نظرت إلى ذي شيبة متهدم

أفناه ما أفنى من الأعوام

She looked upon a gray-haired, broken-down man,

worn away by the years he had spent.

يمشي وتقدمه العصا وقد انحنى

فكأنها وتر لقوس الرامي

He walked, his staff preceding him, his body bent,

so that it seemed the string of an archer’s bow.

ورأت سمات الأريحية والندى

ودلائل المعروف والإقدام

She saw the marks of magnanimity and generosity,

and signs of beneficence and courage.

واستخبرت عني فقلت لها امرؤ

نائي المواطن من كرام الشام

She asked about me, and I told her: “A man

far from home, one of Syria’s noblemen.

نبت الديار به وضاق فسيحها

عنه ففارقها بغير ملام

The lands spurned him, and their wide expanse grew narrow

for him, so he left them without reproach.”

قالت من أي الناس أنت فقلت من

أولاد منقذ في ذرى وسنام

She said, “Of what people are you?” I said, “Of

the sons of Munqidh, at the heights and summit,

من معشر أبدا تروح رماحهم

بدم العدا مخضوبة الأعلام

a clan whose spears always return at evening

with pennons stained in the blood of foes.

تحمي البلاد سيوفهم وتبيح ما

تحميه دونهم سيوف الحامي

Their swords defend the lands and lay open what

the defender’s swords guard against them.

النازلين بكل ثغر خائف

والآمنين معرة الجرام

They take their stand at every threatened frontier,

and are safe from the harm of wrongdoers.

وإذا أتاهم مستجير خائف

آوى إلى حرم من الأحرام

When a frightened seeker of refuge comes to them,

he takes shelter in one of the sacred sanctuaries.

وإذا أناخ السائلون بجوهم

عادوا ثقال الظهر بالإنعام

And when petitioners make their camels kneel in their domain,

they return with backs weighed down with gifts.

كم فيهم عند الحقوق إذا عرت

من باذل متبرع بسام

How many a man among them, when obligations press,

is a willing, open-handed, ever-smiling giver!

تغني يداه إذا هما همتا ندى

في المحل عن صوب الغمام الهامي

His hands, when both rain bounty, make needless

in drought the downpour of the streaming clouds.

يتهللون طلاقة ويخافهم

لسطاهم الأساد في الآجام

They beam with open cheer, yet they are feared

for their might by the lions in the thickets.”

قالت فأين هم فقلت أبادهم

دهر وهل باق على الأيام

She said, “Where are they, then?” I said, “They were destroyed

by time—and does anyone endure as the days pass?

وودت لو ناهلتهم كأس الردى

ووردت قبلهم حياض حمامي

And I wished I had drunk with them the cup of death,

and reached before them the pools of my own doom.

فحياة مثلي بعد عز باذخ

ومعاشر غلب ومال نام

For one like me, life after towering glory

and mighty comrades and growing wealth

ونفاذ أمر لا يرد يطيعه

فيما قضى العاصي من الأقوام

and unchallenged authority, obeyed

in every decree, even by the rebellious among men,

لأشد من غصص الحمام وراحتي

بالموت غاية منيتي ومرامي

is harsher than death’s choking pangs; and my relief

in death is my utmost wish and aim.”

فبكت بزفرة موجع لو صادفت

حجراً لذاب من الزفير الحامي

Then she wept with a sufferer’s sigh: had it struck

a stone, it would have melted from that searing breath.