Sol 6.1

  1. The camp-dwellers departed, leaving you at evening or at dawn,

    And separation drove them away, its course full of change.

  2. As though I were a drinker on the day they were taken away,

    Of wine that Hims or Jadar had held.

  3. A brimming jar, one of the pitch-lined vessels, poured it forth,

    Dark-stained, with clay flaking from its spout.

  4. A pleasure-loving drinker, whose vital parts its heady force struck,

    So the drunken haze scarcely cleared from his heart.

  5. As though I were that man, or one whose anguish had deranged

    His limbs, or whose heart had been struck by spells.

  6. In longing for them and passion, the day I sent after them

    My gaze, while bands of them flanked Kawkab.

  7. They urged the mounts, which showed us their shoulders,

    And in the curtained litters were neck-turning gazelles when you cooed to them.

  8. They flash before the men until they rob them of their senses,

    But their judgment is weak when put to the test.

  9. Ah, may God confound lovely women's love, when

    They know that you are one whom old age has overtaken.

  10. They turned away when its stringer bent my bow,

    And the hair grew white after my locks had been black.

  11. They heed no caller seeking his desire,

    Nor have they any desire for a gray-haired man.

  12. They went east when the hot wind wrung the branches dry,

    And the greenery dried up, save along al-Sinna's course.

  13. So the eye is captive to the water it pours out,

    Over a distant journey, with hardship in meeting its people.

  14. Cut off like a severed rope; after them follows

    Between al-Shaqiq and Ayn al-Maqsim, my gaze.

  15. Until they descended from the valley toward its rocky tract,

    A land where Shayban or Ghubar dwell.

  16. Until, when they had left al-Qasim behind, and had

    Reached the heights, or said, 'This is the trench, al-Hafar,'

  17. They halted late in the day, and we turned aside from our choice camels,

    A journey by a man in need having been timed,

  18. Toward a man whose gifts never leave us bereft;

    God gave him victory—may that victory be sweet to him.

  19. Who plunges into deep waters, whose omen is blessed,

    God's caliph, through whom rain is sought.

  20. Concern, after the soul's secret counsel, rouses him

    To firm resolve, with the two keen powers: heart and caution.

  21. Through him all affairs proceed steadily, so no

    Deception catches him unawares once he has secured them.

  22. Nor is the Euphrates, when its tributaries surge,

    With milkweed on both banks and in its midst,

  23. And summer winds buffet it, and churn

    Pools of its billowing water over the boats' prows,

  24. Rushing from the mountains of Rum, screened

    By their jutting ridges, with crooked slopes before it,

  25. Ever more generous than he is when you ask him,

    Nor more splendid than he is when beheld.

  26. Their slanderer and their scheming kept at you

    Until, in secret, they wasted the flesh of those they gambled over.

  27. Whoever withholds his loyal counsel from us,

    And keeps his hands clenched over others' worldly wealth,

  28. Let him be ransom for the Commander of the Faithful when

    A fierce, virile day bares its back teeth.

  29. He spreads his breast low as a lion spreads its chest,

    For a battle where slaughtered prey will be his.

  30. Leading two hundred thousand toward a position,

    Whose like neither jinn nor humans have seen.

  31. He advances on bridges, building and demolishing them,

    Marked for battle, banners and dust above him,

  32. Until a great battle is theirs at al-Taff,

    And at al-Thawiyya, where no bowstring has twanged,

  33. And certain peoples' error becomes plain to them,

    And the man with a haughty tilt to his cheek is straightened.

  34. And he shoulders Iraq's heavy burdens, already

    Having favors to his credit among them, and a reserve in store.

  35. In a bow-wood tree of Quraysh to which they bind themselves,

    No tree can match the height of its growth.

  36. It rises above the hills, and at its root have settled

    People of eminence, people of glory when they boast.

  37. Mustered for truth, abhorring obscenity, proud,

    When adversity befalls them, they endure.

  38. And if a dark calamity shrouds the horizons,

    They have a way out of it and a refuge.

  39. God gave them good fortune through which they prevail;

    All other fortune thereafter is small and despised.

  40. They did not grow insolent in it when they were its masters,

    Though, had another people possessed it, they would have grown insolent.

  41. Untamable in enmity until redress is exacted for them,

    Yet the most forbearing of people when they have power.

  42. Those bearing grudges cannot shoulder war against them,

    Nor does weakness show in their stems.

