Original verses, close translation, morphology, syntax, imagery, and literary continuity Read the bilingual lesson for Imruʾ al-Qays: Earlier Loves, Fragrance, and Dārat Juljul (Verses 7–12) and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. From the deserted traces to living memories
The first six verses presented an abandoned encampment, a departing caravan, and the pain of separation. The recollection now turns toward people and events that made the place meaningful. Grief takes shape through named women, fragrance, tears, and remembered days of pleasure.
Ka-daʾbika recalls an earlier pattern of experience, idhā qāmatā creates a sensory scene, and alā rubba yawmin opens a series of remembered occasions. The poem therefore moves not only through places but also through memory and time.
Read continuously, these verses first express longing and then show the life and particular experiences that lie behind that longing.
2. Verse 7: the memory of earlier loves
كَدَأْبِكَ مِنْ أُمِّ الْحُوَيْرِثِ قَبْلَهَا
وَجَارَتِهَا أُمِّ الرَّبَابِ بِمَأْسَلِ
It is as your familiar experience was previously with Umm al-Ḥuwayrith, and with her neighbor Umm al-Rabāb at Maʾsal.
Daʾb denotes a habitual practice or recurrent pattern. The poet connects his present distress with earlier experiences: the same longing, disappointment in love, and emotional suffering have occurred before.
The point depends on the previous verses. Ka-daʾbika does not introduce an unrelated theme; it recalls precedents for the sorrow already expressed.
3. Ka-daʾbika: the comparative kāf and iḍāfah
Ka-daʾbika begins with the kāf of comparison and preposition. Daʾb follows in the genitive and forms an iḍāfah with the attached second-person pronoun -ka. The expression means “like your familiar pattern.”
In qablahā, qabla is a temporal expression, and -hā refers back to the preceding experience. The phrase locates the earlier relationships before the present sorrow.
This is a comparison of experiences, not of physical appearances: the poet's present emotional condition resembles earlier ones.
4. Umm al-Ḥuwayrith, Umm al-Rabāb, and Maʾsal
Umm al-Ḥuwayrith and Umm al-Rabāb are two distinct women's names or teknonyms. Wa-jāratihā adds their relationship as neighbors. Bi-Maʾsal is a place name and should not be translated as though it were an ordinary descriptive noun.
ExpressionMeaning or relation
Umm al-ḤuwayrithTeknonym of a woman recalled in the poem
JāratuhāHer neighbor; pronoun refers to the first woman
Umm al-RabābTeknonym of the second woman
MaʾsalThe named locality associated with the episode
The proper names turn general romantic recollection into memory anchored to particular people and a particular place.
5. The grammatical relationships in verse 7
In min ummi al-Ḥuwayrith, min is a preposition, umm is genitive and the first term of an iḍāfah, and al-Ḥuwayrith completes the construct. Umm al-Rabāb is likewise a construct phrase.
Wa-jāratihā is coordinated with the preceding reference and carries a third-person feminine pronoun. Umm al-Rabāb further identifies the neighbor, by apposition or explanatory substitution.
Omitting jāratihā from the translation would lose the relationship between the women; treating Maʾsal as a person's name would misidentify the locality.
6. Verse 8: the spreading fragrance
إِذَا قَامَتَا تَضَوَّعَ الْمِسْكُ مِنْهُمَا
نَسِيمَ الصَّبَا جَاءَتْ بِرَيَّا الْقَرَنْفُلِ
When the two women rose, musk spread its fragrance from them, like a gentle eastern breeze arriving with the scent of cloves.
The verse provides neither a detailed portrait nor a repeated declaration of affection. The women become vivid through the sense of smell, making the memory perceptible.
Misk and qaranful are two specific fragrant substances. Naming them produces a more concrete image than a general statement that the women smelled pleasant.
7. Idhā qāmatā: dual agreement and temporal condition
Idhā creates a temporal conditional relationship, approximately “whenever.” Qāmatā, from qāma–yaqūmu, is a third-person feminine dual perfect. Its ending marks feminine reference and dual number.
Taḍawwaʿa al-misk describes what followed. Both qāmatā and minhumā refer to two women, whereas al-misk is the separate singular masculine subject of taḍawwaʿa.
Number and gender matter in translation: “the two women rose” and “from them both” are more accurate than singular equivalents.
8. Taḍawwaʿa, al-ṣabā, and rayyā
Taḍawwaʿa means that a fragrance diffused and became perceptible, more precise than the simple verb “appeared.” Al-ṣabā is the soft eastern breeze, while rayyā denotes a pleasant scent or fragrant breath of air.
WordMeaning in context
TaḍawwaʿaThe fragrance spread abroad
NasīmA mild, refreshing breeze
Al-ṣabāThe soft eastern wind
Rayyā al-qaranfulThe perfume of cloves
These expressions bring together the source, movement, and perceived effect of the fragrance; the result is an active sensory scene rather than a static description.
