Sol 6.1

  1. مَن عَذيرِي يومَ شرقيّ الحمى

    من هوىً جَدَّ بقلبٍ مَزَحا

    Who will defend me, that day east of the preserve,

    against love grown earnest with a heart that jested?

  2. نظرةٌ عادت فعادة حسرةً

    قَتلَ الرامي بها مَن جَرَحا

    A glance returned, then turned to sorrow;

    with it, the archer killed the one he wounded.

  3. قلن يستطردن بي عِينَ النقا

    رجلٌ جُنَّ وقد كان صحا

    The dune's wide-eyed beauties said, luring me onward:

    “A man gone mad, though he had regained his senses!

  4. لا تعدْ إن عُدتَ حيّاً بعدها

    طارحاً عينيك فينا مَطرحَا

    Do not return, if you come back alive after it,

    to cast your eyes upon us once more.”

  5. قد تذوَّقتُ الهوى من قبلها

    وأرى مُعذبَهُ قد أَملحا

    I had tasted love before that glance,

    and I see its tormentor has proved charming.

  6. سل طريق العيس من وادي الغضا

    كيف أغسقتَ لنا رَأْدَ الضحى

    Ask the road of the pale camels from Wadi al-Ghada:

    “How did you turn our early morning into dusk?

  7. ألشيءٍ غير ما جيراننا

    نفضوا نجدا وحَلّوا الأبطحا

    Was it for anything other than that our neighbors

    left Najd behind and settled in al-Abtah?”

  8. يا نسيم الصبح من كاظمةٍ

    شدّ ما هِجت الجوى والبُرَحا

    O morning breeze from Kazimah,

    how fiercely you stirred love's pain and anguish!

  9. الصَّبا إن كان لابدّ الصَّبا

    إنها كانت لِقلبي أرْوَحا

    The east wind—if one must blow, the east wind!

    It was more soothing to my heart.

  10. يا نداماي بسلْعٍ هل أرى

    ذلك المَغْبقَ والمصطَبَحا

    O my drinking companions at Salʿ, shall I see

    that evening drinking-place and that morning one?

  11. اُذكرونا ذكرَنا عهدَكُمُ

    ربَّ ذكَرى قرَّبتْ مَن نَزَحا

    Remember us as we remember your fellowship;

    many a memory has brought a distant one near.

  12. واذكروا صبّاً إذا غنَّى بكم

    شِربَ الدمعَ وعاف القَدحَا

    And remember a lovesick man who, whenever he sings of you,

    drinks tears and spurns the cup.

  13. رجعَ العاذلُ عني آيساً

    من فؤادي فيكُمُ أن يُفلِحا

    The reproacher turned away from me, despairing

    of succeeding with my heart where you are concerned.

  14. لو دَرى لا حَمَلتْ ناجيةٌ

    رحلَهُ فيمن لحاني ما لَحَا

    Had he known—may no swift she-camel carry

    his saddle among my reproachers—he would not have reproached me.

  15. قد شربتُ الصبرَ عنكم مُكرَهاً

    وتبعتُ السقم فيكم مُسمِحا

    I have drunk bitter patience apart from you, unwillingly,

    and willingly followed sickness for your sake.

  16. وعرفتُ الهمَّ من بعدكُمُ

    فكأنّي ما عرفتُ الفرحا

    After you, I came to know sorrow,

    as though I had never known joy.

  17. ما لساري اللهوِ في ليل الصِّبا

    ضَلَّ في فجرٍ برأسي وضَحا

    What ails pleasure's night-traveler in youth's night,

    lost in a dawn that shone white upon my head?

  18. ما سمعنا بالسُّرى مِن قبله

    بابن ليلٍ ساءه أن يُصبِحا

    Before him, in night journeys, we had never heard

    of a son of night grieved at reaching morning.

  19. طارقٌ زارَ وما أنذرنا

    مُرغِياً بَكراً ولا مُستنبِحا

    A night-visitor came, giving us no warning,

    neither making a young camel bellow nor seeking a dog's bark.

  20. صَوَّحتْ ريحانةُ العيشِ به

    فَمن الراعي نباتاً صَوَّحا

    At his coming, life's basil withered;

    so who will tend a withered plant?

