أَلا يا إِسلَمي بِالسَعدِ يا أُختَ دارِمِ
وَلَو شَتَّ صَرفٌ مِن نَوىً لَم تُلائِمِ
Ah, may you fare well in good fortune, O sister of Darim!
Even though a turn of fate has scattered us through an unwelcome separation.
هِلالِيَّةٌ حَلَّت بِخَبتٍ وَأَوطَنتَ
مَصيفاً مِنَ البُهمى وَقَيظَ الصَرائِمِ
A woman of Hilal, she settled at Khabt and made her home
in a summer pasture of buhma grass, amid the scattered dunes’ summer heat.
فَقَد كانَ يَحلو لي زَماناً حَديثُها
وَلَيسَ بِنَزرٍ كَاِختِلاسِ المُصارِمِ
For her talk was sweet to me for a time,
and not scant, like the snatched talk of one who breaks ties.
فَحالَت قُرومٌ مِن بَني البِشرِ دونَها
وَما الوَصلُ إِلّا رَجعُها لِلمُسالِمِ
Then chieftains from Banu al-Bishr barred the way to her,
and union is no more than her reply to one who keeps the peace.
وَلَو حَمَّلَتني السِرَّ دَوسَرُ لَم تُضِع
مَقالَةَ ذي نُصحٍ وَلِلسِرِّ كاتِمِ
Had Dawsar entrusted me with the secret, she would not have wasted
the words of a sincere adviser and keeper of secrets.
وَأُسنِدَ أَمرُ الحَيِّ بَعدَ اِلتِباسِهِ
إِلى كُلِّ جَلدٍ مُبرَمِ الأَمرِ حازِمِ
And the tribe’s affairs, after falling into confusion, were entrusted
to every steadfast man, firm of purpose and resolute.
وَإِنّي وَإِن شَطَّت نَواها بِوِدِّها
لَصُلبُ التَعَزّي مُستَمِرُّ الشَكائِمِ
And I, though her departure has taken her far, in my love for her,
am steadfast in consoling myself, unyielding to the bit.
وَكُنتُ إِذا زَيَّنتُ أَوجُهَ مَعشَرٍ
أَنارَت وَإِن أَشتُم تَصِر كَالعَظالِمِ
And whenever I adorned the faces of a people,
they shone; but if I revile them, they become like black male ostriches.
Sol 6.1