Sol 6.1

  1. إِنَّكِ عَمْرُ أَبيكِ الكَرِي

    مِ إنْ تَسْأَلِي عَنْكِ مَنْ يَجْتدِينا

    Indeed, by the life of your noble father,

    if you ask those who seek our bounty about yourself—

  2. فإنْ تَسْألي ثُمّ لا تُكذَبِي

    يخبِّرْكِ مَنْ سَألتِ اليَقِينَا

    if you ask, and then are told no lies—

    the one you asked will tell you the certain truth:

  3. بِأَنّا لَيالِيَ ذاتِ العِظَا

    مِ كُنّا ثِمَالاً لِمَنْ يَعْتَرِينَا

    that, through the nights of bone-baring famine,

    we were a refuge for whoever came to us.

  4. تَلُوذُ النَّجُودُ بأَذْرَائِنا

    مِنَ الضُّرِّ في أزَمَاتِ السّنِينَا

    The noblewoman seeks refuge in our shelter

    from misery in the straits of lean years.

  5. بِجَدْوَى فضولِ أَولى وُجِدْنَا

    وبالصّبْرِ والبّذْلِ في المُعْدِمينا

    In giving surplus wealth, we were found foremost,

    and in steadfastness and generosity toward the destitute.

  6. وأبْقَتْ لَنَا جَلَمَاتُ الحُرُو

    بِ مِمّنْ نُوازِي لَدُنْ أن بُرِينَا

    And the onslaughts of war have left us,

    from those we have contended with since our creation,

  7. مَعَاطِنَ تَهْوِي إلَيْهَا الحُقُو

    قُ يَحْسَبُها مَنْ رَآهَا الفَتِينَا

    camel-folds to which mature camels hasten,

    which anyone seeing them would take for blackened rock.

  8. تُخَيَّسُ فيها عِتَاقُ الجِمَا

    لِ صُحْماً دَوَاجنَ حُمْراً وَجُونا

    Choice-bred camels are confined there,

    dusky and tame, red and black.

  9. وَدَفَّاعُ رَجلٍ كموجِ الفُرا

    تِ يَقْدُمُ جَأْوَاءَ جُولاً طَحونَا

    And a surging mass of footmen, like the Euphrates' waves,

    leads a dark host, vast and grinding.

  10. تَرَى لَوْنَها مِثْلَ لَوْنِ النّجُو

    مِ رَجراجةً تُبْرِقُ النّاظِرِينا

    You see its hue like the hue of the stars,

    a surging mass that dazzles those who look.

  11. فإنْ كُنْتَ عَنْ شَأْنِنَا جَاهِلاً

    فَسَلْ عَنْهُ ذَا العلمِ مِمّنْ يَلِينَا

    So if you are ignorant of our affairs,

    ask someone knowledgeable, one of our neighbors,

  12. بِنَا كَيْفَ نَفْعَلُ إنْ قَلَّصَتْ

    عَوَاناً ضَرُوساً عَضُوضاً حَجُونَا

    about us: how we act when war grows fierce,

    seasoned, vicious, biting, withholding her milk.

  13. أَلَسْنَا نَشُدُّ عَلَيْهَا العِصَا

    بَ حتّى تَدُرَّ وحتَّى تَلِينَا

    Do we not tighten the binding-band upon her,

    until she yields milk, and until she grows gentle?

  14. وَيَوْمٌ لَهُ وَهَجٌ دَائِمٌ

    شَدِيدُ التّهاوُلِ حَامِي الأَرِينَا

    And a day with an unceasing blaze,

    fearsome in its terrors, blazing in its fury,

  15. طَوِيلٌ شَدِيدُ أَوارِ القِتَا

    لِ تَنْقي قَوَاجِزُهُ المُقْرِفِينا

    long, fierce with battle's searing heat,

    whose violent shocks weed out the base-born—

  16. تَخَالُ الكُمَاةَ بأَعْراضِهِ

    ثِمَالاً على لذّة مُنْزَفِينَا

    you would think the armored champions across its breadth

    drunken with pleasure, bereft of their senses.

  17. تَعَاوَرَ أيمانُهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ

    كُؤُوسَ المَنَايَا بِحَدِّ الظُّبِينَا

    Their right hands passed back and forth among them

    the cups of death, with the keen edges of swords.

  18. شَهِدْنَا فَكُنَّا أُولِي بَأْسِهِ

    وَتَحْتَ العَمَايَةِ والمُعْلَمِينَا

    We witnessed it, and were its men of might,

    and, beneath the blinding haze, its marked warriors,

  19. بِخُرْسِ الحَسِيسِ حِسَانٍ رِواءٍ

    وَبَصْريّةٍ قَدْ أجمنَ الجُفُونَا

    with soundless mail, handsome and fine to see,

    and Busran blades grown weary of their scabbards.

  20. فَمَا يَنْفَلِلْنَ وما يَنْحَنِينَ

    وما يَنْتَهِينَ إِذَا ما نُهِينَا

    They neither chip nor bend,

    nor do they desist when bidden to stop.

  21. كَبَرْقِ الحَرِيقِ بأيدي الكُمَاةِ

    يُفَجِّعْنَ بالطَّلِّ هَاماً سُكُونَا

    Like the flash of a blaze in the champions' hands,

    they bring unavenged slaughter upon motionless heads.

  22. وَعَلَّمَنَا الضَّرَبَ آبَاؤُنَا

    وَسَوْفَ نُعَلِّمُ أيضاً بَنِينَا

    Our fathers taught us how to strike,

    and we, too, shall teach our sons

  23. جِلاَدَ الكُمَاةِ وَبَذْلَ التّلاَ

    دِ عن جُلِّ أَحْسَابنا ما بَقِينَا

    to fight champions and spend ancestral wealth

    in defense of our chief ancestral honors, as long as we live.

  24. إذَا مرَّ قِرْنٌ كفى نَسْلُهُ

    وأورَثَه بَعْدَهُ آخَرِينَا

    When a generation passes, its offspring takes its place,

    and passes it on afterward to others.

  25. نَشِبُّ وَتَهْلَكُ آباؤُنَا

    وَبيْنَا نُرَبِّي بَنِينَا فَنِينَا

    We grow to manhood, and our fathers perish;

    and while we raise our sons, we pass away.

  26. سَأَلْتُ بكَ ابنَ الزّبَعرَى فَلَمْ

    أُنْبَأْكَ في القَوْمِ إلاّ هَجِينا

    I asked about you, Ibn al-Ziba'ra, and was not

    told of you among the people except as base-born—

  27. خَبيثاً تُطِيفُ بِكَ المُنْدَياتُ

    مقيماً على اللّؤْمِ حيناً فَحينا

    vile, with shameful deeds circling around you,

    persisting in baseness, time after time.

  28. تبجَّسْتَ تَهْجُو رَسُولَ المَلِي

    كِ قَاتَلَكَ اللهُ جلفاً لَعِينَا

    You burst forth, lampooning the King's Messenger—

    may God destroy you, you accursed boor!

  29. تَقُولُ الخَنَا ثُمَّ تَرْمِي بِهِ

    نقيَّ الثّيَابِ تقيّاً أَمينا

    You utter obscenity, then hurl it

    at one with spotless garments, devout and trustworthy.