أثرها فلا ماء أصابت ولا عشبا — Alabywrdy

أثِرْها فلا ماءً أصابَتْ ولا عُشْبا

وقد مُلئَتْ أحْشاءُ رُكْبانِها رُعْبا

Rouse her, for she has found neither water nor grass,

and her riders' innards have been filled with terror.

ونحنُ بحَيْثُ الذِّئْبُ يَشْكو ضَلالَهُ

إِلى النّجْمِ والسّاري يَسوفُ بهِ التُّرْبا

We are where the wolf complains of being lost

to the star, and the night traveler sniffs the dust there.

نُحاذِرُ منْ حَيَّيْ سُلَيْمٍ وعامِرٍ

أَناسِيَّ لا يَرْضَوْنَ غيرَ الظُّبا صَحْبا

We fear, among the two tribes of Sulaym and ʿĀmir,

men who accept none but sword edges as companions.

إذا خَلَّفَتْ بَطْحاءَ نجْدٍ وراءَها

فلسنا بمَنّاعينَ أن تَقفَ الرَّكْبا

Once she has left Najd's pebbly plain behind her,

we will not prevent her from halting the caravan.

فأينَ ومِثلي لا يَغُشُّكَ ماجِدٌ

نَصولُ بهِ كالعَضْبِ مُحتَضِناً عَضْبا

Where, then, is a noble man—one like me does not deceive you—

with whom we may strike, like a keen blade embracing a keen blade?

لهُ هِمّةٌ غَيْرى على المَجدِ برَّحَتْ

بنَفْسٍ على الأيّامِ منْ تيهِها غَضْبى

His ambition, jealous for glory, has tormented

a soul, in its pride, enraged against the days.

وإنْ يَكُ في نَجْديِّ قَيْسٍ بَسالَةٌ

فإنّي ابنُ أرْضٍ تُنبِتُ البَطَلَ النَّدْبا

And if the Najdi of Qays possesses valor,

then I am the son of a land that breeds the intrepid hero.

يَعُدُّ إباءَ الضّيْمِ كِبْراً وطالما

أبَيْنا فلم نَعثُرْ بأذيالِنا عُجْبا

He calls refusal of oppression arrogance, though often

we have refused, without stumbling over our hems in conceit.

ولكننا في مَهْمَهٍ تُعْجِلُ الخُطا

على وَجَلٍ هُوجُ الرّياحِ بهِ نُكْبا

But we are in a wilderness where our footsteps are hastened,

in fear, by raging winds blowing crosswise there.

إذا طالَعَتنا منْ قُرَيْشٍ عِصابَةٌ

وشافَهْنَ من أعلامِ مَكَّتِها هَضْبا

When a band of Quraysh comes into our sight,

and they face rocky heights among the landmarks of its Mecca,

نزَلْنَ منَ الوادي المُقدَّسِ تُرْبُهُ

بآمَنِهِ سِرْباً وأعْذَبِهِ شِرْبا

they alight in the valley whose soil is hallowed,

where one is safest and its water sweetest to drink.

وفي الرَّكْبِ مَنْ يَهْوى العُذَيْبَ وماءَهُ

ويُضْمِرُ أحياناً على أهلِهِ عَتبا

And in the caravan is one who loves al-ʿUdhayb and its water,

and sometimes harbors reproach toward its people,

ويَصْبو إِلى وادِيهِ والرّوْضُ باسِمٌ

يُغازِلُهُ عافي النّسيمِ إذا هَبّا

and yearns for its valley, while the meadow smiles,

wooed by the passing breeze whenever it blows.

وواللهِ لولا حُبُّ ظَمْياءَ لم يَعُجْ

عليهِ ولم يَعْرِفْ كِلاباً ولا كَعبا

And by God, were it not for love of Ẓamyāʾ, he would not have turned aside

to it, nor would he have known Kilāb or Kaʿb.

