فَرَعنَ وَفَرَّغنَ الهُمومَ الَّتي سَمَت
إِلَيكَ بِنا لَمّا أَتاكَ سَمامُها
They surmounted and dispelled the cares that bore us
toward you, when their venom reached you.
وَكائِن أَنَخنا مِن ذِراعَي شِمِلَّةٍ
إِلَيكَ وَقَد كَلَّت وَكَلَّ بَغامُها
And how many a swift she-camel's forelegs have we made kneel
before you, when she was weary and her lowing weary too.
وَقَد دَأَبَت عِشرينَ يَوماً وَلَيلَةً
يُشَدُّ بِرِسغَيها إِلَيكَ خِدامُها
She had labored on for twenty days and nights,
her hobble-loops fastened round her pasterns as she came toward you.
وَلا يُدرِكُ الحاجاتِ بَعدَ ذَهابِها
مِنَ العيسِ بِالرُكبانِ إِلّا نَعامُها
And none can overtake their goals once they have slipped away
among the pale camels bearing riders, save their ostrich-swift ones.
لَعَمري لَئِن لاقَت هِشاماً لَطالَ ما
تَمَنَّت هِشاماً أَن يَكونَ اِستِقامُها
By my life, if she has met Hisham, long indeed had she
yearned for Hisham, that her course should be
إِلَيهِ وَلَو كانَ المُنَهَّتُ دونَهُ
وَمِن عَرضِ أَجبالٍ عَلَيها قَتامِها
toward him, even if al-Munahhat lay in her way,
and stretches of mountains with their dust upon them,
وَقَومٍ يَعَضّونَ الأَكُفَّ صُدورُهُم
عَلَيَّ وَغارى غَيرُ مُرضىً رِغامُها
and people biting their palms, their breasts
seething against me, their resentment unappeased.
نَمَتكَ مَنافٌ ذِروَتاها إِلى العُلى
وَمِن آلِ مَخزومٍ نَماكَ عِظامُها
Manaf's twin summits raised you to the heights,
and the great ones of the house of Makhzum nurtured you.
أَلَيسَ اِمرُؤٌ مَروانُ أَدنى جُدودَهُ
لَهُ مِن بَطاحِيِّ لُؤَيٍّ كِرامُها
Is not a man whose nearest grandsire is Marwan—
his the nobles among Lu'ayy's valley-dwellers—
أَحَقَّ بَني حَوّاءَ أَن يُدرِكَ الَّتي
عَلَيهِم لَهُ لا يُستَطاعُ مَرامُها
the most entitled of Eve's sons to attain the rank
that is his due above them, beyond their power to reach?
أَبَت لِهِشامٍ عادَةٌ يَستَعيدُها
وَكَفُّ جَوادٍ لا يُسَدُّ اِنثِلامُها
Hisham's custom, which he renews, is unyielding,
as is a generous man's hand whose breach cannot be dammed.
كَما اِنثَلَمَت مِن غَمرِ أَكدَرَ مُفعَمٍ
فُراتِيَّةٌ يَعلو الصَراةَ اِلتِطامُها
As from a deep, turbid, brimming flood there breaks
an Euphrates stream, whose crashing overtops al-Sarat.
هِشامٌ فَتى الناسِ الَّذي تَنتَهي المُنى
إِلَيهِ وَإِن كانَت رِغاباً جِسامُها
Hisham is the people's champion, and hopes find their end
in him, even when their greatest are vast and mighty.
وَإِنّا لَنَستَحيِيكَ مِمَّن وَراءَنا
مِنَ الجَهدِ وَالآرامُ تُبلى سِلامُها
And we indeed feel ashamed before you for those behind us,
because of hardship, while the cairns' stones wear away.
فَدونَكَ دَلوي إِنَّها حينَ تَستَقي
بِفَرغٍ شَديدٍ لِلدِلاءِ اِقتِحامُها
So take my bucket: when it draws water,
with a mighty flow it plunges among the other buckets.
وَقَد كانَ مِتراعاً لَها وَهيَ في يَدي
أَبوكَ إِذا الأَورادُ طالَ أَوامُها
And the one who kept it brimful, while it was in my hand, was
your father, when those coming to water had long endured burning thirst.
Sol 6.1