9. The eastern-breeze simile and sensory imagery
The fragrance coming from the two women is compared to a breeze carrying the scent of cloves. The mention of nasīm al-ṣabā makes the perfume feel gentle, mobile, and pervasive.
What is compared is the spreading musk scent; the comparative image is the breeze bearing clove fragrance. The shared aspect is pleasant scent that travels and can be sensed at some distance.
Verse 7 anchored memory in people and place. Here scent makes their remembered presence palpable. The delicacy of the fragrance also contrasts with the physical tears in the following verse.
10. Verse 9: overwhelming longing and tears
فَفَاضَتْ دُمُوعُ الْعَيْنِ مِنِّي صَبَابَةً
عَلَى النَّحْرِ حَتَّى بَلَّ دَمْعِي مِحْمَلِي
Then tears overflowed from my eyes out of intense longing, down onto my upper chest, until my tears soaked the strap by which my sword hung.
Ṣabābah refers to overpowering love and yearning. The tears follow directly after the fragrant memory: what is pleasant to recall is also painful because it has passed.
The fāʾ links this scene to what precedes it, while fāḍat portrays tears that surge and spill over rather than a single restrained tear.
11. Ṣabābatan: intense yearning and an accusative of cause
Ṣabābah is not casual affection. It signifies deep yearning and the restlessness that accompanies it. In the verse, it explains why tears flow and links an inner state to a visible bodily response.
Grammatically, ṣabābatan is accusative, functioning in the sense of mafʿūl li-ajlih, an expression of cause. It is not the grammatical subject: the tears are what overflow, while longing gives the reason.
Thus fa-fāḍat dumūʿu al-ʿayni minnī ṣabābatan means “my tears overflowed because of passionate longing,” not “longing poured out the tears” as a subject.
12. Al-naḥr and al-miḥmal: body and equipment
Al-naḥr refers to the lower part of the neck and the upper chest. Here al-miḥmal means the strap used to suspend a sword; it should not be confused with maḥmil, a travel litter or seat borne on a mount.
Arabic wordMeaning in context
DumūʿTears flowing from the eyes
Al-naḥrLower neck and upper chest area
BallaMade wet; soaked
MiḥmalīThe strap holding my sword
The image does not stop at a tear on the cheek: it shows tears reaching and wetting an object hanging across the body. This physical detail conveys the strength of the grief.
13. Balla damʿī miḥmalī: subject and object
Balla is a perfect verb meaning “soaked.” Damʿī, “my tears,” is its subject, while miḥmalī, “my sword strap,” is its direct object. The final first-person yāʾ on each noun marks relation to the speaker.
Ḥattā introduces the endpoint or result: the tears continued until they even wet the strap. Reversing subject and object would distort the meaning, as though the strap had soaked the tears.
The strap is a concrete detail, making the grief more vivid than the abstract statement “I wept greatly.”
14. Verse 10: many memorable days
أَلَا رُبَّ يَوْمٍ لَكَ مِنْهُنَّ صَالِحٍ
وَلَا سِيَّمَا يَوْمٌ بِدَارَةِ جُلْجُلِ
Ah, how many pleasant days you had with those women, especially the day at Dārat Juljul!
After the account of sorrow, alā rubba yawmin turns toward happier recollections. The change does not cancel the earlier grief; it shows that the present loss is painful precisely because there were memorable days of delight.
Dārat Juljul names the place of a particularly striking occasion. The following verses develop the scene and its details.
15. Alā and rubba: attention and multiplicity
Alā is a particle drawing attention to an important recollection. Rubba governs a genitive noun and can serve different rhetorical purposes; in this context it conveys multiplicity—many pleasant days.
In rubba yawmin, yawmin is an indefinite genitive noun and ṣāliḥin qualifies it. Minhunna points to the women already mentioned in the account.
Translating rubba mechanically as “perhaps” would misrepresent the line. “How many a day” or “many a day” conveys its context here.
16. Wa-lā siyyamā: singling out a special day
Wa-lā siyyamā means “and especially” or “in particular.” It singles out one member of a larger class for special emphasis. Among the many enjoyable days, the poet highlights yawmun bi-Dārat Juljul.
Arabic grammarians recognize different case analyses after this expression; the reading in this printed passage has yawmun in the nominative. The essential semantic point is specification, so the case issue must not obscure the meaning of the chosen day.
Compare the ordinary expression, “There were many pleasant occasions, especially the one we remember most.” This emphasizes how one remarkable occasion stands out among many.
17. Dārat Juljul: the role of a named locality
Dārat Juljul is a named locality. Although dārah can refer to a circular or enclosed tract of land, the full expression functions here as a proper place name, not as two common nouns to be translated independently.
The ode has already named Siqṭ al-Liwā and Maʾsal. Another location now becomes the name of a particularly memorable day. Geography organizes recollection: each place brings an emotion or event into view.
The next verse begins wa-yawma ʿaqartu, linking its action closely to the day just singled out and turning memories into a connected narrative.
