Sol 6.1

  1. باتَت أُمَيمُ وأَمسى حَبلُها رَمَما

    وطاوَعَت بكَ مَن أغرى وَمَن صَرَما

    Umaym passed the night, and by evening her bond lay in tatters.

    And she heeded, against you, those who incited and those who severed ties.

  2. ولَم يكُن ما ابتُلينا من مواعِدِها

    إِلا السفاهَ وإِلا الهمَّ والسَّقَما

    And what we suffered through her promises was

    Nothing but folly, nothing but sorrow and sickness.

  3. قولاً يكونُ من الإخلافِ صاحِبُه

    غيرَ المريحِ ولا الموفي بما زَعَما

    A promise whose maker, through his promise-breaking, is

    Neither one who gives relief nor one who fulfills his claim.

  4. وما البخيلةُ إِلا مِن صواحِبِها

    ممن يخونُ وممن يكذبُ القَسَما

    The grudging woman is but one among her companions,

    Those who betray and those who belie their oaths.

  5. وما يُقضّي غَريمٌ لا تنجّزه

    إِلا التوى لَمحَلِّ الدِّينِ أو ظلما

    And a debtor whom you do not press repays

    Only loss when the debt falls due, or injustice.

  6. لكن لياليَ عاناتٍ تحدَّثه

    سِرَّ الفؤادِ وتعطيهِ الذي احتكما

    But during the nights at Anat she would tell him

    Her heart's secret and grant him whatever he demanded.

  7. إذ الشَّبابُ علينا لونُ مذهبِهِ

    ونحن في زَمَنٍ يأتي بنا الأمما

    When youth lay upon us in its gilded hue,

    And we lived in an age that carried us along an easy course.

  8. قامَت تُريك وتجلو من محاسِنِها

    بَردَ الغمامةِ تسقي بَلدَةً حرما

    She rose to show you, unveiling among her beauties,

    The hail of a cloud watering a rain-starved land.

  9. خَودٌ مُنَعَّمَةٌ نَضخُ العبيرِ بها

    اذا تميّلَ عن خُلخَالِها انفَصَما

    A pampered maiden, splashed with fragrant perfume;

    When she sways, her anklet breaks apart.

  10. ليست ترى عجباً إِلا بدا بَرَدٌ

    غُرُّ المضاحِكِ ذو نور إذا ابتَسما

    She never beholds a marvel without hailstones appearing:

    Bright smiling teeth, radiant whenever she smiles.

  11. كأنها بَيضَةٌ صَفراءُ خَدَّ لها

    في عَثعَث يُنبِتُ الحَوذانَ والعَذَما

    As though she were a yellowish egg, a hollow scraped for it

    In a soft sandhill growing buttercups and 'adham plants.

  12. أو دُرَّةٌ من هِجانِ الدُّرٍّ أَدرَكَها

    مُصَعَّرٌ من رجال الهندِ قد سَهَما

    Or a pearl among the choicest white pearls, reached

    By a wry-necked man of India who had grown gaunt.

  13. أوفى على ظَهرِ مِسحاجٍ تَقَدّمَهُ

    غواربُ الماء قد القينَه قُدُما

    He stood high on a swift vessel's deck, preceded

    By water-crests that had flung him onward.

  14. جوفاء مطليةٍ قاراً إذا اجُتَنَحَت

    به غوارِبُهُ قَحمنَها قَحَما

    A hollow hull coated in pitch; whenever they bore down

    Upon him, its wave-crests plunged headlong into it.

  15. حتى إذا السُفنُ كانَت فَوقَ مُعتَلجٍ

    القى المعاوِزَ عنه ثُمَّتَ انكتما

    Until, when the ships stood over a seething deep,

    He cast his rags away and then disappeared

  16. في ذي حُبوك يُقَضّي الموتُ صاحبَه

    إذا الصراري من أهوالهِ ارتسما

    Into a furrowed sea where death destroys its voyager,

    When the sailor invokes protection against its terrors.

  17. غوَّاصُ ماءٍ يمجُّ الزيتَ منغمساً

    اذا الغُمورَةُ كانت فَوقَه قِيَما

    A water-diver, spitting out oil while submerged,

    As the depths stood towering above him,

  18. حتى تناولَها والموتُ كاربُه

    في جوفِ سَاجٍ سواديٍّ اذا فَحَما

    Until he seized it, with death pressing close upon him,

    In the heart of a still, black sea when it turned coal-dark.

  19. ما للبلادِ كأنَّ الحيَّ لم يردِوا

    نهيَ الخلاطِ ولم يُسقَوا به نَعَما

    What ails these lands, as though the tribe had never visited

    Al-Khilat's pool, nor had their herds been watered there?

  20. ولم يَحِلّوا باحواسِ الغميسِ إِلى

    شَطَّي عُويقةَ فالرَّوحاءِ من خِيمَا

    Nor camped at Ahwas al-Ghamis, stretching to

    Uwayqa's two banks, then al-Rawha in Khima.

  21. والعيشُ ذو فَرَحٍ والأرضُ آمنةٌ

    والدَّهرُ للناسِ لم يأزِم كما أزَما

    While life was joyful and the land was safe,

    And time had not gripped people as it has now.

