Sol 6.1

  1. أَشَجاكَ الرَبعُ أَم قِدَمُه

    أَم رَمادٌ دارِسٌ حُمَمُه

    Has the campsite grieved you, or its age,

    or ashes whose charred embers have faded?

  2. كَسُطورِ الرِقِّ رَقَّشَهُ

    بِالضُحى مُرَقِّشٌ يَشِمُه

    Like lines on parchment, patterned

    at forenoon by an artist tattooing it.

  3. لَعِبَت بَعدي السُيولُ بِهِ

    وَجَرى في رَيِّقٍ رِهَمُه

    Torrents played with it after my departure,

    and its gentle showers streamed at their outset.

  4. جَعَلَتهُ حَمَّ كَلكَلِها

    لِرَبيعٍ ديمَةٌ تَثِمُه

    She made it bear her breast’s full weight—

    a steady spring rain, pounding it.

  5. فَالكَثيبُ مُعشِبٌ أُنُفٌ

    فَتَناهيهِ فَمُرتَكَمُه

    So the dune is grassy, fresh and ungrazed,

    and its water-gathering hollows, and its heaped-up sand.

  6. حابِسي رَسمٌ وَقَفتُ بِهِ

    لَو أُطيعُ النَفسَ لَم أَرِمُه

    A remnant holds me; I stopped beside it.

    If I obeyed my soul, I would not leave it.

  7. لا أَرى إِلّا النَعامَ بِهِ

    كَالإِماءِ أَشرَفَت حُزَمُه

    I see only ostriches there,

    their flocks rising into view like slave women.

  8. تَذكُرونَ إِذ نُقاتِلُكُم

    لا يَضُرُّ مُعدِماً عَدَمُه

    You remember when we fought you:

    poverty does not harm a destitute man.

  9. أَنتُمُ نَخلٌ نُطيفُ بِهِ

    فَإِذا ما جُزَّ نَصطَرِمُه

    You are palms we circle round;

    once they are pruned, we cut them down.

  10. وَعَذاريكُم مُقَلِّصَةٌ

    في ذَعاعِ النَخلِ تَجتَرِمُه

    And your maidens, their skirts tucked up,

    harvest dates among the scattered palms—

  11. عُجُزٌ شُمطٌ مَعاً لَكُمُ

    تَصطَلي نيرانَهُ خَدَمُه

    old women, gray-haired, all of them yours;

    its servants warm themselves at its fires.

  12. خَيرُ ما تَرعَونَ مِن شَجَرٍ

    يابِسُ الطَحماءِ أَو سَحَمُه

    The best trees you graze upon

    are withered ṭaḥmāʾ, or its saḥam scrub.

  13. فَسَعى الغَلّاقُ بَينَهُمُ

    سَعيَ خَبٍّ كاذِبٍ شِيَمُه

    Then al-Ghallāq busied himself among them,

    scheming like a rogue whose ways are deceitful.

  14. أَخَذَ الأَزلامَ مُقتَسِماً

    فَأَتى أَغواهُما زُلَمُه

    He took the lot-arrows to apportion shares,

    and his arrow fell to the more misguided of the two.

  15. وَالقَرارُ بَطنُهُ غَدَقٌ

    زَيَّنَت جَلهاتِهِ أَكَمُه

    And the lowland’s hollow is rich in water;

    its hillocks adorned its sides.

  16. فَفَعَلنا ذَلِكُم زَمَناً

    ثُمَّ دانى بَينَنا حَكَمُه

    So we did that for a time;

    then his arbiter brought us together.

  17. إِن تُعيدوها نُعِد لَكُمُ

    مِن هِجاءٍ سائِرٍ كَلِمُه

    If you renew it, we shall renew for you

    satire whose words travel far,

  18. وَقِتالٍ لا يُغِبُّكُمُ

    في جَميعٍ جَحفَلٍ لَهِمُه

    and fighting that gives you no respite,

    in a massed army whose host is vast.

  19. رِزُّهُ قَدِّم وَهَب وَهَلا

    ذي زُهاءٍ جَمَّةٍ بُهَمُه

    Its rumble is ‘Advance! On! Go!’

    Great in number, its champions many,

  20. يَترُكونَ القاعَ تَحتَهُمُ

    كَمَراغٍ ساطِعٍ قَتَمُه

    they leave the level ground beneath them

    like a wallowing-place, its dark dust rising high.

  21. لا تَرى إِلّا أَخا رَجُلٍ

    آخِذاً قِرناً فَمُلتَزِمُه

    You see only a man’s brother

    seizing an opponent, then grappling with him.

  22. فَالهَبيتُ لا فُؤادَ لَهُ

    وَالثَبيتُ ثَبتُهُ فَهَمُه

    So the fool has no heart,

    and the steadfast man’s firmness is his understanding.

  23. لِلفَتى عَقلٌ يَعيشُ بِهِ

    حَيثُ تَهدي ساقَهُ قَدَمُه

    A young man has reason to live by,

    wherever his foot guides his leg.