لأوشك شعب الحي أن يتفرقا — Albohtry

The clan's gathering was indeed about to disperse,

so heartache would bleed, or love turn to madness.

Truly, in that sand-dune there are maidens

whose upper bodies sway softly above dune-like hips.

So perhaps you will perish of grief, when they found no

beloved in you—those oryx-eyes, that day at al-Liwa.

Was it the fragrance of youthful love from Rayya, brought

by the east breeze late at night, that enthralled and roused longing?

She drew near, and her estrangement drew near; when she withdrew,

the sought-for union with her grew farther and more remote.

Beauty gathered in her until it reached its utmost in her;

and charm grew so excessive in her that it became a heretic.

And not sometimes, but whenever her memory arose,

you wept, and made the ring-necked doves weep.

And a torrent of tears overpowered you; wherever

it turned after parting, it encountered another torrent.

And a phantom traveled by night until it reached young men

who traveled by night, pulling at the night until it tore apart.

So it returned sorrowful on the day of estrangement, after

we had knocked for it on a closed door of longing.

Nor had our spears fallen short at Darghanun,

that the phantom should return from there angry and incensed.

O you unjust in both eyes, wronged at heart,

weak within, restrain the phantom that steals sleep.

There can be no union until war settles its affair,

with separation, or with life remaining and then reunion.

He is none other than Yusuf ibn Muhammad,

with his enemies and death to west and east.

And his cloud that calls down showers of bounty—indeed it

scowled above al-Nataluq, which bowed its head.

And it doubled its downpours at al-Qabbadhaqayn,

and thundered at al-Ubsiq for a month, and flashed lightning.

So its onrushing torrent burned what lay between the passes

and the confluence of the two seas, when it tore through.

Whenever a cloud branched off from its two flanks

toward a land, it was blood pouring forth.

And an autumn mantle—we had donned it new,

and it did not pass until we stripped it off threadbare.

And two full moons we wore out, after a third

we consumed with swift riding until it dwindled away.

I have seen none more enduring in night travel than horses,

nor any more tender and caring toward them than us.

Beauty is nothing but seeing them raid,

tugging against us at a black-and-white cord of dawn.

How many a mighty man their chests overtook,

who spent the night rich, then awoke destitute!

And what made them dread Yusuf was Yusuf's laying

lofty exploits upon them, gathering and dispersing.

Whenever they escaped a barren plain with their lives,

death's peer put them back upon a barren plain.

He took all that lay this side of the Gulf, and left no

heart attached to what lay beyond the Gulf.

He takes little joy in the great gains he wins,

so you would think him unsuccessful, though victorious.

He deems warfare a pilgrimage: one who falls short has nothing

like the reward of one who makes the circuit with his head shaved.

A warrior's night at Qurra has no equal

on the right of a woman blond at temple and hair-part.

And a vigilant man: wherever you tried to catch him unawares,

you found an arrow of his nocked toward you.

Whenever he gives, his generosity is inborn;

and were he stingy, his stinginess would be an affectation.

Witnessed deeds stand behind descriptions and before them,

when the fluent-tongued panegyrist grows extravagant.

If he speaks profusely, he still understates;

and if he speaks extravagantly, he still speaks the truth.

They built high honor in Nabhan's glory and came together

around Islam's outskirts as a wall and moat.

He charges, and finds the foe's hands turned into feet,

retreating from him, and their forearms into shins.

If they brandish fine steel to frighten,

you brandish before them a might proven against them.

What harm to one who fills his armor with valor,

amid terror, if he puts no tunic over his armor?

And in every village of theirs, high and low,

a blaze, as though brocade were torn to shreds within it.

A conflagration! Had al-Nu'man, on the day of Uwara,

seen you driving it onward, he would have called you 'the Burner.'

And in your hand is the sword by which was protected

the rock of guidance from wearing thin and being breached.

Whenever Islam grew dark, there gleamed

the sword's edges in its darkness, and Islam shone.

When the people's rulers show restraint out of fear,

you show restraint, seeking nothing but piety.

And if the envious were ever fair, they would contemplate

your lofty attainments: were they more fitting for another?

You covered their distance, though theirs was the farthest goal,

and crossed their heights, though theirs was the hardest climb.

Behind you the road to glory lay clear,

and lofty deeds lay open to them, had they wished to perform them.

You rain bounty upon seekers in torrents and steady rain,

in downpours and drizzle, in heavy rain and first showers.

If you say, 'This is a voluntary practice,' you are Hatim;

and if you say, 'A binding obligation,' you are an almsgiver.

We found the sword's edge broad with you,

even if the passage to bounty with you was narrow.

I am nothing but your first planting, for which

you poured the water of bounty, and it put forth leaves.

I have halted before you with all my hopes,

so may your judgment in keeping them be well guided.