قالت بجيلة إذ قربت مرتحلا

يا رب جنب أبي الأوصابَ والعطبا

Bujayla said, when I readied a mount for departure:

“O Lord, spare my father sickness and destruction.”

وأنت يا ربِّ فارحمها ومد لنا

في عُمرِها وقها الفاقاتِ والوصبا

And You, O Lord, have mercy on her, and prolong for us

her life; shield her from poverty and illness.

يا بجلُ إن لجنبِ المرءِ مضطجعاً

لا يستطيعُ له دفعاً إذا وجبا

O Bujayl, a man's side has a resting place

he cannot ward off when it becomes due.

فشاهِدُ الحيِّ فيهم مثلُ غائِبِهم

عندَ المنايا إذا ما يومُهُ اقترَبا

The one present among his tribe is like their absent one

before death, when his appointed day draws near.

وما تدني وفاةَ المرءِ رحلتُهُ

عما قضى اللَه في الفُرقانِ إذ كتبا

A man's journey does not bring his death nearer

than God decreed in the Furqan when He wrote it.

لا يرجِعُ الهولُ مِثلي عند مِثلِكم

إذا تردَّى نِجادُ السيفِ واعتَصَبا

Terror will not turn back one like me among people like you,

once he has slung on his sword-baldric and bound his turban.

ولا الغُرابُ الذي لم يدرِ عائِفُكُم

لعلَّهُ كان بالبشر لنا نعبا

Nor will the raven whose meaning your bird-augur did not know:

perhaps it cawed good tidings for us.

يا بجل قومي إلى أميك فاغتمضي

إن المصابات قد أنستني الطربا

O Bujayl, rise and go to your two mothers, then close your eyes.

Afflictions have made me forget joy.

وهل وجدتُ أبا سني لجاريةٍ

أبقى الزمانُ لها من والدين أبا

Have I found, for a young girl, a father of my years,

for whom Time has preserved, of her two parents, a father?

قد كنتُ ذا والدٍ حولي بيوتهم

ففارقُوا غير أني أعلمُ النسبا

I once had a father, with their houses all around me;

then they departed, though I still know the lineage.

إني سيدركني ما كان أدركهم

وكلهم عاشَ حيناً ثُمَّ قد ذهبا

What overtook them will surely overtake me:

each of them lived a while, then passed away.

وإن رجعت فإني سوف أكسبهم

ما لا بنيةُ إن ذو حيلةٍ كسبا

If I return, I shall earn for them

money, little daughter, if a resourceful man can earn it.

وإن أتاك نعيي فاندبن أباً

قد كانَ يضطلعُ الأعداءَ والخَطَبا

But if news of my death reaches you, lament a father

who bore up against enemies and calamities.

واستغفري اللَه لا تنسيهِ واحتسبي

فإنما يأجرُ اللَهُ الذي احتسبا

Ask God for forgiveness; do not forget Him, and seek His reward.

For God rewards only the one who seeks His reward.

ولا يزينن لكِ الشيطانُ فتنَتَهُ

شقَّ الجيوبِ ولا في وجهكِ الندبا

Do not let Satan make his temptation fair to you:

rending garment necklines, or scarring your face.

إني اعتمدتُ أمامَ الناس إذ ذهبت

إبلي وخيلي وخفت الجوعَ والحربا

I sought the people's leader when I had lost

my camels and horses, and feared hunger and destitution.

وصرتُ كالجدع مما كنت أملِكُهُ

أفنى المشذبُ عنهُ الليفَ والكَرَبا

I became, stripped of what I had owned, like a stump

from which the pruner had removed palm fiber and frond bases.

ما أبقتِ السنةُ البيضاءُ إذ رجعت

ولا بناتٌ لها من عيشنا نشبا

The white, barren year, when it returned, left nothing,

nor did its daughters leave any wealth from our livelihood.

فاخترت مهرية قد شق بازلها

من إبل تهنئ تبدي العتقَ والأدبا

So I chose a Mahri she-camel whose mature fang had broken through,

from the camels of Tahni’, showing noble breeding and docility.

جرداءَ ما جرها الراعي لربتها

ولا غذت ولداً يوماً فتحتلبا

Sleek-haired, never dragged by the herdsman for her mistress,

nor ever nourishing a calf and so being milked.

كأنها قارحٌ يحدو ضرائره

جأب يعلمها الإصدار والقربا

She is like a fully grown wild ass driving his rival mates,

a stout one teaching them to leave water and journey back by night.

إذا رأى مثله أو غيره شبحاً

مد السجيلَ على العلياء وانتحبا

When he sees the shape of his like or another,

he prolongs his loud call on the heights and brays.

كأنه وهو يجري غير مكترثٍ

من بغيه ظالعٌ أو يشتكي نكَبا

As he runs, heedless, he seems

in his swagger to limp, or suffer a hoof injury.

