ألا من لعين لا ترى قلل الحمى

ولاجبل الأوشال إلا استهلت

Ah, who can help an eye that never sees al-Hima's peaks

or Mount al-Awshal without bursting into tears,

ولا النير إلا أسبلت وكأنها

على ربدٍ باتت عليه وظلت

nor al-Nir without shedding tears, as though

it had wept over rabad [unclear], through night and day,

لجوج إذا لجت بكى إذا بكت

بكت فأدقت في البكا وأجلت

relentless when it persists, all tears when it weeps?

It wept, with tears both fine and copious,

كما هتنت طرفاء ناشت غصونها

جنوب وقد كانت من الليل طلت

as a tamarisk drips when its branches are brushed

by a south wind, after being dew-drenched in the night.

ألا قاتل اللَه الحمى من محلةٍ

وقاتل دنيانا بها كيف ولت

Ah, God curse al-Hima—what a dwelling place!

And curse our life there—how it passed away!

غنينا زماناً بالحمى ثم أصبحت

عراض الحمى من أهلها قد تخلت

We dwelt a while in al-Hima; then

al-Hima's broad lands stood empty of their people.

ونادى المنادي بالفراق فقوضوا

بيوتاً ترى أطنابها حيث شدت

The crier called for parting, and they dismantled

tents whose ropes you see where they were fastened.

شددت بثوبي حشوةً ضبثت بها

يد الشوق يوم البين حين إحزألت

I bound within my garment the entrails clutched

by longing's hand on parting-day, when they contracted.

وقلت لأصحابي غداة فراقها

وددت البحور العام بالناس طمت

I told my companions on the morning I left her:

'I wish the seas this year would engulf mankind,

فتنقطع الدنيا التي أصبحت بهم

كمثل مصابات على الناس عمت

and end this world, which through them has become

like calamities that have overtaken everyone.'

ولكنما الدنيا كفئ غمامةٍ

أظلت بغيمٍ ساعةً واضمحلت

Yet life is only like the shade of a cloud

that cast its shadow for an hour, then dissolved.

أقول لعثمان بن وهبٍ وقد رأى

سحوقي جرت فيها دموعي فبلت

I say to Uthman ibn Wahb, who has seen

my worn garments, soaked by the tears that ran through them:

ألكني إلى طيا ألكني لحاجةٍ

من الحاج قد همت بنفسي وهمت

Carry my message to Tayya, carry it for a need

among my needs, which has troubled my soul; I have wandered distraught.

بآية ماسارت فلما تمكنت

حبائلها من شعبة القلب حلت

By the token of her journey: when at last

her snares had gripped a branch of my heart, she settled there,

وقالت حللنا وادياً ذا طريفةٍ

وكانت مطايانا من السير كلت

and said, 'We have settled in a valley of tarifa grass';

our mounts had grown weary of the journey.

فحلت محلا لم يكن حل قبلها

وهانت مراقيه لطيا وذلت

Thus she lodged where none had lodged before her,

and its ascents grew easy for Tayya, and yielded.

خليلي في طيا أقلا ملامتي

فقد بخلت طيا علينا وضنت

My two friends, reproach me less over Tayya:

for Tayya has been miserly toward us and grudging.

لعمري لئن أحببت طيا وآثرت

عليّ العدا ما سنة العدل سنّت

By my life, though I loved Tayya, she preferred

my enemies to me; no just law did she lay down.

أظل أمنيها الفؤاد سفاهةً

إذا ما انطوت نفسي على اليأس ملت

Foolishly, I keep feeding my heart hopes of her;

whenever my soul embraces despair, it grows weary.

فوجدي بطيّا وجد أشمط راعه

بواحده داى المنايا ألمّت

My longing for Tayya is a gray-haired father's grief, terrified

by death's affliction falling on his only child.

ووجدي بطيا وجد بكرٍ غريرة

على والديها فارقاها فجنت

And my longing for Tayya is an innocent maiden's grief

for her parents, who left her, driving her mad.

ووجدي بطيا وجد هيماء حليت

عن الماء كانت منذ خمسين ضلت

And my longing for Tayya is a parched she-camel's anguish, driven

from water, having strayed for two watering cycles.

إذا سافت الأعطان أوشمت الثرى

رماها وليّ الماء عنه فولت

Whenever she sniffed the watering-grounds and barely touched the damp earth,

the water's keeper pelted her away from it, and she turned back.

وإن أشرفت من آكم الماء ميفعاً

لوت رجلها اليسرى بالأخرى فحنت

And if she climbed a height among the knolls by the water,

she twisted her left hindleg around the other, and moaned.

فحنت حنيناً يطرب الصب ذا الهوى

وقد نهلت منه بيأس وعلت

She moaned a moan that stirred the lovesick lover,

though her first draught from it, and her second, were despair.

ولا وجد بكرٍ حرةٍ أرحبيةٍ

ترود حوالي طفلها قد أتمت

Nor the grief of a purebred, young Arhabi she-camel,

roaming around her calf after completing her term:

أتيح لها فيما تروح وتغتدي

خشارم منه رعبها فاشمعلت

for her, as she went out at dusk and dawn, there was destined

a huge wolf, whose terror sent her bolting.

