أَلَم تَربَع عَلى الطَلَلِ الطِماسِ

عَفاهُ كُلُّ أَسحَمَ ذي اِرتِجاسِ

Did you not see him sitting on the ruined abode

Did you not halt at the ruins, effaced and worn,

Whose every desolate place the winds have smoothed?

Erased by every dark cloud, thundering and torn?

وَذاري التُربِ مِرتَكِمٌ حَصاهُ

نَسيجُ المَيثِ مِعنَقَةُ الدَهاسِ

And the dusty soil clings to it accumulated,

And the wind scattering dust, piling pebbles in mounds,

The warp of fate and the woof of calamities.

Woven by soft rains, embracing the sandy grounds?

سِوى سُفعٍ أَعارَتها اللَيالي

سَوادَ اللَيلِ مِن بَعدِ اِغبِساسِ

Save some adobe bricks spared by the nights

Save for black hearth-stones the nights have lent,

From the darkness of night after it had gloomed,

Dark as the night when the twilight is spent.

وَأَورَقَ حالِفَ المَثواةِ هابٍ

كَضاوِيِّ الفِراخِ مِنَ الهُلاسِ

And the companion of the abandoned abode growing

And an ashen dove, ally of the dwelling, dust-grey,

Like the plumage of a young bird from the nest removed.

Like scrawny chicks, withering in decay.

مَنازِلُ مِن عُفَيرَةَ أَو سُلَيمى

أَوِ الدَهماءِ أُختِ بَني الحِماسِ

Abodes from Ufayra or Sulayma,

The dwellings of ‘Ufayrah, or perhaps Sulayma’s place,

Or Duhma, sister of the clan of Himaas.

Or Al-Dahma’, sister of the Banu al-Himas race.

كَأَنَّ مَعاقِدَ الأَوضاحِ مِنها

بِجيدِ أَغَنَّ نُوِّمَ في الكِناسِ

As if the plaited locks upon it

As if the clasps where her white ornaments hung

Were the dark tresses of one sleeping in the tomb.

Were on the neck of a gazelle, in the thicket sleeping young.

وَتَبسِمُ عَن أَغَرَّ كَأَنَّ فيهِ

مُجاجَ سُلافَةٍ مِن بَيتِ راسِ

And it smiles with the most wondrous of smiles

She smiles to reveal a brightness, as if it bore

As if, within it, is the flashing of a cheek finely groomed,

The sip of choice wine from Bayt Ras’s store.

فَمَن ذا مُبلِغٌ عَمرواً رَسولاً

فَقَد ذَكَّرتَ وُدَّكَ غَيرَ ناسِ

So who is there to convey to Amr a message

Who then will carry a message to ‘Amr for me?

When you have reminded him of loves no more boom?

For you have stirred memories of love, unforgotten and free.

فَلَم أَهجُركَ هَجرَ قِلىً وَلَكِن

نَوائِبُ لا نَزالُ لَها نُقاسي

Not out of disdain have I deserted you, but

I did not shun you from loathing or disdain,

Misfortunes, from which we cannot hide nor flee,

But for calamities we suffer again and again.

نَوائِبُ تَعجَزُ الأُدَباءُ عَنها

وَيَعيا دونَها اللَقِنُ النِطاسي

Misfortunes which baffle the literati,

Disasters the learned are helpless to abate,

And because of which the eloquent are struck dumb.

And the skilled physician fails to alleviate.

وَقَد نافَحتُ عَن أَحسابِ قَومٍ

هُمُ وَرِثوا مَكارِمَ ذي نُواسِ

I have protected a people's reputation,

Yet I have defended the honor of a clan,

They who inherited the nobility of No'maan.

Heirs to Dhu Nuwas, where noble deeds began.

فَإِن تَكُ أوقِدَت لِلحَربِ نارٌ

فَما غَطَّيتُ خَوفَ الحَربِ راسي

And if the fires of war are kindled,

And if the fires of war are set alight,

I do not conceal my fear of war's harms.

I veil not my head in fear of the fight.

سَأُبلي خَيرَ ما أَبلى مُحامٍ

إِذا ما النَبلُ أُلجِمَ بِالقِياسِ

I will expend the best of what an orator expends

I shall strike as the truest defender knows how,

Whenever discourse is silenced by the sword.

When the arrow is bridled tight to the bow.

وَسَمتُ الوائِلينَ بِفاقِراتٍ

بِهِنَّ وَسَمتُ رَهطَ أَبي فِراسِ

And I have pierced the wailers with long spears -

I branded the fugitives with spine-breaking blows,

With them I pierced the band of Abu Firas.

With them I branded Abu Firas’s line of foes.

وَما أَبقَيتُ مِن عَيلانَ إِلّا

كَما أَبقى مِنَ البَظرِ المَواسي

Of the house of Ailan I left none remaining

And I left of the tribe of ‘Aylan nothing there,

Save those I left like the cuticles and fluff.

Just as the razor leaves the excision bare.

وَقالَت كاهِلٌ وَبَنو قُعَينٍ

حَنانَكَ إِنَّنا لَسنا بِناسِ

And Kaheel said, and the clan of Qu'ain:

Until Kahil and Banu Qu’ayn cried in plea:

"Your tenderness! We are not people deserving of it."

"Have mercy! We are not men to rival thee!"

فَما بالُ النِعاجِ ثَغَت بِشَتمي

وَفي زَمعاتِهِنَّ دَمُ الغِراسِ

So why do the sheep bleat insulting me

Why then do these ewes bleat insults at my name,

While in their bleating is the blood of plants?

While on their hooves is the blood of the garden's shame?

وَما حامَت عَنِ الأَحسابِ إِلّا

لِتَرفَعَ ذِكرَها بِأَبي نُواسِ

And they have not protected the reputations

They only defended their honor, it seems, at last,

Save to elevate their names alongside Abu Nuwas.

To rise in fame through the shadow Abu Nuwas cast.