هَذا المُصَلَّى وَهَذِهِ الكُثُبُ
بِمِثْلِ هَذَا يَهُزُّكَ الطَّرَبُ
This is the prayer-ground, and these are the dunes;
This is the prayer ground, and these are the dunes.
At such a sight, ecstasy shakes you.
At something like this, rapture stirs you.
فَالْحَيُّ قَدْ شُرِعَتْ مَضَرِبُهُ
وَحُسْنُهُ عَنْهُ زَالتِ الحُجُبُ
For the tribe has pitched its tents,
For the clan's tents have been thrown open,
and the veils have fallen away from its beauty.
And the veils have lifted from its beauty.
وَكُلُّ صَبٍّ صَبَا لِسَاكِنِهِ
يَسْجُدُ شَوْقاً لَهُ وَيَقْترِبُ
Every impassioned lover who yearns for its dweller
And every lovesick lover who yearns for its dweller
bows down in longing and draws near.
Prostrates before him in longing and draws near.
أَنِخْ مَطَايَاكَ عِنْدَ رَبْعِهُمُوُ
كَيْ لاَ تَطَاكَ الرِّحَالُ والنُجُبُ
Make your mounts kneel at their encampment,
Make your mounts kneel beside their dwelling,
lest the laden saddles and noble camels trample you.
Lest saddles and fine camels trample you.
وَاسْعِ عَلى الجَفنِ خَاضِعاً فَعَسى
يَشْفَعُ فِيكَ الخُضُوعُ وَالأَدَبُ
Approach upon your eyelids, humbly—perhaps
And walk humbly upon your eyelid; perhaps
humility and courtesy will intercede for you.
Humility and courtesy will intercede for you.
وَارْجِ قِرَاهُمْ إِذَا نَزَلْتَ بِهِمْ
فَأَنْتَ ضَيْفٌ لَهُمْ وَهُمْ عُرُبُ
Hope for their hospitality when you alight among them:
And hope for their hospitality when you alight among them,
you are their guest, and they are Arabs.
For you are their guest, and they are Arabs.
وَاسْجُدْ لَهُمْ وَاْقَتَرِبْ فَعَاشِقُهُمْ
يَسْجُدُ شَوْقاً لهُمْ وَيَقْتَرِبُ
Bow down before them and draw near, for their lover
And prostrate before them and draw near, for their lover
bows down in longing and draws near.
Prostrates before them in longing and draws near.
عِنْدِي لَكُمْ يَا أُهَيْلَ كَاظِمَةٍ
أَسْرَارُ وجْدٍ حَديثُهَا عَجَبُ
O dear folk of Kāẓima, I harbor for you
I have for you, O dear folk of Kazima,
secrets of passion whose telling is a wonder.
Secrets of passion whose telling is a wonder.
أَرَى بِكُم خَاطِري يُلاحِظُنيِ
مِنْ أَيْنَ هَذَا الإِخَاءُ وَالنَّسَبُ
Through you, I see my own heart watching me—
I see, through you, my own thought gazing at me:
whence comes this brotherhood, this kinship?
Whence this brotherhood and kinship?
وَإنْ تَشَوَّقْتَكُمْ بَعَثْتُ لَكُمْ
كُتْبَ غَرَامِي وَمِنْكُمُ الكُتُبُ
Whenever I long for you, I send you
And if I yearn for you, I send you
the letters of my passion, and letters come from you.
Letters of my passion—and from you come the letters.
وَأَشْرَبُ الرَّاح حِينَ أَشْرَبُهَا
صِرْفاً وَأَصْحُو بِهَا فَمَا السَّبَبُ
I drink the wine; when I drink it
And when I drink the wine, I drink it
unmixed, it sobers me—what can be the cause?
Unmixed, and grow sober through it—what is the reason?
خَمْرَتُهَا مِنْ دَمي وَعَاصِرُهَا
ذَاتي وَمِن أَدْمُعِي لَهَا الحَبَبُ
Its wine is made from my blood, and its wine-presser
Its wine is from my blood, and the one who presses it
is my own essence; from my tears come its bubbles.
Is my own self, and its bubbles come from my tears.
إنْ كُنْتُ أَصْحُو بِشُرْبِهَا فَلَقَدْ
عَرْبَدَ قَوْمُ بِهَا وَمَا شَرِبُوا
If drinking it makes me sober, there have indeed
If I grow sober by drinking it, then indeed
been people made drunkenly riotous by it without drinking.
Some have grown riotous through it, though they have not drunk.
هِيَ النَّعِيمُ المُقِيمُ في خَلَدِي
وَإِنْ غَدَتْ في الكُؤوُسِ تَلْتَهِبُ
It is the abiding bliss within my innermost heart,
It is the abiding bliss within my mind,
though in the cups it blazes like fire.
Even if it comes to blaze in the cups.
فَغَنِّ لي إِنْ سَقَيْتَ يَا أَمَلي
بِاسْمِ التَّي بي عَليَّ تَحْتَجِبُ
So sing to me as you pour, O my hope,
So sing to me, if you give me drink, O my hope,
in the name of her who uses me to veil herself from me.
In the name of her who, through me, veils herself from me.
Sol 6.1