وجاءت مفجاة ترى فرث طفلها

بسرحانه أظفارها قد تدمت

She came suddenly bereaved, seeing her calf's gut-contents

on the wolf that took it, her own hooves bloodied.

تهز من الوجد الخصيل وراعها

صويت خفي خلفها فاقشعرت

In anguish she shakes her tufted hair, then is startled

by a faint sound behind her, and shudders.

فما وجدت من طفلها غير شلوه

شماطيط لم تقنع بها حيث شمت

She found nothing of her calf but its torn remains,

scattered fragments that gave her no comfort when she sniffed them.

فظلت تراعي شلوها مستحنة

إذا سليت رجع الحنين استهلت

She remained watching over her little one's remains, moaning with yearning;

whenever she was consoled, yearning returned and she burst into tears.

ولا أم أحوى شادنٍ عطفت له

قبيل طلوع الشمس أو حين ذرت

Nor that of a dusky fawn's mother, turning tenderly toward him

just before sunrise, or as the sun rose:

فلما سقته الدر أحجم قائماً

إليها قليلاً ثم ولى وولت

when she had given him her flowing milk, he stood holding back

beside her a little, then he turned away, and she turned

إلى مرتعٍ قد عودته ومهملٍ

سليل فظلت يومها حين ظلت

to a pasture she had frequented, an open grazing-ground,

smooth and spacious; there she lingered through the day.

فلما دنا الإظلام أدرك سمعها

صويتاً خفياً راعها فاحزألت

When darkness drew near, there reached her hearing

a faint, small sound; it startled her, and she drew herself up.

تمارت على جرسٍ فنصت بجيدها

وكانت على طول الحلاء أدلت

Uncertain of a rustle, she stretched her neck upright,

though she had grown confident despite the long separation.

ودارت بأدنى عهده ثم راجعت

أماقي تكلى ما تجد ما أضلت

She circled where she had last seen him; then her eyes became again

those of a bereaved mother, unable to find what she had lost.

ولا وجد أعرابية قذفت بها

صروف النوى من حيث لم تك ظنت

Nor the grief of a Bedouin woman hurled

by exile's vicissitudes, from a quarter she never expected:

يشد عليها الباب أحمر لازم

عليها زقاقي قرية قد أبنت

a ruddy man bolts the door on her, always hovering

over her—a village alley-dweller; she has been accused.

تمنت أحاليب اللقاح وضيعة

بنجد فلم يقدر لها ما تمنت

She longed for milkings of milch camels and a rural holding

in Najd; but what she wished was not decreed for her.

إذا ذكرت ماء العظاة وطيبه

وبرد الحصى من أرض نجدٍ أرنت

Whenever she recalled al-Azah's water and its sweetness,

and the cool pebbles of Najd's earth, she cried aloud—

بأكبر من وجدٍ بطيا وجدته

غداة ارتحلنا غدوة واطمأنت

is greater than the longing for Tayya that I felt

when we departed early one morning, while she stayed settled.

لها فخذا بختيةٍ بخترية

وساق إذا قامت عليها اتمهلت

She has the thighs of a stately Bactrian she-camel,

and a leg upon which she stands tall and straight,

وخصران دقا في اعتدالٍ ومتنةٍ

كمتنة مصقول من الهند سلت

and two slender, well-proportioned flanks, and a back

like the back of a polished Indian blade drawn from its sheath;

وعينا أحم المدريين ومضحك

إذا ما جرت فيه المساويك زلت

and a dark-horned antelope's eyes, and a smiling mouth

where tooth-cleaning sticks slip as they pass;

وداج على اللبات وحف كأنه

عناقيد جون من كروم تدلت

and thick, dark hair upon her collarbones, like

black grape-clusters hanging from vines.

فان يك هذا عهد طيا وأهلها

فهذا الذي كنا ظننا وظنت

If this is Tayya's pledge, and her people's,

this is what we supposed, and what she supposed.

وكانت رياحٌ تخبر الحاج بيننا

فقد عميت أرواح طيا وصمت

Winds once carried word of our needs between us,

but Tayya's winds have now grown blind and deaf.

خليلي في طيا أعينا أخاكما

فقد بخلت طيا علينا وضنت

My two friends, help your brother concerning Tayya:

for Tayya has been miserly toward us and grudging.

قطعت بطيا الهم والفقر والغنى

وطيا مني نفسي إذا ما تمنت

With Tayya I have passed through care, poverty, and wealth;

and Tayya is my soul's desire whenever it wishes.

وطيا أروج الجيب مهضومة الحشى

كمزنة صيفٍ هجرت فاستهلت

Tayya is fragrant at the neckline, slender-waisted,

like a summer raincloud passing at noon, then pouring down.

إذا جلست بين الغواني عشيةً

على أي حالٍ عاطلاً أو تحلت

When she sits among lovely women at evening,

however she may be, unadorned or wearing jewels,

سمت نحوها الأبصار أول وهلةٍ

بدياً وعادت نحوها فتثنت

eyes rise toward her at the very first glance,

first of all, then turn back toward her for a second look.