18. Verse 11: slaughtering the riding animal
وَيَوْمَ عَقَرْتُ لِلْعَذَارَى مَطِيَّتِي
فَيَا عَجَبًا مِنْ كُورِهَا الْمُتَحَمَّلِ
And the day when I slaughtered my riding animal for the young women—how remarkable that its saddle had to be carried away!
ʿAqartu here means to slaughter the animal, maṭiyyatī is the poet's mount, and kūr is the camel saddle or riding gear placed upon it.
The remembered happy day is not merely named. The poet describes a concrete event: giving up the mount, transporting its equipment, and being with the young women. The following verse develops the scene.
19. ʿAqartu, al-ʿadhārā, and maṭiyyatī: key terms
ʿAqartu is a first-person singular perfect from ʿaqara–yaʿqiru. The root has several uses, but in this passage it refers to slaughtering an animal. Al-ʿadhārā is the plural of ʿadhrāʾ, and maṭiyyah denotes a riding animal.
The prepositional phrase li-l-ʿadhārā indicates those for whose sake the act was done. Maṭiyyatī is the direct object, with a first-person possessive ending identifying the mount as the poet's own.
Translating ʿaqartu simply as “I injured” would weaken the connection to the next verse's meat-sharing scene. Context determines the intended sense.
20. Fa-yā ʿajaban: an exclamation of wonder
In fa-yā ʿajaban, yā is formally the vocative particle, but the expression principally conveys amazement: “How extraordinary!” ʿAjaban appears in the accusative within this exclamatory construction.
Kūrihā names the camel saddle or riding gear, with -hā referring back to the poet's mount. Al-mutaḥammal describes the equipment as having to be carried or transported.
Once the animal is slaughtered, its saddle no longer rests on its ordinary bearer. The poet turns this practical oddity into an expression of astonishment and a distinctive detail of the remembered day.
21. Verse 12: the meat and the image of rich fat
فَظَلَّ الْعَذَارَى يَرْتَمِينَ بِلَحْمِهَا
وَشَحْمٍ كَهُدَّابِ الدِّمَقْسِ الْمُفَتَّلِ
The young women then spent the day tossing pieces of its meat among themselves, with fat resembling the twisted fringe of fine silk fabric.
Yartamīna depicts tossing or passing pieces to one another, not throwing the meat away. Fa-ẓalla presents the activity as continuing through the day.
The scene combines movement with a delicate visual comparison: the women's shared activity appears beside the resemblance between the animal's fat and a twisted silk fringe.
22. Fa-ẓalla ... yartamīna: continuity and reciprocity
Ẓalla is a defective verb that here conveys a state or action continuing during the day. Al-ʿadhārā serves as its subject, and the verbal clause beginning yartamīna functions as its predicate.
Yartamīna belongs to Form VIII, related to irtamā–yartamī. Here it describes reciprocal tossing among participants. It is a third-person feminine plural imperfect, marked by nūn al-niswah.
Thus fa-ẓalla al-ʿadhārā yartamīna does not merely report a single instant; it depicts a scene unfolding over time, with interaction among the women.
23. Ka-huddāb al-dimaqs al-mufattal: a layered comparison
Huddāb refers to a fringe or hanging threads at a fabric's edge. Dimaqs is a fine silk fabric, while mufattal means twisted or plaited. The opening ka- marks a comparison.
ElementRhetorical role
ShaḥmThe compared object: the animal's fat
Ka-Particle of comparison
Huddāb al-dimaqsThe comparative image: fringe of fine silk
Al-mufattalDescribes the twisted texture of the fringe
The shared quality is a delicate, pale, threadlike or twisted appearance. The poet makes the fat's visible texture intelligible through the refinement of expensive fabric.
24. Al-mufattal: passive participle and qualification
Al-mufattal derives from the root f-t-l. Form II fattala means to twist or plait, and mufattal is a passive participle, “twisted” or “plaited.” Its mufaʿʿal pattern reveals the derivation.
Here al-mufattal qualifies al-dimaqs and appears in the genitive. The twisted texture makes the simile about more than color: the visual structure of the material matters.
By contrast, mufattil would be an active participle, “one who twists,” whereas mufattal names something that has undergone the twisting.
25. How verses 7–12 develop and what they teach
The sequence of these six verses is clear: earlier relationships, then fragrance, then tears of longing, then one especially happy day, and finally the slaughter and shared-meal episode. Ignoring the progression would make related verses appear disconnected.
Poetic expressionKey learning point
Ka-daʾbikaComparison with an earlier experience
Idhā qāmatāFeminine dual and temporal relationship
ṢabābatanReason for tears; accusative of cause
Wa-lā siyyamāSelection of one special day
YartamīnaContinuing reciprocal feminine-plural action
After verse 12, the narrative changes to another incident: wa-yawma dakhaltu al-khidra khidra ʿUnayzah, the episode involving the enclosed litter of ʿUnayzah.