Seven verses with bilingual teaching, vocabulary, syntax, simile, dialogue, and comprehensive assessment Read the bilingual lesson for Imruʾ al-Qays: A Guarded Tent, the Pleiades, Objection, and Dunes (Verses 23–29) and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. A new scene: from the guarded tent to a remote valley
After directly addressing Fāṭimah, the poet narrates another remembered episode as a connected sequence. It moves from a protected tent and guards to nighttime stars, the woman’s speech, and finally a sandy place outside the settlement.
The order is instructive: seclusion is established, obstacles are described, the time of night is pictured, a meeting is narrated, the woman objects, and the two depart from the settlement. Reading each verse in isolation would obscure this movement through time and space.
The account comes through the speaker’s voice. The poet’s claims must be distinguished from the woman’s direct words; the poem is a literary narration rather than an independent historical report.
2. Verse 23: the secluded woman and an unhurried meeting
وَبَيْضَةِ خِدْرٍ لَا يُرَامُ خِبَاؤُهَا
تَمَتَّعْتُ مِنْ لَهْوٍ بِهَا غَيْرَ مُعْجَلِ
“And a sheltered woman, whose tent could hardly be approached—I spent a pleasant time with her, without being hurried away.”
Bayḍati khidrin brings together imagery of delicate whiteness and guarded seclusion. Khibāʾuhā means her tent or dwelling; lā yurāmu presents its approach as difficult or normally inaccessible.
Ghayra muʿjal describes the meeting as unhurried, according to the speaker. This is a first-person literary recollection; the wording alone does not establish every aspect of the encounter or provide an independent account of the woman’s consent.
3. Bayḍati khidrin: two layers of meaning
Bayḍah ordinarily means an egg, but here the speaker is not describing an actual egg. In classical poetic imagery it can suggest a delicate, protected woman of bright complexion. Khidr denotes a secluded or screened interior.
The construct bayḍati khidrin identifies the woman through an image of protected space. The image implies not merely color but distance, shelter, and restricted access.
ExpressionLiteral basisContextual effect
BayḍahEgg; image of whiteness and delicacyBeauty and delicacy
KhidrScreened placeProtected interior
Bayḍati khidrinGenitive constructCombined image of a secluded woman
4. Wa-bayḍati: the wāw and the genitive case
Wa-bayḍati is genitive even though the later verb tamattaʿtu is a first-person perfect. The construction is commonly explained by an understood rubba after the wāw: wa-rubba bayḍati khidrin, “and many a / such a sheltered woman.”
Bayḍati is genitive and acts as the first member of an iḍāfah; khidrin is its genitive complement. Tamattaʿtu then narrates what the speaker says happened. Simply treating the wāw as ordinary coordination would not explain the initial genitive form fully.
PartFunction
Wa-Wāw conveying an understood rubba
BayḍatiGenitive after implied rubba; first term of construct
KhidrinGenitive second term of construct
5. Lā yurāmu khibāʾuhā: the force of the passive
Yurāmu is a passive imperfect from rāma, yarūmu, “to seek, intend, or attempt to reach.” Lā negates it, while khibāʾuhā functions as the nominative subject of the passive construction.
The meaning is stronger than merely “the tent is far away.” It represents the place as normally beyond pursuit or approach. The passive construction directs attention to the inaccessibility of the tent rather than identifying the particular people kept out.
Khibāʾ means a tent or temporary dwelling; the suffix -hā connects it with the woman. The phrase thus joins the dwelling, its occupant, and its protected status in a compact description.
6. Tamattaʿtu ... ghayra muʿjal: morphology and circumstance
Tamattaʿtu is the first-person singular perfect of Form V from the root m-t-ʿ, here “I enjoyed / took pleasure.” Min lahwin supplies the setting of amusement or pleasant company.
Ghayra muʿjal describes the circumstance. Muʿjal is a passive participle related to Form IV aʿjala, “to hurry someone.” Negated by ghayra, it suggests that the speaker was not hurried away.
The distinction between the main action and its circumstance matters. The perfect verb describes enjoyment, while the following qualification describes how the speaker presents that experience.
