دعاني الهوى إذ شرق الحي غدوة — Al Qatami Al Taghlibi

دعاني الهوى إذ شَرَّقَ الحيُّ غدوةً

وما كُنتُ تدعوني الخطوبُ الضَّعائِفُ

Love called me when the clan headed east one morning,

though trifling troubles had never been wont to summon me.

وهيَّج أحزاني حُمولٌ تَرَفَّعَت

عليهنَّ غِزلانٌ عليها الزَّخارِفُ

Laden camels receding into the distance stirred my sorrows;

upon them rode gazelles adorned with finery.

وبالأمسِ قد كانَت بَدَت ليَ طيرُهم

جَرَت بارِحاً لو زَجَّرَ الطيرَ عائِفُ

Yesterday their birds had already appeared to me,

flying as ill omens, had an augur read their flight.

فيا قاتَلَ اللهُ الغواني فإنها

قريبٌ بَعيدٌ وَصلُهُنَّ تنائِفُ

Ah, may God confound the beauties, for they are

near yet far: union with them is a trackless wilderness.

تراهُنَّ يختلن الأقاومَ بالصبا

وهُنّ على ما يختَتِلنَ سَخائِفُ

You see them beguiling tribes with youthful passion,

yet for all their scheming, they are foolish.

بَكَرنَ فلم يُنجِزنَ وَعداً وَعَدنَه

إِلى البُخلِ تحدو ظَعنَهُنَّ المناصِفُ

They departed early without fulfilling a promise they had made;

their servants drive their litters toward stinginess.

وقد كانَ فيهِم ما دَنَوا لي نعمَةٌ

وقرةُ عينٍ دَمعُها اليومَ ذارِفُ

While they were near, there was happiness for me among them,

and delight for an eye whose tears are flowing today.

ومِن لذَّةِ الدنيا حَديثٌ ونعمةٌ

ولهوٌ وحاجاتٌ تُتلّى طرائِفُ

Among the world's pleasures are conversation and comfort,

and diversion, and fresh desires pursued one after another.

فَشَتَّ النوى من بَعدِ طولِ اقامةٍ

وما كُلُّ ما تهوى النُّفوسُ يُساعِفُ

Then separation scattered us after a long stay,

and not everything that souls desire is granted.

فان أُمسِ قَد بُدِّلتُ حِلماً وشيبةً

مشيبيَ من بعدِ التَّبَختُر دالِفُ

So if I have come to be given forbearance and gray hair,

my gray age shuffles on after swaggering.

فَكَم من حَبيبٍ بانَ نهوى جِماعَهُ

وخطب خطوبٍ كلَّفتني التَّكالِفُ

How many a beloved has departed, whose company we desired,

and grievous calamity that onerous demands imposed on me,

وراحٍ سُلافٍ شَعشَعَ التَجرُ مَزجها

لنحمى وما فينا عن الشّربِ صادِفُ

and first-run wine whose mixture the merchants diluted,

so we might grow warm, with none of us turning away from drink.

فصالوا وَصُلنا واتقَونا بماكِرٍ

ليعلمَ مافينا عن البَيعِ كانِفُ

They blustered, and so did we; they guarded against us with a schemer,

so he might learn that none of us held back from the bargain.

فحطّوا إلينا شاصِياتٍ كأنها

مِن السِندِ مسلوبُ القميصِ رواعِفُ

Then they set down upright wine-skins before us, as though they were

shirtless men from Sind, their noses bleeding.

فلما انتشينا عَدِّني من صديقِهِ

وعادَ الصَّبوحُ والشّواءُ السدائِفُ

When we became tipsy, count me among his friends;

and morning drink returned, with roasted slices of hump-fat.

أذلك أم بيضاءُ مِلأُنسِ حُرَّةٌ

أتاها بِوِدِّ القَلبِ مني الخطاطِفُ

Is it that, or a fair, freeborn woman among mortals,

to whom heart-snatching charms brought my heart's love?

لها رَوضَةٌ في القَلبِ لم يَرعَ مثلَها

فَروكٌ ولا المستعبراتُ الصلائِفُ

She has a meadow in my heart, whose like has never been grazed by

a husband-hating woman, nor by tearful, unloved wives.

أرى الحَقَّ لا يعيى عليَّ سبيلُه

إذا ضافني ليلاً مع القَرِّ ضائِف

I see that the path of duty does not elude me,

when a guest comes to me at night in bitter cold,

إذا كَبَّدَ النجمُ السماءَ بشَتوةٍ

على حين هَرَّ الكلبُ والثَّلجُ خاشِفُ

when the star reaches mid-sky in wintry weather,

while the dog growls and the snow crackles.

ربيعةُ أبائي الأُلى اقتسموا العلى

إذا عُدَّ باقٍ من زمانٍ وسالِفُ

Rabiʿah are my forefathers, who shared out the heights of glory,

when what remains of time and what is past are reckoned.

وتغلِبُ بَحري طَمَّ سيلاً بأبحُرٍ

فلم يَستَطِع تيارَهُنَّ المجاذِفُ

And Taghlib is my sea, surging in a flood of seas,

and no oarsman could withstand their current.

وبَكرٌ وعبدُ القيسِ اخوتُنا معاً

كفتنا لُكَيزٌ منهُمُ والحَنائِفُ

And Bakr and ʿAbd al-Qays are together our brothers;

Lukayz among them and the Hanaʾif have sufficed for us.

وعِيلان منا يَومَ كُلَّ كريهَة

وتحلب غُزراً يَومَ تُدعى الخَنادِفُ

And ʿAylan is of us on the day of every ordeal,

and is milked abundantly when the Khanadif are summoned.

ومن خَندِفَ الداعي الرسولُ الى الهدى

ومِنّا الامامُ والنجومُ العواكِفُ

And of Khindif is the Messenger who calls to guidance,

and from us are the imam and the abiding stars.

أخوكَ الذي لا تملك الحِسَّ نفسُه

وترفضُّ عند المحفظاتِ الكتائِفُ

Your brother is he whose soul cannot hold back compassion,

while bands scatter amid provocations.

فَنَحنُ الزِّمامُ القائدُ المُهتدي بهم

ومِن غيرنا المولى التبيعُ المحالِفُ

So we are the guiding rein for the one who takes direction from them,

and from others comes the client, the follower, the sworn ally.

إذا اصطَك رأسانا حلَلَنا بباذخٍ

برُكنيهِ تعتاذُ التوالي الزعانيفُ

When our two heads clash, we encamp on a towering height,

at whose two flanks the trailing hangers-on take refuge.

ونحن تَروحُ الخيلُ وَسطَ بيوتنا

ويَغبُقنَ مَحضا وهي مَحلٌ مَسانِف

And as for us, horses return at dusk among our homes,

and are given pure milk at evening, though lean from drought and needing breast-straps.