Sol 6.1

  1. May rain water the pool of Hamama and Hafir,

    With torrents from thundering, rain-laden cloudbanks.

  2. May rain water those dwellings that stirred my longing,

    And their remnants seem like the writing of a book.

  3. How many I have seen, though nothing remains,

    Of visitors fickle in love, and those they visited.

  4. Do not boast: in Mujashiʿ's hide

    Are hide-eating worms; its thongs are no true thongs.

  5. O little son of Shiʿra, we have found in Mujashiʿ no

    Good sense to balance a sparrow's feather.

  6. We know full well that never for Mujashiʿ went forth

    A delegation, nor did they hold a captive's bonds.

  7. What did you hope for from a last draught, after

    Your ropes were unraveled and my twisted cord grew firm?

  8. Indeed, al-Farazdaq, when he enters a mosque,

    Is filth; his cleansing water cannot cleanse.

  9. Indeed, al-Farazdaq has no regard for anything sacred,

    Nor the blood of sacrificial beasts on forelegs and throats.

  10. Al-Farazdaq's clan are among the Christians of Taghlib,

    Or else he falsely makes a lying claim to descent.

  11. Make pilgrimage to the cross and present your offering,

    And take your share of the swine.

  12. Indeed, I shall tell of Mujashiʿ's deeds

    To anyone unacquainted with al-Nakhabat.

  13. The price of their maiden's deflowering shamed the sons of Waqban,

    And their protected neighbor was beguiled by a rope of deceit.

  14. Al-Zubayr said, when Mujashiʿ abandoned him:

    “No good lies in a foul-clothed, treacherous man.”

  15. O Shabb, Quraysh have spoken of your betrayal

    Between al-Muhassab in Mina and Thabir.

  16. And al-Farazdaq went forth, when he parted from Minqar,

    With neither well-being nor joy.

  17. Al-Farazdaq was disgraced after the battle of seven,

    Fortress-like males of al-Ashadd's offspring.

  18. Hunayda sought disgrace for Mujashiʿ,

    When she held a feast for them with the worst slaughtered camel.

  19. Your Rabab rode a worn-out camel,

    In the market—the most scandalous rider and camel.

  20. And Ghamama called Mujashiʿ at al-Wuqayt,

    So you, O Waqban, proved to have no jealousy for your honor.

  21. Al-Farazdaq lied; he will never keep pace with ʿAmir

    On race day, on a low-bred, winded horse.

  22. So forbid al-Farazdaq to disparage horsemen

    Who set his father on a shaggy, skittish mount.

  23. And you acted foolishly in reviling Qays, after

    They carried off the feathers of your broken wing.

  24. Qays—while your great-grandfather is at his bellows—

    Are commanders of every mighty battalion.

  25. You will never catch Ghatafan, even if you race,

    O son of smiths—nor the sons of Mansur.

  26. They outboasted you with every lofty, battle-marked warrior;

    So boast of the owner of tongs and bellows.

  27. How often they produced noble offspring—caliph after caliph,

    And a commander of two summer campaigns, and a commander's son.

  28. Chaste women from among them bore children in Quraysh;

    Oh, how much honor and goodness they bore!

  29. They surpassed others with a day of well-known noble deeds,

    A white-blazed, white-footed, celebrated day.

  30. Qays's steeds spend the night on the frontiers,

    While you spend the night with the women of the brothel.

  31. Do you remember your deeds on the day of al-Safa,

    Or do you remember the horsemen of al-Maʾmur?

  32. Or Dukhtanus, on the morning her braids were shorn,

    And she cried a cry of humiliation and ruin?

  33. The smiths betrayed and sent forward, on the day of al-Safa,

    A watering-party, driven down in the worst of descents.

  34. And Laqit rose that day to face ʿAmir,

    So they brought him down with a broad, sharpened spear.

Sol 6.1