فرَّ المساحِلُ عنه واعترفنَ له

وقد تركن بليتي عنقه جلبا

The rival wild asses fled from him and acknowledged his supremacy,

having left scabs on both sides of his neck.

أذاك أم لهقٌ سودٌ قوائمُهُ

فردٌ يخوضُ ندى الوسمي والعُشُبا

Is she that one, or a white wild bull with black legs,

alone, wading through the autumn rains' dew and the grass?

كأنه إذ أضاء البرقُ صورته

مسربلٌ قبطرياً يصطلي اللهبا

When lightning lights his form, he seems

clad in Qibtari linen, warming himself at the flame.

يرعى رياضاً يلهيه الذبابُ بها

منها مغن ومنها رافعٌ صخبا

He grazes in meadows, distracted there by flies,

some humming, others raising a din.

حتى تأوبهُ غيثٌ بمحنيةٍ

جودٌ يرددُ في حافاته اللجبا

Until rain comes upon him at a valley bend,

a downpour echoing its roar along its margins.

فبات يغسلُهُ في ريحِ باردةٍ

من الصبا الغيثُ حتى قَرَّ واكتأبا

All night, in a cold wind, he is washed

by rain from the east, until he is chilled and forlorn.

يجذو إلى حفف أرطاة يلوذُ بها

للركبتين إذا شؤبوبه انسكبا

He kneels beside an arta bush's foliage, seeking its shelter,

on both knees when the storm's cloudburst pours.

حتى إذا الشمس أبدت عن محاسنها

وجددتها شمالٌ أفجأ العجبا

Then, when the sun unveils her beauty,

and a north wind renews her, he suddenly meets a marvel:

غضفاً مقلدةَ الأنساع طاويةً

وقانصاً يتبغى الصيد قد شحبا

flop-eared hounds, collared with leather straps, lean,

and a hunter seeking game, grown pale.

فانقض كالكوكب الدري وانصلتت

مناهباتٍ وما أتبعن منتهبا

He darts away like a brilliant star, and they shoot forth,

vying to seize him—but they pursue no easy prey.

يفرين بالقاع ما أفرت قوائمه

وقد يثبنَ من الوعثِ الذي وثبا

They tear through the plain where his legs have torn,

and leap from the soft sand from which he has leapt.

كالخورِ نور الخزامى بينها قطعٌ

مما جذبن ومما كان قد جذبا

Like khawr [an unclear comparison], lavender blossoms lie in clumps between them,

some torn up by them, and some he had torn up.

مرا يكون بعيداً وهي جاهِدةٌ

عند الحضارِ ومرا دانيا كثبا

Sometimes he is far ahead while they strain

in their sprint, and sometimes near, close at hand.

حتى إذا باعدت ميلين وانتكثت

ولو يشاءُ نأى منهن فانقضبا

Until, when they have ranged two miles and slackened—

though he could, if he wished, draw away and break free—

كرت به نفصس كرار محافظة

من الشجاعة أو كرت به غضبا

his ever-attacking spirit turns him back in self-defense,

out of courage, or turns him back in anger.

ينحي بروقين ما ضلا فرائصها

حتى تجولن بالجبانِ واختضبا

He thrusts with two horns that do not miss their flanks,

until they reel on the open ground and both horns are blood-stained.

لا حي فيهن إلا نازعاً رمقا

إذا تنفس دفا جوفه شخبا

None among them lives except one drawing a last breath;

with each breath, both sides of its belly gush blood.

ثم استمر صحيحاً غير مكترثٍ

كأن روقيهِ علا الورسَ والنجبا

Then he goes on, unharmed and heedless,

as though his horns were coated with yellow wars-dye and tree bark.

فذاك شبهتها إذ جاءَ قائِدُها

عند الرحيل وجاءَت تعرِفُ الخَبَبا

To that I likened her, when her handler came

at departure, and she came knowing how to trot.

جاءت تبين أين الرحل خاضِعةٌ

مهريةٌ لم تسق مهراً ولا جلبا

She came submissively, looking to see where the saddle was:

a Mahri she-camel, never driven as a bridal gift or market stock.

قد كنت أعفيتها حتى إذا نفجت

جنبي سنام تبد الرحل والقتبا

I had spared her work until she swelled

on either side of a hump that spread saddle and pack-frame wide.

كسوتها الرحل من قصوان بادنة

تستطعم المشي بالموماة والخببا

I clothed her in the saddle, a stout she-camel from Qaswan,

relishing the walk and the trot across the trackless desert.

ودُونَ دارِ أميرِ المؤمنينَ لنا

سِتونَ يوماً على هولٍ لمن دأبا

Before we reach the Commander of the Faithful's abode lie

sixty days amid terror for one who presses on.

