Sol 6.1

  1. أَلَمُ الفراقِ نَفَى الرُّقادَ وَنفَّرا

    فلذاكَ جَفْنِيَ لا يلائمُه الكرى

    Separation's pain has banished sleep and driven it away;

    and so my eyelid finds no accord with slumber.

  2. جسدٌ يذوبُ مِنَ الحنينِ ومقلةٌ

    حكمَ البعادُ وجَوْرُهُ أن تَسْهَرا

    A body melts with yearning, and an eye

    is sentenced by separation and its cruelty to keep vigil.

  3. يا منزلاً أستافُ رَوْحَ صعيده

    فكأننَّي أستافُ مسكاً أذفَرا

    O dwelling whose soil's fragrant breath I inhale,

    it is as though I inhale strong-scented musk.

  4. وكأنَّني لمّا نشقتُ عبيرَهُ

    أودعتُ أسرابَ الخياشمِ عنبرا

    And when I inhaled its fragrance, it was as though

    I had placed ambergris in the passages of my nostrils.

  5. جادَ القِطارُ ثرى ربوعِكَ وانثنى

    فيها السحابُ كماءِ دمعي مُمطِرا

    May showers drench the soil of your dwellings, and may there return

    clouds raining upon them like the water of my tears.

  6. وأما ودمعٍ كلَّما نهنهتُهُ

    جمَحَتْ بوادرُ غربِه فتحدَّرا

    And indeed, by tears—whenever I restrained them,

    their torrent's first surges ran wild, and they streamed down—

  7. اِنّي أُجِلُّ ترابكنَّ بأنْ يُرى

    يوماً بغيرِ ملثهِّنَّ مُغرفَرا

    I hold your soil too dear to let it be seen

    ever dust-covered, without their steady showers.

  8. ولقد شكرتُ الطيفَ لما زارني

    بعدَ الهُدُوِّ وحَقُّهُ أن يُشكَرا

    Indeed, I thanked the dream-vision when it visited me

    after stillness fell; and it deserves to be thanked.

  9. أسرى اليَّ وقد نحلتُ فوالهوى

    لولا الأنينُ لكادَ بي أن يعثرا

    It came to me by night, when I had wasted away; by love,

    but for my moaning, it would almost have stumbled over me.

  10. ومن البليَّةِ أن صيِّبَ أدمعي

    أضحى عنِ السرِّ المصونِ مُعَبَّرا

    And among my afflictions is that the downpour of my tears

    has become a revealer of my guarded secret.

  11. ومولَّهٍ في الوجدِ حدَّثَ دمعُهُ

    بأليمِ ما يلقاهُ فيه وخبَّرا

    And many a man bewildered by passion—his tears have spoken

    of the pain he suffers in it, and made it known.

  12. ما أومضَ البرقُ اليمانِ على الغَضا

    اِلاّ تشوَّقَ عهدَهُ وتذكَّرا

    Whenever Yemeni lightning flashed above the ghada trees,

    he yearned for his former days there and remembered them.

  13. واِذا رمى بعدَ الخليطِ بطرفهِ

    نحوَ الديارِ رأى الحمى فاستعبرا

    And when, after his companions' departure, he cast his gaze

    toward the dwellings, he saw the cherished grounds and wept.

  14. يهوى النسيمَ بليلةً أردانُه

    عَبِقَ المهبَّةِ بالعبيرِ مُعَطَّرا

    He loves the breeze, its sleeves moist,

    fragrant in its blowing, perfumed with sweet scent.

  15. يسري إلى قَلِقِ الوسادِ وكلَّما

    ذكَر الأحبَّةَ والشبابَ تحسَّرا

    It travels by night to the man restless on his pillow; and whenever

    he recalls loved ones and youth, he sighs with regret.

  16. قد كانَ في الزمِن الحميدِ هبوبُه

    أنَّى تنسَّمَ باللقاءِ مبشِّرا

    Once, in those cherished days, the breeze's blowing,

    wherever it wafted, brought glad tidings of reunion.

  17. يا حارِ لو يسطيعُ يومَ سُوَيقَةٍ

    قلبي التصبُّرَ عنهمُ لتصبَّرا

    O Har, had it been able, on the day at Suwayqa—

    my heart—to bear their absence, it would have borne it patiently.

  18. ظعنوا فلو حلَّ الذي قد نالَه

    بالصخرِ بعدَ نواهمُ لتفطَّرا

    They departed; had what befell it fallen

    upon rock after their departure, the rock would have split.

  19. للّهِ كم وجدِ هناكَ أثارَهُ

    للصبِّ حادي العيسِ ساعةَ ثوَّرا

    God, how much longing was stirred there

    in the lover by the pale camels' driver, when he set them moving!

  20. نظرَ الديارَ وقد تنكَّرَ حسنُها

    فشجاهُ ربعٌ بالغُوَيرِ تنكَّرا

    He gazed upon the dwellings, their beauty grown unfamiliar;

    a changed homestead at al-Ghuwayr filled him with sorrow.

