Sol 6.1

  1. عَلِقَ الهَوى بِحِبائِلَ الشَعثاءَ

    وَالمَوتُ بَعضُ حَبائِلِ الأَهواءِ

    Love caught fast in al-Sha'tha's snares,

    and death is one of passion's snares.

  2. لَيتَ الحِسانَ إِذا أَصَبنَ قُلوبُنا

    بِالداءِ جُدنَ بِنِعمَةٍ وَشِفاءِ

    If only the beautiful women, when they afflict our hearts

    with sickness, would grant favor and healing.

  3. لِلشَتمِ عِندي بَهجَةٌ وَمَلاحَةٌ

    وَأَحِبُّ بَعضَ مَلاحَةِ الذَلفاءِ

    Full lips have beauty and charm for me,

    and I love some of a snub-nosed woman's charm.

  4. وَأَرى البَياضَ عَلى النِساءِ جَهارَةً

    وَالعِتقُ تَعرفُهُ عَلى الأَدماءِ

    And I see in women's fairness a radiant beauty,

    and you recognize nobility in a dark-skinned woman.

  5. وَالقَلبُ فيهِ لِكُلِّهِنَّ مَوَدَّةٌ

    إِلّا لِكُلِّ دَميمَةٍ زَلّاءِ

    And the heart holds affection for them all,

    except for any ugly, flat-buttocked woman.

  6. لَيسَت بَحَوشَبَةٍ يَبيتُ خِمارُها

    حَتّى الصَباحُ مُثَبَّتاً بِغِراءِ

    She is no hulking woman whose veil stays all night

    until morning, fixed in place with glue;

  7. تَجِدُ القِيامَ كَأَنَّما هُوَ نَجدَةٌ

    حَتّى تَقومُ تَكَلُّفَ الرَجزاءِ

    who finds rising as though it were an ordeal,

    till she struggles upright like a palsied she-camel.

  8. فَلَئِن فَخَرتُ بِوائِلٍ لَقَد اِبتَنَت

    يَومَ المَكارِمِ فَوقَ كُلِّ بِناءِ

    So if I boast of Wa'il, it has indeed built

    on the day of noble deeds, above every edifice.

  9. وَلَئِن خَصَصتُ بَني لُجَيمٍ إِنَّني

    لَأَخُصُّ مَكرَمَةً وَأَهلَ غَناءِ

    And if I single out the sons of Lujaym, I

    surely single out noble worth and men of prowess.

  10. قَومٌ إِذا نَزَلَ الفَظيعُ تَحَمَّلوا

    حُسنَ الثَناءِ وَأَعظَمَ الأَعباءِ

    A people who, when a dreadful calamity descends, shoulder

    fair praise and the heaviest burdens.

  11. لَيسَت مَجالِسُنا تَقِرُّ لِقائِلٍ

    زَيغَ الحَديثِ وَلا نَثا الفَحشاءِ

    Our gatherings permit no speaker

    crooked talk or the spreading of obscenity.

  12. عُدّوا كَمَن رَبَعَ الجُيوشَ لِصُلبِهِ

    عُشرونَ وَهوَ يُعَدُّ في الأَحياءِ

    They were ranked with one who took the armies' quarter-share:

    twenty sons of his loins, while he was still counted among the living.

  13. وَالخَيلُ تَسبَحُ بِالكُماةِ كَأَنَّها

    طَيرٌ تَمَطَّرَ مِن ظِلالِ عَماءِ

    And the horses swim along bearing armored warriors, as though they were

    birds raining down from the shadows of clouds.

  14. يَخرُجنَ مِن رَهَجٍ دُوَينَ ظِلالَهُ

    مِثلَ الجَنادِبِ مِن حَصى المَعزاءِ

    They emerge from a dust-cloud, just beneath its shadows,

    like grasshoppers from the pebbles of stony ground.

  15. يَلفُظنَ مِن وَجعِ الشَكيمِ وَعَجمِهِ

    زَبداً خَلَطنَ بَياضَهُ بِدماءِ

    From the bit's pain and the chewing of it, they spit

    foam whose whiteness they have mixed with blood.

