Sol 6.1

  1. أتَتْ أسْماءٌ ساحِبَةً رِدَاها

    على إِثْرِ المواطئ من سُرَاها

    Asmāʾ came, trailing her cloak,

    over the footprints of her night journey.

  2. فديتكَ لو وطئتَ على جفون

    لما كادت تُنَبِّه من كراها

    May I be your ransom! If you trod upon eyelids,

    they would scarcely be roused from their slumber.

  3. وقد سَدَلَتْ غدائِرها لِتُخْفي

    إِذا ابتسمتْ صباحاً في دُجاها

    She had let down her tresses to conceal,

    when she smiled, a dawn within their darkness.

  4. وفي طَرَفِ الخباءِ ليوثُ حَرْبٍ

    تدورُ عليهمُ أبَداً رَحَاها

    And at the edge of the tent were lions of war,

    its millstone forever turning upon them.

  5. خشيتُ بسدلها في الحيّ من أن

    يُهبَّ أشَطَهُمْ أدنى شَذَاها

    I feared, with her hair loosened in the camp, that

    the faintest breath of her fragrance would rouse the farthest of them.

  6. بَدتْ فوجَمت من دَهَشٍ كأني

    نفرتُ إلى ودَاعٍ مِنْ لِقاها

    She appeared, and I fell silent with amazement, as though

    I had fled from meeting her into farewell.

  7. فقد حَصِرتْ حياءً عن نظيم

    فمجّته نَثاراً مقلتاها

    For shyness had left her unable to string her words,

    so her two eyes cast them out as scattered pearls.

  8. فلا أنسى وقد أنست وطاب الن

    نَديُّ بما يحدِّثنيه فاها

    So I cannot forget—when I grew at ease and pleasant became the

    gathering through what her mouth told me—

  9. حَماماً في الغُصُونِ تنوحُ شوقاً

    تبوحُ بسرِّ ما يطوي حشَاها

    the doves among the branches, lamenting with longing,

    disclosing the secret of what their hearts enfold.

  10. فكانَ الغُصْنُ لي غصصاً وكا

    ن الحَمام لنا بأن حُمّتْ نَواها

    So the branch became a choking grief to me, and

    the doves meant doom to us, for her departure was decreed.

  11. فقمتُ لموقفِ التوديع أطوي الض

    لوعَ من الشجون على لظاها

    So I rose to the place of farewell, folding my

    ribs, in sorrow, around its blaze.

  12. فلم أَكُ أن أرى من بعدها في

    نساء الحيّ أحسنَ من حُلاها

    After her, I could not see among

    the women of the tribe anything lovelier than her charms,

  13. سوى هيفاء وَفّت من خُدورِ ال

    بلاغة قد تسامَى منتماها

    save a slender beauty who came from the secluded chambers of

    eloquence, whose lineage had risen high.

  14. عَرُوبةُ حيّها تختالُ تيهاً

    على الشِعرى بعيداً مرتماها

    The charmer of her tribe, she struts in pride

    above Sirius, far-reaching in her aim.

  15. تَقَرَّطَتِ الثريّا واستطالتْ

    على الجوزاءِ فاقتحَمَتْ ذَرَاها

    She wore the Pleiades as earrings and towered

    above al-Jawzāʾ, storming its heights.

  16. فما الملكُ الضليل وما زهير

    بحوليّاته من مُستماها

    Neither the errant king nor Zuhayr,

    with his year-worked odes, can reach her height.

  17. وما السَبْعُ الطِوالُ أرقُّ معنى

    واشهى في العذوبة من جَناها

    Nor are the seven long odes subtler in meaning

    or more delectably sweet than her fruit.

  18. وما الروضُ المفوّفُ باكرَتْه

    عَزَاليْ السُحُبِ واهية كِلاَها

    Nor is a many-colored meadow, visited at dawn

    by the clouds' waterspouts, their kidneys leaking,

  19. فاخصَبَتِ الرُبى وافترّ في

    ها الأقاصي منه واخضلّت صَباها

    so that the hills grew lush, and within

    them its farthest reaches smiled and their east breeze grew moist,

  20. بأحسنَ من نضارتها وأشهى

    وأحلى في مذاقي من روَاها

    lovelier than her freshness, more delectable,

    or sweeter to my taste than her draught.

  21. ذكرت بها عهوداً قد دعتني

    لأشواقٍ بقلبي مصطلاها

    Through her I recalled days that had summoned me

    to longings whose fire burns in my heart.

  22. فما أدماء تعطو حين تمشي

    بجيد عاكل تزجي طَلاها

    For no pale gazelle, reaching up to browse as she walks,

    with an arching neck, urging her fawn along,

  23. تداعبُه برَوْقَيْها نهاراً

    وإن أمستْ تُوسَّدهُ طَلاها

    playing with him with her two horns by day,

    and, at nightfall, pillowing him on her neck,

  24. تحنُّ إِليه من شَغَفٍ وتحنو

    عليه ما تَلَتْهُ أو تَلاها

    yearning for him with passion and bending tenderly

    over him, whether she follows him or he follows her—

  25. سرى معها وقد نشطَتْ لفخْتٍ

    تكمّن في مطاويه أسَاها

    he traveled by night with her as she frisked in moonlight,

    within whose folds her sorrow lay concealed,

  26. وما علمتْ بأنّ الدهر صَالٍ

    بكفة حابل تُردي رشاها

    and she did not know that Time was laying a trap

    with a trapper's snare that would fell her fawn;

  27. فلم يك رْيث ظمأى العَير إِلاّ

    وقد نيطَتْ بأرجله عُراها

    no more than a thirsty wild ass's pause had passed

    when its loops were fastened round his legs;

  28. فباتتْ وهو ينْشُبُ في حِبالٍ

    تقطَّعُ دونَها أسَفاً حشاها

    she spent the night while he was caught in ropes,

    her heart tearing apart in grief before them—

  29. بأبرعَ من أخيك بنات شوقٍ

    تضاجعُ مهجةً شُقَّت عَصاها

    can outdo your brother: daughters of longing

    share a bed with a heart whose staff is split.

  30. فهاك بها عروساً ترتجي من

    كَ أنْ تعفو وتصْفَحَ عن طخاها

    So take her as a bride, looking hopefully to

    you to pardon and overlook her darkness.

  31. ودم واسلم هنيئاً ما تغَنّتْ

    على الأغصانِ وِرْقٌ في رُباها

    Live on, safe and happy, as long as

    gray doves sing on the branches among their hills.