وما أُمُّ ساجي الطّرْفِ مالَ بهِ الكَرى

على عَذَباتِ الجِزْعِ تَحْسَبُهُ قُلْبا

Nor was the mother of a drowsy-eyed fawn, whom slumber laid

on the fringes of the valley-bend—you would think him a bracelet—

تُراعي بإحدى مُقْلَتَيْها كِناسَها

وتَرْمي بأُخْرى نَحوَهُ نَظَراً غَرْبا

watching her covert with one of her eyes

and casting a piercing glance toward him with the other,

فَلاحَ لَها مِنْ جانِبِ الرّمْلِ مَرْتَعٌ

كأنّ الرّبيعَ الطَّلْقَ ألْبَسَهُ عَصْبا

(a pasture appeared to her beside the sand,

as though bright spring had clothed it in striped robes;

فمالَتْ إليهِ والحَريصُ إذا عَدَتْ

بهِ طَوْرَهُ الأطْماعُ لمْ يَحْمَدِ العُقْبى

so she turned toward it; the covetous, when desires

carry him beyond his limit, does not praise the outcome.

وآنَسَها المرْعى الأنيقُ وصادَفَتْ

مَدى العَيْنِ في أرجائِهِ بَلَداً خِصْبا

The lovely pasture reassured her, and she found

fertile land throughout its bounds as far as the eye could see.

فلمّا قَضَتْ منهُ اللُّبانَةَ راجَعَتْ

طَلاها فألْفَتْهُ قَضى بَعْدَها نَحْبا

Then, when she had taken her fill of it, she returned

to her fawn and found him dead since her departure.

أُتِيحَ لَها عاري السّواعِدِ لمْ يزَلْ

يَخوضُ إِلى أوْطارِهِ مَطْلَباً صَعْبا

A bare-armed man had been sent against her, one who never ceased

to brave a hard pursuit to reach his aims.

فوَلَّتْ على ذُعْرٍ وبالنَّفْسِ ما بِها

منَ الكَرْبِ لا لُقِّيتَ في حادِثٍ كَرْبا

She fled in terror, her soul full

of anguish; may no calamity bring you anguish!)

بأَوْجَدَ منّي يومَ عَجَّتْ رِكابُها

لِبَيْنٍ فلمْ تترُكْ لِذي صَبوَةٍ لُبّا

more grief-stricken than I on the day her mounts cried out

for departure, leaving no lover his senses.

وما أنْسَ لا أنْسَ الوَداعَ وقد بدَتْ

تُغَيِّضُ دَمْعاً فاضَ وابِلُهُ سَكْبا

Whatever I forget, I shall not forget the farewell, when she appeared

trying to check tears whose downpour had streamed forth:

مُهَفْهَفَةٌ لم تَرْضَ أتْرابُها لَها

ببَدْرِ الدُّجى شِبْهاً وشَمْسِ الضُّحى تِرْبا

a slender-waisted woman, whose companions would not accept for her

the full moon of night as a likeness, nor the morning sun as a peer.

تنفَّسُ حتى يُسْلِمَ العِقْدَ سِلْكُهُ

وأكْظِمُ وَجْداً كادَ ينْتَزِعُ الخِلْبا

She sighs until her necklace's thread gives up its beads,

while I stifle passion that nearly tears away my heart's membrane.

وتُذْري شَآبيبَ الدّموعِ كأنّما

أذابَتْ بعَيْنَيْها النّوى لُؤلؤاً رَطْبا

And she scatters showers of tears, as though

parting had melted moist pearls in her eyes.

وما كُنْتُ أخشى أن أُراعَ لحادِثٍ

منَ الدّهْرِ أو أشْكو إِلى أهلِهِ خَطْبا

I had never feared being frightened by a calamity

of time, or complaining of disaster to its people.

وقد زُرْتُ منْ أفْناءِ سَعْدٍ ومالكٍ

ضَراغِمَةً تُغْرى كِنانِيَّةً غُلْبا

And I have visited, among the branches of Saʿd and Mālik,

thick-necked lions of Kinānah, urged on to attack,

منَ القَوْمِ يُزْجِي الرّاغِبونَ إلَيْهِمُ

على نَصَبِ المَسْرى غُرَيْرِيَّةً صُهْبا

men toward whom those seeking favor drive

tawny Ghurayri camels, despite the weariness of night travel.

لهُمْ نَسَبٌ رَفَّتْ عليهمْ فُروعُهُ

وبَوّأَهُمْ منْ خِنْدِفٍ كَنَفاً رَحْبا

Theirs is a lineage whose branches flutter above them

and lodge them in a spacious shelter within Khindif.

إذا ذَكَروهُ أضْمَرَ العُجْمُ إحْنَةً

عليهمْ وأصْلى جَمْرَةَ الحَسَدِ العُرْبا

When they mention it, non-Arabs harbor rancor

against them, while it burns the Arabs with envy's ember.