  22. نرجو البَقاءَ وما مِن أُمَّةٍ خلقت

    إِلا سَيُهلِكُها ما أهلَكَ الأُمَما

    We hope to endure, yet no nation was created

    But what destroyed the nations will destroy it.

  23. أما سَمِعتَ بأنَّ الريحَ مُرسلةٌ

    في الدهرِ كانت هَلاكَ الحيَّ مِن إرَما

    Have you not heard that the wind, sent forth

    In ages past, destroyed the people of Iram?

  24. وقوم نوحٍ وقد كانوا يقول لهم

    يا قومُ لا تعبدوا الأَوثانَ والصَّنما

    And Noah's people, to whom he had been saying,

    'My people, do not worship idols or the graven image.'

  25. فكذَّبوا مَن دَعا للخير واجتنبوا

    ما قالَ وامتلأت آذانُهم صَمَما

    They called the one who summoned them to goodness a liar, and shunned

    What he said; their ears were filled with deafness.

  26. فلا هُمُ رَهِبوا ما قَد أظلَّهُمُ

    ولا نبيُّهُمُ عمّى ولا كَتَما

    They did not fear what had already overshadowed them,

    Nor had their prophet obscured it or concealed it.

  27. ذَر ذا وخُذ منس َراة القوم اذ ظعنوا

    مُحدِّدين لبرقٍ يَمطر الدِّيَما

    Leave that, and consider the people's chiefs as they departed,

    Hastening toward lightning that pours down steady rain.

  28. سار الظعائنُ من عتبانَ ضاحيةٍ

    إِلى البني وبطنِ الوعرِ إذ سَجما

    The women in litters journeyed from Itban in broad daylight,

    To al-Bunayy and the valley of al-Wa'r, as rain poured down.

  29. اذا هَبَطنَ مكاناً فاعتركن به

    أحلهن سناماً عافياً جَشُما

    When they descended upon a place and thronged together there,

    They were lodged on a lush and massive height.

  30. ظعائنٌ لا يُرينَ الدهرَ مغترباً

    من الأراقمِ إِلا القَيلَ والفَحَما

    Women in litters who never see a man far from home,

    Of al-Araqim, except at noon-rest and early night.

  31. افهمتهم يومَ جَدَّ البَينُ بينَهُمُ

    لو كان فيهِم غداة البَينِ مَن فَهِما

    I made my meaning plain when parting grew grave among them,

    Had any among them understood that morning of parting.

  32. حلوا الرحوبَ وحلَّ العزُّ ساحتَهم

    يدعو أميةَ أو مروانَ أو حَكَما

    They settled at al-Rahub, and glory settled in their courtyard,

    Calling upon Umayya, or Marwan, or Hakam.

  33. كم من بناءٍ بنى الكيَالُ قبلَهُمُ

    وأحمرُ القرمِ لولا عِزُّهُ انهَدَما

    How many a structure al-Kayyal built before them,

    And Ahmar al-Qarm—without its might it would have crumbled.

  34. قاد الخيولَ ابنُ ليلى وهي ساهِمَةٌ

    حتى أَغرنَ مع الظلماءِ إذ ظُلما

    Ibn Layla led the horses, lean and gaunt,

    Until they raided in darkness, for he had been wronged.

  35. أولى لآلِ سليمٍ أو ابي عُمَرٍ

    من ضَربةٍ تورِثُ الأَضغَانَ والغَمَما

    Woe to the house of Sulaym—or Abu Umar—

    From a blow that leaves rancor and sorrow.

  36. اذا الطبيبُ بمحرافيه حاولها

    زادَت على النَفرِ أو تحريكُها ضَجَما

    When the physician tries to treat it with his two probes,

    It swells still more, or moving it makes it gape awry.

  37. نادى المُنادي بِمَوت فاستجبتُ له

    والليثُ مثلي إذا لم يَستبِن عَزَما

    The herald called out death, and I answered him;

    The lion is like me: when he cannot see clearly, he acts with resolve.

  38. ومِثلُ حربيَ أنساهم تجشُّمُها

    إجانةً من مُدامٍ طالَ ما احتَدَما

    And braving a war like mine made them forget

    A basin of aged wine that had long fermented.

  39. إنَّ الأخيطلَ ليس الدهرُ مائرَهم

    أو يبعثُ اللهُ عاداً أو ترى إرَما

    Surely al-Ukhaytil will never be their provisioner,

    Unless God resurrects Ad, or you behold Iram.

  40. حَلَّت بنو مالِكٍ والبَحرُ دوَنَهُمُ

    وذَمَّم القومُ في يوم القنا جشما

    Banu Malik settled, with the sea barring the way to them,

    And on the day of spears the people censured Jusham.

  41. فما يجوزُ اخوهم في مهوّلةٍ

    ولا يجدُّ اذا ما مفظِعٌ عَزَما

    Their brother will not cross a terror-filled place,

    Nor act in earnest when a fearsome adversary is resolved.

  42. وَدَوبَلٌ لا يكونُ المجدُ غايتَهُ

    ولن يجدَّ إذا شيطانُه اعترما

    And Dawbal does not make glory his goal,

    Nor will he strive when his demon runs wild.