Ode LVI: Ah, be thou safe from harm

Ah, be thou safe from harm ! No parting for me to-day, Fatimah, nor evermore, so long as the tie of thy love endures !

The daughter of the Bakrite shot thee [with an arrow] from [a bow made of] the top branch of a lote-tree, while [our camels,] with eyes sunken [from long travel, sped by] with us [so swiftly that] they seemed to be ostriches [hurrying along].

She showed herself to us on the day when the tribe set forth, with [her long hair] hanging down, and [her mouth] sweet with its rows of teeth set not too closely together,

Which a cloud-mass full of rain, lighted-up by the sun, has watered well from streaming white clouds [below the dark masses above].

In Dhat ad-Dai she showed thee wrists of hers, and a cheek smooth and long, and bright like a silver mirror, soft.

His heart is cured of its intoxication with her, notwithstanding that when there comes into it a recollection of her, the earth swims about him as he stands.

Look forth, O friend : seest thou aught of ladies camel-borne, that go forth swiftly on their way, seated in litters broad ?

They moved away from the wide strath of al-Wari'ah after that the day had risen high, and they crossed the detached strips of sand.

They have decked themselves out with rubies, and gold beads between, and large balls of molten gold, and onyx from Dhafar, and pearls two and two.

They took their way among the villages, and crossed the bend of the valley, their camels stepping out swiftly ; and they left behind them Qaww, and passed forth along the mountain paths.

Ah, how lovely is the face whose brightness she shows us, and the tresses of hair long as cables, coal-black !

As for me, I feel shame before little Fatimah when I am hungry and lean, and shame before her also when I eat ;

And I feel shame before thee, though the wide desert be between us, lest thou meet a brother of mine who has severed himself from us [and may tell of my evil qualities].

And verily I, though my young camel be spent, batter the ground with it, and with myself, O Fatimah, with the batterings [of recklessness].

[O Fatimah, verily love grows in spite of [the Beloved's] hate, and imposes on the noble soul difficulties to be overcome.]

Hail to thee ! mayst thou have a mild and genial constellation, O Fatimah, even though the turning of thy way be not united with mine !

Good greetings to thee ! and know thou that my need is of thee : so return to me somewhat of thy favour, O Fatimah.

O Fatimah, if all other women were in one land, and thou in another, I would follow after thee, distraught.

When the Beloved one wills, she cuts the bond that binds her to her lover, and is wroth with him without a cause, casting him off without appeal.

And whoso lights on good, men praise his enterprise, and whoso goes astray, shall not lack one to blame his error :

Seest thou not that a man will cut off his hand, and take upon himself the severest tasks, from fear of the blame of his friends ?

Is it by reason of a dream that thou hast become one that writes upon the ground in extremity of grief? And sometimes dreams visit one who is asleep: [may not this be one ?]

Janab swore an oath, and thou didst obey him : so turn thy blame upon thyself, if thou must have some one to revile ;

[And he is as though he were wearing the crown of the House of Muharriq, for that he has wronged his cousin, and come off safe himself.]