أَمِن آلِ سَلمى دِمنَةٌ بِالذَنائبِ
إلى المِيثِ مِن رَيعانَ ذاتِ المَطارِبِ
Is this, at al-Dhanāʾib, a campsite left by Salmā’s people,
toward al-Mīth, from the heights of Dhāt al-Maṭārib?
يَلُوحُ بأَطرافِ الأجِدَّةِ رَسمُها
بِذي سَلَمٍ أَطلالُها كَالمَذاهِبِ
Its trace shows at the edges of the new tracts,
at Dhū Salam—its ruins like gilded markings.
أَقامَت بِهِ حَتىَّ إِذا وَقَدَ الحَصى
وَقَمّصَ صَيدانُ الحَصى بالجَنادِبِ
She stayed there until the pebbles blazed
and the lizard of the stony ground leapt among the locusts,
وَهَبَّت رِيَاحُ الصَّيفِ يَرمِينَ بِالسَفا
بَليّةَ باقي قَرمَلٍ بالمآثِبِ
while summer winds rose, flinging dust
upon the weathered remnant of Bāqī Qarmal at al-Maʾāthib.
طَلَعنَ عَلَينا بَينَ مَروَةَ فالصَّفَا
يَمُرنَ عَلى البَطحاءِ مَورَ السَحاءِبِ
They appeared before us between Marwah and al-Ṣafā,
passing over al-Baṭḥāʾ like the coursing of clouds.
فَكِدنَ لَعَمرُ اللهِ يُحدِثنَ فِتنَةً
لِمُختَشِعٍ مِن خَشيَةِ الله تائِبِ
By God’s life, they nearly stirred temptation
even in one humbled by fear of God, repentant.
وَفي اليَأسِ عَن سَلمى وَفي الكِبَر الذي
أصابَكَ شُغلٌ لِلمُحِبِّ المُطالِبِ
In despairing of Salmā, and in the old age
that has overtaken you, is occupation enough for the insistent lover.
فَدَع عَنكَ سَلمى إِذ أتى النُأى دُونَها
وَحَلَّت بِأَكنافِ الخُبَيتِ فَغَالِبِ
So leave Salmā: remoteness has come between you and her,
and she has settled around al-Khubayt and Ghālib.
سَقَى اللهُ حَيّا بِالمُوَقَّرِ دارُهُم
إلى قَسطَلِ البَلقاءِ ذاتِ المَحارِبِ
May God water a people whose dwellings lie at al-Muwaqqar,
as far as Qasṭal of al-Balqāʾ, land of lofty chambers,
سَواريَ تُنحِي كُلَّ آخرِ لَيلَةٍ
وَصوبَ غَمامٍ باكِراتِ الجَنائِبِ
with night-traveling clouds departing at every night’s end,
and the downpour of clouds driven at dawn by the side-winds.
أَناسٌ يَنَالُ الماءَ قَبلَ شِفَاهِهِم
لَهُ وارِداتُ العَرضِ شُمُّ الأَرانِبِ
A people whose water, before their lips,
is reached by their broad, high-bridged noses.
يُحيَّونَ بَسّامينَ طَورًا وَتارَةً
أَقَرَّت لِنَجواهُم لُؤَيًّ بنُ غالِبِ
They are greeted smiling at times; and at others
their private counsel gave Luʾayy ibn Ghālib delight,
إذا النَضرُ وافتها عَلى الخَليلِ مالِكِ
وَعَبدُ مَنافٍ والتَقوا بِالجَباجِبِ
when al-Naḍr came to it at al-Khalīl—Mālik,
and ʿAbd Manāf—and they met at al-Jabājib.
إِذا ضَبَبُوا يَومًا بِها الآلَ زَيَّنوا
مَسانِدَ أَشراقٍ بِها وَمَغارِبِ
When the clan once thronged together there, they adorned
the raised seats in its eastern and western reaches,
إلى الأَبيَضِ الجَعد اِبن عَاتِكَةَ الذي
لَهُ فضلُ مُلكٍ في البَرِيَّةِ غالِبِ
all the way to the radiant, curly-haired son of ʿĀtikah, who
holds a sovereign excellence prevailing among humankind:
كَرِيٌ يَؤُولُ الَراغِبُونَ بِبابِهِ
إِلى وَاسِعِ المَعروفِ جَزلِ المَوَاهِبِ
a noble man to whose door petitioners repair,
one vast in beneficence, abundant in gifts;
إِمامُ هُدىً قَد سَدَّدَ اللهُ رأيَهُ
وَقَد أَحكَمَتهُ ماضِياتُ التَّجارِبِ
a leader of guidance whose judgment God has set aright,
whom the keen blades of experience have tempered.
وَلَم يَبلُغِ السَاعونَ في المَجدِ سَعيَهُ
وَلَم يُفضِلوا إفضالَهُ في الأَقارِبِ
Those striving after glory have not attained his striving,
nor surpassed his bounty among his kinsmen.
جَزَتكَ الجَوازي عَن صَديقِكَ نَضرَةً
وَقَرَّبتَ مِن مَأوى طَريدٍ وَرَاغِبِ
May the powers of requital reward you, for your friend, with flourishing life;
you have brought near a refuge for outcast and petitioner,
وَصاحِبِ قومٍ مُعصَمٌ بِكَ حَقُّهُ
وَجارُ اِبنِ ذِي قُربى وآخِرِ جَانِبِ
and for the ally of a people, whose right is safeguarded by you,
and the neighbor of a kinsman’s son, and the far-removed stranger.
رَأيتُكَ والمَعروفُ مِنكَ سَجِيَّةٌ
تَعُمُّ بِخَير كُلَّ جادٍ وَغائِبِ
I have seen you—beneficence is your inborn nature,
embracing with good every generous man and every absent one.
أَبُوكَ غَداةَ الجِزعِ مِن أَرضِ مَسكَنٍ
يَؤُمُّ العِدا بِالجَمعِ بَعدَ المَقَانِبِ
Your father, on the morning at the wadi-bend in the land of Maskan,
advanced against the foe with the host, behind the squadrons.
