Sol 6.1

  1. اغفى الرقيب وأُوقظ الأملُ

    وثوى الامان وقوّض الوَجلُ

    The watcher fell asleep, and hope was awakened.

    Security settled in, and fear struck camp.

  2. ورنا الغزال بمقلةٍ كحلت

    بالسحر زان جفونها الكَحَلُ

    The gazelle gazed with an eye anointed

    with magic; kohl adorned her eyelids.

  3. وشدا الهزار بروضةٍ أنف

    ضربت لها بيد الحيا كُلَلُ

    And the nightingale sang in a fresh, untouched garden,

    for which the hand of rain had pitched canopies.

  4. باتت تعاطيني المدام بها

    نجلاء يقصر طرفها الجذل

    All night she offered me wine there—

    a wide-eyed maiden, joy restraining her gaze.

  5. غازلتُ منها الطرف ذا حِوَرٍ

    وسنان رقّ بوصفه الغزلُ

    I flirted with her eye of dark-and-white beauty,

    drowsy; love poetry grew tender in describing it.

  6. غربيبة الجعدين واضحة ال

    خدين تكلم خدها المقل

    Raven-black her twin curls, radiant her

    cheeks; her cheek wounded gazing eyes.

  7. عرضت برمل زرود سائحةً

    كالريم يسبق خطوها العجلُ

    She appeared, wandering in the sands of Zarud,

    like a gazelle, haste outrunning her steps.

  8. فاستهدفتني من بني ثعلٍ

    خودٌ بسهم اللحظ تنتصل

    Then one of Banu Thu'al took me as her target—

    a tender maiden shooting the arrow of her glance.

  9. تستوقف العينين عاطلةً

    وظباء وجرة حليها العطلُ

    Unadorned, she arrests both eyes;

    the gazelles of Wajra have unadornment for their jewels.

  10. تجري السلافة في مفاصلها

    فتميل احياناً وتعتدلُ

    Choice wine courses through her joints,

    so she sways at times, then stands straight.

  11. من مدركٌ لي منيةً بمنى

    حيث الحمى بالرند مشتمل

    Who will win me a wish at Mina,

    where the protected grounds are wrapped in bay trees,

  12. وملاعب الآرام مونقةٌ

    خفَّت بها العسَّالة الذبلُ

    and the white gazelles' playgrounds are delightful,

    with slender, swaying lances moving lightly there?

  13. اتعود بعد النأي ثانيةً

    بالمنحنى أيامنا الاولُ

    Will they return once more after separation—

    our first days at the bend?

  14. يا هل تعود لنا احبَّتنا

    والدهر بالاحباب ينتقل

    Oh, will our loved ones return to us,

    while time carries loved ones away?

  15. فرصٌ سرقناها بقربهمُ

    فكأنما اوقاتُها قبلُ

    Moments we stole in their nearness,

    whose hours seemed nothing but kisses.

  16. من كل جؤذر رملةٍ ثمل

    لي من سلافة خده ثملُ

    From every tipsy oryx-calf of the sands,

    I take my drunkenness from his cheek's choice wine.

  17. من لي بظلم غزيل لعس

    عطِر المباسم ثغره رتلُ

    Who will bring me the gleaming teeth of a dusky-lipped little gazelle,

    fragrant in his smiles, his teeth evenly spaced?

  18. ان لم يعد نشوات مغتبقي

    ذاك الغزال المارحُ الغزلُ

    If the raptures of my evening draught are not restored by

    that playful, amorous gazelle,

  19. فيعود هذا الليث مصطبحاً

    ريَّان حيث العلُّ والنهل

    then this lion returns for his morning draught,

    well quenched, with draughts renewed after the first.

  20. بالطالع الميمون خودُ منىً

    رقصت وهلهل طائر هدل

    At the auspicious rising, the maiden of wishes

    danced, and a cooing bird trilled.

  21. شيم العفرني في تخمُّطه

    اسدٌ ولكن اسمه رجلُ

    A mighty lion's nature is his in his raging pride:

    a lion, though he is called a man.

  22. ان صبَّح البازي غابته

    فقنيصه الاعضاد والقلل

    If the hawk visits his forest at dawn,

    its quarry is upper arms and heads.

  23. لا تطرق الاوغاد اجمته

    او يعلو خيس الضيغم الوعلُ

    Base men do not enter his thicket by night,

    nor does an ibex climb into the lion's lair.

  24. هل تبلغ الاذناب ارؤسها

    او يدنو من قمر السما زحلُ

    Can tails reach their heads,

    or Saturn draw near the moon of heaven?

  25. هيهات فهو الشمس صاحبةً

    لن يخلِقنَّ ضياءها الطفلُ

    Far from it! He is the sun as a companion;

    twilight will never wear away its radiance.

  26. امطاول العيوق في صعدٍ

    اقعي فقد قصرت بك الطولُ

    O you who vie with Capella in ascent,

    crouch down: your reach has fallen short.

  27. ان كنت تأمل مورداً غدقاً

    حام الرجاء عليه والأملُ

    If you hope for an abundant watering place,

    over which hope and aspiration hover,

  28. فاقصد فتىً يسع الورى عطنا

    وارح به ان ضاقت الحيلُ

    seek a youth whose watering ground has room for all mankind,

    and find rest with him if all devices fail.

  29. الجدُّ احمد والبتول له

    امٌّ لأم الكاشح الهبلُ

    His forefather is Ahmad, and al-Batul is his

    mother—may his enemy's mother be bereaved!

  30. شمخَت الى الشرف الاشم به

    شمّ المعاطس معشر نبلُ

    Through him they rose toward lofty honor—

    high-nosed men, a noble company.

