أَتَعرِفُ رَسماً كَاِطِّرادِ المَذاهِبِ
لَعَمرَةَ وَحشاً غَيرَ مَوقِفِ راكِبِ
Do you know a path like the persistence of doctrines?
For a wilderness without a resting place for the rider.
دِيارَ الَّتي كادَت وَنَحنُ عَلى مِنىً
تَحُلُّ بِنا لَولا نَجاءُ الرَكائِبِ
The abodes which, while we were at Mina,
Were about to befall us, had the riders not come to our aid.
تَبَدَّت لَنا كَالشَمسِ تَحتَ غَمامَةٍ
بَدا حاجِبٌ مِنها وَضَنَّت بِحاجِبِ
She appeared to us as the sun beneath a cloud,
Her eyebrow emerged from it, and she winked with her eyebrow.
وَلَم أَرَها إِلّا ثَلاثاً عَلى مِنىً
وَعَهدي بِها عَذراءُ ذاتَ ذَوائِبِ
I only saw her three times at Mina,
And she was, by my life, a chaste maiden with braids.
وَمِثلُكِ قَد أَصبَيتُ لَيسَت بِكَنَّةٍ
وَلا جارَةٍ وَلا حَليلَةِ صاحِبِ
And one like you, I have indeed found not to be effeminate,
Nor a neighbor, nor the wife of a companion.
دَعَوتُ بَني عَوفٍ لِحَقنِ دِمائَهُم
فَلَمّا أَبوا سامَحتُ في حَربِ حاطِبِ
I called on the Bani Auf to cease their bloodshed,
But when they refused, I overlooked it in the War of Hatib.
وَكُنتُ اِمرِأً لا أَبعَثُ الحَربَ ظالِماً
فَلَمّا أَبَوا أَشعَلتُها كُلَّ جانِبِ
I was a man who did not instigate unjust war,
But when they refused, I ignited it on all sides.
أَرِبتُ بِدَفعِ الحَربِ حَتّى رَأَيتُها
عَنِ الدَفعِ لا تَزدادُ غَيرَ تَقارُبِ
I strove to ward off war until I saw it
Would not abate through warding off, only draw nearer.
فَإِذ لَم يَكُن عَن غايَةِ المَوتِ مَدفَعٌ
فَأَهلاً بِها إِذ لَم تَزَل في المَراحِبِ
Since there is no defense against the inevitability of death,
Welcome to it, as long as it continues to reside in encampments.
فَلَمّا رَأَيتُ الحَربَ حَرباً تَجَرَّدَت
لَبِستُ مَعَ البُردَينِ ثَوبَ المُحارِبِ
When I saw that war had stripped bare,
I donned, along with the burda, the garb of the warrior.
مُضاعَفَةً يَغشى الأَنامِلَ فَضلُها
كَأَنَّ قَتيرَيها عُيونُ الجَنادِبِ
Doubled over, its excess covers the fingernails,
As if its shoulder pads are the eyes of the hyena.
أَتَت عَصَبٌ مِنَ الكاهِنَينِ وَمالِكٍ
وَثَعلَبَةَ الأَثرينَ رَهطِ اِبنِ غالِبِ
There came a band of Quraysh and Malik
And Tha‘labah and the comrades of Ibn Ghalib -
رِجالٌ مَتى يُدعَوا إِلى المَوتِ يُرقِلوا
إِلَيهِ كَإِرقالِ الجِمالِ المَصاعِبِ
Men who, when summoned to death, sway
Toward it like the swaying of pregnant camels.
إِذا فَزِعوا مَدّوا إِلى اللَيلِ صارِخاً
كَمَوجِ الأَتِيِّ المُزبِدِ المُتَراكِبِ
When they are alarmed, they cry out to the night
Like the swelling crests of waves, piling up.
تَرى قِصَدَ المُرّانِ تَهوي كَأَنَّها
تَذَرُّعُ خِرصانٍ بِأَيدي الشَواطِبِ
You see the blow of the lances plunge down as if
They were the forelegs of gazelles in the hands of youths at play.
صَبَحنا بِها الآطامَ حَولَ مُزاحِمٍ
قَوانِسُ أولى بَيضَنا كَالكَواكِبِ
We spent the night at Atam, surrounding Mushammis,
Torches whose gleaming blades were like stars.
لَوَ أَنَّكَ تُلقي حَنظَلاً فَوقَ بَيضِنا
تَدَحرَجَ عَن ذي سامِهِ المُتَقارِبِ
If only you cast Hanzhala upon our blades,
He would roll off the one equal to its piercer.
إِذا ما فَرَرنا كانَ أَسوَا فِرارِنا
صُدودَ الخُدودِ وَاِزوِرارَ المَناكِبِ
When we flee, the ugliest aspect of our flight
Is baring the foreheads and exposing the shoulder blades.
صُدودَ الخُدودِ وَالقَنا مُتَشاجِرٌ
وَلا تَبرَحُ الأَقدامُ عِندَ التَضارُبِ
Baring the foreheads and lances mixed in altercation
While feet do not stop at the striking of blows.
