Sol 6.1

  1. إِلَيكَ بِنَفسي حينَ بَعدَ حُشاشَةٍ

    رِكابَ طَريدٍ لا يَزالُ عَلى نَحبِ

    To you I came in person, when only a last spark of life remained,

    on an exile's camels, forever driven to a hard march.

  2. طَواهُنَّ ما بَينَ الجِواءِ وَدومَةٍ

    وَرُكبانُها طَيَّ البُرودِ مِنَ العَصبِ

    The stretch between al-Jiwa and Duma folded them up,

    and their riders, as cloaks of striped cloth are folded.

  3. عَلى شَدَنِيّاتٍ كَأَنَّ رُؤوسَها

    فُؤوسٌ إِذا راحَت رَواجِفُ في نُصبِ

    On Shadani she-camels, whose heads seem

    like axes as they go, shuddering with fatigue.

  4. إِذا هِيَ بِالرَكبِ العِجالِ تَرَدَّفَت

    نَحايِزَ ضَحّاكِ المَطالِعِ في النَقبِ

    When, with their hurried riders, they followed in succession

    the tracks of a road with smiling ascents through the passes,

  5. خَبَطنَ نِعالَ الجِلدِ حَتّى كَأَنَّها

    شَراذيمُ في الأَرساغِ مِن خِرَقِ العُطبِ

    they battered their leather sandals until they seemed

    scraps of cotton rags around their fetlocks.

  6. إِلَيكَ تَعَرَّقنا الذُرى بِرِحالِها

    وَكُلَّ قُتارٍ في سُلامى وَفي صُلبِ

    To reach you, we gnawed away their humps with their saddles,

    and every scrap of flesh in joint and spine.

  7. أَضَرَّ بِها التِرحالُ حَتّى تَحَوَّلَت

    مِنَ الأَينِ سوداً بَعدَ عيدِيَّةٍ صُهبِ

    Travel wore them down until they turned

    black with exhaustion, after being tawny 'Idi stock.

  8. وَغيدٍ مِنَ الإِدلاجِ تَحسِبُ أَنَّهُم

    سُقوا بِنتَ أَحوالٍ تُدارُ عَلى الشَربِ

    And riders swaying from night travel—you would think

    they were given wine, the daughter of years, passed round among drinkers.

  9. تَميلُ بِهِم حيناً وَحيناً تُقيمُهُم

    وَهُنَّ بِنا مِثلُ القِداحِ مِنَ القُضبِ

    Now swaying with them, now setting them upright,

    while beneath us the camels were like arrow shafts cut from branches.

  10. حَمَلنَ مِنَ الحاجاتِ كُلَّ ثَقيلَةٍ

    إِلَيكَ عَلى فانٍ عَرائِكُها حُدبِ

    They carried every weighty need

    to you, upon their wasted humps and hunched backs.

  11. إِلى خَيرِ مَأتىً يَطلُبُ الناسُ خَيرُهُ

    إِلَيهِ مِنَ الآفاقِ مُجتَمَعُ الرَكبِ

    To the best destination, whose bounty people seek,

    toward whom riders gather from the horizons;

  12. إِلى بابِ مَن لَم نَأتِ نَطلُبُ غَيرَهُ

    بِشَرقٍ مِنَ الأَرضِ الفَضاءِ وَلا غَربِ

    to the door of one besides whom we sought no other

    in the east or west of the spacious earth;

  13. إِلى حَيثُ مَدَّ المُلكُ أَطنابَ بَيتِهِ

    عَلى اِبنِ أَبي الأَعياصِ في المَنزِلِ الرَحبِ

    to where kingship stretched the ropes of its tent

    over the son of Abu al-A'yas, in the spacious dwelling.

  14. إِذا ما رَأَتهُ الأَرضَ ظَلَّت كَأَنَّها

    تَزَعزَعُ تَستَحيِي الإِمامَ مِنَ الرُعبِ

    When the earth beholds him, it seems to remain

    trembling, abashed before the imam in terror.

  15. دَعي الناسَ إِلّا اِبنِ الخَليفَةِ إِنَّهُ

    مِنَ الناسِ إِن بَلَّغتِني أَرضَهُ حَسبي

    Leave everyone aside save the caliph's son: he

    is enough for me among men, if you bring me to his land.