  16. كَم مِن كَريمَةِ مَعشَرٍ أَيَّمنَها

    وَتَرَكنَ صاحِبَها بِدارِ ثَواءِ

    How many a noble woman of a clan they have widowed,

    and left her husband in his final dwelling!

  17. إِنَّ الأَعادي لَن تَنالَ قَديمَنا

    حَتّى تَنالَ كَواكِبَ الجَوزاءِ

    The enemies will never attain our ancestral glory

    until they reach the stars of al-Jawza'.

  18. كَم في لُجَيمٍ مِن أَغَرِّ كَأَنَّهُ

    صُبحٌ يَشُقُّ طَيالِسَ الظَلماءِ

    How many a radiant man in Lujaym is like

    a dawn that rends the mantles of darkness!

  19. أَو كَالمُكَسَّرِ لا تَؤوبُ جِيادُهُ

    إِلّا غَوانِمَ وَهِيَ غَيرُ نَواءِ

    Or like al-Mukassar, whose noble steeds never return

    except with spoils, though they are not fat.

  20. بَحرٌ يُكَلِّلُ بِالسَديفِ جِفانَهُ

    حَتّى يَموتُ شَمالُ كُلِّ شِتاءِ

    A sea of bounty, he crowns his bowls with camel-hump fat

    until the north wind of every winter dies.

  21. وَمُجَرِّباً خَضِلَ السِنانِ إِذا التَقى

    رَجَعَت بِخاطِرِهِ الصُدورُ ظِماءِ

    And a seasoned warrior, his spearhead wet—when he clashes,

    the spear-fronts recoil thirsty before his brandished lance.

  22. صَدئَ القِباءِ مِنَ الحَديدِ كَأَنَّهُ

    جَمَلٌ تَغَمَّدَهُ عَصيمُ هَناءِ

    Rust-stained in his iron coat, he is like

    a camel enveloped in a crust of tar.

  23. إِنّا وَجَدِّكَ ما يَكونُ سِلاحُنا

    حَجرُ الأَكامِ وَلا عَصا الطَرفاءِ

    Indeed, by your fortune, our weapons are not

    stones from the hillocks, nor tamarisk staves.

  24. تَأوي إِلى حَلَقِ الحَديدِ وَقُرَّحٍ

    قُبٍّ تَشَوَّفُ نَحوَ كُلِّ دُعاءِ

    You find refuge in rings of iron and full-grown horses,

    lean-bellied, craning toward every call.

  25. وَلَقَد غَدَونَ عَلى طُهيَّةِ غَدوَةٍ

    حَتّى طَرَقنَ نِساءَنا بِنِساءِ

    And one morning they indeed rode against Tuhayya,

    until they came by night to our women, bringing other women.

  26. تِلكُمُ مَراكِبُنا وَفَوقَ حَياتِنا

    بيضُ الغُضونِ سَوابِغُ الأَثناءِ

    Those are our mounts; and over our living bodies lie

    white-folded coats of mail, ample in their draping.

  27. قُدِّدنَ مِن حَلَقٍ كَأَنَّ شُعاعَها

    فَلَجٌ يَطُنُّ عَلى مُتونِ نِهاءِ

    They were fashioned from rings, their gleam like

    a stream humming over the surfaces of pools.

  28. تَحمي الرِماحُ لنا حِمانا كُلَّهُ

    وَتُبيحُ بَعدَ مَسارِحِ الأَحماءِ

    The spears guard the whole of our preserve for us,

    and afterward lay open the pastures of other preserves.

  29. إِنَّ السُيوفَ تُجيرُنا وَنُجيرُها

    كُلٌّ يَجيرُ بِعِزَّةٍ وَوَقاءِ

    Indeed, swords protect us, and we protect them;

    each protects with might and shielding.

  30. لا يَنثَنِينَ وَلا نَرُدُّ حُدودَها

    عَن حَدِّ كُلِّ كَتيبَةٍ خَرساءِ

    They do not bend, nor do we turn their edges

    from the onslaught of any silent battalion.

  31. إِنّا لَتَعمَلُ بِالصُفوفِ سُيوفُنا

    عَمَلَ الحَريقِ بِيابِسِ الحَلفاءِ

    Indeed, our swords work through the ranks

    as fire works through dry halfa grass.