قربت للرحلة شوشاة ذلق — Ibn Nabata Al Saadi

قربتُ للرحلةِ شوشاةً ذُلُقْ

تحسَبُ في القيد اذا ريعتْ طُلُقْ

I readied for the journey a nimble, fleet she-camel.

Though fettered, when startled she seems unbound.

من ماطلياتِ يزيدِ بنِ الصَعِقْ

طَوى اليها عالِجا بعد السُّرَقْ

One of the Matliyyat of Yazid ibn al-Saʿiq,

He crossed ʿAlij to reach them, after al-Suraq,

حتى اجتناها كَبكِيراتِ السُحُقْ

قُودَ الهوادي بحَواديَها رَوَقْ

Until he gathered them like early-bearing lofty palms:

Long-necked, pleasing to their drovers,

طوارحَ الأكمِ على ظهر القَرِقْ

لم يتبايعْ بالنُّضَارِ والوَرِقْ

Casting hillocks behind them across the level ground.

He made no bargain with gold and silver,

اِلاَّ بطعنِ الواخضاتِ في الحَدَقْ

والضَّربِ في رأس الكَمي المُعتَنِقْ

But with thrusts of piercing spears into eyes,

And blows to the head of the armored warrior locked in combat.

يقْسِمُ بينَ المنكبينِ ما فَلَقْ

مُترعَة الأَنقاءِ ما فيها رَقَقْ

His blow splits what it cleaves between the shoulders.

Full of marrow, with no trace of leanness.

لا ضاعَ ما قاسينَه من المَلَقْ

والزَّلجَانِ المُسْبَطرِّ المُنْدَفِقْ

May what they endured on the bare, smooth ground not be wasted,

And the swift, extended, headlong traveling,

وجائلاتٍ تلتقي وتفتَرقْ

يَصطَرِعُ الآلُ بها ويَستَبقْ

And wandering expanses that meet and part,

Where the mirage wrestles and races.

أَرضاً بها أمُّ الطَّريقِ المُنبلِقْ

أَخفى من السِّلْكِ مَراماً وأَدقْ

A land where even the broad main road

Is harder to find than a thread, and finer.

تَقرِي الضلالَ والكلالَ والفَرَقْ

وتَفْتَلي صَبْرَ الجَليدِ والخُلُقْ

It offers bewilderment, exhaustion, and fear,

And tests the hardy man's patience and character.

ان لم يُصَحَّ ركبَهَا الموتُ طَرَقْ

اذا الدَّليلُ حارَ فيها وَبَرِقْ

Unless its caravan is kept safe, death visits by night.

When the guide loses his way there and stares bewildered,

رأدَ الضحى عضَّ يديهِ وَصَفَقْ

وقال يا ليت السُّرىَ لم يَتَّفِقْ

At early forenoon he bites his hands and claps,

And says, 'Would that the night journey had never happened,

أَوليتَ أَني بالجدِيّ لم أَثِقْ

اذا رأى الرِّمَّةَ والبَيضَ الفِلَقْ

Or that I had not trusted al-Judayy!'

When he sees old bones and broken eggshells,

تَداركَ الحوباء منهُ فَلَحِقْ

تنفسٌ في الصعداءِ مُستَرَقْ

His soul is caught in time and overtaken—

By a breath stolen amid deep sighs,

كأَنما راخى خِنَاقاً من وَهَقْ

كلُّ حديثٍ مُخْلَقٍ أَوْ مُخْتَلَقْ

As though he had slackened a choking lasso.

Every tale is worn out or invented,

اِلاَّ حديثَ المَضرحياتِ العنقْ

مَرَّتْ بماوانَ تَهادىَ وَتَلِقْ

Except the tale of the swift, long-necked she-camels.

They passed through Mawan, swaying as they sped,

قد بَرأَت أَحلامُها من النَّزقْ

وسالمتْ جَذْبَ الحِبَالِ والحَلَقْ

Their dispositions cured of unruliness,

And yielding peaceably to the pull of ropes and rings.

وانتعلتْ أَخفافُهنَّ بالعَلَقْ

وَلَبِستْ بعد البَضِيعِ المَنْزَهِقْ

Their padded feet became shod with clotted blood,

And wore, after losing their flesh

وتامِكَ النيِّ سَرابيلَ العَرَقْ

عالجْنَ خَبثاً طبقاً بعد طَبَقْ

And their high-piled fat, tunics of sweat.

They struggled through rough ground, layer after layer,

ظِلاً يُماشيها وظِلاً قد أَبَقْ

مُكتَحِلاتٍ بالسُّهَاد والأَرَقْ

One shadow pacing beside them, another already fled,

Kohled with sleeplessness and insomnia.