  16. وَلَيسَ بِلاقٍ مِثلَهُ الدَهرَ خائِفٌ

    أَتاهُ عَلى ماءٍ يَسيرُ وَلا تُربِ

    No frightened man will ever meet his like,

    whether he comes to him travelling over water or land.

  17. بِحَقِّ وَلِيٍّ بَينَ يوسُفَ عيصُهُ

    وَبَينَ أَبي العاصي وَبَينَ أَبي حَربِ

    By the right of a ruler whose lineage joins Yusuf

    and Abu al-'Asi and Abu Harb,

  18. يُشَدُّ بِهِ الإِسلامُ بَعدَ وَلِيِّهِ

    أَبيهِ فَأَمسى الدينُ مُلتئِمََ الشَعبِ

    Islam is strengthened through him, after its guardian,

    his father; thus the faith's rift has been healed.

  19. قُرومٌ أَبو العاصي أَبوهُم كَأَنَّهُم

    إِذا لَبِسوا صيدُ المُعَبَّدَةِ الجُربِ

    Noble sires—Abu al-'Asi is their father—seem,

    when armored, like stiff-necked, tarred, mangy camels.

  20. وَصِيَّةَ ثاني اِثنَينِ بَعدَ مُحَمَّدٍ

    ضِرابَ كِرامٍ غَيرَ عُزلٍ وَلا نُكبِ

    The charge of the second of two, after Muhammad:

    the blows of noble men, neither unarmed nor disabled.

  21. عَمَدتُ بِنَفسي حينَ خِفتُ مَحيطَةً

    إِلَيكَ وَمالي يا اِبنَ مَروانَ مِن ذَنبِ

    I turned in person, when I feared an engulfing calamity,

    to you—though I have no guilt, O son of Marwan;

  22. إِلى المَعقَلِ المَفزوعِ مِن كُلِّ جانِبٍ

    إِلَيهِ وَلِلغَيثِ المَغيثِ مِنَ الجَدبِ

    to the stronghold men seek in fear from every side,

    to it, and to the rain that brings relief from drought.

  23. شَفيتَ مِنَ الداءِ العِراقَ كَما شَفَت

    يَدُ اللَهِ بِالفُرقانِ مِن مَرَضِ القَلبِ

    You healed Iraq of sickness, just as

    God's hand, through the Criterion, healed the heart's disease.

  24. هُوَ المُصطَفى بَعدَ الصَفِيَّينِ لِلهُدى

    وَفي العيصِ مِن أَهلِ الخِلافَةِ وَالقُربِ

    He is the chosen one for guidance, after the two chosen ones,

    and by descent belongs to the caliphal house and close kin.

  25. بِقَومٍ أَبو العاصي أَبوهُم سُيوفُهُم

    مَعاقِلُ إِذ صارَ القِتالُ إِلى الضَربِ

    Among a people whose father is Abu al-'Asi, their swords

    are strongholds when battle comes to blows.

  26. رَأَيتُ بَني مَروانَ تَفسَحُ عَنهُمُ

    سُيوفُهُمُ ضيقَ المَقامِ مِنَ الكَربِ

    I saw the sons of Marwan freed

    by their swords from the tight confines of distress.

  27. وَتَعرِفِ بِالأَبطالِ وَقعَ سُيوفِهِم

    وَآثارَها مِن مُندَباتٍ وَمِن خَدبِ

    And on champions you recognize the impact of their swords,

    and their traces in scars and deep gashes.

  28. وَعاوٍ عَوى حَتّى اِستَثارَ عُواؤُهُ

    أَبا اِثنَينِ في عِرّيسِ مَأسَدَةٍ غُلبِ

    And a howler howled until his howling roused

    a father of two, in his lair amid thick-necked lions.

  29. أَما كانَ في قَيسِ بنِ عَيلانَ نابِحٌ

    فَيَنبَحُ عَنهُم غَيرُ مُستَولَغٍ كَلبِ

    Was there no barker among Qays ibn 'Aylan,

    to bark for them, other than a dog's lapping-bowl?

  30. وَكانَ لَهُم لَمّا عَوى الكَلبُ دونَهُم

    جَريرٌ عَلَيهِم مِثلَ راغِيَةَ السَقبِ

    And for them, when the dog howled in their defense,

    Jarir was against them like the bleating of a camel-calf.