  21. وتغيَّرتْ حالاتُه بعدَ النوى

    وقُصارُ حالِ المرءِ أن يتغيَّرا

    His circumstances changed after separation,

    and a man's lot, in the end, is to change.

  22. شِيَمٌ بها عُرِفَ الزمانُ وكلُّ ما

    قد سرَّ أو ما ساءَ منه تكرَّرا

    Such are the ways for which Time is known; and whatever

    joy or sorrow it has brought has come around again.

  23. ومسهَّدينَ مِنَ الغرامِ تخالُهمْ

    عَقِبَ السُّهادِ كأنْ تعاطَوا مُسكِرا

    And many kept sleepless by love—you would think them,

    after their vigil, as though they had taken an intoxicant.

  24. مِن كلَّ مسلوبِ القرارِ مدلَّهٍ

    فوقَ المطيَّ تراهُ أشعثَ أغبَرا

    Of them, each is robbed of repose, bewildered;

    upon the camels you see him dishevelled and dust-covered.

  25. يرمي بها أعراضَ كلَّ تنوفةٍ

    لو جابَ مجهلَها القطا لتحيَّرا

    He drives them across the broad expanses of every wasteland;

    were sandgrouse to cross its trackless wilds, they would lose their way.

  26. كَلَفاً بغِزلانِ الصريمِ ولوعةً

    منعتْ كراه صبابةً وتفكُّرا

    Enamored of the sandy tract's gazelles, with a burning anguish

    that barred his sleep through yearning and brooding.

  27. فتروقُه فيه الظباءُ سوانحاً

    فيها طلاً فضحَ القضيبَ تأطُّرا

    There the gazelles delight him, crossing as favorable omens;

    among them is a fawn whose swaying puts a bough to shame.

  28. ويَظَلُّ في عرصاتهنَّ محاوراً

    ظبياً يقلَّبُ ثَمَّ طرفاً أحورا

    He spends the day in their open grounds, conversing with

    a gazelle turning there an eye, dark against white.

  29. يرضى على عَنَتِ الزمانِ وحكمِه

    منه بما منحَ الهوى وتيسَّرا

    Despite Time's harshness and decree, he is content

    with what love has granted of him, and whatever is attainable.

  30. مِن شَعرِه وجبينهِ انا ناظرٌ

    ليلاً أَضِلُّ به وصبحاً مسفرا

    In his hair and his brow I behold

    a night in which I lose my way, and a radiant morning.

  31. ما كانَ ظنَّي بعدَ طولِ وفائهِ

    وهو الخليقُ بمثلِه أن يَهجُرا

    After his long faithfulness, I never expected

    that he, deserving of the same, would forsake me.

  32. أُمسي سميرَ النجمِ وهو محيَّرٌ

    والعيسُ تقطعُ بي اليبابَ المقفرا

    I spend the evening keeping company with the star, itself bewildered,

    while the pale camels carry me across the desolate waste.

  33. يخشى الدليلُ به فليس يُفيدُهُ

    تحت الدُّجُنَّةِ أن يهابَ ويحذرا

    The guide is afraid there, yet it profits him nothing

    beneath the thick darkness to be fearful and wary.

  34. في مهمهٍ ينضي المطيةَ خرقُهُ

    فتراهُ مُنْطَمِسَ المعالمِ أزورا

    In a pathless desert whose vastness wears out the mount,

    you see it with landmarks effaced, veering away.

  35. تَخدي وأُنشِدُ مِن غرامٍ فوقَها

    شعري فتجنحُ في الأزمَّةِ والبُرى

    The mount trots swiftly; upon her, out of longing, I recite

    my verse; she leans into the reins and nose-rings.

  36. شِعراً إذا ما الفكرُ غالبَ صعبَه

    جعلَ التحكُّمَ لي فقلتُ مخيَّرا

    Verse: whenever thought overcomes its difficulty,

    it grants me mastery, and I compose as I choose.

  37. ما ضرَّهُ لمّا تقدَّمَ غيرُه

    في الأعصرِ الأولى وجاءَ مؤخَّرا

    It lost nothing when other verse preceded it

    in earlier ages, and it came afterward.

  38. وضِعَتْ عقودُ الدَّر منه لخاطري

    فَطَفِقْتُ أنظمُ منه هذا الجوهرا

    Pearl necklaces from it were laid before my mind;

    so I began composing this jewel from it.

  39. ما زلتُ مخيَّرا ولأجلِهِ

    ما زالَ مِن دونِ القريضِ مُخيَّرا

    I have always been free to choose; and for its sake

    it has always been preferred above other verse.

  40. يحدوه فضلُ جزالةٍ وطلاوةٍ

    فيه وكلُّ الصيدِ في جوفِ الفَرا

    It is urged onward by the excellence of vigor and sweetness

    within it; all the game is in the wild ass's belly.