Sol 6.1

  1. أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ الصارِديَّةَ جَاوَرَت

    لَياليَ بالمَمدورِ غَيرَ كَثيرِ

    Have you not seen that al-Ṣāridiyya dwelt nearby

    for a few nights at al-Mamdūr—

  2. ثَلاثاً فَلَمّا أَن أَصابَت فُؤادَهُ

    بِسَهمَينِ مِن كُحلٍ دَعَت بِهَجيرِ

    three—then, when she had struck his heart

    with two arrows of kohl, she called in the noon heat

  3. بِأَحَمَرَ ذَيّالِ العَسيبِ مُفَرَّجٍ

    كَأَنَّ عَلى ذِفراهُ نَضخَ عَبيرِ

    for a red camel, long-tailed and wide-legged,

    as though splashes of perfume lay upon his poll?

  4. حَلَفتُ بِرَبِّ الراقِصَاتِ إِلى مِنىً

    زَفِيفَ القَطَا يَقطَعنَ بَطنَ هَبيرِ

    I swore by the Lord of the she-camels dancing toward Minā,

    swift as fluttering sandgrouse, crossing the valley floor of Habīr:

  5. لَقَد كانَ حُبُّ الصارِدِيَّةِ بَعدَما

    عَلا في سَوادِ الرَأسِ نَبذُ قَتيرِ

    indeed, loving al-Ṣāridiyya, after

    flecks of gray had risen amid my black hair,

  6. يَكونُ سَفاهاً أَو يَكونُ ضَمانَةٍ

    عَلى ما مَضى مِن نِعمَةٍ وَعُصورِ

    was folly, or else a lingering sickness,

    after the blessings and years gone by.

  7. عَدِمتُ الهَوى لا يَبرَحُ الدَهرَ مُقصِداً

    لِقَلبي بِسَهمٍ في الفُؤادِ طَرِيرِ

    May I be rid of love! It forever deals mortal blows

    to my heart with an arrow keen within it.

  8. وَقَد كانَ قَلبي ماتَ لِلحُبِّ مَوتَةً

    فَقَد هَمَّ قَلبي بَعدَها بِنُشورِ

    And my heart had once died for love;

    yet afterward my heart was intent on resurrection.

  9. جَلَت إِذ جَلَت عَن أَهلِ نَجدٍ حَميدَةً

    جَلاءَ غَنِيٍّ لا جَلاءَ فَقيرِ

    She departed—when she left the people of Najd—esteemed,

    as the wealthy depart, not as the poor.

  10. وَقَالَت وَما زادَت عَلى أَن تَبَسَّمَت

    عَذيرَكَ مِن ذي شَيبَةٍ وَعَذيري

    And she said—though she did no more than smile—

    “Who will defend you—and me—against a gray-haired man?”