7. Verse 24: guards and the danger of discovery
تَجَاوَزْتُ أَحْرَاسًا إِلَيْهَا وَمَعْشَرًا
عَلَيَّ حِرَاصًا لَوْ يُسِرُّونَ مَقْتَلِي
“I passed the guards to reach her, and a group fiercely hostile to me—people eager for my death if they had the opportunity.”
Aḥrāsan refers to guards, while maʿsharan denotes a band or group. The earlier verse established seclusion; this one adds the speaker’s claim that he passed through its defenses, creating a sense of risk and bravado.
The closing phrase law yusirrūna maqtalī concerns a hypothetical threat to his life, not an account of an actual killing. The literary aim includes the narrator’s self-presentation as a daring adventurer.
8. Tajāwaztu aḥrāsan wa-maʿsharan: grammar of the passage
Tajāwaztu is the first-person singular perfect of Form VI from the root j-w-z: “I crossed” or “I passed beyond.” Aḥrāsan and maʿsharan are accusative; the second is coordinated with the first.
Ilayhā means “toward her,” with its feminine pronoun referring to the woman. The syntax separates the destination from the obstacles along the way and clarifies the direction of the narrated movement.
WordForm or function
TajāwaztuForm VI; first-person perfect
AḥrāsanPlural relating to guards; accusative
IlayhāPreposition with third-person feminine pronoun
MaʿsharanGroup; coordinated accusative
9. Ḥirāṣan and law: intensifying the threat
Ḥirāṣan is connected with ḥarīṣ, “eager” or “intensely desirous.” With ʿalayya, it expresses fierce hostility directed toward the narrator, not a positive kind of eagerness.
Law introduces a hypothetical or unrealized possibility. The speaker intensifies the enemy’s intention, but he does not report that the threat succeeded. Maqtalī denotes his killing, with the possessive suffix tying the danger to himself.
The source also records variant readings of this part of the verse. The secure teaching point is the group’s extreme hostility; one narrow verbal interpretation should not be treated as universal across the variants.
10. Verse 25: the Pleiades and a jeweled sash
إِذَا مَا الثُّرَيَّا فِي السَّمَاءِ تَعَرَّضَتْ
تَعَرُّضَ أَثْنَاءِ الْوِشَاحِ الْمُفَصَّلِ
“At the time when the Pleiades stretched across the sky like the sections of a richly jeweled sash.”
Al-thurayyā names a recognizable cluster of stars. Taʿarraḍat pictures its visible extension or arrangement; al-wishāḥ al-mufaṣṣal invokes an ornament composed of distinct decorated sections.
The verse combines time-setting with visual simile. The stars and their arrangement give a concrete night sky to the adventure narrated in the surrounding lines.
11. Taʿarruḍa athnāʾi al-wishāḥ: syntax and simile
Taʿarraḍat is a third-person feminine singular perfect, with al-thurayyā as its subject. Taʿarruḍa is a verbal noun from the same base, used as a cognate accusative to characterize the action.
Athnāʾi al-wishāḥ evokes the separate parts or sections of an ornament. Al-mufaṣṣal qualifies a sash set with discrete decorative pieces. The spaced yet ordered appearance of stars is thus rendered through a crafted human object.
ExpressionGrammatical or rhetorical role
TaʿarraḍatVerb describing the star cluster
TaʿarruḍaCognate accusative (mafʿūl muṭlaq)
Athnāʾ al-wishāḥParts of the compared ornament
Al-mufaṣṣalQualification of the jeweled sash
12. Verse 26: a moment beside the screen
فَجِئْتُ وَقَدْ نَضَّتْ لِنَوْمٍ ثِيَابَهَا
لَدَى السِّتْرِ إِلَّا لِبْسَةَ الْمُتَفَضِّلِ
“Then I came to her when she had put aside her garments for sleep, beside the screen, apart from a light remaining dress.”
Wa-qad naḍḍat places the change of clothing before the speaker’s arrival. Li-nawmin supplies its purpose—preparing to sleep—and ladā al-sitr gives the scene a specific interior location.
The verse describes a private setting through the narrator’s perspective. The literary contrast is between a guarded exterior and the secluded interior, without offering an independent account of the woman’s situation.
