Sol 6

  1. There is no good in women quick to heap up reproaches,

    nor in a friend whose bond does not last.

  2. There is no good in wealth bound by an oath,

    nor in an oath without a way to fulfill it.

  3. I left youthful pleasures, fearing that

    at Tawdih the trace of an ancient dwelling would stir me.

  4. My companions asked, “What is wrong with him?” I said, “A need

    that stirs the heart’s fissures within my ribs.”

  5. Salma asked us, “Who are these people?” when she saw

    noble faces scorched by the hot winds.

  6. You reproached us, Mother of Ghaylan, for traveling by night,

    then slept; the night of the riding beasts does not sleep.

  7. I lift the she-camel’s chest, though she is lean and swift,

    when night travel makes turbaned heads droop.

  8. Through a gray, swirling cloud whose dust seems

    like smoke of ghada wood rising over gaps in the passes,

  9. when the pale wild creatures take refuge in their lairs and

    the eyes of the riding camels flare from the burning hot winds.

  10. The darkness of night does not unsettle me,

    nor do women who wear ivory above their wrists.

  11. We spent the day in a blast of hot wind, as though we were

    beside a horse facing the wind, standing still.

  12. A white-blazed horse of noble piebald stock, tormented by

    gnats, except where its legs shield it.

  13. The desert’s long-necked camels remained kneeling,

    their saddles on them, held back by their nose ropes.

  14. They knelt for a midday rest as the pebbles burned,

    and the sun’s spittle melted over our skulls.

  15. And an engraved piece, patterned like dinars, was raised

    in haste above the noble, powerful mounts.

  16. Yarbu built for me upon the highest eminence

    pillars rising beyond the measure of other pillars.

  17. Whoever seeks our protection need not fear after our pledge;

    whoever will not make peace with us will spend the night awake.

  18. Sons of the smith, our enemy will not escape us

    with blood unavenged, nor will we yield to them by the nose rope.

  19. I am among the people whom Tamim counts

    as defenders of the crowded battlefield.

  20. You see the chiefs around me from Ubayd and Jafar,

    builders of an ancient glory on lofty pillars.

  21. Yarbu stands proud behind me with spears,

    while my mountains stand exposed to those who hurl stones.

  22. When winds stir around me, they carry

    the triumph of high honors and mounting vengeance.

  23. Even if my household settles in Raqash, you will find me

    approaching a mighty sphere of towering honor.

  24. I saw my foremost men from Qurayba trample

    your protected ground, while my cavalry cried, “O clan of Asim!”

  25. Yarbu possesses a towering honor,

    far reaching in its branches, Khindifi in its heights.

  26. We seized Yazid and Ibn Kabsha by force,

    while you gained none of our great men.

  27. We took al-Hadrami ibn Amir for ourselves,

    and Marwan was among the spoils allotted to us.

  28. We came to the aid of Buhayr and his people,

    and we prevented captivity on the day of al-Araqim.

  29. We split the head of Ibn Khuwaylid

    where the mother of al-Jawathim would seek water from him.

  30. We reached al-Majabba in time after

    the racing of the sturdy, close-bred horses had strained them.

  31. We struck the head of Ibn Muharriq;

    thus we defy others with sharp swords.

  32. We struck Bayba’s neighbor, bringing him

    to the abasement of one condemned to oppression, humbled.

  33. Then you became unable to strike a spark, while your neighbor

    is divided among the circling scavengers.

  34. Horsemen proved their mettle against Juada

    and made eyes weep streaming tears.

  35. I rise above you through my lineage, while

    my buckets draw from the deep, vast seas.

  36. We stretched a rope that was never stretched for deceit

    or treachery in the ancient past.

  37. Come, let us bring our dispute to judgment; truth is enough,

    before the noble, illustrious people of the lowlands.

  38. Quraysh will follow the truth, not desire,

    and will not heed a critic’s reproach in God’s cause.

  39. I accept the judgment of Abd Shams and what it decrees,

    and the judgment of the noble chiefs of the house of Hashim.

  40. I accept Banu Taym ibn Murra; they are

    great leaders who have risen to high honor and noble deeds.

  41. I accept the Mughiris as judges; they are

    seas of generosity, kin to the greatest seas.

  42. I accept the judgment of Bakr ibn Wail,

    whether from the two Duhl branches or al-Lahazim.

  43. If you wish, the Yashkuris may judge between us

    by the decision of a noble man versed in rightful allotment.

  44. We call on them by God: who sets the spears to drink

    and opens a way through the crush of battle?

  45. Who strikes the tyrant as the horses rear

    their bridles into a rising, dark cloud of dust?

  46. Who catches up with the women carried away behind the raiders at evening,

    when the nursing mothers are distraught with grief?

  47. On the morning after the raid, we wanted Tamim

    to have no cause to blame us, and we feared the talk of the gatherings.

  48. You followed us in every great affair,

    as the tail feathers follow the wing feathers.

  49. Are the sons of the smith of Mujashi equal

    to the sons born secretly to scolding women?

  50. The long reach of my aim has not weakened my resolve,

    nor have my bones softened before grinding trials.

  51. You see me when people count their ancient honors

    and the merit of their deeds, radiant rather than downcast.

  52. If the days of battle are counted, you shame Darim,

    but Darim’s days, son of the smith, shame you.

  53. I boast of the days of horsemen; boast yourselves

    of the days of your two smiths, Jubayr and Dasim.

  54. I boast of days your people cannot match;

    through them they cleared the rough, uneven ground before me.

  55. O smith, son of a smith, our women take no pleasure

    at Dhu Najab in our claim to belong to Darim.

  56. We kept faith, as Rabia delivered Khalid

    to his people in wartime, though he made no peace.

  57. He is the smith and the smith’s son; no smith equals him

    at flattening spades or twisting dark ropes.

  58. Malik kept faith with his neighbor when

    the high peaks of Wail and its great clans gathered against him.

  59. Indeed, al-Farazdaq was only a fox

    yelping in the jaws of a massive lion.

  60. Al-Farazdaq’s mother bore a wanton man

    and brought forth a squealing creature with short legs.

  61. You inherited a tainted strain from Qufayra

    and a stumbling strain in an unsound limb.

  62. When someone asks, “Who is al-Farazdaq’s mother?” she reveals

    Qufayra in his nape and jawbones.

  63. Qufayra descends from a bondservant of Salma ibn Jandal;

    your father is her son, a son of servant women.

  64. The smith bequeathed you an anvil and a cauldron,

    and the repair of the backs of heavy axes.

  65. Our fathers bequeathed us Mashrafi swords

    that, in our hands, kill the young heads of men.

  66. Malik’s crows have inclined toward peace,

    and you know, son of the smith, that I have made no peace.

Sol 6