لمن الديار كأن لم تحلل — Rabia Al Dhabi

Whose are these dwellings, as though never inhabited,

south of Asnumah, then at the rocky rise of al-'Unsul?

Their landmarks have worn away; their surviving trace

is faded, like the heading of a weathered book.

An abode of Su'da, when Su'ad was like

a fawn, innocent-eyed and tender-jointed,

high-nosed, bright-toothed, delicate,

like the full moon through gaps in parting clouds.

Her fragrance seemed the scent of cloves,

or chamomile mingled with the lavender of Hawmal.

A doe of Wajrah visits him at her nursing intervals,

and gives him noon-rest in the heart of a verdant meadow.

And her mouth, after sleep had visited her, seemed

a cup filled with smooth, pure wine.

If she appeared before a grizzled monk,

an ascetic atop a height of towering peaks,

crying to his Lord through the hours when others sleep,

until his flesh grew furrowed, worn by exertion,

he would become enamored of her beauty and sweet conversation,

and think of descending, leaving his bell.

Yet if you see grayness striking my locks,

and bending my shaft and climbing up my jaw,

and I shuffle from old age, as though stalking

quarry—whoever creeps toward game moves stealthily—

yet I once knew the shaft in its beauty and straightness,

like a blade purified by the burnisher's polishing,

in those days when—indeed, iron too goes to decay—

my youthful vigor and movements captivated lovely women.

And I joined the horses on the day of their pursuit,

on a massive steed with sound cannon bones,

bounding, taut of tendon, stout of limb,

outstripping gatherings of steeds, large and powerful.

Had I not restrained him, he would almost, when

froth streamed from him, crush the bit's mouthpiece.

And when hot sweat flowed from him, you saw him

swoop with his rider like a falcon.

And when our steeds are urged on with whips,

he gives you all he can give and makes no excuse.

They cried, 'Dismount!' and you were first to dismount;

and why do I ride him if I do not dismount?

And I amassed wealth in a man's fashion,

and raised myself above a base livelihood.

I entered the buildings of kings in their presence;

a man's worst speech is what he has not done.

And I witnessed the battle of the elephants; around them

were the sons of Persia, their helmets like pale rock,

clad in rings of iron, as though they were

mangy camels smeared with the salve of untended beasts.

They draw arrows, swift in their flight,

with slender shafts: whoever they strike, they kill.

So I restrained—holding firm, impetuous yet patient—

myself, hoping for reward from a Lord who judges.

And many a man raging against me, as though

the hatred in his breast boiled like a cauldron,

I drove away from me, and he saw his proper course;

and you branded him above the eyes, from on high.

And a brother loyal in companionship, who defied his reprovers

and obeyed his pleasure, with noble kin on either side,

cheerful and eager for generosity—I awakened him

before dawn's spreading brightness had fully cleared.

I came with him to a tavern and gave him a morning drink

from 'Aniq, not subdued by its admixture:

a tawny wine, clear of dregs, dearly bought by

a gambler of noble nature, never deemed miserly.

And many a broad-cloaked wayfarer I lodged,

after another like him in the same lodging.

And I have tasted the ease of life,

and through it time struck me with its breast.

And many a mount I roused as darkness gathered,

complaining to me of exhaustion, his sole-pads bleeding.

Night travel had worn down his body and spirit

for a month, through stretches of a straight, much-traveled

road, its scars like the Nabataeans' ploughing,

its bare approaches to water like a woven mat.

I restored him with care, and he became sleek and rounded,

like a fattened he-goat among his goats.

And behold, all that is like something that never was,

save its remembrance for one who is not ignorant.

And a hundred have passed over me; I count them

year after year, if a reckoner tests their span.

ّ

Then youth is like a workaday garment I have worn out,

and time wears away the freshness of every garment in use.

Why not ask? A people's excellence is found among them,

and asking cures your error when you falter.

Do we honor guests when they lodge with us,

and lead through good deeds, without false pretension,

and dwell on the frontier whose enemy is feared,

and seek the rain-promise of the flashing cloud,

and help our debtor and defend our neighbor,

and grace our ally with our name in the assembly?

And if a man of ours commits a wrong, he is as though,

safe from what he fears, upon the shoulders of Yadhbul.

And whenever they rise at a gathering of a clan,

our orators settle matters among that clan.

And the enemy sees stubborn bulwarks,

up among the stars, beyond a schemer's reach.

And when an assumed blood-debt burdens its bearer,

its heavy load falls upon our grazing herds.

And our ally has, in our wealth,

a rightful share he takes away, even without asking.