كأنَّها بين الظَّلامِ والفَلَقْ

غَيلانُ شَرجٍ أَو سَعَالى سَعْسَلِقْ

As though, between darkness and daybreak, they were

The ghouls of Sharj or the she-demons of Saʿsaliq.

يتبعن مواراً اذا أرقَدَّ رَفَقْ

عُلِّمَ تعذيب المطايا فَحَذَقْ

They follow a swaying camel, gentle even at speed,

Taught to torment riding camels, and masterful at it,

أَهوجَ لا من خَرَقٍ ولا حُمُقْ

تَغضَبُ ناباهُ معاً فَتَصطَفِقْ

Headlong, but not from clumsiness or folly.

His two fangs rage together and clash,

على نَهِيْمِ مَيسق اذا وَسَقْ

كأَنَّما ظِلُّ أَظلّيْهِ نَفَقْ

With a herder's bellow as he gathers them.

As though the shade of his two footpads were a tunnel,

اذا لعابُ الشمسِ في الوجهِ بَصَقْ

ولَمعَتْ أَيدي المَهارى كالخِرَقْ

When the sun spits its saliva in the face,

And the forelegs of the Mahri camels flicker like cloth,

ولَعَقَتْ من عَلقَمٍ الدوِّ لَعَقْ

كأنه من حُمرِ عِرْنَانَ لَهَقْ

And they lick mouthfuls of the desert's bitter colocynth.

As though he were a white wild ass of ʿIrnan,

فَظٌ على نور الصباحِ صَهْصَلِقْ

رعى طريفاتِ حَبيٍّ مُنبَعِقْ

Harsh and loud-braying in the light of dawn.

He grazed fresh shoots nourished by a banked, bursting cloud,

قاء بها نوءُ الثريا وصَعَقْ

حتى اكتستْ كثبانُ قُوٍّ والفَلَقْ

The Pleiades' rainstorm vomited there and thundered,

Until the dunes of Quww and al-Falaq were clothed

نوارُها الأَشكالُ منه واليَقَقْ

حتى اذا ما سَحَرَ الآلُ الحَدَقْ

In blossoms from it, varicolored and gleaming white.

Until, when the mirage enchanted the eyes,

والتَهَبَتْ لُوبُ الحرارِ والبُرَقْ

وفوَّقَ البُهْمَى سَفَاةٌ فَرَشَقْ

And the lava-rocks of the blacklands and the stony flats blazed,

And an awn armed the buhma-grass and shot forth,

واعتاصتِ العائطُ منها والعُقَقْ

وعَدِمَتْ مصَّ الثمادِ والرَّنَقْ

And its unbred and pregnant females grew intractable,

And lacked even a sip of scant, muddy water,

يقدحنَ بالمَعْزَاءِ نيرانَ الصَّذَقْ

مَهْمَا خبا بالوقعِ منهن يَدِقْ

They struck flint-fires from the stony ground.

Whenever it dies down, their hoofbeats strike it anew.

حاولَ كيداً فتنمّي وَبَسَقْ

في قاره قَبلاءَ حولاءِ الطُرُقْ

He sought a stratagem, so climbed and rose high,

On a jutting hill with crooked paths,

ذاتِ صُفُوحٍ تَتَعَاذَى بالزَّلقْ

أَخْزَرَ ما في جَفنِ عينيهِ طَرَقْ

Whose slopes vie with one another in slipperiness.

Narrow-eyed, with no drooping in his eyelids,

لو أَنه يَخْرِقُ طرفٌ بخَرَقْ

كأنما يَرصُدُ في ذاتِ الحَلَقْ

If a glance could pierce through sheer penetration—

As though observing through an armillary sphere

مغاربَ الشمس على جيبِ الأُفُقْ

حتى اذا قال الصدى للفُوقِ فُقْ

The sun's setting points along the horizon's neckline.

Until, when the owl told the fuq-bird, 'Awake!'

وَخَرِسَ الطيرُ الذي كان نَطَقْ

وغاص طافي المَلَقَاتِ في الغَسَقْ

And the bird that had been calling fell silent,

And the protruding smooth rocks sank into the dusk,

وانكدرَ الليلُ على باقي الشَفَقْ

مثل انكدارِ الصقرِ في الخيطِ المِزَقْ

And night swooped upon the remaining twilight,

Like a falcon swooping into a scattered ostrich flock.

صكٌّ بها غُبْرَ المَتَانِ والقِيَقْ

مُخْرَوّطُ السُدْوِ رَهيفُ المُنْدَلَقْ

He pounds with them over gray uplands and open plains,

Long-striding, with a slender, protruding tongue,

يَرْغَبُ في أَكفَالِنَا عن النَشَقْ

وبِطُلاهَا عن بُراها ف الأَبَقْ

Preferring our hindquarters to the halter-loops,

And their throats to their nose-rings in hemp tethers.