وإنْ سُئِلوا عمّنْ يُديرُ على العِدا

رَحى الحَرْبِ فيهمْ أو يكونُ لَها قُطْبا

And if asked who among them turns against their foes

the millstone of war, or serves as its axle,

أشاروا بأيْديهِمْ إِلى خَيْرِهِمْ أباً

وأطوَلِهِمْ باعاً وأرْحَبِهِمْ شِعَبا

they point with their hands to the noblest in paternal descent,

the longest in reach, the widest in his branching paths:

إِلى مُدْلجيٍّ رَدّ عن آلِ جَعْفَرٍ

صُدورَ القَنا والجُرْدَ شازِبَةً قُبّا

to a Mudliji who repelled from the house of Jaʿfar

spearheads and sleek-coated horses, gaunt and hollow-bellied;

وقابَلَ بالحُسْنى إساءَةَ مُجْرِمٍ

فودَّ بَريءُ القَومِ أنّ لهُ ذَنْبا

and met a wrongdoer's offense with kindness,

so the innocent among the people wished he had a sin.

تُراقُ دِماءُ الكُومِ حَولَ قِبابِهِ

إذا راحَ شَوْلُ الحَيِّ مُقْوَرّةً حُدْبا

The blood of high-humped camels is spilled around his pavilions

when the clan's dry she-camels return shrunken and hunchbacked.

ويَسْتَمْطِرُ العافونَ منهُ أنامِلاً

أبى الجُودُ أن يَستَمطِروا بعْدَها سُحْبا

Supplicants seek rain from his fingers;

generosity refuses to let them seek rain from clouds thereafter.

رأى عندَهُ الأعداءُ مِلْءَ عُيونِهِمْ

مَناقِبَ لو فازُوا بِها وَطِئوا الشُّهبا

His enemies saw in him, filling their eyes,

virtues that, had they gained them, would have let them tread the stars.

فوَدّوا منَ البَغْضاءِ أنّ جُفونَهُمْ

عَقَدْنَ بهُدْبٍ دونَ رؤيَتها هُدْبا

So, out of hatred, they wished their eyelids

had knotted lash to lash to bar the sight of them.

ولم يُتلِعوا أعْناقَهمْ نَحوَهُ هَوًى

ولا عَفّروا تلكَ الجِباهَ لهُ حُبّا

They did not crane their necks toward him out of desire,

nor rub those foreheads in the dust for him out of love;

ولكنّهمْ هابُوا مَخالِبَ ضَيْغَمٍ

يَجوبُ أديمَ الأرضِ نحوَهُمُ وَثْبا

rather, they feared the claws of a lion

who bounds toward them across the skin of the earth.

أبا خالدٍ إنّي تَرَكْتُهُمُ سُدًى

وأحْسابُهُمْ فَوضَى وأعْراضُهُمْ نُهْبى

Abū Khālid, I have left them cast aside,

their ancestral honors in disarray, their reputations open to plunder.

وصَدّقَ قَوْلي فيكَ أفعالُكَ التي

أبَتْ لقَريضي أن أوَشِّحَهُ كِذْبا

Your deeds have confirmed my words about you,

refusing to let me adorn my verse with lies.

وهزّكَ مَدْحٌ كادَ يُصْبيكَ حُسْنُهُ

وفي الشِّعرِ ما هزَّ الكَريمَ وما أصْبى

Praise has stirred you, its beauty almost enchanting you;

poetry contains what stirs the noble and what enchants.

يحدِّثُ عنهُ البَدرُ بالشّرقِ أهلَهُ

ويسألُ عنهُ الشّمسَ مَنْ سَكَن الغَرْبا

The full moon tells the people of the East of it,

and those who dwell in the West ask the sun about it.

ومَنْ لم يُراقِبْ رَبَّهُ في رَعيّةٍ

أخِشَّتُهُ تُدْمي عَرانينَهُمْ جَذْبا

Where a man fails to heed his Lord in ruling subjects,

his nose-pegs bloodying their noses with each tug,

فإنّكَ أرْضَيْتَ الرّعايا بِسيرَةٍ

تحَلّتْ بها الدُّنيا ولم تُسْخِطِ الرَّبّا

you have pleased your subjects by your conduct,

which has adorned the world; nor have you angered the Lord.