كم بالكثيب من اعتراض كثيب — Albohtry

How many a swelling dune at al-Kathib,

and a supple branch's stature clothed in robes!

And at Dhu al-Arakah, how many a summer abode clothed in

the winds' weave, and a rain-drenched spring abode!

Zaynab's ruined encampments, before separation drove

Zaynab and La'ub away from Dhu al-Arak.

The dwellings refuse to answer; out of burning grief,

that day among the dwellings, I called to what could not answer.

Will a dark cloud carry my greeting to them,

thick-fringed, traveling by night on a south wind?

Or will camels straining against their nose-rings bring them near,

swift as flocking sandgrouse coming to water?

May rain water the ghada and its dwellers, though they

have kindled it within ribs and hearts.

And the brief days there, when there were stolen for us

their delights, away from an ill-wisher and a watcher.

Green, shed by the east wind, as though they were

leaves shaken down by the swaying of a branch.

They were varied pleasures of idleness, then came to an end

through a beauty's desertion and the first flecks of gray.

If I have drawn near to forgetting, reflecting

on it, and sold my share of youth,

yet many a time have I answered youth's summons

and defied reproach and rebuke.

The dullard is blind to glory; you will never see

a desire for eminence in anyone but a discerning man.

Do not overpraise men's generosity, for

I have accepted no generosity but a cultivated man's.

The earth brings forth in hollows and on hills

spontaneous plants, most of which bring sickness.

And when Abu al-Fadl borrows a quality

for noble deeds, it is from Abu Ya'qub.

He copies no distant man's character, nor is he seen

modeling himself, in eminence, on a stranger.

His firm resolve is driven forward, and his judgment kindled,

by Judharz's resolves and Bib's fierce ardor.

Honor passed down from one great forebear to another,

like a spear, section upon section.

And I hold that nobility cannot reach perfection

in a people's nobleman who is not a nobleman's son.

A white moon among young men, cleaving

the darkness of time, coal-black and utterly black.

He wore out time's calamities until he checked them,

and time is a string of happenings and calamities.

Speech as true as the portents of a lightning cloud

pouring down rain, and excellence of spotless refinement.

And when seekers of bounty ask him, he

bestows eminence with the bounty he gives.

His gifts were spread abroad and became tribes

for tribes and peoples among his visitors.

How much renown they won for a nameless, obscure man,

and how much noble standing they built for one without noble standing!

Within reach of petitioners' hands, yet far removed

from every peer and equal in eminence.

Like the full moon, exceedingly high, yet its light

is very near to the band traveling by night.

May it gladden the sons of Nawbukht that their steeds

have been first to the sought-for goal of eminence.

If one speaks of glory's early rain, then they

were drenched by the first of that downpour.

Or if their pens are chosen for writing,

long before, they were spears of war.