1. O dwellings of the tribe at Maytha, in Tikrit,

    may pouring rain water you again and again, and may you be greeted!

  2. Where wild-cow calves and gazelles graze,

    in the coquettish grace of brocade, not among barren wastes.

  3. They strut in robes of crimson silk, holding high

    their necks amid pearls and rubies.

  4. Each a beautiful, kohl-dark-eyed woman, shooting glances

    from the eyes of a bewildered fawn within the herd.

  5. She spent the night [reading uncertain] anointing the luxuriant mass of her tresses

    with ambergris mixed with finely powdered musk.

  6. She smiles, revealing hail-white teeth, whose moisture flows

    from Babylon's wine, bearing Harut's enchantment [reading uncertain].

  7. When we were together and life was a mantle without scorching heat,

    back then, youth was a mantle not yet worn to tatters.

  8. Time did not overlook the days that had befriended us

    until it brought upon them a day of dispersal.

  9. Ah, woe to my soul at the raven's cry, when

    they departed, and the camel-driver proclaimed it with his call.

  10. No grief of old she-camels, bereft and moaning together,

    matched ours, nor did the grief of mothers with no surviving children.

  11. O soul, passion's verdict commands you, then,

    to obey love: live in it, or die.

  12. Woe to me, far away, from the twin days of disdain and separation,

    and, even when favored, from a talebearer's hands and rebukes.

  13. And pleasant, noble men who met the morning still

    drunk with wine, laid low in the taverns:

  14. each a gallant man, eloquent, when they grew drunk,

    in worthy matters, but silent about indecency.

  15. I exchanged with them draught after draught of clear golden wine,

    its seal of fragrant musk, finely crushed;

  16. sun-bright, from the vine's saliva, and long aged

    at Anah's monastery, or at al-Ghamr, or Hit.

  17. And the singing slave girls, to their lutes' high notes,

    sang melodies between audible tones and murmurs.

  18. And youths whom the camels' forelegs carried at a trot

    through a trackless desert, its landmarks erased:

  19. journey-worn upon worn-out mounts, you would take them,

    amid the wastes in darkness, for the jinn of Barahut.

  20. They watched for lightning flashes and breathed in scents that

    made a full moon's guidance and an expert guide unnecessary,

  21. until, when they alighted in al-Atik's land, there grazed

    their livestock among waters, securely settled.

  22. And in Banu Nabhan's dwellings at Samad,

    they lodged with every noble chief of ample reach:

  23. Muhammad ibn Banhan and Ahmad; and they had

    lodged with the radiant, resolute sons of Umar.

  24. Three men, like the swords of India, each of them

    endowed with every gift bestowed upon the chosen.

  25. Each a gallant man whose qualities are praised,

    free in giving, gracious in pardon, dignified;

  26. distinguished by good deeds, possessed of noble lineage,

    embroidered with acts of bounty, renowned;

  27. a noble chief, never inclined toward a disposition

    harsh, and never diverted from goodness.

  28. The Sovereign's judgment decreed for the house of al-Atik

    excellence, praise, eminence, and renown.

  29. Refined by sound judgment and experience,

    raised high through support and made steadfast:

  30. gray-haired men and beardless youths, on marked, sleek steeds

    like falcons, with riders upon them like ifrits.

  31. They hurl them into the thick of battle and carry them

    through a towering, slender column of battle-dust:

  32. each a gallant, resolute-hearted man, charging forth

    with a bare sword, keen-edged and gleaming.

  33. I swore by the company of pilgrims, led onward

    by riders toward Mecca, hastening at the appointed times,

  34. that if we ever chose to love any but the sons of

    Nabhan, we would be like worshippers of false gods.

  35. What should I seek from time, now that I cling

    with both hands to a rope from them, unsevered?

  36. I attained wealth, and in their lands they spared me

    crossing deserts to seek enough food to live on.

  37. These are virtues; every person with love inclines

    toward them, while every hated person turns away from them.

  38. May you live, sons of Umar, through all time, and tomorrow

    may your enviers be left forsaken or crushed.

  39. And take this magic among pearls, fastened to

    a rugged, fresh work hewn from the ridges.

Sol 6.1