إني على رغم الوشاة لقائل — Imru Qays Alsconi

إِنّي عَلى رَغمِ الوشاةِ لَقائِلٌ

سَقى الجارَتينِ العارِضُ المتهَلِّلُ

Despite the slanderers, I shall surely say:

May the beaming raincloud water the two neighboring women.

من الهيفِ صفراوانِ أَنّي أُتيحَتا

لِعَينيَّ إِنّي مهتَدٍ أَو مضَلَّلِ

Two golden-skinned women among the slender—how were they granted

to my eyes? Surely I am guided—or deluded.

فَما زِلتُ أَدعو اللَه حَتّى اِستَماهُما

من العَينِ جَونٌ ذو عَثانينَ مُسبِلُ

I kept praying to God until they were sought out

by a dark cloud from the rain-bearing quarter, its beards streaming down.

به بَرَدٌ صافي الجَنوب تمدُّهُ

بَناتُ مخاضِ المُزنِ أَبيضُ مُنزَلُ

It bore clear-sided hail, replenished

by the rainclouds’ yearling daughters—white hail sent down.

وَدونَهما من تَلعِ بُسيانَ فاللِوى

أَخاقيقُ فيها صِلِّيانٌ وَحَنظَلُ

Before them, from Busyan’s gullies on to al-Liwa,

lay fissures growing silliyan grass and colocynth.

نَباتانِ أَمّا الصِليانُ فَظاهِرُ

وَحنظَله في باطنِ التَلعِ مُسهِلُ

Two plants: the silliyan stands exposed above,

while its colocynth grows low in the gullies’ depths.

وَقَد أَذعَرُ الوَحشَ الربوضَ بعِرمسٍ

مُضَبَّرةٍ حَرفٍ تَخُبُّ وَتُرقِلُ

Often I startle the resting wild beasts with a sturdy she-camel,

firm-fleshed and lean, trotting and striding swiftly.

كأَنّي عَلى حَقباءَ خَدَّدَ لحمَها

إِرانٌ وَشَحّاجٌ من الجونِ مُعجِلُ

As though I rode a white-flanked she-ass, her flesh worn lean

by Iran and a dark, loud-braying male that drove her hard.

صُهابيَّةُ العُثنونِ مَخطوفَةُ الحَشا

تَخيَّلُ للأَشباحِ غَرباً فتجفِلُ

Tawny-bearded, with a tucked-up belly,

she watches looming shapes with sharp alarm, then bolts.

تضمَّنَها حَتّى تكاملَ نَسؤها

إِرانٌ فمُرفَضُّ الرداةِ فأيَّلُ

She was sheltered until her pregnancy came to term

by Iran, then Murfadd al-Radah, then Ayyal.

يَجِدُّ بها في خَفضِه وَهِبابِه

أَحَذُّ جُماديٌّ من الحُقبِ صُلصُلُ

He drives her hard, at ease or in bursts of speed—

a short-tailed, sturdy, loud-braying male among the white-flanked asses.

يُصَرِّفُها طَوعاً وَكَرهاً إِذا أَبَت

مِصَكٌّ جلت عنه العَقايقُ صَندَلُ

He steers her, willing or unwilling, whenever she refuses:

a hard-striking, massive beast, his birth-coat shed.

أَلَدُّ شَديدُ الأَخدَعينِ بليتِهِ

من الزَرِّ أَبلادٌ جَليبٌ وَمُخضَلُ

Fierce, strong in the neck-veins; upon his neck

are bite-marks, some crusted, some still wet.

يُعارِضُ تِسعاً قَد نَحاها لِمَورِدٍ

يَجورُ بِذاتِ الضِغنِ منها وَيعدِلُ

He runs beside nine females he has steered toward a watering-place,

swerving with a resentful one among them, then setting her straight.

فَلاقى أَبا بِشرٍ عَلى الماءِ راصِداً

به مِن زَماعِ الصَيدِ وَردٌ وَأَفكَلُ

Then he met Abu Bishr lying in wait at the water,

feverish and trembling with eagerness for the hunt.

يُقَلِّبُ أَشباهاً كأن نِصالَها

بَعيجَةُ جَمرٍ أَو ذُبالٌ مُفَتَّلُ

He turns over matching arrows, their heads seeming

scattered embers or twisted lampwicks.

فلما رَضى إِغراضَها واِغتِرارَها

وَواجهَهُ من مَنبِض القَلب مقتَلُ

When her exposed broadside and her unwariness satisfied him,

and a fatal spot by the beating heart faced him,

رَماها بمذروب المكَفِّ كَأَنَّهُ

سِوى عودِه المحشوشِ في الرأسِ مِغوَلُ

he shot her with a keen-bladed shaft, as though,

apart from its trimmed wood, its head were a dagger.

فأَنفَذَ حِضنَيها وَطرَّ وَراءَها

بمعتَقَبِ الوادي نَضيٌّ مَرمَّلُ

It pierced her two flanks and flew out behind her,

a blood-smeared shaft at the valley’s bend.

وَغادَرَها تَكبو لحَرِّ جَبينِها

يُناطِحُ منها الأَرضَ خَدٌّ وَكلكَلُ

It left her stumbling, falling forehead first,

her cheek and breast butting the ground.

وَمارَ عَبيطٌ من نَجيعٍ كَأَنَّهُ

عَلى مستوى الإِطلَينِ نيرٌ مُرَحَّلُ

Fresh, dark blood surged out, as though it were

a saddle-patterned woven band across the level of her flanks.

وأجفلنَ من غَيرِ ائتمارٍ وَكُلُّها

لَهُ من عُبابِ الشَدِّ حِرزٌ وَمعقِلُ

The others bolted without consulting, and every one of them

had refuge and a stronghold in the surge of its running.

