سل عن فؤادك بين منعقِد اللوى

والنَّعفِ قبلَ تشعُّب الأظعانِ

Ask after your heart between the winding dunes

and the hillside, before the camel-litters scatter.

واخلِط أنينَك إن تسمَّع كاشحٌ

بِرُغاءِ كلِّ مجرجِرٍ حَنَّانِ

Mingle your moaning, if a spiteful enemy listens,

with every rumbling, yearning camel's cry.

فلربّما طارت مناسِمُها غداً

بحَشاك وهي مناسِرُ العِقبانِ

For perhaps tomorrow their padded feet will fly

off with your heart—eagles' beaks they are.

لله أنت محدِّثا أنَّ النوى

مُمْسَى غدٍ من والهٍ حَرّانِ

How wondrous you are, saying that separation

comes tomorrow evening—what a distraught, burning lover!

ناهٍ دموعَك بالبنانِ تجمُّلا

نهياً مشقَّته على الأجفانِ

Holding your tears back with your fingertips, to seem composed,

a restraint whose burden falls upon your eyelids.

نبذوا عهودك في الحصا وتأوَّلوا

ديِنَ النساءِ عليك في الأديانِ

They cast your pledges among the pebbles and invoked

women's creed against you, of all creeds.

وتلبَّسوا لك في النِّفاق صبائغا

قبلَ الفراق كثيرةَ الأوانِ

And in hypocrisy they put on dyed robes for you,

before the parting, time after time.

غادون أو متروِّحون لشأنهم

فلأشِرقَنّ لهم بجمَّةِ شاني

Whether leaving at dawn or setting out at evening on their affairs,

I shall surely choke for them on my tear-duct's flood.

ولقد حملتُ حديثَهم في أضلعٍ

للسرِّ مُشرَجَةٍ على الكتمانِ

And indeed I have carried their story within ribs

laced shut about a secret, to keep it hidden.

وربطتُ صدري باليديْنِ مخافةً

من كثرة الزفراتِ والخفقانِ

And I bound my breast with both hands, for fear

of its many sighs and palpitations.

يا سائلي بوفائهم لك ذمّةٌ

من أن يراني الحبُّ حيث نهاني

O you who entreat me by their faithfulness, I pledge to you

that Love shall not find me where it forbade me.

خُذ وجهيَ الراضي إليك ولا تسلْ

بعدَ النوى عن قلبيَ الغضبانِ

Accept my contented face before you, and do not ask,

after separation, about my angry heart.

هل في البروقِ على الكثيبِ دلالةٌ

إن أعوزتك دلالةُ النيرانِ

Does the lightning above the dune offer guidance,

if the guidance of the fires has failed you?

أو في الصَّبا لك مَخبَرٌ عن مقلَتَيْ

هادِي الضلوعِ وموقِظٍ وسنانِ

Or has the east wind tidings for you of the two eyes

of one whose breast is calm, who awakens the drowsy?

أشكو ظَمايَ وبلَّةٌ من ريقه

تشفيِ فليتَ سقى وليت شفاني

I lament my thirst, though one moist drop of his saliva

would heal—if only he gave me drink, if only he healed me!

لما تواقفنا وكم من لهفةٍ

بحشاً هناك وعَضّةٍ ببنانِ

When we stood face to face—how many a pang

was in a heart there, how many a bite upon a finger!

أذكرتُه العهدَ القديمَ فما قضى

لي حاجةً إذكارُ من ينساني

I reminded him of the old pledge, yet it did not satisfy

my need, reminding one who forgets me.

قم نادِ بين حمولهم فلربما

كنتَ الطليقَ غدا وكنتُ العاني

Rise, call among their laden camels; perhaps

tomorrow you will be free, and I the captive.

عيني جنت يا ظالمين فما لكم

جورَ القضاء تعاقبون جَناني

My eye committed the offense, you unjust ones; why then,

with unjust judgment, do you punish my heart?

