Sol 6.1

  1. تَقولُ كُلَيبٌ حينَ مَثَّت سِبالُها

    وَأَخصَبَ مِن مَرَّوتِها كُلُّ جانِبِ

    Kulayb says, once its whiskers have grown thick

    and every quarter of its Marrut has grown fertile,

  2. لِسُؤبانِ أَغنامِ رَعَتهُنَّ أُمُّهُ

    إِلى أَن عَلاها الشَيبُ فَوقَ الذَوائِبِ

    to Su'ban of the sheep his mother tended

    until gray hair crowned her above her tresses:

  3. أَلَستَ إِذا القَعساءُ أَنسَلَ ظَهرَها

    إِلى آلِ بِسطامِ بنِ قَيسٍ بِخاطِبِ

    'Will you not, when the swayback's back has shed its hair,

    be a suitor to the house of Bistam ibn Qays?'

  4. لَقوا اِبنَي جِعالٍ وَالجِحاشُ كَأَنَّها

    لَهُم ثُكَنَ وَالقَومُ ميلُ العَصائِبِ

    They met the two sons of Ji'al, the donkey-colts seeming

    like nests for them, the men with headbands askew.

  5. فَقالا لَهُم ما بالَكُم في بِرادِكُم

    أَمِن فَزَعٍ أَم حَولَ رَيّانَ لاعِبِ

    The two said to them, 'What is the matter with you in your cloaks?

    Is it fright, or someone frolicking around Rayyan?'

  6. فَقالوا سَمِعنا أَنَّ حَدراءَ زُوِّجَت

    عَلى مِئَةٍ شُمِّ الذُرى وَالغَوارِبِ

    They said, 'We heard that Hadra was married

    for a hundred camels, high of hump and withers.

  7. وَفينا مِنَ المِعزى تِلادٌ كَأَنَّها

    ظَفارِيَّةُ الجَزعِ الَّذي في التَرائِبِ

    And we have inherited goats that seem

    like onyx from Zafar worn across the collarbones.

  8. بِهِنَّ نَكَحنا غالِياتِ نِسائِنا

    وَكُلُّ دَمٍ مِنّا عَلَيهِنَّ واجِبِ

    With them we married the costliest of our women,

    and every blood-price we owe is payable in them.'

  9. فَقالا اِرجِعوا إِنّا نَخافُ عَلَيكُمُ

    يَدَي كُلِّ سامٍ مِن رَبيعَةَ شاغِبِ

    The two said, 'Turn back; we fear for you

    the hands of every proud, quarrelsome man of Rabi'ah.

  10. فَإِلّا تَعودوا لا تَجيئوا وَمِنكُمُ

    لَهُ مِسمَعٌ غَيرُ القُروحِ الجَوالِبِ

    Unless you turn back, none of you will return

    with an ear left—only scabbed sores.'

  11. فَلَو كُنتَ مِن أَكفاءِ حَدراءَ لَم تَلُم

    عَلى دارِمِيٍّ بَينَ لَيلى وَغالِبِ

    Had you been among Hadra's equals, you would not have reproached

    a Darimi born of Layla and Ghalib.

  12. فَنَل مِثلَها مِن مِثلِهِم ثُمَّ لُمهُمُ

    بِما لَكَ مِن مالٍ مُراحٍ وَعازِبِ

    Win a woman like her from men like them, then reproach them,

    with your livestock, those brought home and those grazing far afield.

  13. وَإِنّي لَأَخشى إِن خَطَبتَ إِلَيهِمُ

    عَلَيكَ الَّذي لاقى يَسارُ الكَواعِبِ

    And I surely fear, if you seek a bride from them,

    that you will meet what befell Yasar of the budding-breasted maidens.

  14. وَلَو قَبِلوا مِنّي عَطِيَّةَ سُقتُهُ

    إِلى آلِ زيقٍ مِن وَصيفٍ مُقارِبِ

    And had they accepted Atiyyah from me, I would have driven him

    to the house of Ziq as a middling young slave.

  15. هُم زَوَّجوا قَبلي ضِراراً وَأَنكَحوا

    لَقيطاً وَهُم أَكفاؤُنا في المَناسِبِ

    They gave Dirar a wife before me, and gave one

    to Laqit; they are our equals in lineage.

  16. وَلَو تُنكِحُ الشَمسُ النُجومَ بَناتِها

    إِذاً لَنَكَحناهُنَّ قَبلَ الكَواكِبِ

    And if the sun gave her daughters in marriage to the stars,

    we would certainly marry them before the planets.

  17. وَما اِستَعهَدَ الأَقوامُ مِن زَوجِ حُرَّةٍ

    مِنَ الناسِ إِلّا مِنكَ أَو مِن مُحارِبِ

    And no people ever exacted a pledge from a freeborn woman's husband

    among men, except from you or from Muharib.

  18. لَعَلَّكَ في حَدراءَ لُمتَ عَلى الَّذي

    تَخَيَّرَتِ المِعزى عَلى كُلِّ حالِبِ

    Perhaps, over Hadra, you reproached me on behalf of the one

    whom the goats preferred above every milker—

  19. عَطِيَّةَ أَو ذي بُردَتَينِ كَأَنَّهُ

    عَطِيَّةُ زَوجٍ لِلأَتانِ وَراكِبِ

    Atiyyah, or the man with two cloaks, as though he were

    Atiyyah, the she-ass's husband and rider.