أيدري الربع أي دم أراقا — Al Mutanabbi

أَيَدري الرَبعُ أَيَّ دَمٍ أَراقا

وَأَيَّ قُلوبِ هَذا الرَكبِ شاقا

Does the dwelling-place know what blood it shed,

and which hearts of this caravan it stirred with longing?

لَنا وَلِأَهلِهِ أَبَداً قُلوبٌ

تَلاقى في جُسومٍ ما تَلاقى

We and its people forever have hearts

that meet within bodies that never meet.

وَما عَفَتِ الرِياحُ لَهُ مَحَلّاً

عَفاهُ مَن حَدا بِهِمِ وَساقا

The winds did not efface its dwelling-place;

the one who urged them onward with song and drove them effaced it.

فَلَيتَ هَوى الأَحِبَّةِ كانَ عَدلاً

فَحَمَّلَ كُلَّ قَلبٍ ما أَطاقا

Would that love for the beloved were just,

and laid on each heart only what it could bear.

نَظَرتُ إِلَيهِمُ وَالعَينُ شَكرى

فَصارَت كُلُّها لِلدَمعِ ماقا

I looked upon them with my eye brimming;

then all of it became a tear duct.

وَقَد أَخَذَ التَمامُ البَدرُ فيهِم

وَأَعطاني مِنَ السَقَمِ المُحاقا

The full moon among them had claimed perfection,

and given me, through sickness, the moon's disappearance.

وَبَينَ الفَرعِ وَالقَدَمَينِ نورٌ

يَقودُ بِلا أَزِمَّتِها النِياقا

Between the hair and the feet is a radiance

that guides the she-camels without their reins.

وَطَرفٌ إِن سَقى العُشّاقَ كَأساً

بِها نَقصٌ سَقانيها دِهاقا

And a gaze that, if it gives lovers a cup

less than full, gives me that cup brimming.

وَخَصرٌ تَثبُتُ الأَبصارُ فيهِ

كَأَنَّ عَلَيهِ مِن حَدَقِ نِطاقا

And a waist on which eyes remain fixed,

as though girdled with a belt of pupils.

سَلي عَن سيرَتي فَرَسي وَسَيفي

وَرُمحي وَالهَمَلَّعَةِ الدِفاقا

Ask my horse and my sword about my conduct,

and my spear, and the fleet, swift-striding she-camel.

تَرَكنا مِن وَراءِ العيسِ نَجداً

وَنَكَّبنا السَماوَةَ وَالعِراقا

We left Najd behind the pale camels,

and skirted al-Samawah and Iraq.

فَما زالَت تَرى وَاللَيلُ داجٍ

لِسَيفِ الدَولَةِ المَلِكِ ائتِلاقا

They never ceased to see, though the night was dark,

the radiance of the king, Sayf al-Dawlah.

أَدِلَّتُها رِياحُ المِسكِ مِنهُ

إِذا فَتَحَت مَناخِرَها اِنتِشاقا

Their guides were breezes of musk from him,

whenever they opened their nostrils to inhale.

أَباحَكِ أَيُّها الوَحشُ الأَعادي

فَلِم تَتَعَرَّضينَ لَهُ الرِفاقا

He has given you the enemies as prey, O wild beasts;

so why do you waylay his caravans?

وَلَو تَبَّعتِ ما طَرَحَت قَناهُ

لَكَفَّكِ عَن رَذايانا وَعاقا

And if you followed what his spear had felled,

it would keep you from our weary camels and restrain you.

وَلَو سِرنا إِلَيهِ في طَريقٍ

مِنَ النيرانِ لَم نَخَفِ اِحتِراقا

And if we traveled to him along a road

of flames, we would not fear being burned.

إِمامٌ للِائمَّةِ مِن قُرَيشٍ

إِلى مَن يَتَّقونَ لَهُ شِقاقا

A leader for the leaders of Quraysh,

against those with whom they fear conflict.

يَكونُ لَهُم إِذا غَضِبوا حُساماً

وَلِلهَيجاءِ حينَ تَقومُ ساقا

He becomes their cutting sword when they are angered,

and a leg for war when it rises.

فَلا تَستَنكِرَنَّ لَهُ اِبتِساماً

إِذا فَهِقَ المَكَرُّ دَماً وَضاقا

So do not find it strange that he should smile

when the battlefield overflows with blood and grows cramped.

فَقَد ضَمِنَت لَهُ المُهَجَ العَوالي

وَحَمَّلَ هَمَّهُ الخَيلَ العِتاقا

For the tall spears have pledged him lives,

and he has charged the thoroughbred horses with his purpose.