13. Wa-qad naḍḍat: a completed action before arrival
Jiʾtu is a first-person perfect, “I came.” The following wa-qad naḍḍat combines a circumstantial wāw with qad and a perfect to indicate that the action had already been completed at the time of arrival.
Naḍḍat means that she had taken off or laid aside clothes; its implicit subject is the woman, and thiyābahā is the object. Li-nawmin expresses purpose: for sleep.
The temporal sequence matters. Jiʾtu marks the arrival, whereas qad naḍḍat describes a prior state. The two verbs should not be flattened into an unordered list of simultaneous actions.
14. Illā libsata al-mutafaḍḍil: an exception and a garment
Illā introduces an exception. After the general mention of her clothes, thiyābahā, libsata al-mutafaḍḍil singles out a light garment that remained.
Libsah denotes a garment or manner of dress. In this context al-mutafaḍḍil is a conventional description of light or informal dress. It must not be confused with the ordinary moral meaning of someone who grants favors.
The exception distinguishes between clothes laid aside for rest and a particular remaining garment. Interpreting the exception in relation to the preceding noun is more accurate than reading the words in isolation.
15. Verse 27: the woman’s oath and objection
فَقَالَتْ يَمِينَ اللَّهِ مَا لَكَ حِيلَةٌ
وَمَا إِنْ أَرَى عَنْكَ الْغَوَايَةَ تَنْجَلِي
“She said: ‘By God, you have no way out or stratagem, and I do not see this errant passion of yours leaving you.’”
This is especially important because fa-qālat gives the woman direct speech. Yamīna Allāh is an oath; mā laka ḥīlah denies that he has a viable stratagem, while mā ... arā frames her negative judgment.
Al-ghawāyah here refers to wayward or reckless infatuation. The woman’s objection and disapproval should not be edited out or treated as simple cheerful agreement; the dialogue explicitly records resistance.
16. Yamīna Allāh mā laka ḥīlah: oath and negation
Yamīna Allāh is an oath expression. Yamīn can literally mean the right hand, but here it means an oath; the construct with Allāh makes the invocation explicit.
In mā laka ḥīlah, mā negates, laka is a fronted prepositional predicate, and ḥīlatun supplies the delayed nominal element: “you have no device or recourse.” Ḥīlah may mean a tactic or stratagem, not merely admirable ingenuity.
The utterance begins as the woman’s objection, rather than an independently endorsed judgment by the narrator. Keeping speakers distinct is essential when analyzing dramatic exchange in poetry.
17. Mā in arā ... tanjalī: emphatic denial of change
In wa-mā in arā, the basic negation comes from mā. The following in is treated here as an emphatic extra particle, not as the beginning of an independent conditional clause. The sense is close to “I certainly do not see”.
Arā is a first-person imperfect: the woman states her own judgment. ʿAnka indicates movement away from the addressee. Al-ghawāyata tanjalī concerns this errant passion clearing away from him.
Tanjalī conveys removal, clearing, or becoming unobscured, with the relevant root family j-l-w / j-l-y. Her statement is that she sees no sign of his conduct abating.
18. Dialogue: the poet’s self-image and the woman’s reply
The poet depicts himself as a daring lover passing guards, but when the woman speaks her words contain warning and disapproval. Attending to both voices prevents the passage from becoming a one-sided romantic celebration.
Lā yurāmu khibāʾuhā establishes protection, tajāwaztu aḥrāsan presents the poet’s daring claim, and mā in arā ʿanka al-ghawāyata tanjalī gives the woman’s objection. These perspectives interact without being identical.
In reading a classical narrated poem, the distinction between speaker, addressee, and quoted direct speech is crucial. A narrator’s favorable picture of his behavior does not make every other character’s statement supportive.
19. Verse 28: departure and the trailing cloak
خَرَجْتُ بِهَا أَمْشِي تَجُرُّ وَرَاءَنَا
عَلَى أَثَرَيْنَا ذَيْلَ مِرْطٍ مُرَحَّلِ
“I went out walking with her, while she trailed behind us, across our footprints, the hem of a patterned cloak.”
Kharajtu bihā shifts the action from the interior to movement outside. Amshī and tajurru present simultaneous activity: he walks as she trails the garment behind them.