يُؤَمِّلُ شِرباً مِن ثَميلٍ وَمأسِلٍ

وَما المَوتُ إِلّا حَيثُ أَرَّكَ مأسَلُ

He hoped to drink at Thamil and Ma'sal,

yet death lay just where Ma'sal grew arak trees.

عليه أُبَيرٌ راصِداً ما يَروقُه

من الرَمي إِلّا الجَيِّدُ المتنخَّلُ

Ubayr lay there in ambush; nothing pleased him

in shooting but the finest, most carefully chosen shots.

وَلاقَينَ جبّارَ بنَ حمزةَ بعدَما

أَطابَ بشَكٍّ أَيَّ أَمرَيهِ أَفعَلُ

They met Jabbar son of Hamzah, after

he had lingered in doubt over which of his two courses to take,

يقلِّبُ أَشباهاً كأن يصالَها

خَوافي حَمامٍ ضَمَّها الصَيفَ منزِلُ

turning over matching arrows whose heads resembled

pigeons’ inner wing-feathers, sheltered together in summer.

وَصَفراءَ مِن نَبعٍ رَنينٌ خُواتُها

تَجودُ بأَيدي النازِعينَ وَتبخَلُ

And a yellow bow of nabʿ wood, resonant in its twang,

now generous in the hands of those drawing it, now grudging.

وَباتَ يَرى الأَرضَ الفَضاءَ كَأَنَّها

مَراقِبُ يَخشى هولَها المتنَزِّلُ

He spent the night seeing the open ground as though it were

lookout heights whose terror a descending traveler fears.

يُؤامِرُ نفسيهِ أَعينَ غُمازَةٍ

يُغَلِّسُ أَم حَيثُ النِباجُ وَثَيتَلُ

He consulted his two selves: should he head for ʿAyn Ghumazah

before dawn, or for al-Nibaj and Thaytal?

فلما اِرجَحَنَّ اللَيلُ عَنه رَمى بِها

نِجادَ الفَلا يَعلو مِراراً وَيَسفُلُ

When the night’s weight lifted from him, he drove them

over the desert ridges, rising and descending again and again.

فَغامَرَ طَحلاءَ الشَرائِعِ حولَهُ

بأرجائِها غابٌ أَلَفُّ وَثيِّلُ

He plunged into a pool with dusky watering-slopes; around him,

along its edges, were tangled reeds and couch grass.

فغمَّرها مستوفِزاً ثمَّ حاذَها

يَشُجُّ الصوى من قُربها الشَدُ من عَلُ

He gave them a brief drink, poised for flight, then drove them on,

their hard running striking the nearby cairns from above.

وَأَضحَت بأَجوازِ الفَلاةِ كَأَنَّها

وَقَد راحَتِ الشَدَّ الحنيُّ المعَطَّلُ

By morning, in the desert’s heart, they seemed,

resting from their run, like bows left unstrung.

أَلا هَذِهِ أَمُّ الصَبيينِ إِذ رأت

شُحوباً بِضاحي الجِسم مني تهزَّلُ

Look, the mother of the two boys, when she saw

pallor on my exposed body, began to mock me.

تَقولُ بِما قَد كانَ أَفرَعَ ناعِماً

تغيَّرَ واِستَولى عليه التبدُّلُ

She says of one once thick-haired and soft:

“He has changed, and change has taken hold of him.”

فَإِن تَسألي عَنّي صِحابي تُنَبَّئي

إِذا ما اِنفَرى سِرباليالمتَرعبِلُ

If you ask my companions about me, you will be told,

when my tattered tunic is torn apart,

تُنَبّي بأَنّي ماجِدٌ ذو حَفيظَةٍ

أَخو القَومِ جَوّابُ الفَلاةِ شَمردَلُ

told that I am noble, fiercely protective of honor,

a brother to the clan, a desert-roamer, tall and sturdy.

تَريني غَداةَ البَذلِ أَهتَزُّ للنَدى

كَما جَرَّدَ السَيفَ اليَمانيَّ صيقَلُ

You see me, on the morning of giving, stirring eagerly to generosity,

as when a polisher unsheathes a Yemeni sword.

فَلا يَهنِئَنَّ الشامَتَينَ اِغتباطُهم

إِذا غالَ أَجلادي تُرابٌ وَجَندَلُ

May the gloaters find no sweetness in their joy

when dust and stones consume my body,

وإضتُ هَميداً تَحتَ رَمسٍ بربوَةٍ

تَعاوَرُني ريحٌ جَنوبٌ وَشمأَلُ

and I lie lifeless beneath a grave on a hill,

south wind and north wind sweeping over me in turn.

تَمنّى ليَ المَوتَ الَّذي لَستُ سابِقاً

مَعاشِرُ من ريبِ الحَوادِثِ جُهَّلُ

Death, which I cannot outrun, was wished upon me

by bands of men ignorant of fate’s treacherous turns—

مَعاشِرُ أَضحى وُدُّهُم متَبايناً

وَشَرُّهُمُ بادٍ يَدَ الدَهرِ مُقبِلُ

bands whose affection has grown distant,

and whose evil is plain, forever drawing near.

أَقَرَّ وِقاعي أَنفُساً لَيسَ بينَها

وَبَينَ حياضِ المَوتِ للشَربِ منهَلُ

My onslaughts have stilled souls with nothing between them

and death’s pools—no watering-place for a drink.

كَما راعَ ممسى اللَيلِ أَو مُستَوى الضُحى

عَصافيرَ حُجرانِ الجُنَينَةِ أَجدَلُ

As at nightfall, or at the height of morning,

a falcon frightens the sparrows of Hujran al-Junaynah.