality,

since he sought my peace and shunned my war.

فَوَقَفتُ مُعتاماً أُزاوِلُها

بِمُهَنَّدٍ ذي رَونَقٍ عَضبِ

So I stood, choosing one out, then set to work on her

with a gleaming, keen-edged Indian sword.

فَعَرَضتُهُ في ساقِ أَسمَنِها

فَاِجتازَ بَينَ الحاذِ وَالكَعبِ

Then I struck it crosswise into the fattest one's leg,

and it cut through between haunch and hock.

فَتَركتُها لِعِيالِهِ جَزَراً

عَمداً وَعَلَّقَ رَحلَها صَحبي

I left her as meat for his dependents,

deliberately, and my companions hung up her saddle.