أَواصِلٌ أَنتَ سَلمى بَعدَ مَعتَبَةٍ
أَم صارِمُ الحَبلِ مِن سَلمى فَمَصرومُ
Will you keep your bond with Salma after reproach,
Are you still my friend after the estrangement,
or sever the cord with Salma, and so be cut off?
Or has the rope of friendship with Salma been severed?
قَد كُنتُ أُضمِرُ حاجاتٍ وَأَكتُمُها
حَتّى مَتى طولُ هَذا الوَجدِ مَكتومُ
I had harbored desires and kept them secret;
I used to conceal my desires and keep them hidden
how long will this lingering passion remain concealed?
Until when will this burning passion remain concealed?
قالَت أُمامَةُ مُعتَلٌّ أَخو سَفَرٍ
كَأَنَّهُ مِن سُرى الإِدلاجِ مَأمومُ
Umama said: 'He is ailing, a man of journeys,
Umma said, "He is lovesick like a traveling companion
as though night travel had left him with a deep head wound.'
As if he is spellbound by the dark night's sorcery."
كَأَنَّ نَشرَ الخُزامى في مَلاحِفِها
قَد بَلَّ أَجرَعَها طَلٌّ وَتَهميمُ
As though the scent of lavender lay in her wraps,
As if the scent of musk on her pillows
its sandy bed having been moistened by dew and drizzle.
Has made her drunk with yearning and desire.
هاجَ الخَيالَ عَلى حاجاتِ ذي أَربٍ
تَكادُ تَنفَضُّ مِنهُنَّ الحَيازيمُ
The apparition stirred a yearning man's desires,
Imagination kindled the wants of the lovesick one
from which chests almost burst apart.
Such that passions almost burst out from within.
زَورٌ أَلَمَّ بِنا يَمشي عَلى وَجَلٍ
في الخَصرِ مِنهُ وَفي الكَشحَينِ تَهضيمُ
A visitor came to us, walking in fear,
An ailment befell us walking with unease
slender at the waist and in both flanks.
In the waist and in the hips indigestion.
حُيِّيتَ مِن زائِرٍ يَعتادُ أَرحَلُنا
بِالمِسكِ وَالعَنبَرِ الهِندِيِّ مَلغومُ
Hail to you, visitor who frequents our saddles,
You were greeted by a frequent visitor of our abodes
perfumed with musk and Indian ambergris.
With Indian musk and ambergris perfumed.
يا صاحِبَيَّ سَلا هَذا المُلِمَّ بِنا
أَنّى اِهتَدى وَسَوادُ اللَيلِ مَركومُ
O my two companions, ask this visitor to us
Oh my friend, this guide found his way to us
how he found his way with the night's blackness piled high.
While the darkness of night was piled up.
أَعامِداً جاءَ يَسري طولَ لَيلَتِهِ
أَم جائِرٌ عَن طَريقِ القَصدِ مَهيومُ
Did he come deliberately, traveling all night,
Did he come straight walking the length of his night?
or had he wandered, distraught, from the straight path,
Or lost from the path of purpose confused?
إِلى طَلائِحَ بِالمَوماةِ صادِيَةٍ
فيها عَلى الهَولِ وَالعِلّاتِ تَصميمُ
to exhausted, thirsty mounts in the wilderness,
To the frightful places of death he ventured
still resolute despite terror and ailments?
Where horrors and calamities determination emboldened.
كَيفَ الحَديثُ إِلى رَكبٍ تُؤَدِّؤُهُم
يَهماءُ صادِيَةٌ أَصدائُها هَيمُ
How can one speak to riders worn down by
How to speak to a caravan made anxious
a thirsty, trackless waste whose owls are crazed with thirst?
By the howling winds whose echoes confuse?
تَرمي بِها قاتِمَ الموماةِ عَن عُرُضٍ
إِذا تَوَقَّدَتِ التيهُ الدَياميمُ
You drive them athwart the dust-dark wilderness,
It casts them from the dark places of death for honor
when the vast, trackless deserts blaze.
When confusions of straying ignite.
شُعثٌ عِجالٌ وَأَنقاضٌ عَلى سَفَرٍ
قَد شاعَ فيهِنَّ أَنعالٌ وَتَخديمُ
Disheveled men in haste, and spent mounts on a journey,
Disheveled camels, ruins upon a journey
shoes and ankle-wrappings have become common among them.
