Sol 6.1

  1. صَبَوتَ وَهَل تَصبو وَرَأسُكَ أَشيَبُ

    وَفاتَتكَ بِالرَهنِ المُرامِقِ زَينَبُ

    You have fallen in love—can you still love when your head is gray?

    And Zaynab eluded you with the tenuous pledge.

  2. وَغَيَّرَها عَن وَصلِها الشَيبُ إِنَّهُ

    شَفيعٌ إِلى بيضِ الخُدورِ مُدَرِّبُ

    And gray hair turned her away from union; indeed, it is

    a practiced intercessor with the fair women of curtained chambers.

  3. فَلَمّا أَتى حِزّانَ عَردَةَ دونَها

    وَمِن ظَلَمٍ دونَ الظَهيرَةِ مَنكِبُ

    Then, when it reached the rugged ridges of ʿArdah, this side of her,

    and a spur of Ẓalam, short of al-Ẓahīrah,

  4. تَضَمَّنَها وَاِرتَدَّتِ العَينُ دونَها

    طَريقُ الجِواءِ المُستَنيرُ فَمُذهَبُ

    it enfolded her, and the eye turned back short of her—

    the bright road of al-Jiwāʾ, then Mudhhab.

  5. وَصَبَّحَنا عارٌ طَويلٌ بِناؤُهُ

    نُسَبُّ بِهِ ما لاحَ في الأُفقِ كَوكَبُ

    And disgrace overtook us at dawn, its edifice towering;

    we are reviled for it as long as a star appears on the horizon.

  6. فَلَم أَرَ يَوماً كانَ أَكثَرَ باكِياً

    وَوَجهاً تُرى فيهِ الكَآبَةُ تَجنَبُ

    So I have never seen a day with more weepers,

    and faces where sorrow could be seen led alongside.

  7. أَصابوا البَروكَ وَاِبنَ حابِسِ عَنوَةً

    فَظَلَّ لَهُم بِالقاعِ يَومٌ عَصَبصَبُ

    They overcame al-Barūk and Ibn Ḥābis by force,

    so theirs on the plain was a day of dire distress.

  8. وَإِنَّ أَبا الصَهباءِ في حَومَةِ الوَغى

    إِذا اِزوَرَّتِ الأَبطالُ لَيثٌ مُحَرَّبُ

    And indeed, Abū al-Ṣahbāʾ, in the thick of battle,

    when champions recoil, is a battle-hardened lion.

  9. وَمِثلَ اِبنَ غَنمٍ إِن ذُحولٌ تُذُكِّرَت

    وَقَتلى تَياسٍ عَن صَلاحٍ تُعَرِّبُ

    And the like of Ibn Ghanm, if blood-debts are recalled,

    and the slain of Tayās bar the way to reconciliation.

  10. وَقَتلى بِجَنبِ القُرنَتَينِ كَأَنَّها

    نُسورٌ سَقاها بِالدِماءِ مُقَشِّبُ

    And the slain beside al-Qurnatayn, as though they were

    vultures given blood to drink by a poisoner.

  11. حَلَفتُ بِرَبِّ الدامِياتِ نُحورُها

    وَما ضَمَّ أَجمادُ اللُبَينِ وَكَبكَبُ

    I swore by the Lord of the beasts whose throats bleed,

    and all that the rocky heights of al-Lubayn and Kabkab enclose.

  12. أَقولُ بِما صَبَّت عَلَيَّ غَمامَتي

    وَجُهدِيَ في حَبلِ العَشيرَةِ أَحطِبُ

    I speak of what my cloud has poured upon me,

    and with all my effort I gather firewood into the clan's rope.

  13. أَقولُ فَأَمّا المُنكَراتِ فَأَتَّقي

    وَأَمّا الشَذا عَنّي المُلِمَّ فَأَشذِبُ

    I say: as for reprehensible deeds, I avoid them;

    and as for harm that draws near, I cut it away from myself.

  14. بَكَيتُم عَلى الصُلحِ الدُماجِ وَمِنكُمُ

    بِذي الرِمثِ مِن وادي تَبالَةَ مِقنَبُ

    You wept over the binding peace, yet among you,

    at Dhū al-Rimth in Tabālah's valley, was a troop of horsemen.

  15. فَأَحلَلتُمُ الشَربَ الَّذي كانَ آمِناً

    مَحَلّاً وَخيماً عوذُهُ لا تَحَلَّبُ

    So you lodged the drinking company that had been safe

    in a ruinous encampment whose newly calved she-camels yield no milk.

  16. إِذا ما عُلوا قالوا أَبونا وَأُمُّنا

    وَلَيسَ لَهُم عالينَ أُمٌّ وَلا أَبُ

    When they are overpowered, they say, 'Our father and our mother!'

    Yet when they prevail, they have neither mother nor father.

  17. فَتَحدِرُكُم عَبسٌ إِلَينا وَعامِرٌ

    وَتَرفَعُنا بَكرٌ إِلَيكُم وَتَغلِبُ

    So ʿAbs and ʿĀmir bring you down to us,

    and Bakr and Taghlib raise us up to you.