Sol 6.1

  1. Truly, will the hope-soothed heart never come to its senses,

    though gray has appeared in sideburn and beard?

  2. Ah, if only those departing at Dhu al-Ghada

    had stayed, and some of the others had left!

  3. One day they humor love, without youthful infatuation,

    and another day you see among them a shape-shifting ghoul.

  4. Ah, O valley whose people have departed,

    now doves and warblers inhabit their dwelling.

  5. Whoever watched al-Jawza, or found his night

    long—my night at al-Majaza is longer.

  6. Dawbal wept—may God never staunch his tears!

    Indeed, Dawbal weeps only from humiliation.

  7. You quailed, son of the woman of the copper coin, when there converged

    upon you the fangs and breast of war.

  8. For you, with al-Jahhaf, on the day you spurred him on,

    sought delay by that, but the approach to water was swifter.

  9. A night advanced toward you, as though its stars

    were lamps with twisted wicks within them.

  10. Dawn's light had scarcely broken when they made out

    battalions led by a reddish, white-stockinged horse.

  11. So war with Qays drove your women to cast forth

    their children—some full-term and some premature.

  12. And a woman slain in captivity—you see at her feet

    a child cut from her womb; another married woman wails.

  13. And al-Jahhaf killed the children of women

    whom Ibn Khallas and ʿAzhal drive along.

  14. The bereaved mother, her husband struck down, says to you:

    “Abu Malik, among the women in litters there is no doe with a fawn.”

  15. I urged an attack upon the people you abandoned,

    while Rudayni spears drink among them, again and afresh.

  16. Death's eagle circles above them,

    and the bridles of shaggy-forelocked horses jangle.

  17. At the Tigris, if they wheel back, Qays are behind them,

    in ranks; and if they attempt the ford, they become mired.

  18. And the blood of the slain kept surging

    in the Tigris, until the Tigris's water was tinged red.

  19. So unless you cling to a pledge of protection from Quraysh,

    there is no relying on the swords of Qays.

  20. Ours is preeminence in this world, with your nose in the dust,

    and we are superior to you on the Day of Resurrection.

  21. And on the day of al-Rahub our swords split open

    shoulders upon which no sword strap held firm.

  22. The sons of Marwan kept them from shedding your blood;

    who, then, is loftier and nobler than the sons of Marwan?

Sol 6.1