بالأَوْزِ يَمْرِي ركضَها وبالرَّهَقْ

يَطلُبُ من ضَارجٍ بَعْلُولاً غَدَقْ

With urging and pressure he draws out their gallop,

Seeking from Darij an abundant supply of water:

عَيْناً رَجاها بالفَضيضِ مُخْتَنِقْ

عَلْجُوْمُها بفَاضِلِ الريّ يَنِقْ

A spring he hoped for, its fresh water up to the throat

Of its frog, croaking in an abundance of water.

يَودُ لو نالَ الورودَ بالشَرَقْ

أو سهم رام يلْتَظِي من الحَنَقْ

He longs to reach water, even if it choke him,

Or for an arrow from an archer blazing with rage,

بينَ مِلاطيهِ وبينَ المُنْتَطَقْ

ودونها خَرقٌ من البيدِ أَمَقْ

Between his flanks and his girdled middle.

But before it lies a far-reaching stretch of wilderness,

ترسُف فيه ريحُه بلا رَمَقْ

كأَنَّ رَحلي فوقَ صَعْوَزٍّ مَرَقْ

Where even its wind trudges without a breath of life.

As though my saddle were on a male ostrich darting away

من ذاتِ أَعيارٍ الى ذاتِ الطُوقْ

يَخْطُبُ خُطبانَ الملا ويَرتَزقْ

From Dhat Aʿyar to Dhat al-Tawq,

Wooing the dusky females of the waste and seeking food,

مُلَهْذَمِ الخَطمِ رُدَيني العَنَقْ

يضحي بسوجٍ وبنجدٍ يَغْتَبِقْ

Sharp of beak, with a neck like a Rudayni spear.

He spends the morning at Suj and takes his evening drink in Najd,

لا يسأمُ الجريَ ولا طولَ العَنَقْ

ولا باكلِ النارِ يوماً يَحْتَرِقْ

Never tiring of running or long, sweeping strides,

Nor ever burned by eating fire,

ولا يَحُدُ الماءَ اِلاّ بالغَرقْ

بهِ من الحنوَةِ صبغٌ وَعَبقْ

Nor knowing water's bounds except through drowning.

He bears the hanwa herb's stain and scent,

يَنقِفُ أُولى بيضةٍ على نَسَقْ

أَو ضالعٌ من بقرِ العِينِ سَنَقْ

Pecking open the first egg in a row.

Or on a limping, glutted beast of the wide-eyed wild cattle,

ملَّ هجيرَ الأَيهَقانِ والنَّهَقْ

وَرَدَّ في الوَرْدِ مُجاجات الذُرَقْ

Weary of the midday heat amid ayhaqan and nahaq,

And spitting back mouthfuls of clover as he drank.

صُبَّ على بَحْزَجِهِ الواني الخَرِقْ

سِرحَانُ وحشٍ هربتْ منه السِّلَقْ

Upon his faltering, helpless calf was loosed

A wild wolf from which the hunting hounds had fled,

حَامي الحُميَّا في ذراعيهِ ذَلَقْ

مُجاهر الصَّيدِ اذا الوَغلُ سَرَقْ

Blazing with fury, his forelegs swift,

Facing his prey openly while the skulker steals.

حتى اذا فاجأهُ مالم يُطِقْ

سَابَقَ أَنفاسَ النُعامى فَسَبَقْ

Until, when something beyond his strength surprised him,

He raced the breaths of the south wind and outstripped them,

في مَنأَجٍ للنائحاتِ مُطَّرَقْ

وافٍ اذا ما كذَّبَ الشدُّ صَدَقْ

In a windy passage frequented by wailing winds.

Unfailing—when the sprint betrays, he holds true.

أَوْ بِعَقَبْنَاةٍ من الفتحِ عُقَقْ

أُم فُرَيخٍ شَجْرُه ما يَنْطَبِقْ

Or on a mighty, fierce eagle of the broad-winged kind,

Mother of a fledgling whose open beak never closes,

مُطْعَمةِ الصيدِ بأَطرافِ النِيَقْ

تَهزِمُ غزلانَ الشريفِ بالفَرَقْ

Feeding it game along the crests of peaks,

Putting the gazelles of al-Sharif to flight with fear.

ولا يَطيرُ طيرُها على نَسَقْ

لها السِّتارُ ساعةً الى صُعَقْ

And her flight follows no regular course.

For her, al-Sitar to Suʿaq is but an hour,

وهي ثَمانٍ للمَطيِّ المُنْطَلِقْ

Though it takes eight for camels traveling swiftly.