Sol 6.1

  1. لِمَن دِيارٌ بِهَذا الجَزعِ مِن رَبَبِ

    بَينَ الأَحِزَّةِ مِن هَوبانَ فَالكُثُبِ

    Whose dwellings are these at this valley bend in Rabab,

    Between the rugged ridges of Hawban and the dunes?

  2. تِلكَ الدِيارُ الَّتي أَبكَتكَ دِمنَتُها

    فَالدَمعُ مِنكَ كَهَزمِ الشَنَّةِ الشَرِبِ

    Those are the dwellings whose traces made you weep;

    So your tears are like the trickling of a worn, leaky waterskin.

  3. أَطلالُ لَيلى مَحَتها كُلُّ رائِحَةٍ

    وَطفاءَ تَستَنُّ رُكنَي عارِضٍ لَجِبِ

    Layla's ruins, erased by every evening cloud,

    Shaggy, rushing along the two flanks of a roaring cloudbank.

  4. أَكنافُهُ خَلَقٌ مِن دونِهِ خَلَقُ

    كَالرَيطِ نَشَّرتَهُ ذي الزِبرِجِ الهَدِبِ

    Its edges are threadbare; beneath it lies more threadbare cloud,

    Like fine cloth you have unfolded, richly patterned and fringed.

  5. لَمّا أَبَسَّت بِهِ ريحُ الصَبا وَمَرَت

    لَبونَها وَجَدوها ثَرَّةَ الشَخَبِ

    When the east wind coaxed it and stroked

    Her milch-camel, they found her pouring abundant streams of milk.

  6. لا يَعلَمُ الناسُ مِن لَيلى وَذِكرَتِها

    ما قَد تَجَرَّعتُ مِن شَوقٍ وَمِن طَرَبِ

    People do not know, concerning Layla and remembering her,

    What draughts of longing and agitation I have swallowed.

  7. يا لَيلَ إِنّي فَكُفّي بَعضَ قيلِكِ لي

    مِن طَيِّئٍ ذو مَناديحٍ وَمُضطَرَبِ

    O Layla, I am—so curb some of your talk to me—

    Of Tayy, with broad expanses and room to roam.

  8. أَنا الطِرماحُ فَاِسأَل بي بَني ثُعَلٍ

    قَومي إِذا اِختَلَطَ التَصديرُ بِالحَقَبِ

    I am al-Tirimmah; ask the sons of Thuʿal about me,

    My people, when the front saddle-girth tangles with the rear.

  9. جَدّي أَبو حَنبَلٍ فَاِسأَل بِمَنصِبِهِ

    أَزمانَ أَسنى وَنَفرُ بنُ الأَغَرِّ أَبي

    My grandfather is Abu Hanbal; ask about his standing

    In the days of his eminence; and Nafr ibn al-Agharr is my father.

  10. لِأُمَّهاتٍ جَرى في بُضعِهِنَّ لَنا

    ماءُ الكِرامِ رَشاداً غَيرَ ذي رَيَبِ

    Of mothers in whose wombs there flowed for us

    The seed of noble men, lawfully and without suspicion.

  11. شَمَّ العَربَينِ وَالأَحشابِ مِن ثُعَلٍ

    وِمِن جَديلَةَ لا يَسجُدنَ لِلصُلُبِ

    Lofty of nose and lineage [reading uncertain], from Thuʿal,

    And from Jadilah, who do not prostrate themselves before crosses.

  12. مُعالِياتٍ عَنِ الخَزيرِ مَسكَنُها

    أَظرافُ نَجدٍ مِن أَهلِ الطَلحِ وَالكَنِبِ

    High above al-Khazir, their dwelling lies

    In Najd's outer reaches, among folk of acacia and kanab shrubs.

  13. إِذا السَماءُ لِقَومٍ غَيرِنا صَرَبَت

    عِنانَها في الرِضا مِنهُم وَفي الغَضَبِ

    When the sky, for people other than us, draws tight

    Her reins, whether they are pleased or angry,

  14. إِن نَأخُذِ الناسَ لا تُدرَك أَخيذَتُنا

    أَو نَطَّلِب نَتَعَدَّ الحَقَّ في الطَلَبِ

    If we take people captive, our captives cannot be recovered;

    Or if we seek redress, we exceed our right in the pursuit.

  15. مِنّا الفَوارِسُ وَالأَملاكُ قَد عَلِمَت

    عُليا مَعَدّ وَمِنّا كُلُّ ذي حَسَبِ

    Ours are the horsemen and kings; this is well known to

    The noblest of Maʿadd, and ours is every man of ancestral honor.

  16. كَعامِرِ بنِ جُوَينٍ في مُرَكَّبِهِ

    أَو مِثلِ أَوسِ بنِ سُعدى سَيِّدِ العَرَبِ

    Like ʿAmir ibn Juwayn in his ancestry,

    Or like Aws ibn Suʿda, lord of the Arabs,

  17. المُنعِمِ النِعَمَ اللاتي سَمِعتَ بِها

    في الجاهِلِيَّةِ وَالفَكّاكِ لِلكُرَبِ

    The giver of the favors you have heard of

    In the age before Islam, and the deliverer from afflictions;

  18. أَو كَالفَتى حاتِمٍ إِذا قالَ ما مَلَكَت

    كُفّايَ لِلَناسِ نُهبى يَومَ ذي خَشَبِ

    Or like the young man Hatim, when he said, 'Whatever is held

    By my two hands is free spoil for the people on the day of Dhu Khashab.'

  19. أَو كَإِبنِ حِيَّةَ لَمّا طَرَّ شارِبُهُ

    أَزمانَ يَملِكُ أَهلَ الريفِ وَالقَتَبِ

    Or like Ibn Hiyyah, when his mustache first sprouted,

    In the days when he ruled the people of farmland and camel-saddles.

  20. سادَ العِراقَ وَأَلفى فيهِ والِدهُ

    مُطَلَّباً بِتِراتٍ غَيرَ مُطَّلِبِ

    He held sway over Iraq, and there his father found him

    Pursued for blood-debts, not himself seeking vengeance.

  21. كَم مِن رَئيسٍ عَظيمِ الشَأنِ مِن مُضَرٍ

    وَمِن رَبيعَةَ نائي الدارِ وَالنَسَبِ

    How many a chief of great standing from Mudar,

    And from Rabiʿah, far distant in home and lineage,

  22. قَد باتَ زَيدٌ إِلى الهَطّالِ قارِنَهُ

    مُواشِكاً لِلمَطايا طَيَّعَ الخَبَبِ

    Has Zayd spent the night tethering to al-Hattal,

    Keeping pace with the riding camels, obedient at a trot!

  23. لَيسَ اِبنُ يَشكُرَ مُعتَدّاً بِمِثلِهِم

    حَتّى يُرَقّى إِلى الجَوزاءِ في سَبَبِ

    The son of Yashkur is not reckoned their equal,

    Until he is hauled on a rope up to Orion.

  24. طابَت رَبيعَةُ أَعلاها وَأَسفَلُها

    وَيَشكُرُ اللُؤمِ لَم تَكثُر وَلَم تَطِبِ

    Rabiʿah is noble, its highest and its lowest,

    And base Yashkur has neither grown numerous nor proved noble.

  25. نَحنُ الرُؤوسُ عَلى مِنهاجِ أَوَّلِنا

    مِن مَذَحِجٍ مَن يُسَوّي الرَأسَ بِالذَنَبِ

    We are the heads, on the path of our forebears

    Of Madhhij—who would equate the head with the tail?