  31. ضربت بهم اعراق دوحتهم

    مرقى لهاشم عيصه يصلُ

    Through them the roots of their spreading tree stretched,

    on an ascent to Hashim, reaching his grove.

  32. من كل ابلج بدرُ طلعته

    يجلو الحنادس وهو مكتملُ

    Each a radiant man, the moon of whose countenance

    dispels the darkest nights in its fullness.

  33. هطلت بصوب البر راحته

    فكأنما هي عارض هطلُ

    His palm poured down torrents of goodness,

    as though it were a cloud pouring rain.

  34. سل إن جهلت نداه سائله

    كم راح يسأل بعد ما يسلُ

    Ask his petitioner, if you do not know his bounty,

    how often he went on begging after asking him.

  35. ذو عزمةٍ كالسيف باتكةٍ

    يندكُّ منها السهل والجبلُ

    Possessed of a resolve as cutting as a sword,

    before which plain and mountain crumble.

  36. القت بهام النجم كلكلها

    فغدا ينوء بحملها الحمل

    It laid its breast upon the crowns of the stars,

    and the Ram came to stagger under its weight.

  37. ما مسَّ ماضي غربها فللٌ

    ويمس غرب الصارم الفللُ

    No notch ever touched its keen edge,

    though notches touch the edge of a sharp sword.

  38. هم في الوقار الهضب راسخة

    ولدى العطاء يهزها الجذلُ

    In dignity they are rocky heights, firmly rooted,

    and when they give, delight makes them sway.

  39. وهمُ المواضي القضب قاطعة

    وصلت بهنَّ سواعدٌ فتلُ

    And they are keen, cutting blades,

    to which sinewy forearms are joined.

  40. ولئن دعوت نزال باسمهم

    لبُّوك لا ميلٌ ولا عزلُ

    If you call for combat in their name,

    they answer you, neither inept riders nor unarmed.

  41. ان قيل طعناً فالقنا قصدٌ

    او قيل ضرباً فالظبي شعلُ

    If the cry is 'Thrust!', the spears are broken shafts;

    or if it is 'Strike!', the sword-edges are flames.

  42. تلقى المنايا السود أن ركبوا

    وترى الاماني البيض أن نزلوا

    You meet black deaths when they mount,

    and see white hopes when they dismount.

  43. قومٌ اذا انبعثو لمعركةٍ

    لم يثنهم ريثٌ ولا مهلُ

    A people who, when they set out for battle,

    are deterred by neither tarrying nor delay.

  44. قذفوا النفوس بنقع غيهبها

    تقضي الرجال وتنقضي الدولُ

    They hurled their lives into dust in whose darkness

    men perish and realms pass away,

  45. في حيث قلب الليث مرتعدٌ

    فكأنه الهيابة الوكلُ

    where even the lion's heart trembles,

    as though he were a timid, helpless coward.

  46. رفعت لهم في الليل نار قرى

    بالمندليِّ الرطب تشتعل

    For them at night a fire of hospitality was raised,

    blazing with fresh Mandali aloeswood;

  47. وجفان اطعمةٍ مكللةٌ

    بركت عليها الانيق البزلُ

    and bowls of food, heaped high,

    upon which mature she-camels knelt;

  48. وقدور طرَّاق مدعدعةٌ

    كرماً اهاب بها الندى الخضلُ

    and brimful pots for visitors by night,

    summoned, in generosity, by lavish bounty.

  49. فكأن رجع رغاء سرحهم

    غليانها ان عرَّس الزمل

    As though the echo of their herd's bellowing

    were the pots' boiling, when the pack camels halted for the night.

  50. فالشاء آمنة بعقرهم

    ومروعة احشاؤها الابلُ

    Thus the sheep are safe within their grounds,

    while the camels are terrified to their very entrails.

  51. درجوا ولم يبرح عليّهم

    يتكافآه العلم والعمل

    They passed on, yet their Ali has never ceased

    to be attended alike by knowledge and action.

  52. بالحجة البيضاء مضطلعاً

    يقضي ولا ريثٌ ولا زللُ

    Capably bearing the luminous proof,

    he judges, with neither delay nor error.

  53. واذا العلوم اعتلَّ غامضها

    برئث بصحة فكره العللُ

    When the sciences' obscure matters fall ill,

    their ailments are cured by the soundness of his thought.

  54. ختمت به العلماء بعد كما

    ختمت بطه جدّه الرسلُ

    The scholars were later sealed with him, just as

    the messengers were sealed with Taha, his forefather.

  55. يا ابن الاولى ان غالبوا غلبوا

    بجدودهم او فاضلوا فضلوا

    O son of those who, when they contended, prevailed

    through their forefathers, or, when they vied in merit, excelled:

  56. الحزم يأبى أن تؤنب من

    قطعت عرى حيزومه الغيلُ

    prudence forbids you to reproach one whose

    breast's bonds the lions have severed.

  57. هب أنهم جاروا وما عدلوا

    او أنهم جهلوا وما عقلوا

    Suppose they acted unjustly and did not deal fairly,

    or were ignorant and did not use reason:

  58. لا يأجن البحر الخضم وأن

    عبثت بساحله ثباً هملُ

    the vast sea does not turn foul, even if

    bands of straying beasts play upon its shore,

  59. أو أن يجاذب مجده بيدٍ

    جدّاً اطاح بنانَها شللُ

    or if one contests his glory with a hand,

    in earnest, though paralysis has laid its fingers low.

  60. ان كان يُضرب في الورى مثلٌ

    فبمثل صفحك يُضرب المثلُ

    If an example is set among mankind,

    it is set by a pardon such as yours.

  61. فاسلم مدى الأيام في خولٍ

    جذل الفؤاد وحسبك الخولُ

    May you live safely through the days amid attendants,

    glad at heart; those attendants suffice you.