تُرى نُوَبُ الأَيّامِ تُرجي صِعابَها
وَتَسأَلُ عَن ذي لِمَّةٍ ما أَشابَها
The turns of fate, do they hope for their difficulties?
And ask about one whose tribe has made him grey,
وَهَل سَبَبٌ لِلشَيبِ مِن بَعدِ هَذِه
فَدَأبُكَ يا لَونَ الشَبابِ وَدابُها
And is there a cause for greyness after this?
For your wont, O hue of youth, is its wont.
شَرِبنا مِنَ الأَيّامِ كَأساً مَريرَةً
تُدارُ بِأَيدٍ لا نَرُدُّ شَرابَها
We drank from the days a bitter cup,
Passed around by hands we do not refuse its sipping.
نُعاتِبُها وَالذَنبُ مِنها سَجيَّةٌ
وَمَن عاتَبَ الخَرقاءَ مَلَّ عِتابَها
We reproach them though the blame is innate in them,
And who reproaches the patchwork has wearied of blaming it.
وَقالوا سِهامَ الدَهرِ خاطٍ وَصائِبٌ
فَكَيفَ لَقينا يا لِقَومٍ صَيابَها
And they said fate's arrows go astray and hit true,
So how did we encounter them, O people prone to calamity?
أَبَت لِقحَةُ الدُنيا دُروراً لِعاصِبٍ
وَيَحلُبُها مَن لا يُعاني عِصابَها
The seed of life refused pearls to a resolute rival,
And he who suffers no misery milks it.
وَقَد يُلقِحُ النَعماءَ قَومٌ أَعِزَّةٌ
وَيَخسَرُ قَومٌ عاجِزونَ سِقابَها
Yet noble souls succeed in impregnating bliss,
While feeble souls lose even its drippings.
وَكُنتُ إِذا ضاقَت مَناديحُ خِطَّةٍ
دَعَوتُ اِبنَ حَمدٍ دَعوَةً فَأَجابَها
Whenever the expanses of schemes narrowed,
I called upon Ibn Hamd, so he answered the call.
أَخٌ لي إِن أَعيَت عَلَيَّ مَطالِبي
رَمى لِيَ أَغراضَ المُنى فَأَصابَها
A brother to me, if my requests overwhelmed me,
He flung at me the objects of wishes, hitting them.
إِذا اِستَبهَمَت عَلياءُ لا يُهتَدى لَها
قَرَعتُ بِهِ دونَ الأَخِلّاءِ بابَها
When the sublime grew obscure, not to be guided,
I knocked with him, not with dear friends, at its door.
بِهِ خَفَّ عَنّي ثِقلُ فادِحَةِ النُوى
وَحَبَّبَ عِندي نَأيَها وَاِغتِرابَها
With him the burden of intense sorrows lightened over me,
And he made its remoteness and estrangement desirable to me.
ثَمانونَ مِن لَيلِ التَمامِ نَجوبُها
رَفيقَينِ تَكسونا الدَياجي ثِيابَها
Eighty nights on the back of the she-camel, navigating them,
Two friends whom its darknesses clothe in their robes.
نَؤُمُّ بِكَعبِ العامِريِّ نُجومَها
إِذا ما نَظَرناها اِنتَظَرنا غِيابَها
With the Kaaba's bright stars we take omens,
Whenever we see them, we await their setting.
نُقَوِّمُ أَيدي اليَعمَلاتِ وَراؤَهُ
وَنَعدِلُ مِنها أَينَ أَومى رِقابَها
We line up the hands of the Pleiades, then judge
Where in their necks the pointer directs them.
كَأَنّا أَنابيبُ القَناةِ يَؤُمُّها
سِنانٌ مَضى قُدماً فَأَمضى كِعابَها
As if we are the channels' pipes, lined by them,
Teeth that have marched forth, marching their immuno-deficiency.
كَذِئبِ الغَضا أَبصَرتَهُ عِندَ مَطمَعٍ
إِذا هَبَطَ البَيداءَ شَمَّ تُرابَها
Like hungry wolves you saw them when need descended,
Smelling its dust when the wilderness dismounted.
بِعَينِ اِبنِ لَيلى لا تُداوى مِنَ القَذى
يُريبُ أَقاصي رَكبِهِ ما أَرابَها
Do not heal Ibn Layla's eye from the speck with Layla's eye,
Doubt makes the edges of its mounts unclear to it.
تَراهُ قَبوعاً بَينَ شَرخَي رِحالِهِ
كَمَذروبَةٍ ضَمّوا عَلَيها نِصابَها
You see it abject between the crevices of its saddlebags,
Like bundled up patchwork they pressed over it its loads.
فَمِن حِلَّةٍ نَجتابُها وَقَبيلَةٍ
نَمُرُّ بِها مُستَنبِحينَ كِلابَها
So we pass by some garments, critiquing them, and some tribes,
Barking our dogs through them.
وَمِن بارِقٍ نَهفو إِلَيهِ وَنَفحَةٍ
تُذَكِّرُنا أَيّامَها وَشَبابَها
And from some lightning we swoop down onto it, and from a gust
That reminds us of its days and its youth.
وَلَهفي عَلى عَهدِ الشَبابِ وَلِمَّةٍ
أَطَرَّت غَداةَ الخَيفِ عَنّي غُرابَها
I yearn for the days of youth and a tribe,
That fluttered from me at dawn its ravens.
