Sol 6.1

  1. هَل هاجَ شَوقَك صوتُ الطائرِ الغَرِدِ

    في الرّبعِ والرّبعُ عُريانٌ بلا أحدِ

    Has the voice of the warbling bird stirred your longing

    at the campsite, though the campsite stands bare, with no one there?

  2. غنّاك ما قلبُه شوقاً بُمكتئبٍ

    وليس دمعٌ له حُزناً بمطّردِ

    It sang to you, its heart not downcast with longing,

    nor does it shed a steady stream of tears from grief.

  3. وربّما هاجَ أحزانَ الفؤادِ وما

    يَدْرِي خليٌّ من الأشجانِ والكَمَدِ

    Often it stirs the heart's sorrows, though

    it is carefree, knowing nothing of anguish or heartache.

  4. أمّا الذين رَمَتْ عسفانَ عِيرُهُمُ

    بكلِّ موَّارةٍ عَيرانةٍ أُجُدِ

    As for those whose caravan headed for ʿUsfān,

    on every swift-striding, hardy, strong-backed she-camel,

  5. ففي الفؤادِ على آثارهمْ جَزَعٌ

    لا يستفيق وهمٌّ غيرُ مُفتقَدِ

    in my heart, in their wake, is an anguish

    that never abates, and a sorrow never absent.

  6. حنّوا إليك وقد شطّ المزارُ بهمْ

    كَأنّهمْ لم يَصدّوا عنك من صَدَدِ

    They yearned for you, though their dwelling lay far away,

    as though they had not shunned you when close at hand.

  7. قَد قلتُ لمّا لِقينا الظّعنَ سائرةً

    ماذا يُفيد لِقَيناهُنَّ من غَيَدِ

    I said, when we met the women journeying in their litters:

    What does it profit us to have met such supple beauties—

  8. مِن كلِّ موسومةٍ بالحسن بَهْكَنَةٍ

    كَأنّما سُرِقتْ من جنّةِ الخُلدِ

    each soft and full-figured, marked with beauty,

    as though stolen from the Garden of Eternity?

  9. مَن عاذِري في الغَواني غِبَّ مُنتشرٍ

    من المشيبِ كنُوّار الضّحى بَدَدِ

    Who will excuse me for loving beauties, after the spread

    of gray hair, scattered like blossoms in the morning light?

  10. وافى ولم يبغِ مِنّي أن أهيبَ به

    وحلَّ مِنّيَ كرهاً حيث لم أُردِ

    It came without asking me to summon it,

    and settled upon me, against my will, where I did not want it.

  11. وَلَو جَنَتهُ يَدِي ما كنتُ طائعَها

    لَكِنْ جَناهُ على فَوْدَيَّ غيرُ يدِي

    Had my own hand wrought it, I would not have obeyed that hand;

    but it was not my hand that brought it upon my temples.

  12. دَعْ عنكَ كلَّ لئيمِ الطّبعِ مُبتذَلٍ

    أذلَّ في عَرَصاتِ الدار من وَتدِ

    Leave aside every base-natured, debased man,

    more abject than a stake in the house's courtyards.

  13. إِنْ هَمَّ بِالخَيرِ عاقَتهُ عَوائقهُ

    وإنْ مضى في طريق الحمدِ لم يَعُدِ

    If he intends good, his obstacles hold him back;

    and if he takes the path of praise, he never returns to it.

  14. وَلا تُؤاخِ منَ الأقوامِ مُنطَوياً

    على الضّغينةِ مملوءاً من الحسدِ

    Do not befriend, among men, one who harbors

    rancor within, filled with envy,

  15. نَشواً منَ الغيِّ ما لم يَدرِهِ أبداً

    ولا يمرّ بما يدري من الرُّشدِ

    drunk on folly he has never understood,

    and never approaching the right guidance he does know.

  16. يا فَخرَ ملكِ بنِي العبّاس كلّهمُ

    من والدٍ قد مضى منهمْ ومن وَلَدِ

    O glory of the rule of all the sons of al-ʿAbbās,

    their fathers who have passed away and their sons,

  17. وَمَن يَجود على ما في نَوافلِهِ

    بالفخر والعزّ قبل الجود بالصَّفَدِ

    and you who bestow, over and above your bounties,

    glory and honor before bestowing material gifts!

  18. للَّهِ درُّك تمرِي شَدَّ ناجيةٍ

    هوجاءَ مرشوشةِ القُطرين بالنَّجَدِ

    God bless you as you coax speed from a swift she-camel,

    headlong, with both flanks sprinkled with sweat.

  19. كَأنَّها وَكريم النّجْوِ يَحفِزها

    إلى بلوغِ المدى سِيدٌ على جَدَدِ

    As though she, with her noble speed driving her

    to reach the goal, were a wolf on firm, level ground.

