1. The companions severed ties, parting and departing at dawn,

    and you thought their parting would be easy on you.

  2. Love arose, and its desires reached

    your innermost heart, leaving no heart intact.

  3. The beautiful women have indeed shot at his heart,

    until they left his hearing dulled.

  4. Fair women, nurtured by luxury, who experienced

    a carefree life, like the border of brocade.

  5. They disowned your bond after having known it,

    though once they leaned eagerly toward your talk.

  6. They saw a garment of cheerfulness you had worn threadbare,

    so they combined shunning you with aversion.

  7. Would that youth returned to us as it once was,

    for you were indeed happy in its prime.

  8. You wept through your night, sleepless because of its length—

    the longest winter night, though it could once be brief.

  9. Do you two hope for relief from what I pursue,

    or hope for some easing of what has befallen me?

  10. Ju'ada said: Why is your body pallid,

    when it used to be radiant in youth?

  11. O Ju'ad, I am indeed ceaselessly visited

    by sorrow renewed deep in the night and at dawn,

  12. till I was worn out, and you knew nothing of our sorrow;

    and I judged a change to be the best help you could give.

  13. Why have you not marveled at time and its reversals,

    when Time keeps bringing new events into affairs?

  14. The reproachers said: Why your folly, after

    your hair-partings have grayed and donned white flecks?

  15. I greeted your visiting phantom when it came, although

    Hind was no frequent visitor to distant dwellings.

  16. She came by night to gaunt she-camels worn by night travel,

    which had crossed crooked desert wastes with their forelegs.

  17. The noonday heats and night travel stripped their flesh,

    till they were reduced to forebreasts and chests.

  18. Each a broad-chested camel of the noonday heat, which

    the far reaches of wilderness made bolder and more enduring.

  19. Her nose-pins struck the bones and brought forth

    abundant headstrong vigor from her, and early haste.

  20. She shook her saddlecloth with a tawny rider in her friskiness,

    as an ostrich shakes its rain-soaked down.

  21. My two companions, departure draws near—so go!

    No evening like this for visitor and host!

  22. Al-Ukhaytil was found, when the lances made him bolt,

    broken-down and stumbling when the noble steeds pressed on.

  23. Al-Farazdaq howled in support of al-Ukhaytil,

    and both tugged at a strong rope, tightly twisted in its strands.

  24. No Arabs ever led their steed against me

    but I left their steed exhausted.

  25. Racing for stakes has left a proven contender,

    favored with glad tidings at the encounters.

  26. When I wield my blade, I cut through every target,

    and press on, neither rusted nor breathless.

  27. Indeed, when Mudar bends protectively over me,

    you face a rugged ascent into the mountains.

  28. Their seas swell, and you cannot cross

    a sea among seas that replenishes other seas.

  29. They levy tribute upon the Christians,

    and offer guidance and light to those who follow the Book.

  30. Indeed, in life our lives are held superior,

    and in our graves we outrank those who enter graves.

  31. God favored us and disgraced Taghlib;

    you will never be able to change what He decreed.

  32. Among us are the mosques and the imam; you will not see

    in Taghlib's land a mosque in active use.

  33. When the noble gather in one place, you find

    Taghlib's chiefs—a beggar and a hireling.

  34. Indeed, if al-Ukhaytil tried to rival Khindif in merit,

    he would meet humiliation there and belittlement.

  35. When the rallying cry rises for Qays, they bridle

    shaggy pregnant mares, lance-like, and stallions.

  36. Those who send, with Taghlib's noses humbled,

    a commander over you at every station.

  37. So will you ward off with the cross and Mar Sarjis

    a gray, broad-flanked, massed host?

  38. You saw its squadrons spread wide, as though it were

    birds racing for nests in Shamam.

  39. Late afternoon waned, and we had fulfilled for Taghlib

    an obligation they brought to fulfillment, and solemn vows.

  40. You abandoned Ahmar and Ibn 'Abd Muharriq,

    and were found that day shaggy and quick to flee.

  41. If they trample you once, O Ukhaytil,

    your bones will have no hope of mending after them.

  42. If you hear of war with Qays after that,

    lay down your arms and bow in full submission.

  43. They left Shu'ayth of Banu Mulayl abandoned,

    and the two Sha'thams; they abandoned Shu'rur.

  44. And a straight-jointed spear was left lodged, as though it were

    a twisted rope straining against a deep well at Lasaf.

  45. It was as though Taghlib, when they met our cavalry,

    were bustards of Dhu Husum meeting falcons.

  46. We make good what we have told you,

    while your words, O Farazdaq, are falsehood.

  47. May God curse a paltry band of Taghlib women,

    who raise curtained shelters from scraps of woolen cloaks.

  48. Those who dedicate their pilgrimage to Mar Sarjis,

    while Mecca's pilgrims multiply proclamations of God's greatness.

  49. Each an ugly, squat woman whose outer robe you see

    as a fur pelt, while she works a heddle for a woolen cloak.

  50. It is as though locusts spat upon her neck,

    so her face is neither beautiful nor radiant.

  51. Al-Ukhaytil met his mother drunk;

    shame on that drunken drinker!

  52. Never, since she was born, has there run over her fangs

    water from a tooth-stick; nor has she touched purifying water.

  53. A tame gray boar at al-Kunasa impregnated

    a sow; the two then begot a pig.

Sol 6.1