  21. أنكرتْ تبديلَ أحوالي ومَن

    صحِب الدنيا على ما اقترَحا

    She found my altered condition strange; yet who

    has had the world's company on his own terms?

  22. شدَّ ما مَنَّى غروراً نفسَه

    تاجرُ الآدابِ في أن يَربَحا

    How greatly he has fed himself delusive hopes,

    the merchant of letters, hoping to make a profit!

  23. أبداً تُبصِرُ حظَّاً ناقصاً

    حيثما تُبصِرُ فضلاً رجَحا

    You always see a diminished fortune

    wherever you see surpassing merit.

  24. والمنَى والظنُّ بابٌ أبداً

    تُغلَق الأيدي إذا ما فُتِحا

    And hopes and expectations are a door: always,

    hands are shut whenever it is opened.

  25. قد خَبَرتُ الناسَ خُبرِي شِيَمي

    بخلاء وتَسمَّوا سُمَحا

    I have known people as I know my own character:

    misers, though they styled themselves generous.

  26. وتولَّجتُ على أخلاقهم

    داخلاً بين عَصاها واللِّحا

    And I have penetrated their character,

    entering between its wood and the bark.

  27. وبعثتُ الماءَ من صُمِّ الصَّفا

    قبلَ أن أبعثَ ظنّاً مُنجِحا

    And I drew water from solid, smooth rock

    before I could summon a hope that would succeed.

  28. يشتهون المالَ أن يبقىَ لهم

    فلماذا يشتهون المِدَحا

    They want their wealth to remain theirs;

    why, then, do they crave praises?

  29. يُفصِح اللَّحَّانُ بالجودِ وهُمْ

    فرطَ بخلٍ يُعجِمون الفُصَحا

    The faulty speaker speaks eloquently through generosity; yet they,

    through excessive stinginess, make the eloquent tongue-tied.

  30. جَرَّتِ الحسنى غلاماً ماجداً

    لم يُطِع في الجود إلا النُّصَحا

    Goodness drew onward a noble youth

    who, in generosity, obeyed only sincere advisers.

  31. طَوَّلوا في حَلبةِ المجدِ له

    فمضى يَتبعُ رأساً جَمَحا

    They gave him free rein in the racecourse of glory,

    and he went on, following a head that ran unbridled.

  32. مُنجَباً من آل إسماعيل لم

    يَروِ في الأَخلاقِ إلا المُلَحا

    Nobly bred of the house of Isma'il, he has never

    recounted, in matters of character, anything but the finest graces.

  33. كيفما طارتْ عِيافاتُ الندَى

    حَوْلَه طِرنَ يميناً سُنُحا

    Whichever way the bird-omens of bounty flew

    around him, they flew rightward, auspiciously.

  34. لا يبالي أيَّ زندٍ أَصلدتْ

    مَن أتى راحتَه مقتدِحا

    It matters not which fire-stick has failed

    to whoever comes to his palm seeking a spark.

  35. كلّما ضاقت يدُ الغيثِ بما

    مَلكتْ جاودها مُنفَسِحا

    Whenever the hand of rain was straitened by what

    it held, he rivaled it in open-handed bounty.

  36. لربيب النعمةِ اجتابَ الدجَى

    خابطٌ يُنضِي قِلاصاً طُلَّحا

    To reach prosperity's nursling, he crossed the darkness,

    a groping wayfarer wearing out exhausted young she-camels.

  37. حَمَّلَ الهمَّ وقد أَثقلَه

    جَلْدَةَ العظمِ أَمُوناً سُرُحا

    He loaded the sorrow that had weighed him down

    onto a strong-boned, dependable, swift she-camel.

  38. تُوسِعُ البيداءَ ظهراً خاشعاً

    في يدِ السير ورأساً مَرِحا

    She gives the wilderness a submissive back

    in journeying's hand, and a spirited head.

  39. لا تبالي ما قضت حاجتَها

    ما دَمِي من خُفِّها أو قَرِحا

    She does not care, so long as her need is met,

    what part of her foot-pad bleeds or grows sore.

  40. حَمَلَتْ أوعيةَ الشكرِ له

    وانثنت تحمِلُ منه المِنحَا

    She bore him vessels of gratitude

    and turned back bearing gifts from him.

