أقلي اللوم عاذل والعتابا — Jarir

Lessen your blame, reproacher, and your rebukes,

And say, if I am right, “He was indeed right.”

Truly, do you not remember the people of Najd,

And a tribe that long awaited the return?

Yes—and your tears poured out, not scantily,

As when you pierce the leather seams and let them leak.

The lightning, on a night at Adhri'at, stirred

A longing you cannot hope to pursue.

I spoke of one desire and concealed another,

And between the two it stirred sorrow in me.

And a passion I concealed, from which almost

The heart's innermost core blazes into flame.

We asked her for healing, but she did not heal us;

She held out promises and beguilements.

How far apart are the dweller by Arwa's monastery

And one who dwells in al-Salila and al-Jinab!

Smooth is her neck where the two necklaces meet,

And full her form where she fastens her girdle.

No base men carry secret messages for her,

Nor does she send insults to her neighbor.

Umm Hazra opened within my heart

The ravines of love—for love has ravines.

Whenever I am mentioned among the cowards of Banu Iqal,

Dejection appears upon their faces.

When Banu Waqban encounter distress,

I tighten the bandages upon their noses.

My past distinction in Tamim will not permit,

Nor in Khuzayma's two branches, that I be disparaged.

You shall learn whose father turns out to be a smith,

And whose poems are known to be borrowed.

Tha'laba of the horsemen, or Riyah—

Have you equated Tuhayya and al-Khishab with them?

The sons of Tuhayya, Salma's clan, are like

Stones a defecating man throws at dogs.

No, by your father, I have never met a tribe

Like Yarbu' when they raise the Eagle banner.

Kings have found none mightier than us,

Nor swifter at plundering than our horsemen.

We are the judges over Qulakh;

We took care of the offender and the injured.

On the day of Dhu Najab we defended our sanctuary,

And secured the retainers and the spoils.

Beneath our saddle-frames are full-length coats of mail,

Like the wind's weaving as it drives the ripples.

And many a crowned ruler with royal jewels—

We stripped him of his pavilion and its curtains.

May God disgrace Banu Iqal,

And increase their misgivings for their treachery!

Neighbors of al-Zubayr, I disown you:

Throw down the sword and take up storage sacks.

The smiths betrayed noble blood,

And baggage that was lost and utterly plundered.

Their backs arched backward on horses

That wrestled with them over their reins, tugging hard.

Why do you hang back, when he has called you?

May He who set down the Book disgrace you!

They supped on their meat-gruel and slept,

While his kinswomen found no sleep for wailing.

Do you forget al-Zubayr and the clan of Awf,

And Ji'thin after A'yan, and al-Rabab?

The cowards of Mujashi' abandoned Laqit,

And said, “Your eye's hollow—and the crow!”

The hyenas of Dhu Ma'arik, as you know,

Encountered beside him the strangest wonder.

No, by your father, they have no minds,

Nor was their tested mettle found sound.

On the night of Rahrahan you left gray-haired men

And disheveled men starving in your houses.

You suckled; then down your beards flowed

A fox's milk, when you could find no drink.

You left loud-farting women at al-Waqit,

Riding behind on the camels when they departed.

Al-Farazdaq was disgraced among Ma'add,

And the utmost effort to support him became backbiting.

The smith and the cowards encountered distress;

You see his streaming tears pouring down.

I never feared al-Farazdaq, as you know,

Nor does Ibn Barwa' deserve to be feared.

God has prepared, through me, for poets

Thunderbolts before which they bow their necks.

I chained the slave—the slave of Banu Numayr—

With the two smiths, when both were defeated and failed.

An evil saying from Arada reached me;

No, by Arada's father, he was not right.

Wretched is the gain Numayr earns

When they await you and expect your return.

Do the sons of Numayr seek invective?

By their father, they have indeed met invective.

I am the hawk, bold against Numayr,

Destined to swoop upon them from the sky.

When its talons fasten upon an adversary,

It strikes the heart or rends its covering.

You see the noble birds remain, because of it,

Bent over their breasts lest they be struck.

May God bestow no blessing upon Numayr,

Nor may the clouds water their graves!

And a woman of Numayr, green in her body's folds—

The darkness of her eye-socket disgraces her veil.

