Sol 6.1

  1. متى ينجلي بالقْربِ ذا الناظرُ القذي

    ويَرجِعُ سهمُ البعيدِ غيرَ مقذَّذِ

    When will nearness clear this mote-troubled eye,

    and the distant one's arrow return unfeathered,

  2. وأصبحُ لا مِن روعةِ البينِ والنوى

    اخافُ ولا مِن وِقْفَةِ المتلَوَّذِ

    and I wake, fearing neither the terror of parting and distance,

    nor the halt of one seeking refuge,

  3. وتَنفحُني مِن نسمةِ القربِ نفحةٌ

    أهيمُ سروراً مِن تأرُّحِها الشذي

    and a waft from the breeze of nearness touch me,

    so I am beside myself with joy at its sweet fragrance?

  4. ولمّا تفرَّقنا وأمسيتُ ممسكاً

    بكفِّي على أعشارِ قلبٍِ مغلَّذِ

    When we parted, evening found me clutching

    the ten fragments of a torn heart in my palm.

  5. وقفتُ على بالي الديارِ كأنَّني

    بجمرِ الأسى والشوقِ فيهنَّ محتذي

    I stood at the worn remains of the dwellings, as though

    I were shod there in the embers of grief and longing.

  6. سقى دارهَمْ بالخَيْفِ كلُّ غمامةٍ

    يعيشُ بها ميتُ النباتِ ويغتذي

    May every cloud water their home at al-Khayf,

    through which dead vegetation revives and finds nourishment.

  7. أناسٌ نأوا عنِّي فها أتا بعدَهمْ

    أجوبُ الفيافي منفذاً بعدَ منفذِ

    People have gone far from me; here I am, after them,

    roaming the wastes, passage after passage.

  8. أقابلُ مِن شمسِ الظهيرةِ نارَها

    على كلَّ مفتولِ الذراعِ مُهَربِذِ

    I face the blaze of the midday sun

    on every sinewy-forelegged, swift mount.

  9. كلانا غَراماً أو عُراماً إلى الحمى

    أخو عَزَماتٍ كالحُسامِ المُشَحَّذِ

    Both of us, driven by passion or vigor toward the sanctuary,

    have firm resolves like a sharpened sword.

  10. به جِنَّةٌ فيه وبي فضلُ جِنَّةٍ

    كلانا على عِلاتِه كالمُوَخَّذِ

    He has madness within him, and mine is greater;

    each of us, despite his frailties, is as though goaded.

  11. نجيبٌ نمتْهُ للِفجاجِ نجائبٌ

    سفائنُ بيدٍ مِن نجائبِ شُمَّذِ

    A noble camel, bred for the passes by noble camels,

    ships of the desert, of noble, high-tailed stock.

  12. فِانْ وقفتْ دون المرادِ طلائحاً

    فعذْ برسولِ الريحِ أن هبَّ أو لُذِ

    If they stop short of the goal, exhausted,

    then seek refuge in the wind's messenger, if it blows, or take shelter.

  13. فِانَّ النسيمَ الرطبَ مِن جانبِ الحمى

    يُبِّردُ تسعيرَ الفؤادِ المحنَّذِ

    For the moist breeze from the sanctuary's side

    cools the blaze of the roasted heart.

  14. فؤادٌ مشوقٌ قد تشرَّبَ شوقهُ

    الى مَنْ نأى عن أرضِ نجدٍ وقد غُذي

    A yearning heart has drunk deep of its longing

    for one far from Najd's land, and has been nourished.

  15. يحاسبُ أيامَ الفراقِ ولم يكن

    حنانيكَ لولا الشوقُ فيها كَجِهْبِذِ

    It reckons the days of separation, and would not be—

    have mercy!—without longing, their master accountant.

  16. فمن لي بأيامِ الغرامِ ولم أقلْ

    على مؤلمِ الهجرانِهل أنتَ منقذي

    Who, then, can give me the days of love? I did not say,

    amid painful estrangement, 'Are you my rescuer?'

  17. ومَنْ لي بأنْ تُثنَى الحدوجُ رواجعاً

    فَتَغْنَمَ عيني نظرةَ المتلذِّذِ

    And who can have the camel litters turned back, returning,

    so that my eye may win a gaze of delight,

  18. وأغدو ولا ذا القلبُ مِن حرِّ بينهمْ

    كما غادروه مِن جُذا الشوقِ يَجتذي

    and I may wake with this heart no longer burning from their parting,

    as they left it, drawing fire from longing's embers?

  19. ولمّا ترامَى السربُ قلتُبليةٌ

    تراءتْ لمسلوبِ الفؤادِ مجذَّذِ

    When the flock moved far away, I said: 'A calamity

    has appeared to one robbed of his heart and torn to pieces.'

  20. لئن أخطأتْهُ يومَ رامةَ أعينٌ

    مِنَ العِينِ لم تثبتْ حشاشَتَه فذي

    Even if some eyes missed him on the day at Rama,

    eyes of wide-eyed gazelles, these did not preserve his last spark of life.

  21. ومزمعةٍ مِن غيرِ جرمٍ ترحُّلاً

    ودمعي عليها رُقْيَةُ المتعوِّذِ

    And a woman resolved to leave, without any offense—

    my tears for her are the charm of one seeking protection.

  22. أقولُ لها في عشرةِ البينِهذه

    يميني وهذا البينُ عطفاً بها خُذي

    I say to her, in parting's company: 'This is

    my right hand, and this is parting—take it tenderly.'

  23. فقد أخذَ الهجرانُ والشوقُ والنوى

    بنا في أفانينِ الهوى كلَّ مأخَذِ

    For estrangement, longing, and distance have carried

    us along every course through love's varied ways.

  24. مُعاهِدُكِ المأمونُوهو على الهوى

    أمينٌ فِانْ لم يرعَ عهدَكِ يُنْبَذِ

    Your covenant-keeper is trusted, and in love

    faithful; if he fails to honor your covenant, let him be cast off.

  25. فتَّى يدُه الطولى واِنْ طالَ عهدُه

    بها مِن حبالِ الشوقِ لم تَتجبَّذِ

    A youth whose far-reaching hand—though his bond has long endured

    with her—has not been tugged free of longing's cords.

  26. يُنَظِّمُ وجداً كلَّ بِكرٍ رقيقةٍ

    بحكمٍ على أهلِ القريضِ منفَّذِ

    He composes in yearning each delicate, virgin verse,

    with a judgment binding on the makers of poetry;

  27. مسلَّمةٍ مِن كلَّ عيبٍ يَشينُها

    مبرّأةٍ مِن وصمةِ المنطقِ البذي

    free from every flaw that would mar it,

    cleared of the stain of vulgar speech.

  28. تعجِّزُ مِن أهلِ الفريضِ فحولَهُ

    قصائدُ مِن صوغِ اللبيتِ المجرَّذِ

    They outstrip the champions among the makers of verse—

    odes fashioned by the discerning, seasoned poet.

  29. ينقِّحُها فكري على ما يُريدُه

    فيصبيكَ تنقيحُ المجيدِ المنجِّذِ

    My thought refines them as it desires,

    and a seasoned master's polishing captivates you.

  30. لقد هزأتْ مِن أهل ذا الفن جملةً

    بلابسِ شُربُوشِ ولابسِ مِشْوَذِ

    Indeed, they have made a mockery of all the people of this art,

    the wearer of a sharbush cap and the wearer of a turban alike.