تُمَنّيني إِمارَتَها تَميمُ
وَما أُمّي بِأُمِّ بَني تَميمِ
Tamim's daughter wished to marry me
Yet my mother is no kin to Tamim's clan
وَكانَ أَبو سُلَيمانَ أَخاً لي
وَلَكِنَّ الشِراكَ مِن الأَديمِ
Abu Sulayman was once my brother
Yet partnership lasts not as long as leather
أَتينا أَصبِهانَ فَهَزَّلَتنا
وَكُنّا قَبلَ ذَلِكَ في نَعيمِ
We came to Isfahan and it made fools of us
After living in comfort and bliss
أَتَذكُرُنا وَمُرَّةَ إِذ غَزَونا
وَأَنتَ عَلى بُغَيلِكَ ذي الوُشومِ
Remember when we raided on that morn
You on your marked, brown-nosed camel-colt
وَيَركَبُ رَأَسَهُ في كُلِّ وَحلٍ
وَيَعثُرُ في الطَريقِ المُستَقيمِ
It trips at every watering hole and dale
Stumbling as if on an uneven trail
وَلَيسَ عَلَيكَ إِلّا طَيلَسانٌ
نَصيبِيٌّ وَإِلّا سَحقُ نيمِ
You have nothing left but an old cloak
My share - else I'm bereft and broke
فَقَد أَصبَحتَ في خَزٍّ وَقَزٍّ
تَبَختَر ما تَرى لَكَ مِن حَميمِ
So you find yourself in tatters and rags
Gloating over what joys life still bags
وَتَحسَبُ أَن تَلَقّاها زَماناً
كَذَبَت وَرُبَّ مَكَّةَ وَالحَطيمِ
Expecting one day she will take you back
By the Sanctuary, the oath is slack
وَكانَت أَصبهانُ كَخَيرِ أَرضٍ
لِمُغتَرِبٍ وَصُعلوكٍ عَديمِ
Once Isfahan was a blessed land
For the migrant pauper, luckless man
وَلَكِنّا أَتَيناها وَفيها
ذَوو الأَضغانِ وَالحِقدِ القَديمِ
Yet when we came jealousy was rife
And hate for things passed stained as with knife
فَأَنكَرتُ الوُجوهَ وَأَنكَرَتني
وُجوهٌ ما تُخَبِّرُ عَن كَريمِ
I knew not the faces, nor they mine
Faces with no sign of things benign
وَكانَ سَفاهَةً مِنّي وَجَهلاً
مَسيري لا أَسيرُ إِلى حَميمِ
I showed in going there folly and ignorance
No captive I, misguided vagrant
فَلَو كانَ اِبنُ عَتّابٍ كَريماً
سَما لِذُؤابَةِ الأَمرِ الجَسيمِ
If only the noble seed of 'Attab
Could mend this matter difficult and grim
وَكَيفَ رَجاءُ مَن غَلبَت عَلَيهِ
تَنائي الدارِ كَالرَحِمِ العَقيمِ
What hope from one whom absence erased
Like a womb that is barren and waste
وَلَيسَ بِحابِسي مَن غَيرِ شَيءٍ
مَواعِدُ كُلِّ أَفّاكٍ أَثيمِ
None can confine me but my wanton self
Tryst of the traitor - cause of stealth