ما هذه يا قلبُ أوّلُ عثرةٍ

أُخذَ البريءُ لها بذنب الجاني

This, my heart, is not the first stumble

for which the innocent was seized for the culprit's sin.

أشكو زماني في دماءٍ طلَّها

عَبَثاً وثأري عند أهل زماني

I accuse my age of letting blood go unavenged—

vainly: my blood-claim is against the people of my age.

وسيوفُ أيامي التي أُنحِي بها

مسلولةٌ في أيدي الإخوانَ

And the swords of my days, with which I am assailed,

are drawn in the hands of my brothers.

يا صاحبيَّ كم القناعةُ بالمنى

والنومُ تحت ظلائِل الحرمانِ

My two companions, how long this contentment with wishes,

and sleeping beneath the shades of deprivation?

وزعمتا أن المغرّر عاثرٌ

تعِدُ العلا غيرَ الذيِ تعدانِ

You both claimed that the risk-taker stumbles;

Glory promises something other than what you two promise.

لا بدّ منها وثبةٌ عربيّةٌ

يَرضَى القُعودُ بها عن النَهَضانِ

There must be a leap, an Arab leap,

that makes those who sit content with those who rise.

تدجو الخطوبُ وليلُها مستصبحٌ

بالغرّة البيضاءِ من عدنانِ

Calamities darken, but their night is lit

by a bright white brow from Adnan's line.

تبغيِ ديونا من بني عوفٍ لها

عُقِدتْ بغير الَمطل واللَّيّانِ

It seeks from Banu Awf debts owed to it,

contracted without delay in payment or evasion,

حتى تَبيتَ مع الظلام نزيلةً

لأغرَّ كابن أبي الأغرِّ هجِانِ

until, as darkness falls, it lodges as a guest

with a radiant, purebred lord like Ibn Abi al-Agharr.

واهاً لها هَدياً وحُسنَ بصيرةٍ

في السعي إن بلَغتْ أبا حسَّانِ

Ah, what guidance it has, what keen discernment

in its quest, if it reaches Abu Hassan!

تُلقي عصاها في بيوت مقلَّدٍ

بندىً يَحُلُّ قلائدَ الأرسانِ

It lays down its staff in the houses of Muqallad,

where bounty unfastens the neck-bands of halters;

حيثُ الفخارُ العِدُّ أبيضُ سافرٌ

والجودُ أخضرُ ناعمُ الأغصانِ

where inexhaustible glory shines white, unveiled,

and generosity is green, with tender boughs.

ومع العشيِّ مُراحةٌ هدَّارةٌ

آجالُها في قبضةِ الضيفانِ

At evening, a bellowing herd is brought home,

its lives held in the guests' grasp.

تفدِي سواه سُوقها بضروعِها

ودماؤها معه فِدَى الألبانِ

With others, their shanks are ransomed by their udders;

but with him, their blood ransoms their milk.

في كلِّ بيتٍ جَفنةٌ فهَّاقةٌ

وفحيصُ مَعقورٍ ونقعُ دُخَانِ

In every house, a brimming platter,

a slaughtered beast's scraped earth, and a cloud of smoke;

ونفيسةٌ من ماله موهوبةٌ

لم تُحصَ في كيلٍ ولا ميزانِ

and a precious thing from his wealth, given away

unreckoned by measure or by scales.

يا قاتلَ الأزمات في أعوامها

بالجود بل يا قاتل الأقرانِ

O slayer of hardships in the years they strike,

through bounty—rather, O slayer of rival champions!

سَّموْك أكرمَهم فإن هم فُزِّعوا

بالصّبْحِ فاسمك فارسُ الفرسانِ

They named you their most generous; but if they are alarmed

at dawn, your name is horseman of horsemen.

كم موقِفٍ لك والقنا يزعُ القنا

عن أن يكونَ اليومُ يومَ طِعان

How many a stand was yours, when spears held spears back

from making the day a day of thrusting,

والموتُ ما بين الكميِّ وقِرنه

يتعاوران عليهِ أو يقعانِ

and death lay between the armored warrior and his rival,

as they vied over it, or both fell.

