وَطَيلَسانٍ إِن تَوَهَّمتَهُ
قَدَدتَهُ بِالطولِ وَالعَرضِ
And a taylasan cloak—if you so much as imagined it,
Though you thought it long,
you would tear it lengthwise and crosswise.
You measured it in length and breadth.
جادَ اِبنُ حَربٍ لي بِهِ بَعدَما
أَيقَنَ مِنهُ بِالبِلى المَحضِ
Ibn Harb bestowed it on me after
The son of Harb was generous to me with it
he had become certain it was utterly threadbare.
After he was certain it was thoroughly worn out.
قَد لَقِيَ الناسَ وَقاساهُمُ
عَيشَينِ مِن ضَنكٍ وَمِن خَفضِ
It has met people and endured them
It has met people and experienced
through two lives—one of hardship and one of ease.
Two lives of hardship and degradation.
كَأَنَّ إِشفاقي عَلَيهِ إِذا
غَدَوا إِشفاقي عَلى عِرضي
It is as though my concern for it, when
It is as if my care for it, when
they go forth in the morning, were my concern for my honor.
It goes out, is care for my honor.
لَو أَنَّهُ بَعضُ بَني آدَمَ
كانَ أَسيرَ اللَهِ في الأَرضِ
Were it one of the sons of Adam,
If only it were a human being,
it would be God's captive on earth.
It would be God's captive on earth.
Sol 6.1