كَأَن لَم أَقُد سُبحانَكَ اللَّهُ فتيَةٌ
لِنَدفَعَ ضَيماً أَو لِوَصلٍ نُواصِلُه
As though I had never led—glory be to You, O God!—a band of young men,
to repel humiliation, or to uphold a bond we maintained.
عَلى عَلَسِيّات كَأَنَّ هُويَّها
هوِيُّ القَطا الكُدرِيُّ نَشَّت ثَمائِلُه
On tawny she-camels, whose plunging rush
was the swoop of dusky sandgrouse when the moisture in their crops had dried.
وَفارَقتُهُم وَالدَّهرُ مَوقِفُ فُرقَةٍ
عَواقِبُهُ دارُ البَلى وَأَوائِلُه
I parted from them; Time itself is a station of separation,
whose end is the realm of decay, as were its beginnings.
وَأَصبَحتُ مِثلَ السَهمِ في قَعرِ جَعبَةٍ
نَضِيّاً نَضاً قَد طالَ فيها قَلاقِلُه
I have become like an arrow at the bottom of a quiver,
a bare, worn shaft, long rattled within it.
وَأَصبَحتُ تَرميني العِدى عَن جَماعَةٍ
عَلى ذاكَ رامٍ من بَدَت لي مقاتِلُه
My enemies now shoot at me, cut off from any company,
though I am an archer whose adversaries have come into view.
فَمِنهُم عَدوّ لي محالٌ مَكاشِحٌ
وَآخَرُ لي تَحتَ العِضاةِ حَبائِلُه
Among them is an implacable foe, openly rancorous toward me,
and another has snares for me beneath the thorn trees.
وَعادِيَةٍ تَعدو عَلَيَّ كَثيبَةٍ
لَها سَلَفٌ لا ينذر القتلَ قاتِلُه
And a raiding troop comes racing against me,
with a vanguard whose warrior gives no warning before he kills.
فَناشَدتُهُم بِاللَّهِ حَتَّى أَظَلَّني
مِنَ المَوتِ ظِلٌّ قَد عَلَتني عَوامِلُه
I adjured them by God, until there covered me
the shadow of death, its shafts rising above me.
فَلَمّا اِلتَقَينا لَم يَزَل مِن عَديدِهِم
صَريعُ هَواءٍ لِلتُّرابِ جَحافِلُه
When we met, my spear never ceased to leave, among their number,
a man struck down headlong, his lips in the dust.
وَلَو كُنتُ لا أَخشى سِوى فَردِ مَعشَرٍ
لَقَرَّ فُؤادي وَاِطمَأَنَّت بَلابِلُه
Had I feared no more than a single clan,
my heart would have rested and its anxieties grown still.
وَسِرتُ بِأَوطاني وَصِرتُ كَأَنَّني
كَصاحِبِ ثِقلٍ حُطَّ عَنهُ مثاقِلُه
I roamed through my homelands and became as though
I were a burden-bearer whose heavy loads had been lifted away.
أَلَم تَرَني حالَفتُ صَفراءَ نَبعَة
لَها رَبَذِيٌّ لَم تُثَلَّم مَعابِلُه
Have you not seen me make a yellow bow of nabʿ wood my ally,
with a swift shaft whose broad arrowheads were unblunted?
وَطالَ اِحتِضاني السَّيفَ حَتَّى كَأَنَّهُ
يُناطُ بِجلدي كَشحُهُ وَحَمائِلُه
So long have I embraced the sword that it seems
its flank and baldric are fastened to my skin.
أَخو فَلَواتٍ حالَفَ الجِنَّ وَاِنتَفى
مِنَ الإِنسِ حَتَّى قَد تَقَضَّت وَسائِلُه
A brother of the wastelands, allied with the jinn and severed
from humankind until all his ties were spent.
لَهُ نَسَبُ الإِنسِيِّ يُعرَفُ نَجرُهُ
وَلِلجِنِّ مِنهُ شَكلُهُ وَشَمائِلُه
He has a human lineage, its stock well known,
yet from the jinn come his form and his traits.
وَجَرَّبتُ قَلبي فَهوَ ماضٍ مُشَيَّعٌ
قَليلٌ لِخلانِ الصَّفاءِ غَوائِلُه
I tested my heart: it is keen and resolute,
with few hidden malices toward friends of pure loyalty.
وَساخِرَةٍ مِنّي وَلَكِن تَبَيَّنَت
شَمائِل بَسّامٍ عِجالٍ رَواحِلُه
A woman mocked me, but then she discerned
the traits of Bassam, whose mounts were swift to depart.