ما زلَّ عن زلَقاتِه لك أَخمَصٌ

ولقد تزِلُّ بغيرك القدَمانِ

No arch of your foot slipped on its treacherous ground,

though other men's two feet may slip.

أعطاكَ فيه النصرَ توثقةً وما

وقفت قناةُ مغامسٍ بسنانِ

Victory was granted you there as a pledge, and no

spear of a battle-plunger retained its point.

ورجعتَ تنثو حسن ما أبليته

ثُلَمُ الظُّبَا وقصائدُ الخُرْصانِ

You returned, your splendid exploits recounted by

the nicks in blade-edges and the odes of spears.

وسخيمة أغضيتَ عنها واهبا

للحِلم فيها سَوْرة الأضغانِ

Many a grudge you overlooked, surrendering

to forbearance the fury of bitter resentments.

أطَّتْ بك الرحم البليةُ دونها

حتى طويتَ الذنبَ بالغفرانِ

Your timeworn bonds of kinship creaked within you against it,

until you folded the offense away in forgiveness.

وضممتَ قومكَ تابعا في ضمِّهم

أمرَ العلا وحقيقة الإيمانِ

You gathered your people together, following, in gathering them,

the command of nobility and the truth of faith.

وإذا الكريمُ تناكرتْ أعمامُهُ

أخوالَه بسقت به العرقانِ

When a nobleman's paternal uncles are at odds with

his maternal uncles, both ancestral roots raise him high.

أعطيت حتّى كلُّ عافٍ قائلٌ

أفقرتُهُ بالجودِ أو أغناني

You gave until every supplicant says,

'I have impoverished him through his bounty—or he has enriched me.'

وأجرتَ حتى ودَّ قومُك أنّهم

مع عزِّهم لك موضعُ الجيرانِ

You granted protection until your people wished,

despite their might, to stand among your protected neighbors.

مرَّتْ صِفاتُك بي فهزَّتْ أضلعي

شوقا إليكَ وهيَّجتْ أشجاني

Your qualities passed before me and shook my ribs

with longing for you, and stirred my sorrows.

وخجِلتُ من مدحي لقومك والعلا

في ترك مدحك وحده تلحاني

I was ashamed of my praise of your people, while Glory

rebuked me for leaving only your praise unsung.

وعلمتُ أنك خيرُ من علِقَتْ به

منِّي حبائلُ بُغيةٍ وأماني

I knew that you were the best to whom were fastened

my cords of desire and hope.

فبعثتُها سيّارةً لك ركبُها

في الأرض لا الواني ولا المتواني

So I sent it roaming to you, its caravan

on earth neither flagging nor laggard,

حمّالةً من طِيب نشرِك في الملا

سُلَف الحَيَا وبواكِرَ الرَّيحانِ

bearing, from your sweet fragrance among the people,

the first rainshowers and the earliest basil.

ودَّتْ لها لو أنها أسديةٌ

عليا تميمٍ أو بني شيبانِ

For its sake they would wish to belong to Asad—

the nobility of Tamim or Banu Shayban.

تُحيِي محاسنَ مَزْيَدٍ إحياءَكم

باقي علاه على الزمان الفاني

It revives the virtues of Mazyad, as you revive

his surviving glory despite perishing time.

تُعطيك في النادي أوائلَ فخرِه

والقومُ بعدَك تابعٌ أو ثاني

It gives you, in the assembly, the foremost of his honors,

while those after you are followers or seconds.

وإذا تلاها المنشدون تمنَّت ال

أبصارُ فيها موضعَ الآذانِ

And when reciters declaim it, a wish fills the

eyes: to take the place of ears.

لم يبقَ غيري من يقومُ بمثلها

لكُمُ ولا من كان قبلَ زماني

No one but me remains to produce its like

for you, nor anyone who lived before my time.

فُقتُ الورى قولا وفُقتم نائلا

فالمجدُ بين أكفّكم ولساني

I surpassed mankind in speech, and you surpassed them in giving;

so glory lies between your hands and my tongue.