On which sandals and patches abound.
دَويَّةٌ قَزَفٌ تُضحي جَنادِبُها
وُرقاً وَحِربائُها صَديانُ مَهيومُ
A far-stretching wilderness, whose grasshoppers by midmorning turn
An uproar, pots - its locusts
ash-gray, while its chameleon is parched and delirious.
Become leaves and its battles confused ideas.
سِرنا إِلَيكَ مَطايانا نُكَلِّفُها
سَيرَ النَهارِ وَما في اللَيلِ تَهويمُ
We traveled to you, tasking our mounts with
We traveled to you on mounts we tasked
travel through the day, with no dozing at night.
With the journey of day and night's roaming.
سِرنا إِلَيكَ نُصادِيها شَآمِيَةً
لا يُدفِئُ القَلبَ مِن صُرّادِها نيمُ
We traveled to you, braving a Syrian wind,
We traveled to you, our mounts Syrian
no fur can warm the heart against its bitter cold.
With no warmth in their armors from their breezes.
تَستَوفِضُ الشَيخَ لا يَثني عِمامَتَهُ
وَالثَلجُ فَوقَ رُؤوسِ الأُكمِ مَركومُ
It makes the old man hurry, without folding his turban,
It makes the old man unshelter his turban
while snow lies piled upon the hilltops.
While snow upon the highest peaks lies piled.
يَكفي الخَليفَةَ أَنَّ اللَهَ سَربَلَهُ
سِربالَ مُلكٍ بِهِ تُرجى الخَواتيمُ
It suffices the caliph that God has clothed him
It suffices the Caliph that Allah has robed him
in a robe of kingship through which good endings are hoped for.
In the raiment of kingship with which outcomes are hoped.
مَن يُعطِهِ اللَهُ مِنكُم يُعطَ نافِلَةً
وَيُحرَمِ اليَومَ مِنكُم فَهوَ مَحرومُ
Whoever God grants something from you receives a bounty,
He whom amongst you Allah gives, gives extra
and whoever is denied anything from you today is truly deprived.
And whom He deprives today, deprived.
يا آلَ مَروانَ إِنَّ اللَهَ فَضَّلَكُم
فَضلاً قَديماً وَفي المَسعاةِ تَقويمُ
O house of Marwan, God has favored you
O House of Marwan, Allah has preferred you
with favor of old, and uprightness in noble striving.
With an ancient preference and in striving, uprightness.
قَومٌ أَبوهُم أَبو العاصي وَأَورَثَهُم
جُرثومَةً لا تُساميها الجَراثيمُ
A people whose forefather is Abu al-‘Asi; he bequeathed them
A people whose father was Abu Al-‘Aas and bequeathed them
a root that no other roots can rival.
An inherited leadership which no leaderships can equal.
قَد فاتَ بِالغايَةِ العُليا فَأَحرَزَها
سامٍ خُروجٌ إِذا اِصطَكَّ الأَضاميمُ
He has outstripped all toward the highest goal and won it,
He has attained the highest pinnacle so seized it
lofty, ever sallying forth when massed troops clash.
A towering ascent when the climbers scramble.
يَحمي حِماهُ بِجَرّارٍ لَهُ لَجَبٌ
لِلأَرضِ مِن وَأدِهِ فيها هَماهيمُ
He guards his domain with a vast, clamorous army;
He protects his protege with warriors for him of sternness
the earth rumbles beneath its heavy tread.
By whom the earth from their strength in it trembles.
جاؤوا ظِماءً فَقَد رَوّى دِلاءَهُمُ
مِن زاخِرٍ تَرتَمي فيهِ العَلاجيمُ
They came thirsty, and he filled their buckets
Thirsty they came but his buckets quenched their thirst
from brimming waters where large frogs leap.
From a sea in which whales splash about.
ما المُلكُ مُنتَقِلٌ مِنكُم إِلى أَحَدٍ
وَلا بِناؤُكُمُ العادِيُّ مَهدومُ
Kingship will not pass from you to anyone,
Kingship will not transfer from you to anyone
nor will your age-old edifice be torn down.
Nor will your exemplary building be razed.
Sol 6.1