وَمِن دارِ أَحبابٍ نَبُلُّ طُلولَها
بِماءِ الأَماقِيَ أَو نُحَيّي جَنابَها
And from a house of loved ones we water its palm trees
With spring water or revive its sides.
وَمِن رِفقَةٍ نَجديَّةٍ بَدَويَّةٍ
تُفَوِضُنا أَشجانَها وَاِكتِئابَها
And from a friendly rural caravan,
Entrusting us their tree branches and somberness.
وَنُذكِرُها الأَشواقَ حَتّى تُحِنَّها
وَتُعدي بِأَطرافِ الحَنينِ رِكابَها
And we remind it of longing until it pines
And stretches at the edges of pining its neck.
إِذا ما تَحَدّى الشَوقُ يَوماً قُلوبَنا
عَرَضنا لَهُ أَنفاسَنا وَاِلتِهابَها
Whenever longing challenges our hearts one day,
We offer it our breaths and fervor.
وَمِلنا عَلى الأَكوارِ طَربى كَأَنَّما
رَأَينا العِراقَ أَو نَزَلنا قِبابَها
And we tire of the canteens, such delight as if
We saw Iraq or alighted at its abodes.
نُشاقُ إِلى أَوطانِنا وَتَعوقُنا
زِياداتُ سَيرٍ ما حَسِبنا حِسابَها
We yearn for our homelands but what augments our travel
Hinders us − we did not count its reckoning.
وَكَم لَيلَةٍ بِتنا نُكابِدُ هَولَها
وَنَمزُقُ حَصباها إِذا الغَمرُ هابَها
And how many nights we spent enduring its horrors
And tore its gravel when the deluge roared.
وَقَد نَصَلَت أَنضاؤُنا مِن ظَلَمِها
نَصُلُ بَنانِ الخَودِ تَنضو خَضابَها
Our cheeks' illumination peeled from its darkness,
Illumination of cheeks smeared with their kohl.
وَهاجِرَةٍ تُلقي شِرارَ وَقودِها
عَلى الرَكبِ أَنعَلنا المَطيَّ ظِرابَها
And a migrant who casts the sparks of its firewood
Onto the riders, our camels' shoes struck its flints.
إِذا ماطَلَتنا بَعدَ ظَمءٍ بِمائِها
وَعَجَّ الظَوامي أَورَدَتنا سَرابَها
When it tempted us after thirst with its water
And the sand dunes deceived us, it made its mirage disappoint us.
تَمَنّى الرِفاقُ الوِردَ وَالريقُ ناضِبٌ
فَلا ريقَ إِلّا الشَمسُ تُلقي لُعابَها
The companions craved flowers and the saliva was dry,
No saliva but the sun casts its spittle.
إِلى أَن وَقَفنا المَوقِفَينِ وَشافَهَت
بِنا مَكَّةٌ أَعلامَها وَهِضابَها
Until we stopped at the two stopping places, and
Mecca greeted us with its banners and plateaus.
وَبِتنا بِجَمعٍ وَالمَطيُّ مُوَقَّفٌ
نُؤَمِّلُ أَن نَلقى مِنىً وَحِصابَها
We spent the night at a gathering and the camel halted,
Hoping we will find Mina and its pebbles.
وَطُفنا بِعادِيِّ البِناءِ مُحَجَّبٍ
نَرى عِندَهُ أَعمالَنا وَثَوابَها
And we circumambulated the Ancient House veiled,
Seeing by it our deeds and rewards.
وَزُرنا رَسولَ اللَهِ ثُمَّ بُعَيدَهُ
قُبورَ رِجالٍ ما سَلَونا مُصابَها
And we visited the Messenger of God, then afterward
The graves of men whose afflictions we did not ask.
وَجُزنا بِسَيفِ البَحرِ وَالبَحرُ زاخِرٌ
بِلُجَّتِهِ حَتّى وَطِئنا عُبابَها
And we crossed by the sword of the sea and the sea roared
With its surges until we tread its shores.
خُطوبٌ يُعِنَّ الشَيبَ في كُلِّ لِمَّةٍ
وَيُنسينَ أَيّامَ الصِبا وَلِعابَها
Ordeals that make grey hairs conspicuous in every tribe,
And make one forget the days of youth and its playfulness.
عَسى اللَهُ أَن يَأوي لِشُعثٍ تَناهَبوا
هِبابَ المَطايا نَصَّها وَاِنجِذابَها
May God lodge those who shared the stirring up
Of the camels' saddles, its organization and disarray,
وَجاسوا بِأَيديها عَلى عِلَلِ السُرى
حِرارَ أَماعيزِ الطَريقِ وَلابَها
And felt with their hands the fever of the path's ailments
Upon the camel litters' staves and patches.
فَيَرمي بِها بَغدادَ كُلُّ مُكَبِّرٍ
إِذا ما رَأى جُدرانَها وَقِبابَها
May each magnifier cast them unto Baghdad
When he sees its walls and domes.
فَكَم دَعوَةٍ أَرسَلتُها عِندَ كُربَةٍ
إِلَيهِ فَكانَ الطولُ مِنهُ جَوابَها
So how many calls did I send in time of distress
To Him, and patience was his long reply.
