For many a night I have given my cares a place to lodge,
Yet they have never satisfied my needs or fulfilled my aims.
I could fall upon you from two steep passes in the dark of night;
Every clan would drive its laden camels—between the driver and the wood-gatherer.
I seek for you refuge in God from the evil of your own deeds,
From your mutual hostility and the stealthy planting of scorpions;
From parading corrupted manners and whispering diseased secrets—
Their stab like a viper’s fang, its strike unfailingly sure.
At the very first moment, remind them of God
And of the sanctity once the roaming gazelles shed their consecration.
Then say—while God alone decrees His judgment—
“Leave war alone, and peace will come to greet you in broad welcome.
Whenever you rouse her, you rouse her to disgrace;
She is a ravenous ghoul, devouring both distant folk and kin.
She cuts the bonds of kinship, destroys an entire people,
And scrapes the very fat from hump and withers.
You will trade your fine Athamiyyah garments, once she has passed,
For ragged cloaks and clinking mail—the warrior’s dress;
Your musk and camphor for dusty coats of chain,
Whose twin rows glint like the eyes of grasshoppers.
So beware of war—let her not take hold of you
Like a pool whose water is foul and bitter to the taste.
She bedecks herself for the tribes, and they admire her—
Till the end is laid bare, once Umm Ṣāḥib shows her face.”
(1) “al-Muʿarras”: the place where travelers rest at the end of the night. Cf. al-Qāmūs (s.v. ʿaras).
(2) In al-Rawḍ (2:30) al-Suhaylī explains that nabyatukum shurjaynan literally means “you spend the night in two separate bands,” i.e. two distinct parties, and that the verb nabyatukum is a problematic form. In his margin the Shaykh notes that, despite committing the Zihāf Khurram variant, the phrase remains clear in meaning, whereas the use of tatbayyut (“to spend the night”) here is far removed from its proper sense. Al-azmal means “spark,” al-mudhki “fire-starter,” and al-haṭīb “wood-gatherer.” He applies these terms as a metaphor for the flame of battle, as another poet says:
"Arā khalal al-ramād wa mayḍa jamrin
wa-yushliku an yakūna lahā dirām
fa-inna an-nār bil-ʿawdayn tudhkā
wa-inna al-ḥarb awwaluha al-kalām"
(3) “al-Ashfā”: an awl used for piercing. Plural: ashfā. Cf. al-Qāmūs (s.v. shafa).
(4) I.e., your land is inviolable, so that the wild antelopes (al-shawāzib) that range far to reach it become lean (shāziba) by the journey. If you will not approach it with antelopes, how much less should you shed your own blood there. The term ihrām for the antelopes denotes their presence within the sacred territory; one “enters ihrām” during the forbidden months or within a sacred city (muḥrim). Cf. al-Rawḍ (2:30).
(5) “al-Marāhib”: plural of marḥab, denoting a broad, open expanse. Cf. Lisān al-ʿArab (s.v. raḥib).
(6) “al-Ghūl”: destruction or death. Cf. al-Rawḍ (2:30). The first hemistich is from Zuhayr’s Mu‘allaqa:
"Matā tubʿithūhā tubʿithūhā dhamīmah
wa-taḍurru idhā ḍarraytumūhā fatudarim"
(7) “al-Sadīf”: the fatty tissue of the camel’s hump; al-Ghārib: the region between the hump and the neck; and tubrī: “it makes [the animal] lean.” Cf. al-Qāmūs (s.vv. sadf, gharb, barrā).
(8) “al-Atḥamiyya”: lightweight garments made in Yemen; al-Shalīl: a short cuirass; al-Aṣdāʼ: iron armor scales. Cf. al-Rawḍ (2:30).
(9) “al-Qatīr”: the rings of the cuirass, likened to locust eyes. Cf. al-Rawḍ (2:30).
(10) In al-Rawḍ (2:30) al-Suhaylī notes that this resembles a verse of ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib cited in al-Kāmil.