  20. وَفي يَديك لَعوبُ المتنِ مُبتَدرٌ

    إلى تقنّصِ نفس الفارس النَّجِدِ

    In your hands a supple-shafted spear rushes

    to hunt down the life of the valiant horseman.

  21. مثلُ الرّشاءِ ولكنْ لا قليبَ له

    يَومَ الكريهةِ إلّا مُنحَنَى الكَبِدِ

    Like a well-rope, yet it has no well

    on battle's day, save the liver's curved hollow.

  22. ماذا يريبُ العِدى لا دَرّ دَرُّهمُ

    مِن نازِحٍ عَن مَقامِ العَذْلِ والفَنَدِ

    What troubles the foes—may their milk run dry—

    about one far beyond the reach of blame and disparagement?

  23. ما زالَ والظّمءُ يَستدعِي مكارِعَهُ

    إِنْ فاتهُ العدُّ لم يوردْ على ثَمَدِ

    Ever, though thirst summons him to his watering places,

    if a perennial spring eludes him, he will not water at a scanty pool.

  24. كَم ذا لكفّكِ مِن آثارِ مكرُمةٍ

    في غُنمِ مفتقرٍ أو فكِّ مُضطَهَدِ

    How many marks of noble deeds your hand has left,

    in gain for the needy or release for the oppressed!

  25. قلائدٌ مثلُ أطواقِ الحمامِ لنا

    تبيدُ أُخرى اللّيالِي وهْيَ لم تَبِدِ

    They are necklaces for us, like the neck-rings of doves;

    the last of nights will perish, yet they will not.

  26. وَحاطَها وهيَ بالبيداءِ مُصحِرَةٌ

    لأخذِ مستَلَبٍ أو لَقْمِ مُزدَرَدِ

    And he guarded her when she lay exposed in the desert,

    as spoil to be seized or a morsel to be swallowed,

  27. مِن بعدِ ما غابَ عَنها كلُّ منتصرٍ

    فمنْ جنى فبِلا عقْلٍ ولا قَوَدِ

    after every defender had vanished from her side,

    so whoever did wrong faced neither blood-money nor retaliation.

  28. وَجُبتَ أَعداءَها عَنها فَلو طلبتْ

    لها عدوّاً طِوالَ الدّهرِ لم تَجِدِ

    You swept her enemies away from her—were she to seek

    an enemy for herself through all time, she would find none—

  29. حَتّى اِستَقرّتْ وقد كانتْ مُقَلْقَلةً

    تُساق من بلدٍ ناءٍ إلى بلدِ

    until she found stability, though she had been shaken,

    driven from one distant land to another.

  30. لَولا مَكانُك كانَتْ يَومَ بَطشَتها

    بِلا ذراعٍ ولا كفٍّ ولا عَضُدِ

    But for your presence, on the day she struck she would have been

    without forearm, hand, or upper arm.

  31. مَنْ كان غيركَ والرُّعيانُ قد هجموا

    يَضُمُّ أرجاءَ تلك الثلَّةِ الشُّرُدِ

    Who but you, when the shepherds had rushed in,

    could gather the scattered parts of that straying flock?

  32. ومَنْ يدُلّ وقد ضلّتْ حلومُهُمُ

    عن السَّدادِ إلى شيءٍ من السَّدَدِ

    And who could guide them—when their minds had strayed

    from sound judgment—toward any measure of right guidance?

  33. فالآن أصبح ما قد كان مُنتَهَكاً

    ذُؤابةَ النّيقِ أو عرّيسةِ الأسدِ

    Now what was once violated has become

    the crest of a lofty crag, or a lion's lair.

  34. لا فاتَنا لكَ دَهرٌ لا تزال بهِ

    وَلا اِنتَهيتَ منَ الدّنيا إِلى أمَدِ

    May we never be denied an age with your enduring presence,

    and may you never reach the end of life in this world.

  35. وَضَلَّ عنّا الّذي نَخشى ولا نَضُبتْ

    هذي الغضارةُ عن أيّامنا الجُدُدِ

    May what we dread stray from us, and may it never run dry,

    this lush prosperity in our new days.

  36. وَعادَك العيدُ أَعواماً متى حُصرتْ

    بِالعدِّ كانتْ بلا حَصرٍ ولا عددِ

    May the festival return to you for years that, whenever reckoned

    by counting, prove beyond all reckoning or number,

  37. في ظِلِّ مَملكةٍ تبلى الصُّخورُ على

    طولِ المدى وهْيَ لا تبلى على الأمَدِ

    in the shade of a kingdom: rocks wear away with

    the long passage of time, but it never wears away through the ages.