إِذا أُنعِلنَ في آثارِ قَومٍ

وَإِن بَعُدوا جَعَلنَهُمُ طِراقا

When they are shod in pursuit of a people,

however far away those people are, they make them layered soles beneath their hooves.

وَإِن نَقَعَ الصَريخُ إِلى مَكانٍ

نَصَبنَ لَهُ مُؤَلَّلَةً دِقاقا

And if a cry for help reaches some place,

they prick up slender, pointed ears toward it.

فَكانَ الطَعنُ بَينَهُما جَواباً

وَكانَ اللَبثُ بَينَهُما فُواقا

Then spear-thrusts are the answer between the two,

and the pause between them is but an instant.

مُلاقِيَةً نَواصيها المَنايا

مُعَوَّدَةً فَوارِسُها العِناقا

Their forelocks meet death,

their riders are accustomed to the embrace of close combat.

تَبيتُ رِماحُهُ فَوقَ الهَوادي

وَقَد ضَرَبَ العَجاجُ لَها رِواقا

His spears spend the night above the horses' necks,

while the dust has pitched them a canopy.

تَميلُ كَأَنَّ في الأَبطالِ خَمراً

عُلِلنَ بِها اِصطِباحاً وَاِغتِباقا

They sway as though there were wine within the heroes,

with which they were plied morning and evening.

تَعَجَّبَتِ المُدامُ وَقَد حَساها

فَلَم يَسكَر وَجادَ فَما أَفاقا

The wine marveled when he drank it:

he did not grow drunk, but gave and never sobered.

أَقامَ الشِعرُ يَنتَظِرُ العَطايا

فَلَمّا فاقَتِ الأَمطارَ فاقا

Poetry stood waiting for the gifts;

when those gifts surpassed the rains, it too excelled.

وَزَنّا قيمَةَ الدَهماءِ مِنهُ

وَوَفَّينا القِيانَ بِهِ الصَداقا

From it we weighed out the price of the black mare,

and with it paid the singing slave-girls their dowers in full.

وَحاشا لِاِرتِياحِكَ أَن يُبارى

وَلِلكَرَمِ الَّذي لَكَ أَن يُباقى

Far be it that your joy in giving be rivaled,

or that your generosity be rivaled in endurance.

وَلَكِنّا نُداعِبُ مِنكَ قَرماً

تَراجَعَتِ القُرومُ لَهُ حِقاقا

But we merely tease the mighty camel-stallion in you,

before whom the stallions shrink back into three-year-old camels.

فَتىً لا تَسلُبُ القَتلى يَداهُ

وَيَسلُبُ عَفوُهُ الأَسرى الوَثاقا

A young man whose hands do not despoil the slain,

while his pardon strips captives of their bonds.

وَلَم تَأتِ الجَميلَ إِلَيَّ سَهواً

وَلَم أَظفَر بِهِ مِنكَ اِستِراقا

Nor did you show me kindness inadvertently,

nor did I obtain it from you by stealth.

فَأَبلِغ حاسِدِيَّ عَلَيكَ أَنّي

كَبا بَرقٌ يُحاوِلُ بي لَحاقا

So tell those who envy me on your account that, as for me,

lightning has stumbled trying to catch up with me.

وَهَل تُغني الرَسائِلُ في عَدوٍّ

إِذا ما لَم يَكُنَّ ظُبىً رِقاقا

And can letters avail against an enemy,

unless they are slender sword-blades?

إِذا ما الناسُ جَرَّبَهُم لَبيبٌ

فَإِنّي قَد أَكَلتُهُمُ وَذاقا

If a discerning man has put people to the test,

then I have eaten them, while he has merely tasted.

فَلَم أَرَ وُدَّهُم إِلّا خِداعاً

وَلَم أَرَ دينَهُم إِلّا نِفاقا

So I found their affection nothing but deceit,

and found their religion nothing but hypocrisy.

يُقَصِّرُ عَن يَمينِكَ كُلُّ بَحرٍ

وَعَمّا لَم تُلِقهُ ما أَلاقا

Every sea falls short of your right hand,

and what it has hoarded falls short of what you did not keep.

وَلَولا قُدرَةُ الخَلّاقِ قُلنا

أَعَمداً كانَ خَلقُكَ أَم وِفاقا

Were it not for the Creator's power, we would say:

Was your creation deliberate, or by chance?

فَلا حَطَّت لَكَ الهَيجاءُ سَرجاً

وَلا ذاقَت لَكَ الدُنيا فِراقا

So may war never take down your saddle,

and may the world never taste parting from you.