Sol 6.1

  1. كَأَنَّ فَريدَةً سَفعاءَ راحَت

    بِرَحلي أَو بَكَرتُ بِها اِبتِكارا

    As though a lone, dark-faced wild cow set out at dusk

    bearing my saddle—or I rode her at earliest dawn.

  2. لَها بِدُخولِ حَومَلَ بَحزَجِيٌّ

    تَرى في لَونِ جُدَّتِهِ اِحمِرارا

    At Dukhul of Hawmal she has a young calf,

    in whose stripe you see a reddish tinge,

  3. كَلَونِ الأَرضِ يَرقُدُ حَيثُ يُضحي

    بِأَعلى التَلعِ أَضمَرَتِ الحِذارا

    like the earth’s color. He sleeps where he spends the morning,

    high on the slopes; she harbored fear

  4. عَلَيهِ فَلَم يَئِل وَرَأى خَليعٌ

    قَليلُ الشَيءِ يَتَّبِعُ القِفارا

    for him, yet he found no escape; an outcast saw—

    a man of few possessions, roaming the wastes—

  5. تَحَرّيها إِلَيهِ وَحَيثُ تَنأى

    بِشَقِّ النَفسِ تَرهَبُ أَن يُضارا

    how she sought him out, and where she wandered far,

    with great distress, fearing he might be harmed.

  6. إِذا جَمَعَت لَهُ لَبَناً أَتَتهُ

    بِضَهلِ وَتينِها تَخشى الغِرارا

    Whenever she gathered milk for him, she came to him

    with her life-vein’s scant flow, fearing her milk would dwindle.

  7. فَأَوجَسَ سَمعُها مِنهُ فَأَصغَت

    غَماغِمَ بِالصَريمَةِ أَو خُوارا

    Then her ear caught something from him, and she listened:

    muffled cries in the sandy tract, or a bellow.

  8. فَطافَت بِالهَبيرِ بِحَيثُ كانَت

    بِدِرَّتِها تَعَهَّدُهُ مِرارا

    Then she circled the hollow where she had

    tended him with her flowing milk, time after time.

  9. فَلاقَت حَيثُ كانَ دَماً وَمَسكاً

    حَديثَ العَهدِ قَد سَدِكَ الغُبارا

    She found, where he had been, blood and a hide,

    still fresh, already stuck fast to the dust.

  10. فَراحَت كَالشِهابِ رَمى عِشاءً

    بِهِ الغُلمانُ تَقتَحِمُ الخَبارا

    Then she sped away like a firebrand hurled at nightfall

    by boys—she plunged through the soft, pitted ground.

  11. فَتِلكَ كَأَنَّ راحِلَتي اِستَعارَت

    قَوائِمَها الخَوانِفَ وَالفَقارا

    So my riding-camel seems to have borrowed from that cow

    her swerving legs and her backbone.

  12. وَإِنّا أَهلُ بادِيَةٍ وَلَسنا

    بِأَهلِ دَراهِمٍ حَضَروا القَرارا

    And we are people of the desert; we are not

    owners of silver dirhams, settled in permanent homes.

  13. أُزَكّي عِندَ إِبراهيمَ مالي

    وَأَغرِمَ عَن عُصاةِ بَني نَوارا

    I pay the alms-tax on my wealth before Ibrahim,

    and pay fines for the unruly among Nawar’s sons.

  14. فَإِلّا يَدفَعُ الجَرّاحُ عَنّي

    أَكُن نَجماً بِغَربِ الأَرضِ غارا

    Unless al-Jarrah wards this off from me,

    I shall be a star that vanishes in the earth’s west.