مَهلاً نُمَيرُ فإنَّكُم أَمسَيتُمُ
مِنّا بِثَغرِ ثَنِيَّةٍ لَم تُستَرِ
Hold, Numayr—for by evening you had come to be,
Slow down Numair, for you have become
at our hands, at the mouth of an unsheltered mountain pass,
Of us with the cheek of a gentle doe unmasked
سوداً كأنَّكُم ذِئابُ خَطيطَةٍ
مطِرَ البِلادُ وَحرمُها لَم يُمطَرِ
black, as though you were the wolves of Khuṭayṭah—
Black as if you were striped hyenas
the land rained upon, while its sacred precinct had no rain.
The lands have rained but her sacred places went unwatered
يَحبونَ بينَ أجا وَبُرقَةِ عالجٍ
حَبوَ الضَّبابِ إِلى أُصولِ السَّخبَرِ
They crawl between Ajāʾ and Burqat ʿĀlij,
They love between Acacia and Burghah a lofty place
as spiny-tailed lizards crawl toward the roots of the sakhbar shrubs.
Their love is like mist to the roots of Sakhbar
وَتَرَكتُمُ قَصبَ الشُّرَيفِ طَوامِياً
تَهوي ثَنِيَّتُهُ كَعَينِ الأَعوَرِ
And you left Qaṣab al-Shurayf towering high,
And you have left the canebrakes of Shurayf forlorn
its mountain pass plunging like the eye of the one-eyed.
Its cheek sags like the eye of a one-eyed man
Sol 5.6