Sol 6.1

  1. حال من دونكِ يا أختَ الكللْ

    مقلُ الحيّ وفرسانُ الأسلْ

    Between me and you, O sister of the canopies, stood

    the tribe's eyes and the knights of the spears,

  2. ومواض مرهفات فتكت

    بي وحاشاكِ ولا مثل الكحل

    and keen, finely honed blades that slew

    me—may you be spared!—and none rival kohl-dark eyes.

  3. وأما والحبِّ لولا شوكها

    لاجتنتْ الحاظنا وردَ الخجل

    Indeed, by love, were it not for their thorns,

    our glances would have gathered the roses of bashfulness.

  4. قسماً لم أبقَ لولا أملي

    وقتيلُ الهجر يحيا بالأمل

    I swear, I would not have survived but for my hope;

    and the one slain by abandonment lives on hope.

  5. أزمنَ الداءُ الذي نبَّهتمُ

    بالتداني في اللييلات الأول

    The illness you awakened has grown chronic

    through drawing near in those first brief nights.

  6. وبقايا عهدهِ قاتلةٌ

    وإذا ما قدمَ الداءُ قتل

    And the remnants of its former days are deadly;

    and when an illness grows old, it kills.

  7. ضلَّ نومي عن جفوني بعدكم

    ضلّةَ الساري إذا البدرُ أفل

    My sleep strayed from my eyelids after you left,

    as a night traveler strays when the full moon sets.

  8. وشبابي نصلتْ صبغتهُ

    ودجى ليليَ صبعٌ ما نصل

    And my youth's dye has faded,

    while my night's darkness is a dye that has not faded.

  9. هل لأيّام الحمى من عودةٍ

    وإذا اليأسُ تمادى قلتُ هل

    Will the days of the protected pasture ever return?

    And when despair persists, I ask, 'Will they?'

  10. أيها الغادي بهم لا صاغراً

    عجْ على الحيِّ وعن قلبي فسل

    O you departing with them at dawn—may you never be abased—

    turn aside to the tribe, and ask about my heart.

  11. فسقي دمعي وأهوانْ بالحيا

    غصناً لأنَ قواماً واعتدل

    So may my tears water—how paltry is the rain!—

    a bough, supple of form and straight.

  12. جاحدٌ ديني فإنْ أثبتهُ

    شاهدُ السَّقمِ تمادى ومطل

    He denies my due; and if it is proved

    by the witness of sickness, he persists and delays payment.

  13. وإذا ما الحبُّ لم يكسُ الضنى

    جسمَ بالٍ فهوَ حبٌّ منتحل

    And if love does not clothe in wasting sickness

    a worn body, then it is a love falsely claimed.

  14. نازحٌ لولا تجنّيهِ دنا

    هاجرٌ لولا تعدّيهِ وصل

    He stays far away; but for his false accusations, he would draw near;

    he shuns me; but for his wrongdoing, he would grant union.

  15. في ثناياهُ لمنْ يرشفها

    أثرٌ هنَّ مجارٍ للقبل

    In his front teeth, for whoever sips them,

    there is a trace; they are channels for kisses.

  16. أسفي من يوسفّي لابسٍ

    حلَّةَ الحسنِ فما يخشى العطل

    Alas for me, for a Yusuf-like youth wearing

    the robe of beauty, with no fear of going unadorned.

  17. منعَ المعروفَ بغياً وقلىً

    فإذا ليمَ تجنَّى بالعلل

    He withholds kindness out of cruelty and hatred,

    and when reproached, he accuses me on invented pretexts.

  18. أعلى الغادرِ عارٌ لو وفى

    أم على الظالمِ إثمٌ لو عدل

    Would the faithless bear shame if he kept faith,

    or the wrongdoer bear sin if he acted justly?

  19. فاضحُ الظبيَ إذا الظبيُ رنا

    مخجلُ البدرِ إذا البدرُ كمل

    He shames the gazelle when the gazelle gazes,

    abashes the full moon when it waxes full,

  20. جاعلٌ ما بين طرفي والكرى

    كمدى ما بين سمعي والعذل

    and makes the distance between my eye and sleep

    as vast as that between my hearing and reproach.

  21. فارسيٌ فإذا خافَ سطى

    مقلةً لاذَ بجفن من ثعل

    A Persian: if he fears the onslaught

    of an eye, he shelters in an eyelid from Thuʿal.

  22. راشَ بالهدبِ سهاماً حيثما

    أرسلتْ كانت سقاماً وخبل

    He fletched arrows with eyelashes; wherever

    they are loosed, they become sickness and madness,

  23. كعوالي الملكِ الناصرِ لا

    ظمئت ما بينَ علٍّ ونهل

    like King al-Nasir's lofty lances—may they never

    thirst between a second draught and a first.