ʿAlā atharaynā refers to their tracks; dhayl to the trailing hem; and mirṭin muraḥḥal to a decorated wrapper or cloak. The narrative now moves from the enclosed tent onto an open path.
20. Kharajtu bihā amshī tajurru: circumstantial imperfects
Kharajtu is a first-person perfect. Bihā associates the woman with the departure. Amshī is a first-person imperfect and tajurru a third-person feminine imperfect; both depict ongoing action within the past narrative.
Tajurru belongs to the root j-r-r, “to draw or drag.” The woman is its subject, and dhayla mirṭin functions as its object. Two agents are thus shown in one scene of departure.
Without amshī tajurru, the verse would merely report that they left. The imperfect verbs convert the past event into a moving scene as the cloak trails behind.
21. Atharaynā, dhayl, mirṭ: vocabulary and scene
Atharaynā combines the oblique dual of athar, “track,” with the suffix -nā. The dual nūn is dropped in the construct before the pronoun: atharay + nā, meaning the two sets of tracks belonging to them.
Dhayl means the part of a garment trailing below or behind. Mirṭ denotes a wrap or cloak. Muraḥḥal describes ornamented fabric, with a pattern traditionally associated with designs resembling saddles or camel equipment.
WordMeaningKey point
AtharaynāThe two sets of tracksDual with attached pronoun
DhaylTrailing hemObject of tajurru
MirṭCloak or wrapperGenitive complement of dhayl
MuraḥḥalDecorated or patternedAdjective of mirṭ
22. Verse 29: beyond the settlement to the sandy hollow
فَلَمَّا أَجَزْنَا سَاحَةَ الْحَيِّ وَانْتَحَى
بِنَا بَطْنُ خَبْتٍ ذِي حِقَافٍ عَقَنْقَلِ
“When we had crossed the open space of the encampment and turned toward the hollow of a sandy stretch with great, intricate dunes, the setting changed.”
Sāḥata al-ḥayy is the open ground of the tribal settlement. Baṭnu khabt evokes a low-lying sandy stretch; ḥiqāf are dunes and ʿaqanqal characterizes substantial, densely formed sand hills.
This verse creates a spatial turning point: from tent, guards, and settlement to comparatively secluded sand. The next verse continues the episode in that setting, so the landscape is not an unrelated descriptive aside.
23. Fa-lammā ajaznā: a temporal frame
Fa-lammā combines a narrative connective fa- with temporal lammā, “when ... then.” Ajaznā is a first-person plural perfect: “we crossed” or “passed beyond.”
Sāḥata al-ḥayy marks what they passed. Wa-ntaḥā and binā baṭnu khabt evoke a turning or moving toward a new place. Together the clauses supply a temporal and spatial setup for the action that follows.
Translation alone does not capture the full value of lammā. Its narrative-syntactic function builds anticipation: once the pair leave the settlement, the next event will occur in the newly described setting.
24. Baṭnu khabt, ḥiqāf, ʿaqanqal: layers of landscape vocabulary
Baṭn literally means “belly,” but applied to a landscape it denotes a low-lying inner area. Khabt indicates a sandy or level low stretch. The bodily term is transferred to the shape of terrain.
Ḥiqāf is a plural referring to dunes. ʿAqanqal strengthens the impression of large or complicated dune formations. Taken together, these words create a concrete desert topography, not merely the abstract word “desert.”
WordCentral image
BaṭnA low, inner part
KhabtSandy low ground or plain
ḤiqāfSand dunes
ʿAqanqalLarge or intricate dune formation
25. The seven-verse sequence and its rhetorical development
These seven verses form a continuous movement from a guarded private interior to open sandy ground. The poem moves through an inaccessible tent, the claimed crossing of guards, the night sky, the inner room, the woman’s objection, departure, and a new desert location.
VerseSubjectLanguage or literary feature
23Protected tentWāw with implied rubba; passive
24GuardsForm VI; intensification
25Pleiades and jewelrySimile; cognate accusative
26Private interiorQad + perfect; exception
27Woman’s objectionOath; emphatic negation
28DepartureCircumstantial imperfects; dual
29DunesTemporal lammā; landscape imagery
The next verse begins haṣartu bi-fūday raʾsihā fa-tamāyalat and continues the episode in the sandy setting while moving further toward descriptive portraiture.