إِذا قَصُرَت أَسيافُنا كانَ وَصلُها
خُطانا إِلى أَعدائِنا فَنُضارِبِ
When our swords are short, their attachment is
Our lines stabbing our enemies, so we strike.
أُجالِدُهُم يَومَ الحَديقَةِ حاسِراً
كَأَنَّ يَدي بِالسَيفِ مِخراقُ لاعِبِ
On the day of Al-Hudayqah I engaged them recklessly,
My hand with the sword was like a playful tearing lion.
وَيَومَ بُعاثٍ أَسلَمَتنا سُيوفُنا
إِلى نَسَبٍ في جِذمِ غَسّانَ ثاقِبِ
And on the day of Bu‘ath our swords
submission to a lineage whose penetration splits the compact body of Ghassan.
يُعَرّينَ بيضاً حينَ نَلقى عَدُوَّنا
وَيُغمَدنَ حُمراً ناحِلاتِ المَضارِبِ
They render white when we meet our foe
And they redden sheathed, the well-aimed deadly strokes.
أَطاعَت بَنو عَوفٍ أَميراً نَهاهُم
عَنِ السِلمِ حَتّى كانَ أَوَّلَ واجِبِ
The Bani ‘Awf obeyed a leader who forbade them
From peace, until it was the first duty.
أَوَيتُ لِعَوفٍ إِذ تَقولُ نِساؤُهُم
وَيَرمينَ دَفعاً لَيتَنا لَم نُحارِبِ
I wish for ‘Awf that their women say,
Hurling rejection: “Would that we had not fought!”
صَبَحناهُمُ شَهباءَ يَبرُقُ بَيضُها
تُبينُ خَلاخيلَ النِساءِ الهَوارِبِ
We spent the morning repelling them, their gleaming white
Revealing the anklets of the fleeing women.
أَصابَت سَراةً مِنَ الأَغَرِّ سُيوفُنا
وَغودِرَ أَولادُ الإِماءِ الحَواطِبِ
Our swords reached a caravan of negroes,
And the children of slave women were slain.
وَمِنّا الَّذي آلى ثَلاثينَ لَيلَةً
عَنِ الخَمرِ حَتّى زارَكُم بِالكَتائِبِ
Among us is one who renounced wine for thirty nights
Until he joined you with the battalions.
رَضيتُ لَهُم إِذ لا يَريمونَ قَعرَها
إِلى عازِبِ الأَموالِ إِلّا بِصاحِبِ
I allowed it for them when they would not drink
Its dregs unless accompanied by the wine-server.
فَلَولا ذُرى الآطامِ قَد تَعلَمونَهُ
وَتَركُ الفَضا شورِكتُمُ في الكَواعِبِ
Were it not for the notion of nobility that you know
And abandoning what your valor claimed among the drinking vessels.
فَلَم تَمنَعوا مِنّا مَكاناً نُريدُهُ
لَكُم مُحرِزاً إِلّا ظُهورَ المَشارِبِ
You did not deny us any place we wanted
As an inviolable place for you but the water-skins’ mouths.
فَهَلّا لَدى الحَربِ العَوانِ صَبَرتُم
لِوَقعَتِنا وَالبَأسُ صَعبُ المَراكِبِ
Why, in the thick of war, did you not show more patience
For our onslaught, though battle is difficult to ride?
ظَأَرناكُمُ بِالبَيضِ حَتّى لَأَنتُمُ
أَذَلُّ مِنَ السُقبانِ بَينَ الحَلائِبِ
We took vengeance on you with the blades until you were
More abject than foxes among the milk pails.
وَلَمّا هَبَطنا الحَرثَ قالَ أَميرُنا
حَرامٌ عَلَينا الخَمرُ ما لَم نُضارِبِ
And when we descended on the plowed fields, our leader said:
“Wine is prohibited for us unless we fight.”
فَسامَحَهُ مِنّا رِجالٌ أَعِزَّةٌ
فَما بَرِحوا حَتّى أُحِلَّت لِشارِبِ
So the proud men among us gave him leeway
Until it was permitted for the drinker.
فَلَيتَ سُوَيداً راءَ مَن جُرَّ مِنكُمُ
وَمَن فَرَّ إِذ يَحدونَهُم كَالجَلائِبِ
Would that Suwayd had seen those whom you dragged
And those who fled when the spears prodded them like hyenas.
فَأُبنا إِلى أَبنائِنا وَنِسائِنا
وَما مَن تَرَكنا في بُعاثٍ بِآئِبِ
So we turned to our children and women,
And there was none we left behind in Bu‘ath in sorrow.
وَغُيِّبتُ عَن يَومٍ كَنَتني عَشيرَتي
وَيَومُ بُعاثٍ كانَ يَومَ التَغالُبِ
I forgot, from the day my tribe
Reproached me, the day of Bu‘ath the day of rivalry.