زوري هشاماً إمام الناس وارتغبي

كذاك من أنجحت حاجاته ارتغبا

Visit Hisham, the people's leader, and seek his bounty:

so seeks one whose needs are fulfilled.

تطوي الحزون إلى سهل تواعسه

والحزن قد بث في أخفافها النقبا

She folds up rugged tracts toward ground with easy dunes,

though the rough ground has bored holes in her footpads.

ولا تغور إلا تحت هاجرة

إذا الشقي ارتقى في العودِ وانتصبا

She takes her midday rest only in the fierce noonday heat,

when the wretched creature climbs a branch and stands upright.

ثم تروحُ والعُصفورُ منحجرٌ

والظبيُ تبعثهُ قد أوطن السربا

Then she travels in the afternoon while the sparrow hides away,

and the gazelle she rouses has settled into its shelter.

ولا تعرسُ حتى يستبينَ لها

وردٌ ترى الليلَ منه ممعِناً هربا

She does not halt for the night until she can discern

a rosy dawn from which she sees the night fleeing far away.

ومن فليجٍ وفلجٍ ساورت بهما

ومن صحارِيهِما الصحراءَ والعَتَبا

From Fulayj and Falaj she pressed onward through both,

and from their wastes, across desert and rising ground.

وعارضتها من الأوداةِ أوديةٌ

قفرٌ تجرعُ منها الضخمَ والشعبا

Valleys from among the wadis lay across her way,

desolate; she swallowed their broad expanses and ravines.

تجتازُهنَّ وقد خفت ثميلتُها

وطالَ فضلُ قصيرِ النسعِ فاضطَرَبا

She crosses them, her belly's reserves already dwindled,

and the loose end of her short girth has lengthened and swings.

لا تطعمُ الماءَ إلا فوقَهُ عطَنٌ

يُلقي الحمامُ عليهِ الريشَ والزغبا

She tastes only water covered with foul scum,

on which pigeons drop their feathers and down.

وبالسماوةِ لو باتَت تعارِضُها

جنيُّ يبرينَ أضحى وهو قد لغبا

In al-Samawa, if one spent the night keeping pace with her—

even a jinn of Yabrin—he would reach morning exhausted.

حتى رأت من جبالِ الشامِ منتطقاً

بالآلِ تبدُو الذُرى منه وإن نضبا

Until she saw one of al-Sham's mountains, girdled

with mirage, its peaks showing even when the mirage ebbed.

تدنو إذا ما دنا في الآلِ طاوَلَهُ

وإن تقاصَرَ عنهُ آلهُ رَسَبا

She draws near; when it draws near in the mirage, the mirage matches its height,

and if its mirage falls short of it, it sinks from view.

لم تأتِهِ العيسُ حتى كدتُ أتركُها

ولا طم الضفرُ في أحقابها الحقبا

The pale camels did not reach it until I nearly abandoned them,

and the braided girth struck the belly-straps at their hindquarters.

واقتصها الذيب في آثارها بدم

من الحفا ثم خشي السيف فانقلبا

The wolf tracked her along footprints stained with blood

from worn feet, then feared the sword and turned back.

لم يبق شهران عناها الصدى بهما

إلا العظام وإلا الجلدَ والعصبا

Two months, in which thirst tormented her, left nothing

but bones, skin, and sinews.

ما تنكر السوط إن ربٌّ أشارَ به

ولا تزيدُ ولا ترغو وإن ضربا

She does not resist the whip when a master gestures with it,

nor foam or bellow, even when he strikes.

وما طلبتُ امامَ الناسِ من طلَبٍ

ناءٍ ولا كنتُ ممن يلعبُ اللعِبا

I did not seek the people's leader on a quest

far-fetched, nor was I one who played at games.

لكن أحاطَ فؤادي أنها خسفت

أرضي برجلي إن لم تعطني السببا

But my heart knew it would cave in:

my ground beneath my foot, unless you gave me a rope.

فدونك الكف إني قد مددت بها

فأعطها منك سجلاً كرم واحتسبا

Here is my hand: I have stretched it out,

so give it a bucketful from you; be generous and seek reward.

كما تناولني من قعرِ مظلمةٍ

لم يترك الدهرُ لي في جوفها شذبا

As you would lift me from the bottom of a dark pit,

in whose depths Time has left me not a twig.

ملكُ بن ملكٍ أغر شب نأملُهُ

أخا ملوكِ يقيم العجمَ والعَرَبا

A king, son of a king, radiant and vigorous, whom we hope in,

a brother of kings, keeping non-Arabs and Arabs in order.

إن الخلافةَ تبدو في وجوههم

كما ترى في بياض الفضةِ الذهبا

The caliphate shines in their faces,

as you see gold amid the whiteness of silver.

المدرِكونَ إذا أيديهم طلبت

والسابقون برأس الوترِ من طلبا

They attain whenever their hands seek,

and take the lead in vengeance, outstripping all who seek it.