عَرَفتَ اليَومَ مِن تَيّا مُقاما

بِجَوٍّ أَو عَرَفتَ لَها خِياما

You knew the place for her today

In fair weather or you knew tents for her,

فَهاجَت شَوقَ مَحزونٍ طَروبٍ

فَأَسبَلَ دَمعَهُ فيها سِجاما

So longing awoke in a sad enamored one,

And poured out its tears copiously.

وَيَومَ الخَرجِ مِن قَرماءَ هاجَت

صِباكَ حَمامَةٌ تَدعو حَماما

And the day we left Qaramah, your love

Stirred for you like a pigeon calling to another.

وَهَل يَشتاقُ مِثلَكَ مِن رُسومٍ

عَفَت إِلّا الأَياصِرَ وَالثُماما

Does anyone long for ruins

Except gazelles and wild cows?

وَقَد قالَت قُتَيلَةُ إِذ رَأَتني

وَقَد لا تَعدَمُ الحَسناءُ ذاما

Qutaylah said when she saw me,

“The beautiful woman will not lack a critic:

أَراكَ كَبِرتَ وَاِستَحدَثتَ خُلقاً

وَوَدَّعتَ الكَواعِبَ وَالمُداما

I see you have grown old and acquired

A new nature and left girls and wine.”

فَإِن تَكُ لِمَّتي يا قَتلُ أَضحَت

كَأَنَّ عَلى مَفارِقِها ثَغاما

If you would heed me, O killer of me, I woke

As though parting were a piercing disaster for me.

وَأَقصَرَ باطِلي وَصَحَوتُ حَتّى

كَأَن لَم أَجرِ في دَدَنٍ غُلاما

I put aside my confused state and stayed sober until

It was as if I had never been a boy in Dadan.

فَإِنَّ دَوائِرَ الأَيّامِ يُفني

تَتابُعُ وَقعِها الذَكَرَ الحُساما

The cycles of time obliterate

Their sequence and the memory of swords.

وَقَد أَقري الهُمومَ إِذا اِعتَرَتني

عُذافِرَةً مُضَبَّرَةٌ عُقاما

When cares befall me, I soothingly chant

A gurgling melody to dispel them.

مُفَرَّجَةً يَإِطُّ النِسعُ فيها

أَطيطَ السَمهَرِيَّةِ أَن تُقاما

I ride them with a restive, sturdy she-camel,

Roaring to drown out the hawk’s shriek.

إِذا ما رُعتَها بِالزَجرِ أَجَّت

أَجيجَ مُصَلَّمٍ يَزفي نَعاما

If I check her with a shout she cries

Like a trussed camel bleating.

تَشُقُّ اللَيلَ وَالسَبَراتِ عَنها

بِأَتلَعَ ساطِعٍ يُشري الزِماما

She clove the night and the Pleiades for me

With a shining blade that points the way,

وَتَقتالُ النُسوعَ بِجَوزِ قَرمٍ

مُواشِكَةً إِذا ما اليَومُ صاما

And fought the lynxes with stalks of dry dates,

Nearly besting them when the day was fasting.

إِذا ما الآثِماتُ وَنَينَ حَطَّت

عَلى العِلّاتِ تَجتَرِعُ الإِكاما

When the guilty she-camels descended

On the lofty mountain passes, drinking wine,

وَأَدكَنَ عاتِقٍ جَحلٍ سِبَحلٍ

صَبَحتُ بِراحِهِ شَرباً كِراما

I rode all night behind a black-necked stud

And by his scent was a noble morning drink

مِنَ اللاتي حُمِلنَ عَلى الرَوايا

كَريحِ المِسكِ تَستَلُّ الزُكاما

For girls who rode the meadows

Like the scent of musk that sniffs out rhinitis,

مُشَعشَعَةً كَأَنَّ عَلى قَراها

إِذا ما صَرَّحَت قِطَعاً سَهاما

Gleaming as though their striped gowns

Were targets for arrows when they left off their cloaks.

