وَكُنت رفعت السوط بِالأَمسِ رفعةً
بِحيث الرحا لما اتلأَب كَؤُودُها
I raised the whip just yesterday in a way
That made the gazelles panic when its knot crackled.
فَما زال سَوطي في قِرابي ونُمرقي
وَما زلت مِنهُ في عَروضٍ أَذودُها
My whip remained in my saddle bag while my shoes
Remained studded as I raced in verse across the land.
فَدَته المطايا الحافِداتُ وقَطَّعَت
نِعالاً لَهُ دونَ الإِكام جُلودُها
Envying camels tore it to pieces and cut through
The soles beneath the leather of its straps.
وَصَهباءَ مِنها كالسَّفينةِ نَضَّجَت
بِهِ الحَملَ حَتى زادَ شَهراً عَديدُها
A gray one from them creaked like a ship
Carrying on until the months of her pregnancy increased.
طَوت دونَ مثلِ القلب مِنها ألفَّةً
كأَرديةٍ من بِركَةٍ تَستَجيدها
She harbored a tenderness for it beyond compare,
Like a downy cloak whose nap pleases hands.
فَلمّا أَتى عامانِ بَعدَ فِصالِهِ
عَن الضّرع واحلولى دِماثاً يَرودُها
When two years had passed after her separation
From the udder and the she-camel speckled with henna that nourished her,
فَصافَ صَنيعاً يَمتَري أَرحبيةً
مَكوداً إِذا ما استفرغ الخُورَ جودُها
She was sleek, a smooth worker racing wide across the land,
Swelling when the valleys poured out their generosity.
رَماهُ المُماري بِالَّذي فَوقَ سِنِّهِ
بِسنٍّ إِلى عُليا ثَلاثٍ يَزيدها
The race driver prodded her beyond her years
With a goad to heights three times her own.
وآنسَ مِن كُلانَ شُمّاً كأَنَها
أَراكيبُ مِن غَسّانَ بيضٌ برودُها
She sensed the scent of musk as if it were
A Yemeni perfume whose essence intoxicates.
يُقَحِّم من غَرّا أَقاحيمَ عَرَّضَت
لَهُ تَحتَ لَيلٍ ذي سُدودٍ حُيودُها
She dived down from peaks in dives that bared
For her, in a night of blockades, the whiteness of their rocks.
تَغَلغَلَ سَهمٌ بَينَ صُدَّين أَشخَصَت
بِهِ كفُّ رامٍ وجِهة لا يُريدها
An arrow slipped between two ribs that it had pried apart.
It was deflected by the palm of one who shoots without aiming.
فَجاءَت بِمثلِ السابريِّ تَعجَّبوا
لَهُ والثَّرى ما جَفّ عَنهُ شُهودُها
They were amazed at her pace like that of al-Sabri’s.
Neither the earth nor its dust had dried from it.
حُبيشاً فسلانَ الظِّباءِ كأَنَّما
عَلى بَرَدٍ تِلكَ الهُشوم يَجودُها
She bounded like the does of the sand grouse, as if
Those slender ghosts flowed over the cold.
فَقَرَّبتُ مَفسوحاً لِرحلي كأَنَّهُ
قَرا ضِلَعٍ قَيدامُها وَصُعودُها
I brought out my camel unburdened, as though she was
The ribs of a fold whose poles rose into the heights.
