خليليَّ من قيس بن عيلان حليا
ركابي تُعرّج نحو مُنعرَجاتِها
My two friends of Qays ibn ʿAylān, halt
My two companions of Qays ibn ‘Aylan, adorn
my mounts, that they may turn toward her winding ways.
my mounts as they turn toward her winding paths.
بعيشكما ذات اليمين فإنني
أُراحُ لشمِّ الريحِ من عَقَدَاتِها
By your lives, take the right-hand road—for I
By your lives, toward the right—for I
find solace in smelling the wind from her mountain passes.
am refreshed by the scent of the wind from her clustered dunes.
فقد عبقت ريحُ النعامي كأنما
سلام سُلَيمَى راحَ في نَفَحَاتِها
The breeze of al-Naʿāmī has grown fragrant, as though
For the south wind has grown fragrant, as though
Sulaymā’s greeting traveled within its wafts.
Sulayma's greeting drifted within its breaths.
وتيماءُ للقلب المتيم منزلٌ
فَعُوجَا بتسليم على سَلَماتِها
Taymāʾ is a dwelling place for the enamored heart;
And Tayma is a home for the heart enslaved by love;
so turn aside and offer greetings to its salām trees.
so turn aside, you two, and greet her acacias.
وإن تُسعدا من سلم الصبر قلبه
يُعرِّس بدوح البان من عَرَصَاتِها
And if you would aid one whose heart has forsaken patience,
And if you both aid one whose heart patience has abandoned,
let him spend the night beneath the bān trees in its courtyards.
he will halt for the night beneath the spreading moringas in her open grounds.
فبانتُها الغيناءُ مألفُ بانة
جنيتُ الغَرامَ البرح من ثمراتِها
Its luxuriant bān grove is the haunt of a graceful maiden;
For her leafy moringa is the haunt of a moringa-like maiden,
from its fruits I harvested consuming, grievous passion.
from whose fruits I gathered agonizing passion.
وروضتُها الغنَّاءُ مسرحُ روضةٍ
تبختر في الموشيّ من حبراتِها
Its singing, verdant meadow is the playground of a maiden
And her luxuriant meadow is the promenade of a meadow-like maiden,
who struts in embroidered robes of striped brocade.
who struts in the embroidered fabric of her striped robes.
هنالِك خُوطٌ في منابت عزَة
تخال القنا الخطيَ بعض نباتِها
There stands a slender bough, sprung from noble soil—
There is a tender shoot in ‘Azza's growing-grounds;
you would think the straight Khattī spears were among its plants.
you would think the spears of Khatt were among her shoots.
مشاعرُ تهيامٍ وكعبةُ فتنةٍ
فؤادي من حُجَّابها ودعاتِها
It is a sacred precinct of infatuation, a Kaaba of temptation;
Sacred stations of love's delirium, and a Kaaba of enchantment—
my heart is among its gatekeepers and its summoners.
my heart is among her custodians and her heralds.
فكم صافَحَتني في مُناها يدُ المُنى
وكم هَبَّ عَرفُ اللهو من عَرَفاتِها
How often, at her Minā, the hand of wishes clasped mine;
For how often, amid her wishes, the hand of desire clasped mine;
how often pleasure’s perfume blew from her ʿArafāt.
and how often pleasure's fragrance blew from her Arafat!
عهدتُ بها أصنام حين عهدتني
هَوَى عَبدِ عُزَّاها وعبد مَنَاتِها
I knew idols there, when she knew me
I knew idols in her, when they recognized in me
as the passion of one who worshiped her al-ʿUzzā and her Manāt.
the love of a devotee of her ‘Uzza and a devotee of her Manat.
أهل بأشواقي إليها وأتقى
شرائعها في الحُبِّ حقَ تُقاتِها
I raise the pilgrim cry with my longings for her, and devoutly observe
I raise the pilgrim's cry with my longings for her, and revere
her ordinances of love with all the reverence they are due.
her laws in love with all the reverence owed to her.
غرام كإقدام ابن معنٍ ومغرمٌ
كإنعامه والأرضُ في أزماتِها
Mine is a passion as bold as Ibn Maʿn, and a lover
A passion like Ibn Ma‘n's daring, and an outlay
as lavish as his bounty when the whole earth is in distress.
like his bounty while the earth is in its crises.
وكم قد رأت رأي الخوارج فرقةٌ
فكنت علياً في حُروب شُراتِها
How often a faction adopted the doctrine of the Kharijites,
And many a faction has adopted the Kharijites' view,
and I became ʿAlī in the wars against its militant zealots—
so you were ‘Ali in the wars against its Shurat,
بعزمِ أبيٍّ لا يرد مضاؤه
وهل تُملكُ الأفلاك عن حَرَكاتها
armed with an unbending resolve whose force cannot be repelled.
with the resolve of one unbowed, whose drive cannot be checked.
Can the celestial spheres be restrained from their courses?
And can the celestial spheres be restrained from their motions?
هو الجاعلُ الهَيجا هشاً وسنانهُ
هوىً فَهوَ لا يَعدُو قُلُوب كماتِها
It is that resolve which makes the battle frail, while its spearhead
He makes battle light work, and his spearhead
is passion; thus it strikes none but the hearts of its champions.
love, so it never passes beyond the hearts of its champions.
وكم خطبتني مصرُ في نيل نِيلها
ورامت بِنَا بَغدادُ وردَ فُراتِها
How often Egypt courted me with the prospect of attaining her Nile,
And how often Egypt wooed me with the prospect of gaining its Nile,
and Baghdad sought to bring us to drink from her Euphrates.
and Baghdad wished us to drink from its Euphrates.
ولم أرضَ أرضا غير مبدإ نشأتي
ولو لُحتُ شمساً في سَمَاء ولاتِها
Yet I accepted no land but the place where my life began,
Yet no land pleased me but the place of my beginnings,
even had I shone like a sun in the firmament of its rulers.
even if I shone as a sun in the sky of its rulers.
ولي أملٌ إن يُسعدَ السعدُ نيلُهُ
يُفهمُ سرُّ النفس في زَمَرَاتِها
I have a hope which, if good fortune favors its attainment,
And I have a hope—if fortune favors its attainment,
will make the soul’s secret understood among its gathered throngs.
the soul's secret will be understood among its assemblies.
وأسنى المنى ما نِيلَ في مَيعَةِ الصِّبَا
وهل تُحسنُ الأشياء بعدُ فَواتِها
The noblest desire is what one attains in the full bloom of youth—
And the finest wishes are those attained in the bloom of youth;
can things retain their beauty once their season has passed?
and are things still lovely after they have slipped away?
Sol 6.1