تَخَيَّرَها أَخو عاناتَ شَهراً

وَرَجّى أَولَها عاماً فَعاما

Their brother Anmat chose among them a month

Hoping the oldest would be a year, then a year,

يُؤَمِّلُ أَن تَكونَ لَهُ ثَراءً

فَأَغلَقَ دونَها وَعَلا سِواما

Anticipating she would make him wealthy.

He locked her away and the door was inaccessible.

فَأَعطَينا الوَفاءَ بِها وَكُنّا

نُهينُ لِمِثلِها فينا السَواما

We were true to her and it was unthinkable

For the like of her among us to be forbidden.

كَأَنَّ شَعاعَ قَرنِ الشَمسِ فيها

إِذا ما فَتَّ عَن فيها الخِتاما

In her was the radiance of the sun’s horn

When it shone through her openness.

وَبَيضاءِ المَعاصِمِ إِلفِ لَهوٍ

خَلَوتُ بِشَكرِها لَيلاً تَماما

I communed privately all night

With the white-armed one of playful seduction.

حَلَفتُ لَكُم عَلى ما قَد نَعَيتُم

بِرَأسِ العَينِ إِن نَفَضَ السِقاما

I swore to you about what you blamed me for

By my head’s crown that it would cease if the disease let up.

وَشيكاً ثُمَّ ثابَ إِلَيهِ جَمعٌ

لِيَلتَمِسَن بِلادَكُمُ إِلى ما

Soon a band will return

To seek your lands however long it takes,

لِيَلتَمِسَن بِلادُكُمُ بِمَجرٍ

يُثيرُ بِكُلِّ بَلقَعَةٍ قَتاما

To cross your lands in a wide line of march

The desert cannot contain,

عَريضٍ تَعجِزُ الصَحراءُ عَنهُ

وَيَشرَبُ قَبلَ آخِرِهِ الجِماما

And whose foremost ranks drink destruction

To the dregs before the last drinks it.

يَقودُ المَوتَ يَهديهِ إِياسٌ

عَلى جَرداءَ تَستَوفي الحِزاما

Despair guides death, presenting it

With a gift of naked bodies piled in heaps,

تُباري ظِلَّ مُطَّرِدٍ مُمَرٍّ

إِذا ما هُزَّ أَرعَشَ وَاِستَقاما

Racing with the shadow of one who flees in haste.

When jostled, he stumbles and rights himself.

أَخو النَجَداتِ لا يَكبو لِضُرٍّ

وَلا مَرِحٌ إِذا ما الخَيرُ داما

The brother of nobles will not bow to harm

Or exult when good fortune remains.

لَهُ يَومانِ يَومُ لِعابِ خَودٍ

وَيَومٌ يَستَمي القُحَمَ العِظاما

He has two days: a day for playing lightheartedly

And a day for the dust to cram the bone sockets.

مُنيرٌ يَحسُرُ الغَمَراتِ عَنهُ

وَيَجلو ضَوءُ غُرَّتِهِ الظَلاما

Dazzling, he unveils the darknesses from himself,

And his ruddy glow dispels the shadows.

إِذا ما عاجِزٌ رَثَّت قُواهُ

رَأى وَطءَ الفِراشِ لَهُ فَناما

When exhaustion saps his strength,

He sees taking to bed as perishing.

كَفاهُ الحَربَ إِذ لَقِحَت إِياسٌ

فَأَعلى عَن نَمارِقِهِ فَقاما

War sufficed him when Despair

Bared her tents, so he raised his encampment.

إِذا ما سارَ نَحوَ بِلادِ قَومٍ

أَزارَهُمُ المَنِيَّةُ وَالحِماما

When he marched against the lands of a people,

Death and panic girded them.

تَروحُ جيادُهُ مِثلَ السَعالي

حَوافِرُهُنَّ تَهتَضِمُ السِلاما

His steeds race like frightened prey,

Their hooves trampling the latecomers.

كَصَدرِ السَيفِ أَخلَصَهُ صِقالٌ

إِذا ما هُزَّ مَشهوراً حُساما

As the sword’s blade honed him true,

He was a famed, polished sword.