When she rises for something other than witr prayer,

Shortly after sleep, she sets the dogs barking.

The women of Banu Numayr have grown old,

Yet their fingertips have never known henna.

When the women of Banu Numayr encamp

At Tibrak, they befoul the soil.

If the wisdom of Banu Numayr were weighed

Upon the scales, it would not weigh a fly.

Patience, you he-goats of Banu Numayr!

War is kindling a blaze.

By the life of the father of Banu Numayr's women,

Foul indeed is the abuse my scathing tongue brings them!

The two walls of Qarma' shall be demolished by my

Rhymes, with which I intend no gentle reproach.

They entered Yathrib's palaces bearing battle-marks,

And spared not a door in San'a.

The lions of Banu Tamim tower above you,

And their roaring guards thickets and forests.

Did we not free the women of Banu Numayr?

They repaid us with neither thanks nor recompense.

Have you not seen me poured down upon Ubayd,

While his veins seethed and he turned gray?

I prepare searing branding-irons for him;

The heat of their flame cures the mangy.

Lower your gaze: you are of Numayr;

You have reached neither Ka'b nor Kilab.

Do you equate a dungheap, foul and small,

With two branches grown numerous and pure?

It is fitting that one surrounded by Numayr

And Dabba—may you have no father!—should be disparaged.

Were it not for the illustrious men of Kilab, my in-laws,

And Ka'b, I would seize you utterly by force.

You are the dependents of Banu Sulaym;

Pied woolen cloaks are seen to be your clothing.

Then I would surely drive out the slave of Banu Numayr,

And I am bound to increase their misgivings.

How astonishing! Does Numayr threaten me

With a camel-herd who hunts desert lizards?

Perhaps, Ubayd, you thought warring against me

Was like hanging udder-ties and milking bowls around your neck.

When noble men rise toward lofty deeds,

You rise with a milking bowl and rouse an old she-camel.

Al-'Ifas yearns for him when her milk returns,

And the weaned calves recognize him when he calls.

Make the sons of Numayr crave al-'Ifas,

As you made the crow crave saddle-sores.

Wretched is your verse in the eyes of Qays:

You stir them up while praising milk-skins.

You call for your mother to claw her face when you see us

As stars you cannot hope to pursue.

You shall never overcome my Hanzala and my Sa'd,

Nor have you reached my Amr or al-Rabab.

Great sire-camels who bear burdens on your behalf,

Whenever a crisis strikes amid time's calamities.

They mastered kings at Dhat Kahf,

And kept al-Kulab safe from Yemen.

Those who threaten me see before me

Khafiyya's lions, thick of neck.

When Banu Tamim are angry with you,

You think all people are angry.

Are we not the most numerous of the two races in men,

In Mina's valley, and the greatest in tents?

And most deserving, should one dare and then call

With the cry “O Khindif!” to have it answered?

Ours is al-Batha, filled by flowing channels;

My valleys' flood was no mere ravine-flow.

What are you when my great sire-camels turn

Their throat-pouches aside and scatter spittle?

Stand aside: my sea is Khindifi;

You see surging billows in its flowing waves.

Its waves are like mountains; if you venture upon it,

You will drown, and then it will cast you ashore.

You will not find my standing in Tamim

Unsteady, nor my lineage tangled.

I rose above you to a Khindifi summit;

Below it you see steep steps.

To him belong the Prophet's pool and its two water-bearers,

And he who inherited prophethood and the Book.

Among us is he who sends the pilgrims onward from Jam',

And if you address him, he bests you in speech.

You shall learn whose sanctuary in Najd is strongest,

And which of us has the greatest hills in the lowlands.

I overpower you in the Hijaz; and if you descend

To the low country, you will be thoroughly plundered.

Do you bleat from afar, son of Barwa'?

You have made yourself heard; now listen to the reply.

Do not panic, for the sons of Numayr

Are like peoples at whom you swished your tail.

The demons of the land fear my roar,

And the serpent of Ariha has answered me.

I left Mujashi' and Banu Numayr

Like an ill-fated house hastening to ruin.

Have you not seen me brand Banu Numayr,

And add more scars upon their noses?

Away, away, slave of Banu Numayr!

You have not yet struck a firebrand from me.