Sol 6.1

  1. Lo, she visited while Mina's people slept.

    Would that her phantom returned at Mina!

  2. Chaste, she has no dubious man as her companion,

    And neither divulges talk nor roams abroad.

  3. And you begrudge our visiting you, though we are content

    With less than full generosity, if only the envious knew.

  4. Have you questioned al-Wahid and its two ruined camps?

    What is the matter with you? Al-Wahid will not answer you.

  5. O Khalida, I fell in love with you after Hind;

    The Khalidas and the Hinds have worn me down.

  6. There is no stinginess from you to make me despair,

    Nor generosity from you to do me any good.

  7. We lamented what you know, but you showed no pity;

    We kept our distance, but shunning did no good.

  8. You thought the dwellings at Jimad Rahba

    As you remembered them; no, the old conditions have changed.

  9. How, then, did you find Uthman's dwelling,

    For which fuel is set alight at Waqisa?

  10. A love in Tihama, and a love in Najd:

    Tihama's lowlands and Najd's uplands have worn me down.

  11. Recite, Farazdaq, with no lofty airs;

    For recited verse cropped your nose before today.

  12. You left Medina without chastity,

    And witnesses stood against you in the Sanctuary.

  13. The Christians love you on their feast day,

    And on the Sabbath the Jews are your followers.

  14. If you are stoned, the prescribed penalties are already due,

    And what Thamud suffered has befallen you.

  15. You pursue anyone you know has goods,

    As monkeys are rewarded for their tricks.

  16. Do you equate two bellows with bridled steeds,

    With saddles and felt pads upon them?

  17. They returned with Hani and struck Bishr,

    And Bistam, whom the iron bites.

  18. We defended al-Iyad and its two peaks,

    And Awd has come to know their hooves.

  19. Al-Hawfazan rode forth, accustomed to rising high,

    And Abjar, neither clumsy nor dull.

  20. He assailed them at dawn below Dhu Tuluh,

    With returning steeds, neither put to drudgery nor left to roam.

  21. They vie with spearpoints, while Layla visits

    Jubayr, herself a swift she-camel accustomed to travel.

  22. My horsemen are those who met Bahir,

    And drove back the cavalry the day Yazid called.

  23. We donned our sword-belts, as you know,

    At Dhu Najab, our clothing iron.

  24. Bring forward a Mujashi'i for empty boasting,

    When he boasts and his jugular vein swells.

  25. They never guarded the frontiers as we did,

    Nor drove back the army as we do.

  26. O neighbors of al-Zubayr, you deceived him,

    As though you were hedgehogs and white lambs.

  27. Waqit will not bear with you,

    As Zarud bore your disgrace.

  28. Farazdaq has disgraced Layla's clan,

    And Taym, upon whom an avenger has exacted retaliation.

  29. I have yoked the wrongdoers to Marmaris,

    Before whom the mighty, rebellious demon bows.

  30. If everlasting life were granted for one people's superiority

    Over another, everlasting life would be ours.

  31. I castrated Mujashi' and cropped Taym's nose,

    And know that I have more in store for them.

  32. And people said, 'Taym's folly has lost its way!

    Was there no sensible man among them?'

  33. Consider where you toil, son of Taym:

    Before you, the accomplished man has already won the prize.

  34. Do Taym's feeble birds hope to rival the hunters?

    Feeble birds neither defend nor hunt.

  35. You encountered our fierce hunting hawks,

    While your birds crouch in their roosts.

  36. Do you set Taym up as my equal?

    Is Taym the peer of a man of noble lineage?

  37. Our father is Malik; your father is Taym.

    Is Taym, then, the peer of a man of noble lineage?

  38. You did not beget Nawar, nor were you born of

    Mughaddat, the blessed, prolific mother.

  39. I am the son of the noblest; I was nobly bred by

    Proud, lordly sires among Zayd Manat.

  40. I shoot at those they shot at, and before me stands

    A shield of their rock, hard and unyielding.

  41. Do you threaten Zayd Manat, son of Taym?

    Consider where your threats have led you astray.

  42. Do you threaten us and withhold what we desire,

    While we take from beyond you whatever we want?

  43. Decisions are made when Taym is absent,

    And they are not consulted even when present.

  44. No lineage you boast of is noble,

    Nor any forefather, when forefathers crowd together.

  45. The basest in the world are Taym's noblemen,

    And their chief, however they resent it, is lorded over.

  46. If you met Taym's slaves

    And Taym themselves, you would ask, 'Which are the slaves?'

  47. I see night alternating with day,

    Yet Taym's baseness is ever new as the two alternate.

  48. Taym's crop sprouts from foul seed;

    Neither the growing plants nor the harvest are wholesome.

  49. Taym wished that its father were Sa'd,

    But neither Sa'd nor Sa'id is its father.

  50. Horsemen are not yours, son of Taym,

    Nor those granted audience, nor the delegations.

  51. In Medina, son of Taym, you were humiliated by

    Abu Hafs, and al-Walid cropped your nose.

  52. Those who rule are certainly not Taym,

    And ours are might and ancient noble lineage.

  53. Taym have indeed become vile and few;

    They neither became good nor increased in number.

  54. They have three old women and a dog,

    And old men sitting over flocks.

  55. Do you hope to outrun the efforts of a people

    Who outstripped your father while still seated?

  56. The sons of Tamim have taken away your staff,

    So you do not know with what staff to fend them off.

  57. When Taym settles on the ground of some land,

    The ground weeps at the foulness of their smell.

  58. You offer no hospitality, yet take lodging, son of Taym,

    And you revive your people's habitual baseness.

  59. I pressed my tread hard upon Taym's necks;

    Despite their anguish, their cheeks have bowed low.

  60. Utba and al-Muthanna warned the Taymi,

    And said, 'The steep climb will leave you breathless.'

  61. Do you compare Taym with Tamim?

    Vast is the difference between them—vast indeed.

  62. Baseness—your father Taym's baseness—has clothed you

    In garments whose gussets are black.

  63. They were fitted to them and fashioned from them,

    And will not wear out as long as their skins remain.

  64. And a base-born woman of the Lahazim, from Iqal,

    Whose heritage was bequeathed by Jubayr or Labid.

  65. My enemies see before me, from Tamim,

    A mighty lion that other lions do not approach.

  66. By your father's life, none have appeared for Taym:

    No favorable omens to read, nor lucky signs.

  67. I placed branding marks on Taym's noses,

    And cropped the noses of whomever I choose.

  68. We clash with them, while Taym's daughter asks,

    'Is Aysar's butter soft or thick?'

  69. That, rather than the writhing of Layla's smith

    Over a forge where wood is set alight.

  70. Al-Hantabi clothed you in a garment of wool

    And fine goat-hair, in which you sway.

  71. Shaddad clothed you in a garment of baseness;

    And as for disgraceful deeds, they never perish.

  72. If, one day, the witnesses are brought forward,

    Taym will have no witness then.

  73. They approached my fire; I said, 'Taym, in humiliation,

    Burn in it, for the fuel is blazing hot!'

  74. We came as delegates when, against Taym, were shut

    The doors' edges, and the delegations ceased.

  75. We led every sleek steed of A'waj's line;

    A powerful she-camel bound for water keeps pace with it,

  76. Just as there trots, its back held level,

    A wolf toward a trickle at Dhu al-Radahat.

Sol 6.1