قَليلُ رِقادِ العَينِ تَرّاكُ بَلدَةٍ
إِلَى جَوزِ أُخرى لا تَبِن مَنازِلُه
Little sleep comes to his eyes; he is forever leaving one town
for the heartland of another, his stopping places unseen.
عَلَى مِثلِ جَفنِ السَّيفِ يَرفَعُ آلَهُ
مَصاصاتُ عتقٍ وَهوَ طاوٍ ثَمائِلُه
Upon a mount slender as a sword’s sheath, raised by the mirage—
the pure essence of noble stock, its belly drawn tight.
وَوادٍ مَخوفٍ لا تُسارُ فجاجُهُ
بِرَكبٍ وَلا تَمشي لَدَيهِ أَراجِلُه
And through a fearsome valley whose passes are never traveled
by caravan, nor crossed on foot,
بِهِ الأُسدُ وَالأَشبالُ مَن عَلِقَت بِهِ
فَقَد ثَكَلَتهُ عِندَ ذاكَ ثَواكِلُه
where lions and their cubs seize whoever becomes entangled there—
his mourning women have already lost him.
تَباشَرنَ بي لَمّا بَرَزتُ لِعادَةٍ
تَعَوَّدتُها وَالعادُ جَمٌّ خَوابِلُه
They greeted my appearance with delight when I came forth, as was my custom,
a custom I had learned while the assailants were many and fierce.
فَقُلتُ تَنَكَّبنَ الطَريقَ لِمُختَطٍ
أَخي شُقَّة غولٍ عَلى مَن يُنازِلُه
I said, “Step aside from the road for one who cuts his own path,
a brother of hard journeys, a ghoul to whoever challenges him.”
فَكَلَّمتُ مَن لَم يَدرِ ما عَرَبِيَّةٌ
وَمَن عاشَ في لَحمِ الأَنيسِ أَشابِلُه
I spoke to creatures that knew no Arabic,
whose cubs had lived upon human flesh.
فَلَمّا التَقَينا خامَ منهُنَّ خائِم
وَآخَرُ ذو طَيرٍ تَحومُ حَواجِلُه
When we met, one of them shrank away,
while over another the birds wheeled, circling its flanks.
فَما رُمتُ جَوفَ الغيلِ حَتَّى أَلِفتُهُ
وَأَعجَبني أَسرابُهُ وَمَداخِلُه
I did not leave the heart of the thicket until I had grown used to it
and delighted in its lairs and entrances.
فَإِنِّي وَبُغضي الإِنسَ مِن بَعدِ حُبِّها
وَنَأيِيَ مِمَّن كُنتُ ما إِن أزايلُه
My hatred of humankind, after loving that wild place,
and my distance from those I once never left,
لَكَالصَّقرِ جَلَّى بَعدَما صادَ قُنيَةً
قَديراً وَمَشوِيّاً تَرفُّ خَرادِلُه
are like the falcon revealed after it has struck its prey,
with stewed and roasted flesh, its tender pieces quivering.
أَهابوا بِهِ فَاِزدادَ بُعداً وَهاجَهُ
عَلى النَأي يَوماً طلُّ دَجنٍ وَوابِلُه
They shouted at it; it only flew farther, stirred to passion
from afar one day by a dark cloud’s drizzle and downpour.
أزاهِدَةٌ فِيَّ الأَخِلاءُ أَن رَأَت
فَتى مُطرَداً قَد أَسلَمَتهُ قَبائِلُه
Have my friends renounced me because they saw
a hunted young man whom his tribes abandoned?
وَقَد تَزهَدُ الفِتيانُ في السَّيفِ لَم يَكُن
كَهاماً وَلَم تَعمَل بِغشٍّ صَياقِلُه
Young men may disdain a sword—yet mine was never
blunt, nor had its polish been worked with fraud.
فَلا تَعتَرِض في الأَمرِ تُكفى شُؤونَهُ
وَلا تَنصَحن إِلا لِمَن هُوَ قابِلُه
Do not meddle in the affair, and you will be spared its burdens;
offer counsel only to one who will receive it.
وَلا تَخذِلِ المَولى إِذا ما مُلِمَّةٌ
أَلَمَّت وَنازِل في الوَغى من يُنازِلُه
Never forsake a client when calamity
befalls him; face in battle whoever faces him.
وَلا تَحرِمِ المَرءَ الكَريمَ فَإِنَّهُ
أَخوكَ وَلا تَدري مَتى أَنتَ سائِلُه
And do not deny the noble man, for he is
your brother—and you do not know when you may have to ask of him.
