هل أُضاخٌ كما عهدنا أضاخا

هل أُضاخٌ كما عهدنا أضاخا

حبذا ذلك المناخُ مُناخا

حبذا ذلك المناخُ مُناخا

Is Uḍākh still Uḍākh as we knew it?

Shall I be deceived as we were deceived before?

How lovely a camping-place that encampment is!

Such was that pleasant weather, weather of deceit

لو يعافَى حيٌّ لعوفِيَ أرخٌ

لو يعافَى حيٌّ لعوفِيَ أرخٌ

في قلالِ الجبال يَفْلو إِراخا

في قلالِ الجبال يَفْلو إِراخا

If any living creature could be spared, a young wild bull would be spared,

If a living man became well, he would find laid down

on the mountain summits, seeking out wild cattle.

Amid hill-slopes which send forth the bleating of sheep

يتقرّى شثّاً ويألفُ طبا

يتقرّى شثّاً ويألفُ طبا

قاً ويقرو ضالاً ويرعى مراخا

قاً ويقرو ضالاً ويرعى مراخا

It seeks shath shrubs and frequents ṭubbāq,

Picking sweet basil, making friends with the fox

and seeks wild lote trees and grazes on markh shrubs.

While he grazes a straying lamb and pastures a weakling

أو أقبٌ طوراً يؤمُّ أضَا الرو

أو أقبٌ طوراً يؤمُّ أضَا الرو

ضِ وطوراً مَيْثاءَها الجواخا

ضِ وطوراً مَيْثاءَها الجواخا

Or a lean-bellied wild ass, now heading for the meadow pools,

Or I take refuge in a mountain which shelters the beasts

and now for their broad, soft ground;

Of prey, and a mountain whither their rending-places cling

أو أصكٌّ أسكُّ لا يعرف الغضرو

أو أصكٌّ أسكُّ لا يعرف الغضرو

فَ سمٌّ منه ولا صملاخا

فَ سمٌّ منه ولا صملاخا

or a knock-kneed, earless ostrich: neither cartilage

Or I make me a house not known of change and vicissitude

nor earwax is known to its ear-opening;

No blow falls on it, no commotion shakes it

أو فَشغوٌ قتمُ الجآجئ منه

أو فَشغوٌ قتمُ الجآجئ منه

يعجلُ القرهبَ الشبوبَ امتلاخا

يعجلُ القرهبَ الشبوبَ امتلاخا

or an eagle, dusky of breast,

Or I am maddened, and the flashings of madness

swiftly snatching away the old, full-grown wild bull.

Speed on the neighbor from near, hastening in long bounds

هنَّ أو أعصمٌ كأنْ مِدْرَياهُ

هنَّ أو أعصمٌ كأنْ مِدْرَياهُ

حين عاجا على القذالين حاخا

حين عاجا على القذالين حاخا

These—or a white-forelegged ibex, whose two horns seem,

Amid them my life was dainty, but it turned and withdrew

when curved over the two sides of its nape, like ḥā and khā.

And my days among them in boyhood were lovely and vain

كان عيشي بهم أنيقاً فولَّى

كان عيشي بهم أنيقاً فولَّى

وزماني فيهم غلاماً فشاخا

وزماني فيهم غلاماً فشاخا

My life with them was delightful, then it passed away;

and my time among them was a youth, then it grew old.