  41. أحرز الفضلَ طريفاً تالداً

    والمعالي خاتِماً مُفتتِحا

    He secured excellence, both newly won and inherited,

    and high honors, both completing and inaugurating them.

  42. وجرى يقتصُّ مِن آياته

    أثرَ المجدِ طريقاً وَضَحا

    And he ran on, tracing from its signs

    the track of glory, a path that shone clear.

  43. نسبٌ كيف ترامت نحوه

    أعينُ الفخر أصابت مَسرحا

    A lineage—however they were cast toward it,

    the eyes of pride found room to roam.

  44. أملسُ الصفحةِ لم تَعلَق به

    غمزةٌ من قادحٍ ما قدَحا

    Smooth of surface; never has there clung to it

    a slur from any detractor, however much he disparaged it.

  45. عَوَّد البدرَ وقد قابله

    غُرّةً بات بها مستصبِحا

    He accustomed the full moon, when it faced him,

    to a radiant brow by which it lit its night.

  46. ورآه البحرُ أَوفَى جمَّةً

    منه بالنائل لمّا طفَحا

    And the sea saw his flood was fuller

    than its own in bounty, when he overflowed.

  47. وتسامت أعينُ الشِّعر إلى

    أن يكونَ السامعَ الممتدحَا

    And poetry's eyes aspired

    to have the listener be the one it praised.

  48. لم تجِد أبكارُهُ أو عُونُهُ

    عنك في خُطَّابها مُنتدَحا

    Neither its maidens nor its matrons found

    among their suitors any way to turn from you.

  49. غير حُرَّاتٍ أراها مُهمَلاً

    حقُّها عندكُمُ مُطَّرَحا

    Not as freeborn ladies do I see them: neglected

    is their due with you, cast aside.

  50. كم ترى أن يصبِر الشعرُ على

    أن تُهينوا مثلَها أو يَصفَحا

    How long do you think poetry can endure

    your dishonoring such ladies, or forgive it?

  51. أنتم استنزلتُمُ عنها يدي

    بعد ما عزَّ بها أن أَسمَحا

    You yourselves persuaded my hand to release them,

    after it had been hard for me to yield them.

  52. ورغبتم في علا أنسابها

    وكرامٍ من ذويها صُلَحا

    And you desired their lofty lineages

    and noble, upright men among their kin.

  53. وأرى مطلكُمُ في مهرها

    دام والمهرُ على مَن نَكَحا

    Yet I see your delay over their dowry

    has endured—and the dowry is owed by whoever marries.

  54. وثِقَ الشعرُ بكم واتصلتْ

    غفلةٌ تُخجلهُ فافتضَحا

    Poetry trusted you, and there persisted

    a neglect that shamed it, leaving it disgraced.

  55. فاعذروه إن أتى مُقتضِياً

    فلقد أنظَرَكم ما صَلَحا

    So excuse it if it comes to claim its due:

    it has given you as much respite as was fitting.

  56. ومضى حَولٌ على حَولٍ ولم

    يُنتجِ الوعد الذي قد أُلقِحا

    Year followed year, and never

    did the promise that had already been impregnated give birth.

  57. اُذكروه مثلَ ما يذكركم

    مُحسِناً واستقبِحوا ما استَقبَحا

    Remember it as it remembers you,

    kindly, and deem ugly what it deemed ugly.

  58. واعلموا أنّ قَلِيبَ الشكرِ إن

    هو لم يُمَددْ برفدٍ نَزَحا

    And know that gratitude's well, if

    it is not replenished with gifts, runs dry.

  59. واصحبوا أيّامَكم واستخدموا

    في المعالي هُجنَها والصُّرَحا

    And keep company with your days, and employ

    in high pursuits their crossbreds and their purebreds,

  60. بين نيروزٍ وعيدٍ أمسيا

    رائدَيْ إِقبالكم أو اصبحا

    between Nowruz and a festival, whether they greet evening

    as two heralds of your good fortune, or greet dawn.

  61. تَكمهُ الأحداثُ عنكم إن رأى

    طرفُها غيرَكُمُ أو لَمَحَا

    May calamities be blind to you, even if they see

    others with their eye, or glimpse them.