  43. They are those who vie with the winds when

    Food grows scarce for seekers of bounty, or they become poor.

  44. Sons of Umayya, your beneficence enfolds all;

    Perfected, with no reproachful reminders and no taint.

  45. Sons of Umayya, I have fought in your defense

    The sons of a people who gave shelter and aid.

  46. I silenced al-Najjar's sons for you; this is known to

    Maʿadd's nobility, though those men had long bellowed.

  47. Until they submitted, bitterly chafing at me;

    Words pierce where needles cannot.

  48. Sons of Umayya, I am a faithful counselor to you;

    So let Zufar never spend a night safe among you.

  49. Take him for an enemy: his outward nature

    And the hidden parts of his character are depravity.

  50. You will encounter resentment, even when it is old,

    Like mange: it lies dormant awhile, then spreads.

  51. Through us, Commander of the Faithful, you were granted victory

    When the news reached you in the heart of al-Ghuta.

  52. They showed you Ibn al-Hubab's head, and now

    The sword had left its mark in his nasal passage.

  53. He hears no sound, his ears stopped up,

    And will not speak until stone speaks.

  54. His corpse lay by al-Hashshak at evening,

    His head lay beyond al-Yahmum and al-Siwar.

  55. The steadfast men of Ghassan, when they arrived, asked him,

    And the hardy ones: 'How did the pasture-dwelling lads host you?'

  56. And al-Harith ibn Abi Awf—they toyed with him,

    Until eagles and hawks took turns upon him.

  57. And Qays Aylan, until they came dancing,

    Then openly pledged allegiance to you after repudiating it.

  58. May God never guide Qays out of their error,

    Nor any recovery come to the sons of Dhakwan when they stumble.

  59. They cried out at war when it bit their withers,

    And impatience is among Qays Aylan's traits.

  60. They had enjoyed a good estate, until

    Satan's snares caught them, and they boasted falsely.

  61. They were hurled onto an aged she-camel whose riding was hard,

    Bare, with neither tail-hair nor body-hair.

  62. The command of Sulaym's fool kept pressing upon them,

    Until taking them to water and back became unmanageable.

  63. As they looked on, harvesting their bitter colocynth,

    Toward al-Zawabi; after they looked, we said:

  64. 'They returned to their two lava-fields to settle them,

    As cattle return to their home grounds.'

  65. Thus Sinjar became empty of them,

    Then al-Mahlabiyyat, then al-Khabur, then al-Surar.

  66. They have no genealogical link with Farras,

    Until the moon meets the Kid of al-Farqad.

  67. Nor with al-Dabab, when their eyes grow green,

    Nor with Usayya, except that they are human.

  68. None of them ever strove to catch us,

    Without falling short of us, gasping for breath.

  69. Our enmity has brought upon Kilab

    One of those calamities men dread and await.

  70. An irreconcilable affair has grown grave,

    In which no ties of kinship bind us, and no excuses remain.

  71. As for Kulayb ibn Yarbuʿ, they have

    At noble deeds, no journey to water and no return.

  72. Left behind while others settle their affairs,

    They are absent, in blind confusion, knowing nothing.

  73. Slapped back at the edges of the watering troughs, and never

    Does a Darimi's mark upon them fade.

  74. Wretched are the sober men, and wretched is their drinking,

    When strong wine and intoxicating drink flow among them.

  75. A people to whom every obscenity has come,

    And every disgrace with which Mudar is reviled.

  76. Shambling on asses—their shame has reached

    Najran, or Hajar has been told their shameful deeds.

  77. Those who eat foul provisions by themselves,

    And ask, out of sight, 'What is the news?'

  78. And remember Ghudana: ear-tagged goat herds,

    Of the small, hairless breed, with pens built around them.

  79. They ooze pre-seminal fluid when hot, down the fronts of their shifts,

    And huddle together whenever rain wets them.

  80. Ghudana have no standing in anything,

    Those who keep back the sheep until leftovers remain.

  81. They claim kinship with Yarbuʿ, though their contribution,

    When gifts are pooled, is overshadowed and despised.

  82. Yellow-bearded from the burning of smoky fires, when

    Bitter cold drives back the givers and the milker's hand,

  83. Then returning to black, sullied women,

    Who do not bathe even when their sores itch.

  84. Glory has truly sworn never to ally with them

    Until hair grows on the inside of the palm.

Sol 6.1